Ten Thousand Fleets Chapter 24: 24. Pods

Read chapter 24 of Ten Thousand Fleets by DavidNiemitz on NovelPedia.

24. Pods Academy Hill, Vidako Imperium Stellarum September 27, 2847 For an interminable moment, Arc felt distant from his own body, as if connected by only the most tenuous string. He heard the noises of the other cadets and the corpsmen moving around the training pods, the hushed murmur of conversation and the scuff of boots against stairs, but none of it touched him. It was as if those things were happening to someone else, perhaps an actor in a holo-drama. He had the surreal sensation that, with the slightest tug, that string would give and he would simply float away, untethered to anything physical. Connection established , Iceni said, and all at once sensation came flooding in. Rather than the darkened simulation pod, with the flat-screen mounted just in front of him which Hospital Corpsman Third Class Varnell had used to authorize the simulation, Arc found himself looking out on a wide, flat field of tall grass and wild flowers. Everything seemed terribly small—as if the world was little more than a model or diorama in a museum, built in miniature. Or as if he were looking down from a height of approximately sixteen meters. Arc lifted his left hand, looked down at it, and saw the articulated, mechanical fingers of a T-3 Tyro training mech flex at his mental control. The action of raising the hand, however, moved several tons of arm: RSiNC armor plating, graphene-based fiber type artificial muscles, power cables, and more components than Arc could name. That movement shifted the center of balance of the mech in a way that was just different enough from how a real, flesh and blood human body moved that Arc found himself swaying, suddenly out of control. Out of instinct, he lifted a foot to take a step and catch his balance—but there, again, everything was different. The feet of a Tyro were wide, built sturdy enough to support thirty-five tons of weight. Compared to Arc’s own body, it was like trying to take a step with cement boots on. One movement led to the next in a series of desperate, half-conscious adjustments, and then he was falling. The simulated Tyro hit the meadow like a cannonball, digging furrows through the soft earth and sending sprays of dirt up in every direction. Arc let the mech lay there for a moment, because it was the first time since lifting that hand that he’d managed to keep the mech still. Six percent of right arm RSiNC plating was practically destroyed, Iceni reported. Much of it is actually still there, but crumpled and broken from the force of the impact. Three percent effective armor loss on our torso, and four on our right leg. Visual display updating. A wireframe of the mech’s shape appeared to the lower left of Arc’s field of vision. Most of the image was drawn in green, but the right arm, leg, and side of the torso blinked between green and yellow, with armor percentages listed beside each. Beneath the wireframe, a horizontal, stylized image of a battery was also painted in green, with the words: ‘Battery Charge: 99%’ written beneath. They haven’t given us any weapons at all , Iceni grumbled, her voice laced with a very human approximation of human frustration. Even the guns that should be attached to the shoulder hardpoints aren’t actually there. “That’s fine,” Arc said, and he felt the phantom sensation of his lips moving, somewhere back in the real world where his physical body remained. The dual sensations made his stomach clench, and he resolved not to speak any further. We need to worry about getting back up on our feet before we worry about shooting anything , he added, silently, knowing that the AI would understand him clearly. The training program is advising you to roll onto your hands and knees, Iceni relayed. I’m muting it. We don’t need three people talking here, and I can relay what it wants just as easily. I’m not certain that’s exactly what the lieutenant commander has in mind , Arc grumbled, and then set about, very slowly and carefully, following those instructions. At th