Chapter 72: Predator and Prey
"Oh! Is this a riddle? I don’t know Mei Xing, what is purple in the center, covered in red before turning to green and then blue and walks on two feet?" asked Sha Should with too much excitement. Especially since whatever it was was coming straight at me.
"I don’t know," I replied with a sarcastic smile. "I was hoping you would. Are you sure that nothing will be able to find me in camouflage mode?" I continued as I watched the humanoid shape pause for a second before completely disappearing.
"Well, the Saalistaja might still be able to see you. Did you want me to change that? I probably could make you invisible to them as well, with a little help from Jun Li."
"Please, and if you could have that done by yesterday before you dropped me on this god-forsaken planet, that would be fantastic." I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but at this particular moment, I really couldn’t help it. The only thing worse than knowing a potential predator had you in its sight was when that predator disappeared into thin air.
"I don’t think I can have it done for yesterday. Yesterday is the day before, right? In that case, I definitely cannot have it done for yesterday. Unless Jun Li and I figure out how to create a time travel machine and then go back in time to have the modifications done for yesterday," said Sha Shou, and I could practically see her trying to figure out how to have something done for the day before.
"It is more of an expression to emphasize that I would like the modification to be done as soon as possible. Let’s say there is a Saalistaja around. How do I try to stay invisible to them?" I asked. I couldn’t say for sure if it was a Saalistaja, but it was always best to prepare for the worst-case situation and not have it happen and then hope it doesn’t and not plan at all.
"Their vision is normally narrowed to infrared in everyday situations. While their helmet does allow for some adjustments on the light spectrum, they prefer to hunt in a way most familiar to them," informed Sha Shou before she just started to trail off....
"Sha Shou?" I asked after a moment of silence. I swear I could feel eyes on me, but I didn’t know if it was paranoia or real. Ether way, I wasn’t going to take a chance. "How to I make myself invisible to them?"
"Oh, right! Just have your armor adjust to the same temperature as the surrounding area," she said as if I should have already known that.
"And just how, pray tell, do I do that?" I asked through clenched teeth. This was not the time to be overly perky and distracted. The hairs on the back of my neck were starting to rise with the intensity of the gaze. I curled myself into as small of a ball as could, hoping that I might be mistaken for a normal primate from this jungle. If this jungle had primates...
Next time I agree to do this, I make sure that I have my research done first. ’Oh, come on, you will be fine,’ apparently means something completely different to Jun Li than it does me.
"Fifth button from the left is the comfort setting to your armor. Simply adjust the temperature that way." Once again, Sha Shou was sounding a little too breezy for my comfort.
"And what temperature would that be?" I asked.
"Temperature for what?" came the voice through my helmet.
"What temperature do I need to set my armor to in order to match with the outside environment?" I said, my temper rising to more than I would consider a healthy level. Healthy for those around me, at least.
"Oh! Why didn’t you say that before? In order for your external readings to match, you will need to set to suit to 110 degrees Fahrenheit."
That was more than a little warm as far as I was concerned. In fact, even in the middle of summer, we rarely get days over 90 degrees where I lived. All of a sudden, I really appreciated the air conditioning in this armor if it was 110 outside, but I was still completely comfortable inside.
"Am I going to cook inside the armor?" I asked, concerned, even as I followed her directions to adjust the external temperature for the suit.
"Cook, why would you want to cook inside of your suit?" asked Sha Shou, confused. I felt like I was talking to a toddler sometimes. A toddler with the ability to probably blow up a small planet, but a toddler, nonetheless.
"I don’t want to, but if I am adjusting the settings to maintain the temperature at 110 degrees Fahrenheit, then it will be more than a little hot for me."
"Aren’t you just adjusting the external temperature? I was pretty sure that I told you to adjust the external temperature. Were you listening?"
"Yes, I adjusted the external temperature. There was no control for adjusting the internal one," I said.
"Of course not. The internal one adjusts automatically to your perfect temperature," said Sha Shou sounding insulted at the very idea I would be too hot in my suit of armor.
"Is there any way I can have the external temperature constantly be the same as the surrounding environment?" I asked. If I didn’t have to adjust my external temperature, I should be able to remain invisible to anyone with infrared vision.
"Yes. Is that what you want?" she said slowly as if I was the dumb one. Then again, she is a suit of nano-controlled armor. Maybe I really was the dumb one.
"Please, and thank you."
There was a moment of silence before she came back on the helmet’s speakers. "It’s done."
I waited a few seconds for the suit to adjust to the new temperature before I jumped out of the tree.
Now, before anyone asks why I didn’t do that before, it was because I was at least 25 feet off of the ground. That is approximately 2.31 stories, and I wasn’t going to test to see if I was capable of breaking my legs in this suit.
However, having something hunting you was more than enough incentive to put up with a broken leg or two in order to get away and hide. Thus me being more than willing to risk it now.
I landed softly on the balls of my feet. I didn’t even need to bend my knees to absorb the energy of that fall; my suit took care of everything. I took stock of my body, and once I realized I was fine, I broke out into the fastest run I ever had.
I needed to get to ground and hide. I really didn’t like the feeling of being prey.
