Dan spent the next week in the same small room. Most of the time he was left to himself, and he spent many hours thinking about what NT9 had told him, and how he might get back to Heleer. While he didn\u2019t like the sound of Vydar, the Valkyrie was obviously the first step. Dan would ask him to send him back. If he refused\u2026 well, he would have to find another way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Occasionally, one of the bird-humans \u2013 or kyrie, as Dan was learning to call them \u2013 would visit him. Her name was Aviir, and Dan could only assume she had been sent to see if he was loyal to Vydar. He had told her he wasn\u2019t the first time she had spoken to him, and he had spent the time since berating himself for the mistake. He doubted Vydar would listen to him now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NT9 also visited him occasionally, and despite being a soulborg, Dan was beginning to believe he was an ally. One day he asked NT9 why he was different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not Khyta Lekon,\u201d he said. \u201cKhyta Soulborg,\u201d he added at Dan\u2019s confused look. \u201cI\u2019m Senry Lekon. There are several different factions of soulborgs, and mine is different from the one which imprisoned you, if I\u2019m correct.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was imprisoned by these\u2026 Khyta Soulborgs?\u201d Dan asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKhyta are the only ones to use SR Units to imprison Mariedians, so I assume they are the ones, yes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd you don\u2019t?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo. Never. Khyta believe the Mariedians are inferior to them, and feel no guilt in what they do. We believe the future of the Mariedian lies in the soulborg, but we at least remember our roots, and respect the wishes of our Mariedian allies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAllies?\u201d Dan asked, glancing at the emblem on NT9\u2019s shoulder, the same emblem which Darren had worn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cMariedians serve with us in our fight against Khyta.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan sat up straighter. This was information had hadn\u2019t expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou fight Khyta? How? Who\u2019s winning?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NT9 looked at him, surprised. \u201cYes, we fight them. They are enslaving Mariedians; we weren\u2019t about to sit by and do nothing. We frequently bomb their containment blocks, and free who we can. That\u2019s about all we can<\/em> do, though. Khyta\u2019s resources and numbers are far better than our own. We can\u2019t attack them head on; the best we can do is surprise them and flee before they know what happened. It\u2019s an arms race, with Khyta\u2019s better technology always beating our own. We survive, but only just.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Too much information. Dan closed his eyes, trying to process it. He had no doubt that Darren had been part of these Senry Soulborgs, fighting the Khyta. At last, he knew what had been going on that night he was rescued. The Senry had bombed the prison block, blasted a hole in the ceiling, and Darren had come down to free as many Mariedians as he could. And if the constant thunderings and shakings and power outages were any indication, Senry was still hard at work bombing the prison cell. Or at least, they had been when Dan had left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2026 actually meant to ask you something about that,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cAbout Khyta\u2019s technology.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan opened his eyes. What could he know? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery Mariedian we free mentions a \u2018barrier\u2019 of some sort, keeping them in their cell, but none of them can tell us what it is, or how it works. Such technology is something only the Khyta possess; Senry Soulborgs have never even seen one. Could you describe one to me?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Describe one? Dan could do better than that. RR had told him exactly how it worked\u2026 if only he could remember. It had been years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRR \u2013 the Khyta who was there \u2013 explained it to me once, but I can\u2019t remember\u2026 something to do with pulses?\u201d Dan thought harder. \u201cWait!\u201d Dan held up an arm. \u201cMy gloves! RR said they contained a replica of whatever made the Barrier!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n NT9 looked at his gloves. \u201cWhy?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can\u2019t remember\u2026 something about nerve damage, I think. I jumped at the Barrier when I was young and got stuck \u2013 RR said my arms were almost destroyed. She said they repaired them, and used a small replica of the Barrier to do\u2026 something. Something about nerves.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMay I see your arms?\u201d NT9 asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan held them out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA few Mariedians have had similar operations done \u2013 on a leg, one hand, one side \u2013 but they\u2019ve always been pure metal replicas. This is different somehow\u2026 how did you get these scars?\u201d He pointed to the faint red lines circling Dan\u2019s arms, up from the gloves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan remembered. He had gotten those scars when the power had gone out, and he had destroyed the service table trying to get free. That had been the day he had discovered what his gloves could do. He looked at NT9. Could he trust him? He was a soulborg after all, and the only proof Dan had that he was an ally was the emblem on his shoulder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan thought about it. His gloves were the only weapon he had against the soulborgs, but they wouldn\u2019t be very effective if they did as much damage to him as they did to them. What he really needed was knowledge; knowledge of how to use them, how to control them, how they worked. Maybe NT9 could provide that knowledge. It was a risk he would have to take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan told him. He left nothing out, but told NT9 about the check, about the power going out, and how he had seen two devices touch inside his gloves, and what had happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NT9 considered his gloves for a moment. \u201cI wonder,\u201d he said, \u201cmight I see if I can open them up? See how they work? I might be able to tell you exactly what happened.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever since that day, Dan had grown accustomed to thinking of his arms as machines, rather than part of his body. That was why he shrugged and sat back, laying his gloves flat on the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NT9 picked one glove up, and then the other. He looked at them from all angles. \u201cAh,\u201d he said. \u201cKnew it had to be somewhere.\u201d With one finger, he pressed a small plate on the inside of Dan\u2019s forearm. The glove promptly unfolded like a flower opening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat \u2013 How?\u201d Dan wasn\u2019t too worried by the fact that his arm was lying disassembled on the table; he was more curious about how NT9 had opened it. He himself had pressed on his gloves from every angle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnly a soulborg could do that,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cThe plate can sense the exact amount of pressure I\u2019m putting on it, and treats it like the code to a combination lock. Let\u2019s see what we have\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For a moment, Dan sat still while NT9 slid panels back and forth and moved wires in his arm. Dan pointed out the two devices he had seen touch when the blast came from his arm. NT9 looked at them carefully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said eventually, \u201cI won\u2019t pretend to know what I\u2019m looking at. Obviously, the Khyta have somehow developed a machine which can emit energy pulses at an unbelievable rate. This one,\u201d\u2014 he tapped one device in Dan\u2019s arm \u2014\u201cis the small replica of that machine. Without it, you wouldn\u2019t be able to feel much of anything, aside from a constant dull pain in your arms. This one,\u201d \u2014 he tapped a second device \u2014\u201cis an amplifier of some sort. It\u2019s probably used to amplify the sensory input signals, so that you can feel better. Without it, your sense of touch would be minimal at best. But if those two devices were to touch\u2026 the pulse gets amplified instead. And with nowhere to go, it goes into a loop, passing through the amplifier again and again\u2026 until,\u201d\u2014 NT9 lifted Dan\u2019s arm, getting a better view \u2014\u201cuntil the expanding energy field hits the closest thing it can enter: the main shaft going down the arm. Most would flow into the hand and out through the palm or fingers, but a good portion would exit the back of the gloves and go into your upper arm. That\u2019s undoubtedly what happened.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight,\u201d Dan said, struggling to understand what NT9 had said. There was a pause. \u201cCan I do it again, without\u2026 you know, blowing myself up?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n NT9 considered the two devices. \u201cCertainly. You would need an inhibitor in the shaft above the amplifier. That would send the energy back down the other way. There might still be some stray energy, but it shouldn\u2019t do much more than cause some bruising. I can\u2019t be certain, of course, but that would be my best guess.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n That was good enough for Dan. \u201cWhere can we get an inhibitor?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEasy,\u201d NT9 replied, not even looking up. \u201cThe soulborgs have plenty of spare devices here in the Citadel, for repair. They won\u2019t mind if I take two. And if I provide a connection between the amplifier and whatever device is creating those pulses, and tie it to an external trigger, you should be able to unleash an energy blast at will.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you mean,\u201d Dan said, \u201cthat if I wanted to I could replicate what I did to the service table? Without tearing up my arm?\u201d This was better than he could have hoped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, once I get the right materials,\u201d NT9 said, pressing a few plates. Dan\u2019s arm slid back together smoothly. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t recommend it unless you really need to though. There\u2019s bound to be some<\/em> damage to your arms above the gloves, even if it\u2019s just bruises.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A thought occurred to Dan. \u201cWhy did the Khyta give me these gloves? Don\u2019t they know what they can do?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI doubt it,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cThey would never give you such a powerful weapon if they knew. I suspect<\/em> that not many Mariedians have gotten themselves stuck against the Barrier like you have. And of those who have, you are probably the only one who still wanted to get out. Plus, in their current state, the arms have got to be open, and you\u2019d have to twist them quite a bit to get the blast you want. So it\u2019s quite plausible that they don\u2019t even know the capability is there, or at least they assume you couldn\u2019t use it, which is perfectly true, since you could never open the gloves on your own. That being said\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t use the gloves around any Khyta Soulborgs you might meet. If one of them sees it, they\u2019ve all seen it. Then when you go back, they\u2019ll know, and replace your gloves before you have a chance to use them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow do I know which ones are the Khyta Soulborgs?\u201d Dan asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSimple,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cThey\u2019re on the enemy\u2019s side. We call them Zettians. Dark armor, red eyes; you\u2019ll know when you see one.\u201d Two days later, NT9 returned with several metal parts and devices. He installed an inhibitor in each glove to minimize the damage to Dan\u2019s arms, and then created a trigger which would allow Dan to unleash a pulse of energy at will. Before he left, NT9 showed him how the trigger worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a safety,\u201d he said, pointing out a small switch on the inside of each of Dan\u2019s arms. \u201cPull that out and towards you, and your gloves will be armed. Pull it out and away from you, and they won\u2019t fire. When armed, you simply put your hand out like you are pushing on something.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan \u2013 first making sure the safety was on \u2013 tried it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA ninety degree angle,\u201d NT9 said, correcting him. \u201cYour arm should be straight out, and your hand straight up. The fingers should be as flat as you can make them. When in doubt, just make a motion like your shoving something away from you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd the gloves will fire?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n NT9 nodded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat exactly can I do with them? I shattered that table back on Isadora\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt depends,\u201d NT9 said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that you aren\u2019t creating blasts of energy; you are creating pulses. A pulse acts like a wave: it spreads out from a central point. But when a pulse comes into contact with something solid \u2013 something which can\u2019t bend and flex sufficiently to let the pulse pass through it \u2013 it\u2019s going to behave differently. A pulse traveling through a solid object will begin to break down the forces holding it together. If you used your gloves on this stone wall, for instance, and used them long enough, the wall would eventually just crumble to dust. If instead you released a single pulse, it would be more like a shot from a soulborg\u2019s rifle, although with a much wider area of effect.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan couldn\u2019t stop a grin from spreading across his face. When he returned to Isadora, the soulborgs would have no idea what was coming. It didn\u2019t matter where they put him; he would always be able to escape. He\u2019d tear down the walls and blast open the ceiling if he had to. He had to be careful, of course. He knew that once he used his secret weapon in front of them, he\u2019d have to escape. He couldn\u2019t afford to fail, otherwise they would undoubtedly rework his gloves so that his advantage was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But he wouldn\u2019t let that happen. When the time came, when the soulborgs least expected it, he would find Heleer, and together, they would escape. Dan spent the next week in the same small room. Most of the time he was left to himself, and he spent many hours thinking about what NT9 had told him, and how he might get back to Heleer. While he didn\u2019t like the sound of Vydar, the Valkyrie was obviously the first step. Dan … Continue reading Chapter Twenty-One – Gloves<\/span>
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