All Suited Up

Seth was sincerely glad that he was not claustrophobic. The chamber that measured soldiers for their armor was very, very small. Seth was a relatively small guy and his shoulders nearly brushed the sides of closet-like room. It didn't help his uneasy feelings that he was naked in the tiny room. Or that a bright green scanning light was being run over him from small points of light in the walls. Why did his armor have to fit so perfectly?

Seth also didn't understand why the procedure had to take so long. He'd been in the little room for almost ten minutes. The scanners should have been able to measure him ten times over by now!

Finally, after another full five minutes of standing uncomfortably in the room while the machine scanned him, he heard it power down. A few moments later, the door swished open to reveal Gloria standing, her eyes politely averted, holding out his clothes. Seth felt himself blush as he snatched his clothes and dressed as quickly as possible. Where was the male tech guy that had been there to brief him on the basics of the machine?

As if reading his thoughts, Gloria answered his question. “Andrew is off preparing the data the machine collected so we can get started on your armor.”

Once Seth was finished dressing, he felt a lot more comfortable around the lady Freelancer. She may have been a killing machine, but she was a female killing machine. He decided now might be a good time to get some questions answered. “Why did that scanner thingy take so long to finish?”

“Tch, it has to evaluate your muscle mass and tell what kind of weapons you can use. Also, it has to know your exact height, weight, and everything else for the holochamber.” She had her sadistic smile fixed in place. His discomfort was still amusing to her...

“Why does the holochamber need to know exactly what I look like?” Seth made a connection that the holochamber was probably where holomatches occurred.

“For versus matches. It lets you fight yourself. Alright, Skippy, no more questions. I'm going to go see what weapons its recommended for you. I also need to get you the standard medical kit. You can come with or stay here and wait for your armor to finish.” She turned and started to walk away, caught up in the flow of her errands.

“Wait, my armor will be done that quickly?” Seth asked, running after her.

“We already have everything needed to make it. Circuits, shock gel, the works. All that's needed is the size. And didn't I say I was done answering your questions?” Gloria was using her 'no nonsense' voice. It made Seth just a little worried for his safety. The last time he'd heard her use that voice, her battle rifle had been jammed against his back. It made him shut up and walk meekly behind her.

She left the bare room where the scanning machine had been and walked past many doors that were set into the walls. The two Freelancers threaded their way through the hallways, one leading and taking turns expertly, the other following hesitantly, unsure of his superior's knowledge of the layout of the base.

Before long, Gloria stopped at another door and pushed a button on the pad set into the wall beside the door. After pushing the first button she gave Seth a look that said 'you don't need to see this part' and held his gaze until he took the hint and looked away. He heard her tapping the keys on the pad.

The door swished open, sliding sideways into the wall, and revealed a long room with shelved walls filled with every gun imaginable. Dozens of each type of weapon were categorized on each shelf. Boxes of grenades, mines, and magazines of ammunition were stacked neatly in corners and on other shelves. Everything was clearly labeled. This room was filled with organized death.

Gloria set off down one of the rows, obviously knowing her way around the room. Seth followed her, eyeing the weapon racks warily. They moved briskly to the back of the room.

A man was standing at a terminal that was set into the wall. Seth was recognizing a pattern in the base. Everything was either set into the wall, or pulled into or out of it. It was a decent space saving strategy.

Gloria moved over to the unknown man at the computer. He turned and glanced warily at Seth before seeing Gloria. His face broke out into a smile when he saw her.

“Gloria, flower, peach of my eye! How have you been? You really don't come by and chat with me enough...” Seth almost gasped in surprise at his choice of words. Seth didn't think anyone else in the world, excluding Nicholai, had the balls to talk to Gloria in that way. Especially in a room filled to the roof with guns! This guy was insane!

“Keep it in your pants, James. The whole base knows the only reason you talk to women like that is to hide your flaming homosexuality. You know why I'm here. Give me the damn guns.” Ouch. Well, at least Gloria hadn't shot him.

“I know, baby. I just like to play around. Here you go.” The man, James, handed over a battle rifle that was just a bit smaller than Gloria's and a pistol that was exactly like the one she was wearing now. The pistol that she'd used to kill the squid for lunch. Wait a second, the gun guy was GAY?

“Heh, take care of yourself, James.” Gloria started walking down another rack of guns, heading back the way they had come. Seth kept his head down and followed her. That was the first openly gay man he'd ever met.

As they walked up the gun aisles, Gloria picked magazines out of boxes and examined them. Some she put back and others she tossed to Seth to hold. She did the same with grenades, until she reached another, completely different rack.

This rack was filled with satchels and belts. His superior pulled one of each off the shelf and measured the belt against his waist. It was way too big, the smallest hole cinching closed inches from his waist. Gloria frowned, threw the first belt back on the rack, and grabbed another. This one was still a bit large for him, but she tucked it into the satchel anyway. After the belt was stashed, she held her hand out for the ammo and grenades Seth was holding.

“You'll have a chance to organize everything later. Make sure its all easy to reach. Ammo and grenades should go into the belt. You can put whatever doesn't fit into the satchel. The extras are for emergencies only. I'd ask if you had any questions, but I know the answer already. I can see it in your face. Ask.” Gloria was a very business like woman.

“What kind of gun is that?” Seth was attempting to keep his questions short and innocent.

“Mine is an XR-93. Standard battle rifle from way back when. Our grandparents fought using these babies, there were no lasers and all the guns had really big bullets. The gun was 'officially' discontinued, but Freelancers still make and use them. Yours has the same name as mine, but its an almost completely different gun. Lighter, smaller, and easier to use.” She rattled off the information as if she read it every night before bed.

“Is that the only way they're different?” This was the way Seth learned. Short, simple questions answered by facts. Thank you teacher.

“No. Yours fires .45 caliber bullets. Its basic now, no add-ons that let it fire special bullets, but it'll still get the job done. Mine is .50 caliber and gives me the option of incendiary or explosive tipped ammunition. Any more necessary questions?” Gloria had caught on to the way Seth's brain worked. He could come up with endless streams of questions.

“No, that's all I wanted to know,” Seth lied.

Gloria bought it. Or she didn't have the patience to worm his other questions out. The Freelancer once again started walking away. Seth followed.

“I'm going to get you some medical supplies. They're going to be pretty basic.” She stopped walking and turned to face him, her face serious. “Put them in a pouch on your belt. The lives of your team mates could one day rely on those supplies. Put them in your satchel and you might lose them. On your belt, they go with you everywhere. Do you understand?” Her face was intense. He didn't really understand why it was so important, but he nodded anyway.

“Good. I'll get you a medic's pouch with the supplies.” With that, she started walking again. Gloria was a very animated woman. Her moods were swift to come and hard hitting.

After gathering all of Seth's gear, and making sure that the medical pouch was securely strapped to his belt, they returned to the scanning room. What he saw amazed him.

There was a whole new machine. It had most definitely NOT been there before or after Seth had stepped from the small measuring chamber that was still set up on the other side of the room.

The machine was like a giant insect with multiple limbs all poised over the man that was standing in it. The scene was thoroughly creepy. It didn't help that the man on the machine was in full armor and his expressionless helmet was turned directly toward them.

“Okay, step onto that platform there and we'll get you started.” It was the male technician from earlier. Gloria nodded at him and left. Seth was alone with a bunch of nameless tech people... That just made the creepiness complete.

Under the direction of the three guys, thankfully they were all men, Seth stripped and was handed a suit of stretchy material. It was form fitting and more than a little uncomfortable once he put it on. It was kind of embarrassing being naked in front of total strangers, but no one seemed to really care how he felt here.

It turned out that the man on the machine was actually an empty suit of armor. Seth's armor. He stepped up onto the platform. He was a little less than eye level with the empty suit. It was impossible to tell that there was no one in there.

Once he'd signaled that he was ready to 'suit up', one of the technicians activated the machine with a few typed commands. The spider like limbs unfolded and began to pull the armor apart. It was like watching an eerie, slow motion video of a man floating apart in water. When the limbs stopped they're creepy chore, there was a gap wide enough for Seth to step into. A different tech guy stepped forward and instructed him to stand in the gap where the armor had been.

Once he was in position, the technician at the computer typed in a new command. The limbs began to move once more. Pieces of armor moved around him and clicked into place: the chest plate, a shoulder guard, the stomach plate, and so on until finally the helmet slid down over his head and locked to the rest of his suit.

He could see perfectly through the visor of his helmet. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear anything, not even the man standing in front of him waving to the other tech guys. If he hadn't been able to hear himself breathing, he would have thought he'd gone deaf.

The tech guy in front of him stopped waving and looked at him just as a little blue light started blinking on the corner of his visor. One by one, diagrams and other lights winked into being on his visor. The world exploded with sound. Things that had been quiet before were now as clear and loud as the voices of the technicians. Seth wasn't sure if it was part of his imagination, but the room seemed just a bit brighter, too.

The tech guys were briefing him on the features and limits of his suit: four days of power if he didn't hook up and charge every once in a while, a waste system that ejected a canister when it filled, a layer of shock absorbing gel to break his falls and distribute the force of the impacts of bullets, and many other things like that when a fully armored Freelancer stepped through the door.

“You look good,” Gloria's voice sounded oddly metallic coming through the radio systems. She was speaking through it like it was a megaphone without the extra volume so the people in the room could hear. “After they set up your com, we'll head to the holochamber and meet with the rest of the team to break it in.”

Somehow, the way she said 'break it in' made Seth dread whatever was going to happen in that simulation room.