Chapter 3
Farewell
----------------------------------------
COLD AS ICE, Justy thought, every time a part of the nanites in the Suit touched his body. In a matter of minutes, the CENs fully engulfed his body and darkness followed. The word 'Initializing..' blinked several times when he opened his eyes.
Initializing...
.
.
.
UltherEx OS 2.1.4 found...
.
.
.
Verifying System Main Memory...
Initializing BIOS...
.
.
.
Initializing Overlay System: C.R.A.B.T.R.E.E
.
.
.
Suit starting in...
3
2
1
.
.
.
Adjusting Suit...
.
.
.
Retina signature registered…
DNA sequence stored…
Please wait…
.
.
.
Setting Heads-up Display...
Welcome! Please state your name.
“Justy. Just Justy.”
Justy registered as Master...
.
.
Overlay program C.R.A.B.T.R.E.E set to slave...
.
.
.
Initializing Rundown Sequence...
.
.
.
Please wait...
The holo message window in front of Justy disappeared. He is now seeing Dr. Mu smiling at him. He raised his hands and witnessed some black stuff covered it. Not too bulky, but not too skinny either. Justy made exaggerated movements and gestures with his arms and fingers. Everything worked. In truth, he felt power.
Black, space black, with touch of ash in some parts, is the default color of the suit. Justy liked it. Loved it, as a matter of fact. Not too grand, but still showed the elegance of an exosuit he'd imagine. No more no less. He raised his right foot forward. He twisted his hip several times. He arched his knees to prepare to jump.
“W-wait, wait.” Dr. Mu held out her hands. “Don't jump!”
Justy straightened his legs. He looked at the ceiling. “I am gonna reach that?”
“Yes. It's not like you're going to hurt yourself, but Drykkon and Ga'lek would lash at me when something happened to the ship.”
“Ok. How this thing works? What powers it?”
“The Suit is powered by an Antimatter Reactor Drive (ARD).” Dr. Mu said.
“Wait, does that mean, this suit is radioactive?”
“Yes, but you don't have to worry about that.”
“You know, Earth's scientist has –” Justy swallowed. “had made significant progress on antimatter engine, can't believe I am actually seeing one now.”
“Oh, please, Earthling. Your people couldn't even create a thousandth of a gram of antimatter, and you're talking about significant progress?” Justy didn't noticed him. He must've just entered the room. He was twice the height of Dr. Mu. He wore a jacket-like dress, with thick red sleeve and yellow vest.
Justy usually didn't mind it. After all, Justy knew in the hard way that you won't survive in the dark side of the world of gaming without knowing how to roll with the punches. With his calm and collected nature, particularly at games, gave rise to the expression about him as, silent but deadly, which he loathed for the reason that is has some semblance to a fart.
But Justy wasn't able to roll with the remark that guy gave about earth, especially after it was blown into smithereens. He casually shrugged it but he was hurt. He remembered Earth, he remembered Manny, he remembered the scent of the shop. He then remembered all of it was gone.
“Drykkon!” Dr. Mu shouted. She gave Drykkon a look that implied to be not an insensitive asshole.
“What? I'm just stating the truth.” Drykkon said then looked to Justy. “Look, kid. Everything in that Suit is the culmination of a thousand year life's work. Everything in that suit is thousand years ahead anything in Earth. I apologize if I became touchy when you compared it to a species' technology who hasn't even discovered how to properly harnessed the power of star.”
“Drykkon, that's enough. Why are you here?”
“I just want to help. I came to see if he is worthy of the weapons we made.”
“Fine. Justy, everything in the suit was made to be game-like as much as possible. I told you before, every nanites in that suit is continuously evolving and adapting. That is why, the Suit was programmed to quantify every progress. Try to access Stat function, think of it. Every command in your suit can be accessed through your mind.”
Stat function. Justy thought.
STAT FUNCTIONStrength Affects the physical intensity of the Suit, the quality of the Suit to resists force. By doing strenuous activity, the CENs will force to adapt.Speed Involves Unidirectional and Multi-directional speed. The ability of the suit to change position relative to time.PowerDoes not grant excess power to the Suit. Power Stat dictates the efficiency of how the CEN's uses energy to support function. The higher the Power Stat, the less energy use to do a certain work.
“The Suit has three primary stats. Each has different purpose. I am sure you can understand it. Let's head to the next room. Follow me.”
Justy followed Dr. Mu. Light as a feather, Justy thought. Every step he took, he doesn't feel different. He feels like the Suit has been part of him since he was born. They entered a massive room. The floors and walls were all white. Justy saw a glass on one side of the wall. A viewing room, he thought.
“Justy, you will train here for a while. Now do a push-up stance.” Dr. Mu said, then she left the room.
Justy dropped down with his face parallel to the ground. Curious, Justy pushed his body away from the floor. He was skeptical at first, because he can hardly make one push up even if he tried hard when he was on earth. But the Suit, shattered his disbelief. He could do it, in fact, he feels he could do a hundred push ups, with the way he felt with his body.
Justy tried again, this time he did it so fast. He counted fifty, and yet he feels like it was nothing. A holo message appeared left bottom corner of his vision.
Speed +1
Power + 1
No strength? Justy wondered. “Justy, do a push-up stance and do not move for a while.” Justy heard. He looked to the glass window and saw Dr. Mu waved at him, Drykkon was also there, with his arms crossed. Justy obliged, he did not move.
“Setting gravity to 4g.” Dr. Mu said.
Justy felt something. Something dragged him down a bit. But not enough to make him move.
“8g.”
This time Justy's elbow bend a bit. Justy exerted some force to stabilize himself.
“25g.” Drykkon said.
Flattened like pancake, Justy did his best to resist the force that is crushing him.
“Strength + 1.”
“Power + 1.”
“Try to do one push up, Earthling.” Drykkon said.
Bastard, Justy thought. Grunting and groaning with all his might, Justy took a full minute before he could raised his body an inch away from the floor. For a second, Dr. Mu thought he could do it. But Justy was back again kissing the floor.
Justy tried again. This time, he made a progress. His body was higher than before. Drykkon saw it and couldn't believed it. “30g.” Drykkon said.
“Strength + 1.”
“Power + 1.”
Justy hit the floor again. Justy closed his eyes. He saw at the back of his eye, their house burning. He saw the little boy struggling to lift the log that crushing his unconscious mother's leg. He saw how powerless, how pathetic the boy. He saw how the boy ran outside to ask for help.
“Waaarrrrrrrgghhhhhhhh.” Justy shouted. Justy let out a terrifying cry. It was an outburst of anger, pity and self loathing. With everything he had, Justy pushed his body away from the floor.
“Strength +1.”
“Strength +1.”
“Power +1.”
“Power +1.”
Justy panted as if he ran a marathon. His straightened arms, barely supporting his weight against 30g, trembled like a plucked string.
“Hmmph.” is the only thing Drykkon said after witnessing such incredible feat. Feeling embarrassed, he left the room.
Dr. Mu can't help but smile. She knew, Drykkon somehow had acknowledged Justy. He was just too proud to say it. “Set Gravity back to 20g. Try standing up now, Justy. By the way, that was impressive Justy.”
Justy stood up quite easily. Not as easy before he wore the suit, but a lot easier minutes ago. Justy could still feel the force dragging him down.
“Your Strength has gone up to 4, speed to 1, and power to 5. We need to increased your speed, try to ran around the room as fast as you can.”
Justy ran as fast as he could, but with such resistance, even a snail could out-crawl him.
“Speed +1.”
“Strength +1.”
“Power +1.”
Justy finished another lap and another. Though a little, Justy was getting faster.
“Speed +1.”
“Power +1.”
“Try to follow the tracks.”
A glowing track appeared in the floor. The track was full of left and right turns. Justy followed them. He knew he was training his agility or the Suit's Multi-directional speed. Left, right, then another right.
“Speed +1.”
“Power +1.”
Level 1 Requirements:
Strenght: 5Speed: 4Power: 6
Your Suit have leveled up to 1.
No bonus? Justy thought. In most RPG games, when you gained a level, you gained bonus points. But this time it was reversed. You gained a level by doing various to increase those 'bonus points'. It was a formality, Justy thought. But he liked the system. He loved the idea of quantifying the Suit's progress. It makes the training objective-based rather than measuring one's progress subjectively.
“Good, you gained a level. I am sure you realized it by now, the Power stat is directly proportional to strength and speed. Most likely, when you gained either Strength or Speed, you will also gained Power. But sometimes that won't be the case. If your suit thinks your current Energy consumption is enough for now, it will not increase." Dr. Mu said. "Think of the CEN's in the Suit as an inter-weaved muscles, they get torn but they usually rebuilt themselves, stronger and faster than before."
“I see. Power is like the Suit's endurance.” Justy said.
“Yeah, you could say that. Also if you used different Suit's abilities in the future, the power stat might increase as well.”
“Set gravity: Normal.” Justy remembered the voice. It was Drykkon.The door opened and Justy stopped. It was Drykkon with two other guys with him. They were holding two metal cases with them.
“What are you going to do when you meet a hostile alien?” Drykkon asked to Justy. “Beat them to death with your fist?”
“Does this suit have no weapons?” Justy asked.
“Uh – uh. Zero weapons. But I am here to fix that.” Two of the guys with him placed the two suitcase on the floor and started to open them. Drykkon took something from the first case. “With limited materials and time to work on, this is the best we could come up with, but don't be disheartened, it still can kick Frennin's ass.” He threw the weapon to Justy.
Justy checked out the weapon, it was a rifle, but completely different than the ones in earth. Justy observed it has three muzzles, two of which has the same size, while the third muzzle is lot bigger. It was light, despite its bulkiness.
“Harbinger 'Rache' Flux rifle. As you can see, it has three muzzles. The two smaller muzzle are the weapon's ancillary function. The right muzzle allows you to fire incendiary rounds. Effective against any organic aliens. Look at the left side of the gun.”
Rache FLux Rifle
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
General Specifications:
Length: 65 cm (2.1 ft)
Width: 12.7 cm (0.5 ft)
Material Quality: Rank S
Color: Black, Dark green trim(default)
Equip type: Held (Both hands)
Main Gun Specifications:
Muzzle Diameter: 4.5 cm (0.15 ft)
Rate of Fire: 3 rounds per minute
Rounds: High-Explosive rounds
Auxilliary Gun 1 Specifications:
Muzzle Diameter: 1 cm
Rate of Fire: 1000 rounds per minute
Rounds: Incendiary
Auxilliary Gun 2 Specifications:
Muzzle Diameter: 1 cm
Rate of Fire: 1000 rounds per minute
Rounds: Infused rounds
Justy saw a small empty transparent barrel. “What's this do?”
“It allows you to place any stuff you want. For example, you could fill it with Clostridium botulinum if you want to effectively kill humans. If you activate it, every rounds that comes out of the left muzzle will be infused with botulinum toxins. With that function, I advise you to be creative and be very careful. Specifications have been sent to your suit, so check those if you have time.”
Justy was nearing his limits. He wanted to shout how awesome it was. But that would only stroke Drykkan's ego, and he doesn't want that. “Yeah, Ok.”
Drykkon looked at him. “It may not be the best baby that ever come out in our intellectual womb, but that should be enough to slice the cake.”
“Oh, I liked it. Thank you, Mr. Drykkon. One question, how about ammunition?” Justy said.
“The Rache gun, can convert any matter as its bullet. Since it doesn't need any explosive powder to propel it outward, seriously though, why are you guys still using powdered ammo?” Drykkon asked. “The Rache gun, uses the Matter Antimatter Engine as its source, the one in your suit. So if anyone tried to steal it and bypassed the biometric security, they would still need the same signature of energy source in your suit. In short, only you can use it.”
“So I just stuff it with any object?”
“Yes, that's the idea. The higher the quality of the material you feed on it, the more destructive power it can deliver.” Drykkon said. “If the enemy got too close, we have another baby that should take care of that. Catch!”
Justy expected a sword or any blade-like weapons, but the one landed on his right hand was a short gauntlet. It has globular teeth extending outward. Justy held the handle. It covered the top of his knuckle and below his palm. “A knuckle?”
Drykkon nodded. “Not just any knuckle. That’s a blaster and a repeater too. If it’s done installing itself, try to look at it and say disengage.”
“Reversi” knuckle gun have been installed.
Reversi Knuckle gun
Knuckle Gun (Combined) Specifications:
Length: 15.24cm (6 in)
Width: 12.7 cm (5 in)
Thickness: 14 cm (5.5 in)
Material Quality: Rank SS (Gun material) | Rank SS+ (Plated Teeth)
Color: Black & white
Equip type: Held (Both hands | Single Hand)
Ancillary Functions :Knuckle teeth (Vorkodium-Palladium Alloy)White Reversi Specifications:
Muzzle Diameter: 1.2 cm (0.47 in)
Thickness: 5..72 cm (2.25 in)
Rate of Fire: 450 rounds per minute
Rounds: Small Penetrating rounds
Purpose:Damage is low due to miniature compact bullets, penetrates and weakens armor.
Black Reversi Specifications:
Muzzle Diameter: 1.2 cm (0.47 in)
Thickness: 5..72 cm (2.25 in)
Rate of Fire: 3 rounds per minute
Rounds: Concentrated Energy
Purpose: Shatters weakened enemy's armors (Short range)
Disengage. Justy whispered.
The Reversi split into two. One is black-coated and the other is white. The ashen teeth-like plating was also split in to two. “Both has its merits.” Drykkon said. “Depends on your preference, your right could be the blaster or the repeater. Nevertheless, if you ran out of ammo, you could beat them up with its Vorkodium-Palladium alloy plated teeth.”
Damn, it’s cool. Justy thought. He wondered also, how he can hold both weapons. Since he didn’t see any holster or strap in his suit. “Do I have to bring that case, whenever I want to fight?” Justy asked. He knew it was silly, but he asked anyway.
The two guys with Drykkon blurted out a laugh. They stopped when Dr. Mu looked at them. “Your Suit has an innate ability, Dimensional Storage (Capture/Release). Try thinking the command, Justy.” Dr. Mu said..
Dimensional storage, Justy thought.
Dimensional StorageLevel052.90%
Store anything in a fold of dimension/space and re-materialize at will.
The user can put items into a separate dimension for safe keeping, and can summon them back with relative ease.
(Note: Using this ability consumes massive amount of energy. Use with caution.)
Dr. Mu explained to him that the folders in his HUD were just like the computers in earth, it can store digitized object in it. She also suggested to Justy to store the weapons in the pre-made directory entitled ‘Weapon systems’.
“Capture and the Release is the proprietary command of the Dimensional Storage ability." Dr. Mu said. "If you want to store that weapon, say or think ‘Capture’ and placed it to the directory of your choice.” Dr. Mu said.
Capture Reversi, store to Weapon systems directory, Justy said to himself.
Set as Off-hand weapon or Main weapon?
‘Off-hand, Justy thought.
He then stored and registered the Rache rifle as his Main weapon. Poof. He swore he saw the space in front of him distorted a bit. The rifle vanished into thin air. “Release Reversi.” Justy said. Then the Knuckle gun appeared on his less dominant hand.
“If you stored a lot of weapons and forget some of their names, you can call the directory ‘Weapon systems’ itself and browse through tha-.”
The alarm went on again. It was the same alarm that resonated throughout the ship before the earth got blown into kingdom come. Justy came to hate that specific alarm. It reminded him that there were billions of them once. It’s ironic how Justy thought before, that there’s too many humans in the world. Now, he wishes the opposite.
The words ‘Initiate Project Armor Justy’ struck Dr. Mu with silence. The message in her comm came from Ga’lek. She knows Justy is not yet ready. And they both know that. The only reason Dr. Mu can think of why Ga’lek issued such absurd command is that they are in grave danger.
And Dr. Mu was right. Frekin Mondragon has tracked them once again. Ga’lek had no choice but to expedite things. He hoped that Justy was the right choice.
“Justy, we don’t have much time. Everything you want to know, you can ask it to your partner, Crabtree.” Dr. Mu said.
Partner? That A.I? Justy wondered. Justy sensed the urgency in Dr. Mu’s voice. “What’s happening?” Justy asked.
“The Frennins have caught up on us. Listen to me, Justy. We don’t have time to brief you with your mission. Crabtree will inform you everything you need to know. Come on let’s go.” Dr. Mu rushed outside.
“They are a getting smarter for a bunch of stinking sea creatures." Drykkon said then looked to Justy. "Good luck, Justy. Kill some Frennins for me.” Drykkon said.
“Thank you, Mr. Drykkon. I feel like we get off the wrong foot. I hope the next time we meet we could be friends.” Justy said, to one engineer to another.
Drykkon said nothing. He just gave Justy a friendly smile.
Justy followed Dr. Mu in what seems to be the launching pad of the ship. It has enough space to hold 20 ships with the size of an 18-wheeler trucks. “This is your ship, Justy.”
My ship? Justy wondered in delight. His joy was short-lived and crash landed when he read the word ‘SCROTUM’ engraved on the bow. “SCROTUM!? Seriously!?” He wondered if it was Drykkon who put it.
“Yeah, it’s the ship’s name. It means Justice in our tongue.” The oval door of the ship let out a hiss when it opened. “Get in, Justy. You don’t have to worry about anything. Scrotum was programmed to warp you in the predestined location.”
Justy was reluctant to enter. He didn’t know if he was afraid of the unknown, that is space, or just embarrassed to enter a ship named ‘Scrotum’. Justy wondered about food and water. Nah, I’m sure they had taken care of it. Justy said to himself.
Justy looked at Dr. Mu once more, before he entered the ship. “Um… Dr. Mu.”
Dr. Mu gave him a warm pleasant smile. “Yes?”
“I was wondering, i-if I could invite you to a coffee. W-well, not now…But…the next time we meet.” Justy realized that Coffee beans may been wiped out from existence. “o-or any kind of refreshments, just the two of us.”
“O-ok.” Dr. Mu stammered. “I’d like that. I wish you luck.”
----------------------------------------
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
Chapter 2Armor of JustyNEXT CHAPTER
Chapter 4
----------------------------------------
Forgive the erros, I tried, read it countless times, but still you know. If you spot one I'd be grateful. Oh, btw, thanks for that review *sniff*. It is very uplifting and inspiring.