Angel Six Echo by Robert Appleton

Author:Robert Appleton [Appleton, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mercury Seven Books
Published: 2020-11-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Dedicated Listener

Dalton splashed his face with cool, recycled water before shaving for the day ahead. He’d slept, or been allowed to sleep, eighteen hours after the exhausting round of hostile debriefings, intelligence meetings, official statements, and, side by side with Frisk and Perrault, analyzing the remarkable vid footage of Angel Six’s heroic stunt that Amelia Wicksend had sent to every inbox at Outpost F, much to Col. Eggar’s annoyance. He still felt drained and a little disoriented, as though he were suffering from starlag without having warped anywhere. The husky bags under his more-sunken-than-usual eyes worried him a little until he remembered the enormity of what was going on around him, the stakes at play. Then his appearance meant nothing. If shaving weren’t compulsory, he wouldn’t have bothered.

Wicksend’s soup du jour was oxtail with a dash of tomato, one of the tastiest things he’d ever slurped down. She only ever made enough for about a dozen servings, so recipients were normally chosen via digital lottery. Dalton hadn’t put his name forward, being sound asleep at roll call, so Wicksend had personally saved him a flask full. So far it was the only acknowledgment of his contribution to the tunnel coup – he was, along with Beech, Yorkin and Wicksend, on the colonel’s shit list for disobedience – but it was worth more than any official citation because it had been offered in kind, old-fashioned friendship.

There was still an hour to go before his next shift began, so he went to the gym, ran a few miles on a treadmill at high inclination, then stripped naked and inched his way through the spray walk at Arctic temperature. That sure as hell woke him up. Dressed and geared up, he made his way up to the airlock, inked himself out through security, and navigated by memory through the stone labyrinth until he saw Frisk, Perrault and Amelia Wicksend crouched around their TAC-OS under the newly replaced periscope 2.

The subject of their excited debate, as usual, was Angel Six. Someone in Ops had used cutting edge AI software to enhance the footage of her impossible leap and quadruple kills to a stunning clarity. Dalton had only previously seen the medium range zoom in a jerky, slightly blurry sequence. This new view was really something. Paradoxically, it rendered her feat even more mysterious.

“It’s absolutely a Dimlic combat suit,” explained Wicksend. “They used to call it a ‘forhindre’. No one knows much about them except that no human has ever successfully worn one for long duration, at least as far as the official archives are concerned.”

“But she’s not just humanoid; she’s like my perfect woman,” said Frisk. “Look at that tight body. She’s some kind of witch all right, but she’s a human one. I’ll put money on it.”

“She might look human, Frisk, but it’s a surprisingly common and efficient evolutionary shape for intelligent xenogeneic lifeforms, we’ve found, gave or take an appendage or two. And as you can see, she’s capable of physical feats no human is capable of.

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