Chapter 9

Loyd grabbed a tray and started looking at what was on the buffet line.

"You're a little early; haven't had time to get everything put out yet," the cook informed him while carrying another tray of food out.

"That's fine. You don't happen to have some more of that steak from the other day, do you?" Loyd had already gotten some mashed potatoes, gravy and some corn.

"Yes, I do. How do you like it, kid?" the cook went back to the walk-in and pulled out a tub of raw steaks.

"Would you think me weird if I asked for it almost raw?" Loyd smiled nervously.

"How bout I just get you some of the really good stuff then?" The cook smiled back going back into the walk-in and came out with a small plate of something.

"This here is tartare it's a raw beef dish the guy made us cooks when he was here. I like my meat almost burnt so I didn't eat mine but you can have it now so it doesn't go to waste." The cook handed the small dish to Loyd who thought it smelled amazing.

"Just crack the egg over into a well in the middle and enjoy."

"Thanks, I will."

Loyd walked over to a table and finished the tartare by pulling the egg out of its little crevice and cracking it back into it.

"Okay, this smells awesome. I think I'm going to eat some before I reverse our link that alright with you?"

Loyd had turned to his sister who was drooling with her chin resting on the top of his head.

"Yah, I'll still taste it either way, but that looks so good." She wiped her mouth and sat next to him.

Loyd smiled at her and mixed the egg into the tartare before taking his first bite. The meat almost melted in his mouth only held together by the egg he had just added. The texture was a little weird but the taste from both the meat and spices was amazing. Loyd was rather surprised that the tartare hadn't changed color all that much during its stay in the fridge but he didn't care.

"Wow, that's good." his sister sat there smiling and licking her lips. "Now it's time to reverse the link. Just think how it feels to connect to the simulator that should be a similar enough sensation."

"Right."

Loyd took a deep breath and imagined the sensation of connecting to the simulator. He felt the link reversing and could see some of his sister's surroundings.

"It's working."

He felt a connection taking place almost like the simulator but with more power behind it. He shut his eyes to concentrate on this new connection and when he reopened them, he was still in the cafeteria but he was also in some sort of underground room. He could control his body almost exactly like with his simulated CTAS but it looked weird and then the audio sensor kicked on.

"We have movement I repeat we have movement! The cockpit is open and I can confirm its empty but its arms are still moving!" The scientist stood on a balcony staring at Loyd a phone to his ear. "We can't hold this thing if it decides it wants to leave!"

The man turned to a group of people behind him.

"Unplug it! Kill it if need be."

"Don't let them unplug me!" Loyd's sister sounded scared.

Loyd tried to lift his arm but it was stuck. He looked down and saw it was held by a CTAS docking clamp. A rather flimsy docking clamp it turned out as he just tore it away from the gantry before trying to stop the man.

"Don't unplug her!" His voice carried over the CTAS's own speaker system while his normal body just sat there eating.

"It's talking! Professor, it's talking!" The man turned back his face horror-struck. He dropped his phone as Loyd continued to free himself from the gantry.

"It's trying to break out, sir! I've got to kill it!"

"You can't reason with them, Loyd! They will try and kill me either way!" His sister was getting even more scared.

"I won't let them kill you."

He freed one of his legs and stepped up to the balcony all the people were on. He looked back as he had felt a tug on his back and noticed a cable connecting to him.

"That's the cord they're going to disconnect? How long will I have to move after they disconnect it?"

"A minute at most. I'm trying to find places to store as much power as possible." His sister sounded less scared and more determined now.

"That's plenty of time to climb that shaft and get to the base. We have power cables like this one there." Loyd laughed as he reached back and pulled the cable out of the wall hitting the balcony as the cable gave way.

"Stay away from me you monster!"

The guy had dropped his wig now and was trying to get away from Loyd forgetting about the computer terminal he had been at.

"I don't want you."

Loyd turned back to the doors above his gantry and thrust his hands between them pulling them apart as he forced his body through. The lead doors gave way as he started his climb. He reached the surface after only seven seconds and he turned towards himself.

"It's weird how I know where I am compared to your position."

"Fastest link path I guess?" His sister sounded tired.

Loyd grimaced and broke into a run, jumping over the facilities tall wall and the houses surrounding it.

"Why would you have this place out in the open like this?" Loyd wondered.

"I don't know, just hurry. I didn't get as much power as I thought I had." His sister sounded even more tired.

"Shutdown your sensors. I can pilot blind until we get to the base. Then shut down your arms, for now, they take up power that we need." Loyd immediately lost his visibility and control over his second set of arms. He then took control back of his real body making sure to continue running with his sister. He stood and carried his now empty tray over to the cook.

"Thanks, it was delicious if you ever get more tartare let me know."

After a hearty laugh, the cook took his tray and said, "Sure thing! You'll be the first to know about it." She then went back and put the tray in a sink full of soapy water.

Loyd left the cafeteria just as the first wave of people came for lunch. He jogged over to the hangar where they had five gantries waiting for when some of the cadets had gotten their sync scores high enough to warrant getting them training in the real things. When he arrived two of the gantries were already taken up and the hangar staff was getting a third ready for another CTAS just outside the hangar. "Hey, we have another CTAS inbound get the fourth gantry ready!"

Some of the staff turned to look at him as the foreman came up to him.

"What do you mean? The general said that we would only have three today?"

"The general just sent me to tell you that we have a fourth one incoming from the R&D labs, about two clicks northeast. They are controlling it via a remote connection thanks to some new hardware but they weren't allowed to put a reactor in it before sending it because of some inspection, so you need the gantry ready with a power cable." Loyd had sprinted most of the way here and barely got all that out.

"Alright, then we can have number four ready in twelve seconds." The foreman turned back to his crew and yelled. "Get number four ready as well. We have that special snowflake coming in from the R&D department."

Her call was met with a loud cheer from the other end of the hall. She turned back to Loyd "We've been waiting to check this new CTAS out ever since it was first thought up. I mean we were told this thing was new and much slimmer but with more power than a standard type. How did they pull that off?" She just laughed as she opened the door in front of bay four. "Now how long do we have before it crumples and makes our job that much harder?"

Loyd smiled "Roughly seven seconds."

He ground his heels into the ground in an attempt to stop himself and came to a stop just in front of the hangar.

"And there it is."

He walked into the hangar, ducking under the still rising door, and got into the gantry for them to connect the power cable.

"Three seconds left."

The cable popped out of the wall and connected to the back of the CTAS, just as the timer he had hit one second.

"Well, that was close, but I feel way better now."

Loyd could've sworn he felt the CTAS stretch a little bit.

"Thanks for getting me away from those guys, bro. The next round of experiments was to see how quickly I regenerate my limbs." The entire gantry shuddered as Loyd disconnected remotely.

'So, my sister's a CTAS? This day got just a little weirder,' he thought as Loyd stood and stretched himself. The ghostly image of his sister reappearing in front of him. The only difference about his sister this time, was that she was just a miniature version of her CTAS form with a human face.

"And she looks badass." Loyd walked over to the CTAS and just marveled at the sleek almost jet-like armor.

"Yeah, I gotta hand it to the guys over at R&D. They know how to make some beautiful CTAS." The foreman stood next to him examining the hull.

"But it looks like the sensor sweeps a little big for the body. It almost looks like a head now."

"Maybe it's just got better equipment in there that takes up more room?"

"Maybe." The foreman looked a little closer then shook her head. "Well, this thing's pilot was supposed to be some kid named Loyd or something. I've gotta go notify him now."

"That might be why the general had me run and tell you guys about it." He turned to the foreman and offered her his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Loyd, the pilot of this bio-type."

"Well, I'll be. You're the bio pilot?!" The foreman shook his hand then turned to the rest of the hangar. "Hey, guys this here's the bio-type and its pilot!"