Scientific Sorcery

Part 23

Excerpt from Jumpsuit Field Manual, section entitled Refueling in Field

The Air Force Jump Suit—with its combination of nanites, oxities, and performance-enhancing drugs—is a specialized piece of hardware. It is recommended that the suit only be serviced and refueled by a certified Air Force engineer. Situations may occur when an extended tour of duty or extreme conditions prevent a soldier from returning for service. This may result in a Jump Suit running out of fuel.

Refueling the Suit in the field can be problematic, at best. Rather than discarding the Suit (an Air Force Jump Suit is the property of the federal government, and abandonment of the suit is prohibited by law), our engineers have developed a way for the Suit to refuel itself. This will require your assistance.

Inspired by the drug payload of the Gift, our engineers have made use of the NanoFab® technology to allow the Suit to produce new fuel and using available chemicals found in your body. Nanites have the ability to create other nanites. They also have the ability to split and reform molecules to form new compounds.

This situation is not ideal. We again recommend refueling with a certified Air Force engineer. If you are in a situation where service is not an option, please be aware of these side effects:

The suit will be using raw compounds found in your body to produce fuel for the suit. This will cause mineral and protein deficiencies in your body. You will need to eat often to give the Suit what it needs. Try eating a mixture of animal proteins and leafy green vegetables. You may find yourself craving strange new foods. Eat whatever is feasible. Take caution if the rations of your team are limited. Failure to feed your body, and thus the suit, will result in fatigue, organ failure, or death.

The refueling process can take over 24 hours. Do not use the enhanced abilities of the suit during this time. Suit fuel will be limited, but still available for use during emergencies, during the refueling process.

If possible, sleep more than usual. The suit will provide sleep-enhancing drugs if allowed. Sleep has been shown to speed the refueling process by up to 30%.

Avoid prolonged exposure to the suit. Even after refueling in the field, the suit still needs to be serviced by a certified Air Force engineer. With each generation of nanites created by the suit, duplication errors can cause side-effects that may affect performance. We recommend that the suit be worn no longer than seven consecutive days.

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Kerr was hungry. Kerr was very hungry. In all his life, he couldn't remember a single point when he had been this hungry. The hunger had awoken him, and he was still a bit fuzzy. With his eyes still closed, he stuck out his tongue, visualizing a feast. His tongue touched chalky dirt. The dirt dissolved on his tongue, the bitter taste shooting over his taste buds. It was good! Why did Kerr not remember dirt tasting so good? He flicked his tongue, grabbing more and more dirt. Then, opening his jaws wide, he scooped up a mouthful.

Ahhh, that's so much better, thought Kerr as he chewed.

His eyes snapped open. Why was he face down on the ground? He tried to move, but his arms and legs seemed like they were being held down. For a moment, he didn't even remember how he got there. But then it all flooded back to him. The suit had re-activated, and then it stopped... at the worst possible moment. He had hit the ground, and that's the last he remembered. Were his arms and legs broken? He couldn't feel any pain, but that would be expected if the suit was active again—pain killers and nerve blockers would prevent any pain from reaching his brain.