Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

106 ∞ submerged

[A glossary is available at the end of this chapter.]

Day Twenty ∞ Wednesday morning 

AS SOON AS THE BUBBLE ENCLOSED Danny's head, it came alive with luminous symbols and characters appearing around his periphery. On the left, an outline of a figure he assumed represented himself displayed temperature and atmospheres inside and outside. Below it was a heartbeat line. It looked normal. On the right, O2 and CO2 levels fluctuated in balance as he breathed, and the battery icon indicated full. Two codes at the top marked current time and clocked <<DURATION 00:00:17>> in suit and counting. Then markers popped up in lower half of the display, a blue square labeled <<ME>>, and five green circles lined up to the right of the square marked with the men's names.

"Test your comms," Mickmi said.

—You didn't give me one.

She met his gaze. —You are already equipped.

—Oh... Right. The medical nanites must have diversified and created a transceiver. Maybe that was why his cheek itched earlier.

"Can you hear me?" a voice vibrated in front of his right ear. The fourth circle marked Muzzy blinked.

"Testing, testing, one, two," another voice said. Eckstein.

"I'm hearing," Danny said.

McDonnough and Tillman spoke simultaneously and then Atlas said, "It's low."

"Use voice command," Danny automatically responded. Wait... He already knew all this stuff. The helmet was a high-density version of the shield that protected the ship. It would adjust to whatever conditions as needed and its heads-up display would show him everything he needed or wanted to know. Apart from voice commands, he could navigate the menus via eye movements, or use the touch-control cuffs at his wrists. And if he was thirsty, he could drink from the straw protruding inside the neck ring.

"Volume up... up," Atlas said. "Say something."

"How's that now?" Danny asked.

"Good."

"Any questions about the suits, you can ask Daniel," Mickmi said. "Okay. You are ready to start."

The circles shifted up, away from his square, as the men sat on the edge of the pool and launched one after the other into the deep end, sinking to the bottom. Danny was about to follow suit when the realization struck him.

"Lift," he said.

A new status box popped up on the HUD, <<ANTIGRAV ACTIVATED>>, then slid to the right side, leaving navigation status marks mid-screen. In the next instant, he found himself lifting. Whoa! Instinctively, he spread his hands at his sides, and found himself paused a foot above the tiled floor. He exhaled and looked over his shoulder at Mickmi. She gave him a nod.

"Okay," Danny said under his breath. He could either give voice commands or simply think it, his intent micro-activating his muscles and... He lifted his fingers and an arrow appeared above the <<REL ALT 0.3 M>> on his display as he moved forward beyond the edge. A chuckle of incredulity escaped him. Now he was hovering over the deep end of the pool with the reading <<REL ALT 3.3 / 0.6 M>>.

Atlas surfaced and grabbed the ledge to watch Danny as he pointed down. The familiar pressure enclosed his legs, then dissipated as he descended up to his thighs in water. Nudging his shoulders one way and the other caused him to turn left and then right.