Tulpa War (Tulpa Trilogy Book 2) by Ulysses Tuggy

Author:Ulysses Tuggy [Tuggy, Ulysses]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

“I didn't know I was really alive in this world until I felt things hard enough to kill for 'em...”

Richard Wright, Native Son

“Mags, this seems... excessive,” Gabriel said on an open comm channel, transmitting from the new TM-6M Rakshasa standing at the other end of the facade-laden palace enclosure.

Mags stood upon the balcony of her estate with folded arms and no response. She wore the rarest of her outfits for the rarest of serious occasions. Her usual fondness for New Lakhnau colors and fabrics was hidden under the bleakness of Rama executive-style black polymers with gold linings and trim. At that moment, she meant business.

In that same moment, so did Joey. He completed the handshake with his own factory-fresh Rakshasa. Unlike his experience with Tengu, it was effortless. He felt only a shallow bond with the new core, but he didn't care. He wouldn't need it for long.

His Tulpa's loadout was factory-standard. His RA-4H autocannon had a full drum. As it was with Beta Squad's standard loadout, two RM-1G missiles were packed in the left shoulder mount. Those missiles weren't optimal anti-Tulpa weapons, but they had certainly been effective againstWuShiKe recently. His shoulder-mounted polearm blade's motor hummed with anticipation as he stared downrange at Gabriel in his matching Tulpa.

Joey was reminded that he was currently stripped of all possible technological advantages by the air he breathed. It was ordinary stale air, recycled through the air-conditioned cockpit. Ordinary Tulpa pilots must have considered the air conditioning a luxury.

There was no nano-foam, either. He would feel every impact and have to endure every surge of g-forces that the second-generation mass-production Tulpa could possibly put on its pilot.

“Magdalene,” Gabriel added after his own Tulpa handshake completed. “I don't see the harm in benching Dove for a little while. He's certainly taken a liking to that 'Tengu' of his... as soon as it's repaired, I'm sure he'll feel better.”

Magdalene heard Gabriel but kept her arms folded without any response. She stood high enough to gaze with eyes parallel to optics between the two Rakshasas set on the opposite ends of her palace garden. Joey believed she was gazing right at him, for a moment.

She wanted him to win. Joey believed that. He was learning what she really wanted from him. He didn't come to her with complaints about how Alpha Squad menaced him on the way back from Deshnoke. He came to her, instead, to report his victory, and to challenge Gabriel for command of Alpha Squad. He said he didn't need Tengu to beat her Praetorian-Elect. She seemed pleased, even proud, perhaps even aroused by his demand to prove himself.

“Mara Shah,” Gabriel added with rising tension in his voice as his Rakshasa, designated Alpha 1 on Joey's targeting systems, established its own targeting lock on his own Tulpa. “This is a waste of resources.”

“Rama Aerospace produces two Rakshasas for every one lost on the western front,” Mara Shah suddenly replied, sounding like she was speaking at a board meeting instead of to her trusted friend.

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