“Talk to me, Valentine,” saidAlexis, “Is this happening toofast?”
She started to speak, but then slowed herself down. She couldfeel her heart rate increasing, but without Tex there to assist shecould not be certain. He had ways to assist in the stability of herbody, and now that was all being left to her. Combined with theconstant flashbacks, and the look of her new limbs, it was just toomuch.
“There.” Alexispointed to a number of empty heavy armouredcrates, “Sit down a second.”
She looked to Hawkins.
“Get her some water, fast.”
Hawkins nodded and moved awayquickly. Valentine settled onto the case and started tobreathe faster and faster.
“You’re hyperventilating. And your body has been upgraded not juston the outside. Your lungs have been enhanced and repaired, butthey’re a lot more efficient.”
Valentine looked at her as her eyesgrew wider and wider.
“Val, look at me. You’respiralling. We’ve all been there.”
She did as asked, and then beganto wheeze. And as her breathing becamemore difficult, the more it looked like she was about to losecontrol. One marine spotted what was happening and moved to assist,but Alexis waved him off.
“Look at me.”
She reached out and placed bothhands at her friend’s cheeks, and thendirectly her towards her.
“Breathe with me.”
Alexis inhaled,waited, and then slowly exhaled.Valentine struggled, and then coughed, but Alexis kept at it. Ittook time. But Valentine did her best and kept her attentionfocused on her friend. By the time Hawkins was back with a canteen,she was breathing more normally. He handed it over, and she tookseveral swigs before passing it back.
“Thanks. I just think this allcame on a little too hard and fast. I’vebeen in and out of medbay for so long it’s like a second home to menow.”
“Don’t worry,” saidAlexis, “If you need to sit this one out,that’s not a problem.”
“No way. That’s not happening. It was just a bit quicker than mybody could handle.”
“That’s my fault,”said a friendly voice.
All three turnedaround to face the half-rebuilt shape ofLieutenant Jack Fletcher. The man looked as young and roguish asever, with his mop of blonde hair puffed out, and a smart moustachein the style of the Terra Novan Guard.
“Lieutenant.” Valentine rose to her feet.
He stepped closer andlooked to each of them.
“No, I really am sorry. My orders areto get my Novas ready for combat, and as one of my most experiencedlance leaders I needed you back.”
He reached out ahand. Valentine took it andshook.
“I’m here, Sir. Iwouldn’t have it any other way.”
As she looked at him, she could seefresh injuries that had been well covered.
“You were injured in thefighting, too.”
“Who wasn’t?” he said with a forced smile, “I got off lightly. A fewscars and the bastards took my ear.”
He turned his head, and Valentine’seyebrows rose as she noticed half of the left ear had gone. Ithadn’t all vanished, but she could see it was a rough cut, perhapsbitten or clawed away in combat.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
The officer nodded andthen indicated towards the open doorsleading into the barracks.
“Have you heard about theupgrades?”
Alexis subtly shook her head.
“No,Sir.” Valentine gave her friend a wink.
“Well, you’ll be pleased to knowour artificers have been busy. Come withme.”
The small group moved through the wide doorway and into thebarrack space. It was obvious right away that it was designed foruse as a storage site, with multiple large storage rooms attachedto the main passage. Valentine looked in the first few but couldsee little more than masses of spare parts and abandonedequipment.
“We’re a little further inside.”
Theykept on moving until reaching a circular room, with multiple bunkareas partitioned off.
“What was this place?”
“Temporary living quarters forsupply crews. The first rooms were forcargo, with loading bays leading out to the landing pad. This spacewas for up to a hundred crew to stay for a few days. We’ve beenusing it for the last week as a fabrication site and workshop. Ourtechs are here for any and all work we might need.”
“We?”
“1st Company,” saidAlexis, “We’ve got the equipment here toservice all three platoons. And after being reinforced we need thecapacity for repair and upgrades.”
“The platoon is back to capacity?”
“A full forty-five-manunit.”
“Forty-five,” Valentine said under her breath, “A full strength platoon.I’ve missed a lot.”
Lieutenant Fletcher smiledbeneath the moustache, and then nodded towards one of the opendoors. Valentine could see racks of parts in there, as well asflashes from some form of cutting orwelding equipment.
“CorporalKleinlercher will get you patched upready,” he said confidently, “Get a full firmware update installed,and then seen the artificer about your upgrades. They’ve goteverything you can think of down there.”
He turned to walk away.
“Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Lance Corporal?”
“We’re really going back, aren’twe?”
This time she could see the smile onhis face was real.
“Oh,yes. This time it’s war.”
He walked away, and Alexis noddedtowards the beds to the right, as well asthe two techs currently working on a Nova.
“Lance Corporal Martina Valentine?”
“Yes,Tech Sergeant.”
The female marine tapped a hand on the bed. Valentine moved intoposition and then waited as the bed lowered down to nearhorizontal.
“YourCortex is still offline and requires a full systemupgrade.”
“Will that damage the existingneural network?”
“Negative. The network remainsintact. It takes a long time to develop the artificialintelligence, and even longer for it to become localised toits user. Yours is backed up onto our mainsystem in case of corruption or system failure.”
“Very well. What exactly is being upgraded?”
The tech attached a data node to herarm and head, and almost immediately she could feel a surge ofadrenalin.
“First of all, we are upgrading the flash storage. The older chipswere susceptible to corruption over time. You will have triple thestorage, giving additional redundancy. More importantly, the Cortexcan operate in low power mode without access to a Rhino powersystem.”
A jolt ran through Valentine’sbody, and for a second she felt thepresence of somebody else in the room. Then it was gone just asquickly as it had arrived.
“Low power will leach thermalenergy from your own body. But it will also mean you haveaccess to the stored data and problem-solvingcapabilities all the time.”
“Great.”
A year ago it might have soundeddreadful, but now she was so used to the voice in her head she felt alone without him.
“Okay…the new kernel isrestarting. Give it
