“What?”
“A suit. An environmental suit.” Kelly smiled, “You will need it to keep the wind from scrubbing at your skin like the exfoliant from hell.”
“This just gets better and better.” She paused and gave the digital Kelly a look. “Why can I read this language?”
“The healer who built the scaffolding in your brain added standard languages, so that you could survive on your own.”
“I thought you said it was barriers.”
Kelly raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. I have no idea what they did in there. I know that the facility stopped shaking when he finished what he was doing in there.”
“Was it the guy on this world?”
“No, it was a strong teaching telepath who has worked with wild talents before. He knew where to put everything; you just have to learn how to use it.”
A chirp sounded on Kelly’s end of the connection. “I am losing the signal. We haven’t gotten the relay satellites in place yet. I will be back in a few hours. Suit up, take a walk, enjoy yourself. The instructions for everything are on... well... everything.”
Kelly waved, and the screen went dark.
Addy flexed her fingers and looked around. She knew it wasn’t a dream. Dreams were far more fun.
She went on a quick examination of her quarters, and to her surprise, the door opened and let her out into a huge facility. The ceiling was a bright and unclouded dome through which she could see clouds scudding far above.
She was alone in some kind of observation station, and if Kelly was to be believed, she was only the second person on the land itself.
Not one to just stand around, Addy went looking for her exo suit.
“There is not a lot of suit to this suit.” She held up the heavy panel of fabric and flapped the arms and legs so they did a little dance.
The loose shirt and trousers were interesting pajamas, but they wouldn’t go under this suit. It was going to be skin or nothing.
She shrugged. “Well, if no one is watching, what the hell.”
She shucked her clothing and then slid her foot into one let of the suit. She guessed that the closure was in front, so that is how she got dressed.
The suit was warm, hugged her curves, and contained everything when she completed the closure. She twisted and bent in the suit and had to admit that it felt great.
The helmet was a band that attached to the suit. She didn’t know how it was going to work, but a few mouthfuls of dry air wouldn’t kill her.
When the band settled on the suit, a hum came from her neckline. If that was good, then there was no reason that she couldn’t see where she was living.
Part of her mind whispered that this could all be a dream, but the bulk of her thoughts slapped the crap out of that idea. The kidnapping and months of torture were not something she could have imagined, so the lack of pain and relative feeling of health was a reality she wanted to immerse herself in.
She tried to poke her nose and a light crackling of energy stopped her finger. “Okay, so that is working. Right. Now to find the door.”
The panels at the end of the hall indicated some kind of exterior access, but it wasn’t until she palmed the lock and the inner barrier sealed to keep grime out of the main base that the exterior door opened.
The first curl of wind pushed lightly against her, so Addy squealed and charged out into the alien landscape.
The world around her shook, and lights flared on the building she had just left.
“Okay. So, there is an alarm. Great.” She stopped and closed her eyes, breathing deeply and wondering what the air actually tasted like. The screen was filtering it for her.
The ground under her feet was a fine silt. She crouched and touched it, sifting the fine stuff through her fingers. The colour was odd. There was a bit of red, orange and purple overlaid by smoky grey. A glint of light sparked off something in the handful, and she smiled slightly as she let it drop.
She brushed her hand off on her suit, and she walked to the edge of what seemed to be her base site. A mountain range in the distance was a black onyx wall that gleamed in the orangey light of the larger of the two suns.
In the distance, a dark shadow started toward her, moving across the ground at a wildly accelerated pace.
“Okay, back in my box. Here we go.”
She turned and sprinted for the base, but Addy wasn’t fast enough.
The first wall of wind struck her, and she turned into it, kneeling on one knee with her opposite fist to the ground. As the whirling, howling wind pulled at her, she started screaming. The sound coming out of her contained all of her fury at the hope that had turned to agony, the time she had lost, her family and friends probably notified of her death, and even her best friend in space had aged and moved on. There was nothing like losing your timeline to cause despair.
As she screamed, the wind moved around her. She could feel it pushing and twisting the way you could stand near a window and feel someone tapping on the glass. The wind howled, and her voice sang with it until her throat was raw.
She kept her broken thoughts and grief around her while she got up and walked across the gale and back to the base. She palmed the lock, and it shattered. With what was left of her voice, she screamed, “Fuck!”
Addy pounded her fist against the door, and it cracked outward from the impact point.
She tumbled inside, hit the emergency seal that she spotted earlier, and got to her feet.
The rage went with the storm. It was gone, she was safe, and she was calm. Her heart beat a steady pace, and she made it through the interior seal.
Humming to herself, she removed the helmet and got the suit off and hanging back in its cupboard. She heard humming and watched as light cascaded over the suit, looking for tears.
Her clothing was waiting for her, and she was more than eager to get something less ready-for-bed.
Now that she was awake, she had no intent to return to bed unless she was exhausted.
With determination to get dressed and explore, she returned to her living space and looked around for proper clothing. She always felt better when she was properly dressed.
Chapter Three
Apparently, her choices were between a boiler suit and heavy-duty feetie pajamas. She opted for the body suit. It had less of an issue when she crouched.
Dressed, with another meal behind her, she crept out of her quarters and went exploring.
The building seemed to be designed to be some kind of headquarters. There were several living spaces like her own, a large common space with seating for a dozen, a wide common kitchen with enough space for two to three people to work on a meal at the same time. This place was a party waiting to happen.
The empty medical centre sprang to life when she entered.
“Please, step into the upright scanner, and a baseline will be determined.” The even-toned male voice came from the main console.
“Baseline?”
“An account of your current physical state so that the equipment will know what meds are possible in case of injury.”