Manny had jumped behind Jake and had used his armors jets to fall slowly to the ground. He saw Jake, falling quickly and picking up speed, fire the small wasps and was amazed at his accuracy. He also noticed that he could not see those ambushers; he wondered how Jake could.
Jake saw the ground coming up, so he pushed his armor’s jets to max power and came to a halt on the ground. Jake was wondering just how he had timed that jet burst so exactly. He suddenly turned sideways and watched as a small wasp went by his right shoulder. He saw it coming. It was moving so slowly that he could have reached out and plucked it out of the air. “This is not part of the armor’s systems,” he thought. He began moving to the left at a fast pace, then realized this must be part of his psychic ability which had come out due to the stress he was experiencing. Valerie said that some of his skills may emerge if he was stressed enough. He also noticed that he no longer felt any pain.
His sensors tracked the wasp back to its source and saw the ambusher standing behind a tree. He saw another black line between him and the attacker and fired another wasp. He looked away from the wasp he had fired and began running. He saw nine more black lines going out into the forest in front of him. He heard his sensor unit announce, “Attacker hit,” as he raised his left arm and fired nine rounds out of his auto cannon; one for each black line. He saw numerous rounds of projectiles coming towards him, along with twenty wasps. He moved to the right quickly and saw a dark shadow coming up to about three feet off the ground. He dove and rolled into the shadow. The projectiles and wasps all passed overhead; he came to his feet running.
Manny followed Jake and saw the ambusher’s red lights going off so fast that it was hard to keep track of them. He was amazed at the speed Jake was making and he knew that Armor was not designed to travel that fast. What was going on here?
Jake saw a black line over his head and he fired a hornet at it. An armed floater came roaring up and the hornet hit it, causing a bright red flash. The floater stopped and moved away from the exercise, having been deemed destroyed.
Jake saw ambushers on all sides, but no black lines. He felt like he was moving at normal speed, but their motions seemed to be taking place in extremely slow motion. He saw that he had passed those on either side before they could target their weapons.
Jake saw another black shadow ahead six feet off the ground. He jumped and entered the shadow just as a volley of slugs passed under it. He grabbed a light grenade off his armor as it rose up out of his chest plate and tossed it at the weapons platform hidden in the trees to his left.
The ambushers manning the platform fired at the approaching target, but it was moving faster than their sensors could track. The gunner tried to sight visually but could not keep up with the speed of the approaching figure. He decided to fire a spray of projectiles in front of the oncoming target. Suddenly an object came at them and hit at the base of the platform, covering it in red light. The platform’s red light activated and they were out of the exercise. The gunner commed, “Platform Alpha is out.”
Manny commed, “What happened?”
“I don’t know Colonel. Whoever that warrior is, he’s moving faster than any armor I’ve ever seen. He somehow sensed our targeting and moved out of our sights faster than we could fire. He just hit us with a light grenade and then passed us before the grenade went off.”
Manny tried to keep up with Jake, but he could see red lights being activated more than four miles in front of him. This was impossible.
Jake moved through the forest and fired his weapons every time a black line appeared. If he saw a shadow he moved into it, then ran toward the shadows ahead of him. He knew his armor could run at sixty miles per hour on open ground, but he saw that he was moving much faster than sixty in dense forest. He finally emerged from the forest and climbed the peak. He covered the forty miles in less than twenty minutes. He realized that he had traveled faster than a hundred miles per hour, but to his senses he was moving normal speed. He saw everything around him start speeding up, then he sat down on the ground as his pain returned with a vengeance.
Manny jumped on his armor’s jets and arrived at the peak right after Jake sat down. “What did you just do? There’s no way your armor could have moved that fast. Also, according to my sensors, you didn’t miss a shot. Quite frankly, that’s impossible.”
Jake looked up at Manny, “I think the stress of this simulation released a psychic ability. I have no idea how I did it.”
Manny stared at Jake, “Well, your armor training is over. I think there’s nothing we can do to improve on what you’ve just accomplished. How do you feel?”
“If there’s a part of me that doesn’t hurt, I’ve been unable to find it.”
Manny raised his com, “Bring a floater to my location and take Mr. Talant to the corps hospital.” Jake looked up. “Mr. Talant, we can give you something for your pain now. We couldn’t do it before this exercise because it would have affected your reaction times.”
Jake nodded, turned off his armor, then his eyes glazed over and he fell back unconscious. Manny took a reading of the energy used by Jake’s armor and discovered that it was still at a hundred percent. If Manny had not witnessed what Jake had done he would never believe it. This was just not possible.
“How did he do in the exercise, Manny?”
“He appears to have the time dilation ability that the first Gardners’ exhibited. My forces couldn’t touch him, Your Majesty.”
Valerie smiled, “See? I told you he should have armor.”
Manny shook his head, “I’m now of the opinion that he would have made it through my warriors without armor. I hope he’s the kind of person that can be trusted with it. He is now a very dangerous individual.”
Valerie thought a moment, “He needs to be dangerous, Manny. As far as what kind of person he is, I have more respect for him than anyone I’ve ever encountered.”
Manny smiled, “That’s good enough for me.”
“Thanks, Uncle.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Cynthia wanted to scratch her head. The new device to block telepathy was melded into the top three microns of her scalp. It was hidden in her hair and it itched constantly. She reached up to scratch it and the technician said, “Leave it alone. It will stop itching in about an hour.”
Cynthia dropped her hand and fidgeted in her chair. This was going to be a long hour. “How does this work?”
The technician looked up from her console, “Thoughts cannot get through this coating. The links to your ship’s computer are in your hands and will make direct connection when you touch any part of the ship. The energy to communicate is actually lower than the cosmic rays that emanate from the star in the system you’re going to enter. We believe that they will mask your communications. Your computer will also hear you when you speak.”
“What about Talant?”
“He has the same coating on his scalp and will hear you when you talk. You will be on the surface of the moon and he will be able to hear you, and you him. However, you will only hear each other when you speak aboard ship.”