Andrew Saxon - Finding keepers

Jake did as he was told, and as soon as he gripped the two fingers he felt a small shock over his entire body. Then he noticed that he was looking through a face plate with all kinds of readouts along the outer edges. When he looked at one of them, it grew larger.

“Mr. Talant, come take a look at yourself.”

Jake saw a mirror on the wall behind him, and he turned and saw himself. “Oh my great aunt! What happened?”

Jake saw a red colored, shiny surfaced, coating covering his entire body. His head had a helmet that was no wider than his ears, but had a protruding front face plate that was opaque. There were no seams anywhere but when he bent his arm, the coating moved with the motion. The coating appeared to be constantly in motion with shifting different red hues.

“My name is Manuel Busigleore. I am going to try and train you on your armor in the little time we have remaining before you leave. I wish we could go out and use it on live targets, but just teaching you all it can do will take up every minute.”

“How do I get out of it, Colonel?”

“You see down in the lower right corner of your faceplate a shape of a human body?”

Jake looked and as he directed his attention to the lower right corner the various symbols grew larger. “Yes, I see it.”

“Look at it and say “Off”.

Jake said, “Off” and the armor disappeared. “Wow! Colonel, that is amazing.”

“Call me Manny, but for right now I want you to go lay down on that couch in the far corner and put on the headband.”

“Is this going to be another download?”

Manny smiled, “Oh; you’ve seen how downloading works? Where did you get a download?”

Jake smiled, “In the castle’s library.”

“Well, this is going to be a little more intense than that.”

Jake said, “Uh oh! I don’t know if I like that grin you’re wearing.”

“I’ve always said be careful what you ask for; it may not be what you want.”

“What exactly is going to happen, Manny?”

“You are going to get the full download over the next twenty hours we normally do over a six week period. You will probably be somewhat sore when you wake.”

Jake stared at Manny, “Why?”

“Because your armor is going to be making connections to every nerve in your body and then testing each connection, Mr. Talant. Fortunately, you’ll be asleep. We will also be fitting the device to mask your telepathy at the same time.”

Jake had a sick look on his face, “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

Manny smiled again, “Be careful what you ask for, Jake. Now come lay down.”

Jake sat down on the couch and saw ten technicians come in and surround him. Jake looked at Manny as he lay down and saw him shaking his head. Jake remembered what Cynthia said, “Oh, this is not going to be good.” A technician put the band around his head and he lost consciousness.

Valerie looked across the table in her personal quarters at Cynthia Dodd. Cynthia had been called in for an audience with the Queen and she was uncertain about what to expect. Valerie said, “Are you always this nervous?”

“Up until the events at the casino I was quite the happy-go-lucky individual.”

Valerie nodded, “Things change quickly, don’t they?”

Cynthia nodded.

“Well I have you here for a reason. You are going to take Jake and go to that planet where the Searcher was killed. Those creatures that killed her are preparing to come and find us.”

Cynthia was even more nervous after hearing that bit of information, “Is there anything we can do against them?”

Valerie shook her head, “No, it is going to be up to Jake to save us.” Cynthia looked skeptical. Valerie continued, “He must find his initiator, and I believe she is in the Human population on that planet. Jake must go down to the surface and see if he can find her. I wish there was a safer way to make this happen, but there isn’t. You’re going to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

“Just how am I going to do that, Your Majesty?”

“At the first sign of him being captured or harmed, you will teleport him to your ship and teleport away.”

Cynthia furrowed her brow, “It is my understanding that we were not to reveal any of our advanced technology around these creatures.”

“Ordinarily that would be true, but not in this case. Cynthia, we are going to be conquered and put into communities just like that planet you’ve seen in their universe. This will happen after more than seventy percent of our population is stunned and transported to their worlds for consumption.”

Cynthia was shocked, “How do you know this?”

“I have seen all the possible futures that await us and in everyone we are defeated except the future where Jake finds his initiator. I have not seen what he does to save us, but I know he does. We cannot lose him. He must be protected at all costs.”

Cynthia looked Valerie in the eyes, “Even if I have to give my life to protect him.”

Valerie sighed heavily, “Cynthia, I would gladly die to protect him. He’s that important to our survival.”

“Just why is he so important?”

Valerie got a faraway look in her eyes, “Because he will find the Gardners.”

Cynthia had also downloaded the history of the Stars Realm and her eyes grew wide, “Are they still alive?”

“Yes.”

Jake opened his eyes and saw Manny looking into his faceplate, “I feel like eight miles of washed out bad terrain.” Every part of Jake’s body was screaming pain.

Manny sighed and said, “I told the Royal Family that I wouldn’t put my worst enemy through what you’ve just endured, followed by what happens next. However, you must get up and start moving now. The pain will start to diminish over the next few hours. You’ve got to use your systems immediately after they’ve been connected. We have a set up a course for you to use your armor.”

“Manny, I don’t think I can move.”

“Just tell your armor to get up.”

Jake was in torment, but he thought, “Get up.” His armor stood and held him erect. Jake couldn’t do much but just lean on it from the inside. Jake noticed his legs began to hurt slightly less as he took two stumbling steps.

Manny pressed his bracelet and the two of them were teleported to a valley filled with a forest and lush vegetation. Manny noticed that Jake was swaying and he activated his armor and helped Jake stand. “Now listen to me, Jake. We set this valley up for you to trial your weapons. It is very much like the valley in which those three communities are located, and the landscape is almost identical. I can’t offer you any suggestions on how to use the various systems you now have because you don’t have enough time for me to go through all of them with you. Your downloads should allow you to pick the most appropriate tool, but you must find them quickly on your own. We have set up various ambushes and you’ve got to get through them and arrive at that peak on the other side of the valley in less than an hour.”

Jake looked across the valley and saw the peak Manny indicated, and immediately saw on his display that it was forty miles away. “Manny, I can barely move.”

Manny looked at Jake and slowly shook his head, “I’m honestly shocked that you stood up. I know that some of our warriors, not many of them, have an affinity for their systems and they use them almost like they were born to it. If you try to think your way to that peak you will not make it. You must quit thinking and just react to whatever you encounter. You almost have to become a passenger and let your armor’s download make your decisions. Do you understand?”

Jake nodded.

“No warrior has made it through this simulation the first time and they had six weeks to learn their systems, something which you do not have to help you. It is a just a simulation and all the weapons are designed not to kill or injure, but if one of the ambushers hits your armor with a solid strike your system will stop you wherever you are. Do you understand?”