Project Icarus

Testing: Part One

"You were a what?"

She fought a smile. "I was a-" and with this she lost herself to uncontrollable laughter. It was light and flowed easily. I wanted to hear more of it.

"Oh. Okay. I get it. you were making a joke. Ha-ha. Now what did you really do?"

She recovered herself from laughing before answering. Still smiling, she said "I was a surf instructor in California."

"That makes so much more sense." I can see the tan from working outside, and you give off surfer vibes."

"And I of course know where you came from. Now that that's settled, we should probably go get some breakfast." My stomach growled in agreement.

"Perfect. Show me where the friendship got ruined as well." Giving a slight smile, we passed by my room and turned left after the glass flight room.

Turning right into the first door, we entered an enormous cafeteria- which was entirely empty.

"Big crowd." I joked.

"They all eat right after sunrise. It's almost seven."

"So we have the entire room to ourselves. Show me where it happened." She grabbed a plate of waffles and headed over to the back corner, as much away from the center as possible. Together, we sat down on one side of a plain metal table and matching chairs.

"So I sat here, like this," she angled her chair towards mine a bit. "And he sat angled towards me a bit," she angled my chair to match hers. "And we talked. After a bit I said, 'You know the one thing we haven't done?' and he said 'No, what?' and I said 'this.' and leaned over and just planted my mouth on his and... and..."

"I get it."

"You do?"

"I think so. It was like an autopilot that got you talking and sense didn't affect what you said."

"How'd you know," she asked, astonished.

"My second foster mom called it 'destiny's work'. God needed a way to make the future happen, and he makes you talk, even when you don't want to. I call it rambling about the wrong subject."

"No matter what you call it, I think that we just formed a friendship off the one I lost," she said, smiling.

I smiled back at her. "I think we did. Turns out we can be friends in this universe as well." Her smile darkened a bit at that.

"We should probably get you to the test. It's time," she said, already hurring off with our plates.

That was weird. What's wrong with her?

I followed her back outside and further along the right side of the flight chamber. At last, we got to the midpoint, marked by the platforms. Instead of turning left to face the open area, she instead turned right to the wall opposite it. As with my room, an unseen door hissed open and we walked inside.

I was immediately speachless. We were in a room, about the same size as my bedroom, but this one only had one item in it.

I walked towards the exoskeleton standing alone in the middle of the room.

"So this is... Mine? I put this on and fly it?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah. I think this is the first time it's been completed, as we haven't had a pilot. But here you are." She sounded as surprised as I was

"Do you have any idea how it works?"

"The power is created in the solar panels blended with the carbon fiber wings, and thermal generators feed off the temperature of the wing tops, because they're black. It's self-sustained, can be worn 24/7, and does most of the flying on its own. It can sense when the user's legs are down, indicating a landing attempt, and it'll modulate the wings to make you go slower.  When in flight, it locks and keeps the legs up so that the air'll flow better. A simple push down from the legs and you'll be unlocked."

"What?"

"Don't worry about power. The wings can be worn all day, and does most of the flying on it's own. When flying, it'll lock your legs up flat, give them a push to release for a slow landing. Better?"

"Thank you. One question though... If it does most of the flying on its own, why did you need to be strong?"

"You have to manually move the wings during takeoff to get the flight mechanism moving. While the entire frame weighs about five pounds, the air resistance around it makes it feel like you're flapping fifty pound wings."

"Should I put it on beneath my clothes, or on top of what I have now?"

Blushing a bit, the Instructor responded "It needs to go on your legs. The top can go over a shirt, but the legs need to feel exactly where your legs are at any given moment." After a pause, and in a tiny voice, she added "And you can't apply them alone very easily."

Extremely concious of her eyes on me the entire time, I walked over next to the black frame, quietly stepped out of my pants, and stepped into the frame.

"Let's just get this very awkward part aside quickly" I said. She didn't move. "Hello? Did I commit a sin? Help me out here!"

Finally moving, albeit quietly, she went around back and fastened the straps I handed her. Once all six straps on each leg were tightened, I put back on my white sweatpants and did a walk around the room.

"Holy crap," I blurted.

"They look like they're moving perfectly," the instructor said, all signs of what happened replaced again with awe.

"I don't feel it there at all!"

"Let's get the rest strapped in."
We quickly strapped in the rest of my torso and arms.

"How do I extend the wings," I asked, impatiently.

"Lower your hands to by your sides, palms facing forwards." I did as she said. "Touch your thumb to the base of your pinkie finger. This engages the magnets that grab the wings behind you."

I engaged the magnets.