2071 UNPC Universal Calendar.
United Nations Peace Coalition Installation 001, CONUS
—
She didn't remember getting out of the pickup truck. She now laid slumped in the corner, along with the four others she'd arrived with.
"No, let them sleep a while longer, we still have much and more to prepare for them." Dr. Raine said while she stood staring at the soon to be augments. One in particular drew her eye. She'd read the file on all of them, and found this one very impressive indeed. Much more so now that she laid eyes on her.
Looking at her body, she had the appearance of someone who took care of themselves, but did not spend much time in front of a mirror. Her frame looked as if it could be filled out a little more, but that was usual of every one of the starved augments she saw, having just gone through rigorous training.
I will see to this one myself.
When Kate awoke, her mouth was dry and gummy, and her bladder was screaming at her. She was slumped in the corner of a room that looked like a doctor's office waiting room. If that was true, it was the most grand doctor's office she'd ever been to. High ceilings, with ornate quartz carved trim. Expensive looking art decorated the walls, and the floor was polished to a mirror shine. Overhead, soft LED lights lit the room, coming from a gray tiled drop ceiling with black borders.
A suited man, with brown hair and eyes, of average height was behind the desk of the 'waiting room.'
She stood up, sending a bottle of water rolling, which bumped into a banana and came to rest between it and an orange. As soon as she met the suited man's eyes after stepping up to him, her words left her.
"I uhm." She stammered, staring at him for what must have been three seconds. "I need the bathroom." She managed. He pointed to his left, where a clearly marked restroom door was. Oh, I feel stupid.... "Thank you." She said quickly, then went to do her business.
Coming out of the bathroom, she saw that she was still the only one up and about. She was reminded of her nudity when she sat down on a stainless steel chair, and felt a chill in an area that hadn't quite felt that way before.
They'd have brought some to me if it was an issue.
She ate her orange and banana, discarded the peels of both in a nearby trash can, and stepped back over to the well dressed receptionist. "Hello." She said.
"Hi there." The man said. "What can I do for you?" He asked, his tone clipped and professional.
"Well, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now." She replied.
The receptionist's reply was cut off by the voice of a middle aged woman. "Now, you must be Kate. I am Doctor Raine." She said, appearing out of nowhere, and extending her hand. She wore gray scrubs, and had her long hair in a bun. She was easily a foot and a half shorter than Kate, and had body language that instantly put her at ease.
Kate shook her hand, startled. "Hi, very nice to meet you." Kate said, doing her absolute best to keep her head on straight, and her tone respectful. She was speaking to the very person who created the augments, and the anti-aging process, having tested it on herself. It was common knowledge, and still brought up in the news years later.
"Fear not child." Dr. Raine told her soothingly, "please, walk with me." She said, and Kate followed her. After ten steps, Dr. Raine looked as if she was about to say something, but took considerable time to say it. "Would you stand at attention for me, please?" Dr. Raine asked her.
Kate stood at attention next to her, and said nothing while Dr. Raine looked her over. "My my, you have a marvelous physique." Dr. Raine said. "Such broad shoulders and proud musculature." Kate didn't know how to feel, getting complimented as she stood there in the hallway, and by the creator of the augments, of all people. "Thank you, Miss Raine." She managed to say.
"Very well, please, if you would." Dr. Raine gestured down the hallway once more. Kate found it a bit difficult to match the substantially shorter woman's pace as they walked. The place really did look like a doctor's office, with rows and rows of labeled wood paneled metal doors, and one foot square tile that was cool beneath the feet. The place even smelled sterile.
"How was Brian? He treated you well, I trust." Dr. Raine asked her as they walked,
"The receptionist?" Kate asked, then instantly felt stupid once again.
"No, the augment that picked you up, Bravo Four, Brian Kugler." Dr. Raine explained, making her feel stupid tenfold with how slowly she explained it to her.
"Oh, yes, he treated us fine." Kate said. "He wasn't very talkative, and only introduced himself by his callsign and last name." She explained.
"I see." Dr. Raine replied, gesturing into a room, the door open, and a normal exam room was inside. "Please sit." Dr. Riane shook a hand at the bed, pushing a cart with a large notebook, and a nice pen over to the foot of it as she sat down.
"I feel like this is a weird time to ask, but do I need to put on a surgical gown or something?" Kate asked Dr. Raine who's expression was patient as she listened. The paper on the bed crinkled as she sat on it, feeling scratchy.
"It is not necessary, but if you would like one, I could get one for you." Dr. Raine said.
"Oh, no, if it's okay then there's no problem." Kate said, feeling foolish for having brought it up.
"Please, it would be a crime to make you wear one of those paper bags, to cover up such a figure." Dr. Raine sounded like it was an outrage. Kate couldn't help but blush. "I do not mean to make you feel any unease with my comments." Dr. Raine told her, looking her in the eye seriously for a moment, then sighing. "It's just that I see so many people in a state of undress every day, and while healthy to see such bodies bare, most are quite unsightly." Dr. Raine said, milling about the room, doing whatever it is that doctors do. "It is not often I see someone with a well crafted figure worthy of praise, is all." She went on. "I do apologize for boring you, I fear I see too many new faces, but have few to talk to." Dr. Raine said, and Kate suddenly felt sorry for her.
"That's alright, this is the first time in a while that I've spoken to someone this long without getting yelled at." Kate smiled, going from sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the exam table to sitting criss cross, her legs folded under her.
"Such impeccable posture." Dr. Raine seemed to be enamored with her. "Like a statue of an amazon warrior." At that, Kate couldn't help but smile, covering her mouth with her left hand.
Dr. Raine smiled a moment before looking serious. "I am sorry, but I need to take some blood from you." She said, a needle and a small sample vial appearing in her hands as if with magic.
"Oh that's alright." Kate said, extending her arm outwards.
"I will also need samples of saliva and urine." Dr. Raine said, as she pricked Kate's vein and filled the vial up. "All of this is so we can better tune the clotting fluid, blood modification, and quick twitch muscle tuning that you will learn more about later." Dr. Raine said.
"I will need to watch you urinate into this cup. It is somewhat important that we figure out if you have ingested any drugs recently, as you could die in the coming days." Dr. Raine said, handing her a clear cup and lid.
"Here?" Kate asked.
"Yes, I hope you can stop yourself before it overflows?" Dr. Raine arched an eyebrow.
"Totally." Kate said, then stood, and did so, filling the cup half way before she ran out. She traded the cup for a folded paper towel, and cleaned herself before discarding it.
"I'm sorry to embarrass you." Dr. Raine said as she worked, testing her urine with several different instruments.
"I'm not." Kate assured her, "I lost all body modesty during training." Kate said. "I don't mind nudity or anything like that now." She surprised herself by saying.
"That is not an uncommon sentiment." Dr. Raine told her. "There are very many nudists who do different jobs in the coalition, augments and otherwise." She said, discarding the cup and other consumables of her instruments in a biohazard bin. "We are welcoming to the practice, you will find." She said, handing a small vial to Kate. "I need this full to the black line. You are not to drink water till you finish, it may take some time." Dr. Raine told her.
The black line, made with a sharpie, was ¾ of the way up the tube and Kate wasted no time, biting her cheek to develop some flow, and started filling it up.
"A lot of my staff are nudists, believe it or not." Dr. Raine smiled, and Kate wasn't sure if she was being led on. "They are really only ever in the office, so why not?" She shrugged.
While Kate worked on filling her vial, Dr. Raine wrote some things down in her notebook with her nice pen. The writing was a language or style that she couldn't read. It looked like lines and squiggles, but with an obvious system. When she was almost done filling her saliva sample, Dr. Raine pulled three long q-tips from a drawer, and set them down on her cart, and waited patiently.
Kate gave her the tube of her spit, and Dr. Raine put it in a machine before turning back to her.
"I will be honest with you, this part is going to be very uncomfortable." Dr. Raine told her.
—
"All done, you can sit up now." Dr. Raine told her with her 3 new cultures to process.
"Wasn't terrible." Kate said, shrugging.
"I hate having to do that to someone, it makes my heart hurt every time." Dr. Raine said. She put the q-tips one at a time into her machine, and seemed pleased with the results every time before discarding them into the biohazard bin.
"You are completely healthy and infection free." Dr. Raine said, smiling with warmth as she looked at Kate. Her brow furrowed suddenly, and she leaned forward.
Dr. Riane focused on the left side of her chest. "Is there pain?" Dr. Raine asked.
"Oh!" Kate said, having forgotten about it almost entirely. "I had a rock stuck in there during my last day of training." She brushed it off. "I got it out, no big deal."
"That sounds most uncomfortable." Dr. Raine said, sitting back, seeming stunned.
"Small fish compared to belly crawling over three hundred meters through mud with your hands and feet tied." Kate said, shrugging again. Dr. Raine laughed, more at herself than anything.
"Yes, I suppose you would have more pressing matters on your mind." Dr. Raine said. "If you would like, I could arrange to have them corrected while you're under?" She offered.
"No, that's quite alright. I like them the way they are." Kate replied.
"No matter then, we're taking another walk." Dr. Raine said, gathering her notebook and pen, then motioning Kate out the door after her. "The next step in the process is getting fitted for your armor." Dr. Raine said, looking up at Kate's face, and seeing the reaction she'd seen more than a dozen times.
Unbridled joy was plain on Kate's face, looking like a kid at christmas. Oh to have such youth.
"You will also meet my coworkers, who are the ones I spoke of before." Dr. Raine told her. "They can be quite odd, I should warn you."
"I'm sure we'll get along fine." Kate said. "I'm weird too." Dr. Raine couldn't stop herself from smiling. This one will do well. She thought.
"Through here." Dr. Raine said, indicating a set of double doors. "After you."
Kate stepped into the room. It was a massive laboratory, with delicate looking instruments on large tables all around. The room was about a hundred feet deep, and three hundred feet long, the double doors on the long side of the room. There were no windows, the room landing in the interior. Bookcases filled every wall, most were full of books, almost every one of them looking well worn., but some shelves were used as storage for other things.
"This is Kate Schmidt." Dr. Raine introduced her to the five others in the room.
One was a woman, tall, perhaps 8 inches shorter than Kate, and wore nothing. She waved with her free hand, the other holding a tablet. There were two others, also nude, sitting next to one another on stools at a table across the room, one man and one woman, each tapping on a laptop. Those two raised a hand and put them back down in a lazy wave, both moving at the same time and in the same way.
There was one other, staring through a microscope, headphones in, and was dressed in the standard gray UNPC fatigues. Kate couldn't quite tell if they were male or female.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
There was a very bouncy short and thin female, wearing the classic gray utility uniform, just like the one looking through the microscope that made herself known, skipping up to Kate and extending a hand. "Hello, I'm Samsa." They said quickly.
"That's a unique name." Kate said.
"Thank you!" Samsa beamed. "So I'm going to have to spend like an hour with a tailors tape staring at you naked in different poses and stuff." She spoke very quickly.
"I'm okay with that." Kate nodded to her, finding Samsa's boundless energy and attitude refreshing. Kate let the small woman go at her, and zoned out while she was coaxed into different poses and positions, taking measurements of her body in all sorts of different places.
What felt like hours later, Samsa wrote down the last measurement, and hopped up. "All done!" she exclaimed happily. "You'll get your armor after you recover, and you'll have plenty of time to wear it." Samsa said, smiling at Kate enthusiastically, sharing Kate's excitement.
Several hours later, Kate rested her head on the pillow of a comfortable and warm bed that had been provided to her. She found sleep hard to find, her body sore and mind racing, wondering what tomorrow held.
She awoke, and found food. It was a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, and two pieces of toast, with a cup of orange juice on the side, but it was welcoming, and filling. The room was about fifteen by fifteen feet. It reminded her of a hotel room, although far smaller. There was an attached bathroom, and it was equally as small and simplistic. It contained a stand up shower, and a large high quality bath towel.
She used the entire bar of soap, which wasn't saying much for the unscented single use individually packaged bar, but it got her clean, no less. She felt as though she was washing her past off of her. The thought of her mother still weighed on her. The woman was not her mother figure, but she was still blood.
During training, two months, six days ago to the day, she'd been pulled out of class and notified that she'd died. Though she had no real part in Kate's life, it still impacted her. To Kate, the word "mother" was synonymous with "abandonment."
Her sister had raised her, and after her death from Leukemia, she had no one, as far as she was concerned. Even her father had died when she was very young. Kate didn't remember his face, and had but one picture - a mugshot she'd looked up on Google when she was 17.
To an outsider, after having all of this explained, it would be seen as tragic, but for Kate, it was simply life. And life goes on. She'd chosen the Augment Corps because "It was the biggest and best thing she thought she could do with her life." That was what she told herself, and whoever asked her.
The real reason was that it was the only service she could enter and leave on the same day. The day after her sister's funeral.
When Kate stepped out of the shower, and toweled off, she found a neatly folded UNPC multicam uniform, with the augment corps insignia on the left bicep.
A piece of paper was folded like a tent atop it, it read "Optional at all times" in neat handwriting.
This was a far larger decision for her than she thought it should be. She enjoyed the feeling of freedom that came from nudity, as of late.
After a moment of deliberation, she put on socks, the boy short style FR material underwear bottoms, the multicam trousers and accompanying boots. Bare from the waist up, her natural state when lounging around the house. Her sister would tease her if.... No matter.
Now wearing clothes for the first time in a while, she left her room, and went down to Dr. Raine's lab, as instructed. She wondered how the other augments were doing, it seemed like they'd been kept separate after their arrival.
She entered the lab, and saw only Dr. Raine and a single assistant. They were most likely a pack animal, as they were completely nude, but Kate had never seen the woman before.
"Hello Kate, I see you've cleaned up." Dr, Raine said, smiling at her from across her cluttered desk. The nude woman waved, but said nothing. "This is Cameron, she is one of my many assistants." Dr. Raine introduced them. They sat in a chair near, but not at Dr. Raine's desk. Average height, average build, brown hair, brown eyes, completely unremarkable just like the receptionist. Cameron bowed their head in a gesture of respect.
"Do not be put off by her silence, she is a woman of few words." Dr. Raine said. "Well, there is much to speak about. Shall we start?" Dr. Raine asked.
"Of course." Kate said.
"Would you like anything before we begin? Tea, coffee, a stiff drink?" Dr. Raine asked, gesturing towards her own cup of creamed coffee.
"Coffee, please." Kate smiled, and just like that, Cameron was up and off, returning some time later with a 14 ounce vacuum insulated mug on a platter, with single serving packages of creamer and sugar surrounding the mug.
Kate took a sip, and found it to be the best she'd ever had, by far. The fact that she'd gone cold turkey for several months probably added to the taste.
"Good?" Dr. Raine asked her.
"Great." She said, seeing Cameron smile, crinkling the corners of her eyes.
—
"So, if you agree to everything, you'll enter on a fifty year mandatory contract. You can do more if you like, but that's just the minimum." Dr. Raine said, "Your pay will be increased for every school you pass. Such as airborne school and jungle warfare school." Dr. Raine told her.
"The pay starts at three thousand one hundred and twenty five dollars a week. That is based on a hundred and fifty thousand dollar a year salary, but you are paid weekly." Dr. Raine said. That was an astronomical amount of money to Kate. She wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do with all that. "Every school you graduate from will add two thousand dollars to that salary, of which it will be divided, and still paid weekly." Dr. Raine told her.
"How many schools are there currently? That I could go to, I mean." Kate asked.
"FIfty eight. More will be added in the future, as more nations partner with the coalition." Dr. Raine replied.
Kate did the math quickly. That's two hundred and sixty six thousand a year, and in American dollars.... Dear god.
"We do not throw that figure about, because we want qualified and willing candidates." Dr. Raine said, Kate nodding dumbly.
"Now fifty years is no small thing, and we understand it's a big decision. So we will give you forty eight hours to deliberate whether you need it or not." Dr. Raine explained, suddenly looking serious. "If you decide you don't want to, you can go right back to being a civilian, no strings attached."
"I understand." Kate said, nodding.
"I will explain more about that in a moment, now I need to talk about all of the medical details of your augmentations" Dr. Raine said, producing a stack of paper and taking the first page off the top, and flipping it over so Kate could see.
—
"So that means you'll lose all of your coarse body hair below the eyebrows, and be left with peach fuzz everywhere you have it now." Dr. Raine said. "We used to do it on an as needed basis, but now it's just an umbrella process."
"All hair?" Kate asked.
"Below the eyebrows, yes, legs, pubic hair, armpits, all of it." She replied.
"Sounds magical." Kate said, smiling. She was going to enjoy not having to shave her legs before going out, and not having to do her armpits anymore. In truth, she was looking forward to all of it. The better hearing, enhanced cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the list went on.
"So, with that all out of the way, you will be given forty eight hours to think about it, as I have said." Dr. Raine told her. "While you're here, if there is absolutely anything you want, we will provide it for you. The sky's the limit, no holds barred." Dr. Raine smiled. "In the past, we have delivered on wishlists. Sex toys, whatever you want. Just no drugs, Nicotine products and alcohol are fine, considering it'll become a small drop in a big bucket soon."
"I might have to put one together then." Kate said, already thinking of a few things.
"You are free to go about the facility wherever you want." Dr. Raine said. "Take a walk, and think about it, talk to people." Dr. Raine suggested, finishing her cup of coffee and setting it aside. Cameron made a gesture as if to ask 'more?' but Dr. Raine shook her head, and stilled her.
"What of uniforms? I had a note on this one that said they were optional." Kate crossed her legs, leaning back now that the serious discussion was over. "Is that just for this facility?"
Dr. Raine smiled broadly. "As an augment, the only time you are expected to be in uniform is while deployed. That uniform is our ECA system." Dr. Raine gestured to Cameron. "Elsewise, you are free to go about the entirety of every installation however you like, with the exception of mess halls, where you're required to wear a lower covering, such as you are now, but a pair of shorts will suffice." Dr.Raine said. "I encourage everyone to try it at least once, outside of these first few days. Most find it freeing when they stick with it."
"That's interesting." Kate said. "I do not think I'll partake in going without the lower half, but I've never enjoyed wearing tops."
"Then don't." Dr. Raine shrugged. "So, with that, our discussion is over, and you are free to do as you please." Dr. Raine said. "There is a phone in your room, if you dial one, you will reach the front desk, and he will put you into contact with me." Dr. Raine assured her. "Twenty four hours a day, someone will be there to talk to you. You can even talk the ear off of Jack at the desk, he won't mind."
"I understand." How many times have I said that?
—
She was uneasy, going under the knife is never a good feeling. SHe'd signed all the papers, and she was now on her way to becoming a proper augment.
She laid on a hospital bed, and was hooked up to various monitors and machines. Dr. Raine was next to her, sitting on a stool, and wearing scrubs.
"When you wake up, you'll be in your room, and I will be sitting next to you." Dr. Raine told her. "It will be one month and four days from today." Kate nodded, she'd been told this twice before.
"You will have new scars and abilities, I will be there for your recovery, every step of the way." Dr. Raine said.
"I'm ready." Kate said. She looked to Dr. Raine's pleasing smile as her conscience faded, and left her.
—
She awoke in her bed, well, not hers, but the bed in the room she'd been provided. The dimmed lights hurt her eyes for minutes, taking a while to acclimate after being closed for so long. She was thirsty, her throat feeling like she'd swallowed a pound of sand, and she was ravenously hungry.
She laid motionless, her entire body ached, every muscle and bone. She took a deep breath, and was instantly lightheaded as her enhanced lungs oversaturated her blood with oxygen. She saw Dr. Raine's face over hers. "Take it slow, child." She said, "You will feel much better in a few moments, once you acclimate."
She laid there, breathing till her splitting headache went away, and her soreness partially faded. She could hear the ticking of the wall clock like it was right next to her, the cars on the road outside, Dr. Raine's breathing, and the slight rustling of the blanket she laid under created by the slight movement of her heart in her chest. Fifty beats a minute was new.
"Thirsty." She croaked.
"You will need to sit up." Dr. Raine said, "take it slowly, easy now, good."
Her headache came back for a few seconds, but left as fast as it came. Her hands were full of pins and needles as she took the cup of water with a straw in it, and drank deeply. Dr. Raine offered her two more cups, and she drank those too. The soreness in her muscles was nearly gone, and she felt like she'd just downed three cups of coffee, not water.
"You will notice restlessness and will feel energetic." Dr. Raine said to her, as if reading her mind. "That is your augmentations at work." Kate sat breathing while staring at the mattress. "You will find three hours of sleep as resting as ten."
"I am going to turn the lights up, slowly." Dr. Raine said, standing and hitting the switch on the wall. Kate's eyes adjusted with the light, painlessly and quickly. "Good." Dr. Raine said. "I would like you to stand."
"Okay." Kate said, swinging her legs off the side of the bed, and putting her feet on the floor. Every new muscle had pins and needles that were brought about by first use, but faded with repetition.
"Take it slowly." Dr. Raine told her. She stood, and her head rushed, but it was gone in an instant. Every movement felt slow. She found she could focus, and make things slow down, letting her reaction time and thought processes move quicker than the world around her.
On her feet, she saw Dr. Raine's pleased expression. "Look at yourself in the mirror." Dr. Raine told her.
Kate turned her head, then body towards the full length mirror. Her skin, looking softer than ever now that most of her body hair had been removed, was covered in small scars from incisions every few inches. Her muscles looked pumped, and her abs well defined now.
She looked like an olympic level cross trainer. Her heart jumped, realizing just how good she looked, and that it was really her body.
"You really do look great. I must say." Dr. Raine said.
"Thank you for making me into this." Kate said softly, her voice sounding loud in her ears.
"All we did was improve on what was already there." Dr. Raine said, sounding proud. "You have much to get used to."
"Please, come with me to the mess hall, let's get you something to eat." Dr. Raine said.
Kate found it hard to take her eyes from the mirror, as if looking away would make her new body vanish. She did, after a second, and put on a pair of new boy short style underwear, offered to her by Dr. Raine.
"Would you like anything else to wear?" Dr. Raine asked.
"No thank you." Kate said, acclimating to how her voice sounded more and more with every word spoken.
Her appetite was limitless, she ate three full trays of food and still had hunger, though her stomach hurt.
Dr. Raine watched with pride as she ate. "You will acclimate to your faster metabolism in time." Dr. Raine told her after she'd sat back, looking into her lap and touching each finger to the tip of her thumbs extremely rapidly, trying to get used to how fast she could move now.
"I feel like everything is moving so slow." Kate said, looking up at Dr. Raine, who had to stop herself from startling at how fast Kate's head whipped up.
"That is your reaction time at work. It will take some time to get used to." Dr. Raine said. Kate was still looking down at herself, her new body, scars, the way her forearms bulged when she moved her fingers. Her thighs were that of a bodybuilder's now, and she felt larger, overall.
"How soon can I work out? Run? Do those things?" Kate asked.
"As soon as you like." Dr. Raine said. "Any time you want. You have the next thirty days to yourself." She assured her. "We made sure you were perfectly healthy before you woke up."
"I'd like to go running after a while, then." Kate said. "Could you have a pair of shorts brought to me?" Kate asked.
"Well, of course, but wouldn't you rather do it in your armor?" Dr. Raine asked, smiling at her with a sparkle in her eyes.
She'd nearly forgotten.
"Let's go try it on, shall we?"
—
"Here is your life support suit." Dr. Raine said, handing her a mass of black fabric with what looked like tubes running through it. "LSS for short." Dr. Raine said. "Just put it on and zip it up, nothing fancy."
They were in Dr. Raine's lab, alone, her new armor laid out across tables in front of her. So many parts.
Kate put the skin tight suit on, and liked how it fit, supporting the right areas and feeling cool to the touch. She moved around a bit while wearing it, it felt natural, and the soles of the suit were thin, but supportive.
"Now, we'll start with putting on the boots." Dr. Raine said.
—
Some time later, she wore the entire system. It was bare, lacking any pouches or other attachments, but it was hers now.
"How does it feel?" Dr. Raine asked her.
"Comfortable, and very seamless." Kate said. Every one of her limbs felt unclad besides the skin tight suit. She felt no weight from the plates, and furthermore moved unencumbered. After a lengthy explanation about the upkeep and maintenance of the cold cell batteries, she was educated by Dr. Raine about the many systems of the armor.
"You can direct where you want the air on your face in that menu, or how cold or hot, how fast the blower spins, all of that." Dr. Raine said. "In that menu, you can also change the temperature of your LSS, be aware that in very hot environments you may only be able to lower the temperature by thirty or so degrees, relative to ambient." Dr. Raine explained.
Kate had something a little more pressing on her mind. "I need to use the restroom." Kate said, "Do I just pee? Or do I need to do something?" She asked.
"You can just go." Dr. Raine replied. "As soon as the LSS has any liquid on it, it'll wick it away and into the recycler." Dr. Raine said. "It will also pull moisture out of the air for you to drink."
Kate found it difficult to shake the feeling of wetting herself, and found it hard to start. As soon as she was going, the only thing she felt was the flow against the inner lips of her vulva, and that was it. There was no warmth or wetness to be felt anywhere else.
"This is odd." Kate said. She'd never done that before, let alone standing straight up.
"Number two is the same way. It took us a very long time to figure that out." Dr. Raine sounded as if she was speaking about an extremely hard math test she'd done long ago.
"How long can I wear the armor at a whack?" Kate asked.
"Indefinitely, though you will start to smell, the only discomfort will be your toenails becoming ingrown." Dr. Raine said. "We have had augments be deployed and wear their armor for over a year at a time.
"I keep hearing about deployments, how does that work?" Kate asked.
"You will be put on a plane, or otherwise transported to where you are needed, or attached to a unit." Dr. Raine said, she was sitting behind her desk now, and was doing something on her laptop. "You can expect to be deployed up to ten times a year, and the length depends entirely on what you are doing." She explained.
"Am I allowed to wear it out and about?" Kate asked.
"Within reason, you can go about any installation wearing it." Dr. Raine replied. "Feel free to wear it for as long as you like, get used to it, move around, do as you will." Dr. Raine added.
"May I go to the range?" Kate asked.
"By all means, feel free to raid supply for whatever you want, and find what pouches and placements work for you." Dr. Raine sounded excited for her. "There are a million things you will need to learn, and there is nothing to do but live in it and mess around with it." Dr. Raine said. "Have fun, try lifting heavy things, see how fast you can run, how high you can jump." Dr. Raine said, smiling fondly. "I have worked very hard on it, and I would be ashamed if you didn't."
Guess I'll have to live in it.