FUNCTION-L₃ #12

You enthusiastically approve remote permissions over your entire peripheral nervous system. Immediately your fingers start to move beyond your control. As you watch from the confines of your head, your hands form signs in JSL, “I miss you.”

You expected this kind of thing from Akiko, a candidate in the Communication school of technopathy, adept at all forms of communication between bodies. You feel her joy resonate across the æther as your hands flap in the pattern of one of her stims. Her feeling of longing intensifies the closer your shuttle drifts to the colony.

When the red light above your seat turns on, you know it’s time for docking maneuvers to start.

“Let’s get you strapped in tight,” Akiko signs, using your hands. Manipulating your body, she sits you down in your seat and fastens every belt.

The mechanical sounds of valves opening and closing in the maneuvering thrusters echo through the little craft, with nowhere else for the vibrations to go. Through the window ahead of you, you see the white plumes of gas expanding from each jolt of the thrusters as your shuttle perfectly matches the colony’s orbital speed and lateral motion. Finally it rolls to match the little world’s rotation. The edge of one of its radiator panels you can see through your window comes to a stop, but the stars you can see now spin around you as you approach the spaceport.

“See you soon, Aydan,” your hands sign, followed by making the shape of a heart. “I love you, and remember...” Suddenly your arms reach up, your hands grasp for the back of your neck, where your interface collar connects to the access port over your spine. An instinctual sense of panic strikes you as your fingertips touch the cable.

2255-01-16 13:12:42 明子 > a technopath shouldn’t be so careless ^^