Rika Commander by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2018-04-19T04:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

For the next several hours, Rika visited with the mechs of her company. She did everything from dance with Heather, who was ecstatic to have her ‘lady parts’ back, to hold The Van as he broke down in tears while trying to manipulate his new fingers, continually tearing the bedsheets as he tried to fold them.

Rika stayed with him for an hour until Shoshin showed up—still without a face, though he had also opted for the flow armor skin. The AM-3, now turned RR-4, congratulated The Van on his first good fold, and gestured for Rika to leave, telling her over the Link that she needed to circulate amongst the troops.

He was right. She got back to it.

So far, a third of the mechs had completed their changes in the Mechtubes, and a few of the humans in her crew had spent time in them as well, coming out somewhere in between.

“What do you think?” Barne’s gruff voice came from behind Rika as she walked into the corridor after visiting with Vargo Klen, who’d gotten his wish and was now an RR-4.

She turned to see her first sergeant behind her, his skin replaced with Finaeus’s new MK99 epidermis, and his right arm, a three-fingered mech limb. What was more surprising was that his left arm now sported a GNR-50. His legs looked normal, maybe a little bit more muscled, but ended in the claw-like appendages of a mech.

“Holy crap, Barne, I didn’t know you were going into the tubes!”

Barne shrugged. “I figure if these people can turn me into a mech in a couple of days and turn me back later, I should see what it’s like.”

“You’ve given mechs so much shit over the years, I was still getting over you signing up for M Company. Now you’ve gone and thrown this curveball.”

“Really, Rika? You think that little of me?” Barne shook his head as he regarded her with solemn eyes. “You made me a true believer that night you killed Cheri. Far as I’m concerned, mechs are the best of the best of the best.”

“You got that right, Top,” Crunch said as he ambled past, and Barne turned and whacked the newly minted FR-4 on the back of the head with his GNR’s barrel.

“Who the fuck said you could call me ‘Top’, Crunch? You know, the Nietzschean ships have a fun type of algae growing on the hulls, and I need someone to scrub it off. You got a fuckin’ squeegee attachment handy? You’re gonna need it.”

“Ha!” Crunch grinned as Barne hit him again. “That doesn’t even hurt!”

“Why, you little…” Barne turned and stormed after Crunch, who took off running.

“Boys!” Rika called after them. “We’re in a fucking hospital, here!”

“Now you know why they gave us the whole wing,” Leslie said from behind Rika, and she turned to smile at her friend and leader of First Platoon.

Rika snorted. “Yeah, good thing they didn’t charge the extra SC batts or give us ammo. These goons would have turned the mess hall into a firing range.

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