SImp

I opened my eyes to a brightly glowing blue orb swimming in the heavens. Fluffy white clouds were drifting over its surface, I started to become aware of myself. Recognizing the familiar view of my home planet Terra from space relaxed me. I was having sort of a hard time breathing, and my chest felt heavy. Looking down I saw the top of Lance's head cushioned on my chest. He was still emitting soft snores. I could feel his heartbeat firm and regular he was so tightly plastered to my body, our arms around each other. It mattered not what had happened at that moment because as long as we were together, nothing could be seriously wrong.

Bit softly spoke up at that moment, "Look at the northern half of the American continent along the eastern seaboard? Just past the daylight demarcation line. A bit down from that massive pool of lights? That is where we will be landing."

"Then that pool of lights must be New York City?"

"Affirmative," Bit said.

Our talking must have started the waking process as Lance buried his head deeper into my chest before he turned his head to first look and make sure I was Ok, then to look out the cockpit window on to the blue-green globe that is earth, which now occupied almost the entire view. "No matter how many times I've seen this I still get choked up." Lance quietly mumbled in his half-awake state.

Lance pulled himself together, pausing only to soundly kiss me good morning. From his own seat, he studied the earth as we swiftly reentered the earth atmosphere. Our forcefield shield shunting aside the atmosphere before it could ablate the surface of the ship. In moments we were on the ground a stunning sunset still on the horizon. Nothing but green fields and trees around us. Lance commented, "I forgot that we had gone back in time to where open spaces and being surround by trees was more the norm than the exception."

Bit stated, "I chose somewhere isolated so you could acclimate yourself. I know that Jane is comfortable in an Imperial Marines light armor suit, Lance has never worn one and he will need some time to adjust to it."

"Whoa!" Lance exclaimed. "I thought this was going to be stealth and blending in, not blowing up everything in sight…."

I laughed out loud. "Light armor has optical stealth as well as other types of stealth capability. I think this might be a good choice until we know just what the situation is."

Just then Bit said, "Got it!"

I felt that familiar flood of data as if Imp was here with us. I could sense Lance's voice in my head almost as if we were linked as one with each other, then I realized that Bit was acting as the conduit for our sub-vocal speech. Lance and I were not in full contact, but we could now talk silently to each other and Bit could help us by using our built-in sensors much as if Imp were here.

It is a weird feeling if you have not grown from infancy with this connection. It feels more like remembering something with that speed of thought that is remembering—as opposed to listening to someone reciting or lecturing you.

I immediately had the feeling that I had read the operations manual for the light armor. And my first fleeting thought as I pictured it in my mind was Batman's outfit (Think of the old 2D movies, not the paper comics) without a cape. Think of a form-fitting semi-flexible armor that made all your physical features stand out in bas-relief. Lance's shoulders would seem massive, and his six-pack would have six packs. Trim waist and long powerful legs. My chest is 'massive' and well defined as it was. With light armor, it would be even more so, with a narrow waist and flaring hips. I so wanted to add a cape to this outfit!

In my mind, I replayed something I had once heard when watching some of Lance's old favorites. "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!" "Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men." And I about busted a gut laughing.

Lance could only look on in helpless wonderment until I could catch my breath enough to repeat that phrase to him, whereupon we both laughed until there were only tears left. Still horrified by our situation but the humor was too strong to be denied. Strangely the horror of the situation just made humor that much more powerful.

"We 'have' to get capes to wear with this armor," Lance repeated my thoughts out loud once we were almost back to normal. All I could do was grin, I had laughed my self to death, or at least to the point that I did not have the wind left to talk.

We were almost each other equals when it came to combat skills. Probably because both of us had had similar childhoods; getting our implants around the same age, and having the same mentor train us. We had both virtually lived the later part of our lives in a three gee field, similar training in martial arts and such. True I had more practice because I'd had to go through basic training as a Marine, but Lance's innate abilities plus his dancing and gymnastics training tended to cancel that advantage out. If we both were wearing armor, we would actually be able to jump over buildings, fly into the air, and stop what passed for bullets in this time period. Not to mention we could become virtually invisible.

I helped Lance fit his suit and instructed him on the few adjustments that were easier to do with a partner than solo. It didn't help that you are naked when you put on a suit. We could have slipped on these fairytale suits (for this time period) much faster if we didn't get sidetracked so easily. But I hear it is a problem with most newlyweds.

These suits were designed to be primarily second skins. The material of the suit bulked up the wearer slightly, more so where the large muscles groups are located, and more delicately around the fingers and such where dexterity rather than brute strength counted. Inside was a mass of nanodevices. The skin is bulletproof, not to mention fireproof—to the point that a wearer could swim in lava a short distance, plus proof against most anything chemical or radiation.

When your skin pressed against the suit, it tried to get out of the way of the push. In use it had perfect feedback, you could pick up an egg or crush a steel bar equally easily just by wearing it. You jumped, and the suit's muscles amplified your jump, and you jumped higher than usual. Really get behind the jump or override it with a mental command and the jets on your back kicked in, foot and wrist jets assisted and provided low-velocity control, and with all that you simply flew. In flight, active surface fields controlled your flight. Fields also shaped your profile in the air, streamlining you into shapes suitable for supersonic and hypersonic speeds.

Not least was what the suit did to your appearance. In use, it looked like you were an average person but of a heroic build, with even more heroic muscles. The default color was a dark grey. You could override this and color it to taste. Why they gave a military device such options is beyond me. Probably the engineers decided to leave this ability as an option because it was a byproduct of the optical stealth ability. With optical stealth engaged the suit became a chameleon.

To top it off, literally, was the helmet. The helmet was nothing but a field. Imagine a heroic statue in dark grey with a hazy en-globed head. You can, sort of, see the main features but as if surrounded by a fog.

The night was in full swing when we finally were ready to begin our first surveillance of what looked to be our new home for some years to come.