Charlie flexed his arm under the thick layers of wire threaded denim and yelled over his shoulder to where their spouse was still working industrially.

“Ya, fits like a glove love! – though it’s a bit tight across the shoulders, do I really need to wear all-o this crap?”

They tried to turn to face the mirror but were stopped as their spouse began to mutter under eir breath and prodded him firmly back with eir walking stick. Charlie sighed and allowed himself to be rotated in the direction of the prodding, quickly finding themselves back facing the bookcase as Li worked on buckling the next sections into place.

Suitably rebuked Charlie stood still as ey worked on attaching the sections to the velcro covered denim of his under suit and as expected found his mind wandering whilst he read the book titles in front of him. Like most of the bookshelves in his house it was packed with multiple issues of the same few books. In this case the original progenitor of sci-fi, Frankenstein. – The books were all varied in their execution and critical appeal of the era, tweaks to the ending and subtle variations to the monster and his creature which swung the sympathies one way or the other.

He ran a finger across the bindings and thought about it, such a horrifying concept: a man cobbled together from corpses and awakened by science poorly understood. The books were a special part of Charlie’s life on the street, a lens to make sense of the weirdness of the world they lived in. He couldn’t help wondering as he thought of souls bound together by a monstrous doctor if The Collective was such a thing. He had met The Collective a few times, had even learned a little about what The Collective was and even a bit about the new ‘Core Intelligence’ which had taken control but couldn’t help wondering if the being he was setting himself against was more monstrous doctor than mere machine.

A tension tightened around his neck and the click of interlocking plastic echoed around the room pulling him out of his thoughts, Charlie looked down at Li who shrugged eir assent.

"You can move now, it should all be attached now"

Charlie turned gingerly, the gentle hum of the motors in the suit matching their movements as he twisted and flexed his muscles against the restraints. He moved carefully from there, stepping carefully over the thick braided cable that connected the exoskeleton to its temporary, diesel, power source and turned to face the mirror set against the wall.

When Li and Red had first pitched the idea for an “exoskeletal frame to protect him in the void” he had dreamed of something heroic, sleek, and sci-fi. His thoughts had been along the lines of a kind of real-life ironman suit, a bit more rugged and handmade perhaps, and of course festooned with pride flags, but nonetheless something slick polished and in hindsight pretty unreasonable.

Reality, as it often did, fell rather short of Charlie’s idle daydreams, and the technological armour his friend had designed, and his spouse had built was more of a mismatch array of copper mesh plates, servos and pistons designed to disperse electromagnetic interference and augment his movements.

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He twisted in front of the mirror revealing the sections on his back and side as he snapped a few photos with his definitely no longer biological eye. In the overlay of that advanced and slightly unnerving computational analysis it was clear that it was more a collection of useful, crude devices that would keep them alive in a somewhat inelegant way.

Charlie closed his eyes with a shudder and pushed the thought back, it was too cynical, too artificial, and oily to be just his own. It was a useful reminder, and they opened their eyes to find Li holding a helmet towards him, which he slipped on immediately.

The second the smooth foam touched their brow the thought vanished; the oily sheen pushed back as the signal jammer within rested against his scalp – He grimaced at the thought, who would have thought signing a blanket consent form would be so risky. He turned back to the mirror and examined the helmet. It was a modified motorbike helmet, all wires and brightly adorned with pride flags – much more like it.

He pushed aside their aesthetic concerns and focused on practicality, moving through a quick circuit of his morning stretches as he tested the flexibility of the joints. Content he had a full range of motion he smiled and turned back to his awaiting spouse who was watching him anxiously.

"Is it comfortable? Ey said, tapping eir hand nervously against the cabinet ey were leaning against.

Charlie considered the question carefully, he had a full range of motion, but was it comfortable? He stretched and flexed a bit more and noticed the expected friction and dull pressure where softened by layers of careful padding and foam.

They smiled at their spouse. “It’s perfect”

Li returned the smile as tears welled up in eir eyes and ey moved stalling towards Charlie. He approached in turn, letting Li lean into his embrace, eir trembling arms wrapping tightly against his wire festooned torso.

They could feel their spouse's nerves about their part in the plan in eir torn breaths. Not that the pair needed to discuss it, they both knew the facts of the situation - he was not choosing to risk himself, Charlie was simply the only choice, the one who's body was already filled with metallic parts that made their survival in the cold dark of the void possible, and the only one who could interact with the collective now that it had changed.

It was something he needed to do, in the same way Li was needed to build and study magic, Charlie was needed in the void. It was a truth they both understood but saying it aloud would have just made it harder, so without another word Charlie made to leave.

As he did, Li placed a hand against their chest carefully pulling a parcel of brown paper from behind the closet.

“Going to leave - did you really think that was all? Al did some work on this before…” Eir face fell and Charlie pulled em back into a hug as the parcel hung limp in eir hands.

“We will get it back don’t worry – you and Jack can do it. I ‘ave complete faith in ya both.”

He pulled away reluctantly, folding the package under their arm as Li dabbed at eir damp eyes with a tissue. The package was soft beneath the crinkled paper and Charlie opened it carefully to avoid tearing the contents. As the wrapping gave way a great flood of fabric spilled out, a beautiful blur of turquoise bulls running endlessly against a backdrop of stars.

Charlie shook the material out, the flood of fabric taking form as a long-hooded cloak – a perfect addition to complete his outfit. Without hesitation he swung it on, the shimmering material the perfect addition to the gleaming helmet whilst it covered the mess of cables and servos beneath.

Finally feeling ready Charlie gave Li a final kiss and then moved out onto the street, dragging the small sled mounted engine behind them as they made their way towards Biz’s lab.

He was ready, equipped, and eager to save his friends – it was now or never.