The Lift by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

2

If all Royal Delta Marines looked like her, he’d sign up tomorrow. Lucius had never actually met an RDM before. The old Canmerican Delta Force had merged with the British Royal Marines a quarter century back when Canmerica had finally gone down hard. The Deltas and the Night Stalkers—Canmerica’s elite fighters and fliers—had fought their way out to orbit and the Brits had given them a home.

Syra looked half cat and half invisible in her skin-tight black jumpsuit. He didn’t see a spare gram anywhere, but rumor said that an RDM could step out an airlock and complete any mission with just what they were wearing.

Smoothly bald. Rumor was they all shaved their heads to save the extra ounces. Of course so did half of spacers—hair and zero-g he supposed could be awkward. His own seemed to be okay, but he’d never worn it long. Bald looked silly on some women, but not her.

“Am I going to like what’s on this chip?” She led him into a hangar that looked like a rabbit warren for ships. A line of the big Stinger 60s of the Night Stalkers filled one side of the bay. The other side of the hangar housed a long rack of smaller vessels. In the ceiling racks were parked all of the utility craft, and the floor area was service bays and gear. She led him to one that had to be too small for human use. It wasn’t just space black. It was so black that it hurt his eyes trying to see it.

“Hm-nmn. Nmnnm.” Something was wrong with his mouth. He was starting to panic when he caught her hints of a sly grin.

He managed a calming breath, then poked her shoulder to get her to turn to fully face him. It was weird, she was hard, like Plas hard. He was fairly sure he’d know if they’d figured out android bodies.

“Mn rm nu?”

“What am I? An RDM. So don’t screw with me. It’ll wear off in a few minutes.” Her smile was a good one. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience with women, though he suspected that any experience he did have wouldn’t have been relevant with a Marine anyway.

She rested her hand against the impenetrable darkness of the small ship and a hatch appeared. An Insertion Ship. He’d heard of these, mostly by rumor. They were an extreme evolution of the Bell Little Bird attack helicopter—the same way humans were to whatever proceeded chimpanzees. It was little bigger and could carry just two people, but that’s where the similarities ended. Canmerica, while they still existed, and now the Brits knew one thing—give your Special Ops teams the very best gear. Inserters were almost mythic in their capabilities. Stealth, weapons, and computers that were so smart they were barely legal even with I-Loc control by humans.

The engineer in him wanted a full rundown. One look at Syra told him to keep his mouth shut even if he could talk.

At her gesture, he entered first.

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