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“You ready?”
Helena nodded as she stepped onto the platform in the middle of the testing chamber. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I think. Let’s get this over with!” The reinforced glass doors closed behind her with a soft hiss and the lights dimmed.
“Do you hear me all right?” asked Atlanta, bending over the microphone in the adjacent control room five metres away. Her voice came through the speakers in the testing chamber in a tinny but comprehensible hiss, and Helena gave a thumbs up. Through the glass, she saw her pink-haired friend turn to the researchers who sat at the numerous computer banks and rap out a series of orders. They saluted and turned to their stations, fingers flying across their keyboards. The floor around the platform she was standing on opened, clean white panels sliding back on either side and a multi-jointed arm rising up from each hole. With a pleasant whirr they rotated about and gripped onto her legs.
“The test is about to start,” said Atlanta. Helena could see her smiling reassuringly. “Initiating earthing procedure.”
The leg clamps suddenly tightened.
“Earthing established. Too tight?”
“Good enough,” said Helena, still wincing, “though perhaps you should modify these to close slower.”
“Noted,” chuckled Atlanta. “Right! Testing Log 96-2: Retrofit Devicer for Operator Helena. Commencing recording and data collection. Good luck!”
Helena lowered her head to gaze at the object that she held in her right hand. It was a palm-sized cuboid made from white and blue plastic, the symbol of the Eagle Union engraved red into its centre. Above the arrow-riding raptor and shield was written CL-50 in small, blocky letters. Small buttons were present on its left and right sides, moulded perfectly to fit the curvature of her fingers. It was exquisitely made, but to the casual observer, it might seem little more than a trinket.
Everybody present in the testing facility, though, knew that it was far more than that.
Helena raised her right arm and, holding it straight, flipped the object so that it faced forwards.
“Roger,” she said carefully, and pressed the right-side button.
“BROOKLYN-CLASS!” said a cheery transatlantic voice from within the cuboid. The Devicer suddenly pulsed with energy, a blue glow flashing out from its seams as the miniature Wisdom Cube fragment within blazed into life. Tendrils of light coiled from its top and bottom and coalesced about Helena’s midriff. The light, though not blinding, was still intense, and Helena had to resist lifting her free hand to shield her eyes.
Suddenly, the light around her abdomen seemed to condense and solidify, before, with a hiss, it dissipated, leaving an actual belt encircling her slender waist. Where there had been only insubstantial energy before, now there was actual grey metal and black fibre, with a slot on the front of the belt that was perfectly sized to fit the Devicer, and a handle made of red plastic to the right of said slot.
Helena lowered her arm and, in a single smooth motion, pushed the Devicer into the aperture. It slid into place with a smooth click.
This was the critical moment. She had done something like this dozens of times before - every single sortie against the Sirens, every single land deployment, had started with something nearly identical to this. But that had been with her original Devicer. This was a whole different kettle of fish, and she was the first of her class to receive it.
She swallowed. She was nervous, sure. But she wouldn’t chicken out. Atlanta was watching through the glass with a palm on her chin and a thoughtful, intent look in her eyes, and she didn’t want to let her down.
Well, only one thing to do. The Devicer was vocally coded to her, and to her only. Time to say the magic word.
“Henshin!” Helena said as firmly as she could. Grabbing the handle, she pushed it inwards along its guiding rails towards the centre of the belt.
“HELENA RETROFIT ARMS!” chirped the Devicer. “LOCK ON TARGET!"
The air above Helena’s head seemed to tear and break open. From the sudden gaping hole in reality, from which dark blue lightning crackled out hungrily. a miniaturised warship the size of a car dropped into being, turrets, superstructure and hull gleaming in the testing chamber’s harsh white lights. It was an exact replica of the old USS Helena, in her prime during the Second World War, only far smaller. Mere moments after it materialised, though, the miniaturised light cruiser broke apart, turrets, torpedo tubes and armour plating flying off and spinning around her. The main hull folded in upon itself like some sort of demented flower, changing from a long and thin profile into a multi-faced prism of grey and red metal.
Helena spread her arms and stood ready as the prism slammed down over her body, lightning whipping along its path, and the warship fragments moved into position at her back. Temporarily blocked off from the outside world as the prism encased her upper half, she felt polyfibre armour skin ripple into existence from the nape of her neck to the soles of her feet. With a shimmer, a helmet materialised about her head, HUD flashing into life and overlaid with innumerable readings that her experienced eyes quickly sifted through. Then the prism separated along its seams, folding down over her torso and back until, with a final flash of azure light, it tightened and consolidated. At the same time, she felt the warship fragments come together in a new configuration and, on her HUD, watched them fit themselves into slots in the small of her back.
“Display up,” she whispered, and the helmet responded to her request, showing her a holographic image of her current status.
Breath caught in Helena’s throat.
She was clad in a white and navy blue bodysuit, overlaid with a smooth-fitting chestplate and shoulder plates that were the colour of her original hull, and encircled by the belt that had started the entire process. The pale helm that covered her face sported two huge lavender eye lenses, with a glowing blue gem in the middle of her forehead and antennae over where her ears would be that were pointed and elongated; her long blue hair streamed from its back. Long armoured boots encased her lower legs, complete with retracted aquatic skates running along her shins. Three appendages extended from her back and curved around her waist, mounting her five 6-inch triple turrets, her hull’s remaining armour plating and her secondary armament upon mobile platforms of gunmetal grey and crimson red.
Helena raised a gauntleted hand, and, on an abrupt impulse, opened her palm. Light blossomed at her fingertips, rising and expanding to show her a miniaturised combat display, complete with targeting lock, range information, fuel storage and ammunition counters.
For a moment, she was reminded of her old form. The colour scheme to the bodysuit and armour was pretty much identical to what manifested with her previous Devicer. But this time her rigging was far more extensive and - well - impressive. Somehow, it was rather empowering to look at.
“Transformation complete,” she said at last, after taking a few more moments to admire her new form.
“Excellent!” Inside the control room, Atlanta clapped her hands enthusiastically. “How do you feel?”
“Stronger, for sure.” Helena moved her arms, testing the suit’s movements. “More flexible. More natural, even.”
“Perfect. Nothing abnormal or painful?”
“Negative. I’m… just surprised. I didn’t expect the Retrofit Arms to work out so well for me.”
“Give yourself some credit where it’s due, Helena. If you hadn’t fought so well, the research team wouldn’t have collected nearly enough data to forge the Arms for you. It’s a testament to your skills that you’re getting this upgrade!” Atlanta waggled a reproving finger, before glancing at a monitor. “As for energy distribution, well, the fragment within the Devicer has linked with the rest of the Wisdom Cube material that’s distributed throughout your rigging, and cycling is proceeding at desirable levels. No excess is leaking into the earthing cables. I think we’ve achieved a stable transformation. Good job! You can turn back to normal now.”
With a sense of relief, mixed with a bizarre feeling of reluctance (for some reason, she wanted to stay in her transformed state for just a little longer), Helena pressed the two side buttons on her Devicer simultaneously. With a shimmer of blue light and a hiss, her rigging and suit vanished, and the clamps about her legs detached. She detached the cuboid from her belt, letting it dissipate as well, and walked off the platform towards the exit.
“I can’t wait to actually get this field-tested!” said Atlanta, sliding open the glass door and welcoming her friend. “Your sisters will be impressed, that’s for sure.”
“Won’t they be jealous? I mean, it doesn’t seem right that I should get the first retrofit, when I’m the youngest and least experienced of them all.”
“Of course not!” Atlanta patted her shoulder. “Trust me - as an older sister, I know how it feels to see my younger siblings do well for themselves. It’s the best feeling in the world. They’ll be very proud of you, Helena.”
“It’s a shame that they couldn’t be here to see it today, then,” Helena replied, gratefully accepting the water bottle that the other light cruiser passed her.
“Not to worry! I’ll let them view the footage - although I’m sure it won’t equal to the real thing. That was a sight to see, even from here. The Sirens won’t know what’s hit them when they face you in the next battle.”
“You’ll get yours soon enough, Atlanta.”
“Thanks, and I’m touched,” said the pink-haired cruiser with a beaming smile. “But you deserved yours now, for all your service. Well, do you want to get some lunch now? The canteen should still be open.”
“Sure!” Helena said, smiling in return.
As Atlanta bustled about the room, making last-minute arrangements with the research staff, she glanced at the Devicer in her hand. How small and insignificant it looked. To think that it contained such immense destructive potential, and could turn her into one of humanity’s most powerful weapons…
She tightened her grip.
“I’ll use this power to protect everyone,” she whispered. “Just you wait, Sirens!”