Victor stood, smoothing back his hair, and then adjusted the cuff links of his pale blue pin-striped shirt. “Ready when you are, boss.”
“Where’s Iris?” I asked. Iris was brought in after she had stumbled upon a fight in some dark alley between Victor and three thugs trying to mug him. Vic said he could have taken care of the situation without Iris’s help. I didn’t doubt him; he was a strong guy. But I’m not sure if he would have kept his handsome face. Little did Victor know that he’d lose Lingyi to this enigmatic girl who spoke so few words when we welcomed her into our group.
“She’s out wandering,” Lingyi replied, her pink-glossed lips lifting into a smile. Iris had been an orphan since birth—and even more of a loner than I was. I had a feeling her wandering wasn’t as innocuous as Lingyi made it sound.
“Why don’t you suit up, Zhou?” Arun said. “We need to make sure everything fits and works properly.”
I stared at the you suit in its clear, oval pod set in the corner, like some headless astronaut. The helmet had its own square cubby within the oval pod. My suit was a light gray, lit with dark neon blue geometric designs along the collar and the length of both sleeve edges.
Lingyi went over and punched clear buttons on the pod and the glass slid open without a sound, like double doors. “Normally, you’d suit up at one of Jin Corp’s boutiques. But I didn’t want to give away the fact that this was your first suit. So I thought it was better to give you an orientation in private.”
Victor unhooked the suit and removed it from the glass pod. He unzipped it from the collar, continuing under the arm, then along the length of the left side. I shrugged off my jacket and stared uncertainly at the suit. It symbolized everything you to me, all that I never wanted to be. And here I was, suiting up to pretend I was a rich you boy, just like the rest of them. Pushing these thoughts aside, I carefully stepped into it, fully clothed. Victor zipped me up. I thought I would feel claustrophobic and hot, but the material was light and seemed to mold itself to my body.
Lingyi lifted the helmet from the cubby, proffering it. “Just place it over your head and you’ll hear the mechanism latch at your collar. The minute you’re in helmet, you’re connected to the yous’ com sys. I’ve jammed your suit signal for now, while we’re at headquarters. But other than that, the suit and helmet should still work like normal.”
Taking the glass helmet from her, I brought it over my head and had to fight a sudden wave of panic. Victor noticed my hesitation. “I’d suggest you buy into the suit mentality fast for the role you’re going to play,” he said.
“It won’t be so bad, bro,” Arun said. “You’re doing this for us. Our cause.”
Arun was right. I’d do anything to destroy Jin Corp. And although he didn’t say it aloud, the memory of his mom lingered there, within all of us. Dr. Nataraj had loved Taiwan as much as we all did—that’s why she had pushed so hard for reform. It was up to us now to finish her work. I slipped the helmet over my head and into the suit’s stiff collar. I heard a hiss as the helmet’s glass darkened a fraction and WELCOME MR. ZHOU flashed across it in blue. I took three long, consecutive breaths until my eyes watered, and I felt light-headed. The air in our headquarters was filtered, but it was nothing compared to this pure stuff.
“You okay in there?” Arun asked. His voice sounded as clear as if I didn’t have a helmet on.
I nodded at him.
“There are sensors in the helmet tuned to your brain waves. You can control the suit or query the com sys by thought or through voice,” Victor said. “Just start each request with ‘command.’ Go ahead and try changing your suit’s temperature.”
“Command,” I said, throat feeling dry. “What is the suit temperature?”
21°C/70°F appeared in blue on the lower right corner of my helmet.
Command, I thought in Mandarin, change suit temperature to 68°F.
COMMAND RECEIVED. LOWERING SUIT TEMPERATURE TO 68°F.
The blue words flashed in Chinese at eye level, then disappeared after three seconds.
“I’ve set the default language to Mandarin for you,” Lingyi said. “But your suit can understand and translate a multitude of languages, more than you’ll ever encounter in your lifetime. If you speak or think your commands in English, it’ll respond in kind.”
I raised my arms to look at my hands, the only exposed part of my body, then flexed at the elbows, testing my range of motion. I walked away from my friends, who had clustered around me, still breathing in the pure air. The suit was comfortable, and I moved with ease, my actions unhindered. The helmet was the most awkward aspect. It wasn’t heavy and didn’t distort my vision or hearing, but I was very aware that I was enclosed. Separated.
“The temperature’s adjusted,” I said, incredulous. “It feels cooler.”
“You look good, man.” Arun nodded in approval.
I squatted to the floor in one swift motion, bouncing to the balls of my feet, before jumping up into the air. The suit moved with me like a second skin.
“Once it collects enough data from your voice and brain waves—both are individually unique—the suit will truly be personalized. It’ll only work for you when you put the helmet on,” Lingyi explained. “This ability to recognize its owner makes stealing suits pretty much pointless.”
“Lingyi’s added a safety enhance to the suit upon my recommendation,” Victor said. “Mainly for when you’re riding on your airped. If you fall, the suit will slow your descent as well as inflate with protective padding. It isn’t fail-safe, but it’s been known to save lives.”
“I’ve got an airped?” I asked, removing my helmet. It unlatched with a hiss. The sound reminded me of the girl I had kidnapped, when she had removed hers for the first time. Suddenly, it felt too warm in the headquarters.
Victor grinned. “Custom. The budget didn’t allow for an aircar, but you’ll look more badass on this.”
“Yeah, the airped was a necessity,” Lingyi said. “But not some of the other enhances Victor suggested.”
“What?” Vic replied. “Like the Superman?”
“Superman?” Arun and I said at the same time.
“Ask him later. We have more important things to discuss.” Lingyi gave Victor a warning look. “Arun, your mom had only hit upon the tip of the corruption. We know now that Jin’s padded the pockets of everyone who’s supposed to call out violations to turn their backs on the people, on top of stopping legislation from being presented. In fact, a handful of influential politicians who couldn’t possibly afford you suits have them.” She tucked a sweep of purple bangs behind one ear.
“More reason to shut Jin Corp down,” I said. “Blow it to smithereens.”