Aranarth, fully suited, came and found Decker as soon as the ceremony was over. That's when Decker found out who he was going to be squiring under.
"Oh no. This is a joke right?" asked Decker.
"Who did you think it was going to be?" Aranarth laughed.
The ceremony had left Decker feeling pumped, but now all that air was let out of his balloon.
"Great," he deadpanned.
Aranarth leaned right up into Decker's personal space.
"You need to understand something, Squire: you're not in just yet. Forget the ceremony, forget the stuff with the sword. You're still under evaluation. The second I'm finished with you, you're out. You're gone. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I don't like the way you pronounce the word 'tomato', if I don't like the look you give a dog, or how you chew your food, I will wash you out. They're not going to ask me why. There is no appeal. So remember that. You're not safe. You're not a ranger. You're not an A.R.C. squire. You are my squire."
Aranarth straightened.
"Now let's get your dumb arbo suited up."
"No way," said Decker.
He thought he was going to have to wait until he was a full ranger to be fitted with a suit. This was the least Decker had ever hated Aranarth.
Aranarth led Decker through the ship until they came to a small, unassuming room off one of the main corridors. In the center was a circle, delineated by a raised metal line along the floor.
"You're going to displace me somewhere?" asked Decker.
"No," replied Aranarth, "I'm going to displace something onto you. Suits come from hyperspace. That's where they're born."
"Born?" asked Decker, stepping into the circle.
"You should read more," said Aranarth. "Now strip."
"Excuse me?" asked Decker.
"Did you think you wore it over your clothes?" asked Aranarth. "I'm going to be in the adjacent room where the controls are if this is some kind of modesty thing. Don't move out of the circle until the process is finished unless you like being cut in half."
Aranarth left. Decker shrugged and stripped off his clothes, throwing them out of the circle just in case.
Decker stood in the circle, naked, waiting. For a long time nothing happened. Then for a longer time nothing continued to happen.
It occurred to Decker that Aranarth might not have been entirely truthful about him getting a Suit. He might just have wanted to see how long he could get Decker to wait in a circle naked.
Huh, thought Decker.
Now what was he going to do? He didn't want to give Aranarth the excuse to wash him out. If he was telling the truth about the Suit and Decker left, he'd definitely be kicked out. He was given explicit instructions. On the other hand if he just waited here like this all day on a flimsy story Aranarth could make the argument that Decker was too gullible to be a ranger.
Decker felt a tingling sensation and stiffened. He was staying in the circle. He was always planning on staying in the circle nobody could say otherwise.
It started on the small of his back, spreading outward across his body like a sentient liquid. First it covered him up to the neck in a single unbroken bodyglove, then it began to break down into various pieces and points of articulation. Weak points began to reinforce themselves. The 'liquid' began to take on the look of metal.
When Decker moved, though, it flowed around his body like a liquid.
The Suit tried to handshake with Decker's implant. It wanted a direct mind link. Decker shrugged and granted permission. Must be part of the controls.
Suddenly Decker felt a presence rooting around in his memory. It was grabbing all kinds of biographical information. There must be an AI in there. This was exactly what Decker had worried about mind linking with Ophelia back on Hyperborea.
<Do you mind?> thought Decker.
<Oh it's not problem at all. I'm nearly finished,> replied the Suit.
<Leave my thoughts alone. Those are need to know.>
<I need to know a great many things contained within your thoughts.>
<Reading someone's mind against their will is illegal. I insist you stop.>
The Suit was already adjusting itself to take into account all the new information it had about Decker.
<I did 1.79 seconds ago. I'm finished. Greetings, you may call me suit.>
<Suit?>
The Suit continued to make adjustments, but they were growing smaller and more subtle.
<Affirmative.>
<You suits don't have names?> asked Decker.
<Of course we do,> replied Suit. <We are all named suit.>
<Won't that get confusing?>
<Why, how many suits are you planning to wear at once?>
<Whatever. My name's->
<Sam Decker. I know. I just finished reading your mind, remember>
<Well don't do that again.>
<Why would I need to?>
This was ridiculous.
"You can get out of the circle now," said Aranarth, appearing in the doorway. He picked up Decker's cloak and handed it to him. "Grab your clothes, we're headed to the shooting range."
* * *
The shielded corridor used for shooting practice hummed with the restrained power of its force fields. Thanks to Decker's new ears it sounded louder and more complex than before.
"Try warping in some weapons," said Aranarth. "See if you can make some blue sparks for me."
Decker smiled. He'd make that shield spark purple.
<Suit, give me a railgun,> thought Decker.
<What kind?> asked the Suit.
Decker didn't remember the names of any railguns.
<A big one,> replied Decker.
<That's not a kind of railgun.>
<You pick then.>
<That's not how it's supposed to work.>
"I'm waiting," said Aranarth.
<What's the most commonly used kind of railgun?> asked Decker.
<That depends on who would be using it,> replied the Suit.
<A sprelling A.R.C. Ranger!> Decker shouted in his mind.
<Oh that's easy then. The Perjurer-class Automatic Railgun.>
<Great. Give me that,> thought Decker.
The weapon seemed to instantly appear in Decker's hand as though thrown to him by someone standing in another dimension. One moment there was nothing, the next he was holding it.
"Witchy," said Decker, inspecting the weapon. This was the model of railgun he was already familiar with. He liked all this warping in business too.
"That took you long enough," said Aranarth. "If this had been a combat situation you'd be dead."
"Tell that to the Suit," said Decker.
<Hey!> snapped the Suit <Don't blame your indecision on me!>
"Nevermind that," said Aranarth. "Show me what you've got."
He pressed a touch control and a familiar practice hologram appeared.
Decker hadn't gotten much better with a gun on Hyperborea. He hadn't had one for most of his time there. If anything he might have gotten rusty. Still, he did make the last shot he took. Even if it was a point blank range.
His raised his weapon and took a practice aim. His enhanced strength and dexterity was already making the task easier than he remembered. His eyesight was far sharper, as was his hand-eye coordination.
This could work, he thought.
Decker checked the weapon and turned up the power to maximum. He aimed it again. Exhaled. He fired three short bursts directly into the hologram. He was actually a really great shot.
But he hadn't pushed any of the sparks past green.
Decker readjusted his aim to keep it true and then fired off the weapon on fully automatic until he emptied the entire 1,000 round magazine. A colorful thunderstorm of sparks exploded across the back of the corridor. At the center some pushed from green just into flecks of blue.
<This doesn't' work for me,> thought Decker. <What are some heavier weapons? Ones used by rangers not farmers or clowns.>
<What about a knife missile?> suggested the Suit.
<That's not going to do great against a defense field but I like that you're thinking. What else along those lines?>
<I'm not going to let you fire any AM weapons.>
<Good I don't want to.>
<A Profligate-class Plasma Caster, with the right settings, could seriously damage a defense field of this kind.>
<Perfect. Let's have one of those, with the right settings.>
Decker's Perjurer warped away like it way pulled sideways from his hands, and the Profligate appeared in its place. It was a bulky firearm at least twice the size of the Perjurer.
Decker took a second to get used to the new weapon's weight, took aim, and fired. A glowing orange stream of plasma went hurtling towards the back of the corridor causing a flowering of green sparks. No blue though.
<Not good enough,> thought Decker. <Can you take this one?>
The Profligate disappeared from his hand.
<What else you got?> asked Decker.
<Well an Ion Rifle isn't going to do you any good, not against concentric shielding like this. This is really supposed to be your decision.>
<What is good against concentric shielding?>
<AM but I already said you can't have that.>
<What's good against concentric shielding that won't kill us all? What's going to make that thing spark blue or purple?>
<Good, but not too good?> asked the Suit.
<Exactly,> thought Decker.
A new weapon slid into his hands, one Decker wasn't familiar with. It was more squat than a Perjurer with a wide barrel.
<Try this. It's a Malefactor-class Electromagnetic Ripper. A scaled down version of what they use on A.R.C. starships.>
Decker could feel a half dozen mind-switches coming online. This gun was partially thought controlled. He wasn't sure how to work it now.
<How do I shoot this thing?> Decker asked.
<If I could fire the weapons what would I need you for? Do you really want to pull that thread?>
Decker could feel all kinds of alien thoughts in his mind that he didn't know what to do with. He aimed it like it was a railgun, braced in case there was any kickback, visualized blue sparks to try and get the mind controls right, and pulled the trigger.
Something so invisible even Decker didn't see it flew from the gun, maybe nothing at all, and there was an incredible detonation at the far end of the corridor.
The edges of the explosion crackled yellow which faded slowly into green closer to the center. The core was sky blue fading in to navy.
Aranarth watched the whole production, stone faced, with his arms crossed. At the sight of the blue-cored explosion he smiled.
"Not bad," he said.
<Oh sure, go ahead, take all the credit for my work,> the Suit sniffed.
"You seem to have the hang of it," Aranarth continued. "Now, Decker's suit, I know you can hear me. Never warp in any weapons without my express permission. Squire Decker is not to be armed unless I order it first.
<Tell him I understand and will comply,> insisted the Suit.
<No.>