Blind into the Breach (The Hunter Imperium Book 4) Read online

  I nodded again. That I hadn't known.

  "So you've been using modern cam tech, plugged into something stone aged. All you could see was the little the old display tech could render."

  Still waiting for what you did. But enjoying watching your lips move. I suddenly hoped I hadn't said that out loud.

  "When I understood the problem, I redesigned a top level military PC to provide all the display functionality of external media processors. This won't work for anyone who can see, since they'd end up with a double image. If this works successfully for you, I'll see a civilian model is made available. Although as far as I know, you’re the only officially blind person among our people. All the other ones in the records went to Gaia."

  "But the suit tech will eventually be made available to our allies," said Carter, "and any blind people they have will benefit from your adaptions."

  "So what am I seeing from?"

  "The new belt suit," said Jane, pointing out to me I was now wearing one again, and I could now see was in a dull red slinky style, "is emulating the dark glasses you were wearing, but instead of a single cam in the middle, has cams in the right places to emulate your eyes. So instead of getting tunnel vision in little more than a greyscale blur, you're getting properly integrated duel feeds. Not only that, but more cams are feeding you peripheral vision."

  "How did you work all this out?"

  "It wasn’t hard. I use something similar myself."

  "What?"

  "No, I'm not blind. But I don’t have eyes like humans do."

  "Humans? You’re not human?"

  "Nope. I use the suit to emulate being human."

  "What are you then?"

  "An AI. For this version of me, I use an android body, but a lot of the time I use whatever droid body is handy. But I need the suit over both in order to look human. So I long ago adapted the suit to supply me with full vision. Once you get used to what you have now, there are other options to show you."

  I slowly closed my mouth, which had fallen open without me noticing.

  "If you're done with the explanations," said Carter, "follow me, and let's get some tests done."

  "We'll talk again when you're finished," said Jane.

  She left before I could say anything, and I followed Carter through into another room, set up for eye testing. The tests went on for several hours.

  When I finally leaned back from the machine, she turned to a screen, and began filling out forms.

  "What’s the verdict doc?"

  "Sight wise, you're still officially blind, as anytime you shift back into a belt, you'll have no sight at all, but I'm rating you as fully sighted using tech aids, which is all you need to fly again. As far as your general fitness is concerned, the other injuries you sustained in your accident are all fully healed with no ongoing issues I can find, although your general fitness is borderline for the military."

  "So I'm in?"

  "You're in. I have no doubt Jane has other aids you'll be able to use. You can expect one of the marines to take you in hand for fitness training, and I expect they’ll be seeing what you can do with various weapons as well."

  "Any idea why?"

  "If you take on dropship piloting, you'll want to be as fit as possible, and they demand pilots also be able to fight like a marine if necessary. Your decision, but the more you can do, the better your options for future advancement."

  "Thanks. Are we done?"

  She finished up the forms, and they vanished.

  "We're done. I want to know if you experience anything you can't cope with or find odd. This is new tech, and you're a test subject. If it wasn’t for the Trixone, this wouldn’t be happening this fast, and I wouldn’t be letting you go anywhere until I was sure there was nothing untoward we didn’t expect. But the devil drives, and all that. Jane will keep an eye on you as well."

  "Thank you for all of this. I'm really grateful."

  "Thank Jane. She did most of the work."

  "I will. Where do I go now?"

  "Now? You'll find a uniform in your suit menu. Shift to that. What you're wearing now is what pilots use for flight garb, and what marines wear most of the time. You'll find an altered version there as well, with your rank insignia on it. Jane will be waiting for you outside."

  "Thanks again."

  She nodded, waited for me to find and shift into uniform, and turned back to her screens.

  The uniform tunic was blue, Tardis blue said a popup note, with the pants in the same dull red as the suit I'd changed from, with black shoes instead of boots. The tunic was closed just below the neck, so there was no indication I had nothing on underneath. The pants fit well enough, without formfitting my groin area in what would have been an embarrassing way, given the lack of underwear.

  I left, taking in everything, especially the gold thin bar showing my Pilot Officer rank. It was the lowest of the low for officers, but I really was grateful not to be starting as a cadet again.

  I did find Jane waiting outside, and now saw the trolley for what it was. Little more than seats on a frame. She indicated my seat, and climbed into the other. This time she made an exaggerated show of buckling up, and I followed her lead.

  It takes a lot to scare the crap out of a pilot, but Jane's driving did exactly that.

  Four

  I hadn't been on Haven station for a month yet.

  As limited as I'd been, I’d explored very little of it, not even getting out of the accommodation tower I’d been living in. Aunt Susan's status as a three star Admiral had obtained me better quality digs than I could ever have expected, and so there was very little reason for me to go out.

  I was amazed at how big this station was. And I saw a lot of it, albeit at break neck speed, as Jane seemed to be taking the scenic route to wherever we were going next. The travel car ride had been short, just down to the main level, and I’d found myself amazed to find a giant lake at the center of the station.

  The rush of sights was almost too much for me to cope with, so long had I done without it. Jane may have sensed this, as we dived through what was obviously a retail area no longer used, and aimed at what looked like blank wall with an oblong shape drawn around it.

  She didn’t slow down at all, and at the last second I threw up my arms to protect my face when we hit, only to find we were suddenly somewhere else.

  "Welcome to Redoubt," she said, grinning.

  She took me around the docking ring, and for the first time ever I had glimpses of the great ships which made up the new Imperium's fleet. We finally stopped outside the shuttle docks, and she led me through to an airlock.

  On the other side, I found a set of luxurious seats, most of which were occupied. She pointed to an empty one, and left me for the cockpit. The airlock sealed, and before I even had my belt buckled, the ship was moving.

  A screen popped up on the front bulkhead, showing the view forward. We cleared the station quickly, and I was amazed to see we were heading for one of the titan class boxes. The trip seemed to be a lot faster than I expected, and I wondered just how fast this ship could fly. Something I’d have to find out sometime.

  It had to be Jane piloting the shuttle, as it became apparent we were heading for the central flight deck of a carrier. Only she would fly in like a bat out of hell, and make a pinpoint accurate landing on a deck elevator. If I’d tried that on Ark Royal, I’d have been tossed into the looney bin, assuming I survived. The trip down was an anti-climax. On the deck below, the shuttle moved to a landing position, and a set of clunks on the side indicated stairs being pushed against the hull, and the airlocks opening.

  Jane appeared again, amid the sound of belts releasing.

  "Welcome to Orion's Belt."

  Movement ceased as she walked to the airlock, being as she was the highest rank. She crooked a finger at me, and I followed her out ahead of everyone. Not far away we found a travel station, and walked straight into a waiting car. I was expecting a quick ride, but it turned out to be quite a long
one, on par with the original ride across Haven that morning.

  The door opened, Jane turned right outside, and I followed her onto the main bridge, which appeared to be on the very front of the ship. Several stations were occupied, but no-one paid any attention to us. The center chairs were all empty. Jane turned left, and walked straight into another room, and I lingered for a moment, looking out at the vastness of space, properly looking at it for the first time in seven long years.

  "Oi!" came Jane's voice.

  I reluctantly tore my gaze away, and followed her in.

  It was obviously the captain's ready room, and it had two other occupants seated at a small conference table. The older man was a two star, and the younger had one star. Although there was not that much difference in their ages. Both were wearing the same blue uniform I was, and had obviously been through a lot given how many decoration ribbons they each had.

  I stopped inside the door, and came to attention.

  "At ease Pilot Officer," said the two star. "Join us please."

  Jane waved to the seat next to her, but waited for me to get there before sitting. Sitting was an interesting experience for me, given it'd been so long since I’d been able to see where I was sitting properly. Jane indicated the two star.

  "This is Admiral Hallington, formerly of the American Sector navy. He used to command Yorktown."

  Everyone knew of Yorktown, even me. The old American fleet carrier which had been turned into a behemoth class ship by bolting on one of her due to be scrapped sisters, before the beginning of the Darkness War. Rumour had it a lot of ships had been upgraded around then by taking two or even four ships of the same class, and merging them into one. I felt an awe moment coming on, and suppressed it. He nodded at me seriously. Jane indicated the one star.

  "And this is Space Commodore Lacey."

  "The Lacey?" I blurted. "The one who had the public bust up with Marshal Bigglesworth?"

  "The same," he said. "I see you kept up with events after your discharge."

  "Yes sir. Nothing much else to do. If you don’t mind my asking, how did you end up here?"

  I gulped and went rigid. But they seemed to find it funny.

  "Relax. The command structure here is a lot looser than you had on Ark Royal. Comes with the crews being so small."

  "Not so small now," suggested Hallington, with a grin.

  "Quite." That was the British accent I remembered and missed. "After the dustup, I formed my own mercenary squadron, fell on hard times, and was almost blown away by our Imperator." Jane was grinning. "He then offered me a job just before the Midgard War broke out, and I've been with him ever since."

  "He almost killed you?"

  "He had a better ship, and I’d been given bad intel. Like you, I was given a second chance. Now for my sins, I'm the CAG on this ship."

  CAG was Commander Air Group, going back to the old days of wet navies, specifically American. The air group commander on a British carrier was usually a Wing Commander or Group Captain. Lacey must have seen my face look confused.

  "A lot of things are done differently here. People have a rank, and they have a job. The Admiral here is also the ship's captain, even though he's a Rear Admiral. The Imperator gives people rank for performing, and jobs according to what they're good at. He's looking forward to seeing how you turn out."

  I gulped.

  "He knows about me?"

  "He was one of your early fights in the simulator," said Jane. "He kicked your arse five times, and didn't give you a sixth chance."

  "That was him?"

  "Yes. But he's kicked your arse a few times since then as well, and considered you worth the expenditure of funds to bring out your potential."

  "Funds?"

  "Custom PC's cost a lot, and ten custom suit belts cost even more. Even if they'd been available for civilians, you'd never have afforded just the PC and single belt."

  "Ten?"

  "We issue seven belts to pilots these days," said Lacey. "Six of them you wear as armbands. In the event you eject, they provide several hours of life support and protection in space. Yours are so special I'm led to believe, the backups have to be the same, or you'd find yourself blind the moment the first one shredded. And a normal suit is going to be almost useless for you."

  The whole concept of a suit shredding and you ending up floating naked in space, was enough to make you consider wearing underwear again. I shivered when I realized just how stupid that thought was. Jane was grinning again.

  "Three spares," added Jane, "and I hope you never need them."

  "Me too," I mumbled. I made a connection. "Wait. You said the Imperator himself has fought me recently? Am I allowed to know his callsign?"

  "Maniac," said Lacey with a straight face.

  "Oh."

  What more could you say about both the callsign, and his ability to blow me away whenever he wanted to. And he wanted me to be a pilot? I was suitably humbled. And very glad I’d not known who I was attempting to fight. Not to mention having demanded rematches.

  "Yes," said Jane. "He wants you to be a pilot, or you wouldn’t be here."

  "Do you mind read?"

  Shit, I actually said it. I could feel myself going bright red. An odd thing happened suddenly. A popup screen appeared showing me myself going red, from a cam point in the room.

  "What was that?"

  The two men looked interested, but Jane was grinning again.

  "There's a lot of functionality you don’t know about yet."

  "Obviously."

  I cancelled the extra cam. It un-popped as fast as it popped.

  "And no I don't. But I can interpret what you might be seeing, since I built it."

  "Tell us about the accident," said Hallington. "We know the basics of what happened, but how was it being there?"

  "And what happened after?" added Lacey.

  Damn me, but they actually looked interested.

  Five

  I gave them a rundown of my dream memory.

  It really wasn’t much, and I didn’t mention nightmares. The initial big shock after knowing I was blind, was finding out I was one of the lucky ones. Half the squadron dead including the CO, the rest all like me in one regard or another, career ended by injuries. Only one pilot escaped serious injury.

  The months went by in various hospitals with operation after operation, all of which failed to give me so much as blurred torch light. I slowly became used to the endless black of my new existence.

  Aunt Susan collected me when they finally discharged me. Instead of taking me home, she took me to see a tech head. He assessed my PC, and found it mostly working, although predictably, everything to do with the eyes was gone. He recommended the PC come out and be replaced, but I’d already been told my head would need a good year to heal before it would be safe to do so.

  A mostly functioning PC was better than none at all. Or so I told myself. And it was useful.

  People being born blind didn’t happen very often these days, but there were some each year. For them, a system of sensors had been developed. You wore them like a collar, and they communicated directly with the PC.

  The tech guy fitted me up, while my aunt waited patiently. She didn't have to be there, probably should have been on the bridge of her battleship, but she was with me. And I was grateful she was.

  The sensor collar came online abruptly, and it was disappointing to say the least. But not unexpected. Cams work with the PC, through its connections with the eyes. My connections were gone, and so the PC was trying to compensate by directing data into my brain instead. And as I now knew, and no-one had explained then, PC's were not up to the task I needed of them.

  At first, all I could 'see' was a sort of wire-frame. Walls were just lines on each side. Objects were lines in front. Little perspective, and just a confusion at first. The sensors were feeding me obstacles like walls and furniture, but only touch told me which was which.

  With practice I could get around. I learned the ref
erence points, and as long as I moved slowly, I had a modicum of independence. I couldn't read, see a face, or even determine the sex of someone in front of me. But I was introduced to others who'd been through the sight to sightless transition before. And slowly, I adapted.

  The day I was discharged from the British Fleet, Vice-Marshall Bigglesworth himself attended, and expressed his sorrow at the failure of the admiralty which resulted in my condition. When he told me to ask if I ever needed anything, I know he meant well, but we both knew I’d never ask. Aunt Susan had said the same thing, and even she knew I wasn't going to ask even her.

  The finality of discharge still haunts me, but I didn’t tell them that. Sometimes the nightmare runs all the way to the final announcement, which bolts me up like a death sentence.

  I went home, but home was now a wire frame, and all I felt around me was pity. I lasted a week, before begging Aunt Susan to come and get me. She lived on the military station above London when she wasn’t on a ship, and as ex-military on a pension, I was allowed to move into her spare room, and use the station facilities. She wasn't there enough for us to have a problem.

  I relearned the gym, and attempted to regain some measure of fitness. The navigation part of the PC was still able to put a wire-frame arrow in, so at least I didn’t get lost when I left the apartment. I never really knew what was around me, and I gave up wondering. It was months before I was able to prepare food for myself again, and mostly relied on deliveries.

  A year went past like a decade, and there were times when all I wanted to do was end it. I stayed away from alcohol though. A nurse had told me being sightless was bad enough without being drunk and sightless. I took it to heart. Life was, I don’t know, boring without sight. But there were changes which could be made, and adaptions, and people who could help you with them.

  I spent a lot of time just listening to stuff. And I had plenty of time for it. At the start I lost all sense of a normal day, and days going past. It wasn’t until someone woke me up when I missed a check-up, the suggestion was made I start setting audible alarms, and I did.