“Stop,” Deion said. “John, how you feeling? Tired?”
John nodded. “I’m beat.”
“Good,” Deion said. “It’s time to try the Implant. It’s probably gonna feel weird at first, it’s just adrenaline and a few other things.”
“It’ll be okay, John,” Eric said. “Just relax this first time.”
“Okay, activating it…now,” Deion said.
John’s eyes widened. “My heart sped up.” He nodded, bent down at the knees, and came back up. “Yeah, definitely the heart’s pounding. And, I’m hot. Really hot.”
“Hang in there,” Deion said. “Now again, this time really kick his ass. Wise, you better be sharp, man.”
Eric had been waiting to see the Implant in action. The young man was stronger every day and his reflexes were vastly improved. God help them if the Implant juiced him too much.
John circled him again, his eyes bright and his motions faster, more precise.
He was exhausted, and it was all he could do to keep John’s palm from driving into his nose. He tried to land a blow on the young man’s neck, but John spun sideways and stabbed the knife deep into his bicep making him yelp in pain.
John’s foot caught him in the knee, dropping him to the ground, and then John was on him. He felt the rubber knife stab him in the neck, then John’s fist in his solar plexus, and the rake of the knife against his throat. He stopped and looked up, John standing over him, his hand extended. He took it and John easily yanked him up.
“Yeah, that’s how it’s done,” Eric gasped. “How do you feel now?”
Deion laughed. “He feels like he just kicked your ass, man. Kicked it.”
“Pretty good,” John said ruefully. “Everything is bright and clear. I feel like I could take on ten men.”
Eric rubbed the spot on his tricep where John had tagged him. Damn, he’s quick. “Yeah, well, don’t get cocky. The drugs can make you feel invincible, but you’re still human. Lactic acid still builds up in your muscles.”
John stuck out his arm and flexed his bicep. “Yeah, but I’ve got more muscles now.”
Eric grinned. It was true. The cocktail of muscle enhancement drugs, steroids, and human growth hormones were working miracles. John’s strict diet helped, the protein, fat and carbs timed throughout the day to match the cardio and workouts, running and weight lifting, rope climbing and burpees.
John’s strength was increasing at a dramatic rate, but Dr. Elliot assured them it would soon level off. For now, he was approaching the top percentile for strength and endurance, and Eric had the bruises to prove it. The simple truth was the young man was damn strong, and the training was making him more dangerous each day.
“Just remember,” Eric said. “The Weave will protect your arms and legs, your ribs and skull, but a jump from two stories onto concrete could break your foot or ankle, or worse you could suffer an aortic dissection. You can’t ignore basic physics. All this tech does is make you tough. It doesn’t make you impossible to kill.”
“Got it.” John turned to Deion. “You hear that! I’m not impossible to kill!”
Deion nodded, smirking.
CHAPTER SIX
John stared at the solid black helmet, a clamshell that hinged on the top, and shivered at the sinister piece of gear.
They were in one of the labs, Eric holding the helmet in front of him while Deion stood behind, his hand on John’s shoulder.
“Just relax,” Eric said. “When it’s in place, we’ll close it. When it seals, you should feel a slight breeze as the environmental systems come online.”
He eyed it skeptically. “How am I supposed to see out of this thing? It’s solid plastic.”
Dr. Elliot looked up from his workstation. “Trust us, John. This is the Visual Improvement System for Optical Recognition, or VISOR. It’s much more than just a helmet. It might even save your life one day.”
Eric and Deion struggled to slide it around John’s head. They managed to work it around his scalp, then lowered the clamshell and snapped it in place.
He heard a metallic click and jerked, but Deion’s steady hand reassured him. He felt a moment of claustrophobia, the dark interior unnaturally close to his skin, and he took a deep breath. “It smells funny,” he said.
“That’s just new car smell,” Dr. Elliot said, laughing. “Wait for it, the environment system is coming up now.”
A faint hiss emanated from the base of the helmet, and he felt instant relief. “That’s better, there’s a cool breeze and the smell is fading. I still can’t see anything, though.”
“I’m initiating the display,” Dr. Elliot said.
“I see it.” A faint glow pulsed in front of his eyes, then the world sprung into view, as clear as a window. “Oh, wow.”
“What do you think?” Dr. Elliot asked.
He shook his head and took note of the extra weight from the helmet. “It’s amazing. Everything is bright and defined. It’s better than real life.”
“The sensors embedded in the front of the helmet detect a range of data, including visual and infrared, then merge it and present it to the LCD screens located in front of each eye. Now, let’s turn on the thermal overlay.”
The world became a rich-hued display of reds and blues, unlike the gray shades he expected. “Hey, this looks like the movie Predator.”
Eric and Deion both laughed at the movie reference but Dr. Elliot was unamused. “The VISOR cost us a small fortune. It’s not a toy. Let me dial the contrast down a bit. How’s that?”
“Better, Doc.” The thermal colors receded, no longer overpowering the video. When he turned, he saw the red in Eric’s cheeks, and the cooler blue in his arms.
“Wait until dark,” Eric said. “You won’t ever need NVG’s again.”
Dr. Elliot continued, “It has air filters to scrub smoke and gas. There’s a three minute air supply, and it’s rated for fifty meters underwater. Audio microphones on each side of the VISOR work like eardrums, only more sensitive. The gain can be increased until you hear even the faintest sounds, and they have automatic gain-reduction so loud blasts won’t deafen you. Most importantly, the ceramic plates and carbon fiber weave will keep your head safe from anything short of a large caliber bullet.”
“When can I try it out?” he asked.
“Slow down, man,” Deion said. “It’s got a learning curve. First you have to train it.”
“Train it?”
“There’s a band of neural sensors around the skull,” Dr. Elliot said. “It works by thought. We’ll have you think about the commands and the VISOR will learn to read your brain patterns. You’ll be able to switch views on the fly.”
He spent the next several hours in the lab, practicing the commands, until the VISOR responded to his every thought.
When the VISOR training was complete, they led him to a darkened hanger where he navigated an obstacle course as if in full daylight.
“The best is yet to come,” Eric said.
“Yeah,” Deion said, “we have a surprise for you.”
They led him from the underground base, his first time outside in over a month.
Eric drove the beat-up pickup through gullies and dusty trails until they passed into a larger valley among the mountains, the stillness of the inky-black night broken only by the throaty growl of the truck.
He looked up. The VISOR showed him twinkling stars filling the sky, the Milky Way a blazing ribbon of light stretched across the horizon.
They came to a fork in the dirt road, and Eric stopped the truck. John got out, mindful of the extra mass from the VISOR. He was trying to take in the stars, all at once, amazed at the VISOR’s clarity.
Eric keyed his walkie-talkie. “John, can you hear me?”