Upon seeing this file, it didn’t seem like it was encrypted by any sort of key. It didn’t seem to be a key since it wasn’t of the wcmKEY filetype, so he tried opening it.
Much to his satisfaction, he could see the projector load the file right up and display its contents.
Cael was not greeted by an initial video but instead, two more text files appeared in his downloads folder.
He felt eager to peruse these files and study their contents, but felt more anxious remaining in this building.
Swiftly walking down, the steps of this large villa, he arrived at the ground floor in a flash. Revealing himself to the darkness of Pinalejo, there wasn’t a sound or movement.
Seemingly undetected, he continued to eavesdrop on the adjacent street. The last thing he wanted would be to reveal himself to individuals traversing the pavement.
Therefore, he remained patient and vigilant for even the lightest footstep.
The silence that ensued was his green light; leaping right over the barricade to land on the street, he noticed nobody in the vicinity.
With that, Cael took his leave with this projector and returned to the institute at around 10:15pm, making it back before curfew.
Throwing himself onto the sofa within his spacious studio dorm, he revealed his projector to investigate these files that he’d received.
[File: prototype-kinetic-absorber.wcmTEXT]
Now, this would be a transformative creation for his firm. He couldn’t wait another second without seeing what the creator had in store for him.
He opened the files, and was met with several descriptive, captivating animations and holograms to further illustrate the creator’s points.
After taking a few minutes to read a bulk of information on this file, he was attempting to use a special type of alloy that could absorb the kinetic energy of strikes but not just dissipate it.
Instead, there would be energy storage devices directly connected to the exosuit’s surface. This could suck the energy landing on it, to store it for good use.
Calling this transformative was somehow an understatement. He couldn’t immediately think of a word to capture this sheer innovation. At first, he felt more able to comprehend his explanations as they were simply theories.
The first batch of files had described this same model but never backed up the theories with explanations and abstract models.
He could find all of that in these files.
Cael just continued to read on, with a smile pulling across his face.
The systems that he utilised once again were complex but elegant. He managed to formulate procedures to create things that outshined even the cutting-edge technology of all societies.
The only issue that he identified upon reading this long document was that the creator was working with very expensive metals and micro-components.
This was something he could understand and resonate with; any system as complex as this would need the best technology available to be realised.
It would cost a fortune, but he was adamant that the rewards would even outshine such large costs.
After continuing to read this article, his growing fatigue soon overpowered his obsession with this article and after another half-hour, he was fast asleep on his sofa.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
*****
Upon waking up, Cael was disheartened to hear that they’d be conducting patrols on this beautiful Sunday morning.
He was hoping for yet another day of rest or even training for that matter – anything but that tedious patrol.
It wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter, though. The students equipped themselves with their respective exosuits, with Vanessa, Blaine and Cael grouping up into their patrolling trio.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this again.” Blaine bluntly stated, being the first proper phrase that Blaine had uttered to the group.
It seemed that after spending so much time training with them, he was slowly opening up. Judging from his lack of enthusiasm or engagement with them, Cael felt there was still much more progress to be made.
“I know right. We’re supposed to be training to join the army. Like I’d let myself do some weird paperwork behind a screen like some scrawny geek.” Vanessa replied, conveying her similar sentiment on the matter.
“Ouch.” Cael thought to himself.
Doing work behind a screen wasn’t that bad, right? He could understand the detest for working through administration papers, but using technology surely wasn’t that bad. Scientists were the reason they could battle to their heart’s content with these exosuits.
Scientists were almost entirely responsible for the luxurious life that both talents lived.
“Yeah.” Cael forcefully replied, before they arrived beside Mr. Lennox.
“Greetings, cadets. We’ll be going through the same patrols as before. This time, it’ll be 9 til 2 and then 2-5 for paperwork.” He explained, as he stepped onto the airbus.
In a flash, they were rushed across the verdant hills surrounding Zarcona to arrive at the dense city centre.
Arriving at rush-hour, they were met with intense, nearly unmoving traffic. Surrounding them were several colonial officers, with even a handful of urban maintenance bots as they struggled to keep the peace.
The drivers of the colony were a lot more... brazen than those Cael was used to. They could barely even hear their thoughts through the incessant horning and yelling.
After what felt like an eternity, they arrived at their destination before beginning their patrol.
The streets swiftly died down from becoming almost fully occupied with air vehicles to being devoid of life. The streets were totally empty as Zarcona’s inhabitants had already arrived at their workplaces.
Additionally, this made their patrolling even more tedious and uneventful. Each minute that passed felt like an hour, and Cael struggled to mentally pull himself through the shift.
Cael, checking his projector to check if the shift was nearing its end felt shocked to see that 2 hours remained. Looking to Mr. Lennox that lead the charge, his face was as insouciant and solemn as always.
Finally, they received a short break from their crippling boredom as Mr. Lennox found a hooded man in an alleyway vandalising a corner store with graffiti.
In a flash, the man was detained by the burly officer, and flopped to the ground with just a slight shove from him.
Mr. Lennox then left the 3 students for a time, and Cael just took in a big breath of air as he stood there.
“2 hours. 2 more freaking hours of this!” Vanessa called out, having had more than enough of this patrol.
Blaine grunted with annoyance, just walking straight into the corner store beside them.
Going into a store whilst they were on duty was against protocol, Cael almost heard the booming voice of the stickler for protocols that was Mr Lennox berating them. Nevertheless, both Cael and Vanessa were too mentally fatigued to say a word.
Just behind Cael, down the empty street of Zarcona, a soldier clad in a black exosuit positioned himself behind a silver aircar ahead of him.
“We have eyes on our target. Cael Breckenridge, currently on patrol for the Colonial Guard.” He explained, holding his hand to his headpiece.
“Affirmative. Hold your positions.” A soldier stated in his own headpiece, situated a few metres ahead of him in a nearby alleyway.
Five soldiers, in black exosuits of varying sizes and design, remained totally still and in silence.
VRMM!!
One of the soldiers, revealing himself from behind one of the aircars lifted his wrist, revealing a thick wrist-mounted energy rifle.
It made his forearms look excessively large, and Cael looked totally startled by the appearance of this man. He looked on edge, along with Vanessa, and they both adopted their signature battle stances.
The man aimed in and the barrel atop his firearm sizzled, whilst glowing brightly. However, no blast was fired.
He remained stood still and through his visor, his eyes were no longer on Cael, but glued to the sky.
“What the hell is that?!” He called out, as all of the other exosuit users revealed themselves from their respective hiding spots.
Cael felt totally off guard by the sudden appearance of these people, and was simultaneously terrified.
From analysing their exosuits, they looked high-tier and were equipped with powerful, lethal weaponry.
What surprised him even more was that as they revealed themselves, they did nothing at all. Upon doing so, it was like these soldiers were frozen into place.
“Move back! MOVE BACK!” The soldier at the head of this five-man crew roared.
BOOM!!