“What the hell was that guy thinking?  I mean C’mon man.  I know none of us like the idea of being thrown into the grinder, but you don’t ask that kind of thing!”  Frost whispered to his comrades.  “Well, good thing I don’t plan on failing out of this one.”  Ibara whispered back in his deadpan voice.  Kono whispered a reply, “Well so much for the easy out.  Kinda damned if we do and damned if we don’t.  Either we go on a suicide mission or die in a cell.”  Kono stated quietly, with a look of disgust on his face.  Indeed, every trooper in the testing grounds felt the same.  Meanwhile, Sara, ignoring Kono and company’s complaints, was thinking, “All I have to do is score high enough and just like that I am one of the elite.  It seems all too easy and all too fast for people like me, but I don’t really have any other option.  I should seize the opportunity.”  Just then, Sara heard that female voice whisper to her again, “if you do this….  You will die…”  “What?!” Sara said, startled.  Slater looked over at Sara and asked, “You getting cold feet as well?”  “No, not at all!” Sara replied, trying to act as if nothing was wrong.  “If there are no more questions, we shall begin the testing.  When your number is called, come pick up your suits.”  Dr. Kardinovsky stated as he motioned to the stage.

During the conversations between the troopers and Dr. Kardinovsky, several of the technicians used hover dollies to bring two large crates to the stage.  “Now, when we call your number you may come up and get your implant placed.  Afterwards you may pick up your helmet and your suit.”  Dr. Kardinovsky stated with obvious glee.  One of the technicians came forward and began calling numbers.  “An implant?!” Sara began to worry, noticing the techies on the stage putting on gloves, goggles, face masks, face shields, and lab coats.  Watching the first trooper called up on stage proceed over to an area partitioned off with a screen, she thought, “Oh Shit! This is some serious stuff if they are suiting up.”  She was determined not to show any signs of what she was thinking, to prevent Haroldson from picking up on it.  A few moments later the first trooper came out, and the next trooper went in.  They came out looking as if nothing had been done.  Motioning the first trooper over and turning the trooper’s back to the others, Dr. Kardinovsky said, "First we will insert a neural net link into your neck.” gesturing to the back of the trooper’s neck.  “Do not worry. It is totally painless thanks to the adhesive gel.  It is not a true medical procedure.  Think of it more like applying an insulin pump or glucometer from the old days. It is a series of needles that go through the skin and into the areas surrounding the spine.  It has to be close to your brain to pick up the faint electrical impulses which the suit reads when you move your body.”  Dr. Kardinovsky continued on, motioning the trooper over to the other technicians on stage.  The piece on the back of the trooper's neck looked like nothing more than a connection port for a wire with a small plastic plate around it.  

I made it a point to acquire Kozue.  I knew having him on board would push both him and Simms to do better.  They are, afterall, two of the best minds on the planet.  One who believes in the potential of humans, and the other in the potential of technology.  Both of them completely absorbed in their work.  My company wins no matter which one proves to be right about the ghosts…

~Excerpt from Yvimeer Barion’s Private Journal  

After having the implant successfully attached, each trooper moved across the stage to the first large crate.  The technician at the crate pressed a button on a remote control and the bar across the top of the crate unscrewed “SQUEEAAK SQUEEAK!!” and then fell to the floor “CLAAAANNNNG CLANG clang clang.”  The securing plates on either side of the box then fell to the floor, “Craaashhh!.  Finally, the top of the crate slid open, “Pssshhhhh.”  As the smoke cleared from the open crate, the first trooper reached inside and pulled out a helmet.  The helmet looked more like a full visored motorcycle helmet than their much bulkier and more awkward battlesuit helmets.  The trooper then walked over to the next crate, which opened in a similar manner except it opened from the front rather than the top.  He reached in and pulled out a suit that looked like a black spandex body suit, similar to a wetsuit but thinner.  The suit covered the entire body including the hands, feet, fingers, and toes.  The only part the suit did not cover was the head itself.

After thirteen troopers had gone up, Sara’s turn finally came.  As she walked up on the stage she shook out her arms and stretched her neck.  “I gotta keep the nerves in check.” she thought as she walked up on stage.  One of the technicians guided her to a seat behind one of the partitions.  At this point Sara got a closer look at the so-called “implant.”  “Damn! That is a lot of needles.  And what is with the one big one in the center?”  Sara worried quietly to herself.  One of the technicians said, “This won’t hurt.  Just make sure not to move.”  Sara closed her eyes and held her breath as she felt the technicians prep the area they were going to place the implant.  “Okay, 1.. 2.. 3..” the technician said as they then pushed the implant onto her neck.  “Okay private, you are all finished.” the technician said as he pulled his hands back from her neck.  “I didn’t feel anything.” Sara thought, releasing her breath, going back to breathing normally, and opened her eyes.  Sara felt the back of her neck to check that the device was indeed there, and it was.  “It feels like a bandage with a hole in the center, and it is only the size of a tennis ball in diameter.”  As she walked over to the first crate, she moved her head and neck in all directions, but felt nothing.  “Amazing! I was pretty sure I would have at least felt something!” she thought, rubbing her hand across the implant one final time before lowering it to her side.  

Sara walked over to the first crate, which was full of helmets.  “Just grab any one you like, they will adjust to your size once you put it on.” the technician said as he motioned towards the crate of helmets.  “An adjustable helmet?!” Sara thought, noticing the helmets looked a little big for her.  Looking carefully at the helmet Sara noticed, “I guess the inner layer holds it on and on the head and the space between it and the hard shell seems to have some kind of gas bladders to hold the helmet on and reduce impact.  Makes sense I guess.”  “I guess rather than make different sizes they literally made the helmet adjust to the user rather than vice versa.”  Sara thought as she inspected the helmet both inside and out.  “The real question is why does this thing have three visors?  One on the inner layer which goes over the head itself, which doesn’t seem to be moveable; but, is clear plastic.  A second visor which seems to be able to be raised and lowered, made of some kind of hard, tinted glass or plastic.  A third visor that is more like a face shield that seemed to be made of the outer material; which also seems to be able to be raised and lowered.  The third one doesn’t seem like you can see through it though.  Okay, so I suppose the second visor is for when powered off, and the third one is for when using computer imagining maybe?  You can’t see through it.  The first one though, why have one on the inner layer that can’t be opened or closed.”  she thought, as she raised and lowered the various visors on the helmet.    

Next she went over to the second crate.  The technician said, motioning to the left side of the crate, “Please choose from one of the suits to the left of the red line.”  Sara looked inside the crate and saw the suits hanging from hangers on a bar inside the crate.  Indeed, there was a red divider in the crate with suits on both the right and the left.  “I would like to ask “why the left?” but I am guessing it is a size thing.” Sara thought, trying to discern the differences in the hanging suits.  “I guess I had best not ask and just do as I am told.” she thought as she grabbed a suit from the left side of the crate.  As she walked back out to her spot, she felt the suit with her hands.  It felt like little more than multilayered spandex.  “This thing can’t weigh more than a kilo at most, and couldn’t protect me from anything.” she thought tugging lightly on the suit to test its stretchiness.  “Maybe there are some armor plates or something that also have to be attached.” she thought, continuing to scrutinize this flimsy looking body suit.  As Sara began to walk off the stage she noticed there was one final technician with a box beside him.  He looked at her and said, “You will need to undress and put the suit on.  You cannot have any undergarments on with the suit.”  The technician then handed her some papers with instructions on how to put the suit on and said, “If you have any questions about how to put the suit on, please consult the instruction booklet you have been given.”   

“According to this thing, the open portions go towards the back and then seal themselves together once they make contact with the neural net link.”  Sara read as she walked back to where her companions were.  “The helmet has a cord which attaches to the hole in the back of the neural net link.  The suit and helmet will automatically power on when attached to the neural net link…” she kept on reading as she made it back to her comrades.  “No dressing rooms?  Not even a tent? Or a blanket?” she thought as she looked around for somewhere to change.  As she looked around the other troopers were getting undressed and putting their suits on.  “Oh well! When in Rome.  No time to get modest.  We are all here for work afterall.”  She told herself as she began to undress.  It was at that moment, that she remembered that all her comrades were men.  Now naked and attempting to put on a spandex suit.  “Oh FUCK!!” she thought to herself as she hurried to get dressed as her comrades eyes were glued to her like they had just seen Jesus himself.   “Holy shit! Thank you God!” Haroldson thought to himself, trying to maintain his composure.  Kono whistled a cat call at her, “whiiit  wheeew!!”  Sara immediately threw her BDUS at his face, which he even more adeptly dodged than the sushi to keep his eyes focused on his target.  The other troopers, despite getting a good hard look in, kept their comments and thoughts to themselves.  “Okay guys. Eyes back in your heads and about face!”  Haroldson said in his business voice.  As soon as Sara brought the back pieces of the suit together, it closed on its own.  The suit then immediately changed color to a green camouflage pattern, the exact same pattern as Sara’s BDUs.  “What the hell?  It changes colors too” Sara thought, trying to cover her embarrassment as she put her glasses back on.  

I can’t believe my luck today.  I saw something I have only dreamed of.  I mean I knew she was in good shape, but that girl has it all.  Abs, defined shoulders, and proportions in all the right places.  Not to mention she keeps the floors waxed and has to be at least a C-Cup versus the B that I thought she was.  I know I am in love.

~Excerpt from Sergeant Todd Keith Haroldson’s Private Journal Entry 3

“These suits sure aren’t very flattering.  Can’t hide anything in them” Sara thought while self consciously looking around and waiting for the tests to start.  “Well isn’t this great?! Everyone can see what you're packing in these.” and “Please tell me we get clothes to wear over these.”  were just some of the many comments coming from the troopers, all of whom were feeling at least a little self conscious about wearing these suits.  As Sara looked around she couldn’t help but wonder, “Why are some of the suits changing colors and others aren’t?  Moreover, is there a way to control the colors of the suits?”  Many of the troopers' suits did not change color at all, and remained the black color they started as.  “Could this have been the first test?  No, there would be no way to tell if the suit didn’t turn or stayed black for some other reason.  It is obvious that the suits change based on their wearers preferences.  The real question is why do some change more than others?  For example Sara’s suit turned camouflage, but Haroldson’s only turned red with no patterns or designs; and Kono’s didn’t turn at all.”  Ibara thought to himself.   

“This is perfect.  The suits are already responding and syncing up with some of their wearers.” the boy at the computer thought to himself as he started typing out notes.  He noted things such as which suits were syncing up with which troopers; the degree of synchronization; and other variables.  He also fidgeted with the buttons on his glasses, a detail that was missed by all the troopers at this distance. “Now to separate out those that didn’t turn at all from those that remained black due to preferences. So it looks like we have 61 out of the initial 143 who were able to at least partially sync with their suits immediately after putting them on.  This low synchronization ratio is not good.  I was hoping to have more candidates to choose from.  No matter, I only need 40 of them.  Dr. K can separate out the rest.” the boy thought to himself as a grin creeped across his face.  “Dr. K. I need you to weed the field down to 50.  40 for the main group, 10 spares, and send the rest home.  Do whatever tests you want to weed them down.  It will become obvious which ones are best to continue with.”  the boy said, holding a button on his glasses.  “I understand.  I will weed them out as you have asked.”  Dr. Kardinovsky replied into an earpiece hidden from view by his hair.   

“So it would seem that I need to find a way to increase immediate synchronization.  While it is possible to synchronize with their suits if they have not already, the likelihood of that delayed synchronization being as strong as someone who initially synchronized is low.  But then again, that is why I have Dr. K. feeding me the results of their testing.  I could just get rid of the ones who did not sync up, but I think there is some value in monitoring their progress.”  the boy thought to himself and chuckled.  The boy brought up a screen in his glasses and began monitoring the synchronization numbers of the troopers.  “I expect at least some of you to be able to achieve great things.   Afterall, these suits are the greatest development the world has ever seen.” the boy chuckled to himself as he worked on the computer screen in his glasses and the control panel he was sitting at simultaneously.