I pinch the edge of the threatening watch. Holding the malfunctioning demon at arm's length. I round the corner into Doc's unchanging office. The dead silent room, given life only by Docs's rapid clicking and tapping. He studies his laptop's screen with murderous intent. Furiously tapping his desk from whatever he's observing. With his hexagon glasses being nowhere to be seen. And his usually friendly expression, replaced with radiating displeasure. I question if I should come back at another time. I slowly turn back for the door while he's distracted. The watch swings upwards as I turn, delivering me with yet another painful strike. I drop the spiteful watch, helplessly watching as it twirls to the tiled floor with a loud cling. I raise my head, slowly shifting my gaze towards Doc's leaking presence. His eyes break from the screen, dropping the frozen glare upon me. After realizing it was me, he tries his best to hide his anger. returning his friendly posture and welcoming expression. That is, as a tainted version with hints of annoyance still seeping to the surface.
Jax: "Hey Doc... What happened to your glasses?"
Doc: "I put them away, they become a nuisance when I'm in thought. So... Eager to have another check-up I see? What brings you back so soon after your mission. Wait let me guess, poison?"
He chuckles at his joke as if it was the funniest thing he's heard all day. Catching his breath, He notices my watch weeping on the floor.
Doc: "Ah I see, a tough mission it seems."
Jax: "Yea... slipped a few times. Bumped my watch pretty good on one of those slip-ups. So uh, can you fix it?"
Doc: "Yes I can fix it up within a day. After all, that watch is both your timekeeper as well as your control surface for many devices."
He reaches for the watch, picking it up unknowing the terror it causes. In his hand, the watch remains calm and peaceful. Its battle-worn features remain silent as if a child finding peace in its mother's lap. Did I do something to piss it off? Well, I guess I did throw it onto a metal bar by accident...
Jax: "So Doc, what was pissing you off so much?"
Doc: "Well you see, the nanomachines themselves are quite revolutionary. They're capable of slipping through small surfaces and bonding together as if a strong molecule. Allowing them to become quite versatile in basic field repair and on-the-go flight characteristic adjustment. The issue is controllability. Without hundreds of different preset codes, they're extremely useless outside of specific situations. And even in those situations, controlling them takes quite a bit of time due to the individual tweaks needed to be done. I'm currently trying to figure out how to overcome those difficulties while making them easy to control."
Jax: "Why not let our flight assistance handle them?"
Doc: "You mean the AeroCord AI?"
He pauses on the thought, staring off into deep space for a few seconds.
Doc: "Jax, you brilliant boy! Why haven't I thought of that? The AeroCord AI is capable of producing its own code for situations where the pilot is unavailable. If I edit that code and instead adjust it for commands for where the nanomachines would go. It'd be both easy to use and extremely precise and effective! Now the tedious and hard part... The coding and error fixes... Thank you very much for the wonderful idea, Jax."
He begins to turn and push me out of his office. The watch, gentle cuddling in his big hands begins to shock me as he pushes. He effectively tosses me out of his office, poking his head out as he closes the door on his head.
Doc: "If you'll excuse me, I have quite a lot of work to do. Your watch will be repaired by tomorrow morning, so stop by before training."
He draws his head into his office, slamming the door shut behind him. I hear faint cries of glee from the Doc. Chanting faint praise through the thick door. Suddenly the cries stop as Doc whines out "little brat." through the door. I let out a small chuckle. I guess that watch isn't completely biased towards me.
I step into my room, the bright orange sky shines through the open window. Thin clouds aimlessly drift off in the distance as the setting sun peaks over the windowsill. A faint cool breeze blows into the room, blowing through the blinds and my bedsheets. Remembering to take off my flight suit, I throw on some random night ware and fall into bed, too tired to eat tonight... Well, maybe just a little hungry...
I round the base of the hill, drawing closer to the gunfire. I look into the deep voided forest, seeing a thick low branch. I launch up it, jumping from tree branch to tree branch. I spot two soldiers firing up towards the top of the hill. Readying my rifle, I take both out with two well-placed shots. From the trees, I observe their uniforms. A grey two-tone uniform huh, I wonder what country that belongs to. No time for flag hunting, ill see later. I skip on to the next tree, hunting for more gunfire. I circle the hill, taking out every soldier approaching my base. Halfway around the hill, screams of retreat begin circling the remaining soldiers. I let them run, opting for regrouping with my squad. I give out a short call of warning to my squad before hopping over the hole-ridden sandbags, opposite from the sniper's view. One of the bigger guys was tagged once, a few others grazed. None of which is life-threatening. After accessing the damages and grabbing a few more magazines. I yell out "ill be scouting for a while."
May: "Jack, why not rest here for a while?"
Jack: "Can't do, they may come back. And I have something more personal to deal with. You treat the wounded, especially Kim over there. I'll make sure they don't come back any time soon..."
I turn for the same sandbag wall, leaping over it as May calls out behind me. That sniper's nest is quite a nuisance.
let's remove it.