weight-free for a few minutes helped recover some of her energy.
When she got back to her bunk, still scrubbing water from her skin, she found Spyder trying to lift the leggings part of her weight suit harness. He did have some muscle on him, but the weighted straps weren’t easy to hoist. Giving up, he let it drop back down.
“Whachoo got ’ere? Weighs a slaggin’ ton!”
Stepping around him, Ia opened her locker and fetched out a pair of long brown pants and a shirt. Crosp came by, tossing her T-shirt and underpants onto her bed as he passed, fetched out of the sonic cleaner along with the clothes of the others.
“How much choo think it weighs, Ia?” Spyder asked. “Kinda looks like archaic armor, too.”
“The legs weigh about ninety-five kilos, the chest and arms another sixty-three, the headband and gloves two kilos each, and the feet three, which makes for about one hundred seventy kilos.” She nodded at the tile-shaped weights. “I counted the tiles for a rough estimate.”
“Shova v’shakk . . .” He breathed the V’Dan epithet, staring at the web-work garments and the tile-like segments of weights attached to each and every strap. “That’s gotta be, what, twice yer weight?”
She slipped into her trousers and reached for a fresh shirt. “I weigh one hundred and two kilos, so no, it’s not quite twice my weight.”
Crosp, on his way back from delivering laundry, stopped and stared at her, watching her sit on the edge of the bed so she could don her boots again. “You’re shakkin’ us. A hundred and two kilos? At your height? You’re only, what, a hundred and seventy-four, maybe a hundred and seventy-five centimeters tall? No way you weigh that much. Not and look that thin! Muscular, but thin.”
Mendez joined them. “I’m almost two meters tall, and I barely top a hundred kilos. How can a little thing like you weigh more than me?”
“I’m a heavyworlder. Thicker bones and denser flesh. Technically, if I’m supposed to be working out in the equivalent of my home gravity,” Ia said, picking up and shrugging into the jacket portion, “there should be another fifty-five kilos spread out over this thing. But the SF-MC manufactories aren’t programmed to make weight suits that heavy, because there aren’t more than a handful of recruits coming into the Space Force from Sanctuary just yet. Or even from Parker’s World, which is the next-heaviest colony spawned out of I.C. Eiaven. The Space Force would have to custom-make a suit just for me to wear, and they’re not going to bother.”
“ Ten-hut! Fall in for Inspection!”
Caught off guard, Ia and her fellow recruits scrambled to get into position. Her top bunkmate, Sung, dropped down to stand at the end of their double bunks, while Ia moved out to stand between her and Babaga, the next top bunk dweller to her left. Sgt. Tae strolled into the bunkhouse for their morning inspection. Naturally, given this was their first day, he found several things wrong with each person. The bunkhouse quickly filled with the sounds of push-ups being counted off.
Reaching Ia, he opened up and inspected her locker, glanced at her half-webbed body, peered at the weights still bowing the springs of her bed, and grunted. “You are supposed to wear that weight suit at all times, outside of showering, sleeping, and whenever I or my fellow sergeants let you out of it, Recruit. Weight up, drop, and give me twenty!”
“Sergeant, yes, Sergeant!” Picking up the leggings, Ia snapped herself into them. The elastic sections of webbing clung to her limbs, making them feel like they were being forced to wade through mud once the weights were attached. I am not going to have an easy time of it, until I acclimate. And even then . . .
She strapped the weights onto her boots, tugged on the gloves, then fitted the headband and its smaller span of dense metal tiles into place. Dropping to the floor as soon as she was weighted in full by her harness, Ia started
When she got back to her bunk, still scrubbing water from her skin, she found Spyder trying to lift the leggings part of her weight suit harness. He did have some muscle on him, but the weighted straps weren’t easy to hoist. Giving up, he let it drop back down.
“Whachoo got ’ere? Weighs a slaggin’ ton!”
Stepping around him, Ia opened her locker and fetched out a pair of long brown pants and a shirt. Crosp came by, tossing her T-shirt and underpants onto her bed as he passed, fetched out of the sonic cleaner along with the clothes of the others.
“How much choo think it weighs, Ia?” Spyder asked. “Kinda looks like archaic armor, too.”
“The legs weigh about ninety-five kilos, the chest and arms another sixty-three, the headband and gloves two kilos each, and the feet three, which makes for about one hundred seventy kilos.” She nodded at the tile-shaped weights. “I counted the tiles for a rough estimate.”
“Shova v’shakk . . .” He breathed the V’Dan epithet, staring at the web-work garments and the tile-like segments of weights attached to each and every strap. “That’s gotta be, what, twice yer weight?”
She slipped into her trousers and reached for a fresh shirt. “I weigh one hundred and two kilos, so no, it’s not quite twice my weight.”
Crosp, on his way back from delivering laundry, stopped and stared at her, watching her sit on the edge of the bed so she could don her boots again. “You’re shakkin’ us. A hundred and two kilos? At your height? You’re only, what, a hundred and seventy-four, maybe a hundred and seventy-five centimeters tall? No way you weigh that much. Not and look that thin! Muscular, but thin.”
Mendez joined them. “I’m almost two meters tall, and I barely top a hundred kilos. How can a little thing like you weigh more than me?”
“I’m a heavyworlder. Thicker bones and denser flesh. Technically, if I’m supposed to be working out in the equivalent of my home gravity,” Ia said, picking up and shrugging into the jacket portion, “there should be another fifty-five kilos spread out over this thing. But the SF-MC manufactories aren’t programmed to make weight suits that heavy, because there aren’t more than a handful of recruits coming into the Space Force from Sanctuary just yet. Or even from Parker’s World, which is the next-heaviest colony spawned out of I.C. Eiaven. The Space Force would have to custom-make a suit just for me to wear, and they’re not going to bother.”
“ Ten-hut! Fall in for Inspection!”
Caught off guard, Ia and her fellow recruits scrambled to get into position. Her top bunkmate, Sung, dropped down to stand at the end of their double bunks, while Ia moved out to stand between her and Babaga, the next top bunk dweller to her left. Sgt. Tae strolled into the bunkhouse for their morning inspection. Naturally, given this was their first day, he found several things wrong with each person. The bunkhouse quickly filled with the sounds of push-ups being counted off.
Reaching Ia, he opened up and inspected her locker, glanced at her half-webbed body, peered at the weights still bowing the springs of her bed, and grunted. “You are supposed to wear that weight suit at all times, outside of showering, sleeping, and whenever I or my fellow sergeants let you out of it, Recruit. Weight up, drop, and give me twenty!”
“Sergeant, yes, Sergeant!” Picking up the leggings, Ia snapped herself into them. The elastic sections of webbing clung to her limbs, making them feel like they were being forced to wade through mud once the weights were attached. I am not going to have an easy time of it, until I acclimate. And even then . . .
She strapped the weights onto her boots, tugged on the gloves, then fitted the headband and its smaller span of dense metal tiles into place. Dropping to the floor as soon as she was weighted in full by her harness, Ia started
Similar Books
