Read Online Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) by B. V. Larson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: B. V. Larson
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difficult part was learning how to operate the hand controls manipulating the grippers at the same time I was directing the twin chest cannons.
The chest cannons operated in two modes. You could use them on full-auto, which essentially meant the suit’s computer system chose its target and fired the cannons wherever it wanted to, or you could manually control both the arms and the cannons with your own hands. This was accomplished by squeezing metal triggers with your palms and three smaller fingers, while at the same time using your thumb and forefinger to make pinching motions to control the grippers. In reality, most troopers chose the middle ground of letting the computer aim the cannons while they chose the moment to fire by either verbally commanding it or by using their fingers.
It was all pretty much as difficult as it sounded. I remarked about it to Carlos while we were undergoing our final trials.
“Tell me about it,” Carlos said. “I feel like I should have a bugle hanging out of my ass. I’m a one-man band, here.”
Throughout the days of training I was naturally in close proximity with Della. We were both wearing monster suits, of course, but I could still see her face. I had to wonder what she was thinking.
I knew without asking what Natasha was thinking. She didn’t leave me any mystery about it. Every time I looked at Della or watched her climb in and out of her dragon, Natasha seemed to notice. I didn’t know how I was supposed to avoid noticing Della all that time, so I didn’t bother to try. After all, we took showers together, dressed together, and sparred together all day long.
Since Natasha seemed to care so much, I decided to make a play for her at dinner the night before we finished our training.
“Natasha,” I said, “hey…how about you and I—”
“Forget it,” she snapped.
“What? You haven’t heard what I was going to say.”
“James, I’ve heard it all. We all have. All of the women in this unit.”
“Sheesh. I was just going to—”
“I know. I suggest you go ask Della instead.”
“Wait,” I said, “Della doesn’t even look at me. Haven’t you noticed that?”
“Of course I have. That’s why I’m angry. She’s still very aware of you. Go talk to her. She wants you to.”
I shrugged. “Fine. Just fine. I’ll do that.”
I found Della in the colonist module which was in the lowest tier of the stack aboard Cyclops .
“Hi Della,” I said, “I just thought I’d come down here and—”
Della put a finger to her lips. She walked toward me, smiling. When she came close I checked her hands for weapons, and I became alarmed. She had one hand behind her back.
Like I said, Della and I had a strange relationship. We’d made love and fought to the death about the same number of times. It could go either way with this woman.
When she got close, I backed up a little. Laughing, she lifted both her hands, palms out. They were empty.
I smiled sheepishly. “Just checking,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “But I’ve changed, James.”
“Listen,” I said hesitantly, “I wanted to apologize for pushing you off the stack of modules and killing you the other day. I didn’t know it was you inside that metal monster at the time. You understand that, right?”
“Yes. You shouldn’t feel any remorse. After all, I did know it was you, and I still tried to clip your arms off. It was all part of the exercise.”
“No hard feelings then?”
“None at all.”
I smiled. “Good. We can be friends again. Say, how about—?”
That was as far as I got. She cut off my words by jumping on me. That’s the only way I can describe it. One second I was unsure how I stood, even fearing for my life, and the next we were in a lip-lock.
We found a place off by ourselves on the Green Deck, which was pretty easy to do on Cyclops since the ship had only about twenty percent of the usual number of troops aboard.
Green Deck was like a public park, a place
The chest cannons operated in two modes. You could use them on full-auto, which essentially meant the suit’s computer system chose its target and fired the cannons wherever it wanted to, or you could manually control both the arms and the cannons with your own hands. This was accomplished by squeezing metal triggers with your palms and three smaller fingers, while at the same time using your thumb and forefinger to make pinching motions to control the grippers. In reality, most troopers chose the middle ground of letting the computer aim the cannons while they chose the moment to fire by either verbally commanding it or by using their fingers.
It was all pretty much as difficult as it sounded. I remarked about it to Carlos while we were undergoing our final trials.
“Tell me about it,” Carlos said. “I feel like I should have a bugle hanging out of my ass. I’m a one-man band, here.”
Throughout the days of training I was naturally in close proximity with Della. We were both wearing monster suits, of course, but I could still see her face. I had to wonder what she was thinking.
I knew without asking what Natasha was thinking. She didn’t leave me any mystery about it. Every time I looked at Della or watched her climb in and out of her dragon, Natasha seemed to notice. I didn’t know how I was supposed to avoid noticing Della all that time, so I didn’t bother to try. After all, we took showers together, dressed together, and sparred together all day long.
Since Natasha seemed to care so much, I decided to make a play for her at dinner the night before we finished our training.
“Natasha,” I said, “hey…how about you and I—”
“Forget it,” she snapped.
“What? You haven’t heard what I was going to say.”
“James, I’ve heard it all. We all have. All of the women in this unit.”
“Sheesh. I was just going to—”
“I know. I suggest you go ask Della instead.”
“Wait,” I said, “Della doesn’t even look at me. Haven’t you noticed that?”
“Of course I have. That’s why I’m angry. She’s still very aware of you. Go talk to her. She wants you to.”
I shrugged. “Fine. Just fine. I’ll do that.”
I found Della in the colonist module which was in the lowest tier of the stack aboard Cyclops .
“Hi Della,” I said, “I just thought I’d come down here and—”
Della put a finger to her lips. She walked toward me, smiling. When she came close I checked her hands for weapons, and I became alarmed. She had one hand behind her back.
Like I said, Della and I had a strange relationship. We’d made love and fought to the death about the same number of times. It could go either way with this woman.
When she got close, I backed up a little. Laughing, she lifted both her hands, palms out. They were empty.
I smiled sheepishly. “Just checking,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “But I’ve changed, James.”
“Listen,” I said hesitantly, “I wanted to apologize for pushing you off the stack of modules and killing you the other day. I didn’t know it was you inside that metal monster at the time. You understand that, right?”
“Yes. You shouldn’t feel any remorse. After all, I did know it was you, and I still tried to clip your arms off. It was all part of the exercise.”
“No hard feelings then?”
“None at all.”
I smiled. “Good. We can be friends again. Say, how about—?”
That was as far as I got. She cut off my words by jumping on me. That’s the only way I can describe it. One second I was unsure how I stood, even fearing for my life, and the next we were in a lip-lock.
We found a place off by ourselves on the Green Deck, which was pretty easy to do on Cyclops since the ship had only about twenty percent of the usual number of troops aboard.
Green Deck was like a public park, a place
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