"Are we completely cut off from outside signals here?"
The electronically-filtered voice emanated from the armor of yet another Sabre candidate, this one a deep, rich blue with white highlights.
Within her own white armor, Sylia nodded. "Except for a hardwired comm line that will allow me to call for more help if it's needed, yes, we are
completely insulated from any type of electronic signal, and most kinds of magical communication. As per your request." And an odd request at that, one
that practically screamed "trap" to Sylia's well-honed instincts. But the applicant had clearly foreseen this and offered several compromises as
a show of good faith.
Sylia had taken two of them -- not only did she have the comm line, she also had Priss and Linna -- in their own hardsuits, of course -- standing
in the corners behind this new applicant. Short of her being a suicide bomber, there was little she could do to harm anyone here.
"Good," the candidate, her entire posture relaxing so thoroughly that the armor itself seemed to slump in relief. "That will make my story
so much easier to believe."
Inside Sylia's helmet, an eyebrow arched. "And why is that, Miss...?"
"Call me Life Sabre."
Sylia nodded. "Life Sabre," she repeated in acknowledgement. "And your civilian identity?"
The blue armor's "body language" lost some of its relaxed looseness. "I can't tell you that."
Sylia nodded again. "I understand. Several of our members were hesitant to reveal..."
The blue helmet shook vigorously. "No, you don't understand. It's not that I won't tell you. I literally can't.
I... I don't know who I am."
Sitting up straighter in her seat, Sylia studied the blue armor before her. "Amnesia? How complete?"
An electronic sigh filled the room. "Pretty much total, as far as personal identity is concerned. I have language and social skills, thankfully, and
a few professional skills, but no memories to go with them that I didn't acquire after being activated in that Crey lab."
"Surely you've at least got the alias you've used since escaping." Sylia frowned as something niggled at her. "You must have had to
give a name to someone since then -- we can use that if you like."
"No, you still don't understand. I'll have to show you." The hiss of the hardsuit's seals cracking momentarily startled Priss and
Linna into combat readiness, but Sylia held up a hand to hold them off -- until the suit opened and the faceplate swung up to reveal...
Nothing.
The blue and white hardsuit was totally empty.
"I remember only a few things about the time after I woke up," the same filtered voice continued, still emanating from the speakers of the empty
suit. "It's pretty foggy, but I think I was in the lab for a week or two before I realized I had to try to escape." A bitter chuckle, its tones
flattened and flanged by the suit's vocoder, drifted across the table that separated them. "I bungled my attempt. I thought it would be easier to
slip out disguised as an employee instead of trying to bust out using a suit of armor that had almost no offensive abilities." The empty hardsuit shook
its helmet. "Bad idea. At the first checkpoint I got made. I panicked, tried to fight my way through, and was thoroughly skewered by one of those
blue-suited zombie supers of theirs. Because I couldn't think of anything else I retreated back to the lab and barricaded it as well as I could, given I
was bleeding to death. The last thing I did was try to get into my armor in the hopes I could heal myself -- did I mention that's what it does?"
"No," Sylia murmured, still in shock from the unexpected revelation.
Blue armored shoulders shrugged. "Yeah. It's got all kinds of Rikti-based medical equipment in it. I'm supposed to be some sort of in-combat
healer, from what little I remember of that. So I'm like, halfway in the suit when I... when I..." The modulated voice dropped to a
whisper like the sound of an empty radio channel. "When I died."
The room was silent for almost a minute before Life Sabre continued. "And then I woke back up in time to watch Crey Security throw my body in a
wheeled bin marked 'Secure Disposal'."
"Christ," Priss hissed.
"It took me about five seconds to realize I'd somehow moved my... mind, or soul, or whatever... into the suit. It took me about five minutes more
to realize that not everything came with me -- I'd lost any memory of who I was, other than a few vague wisps here and there." Another chuckle, this
one less bitter. "And it took me about six days stuck in a Crey equipment locker to figure out how to operate this thing from the inside. By then I had
a much better escape plan thought out."
With a series of hisses and clicks the blue hardsuit sealed itself back up.
"You see why I wanted a completely insulated room now? So you wouldn't think I was actually some remote-controlled drone sent by Crey to take you
out."
Shaking off her shock, Sylia nodded. "Of course. And you wish to join us because...?"
The hardsuit assumed a posture of mild indignation. "Well, where else can I go? We share the same origins, after all. And I'm pretty
sure your people have the best handle on service and maintenance for this kind of armor. That's kind of critical to me at the moment. And I'm hoping
that maybe, just maybe, your people will learn enough to get me back into a real body -- or the next best thing -- someday." Yet another chuckle, this
one full-throated and genuine despite its electronic origin. "I can certainly pay my way in trade."
"And surely you'll want help determining -- and hopefully restoring -- your original identity?" Sylia offered as she weighed the benefits of
yet another healer in the Sabres against the special needs this new Sabre might have.
Life Sabre tilted her head. (Her? Sylia asked herself. Yes, her. Whatever else it was, the personality within the empty armor was very
distinctly female.) "Maybe. I'm not sure. I get the feeling I was a bit of a ditz, and I'm not sure I want to go back to that."
"Fair enough." Sylia glanced over Life Sabre's head to her two companions. Priss shrugged infinitesimally. Linna held a thumb up. She
added their responses to her own and came to a conclusion. Standing, she held out a hand and said, "In that case, I'd like to welcome you to the
team, Life Sabre."
Life Sabre took her hand and shook it. "Thank you, Silicon Sabre. You don't know how much this means to me."
Sylia released the catch on her faceplate, allowing it to swing up to reveal her face. "You're welcome... and call me Sylia."
So... I know sooner or later someone will ask me who Life Sabre was. I can confidently tell you -- I have no idea. I dreamed up this idea to avoid having to
come up with another blenderized combination of fictional characters. The "ditz" comment above is not intended to be indicative of anything except
that whoever she originally was, she wasn't much on sophisticated thinking, given her first escape attempt. (Although it did lead me into thinking about
coming up with a Sabre based on Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo! -- Ditz Sabre, anyone? Except I can't find an archetype with a Dingbat primary and
Genius secondary... )
And yeah, Sylia may be a little too trusting at the end there. There are still other options that would allow Life Sabre to be a sleeper agent or other
threat. But going through them all would have derailed this piece rather thoroughly. Let us assume that before, during and after this interview, Sylia and
her elite tech people did the proper due diligence on Life Sabre.
Oh, yeah, and in case it isn't obvious, the name and color scheme are a gag -- based on the colors of the wrapper for Pep-O-Mint Life Savers.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
The electronically-filtered voice emanated from the armor of yet another Sabre candidate, this one a deep, rich blue with white highlights.
Within her own white armor, Sylia nodded. "Except for a hardwired comm line that will allow me to call for more help if it's needed, yes, we are
completely insulated from any type of electronic signal, and most kinds of magical communication. As per your request." And an odd request at that, one
that practically screamed "trap" to Sylia's well-honed instincts. But the applicant had clearly foreseen this and offered several compromises as
a show of good faith.
Sylia had taken two of them -- not only did she have the comm line, she also had Priss and Linna -- in their own hardsuits, of course -- standing
in the corners behind this new applicant. Short of her being a suicide bomber, there was little she could do to harm anyone here.
"Good," the candidate, her entire posture relaxing so thoroughly that the armor itself seemed to slump in relief. "That will make my story
so much easier to believe."
Inside Sylia's helmet, an eyebrow arched. "And why is that, Miss...?"
"Call me Life Sabre."
Sylia nodded. "Life Sabre," she repeated in acknowledgement. "And your civilian identity?"
The blue armor's "body language" lost some of its relaxed looseness. "I can't tell you that."
Sylia nodded again. "I understand. Several of our members were hesitant to reveal..."
The blue helmet shook vigorously. "No, you don't understand. It's not that I won't tell you. I literally can't.
I... I don't know who I am."
Sitting up straighter in her seat, Sylia studied the blue armor before her. "Amnesia? How complete?"
An electronic sigh filled the room. "Pretty much total, as far as personal identity is concerned. I have language and social skills, thankfully, and
a few professional skills, but no memories to go with them that I didn't acquire after being activated in that Crey lab."
"Surely you've at least got the alias you've used since escaping." Sylia frowned as something niggled at her. "You must have had to
give a name to someone since then -- we can use that if you like."
"No, you still don't understand. I'll have to show you." The hiss of the hardsuit's seals cracking momentarily startled Priss and
Linna into combat readiness, but Sylia held up a hand to hold them off -- until the suit opened and the faceplate swung up to reveal...
Nothing.
The blue and white hardsuit was totally empty.
"I remember only a few things about the time after I woke up," the same filtered voice continued, still emanating from the speakers of the empty
suit. "It's pretty foggy, but I think I was in the lab for a week or two before I realized I had to try to escape." A bitter chuckle, its tones
flattened and flanged by the suit's vocoder, drifted across the table that separated them. "I bungled my attempt. I thought it would be easier to
slip out disguised as an employee instead of trying to bust out using a suit of armor that had almost no offensive abilities." The empty hardsuit shook
its helmet. "Bad idea. At the first checkpoint I got made. I panicked, tried to fight my way through, and was thoroughly skewered by one of those
blue-suited zombie supers of theirs. Because I couldn't think of anything else I retreated back to the lab and barricaded it as well as I could, given I
was bleeding to death. The last thing I did was try to get into my armor in the hopes I could heal myself -- did I mention that's what it does?"
"No," Sylia murmured, still in shock from the unexpected revelation.
Blue armored shoulders shrugged. "Yeah. It's got all kinds of Rikti-based medical equipment in it. I'm supposed to be some sort of in-combat
healer, from what little I remember of that. So I'm like, halfway in the suit when I... when I..." The modulated voice dropped to a
whisper like the sound of an empty radio channel. "When I died."
The room was silent for almost a minute before Life Sabre continued. "And then I woke back up in time to watch Crey Security throw my body in a
wheeled bin marked 'Secure Disposal'."
"Christ," Priss hissed.
"It took me about five seconds to realize I'd somehow moved my... mind, or soul, or whatever... into the suit. It took me about five minutes more
to realize that not everything came with me -- I'd lost any memory of who I was, other than a few vague wisps here and there." Another chuckle, this
one less bitter. "And it took me about six days stuck in a Crey equipment locker to figure out how to operate this thing from the inside. By then I had
a much better escape plan thought out."
With a series of hisses and clicks the blue hardsuit sealed itself back up.
"You see why I wanted a completely insulated room now? So you wouldn't think I was actually some remote-controlled drone sent by Crey to take you
out."
Shaking off her shock, Sylia nodded. "Of course. And you wish to join us because...?"
The hardsuit assumed a posture of mild indignation. "Well, where else can I go? We share the same origins, after all. And I'm pretty
sure your people have the best handle on service and maintenance for this kind of armor. That's kind of critical to me at the moment. And I'm hoping
that maybe, just maybe, your people will learn enough to get me back into a real body -- or the next best thing -- someday." Yet another chuckle, this
one full-throated and genuine despite its electronic origin. "I can certainly pay my way in trade."
"And surely you'll want help determining -- and hopefully restoring -- your original identity?" Sylia offered as she weighed the benefits of
yet another healer in the Sabres against the special needs this new Sabre might have.
Life Sabre tilted her head. (Her? Sylia asked herself. Yes, her. Whatever else it was, the personality within the empty armor was very
distinctly female.) "Maybe. I'm not sure. I get the feeling I was a bit of a ditz, and I'm not sure I want to go back to that."
"Fair enough." Sylia glanced over Life Sabre's head to her two companions. Priss shrugged infinitesimally. Linna held a thumb up. She
added their responses to her own and came to a conclusion. Standing, she held out a hand and said, "In that case, I'd like to welcome you to the
team, Life Sabre."
Life Sabre took her hand and shook it. "Thank you, Silicon Sabre. You don't know how much this means to me."
Sylia released the catch on her faceplate, allowing it to swing up to reveal her face. "You're welcome... and call me Sylia."
So... I know sooner or later someone will ask me who Life Sabre was. I can confidently tell you -- I have no idea. I dreamed up this idea to avoid having to
come up with another blenderized combination of fictional characters. The "ditz" comment above is not intended to be indicative of anything except
that whoever she originally was, she wasn't much on sophisticated thinking, given her first escape attempt. (Although it did lead me into thinking about
coming up with a Sabre based on Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo! -- Ditz Sabre, anyone? Except I can't find an archetype with a Dingbat primary and
Genius secondary... )
And yeah, Sylia may be a little too trusting at the end there. There are still other options that would allow Life Sabre to be a sleeper agent or other
threat. But going through them all would have derailed this piece rather thoroughly. Let us assume that before, during and after this interview, Sylia and
her elite tech people did the proper due diligence on Life Sabre.
Oh, yeah, and in case it isn't obvious, the name and color scheme are a gag -- based on the colors of the wrapper for Pep-O-Mint Life Savers.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.