Space regulation hazard suits were incredibly complex pieces of machinery.

In general you were required to wear one if your body was not designated as either ‘resilient’ or ‘disposable’ while working in more accident prone areas. It needed to protect vital areas from shrapnel or being crushed, it needed to ensure that deadly materials did not enter the wearer’s eyes or other orifices. Things like glass or metal dust could easily enter the air in a zero gravity emergency and if ingested could cause lacerations of internal organs.

It was known that insectoids had hearty bodies, but were also not rated for many more dangerous labors due to their body size. Thus they did not have to wear armor to prevent themselves from being crushed by heavy cargo. Due to the nature of space stations that constantly moved at high speeds, a few cargo boxes suddenly being launched at mach speeds was not an unheard of event.

Despite not being allowed into large storage rooms insectoids were still outfitted with some serious protective equipment. As adolescents they would have a significant amount of their head’s exoskeleton removed and they would be fitted with a hazard-mask that could filter out dangerous chemicals or dusts.

The human did not have a natural exoskeleton to remove, and thus balancing his maximum load capacity with the amount of protection he needed was somewhat difficult.

“His torso contains all of his vital organs, but also his stomach cannot have plates installed. It needs high flexibility.” the irvole noted.

“A puzzle, learning even. How to be flexible and rigid is a paradox. But movement is a priority, the body must wander as it was designed. However will he regret his goal of wander when there is shrapnel lodged in his abdomen?”

The insectoids grasp of language as a whole was controversial at best, but the meaning was fairly clear.

“It needs to be capable of withstanding crushing and shrapnel without compromising his ability to move. The same can be said for his inner elbows and knee-folds.”

The total surface area of the back of your knees was much lower than the surface area of your torso. Not to mention that if a piece of metal did happen to rip through your limb it was much easier to repair or replace that than it was to fix the organs within a torso.

“Perhaps a scale texture? A plate over the upper torso which is much less mobile and a scaled-mesh over the abdomen. We can use wire or another material that will change shape with force and then layer small pieces of metal over them.”

The insectoid thought for a moment before responding, “How to attach small plates? You say a scaled hide would provide movement and staying, but how will you prevent the scales from wandering? They will only have a small point attached to the main body, they will be easily torn from the belly. Instead of scales you should overlap long plates.”

I understood that, though I couldn’t help but have a puzzled color leak onto my skin for a moment. Scales would be easily detached from the main suit and it may need constant repairs if that technique was implemented. I still felt the color of confusion flush over my skin for half a second, but I maintained a mostly stoic appearance.

“Hm…” The irvole grunted for a second. “Yes, a number of long thin rows will allow for it to flex as he bends over. A type of splint armoring? There are precedents for that. Instead of small scales we could use interlocking plates.”

“Armor is to mitigate, not prevent. The plates may wander between 1.3 measures and 1.5 measures and allow his body to be free with the lowest of regrets. Shrapnel is a thought, and crushing or fire is an action.”

I decided to interject, if only so that I was not silently watching. I needed an air of understanding in the subject matter to ensure I received proper respect from my subordinates. “Yes, shrapnel is less of an issue than sudden temperature fluctuation or being crushed.” I answered. “But from what I understand, the best defense against those is a thick alloy weave bodysuit. I do not think we need as much precision with that as the plating.”

It was practically clothing at that point, it was a couple measures wide which might be the equivalent to a few human finger-widths. Altogether both the suit and his standard equipment should add up to about a fourth of his bodyweight.

“Cloth of width and rigid plates. A recipe is ancient and omnipotent, wanders to the minds of all. Ours is simply the most wander and the most useful.”

I totally understood what insectoids said! Even if it was unintellectual garbage, “Yes, a thick padding to absorb attacks with a metallic surface to resist stabbing is an ancient technique that we have refined.”

The biggest difference between our hazard suits and ancient primitive kevlar was the utility, we could make this armor lighter than ever and thus easily fit far more equipment onto each person. He could have a radio integrated into the suit along with a heads up display, an airtight interior, mag boots, breathing filters and an oxygen tank.

Depending on what his job was we could practically add as much mission essential equipment as we wanted due to the superior weight to strength ratio of our materials.

“How is the limb coming along?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“We have fixed the wrist, and accounted for the fingers. We will not be able to place any hard plates on the interior of the hand but the exterior elbow joint is completely covered with an overlapping frame.”

“Optimal. Can it begin hard copy phase?” I asked.

“The body mesh is still in production boss. I would suggest waiting until we can take measurements with that first.” The irvole commented, “Maybe we should ensure that the other arm is a perfect match. It would be irritating if we merely reversed the prototype to find that the other had different wrist dimensions that aren’t obvious from a glance.”

“Yes, measuring would be an optimal course of action. Copy over the aluminum model and attempt to make him wear that.”

That was an obvious statement, surely he was already going to be doing that because that was the next logical step to gauntlet design. But if she didn’t take command now then he wouldn’t rely on her orders later.

“Understood.” He responded instantly.

I nearly shifted to a contentment color, but instead kept myself static and presentable.

“Now, while you are doing that I need to work on some data regarding the human’s chest wounds.” I stated using the translator to produce the words my mouth shape could not form, “I will be in the upper office if you need anything, I am merely checking medical information for signs of infection or difficulty healing. I can keep a translator here for communication to the human if necessary.”

“Understood ma’am.” He responded while slightly lowering his head.

I turned, intent on my new task. I could have easily gone over the symbols I had cataloged here and now, but I needed to appear superior to them and the truth was…

These two definitely had more experience than me. If I did not leave quickly they may learn of my flaws and begin questioning my leadership abilities.

~

“You are human?” The small box asked.

I stared up at the large yeti-like being, he was reminiscent of a gorilla with a straight back or possibly bigfoot if they were old enough to get gray hair.

I stared for a moment before the box repeated, “You are human?” The thick monotone made it difficult to tell when it was asking a question sometimes and the way it pronounced human made it hard to pick up. Sounding more like huh-main than ‘human’.

“Yes,” I replied, “I am human.”

“Optimal.” The yeti grunted, “Now, locate the glove into all limbs.”

It didn’t translate fully correctly, though I had been told that eventually the AI would pick up my language as we conversed. I grabbed a gauntlet and dragged it up my arm, then attempted to push my arm to the side as I dragged my other gauntlet up-

The metal plates on my shoulder grated along each other to a halt, I became unable to pull my shoulder further as the metal locked up. The arm was too small around the shoulder and the joints didn’t fit properly.

“Suboptimal.” The yeti cursed, “Cut more metal? Make smaller?”

The insectoid spoke up, “Widen the view.”

“Ah, we could shift the metal upwards to fold better. Optimal.”

I watched as the yeti pulled out a pair of pliers, pinched the side of the shoulder pad, and then bent the metal upwards.

“You are comfortable?” The yeti asked. “Does the joints cut the skin due to movement?”

“No, the arm is fine. Thank you.” I answered. I flexed the weird metal on my arm. It was chromatic, almost perfectly reflecting the light and possibly one of the lightest metals I have ever held. An enormous amount was draped over my arm and it felt like a toy.

“What is this armor for?” I asked.

“Plate insert, the main suit will be alloy-weave. These rigid pieces will protect shrapnel.”

Ah, I understood it now. This appeared to be some sort of SWAT armor, or possibly closer to an astronaut’s suit. I wondered if it could protect me if those monsters came back.

Probably not.

“Why do I need armor though?” I wondered out loud, “Am I being conscripted?”

A sudden sinking feeling felt my stomach, did they suddenly need soldiers? Surely I would be low priority, were they that desperate?

“Never, you are unuseful.” The yeti shook his mane slightly, “No translations? Very suboptimal. They will never let you near a gun.”

“Then why do I need the armor?” I asked.

“Depressurization, liquid metal, heat, shrapnel, saw blades, metal fragments in the air-”

“Wandering unprepared, wandering metal, wandering air, wandering blades, wandering shipping containers, wandering at extreme speeds and then immediate un-wandering…” The insectoid joined in. “Air wanders away and makes flesh things turn bright red and pthfthfh.”

“Ah-” I said suddenly feeling my heart rate skyrocket. “Am I in danger now? Like, should we hurry?”

“Wander while ship is chained? Nothing will wander, there is nothing to chain to!” The insectoid chimed while waiving half a gauntlet around.

“Translate for the insect-man,” The yeti began clarifying, “The ship is not moving. No work is performed. There are no moving saws or hot metal and no risk of hull breach or sudden turbulence.”

“Oh…” The logical facts did not comfort my heart. “So like, this will be finished before then?”

“Yes, or there will be consequences.” The yeti shook his mane again.

“They punish you?” I asked. “Like, you are being forced to do this?”

The thought of them being harmed over work gave me a sinking feeling, I had heard these were slaves. Another thought crossed my mind, was I worried about them or was I worried I was in the same situation as them?

“I am assigned to this, if in three cycles I have not completed this suit they will know I sleep instead. They will hold a welder to my genitals until it gets finished.”

“Like… Literally?”

“Why does ‘like’ wanders into each verb? Why does the human like, like, like, like? Wandering words where they shouldn’t be traveling makes speech hard to understand.”

I sat for a moment questioning what I had just heard.

“What?”

The insectoid huffed air through his mask. “I like, am like, talk like, this like. I am like human like this like. Just talk normal stupid. And use your works correctly like this.”

“What? What? Wait- You can-” I sputtered.

“What? Like- what- like. You sound like a child apprentice manager, not knowing what to do and changing priority every five seconds. Let the words wander, so that they meet us on the journey.”

“How come you talk?” I finally got out.

The insectoid answered without even giving eye contact. He continued to lean over a metal workbench, using a blowtorch to weld the limb armor onto a chestpiece.

“I was right next to the human cells for four weeks. My translator was on the whole time.”

“What? You-” Finally I understood. “Your AI translated our conversations, like they said this one would over time!”

“Actually I learned English, idiot. You guys wouldn’t shut up and I had nothing else to do.”