Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie

Author:Emily Skrutskie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2018-07-17T17:56:14.818802+00:00

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With our only window facing the rear of the shuttle, we don’t actually see Alpha 37 on our approach. Our first glimpse of the planet is through the fires of our entry burn, and it’s barely more than a glimpse for me—one look and my eyes are squeezed tightly shut, the sounds of my prayer drowned out by the roar of the flames and the rattle of our ship. Even after the deceleration breaks and we cruise the rest of our way to our targeted landing site, I don’t dare open my eyes again until we’ve settled on solid ground and the shuttle’s engines cut out, leaving us still and silent.

I unstrap as soon as the exo will allow me and immediately collapse onto the stable floor of the cargo bay, my thoughts smarting with humiliation. My legs feel like jelly, even with the metal supporting them. A hand comes down on the back of my rig, and Marshal Jesuit lifts me to my feet like a kitten. “Real grav, kid. How’s it feel?” she chuckles. She walks to the hatch easily, already adjusted to the strange pull beneath her feet.

Real gravity. An actual planet, holding me to its skin. Hundreds of thousands of souls in the Fleet have lived and died and returned to God without ever experiencing this. Three hundred and one years have gone by, and only a small fraction of humanity has stood the way I am now.

“Heavy,” I reply at last. Heavier by a factor of 1.1, my exo informs me. But with my enhanced body, the extra weight is nothing.

“Trainees,” Marshal Jesuit announces as the other three unstrap and get their feet under them. “Masks are located in a bin up front. You’ll want them on good and tight before the doors open.”

Our exos nudge us into formation and parade us to the equipment. I grab a mask, fit its clear plastic mouthpiece over my nose and mouth, and attach it to a tank, which the exo prompts me to sling over my shoulder. It catches on a set of magnetic hooks, and then it’s part of my body, its weight sitting naturally on my bones. I check the seals on the mask once more because the exo wants it and a third time because I need to be sure.

Behind me, Wooj starts leaping from foot to foot. He seems outrageously excited about the fact that each time he bounces into the air, an entire planet is pulling him back down again. With his full rig on, his exo’s winning over his mind in the struggle to control his body, making him slightly unsteady. Overall, though, he seems stable. His headpiece hides his eyes behind bulbous lenses, but the smile we feel through the exosystem is genuine and Scela-wide, not manic. I hope it stays that way. We have too much at stake today for him to glitch out again.

I let myself share in his enthusiasm. Just a little. I

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