Chapter 7

I awoke refreshed, and ready for the day’s exertion. Not waking Sandy (as she slept soundly beside me); I showered, shaved, and dressed. Today, I would become a ‘spaceman’.

Heading for the briefing room we had gathered in the previous day, I smiled happily at everyone I passed. I had put the revelation made to Sandy, the previous day, far behind me. Today was a new day, and I was learning a new skill. All to embrace my new life.

I wasn’t doing a good job of convincing myself I was happy with leaving. I tried to pretend anyway, hoping the pretending would become reality.

I arrived at the briefing room, meeting up with the rest of the team. The briefing went quickly, with Major Wellert providing an overview of the alien ship, and the route to reach the weapons bay. From there, Captain Roland guided us to the suit room. He handed us our helmets, and Bruce put his on. Staring at the blackened visor, he waited for the lecture to begin.

Bruce chuckled under his helmet, saying: “TJ? This is what space looks like, all dark.”

“Go ahead and remove your helmet. You can’t see anything until they are activated,” Captain Roland told Bruce.

“Each helmet is individually battery powered. The battery’s life is about fifteen hours. They will be activated just before transit to ‘Columbia.’ Once there, you will deactivate them. I will test power levels, and then recharge them, as necessary. We don’t know how long the transfer to the shuttle will last; but we hope to do the exchange, in less than one hour.

“What I am handing you now, is a mouthpiece. This mouthpiece is your controller, for the functions of your helmet. It will also provide sensory feedback, to your tongue, and to the roof of your mouth.”

I took the mouthpiece, and slid it in my mouth. It fit very much like my retainer had, as a teenager. The metal wires grasped onto the back of my teeth, while a smooth plastic membrane covered the roof of my mouth.

Captain Roland continued with his lecture.

“This mouthpiece turns your helmet on, and off, as well as activates the various functions. It has been individually fit to your mouth, based on your dental records. If there is any discomfort, or looseness in it’s fit, you can see the base dentist after this for adjustments.

“Holding the helmet in your hands, place the tip of your tongue at the roof of your mouth, as far back as you can reach. Now, quickly move your tongue forward to the front of your mouth. Rubbing the membrane at the roof of your mouth quickly. This should activate the helmet, as long as you are in contact with it.”

My helmet flickered to life, as I looked into it, following the Captains instructions. Where only a darkened visor had showed; it was now clear, and transparent.

“The visor will automatically darken, or ‘polarize’ to counter the effects of direct sunlight, while in space. The visor also has a built in ‘heads up’ display. Put the helmet on now. I demonstrate how it operates.”

I slid the helmet on, and the image darkened briefly, then sharpened to crystal clear clarity. It expanded around my head, making a snug fit against my neck, and cheeks. I panicked for a moment before realizing that though sealed, I could still breathe. The Captain, seeing everyone with the helmet on, continued.

“I will now remotely activate various functions of your helmet,” came the Captains voice, loudly, through the bones in my skull.

“First, is sight enhancement. This option will allow you to see in a closed, dark environment. You also have a built in infrared-light system, and object mapping.”

My vision washed red; and then I was seeing everything in white outlined edges, overlaying a false color view of the room. It provided a detailed view of where the edges of the room were, and where the corners met. Each member of the team was surrounded by a white outline. Each team member also had, floating above them, a number.

“The number you see, is your identification system. The helmets can identify team members, by number. I am number ‘seven four’. Speak clearly the number, and the helmet will direct your voice call to that person, if they are in range. Try it now, by talking only to me, as I call your name.”

The captain called each of us, in turn.

When he got to me, I nervously said, “Seven Four, can you hear me sir?” On my visor screen, the captains floating number blinked as I said it, and his outline turned from white, to black.

“Loud and clear,” the captain replied.

He finished by calling on Bruce, last.

“Very good, now look around you, and try it among yourselves.”

I called Bruce, “Two Five, got your ears on, good buddy?” I said, remembering the good old days of trucker movies.

“I hear you, TJ. Did you notice that the display flashes the number of the person, in the corner of your visor, if you’re not looking directly at them?”

“No I didn’t. Have you discovered anything else?” I asked.

There was no response. Almost smacking my forehead with a duh, I tried it again.

“Two Five, I didn’t notice that. I did discover that you have to say the persons number, each time you try to transmit,” I told him.

The Captain’s voice boomed loudly into my helmet, again.

“You can also transmit to the group, by using ‘zero zero zero’, as the call sign. You can make all transmissions to the person, or persons you specify, by using the onboard call system. To activate it, use your tongue, and the roof of your mouth. Move your tongue, on the sensor plate, in a circle. One direction will put your helmet in sleep mode, the other will activate your call computer.”

I tried it, and the helmet went black. I used the previously learned activate command, and it returned to the exact same mode it had been in before. I tried the opposite direction, and a small box seemed to pop up, and hover about a foot in front of me.

“This ‘window’ is your communication computer control. Here you can activate various communication protocols, and choices. The list scrolls from left to right. You scroll by moving your tongue along the back of your teeth, in the desired direction. Scroll now to the end of the list, to ‘wide band’ call.”

I moved my tongue against the plastic, resting against the back of my upper teeth. My jaw, and tongue, were beginning to get tired; but I knew from experience, that I could handle more. Reaching the end of the list, the ‘Wide Band Call’ item was highlighted.

“This is for emergencies only. Using this call, results in your voice being sent as a wide band radio message. This is for emergencies only, because the alien ship will not react well to any radio transmissions it picks up. If you use this, expect to be in mortal danger in a matter of moments, if you are not already dead.

“Select this item, by doing the exact opposite of your activation tongue press.”

I brought my tongue from the front of my mouth, to the back, sliding it along the roof. Nothing happened, so I tried it again, only faster. The words ‘Wide Band Call’ appeared in front of me, and faded away, as the little window disappeared.

“Ok, sound off your number in numerical order, to verify that you have completed this step,” the captain told us.

I waited for my turn, then said, “Five Nine, reporting.”

I could hear each of the others as if they were inside the helmet with me, as they sounded off their numbers. Each persons outline blinked, as they said their number, and it appeared in text at the corner of my vision.

“I thought you said that we would do this with a hand controller?” I said.

“We will get to that in a moment, Dr. Calin,” Captain Roland told us. “The hand controller is built into the weapon. If you drop the weapon, or don’t have the use of your arms, then you will be reliant on the ‘tongue joystick’.”

I brought up the communication control window again, and reset it to ‘LOS Call Sign’.

“Two Five, sounds like this entire ‘joystick tongue’ action is part of a lesbian training program.”

I watched his head shake, but he didn’t respond. But Captain Roland heard me.

“There will be no more jokes, and no more chatter. Our time to learn this, is very limited. The same movements that you use on the mouthpiece, you will use on the gun mounted joystick.”

“Captain,” I asked, “How is it that the mouthpiece, the gun and the helmet all communicate; but you say that the internal security of the ship, attacks stray sources of radio emissions?”

“Good question, first everyone flip back to Line of Site Group, or LOS Group, as it appears in the menu.”

I quickly move the selection to the LOS group setting, and wait for his explanation.

“The suit, your oxygen tanks, your weapon, and the helmet; all communicate through your skin, with each other. Communication between the helmets is done with either directed, or non-directed, pulses of ultraviolet light. The current setting (which we will be using throughout our mission), allows you to talk to everyone in your line of site. Or, more accurately, anyone that is near enough to see you. It will even work if you are not looking at each other. To demonstrate this, everyone form a circle, facing outwards.”

The team, and I, complied. The captain continued his speech.

“Dr. Calin, Captain Jones, and Major Wellert; will be acting as relays, for the group. I will be leading Major Windor, and her team of Lt. Maddox, Lt. Connor, and Lt. Borhn, to the weapons bay. Once the weapons are released, and ready for movement, Major Wellert will signal through the Vortex.

“The Vortex entrance will then be moved, for the retrieval of the Neutron Weapons. After that is complete; I will lead the Major, and her team, to the energy weapon bays. We will attempt to remove one, for study.

“During the second phase of the mission, Major Wellert will lead Dr. Calin, and Captain Jones, in a hunt for any technology that might be accessible. It will be a free for all scavenger hunt, for no longer than the amount of time I give you. At the end of that time limit, we reassemble, and head back to earth.

“We will be returning directly, and it will most likely be a stressful transit. I will go into detail with the method that Dr. Calin devised for moving through Vortex points moving at different speeds, after we get familiar with the weapons. So, follow me, and we’ll go get them.”

We followed him down to the shooting range that I had visited the previous day. On a rack against the wall, were eight large black guns, and eight pair of gloves. Captain Roland passed the gloves out, and we slipped them on, as he put his on as well.

“Because you don’t want to bare your skin to vacuum; and yet the guns need contact with skin to communicate with the rest of your equipment, you will use these gloves. The gloves have metal fibers running through them that not only warm your fingers, but also pass the signals through the protective material.

“Each of you, take a gun, and stand at a firing booth.”

I took one of the large, rifle shaped weapons. It was heavier than I had expected it to be. Its matte black finish reflected very little light, from the ceiling mounted fluorescent fixture. I shouldered it, and aimed down the sight. But I found it difficult to hold steady, because of the weight.

“The gun will be too heavy for you to sight well, so you will need to activate the visual aiming marker,” Captain Roland told us. “Where your thumb rests, on the stock, is a small round disk. Activate it, by rubbing your gloved thumb over it, in the same motion as you used with the mouthpiece.”

I activated my gun, and before my eyes, a view down the gun sight came up on the visor. I rested the gun on the short wall that kept you in the shooting station. Balancing it on the wall, I found that with one hand, I could pivot, and aim the weapon.

“Once activated, the helmet will track your eye movements, identifying targets that you look at, as friend or foe. I’m now going to step out into the shooting range, and I want you to take aim at me. I have disabled the weapons, so don’t worry about firing, by mistake.”

I watched the Captain as he strolled out to the far end of the range. Looking at him, my visor placed a blue outline around him, and identified him by his number. Turning my attention to my video gun sight, I moved the weapon, to aim at him.

I immediately moved the weapon off of him, as a small electric tingle shot through my mouth. I could hear someone cursing, as they experienced the same reaction.

Captain Roland explained the sensation.

“What you just felt, was part of the friend-foe targeting system. If you aim at what the computer determines to be a friendly target, you will receive a slight tingle. If you place your finger on the trigger, it will intensify. If you fire, it will pulsate. It will not become an incapacitating signal; so you will have the ability to kill a team member, if it should be necessary.”

“What kind of ammo does it use, and how do we reload?” I asked.

“The gun is loaded with magnetically propelled ceramic balls. It carries five hundred rounds, and will not be reloaded, while on the mission. I will see that the weapons are fully loaded, before we transit for the first stage of our mission.

“The guns are currently loaded with one hundred rounds. The bullets are very small, but still provide some recoil, due to the exit velocity. The firing velocity is flexible, depending on your firing conditions. I will move out of the way, and we will take practice shots. I will then show you how to alter the velocity.”

He moved back to a firing station. I watched as the words ‘weapon activated’ flashed on my heads up display; followed by a tiny, bell like, tone.

“In a weightless environment, your weapon will recoil strangely. You will need to fire with the stock firmly against your shoulder. Here, because of the weight of the rifles, you will probably need to rest it on the short wall. The weight of the gun does help to minimize the recoil.

“If your finger is on the trigger, then all commands you give the command sensor disk, will be interpreted as gun commands. Remove your finger from contact on the trigger, and the commands will be interpreted as helmet commands. Mouthpiece commands are always interpreted as helmet commands.

“Placing your finger on the trigger, aim at the target paper, and fire one shot.”

I swiveled the gun, and took a ‘between the eyes’ aim. The heads up display on the visor showed the paper target, and identified it as a training target. Next to the overlaid image of the gun sight, there was a blue number 200 on the right, and a 1 on the left.

“Go ahead and take one shot. You are currently at a low velocity setting.”

I fired, and the gun made no move in my hands, with only the slightest whoosh of sound. My visor had tracked the projectile, and put a red circle around the impact point. It was a perfect shot.

“Very good, now using the control interface, change projectile velocity from two hundred meters per second, to eight hundred. The number to the right of the sight display, is the speed. The number on the left, is the burst selector.

“Max projectile velocity, in vacuum, is about 4500 meters per second. That’s 4.5 kilometers per second. Firing at max velocity will provide a very strong kick. If you are in free fall, it will knock you all over the place. For now, let’s take a shot at the higher velocity. The kick from the ten gram projectile, will be much more noticeable.”

I thumbed the plate, and selected 800 MPS. Taking aim again I fired. I could see a noticeable streak and a very loud crack as the bullet fired and hit the rear wall. Dust seemed to fill part of the firing range from sandbags that exploded when hit by the projectile.

I could hear a few whoops of joy, at the explosion of dust from behind the targets.

“Ok, settle down, now I want you to increase the velocity speed to 2500 meters per second. This is the top limit for atmospheric operations, with this projectile. Anything faster and it turns itself into plasma. Again a single shot.”