Free OMEGA Conscript by Stephen Arseneault Page B

freezing and it's going directly against my skin. It's like an ice bath."
    As the gel reached the level of the filter pack, the suit began to pump it around, warming it to the ideal Human temperature.
    Go squirmed. "It's warming now, thank goodness, but it feels kind of strange. Kind of like the suit is filling up with grease."
    At just over two litres, Go held up a hand. "Hold on. I think it's full. I have green indicators on the environmentals. And that cold is already gone. It's really not that bad."
    I said, "The tutorial spoke of a short acclimation period."
    Go flexed his long skinny arms. "It feels pretty good, really. I feel like this suit will just slip off of me, but it's not. If anything, it's a better fit now. And that chafing … I almost can't tell it was there."
    Go squatted, then stood. "I think I'll go for a short flight. Be right back."
    In an instant, our young engineer vanished. We watched intently on our holo-displays as Go circled around and through the building. Gone was any discomfort with twisting or turning inside the suit.
    With a wide, ever-accelerating turn, Go gained altitude and then shot off across the plains surrounding the city. "Five hundred kilometers per hour in seconds. I believe I could hit five thousand in under a minute!"
    I voiced my concern. "Why don't you dial it down a bit and come back here. We need to practice moves we think can be done within the portal structure. Once we leave here in the Jess we won't be able to practice anymore. We probably only have one shot at this, so we need to plan it out best we can."
    Go replied as he arced back in our direction: "Tell me if I'm wrong, but won't I need to get through that portal when it's open as well? I can't stay on this side. What would I do and where would I go?"
    Garrett agreed. "Yeah, he might be able to press that button, but we can't just leave him there. He needs to come with us."
    Go slowed to a stop, settling back into the room before deactivating. "If I recall, that portal opens beside the structure and then sweeps backwards, sending through anything that is arranged in a column before it. I would have to press that button and immediately fly out of there to even have a chance at making it through. If I missed, I don't think I could make it to the opening before the portal closed."
    I replied, "Whatever plan we put in place will include you making it through the portal with us."
    I took Go by the forearm and turned him slightly to have a look at the suit. "It looks different now. Much more form-fitting and sleek."
    Go sat in a chair beside us. "At first it was really strange, like I had been dipped in something. But honestly, I don't even realize it's there now. The gel is at body temperature. Oh, and I found another feature. The suit has micro-stimulators built into it so you don't lose muscle mass when in low or zero gravity. I have it turned on now. With time, it will supposedly increase my strength, as it's designed to work almost every muscle in your body."
    I swiped a page of the tutorials. "The term for this suit is BGS, a Bio-Gel Sustenance suit. We should start calling it that. Also, activation and deactivation of the sodium skin is called blinking-out and blinking-in. When activated, you blink out to everyone else. When deactivated, you blink back in."
    Go smiled as he stood. "Well then, I'll be blinking out and putting in more flying time."
    In an instant he was gone. A new fist-sized hole opened in the far wall of the room.
    Garrett laughed. "We might have trouble ever getting him out of that thing. Of course, if I was able to fly through walls, I might be just as excited as he is. You know, if you think about it, that BGS would be just as bad as the portals if made available to the general populace. You could fly into a repository and steal all the credits you wanted, or assassinate someone, or whatever else you wanted to do, because there would be virtually no barriers anymore. You want to make someone