Robert eyed the barrier ahead, fidgeting with his ring. “So this is it, our grand initiation,” he muttered, a wry note in his voice. “Swipe your ring, sell your soul.”
I couldn’t quite manage a laugh, landing instead on more of a grimace as my gaze lingered on the metal barrier while the line inched forward.
Once we reached the barrier, each of us pressed the flat edge of our rings to the embedded rectangle, and the barrier lifted in turn, letting us through. On the other side, aside from a single finished road to our left, the islandwas a chaos of construction: heaps of prefabricated walls, doors, and staircases stacked in massive piles—“pieces,” as Hayden had called them—and alien machinery scattered everywhere.
Jessie let out a low whistle, her eyes wide as she took in the scene. Some people were already working at the far end, machinery whirring in the distance, but most newcomers stood in front of a crowd of… robots? That was the only word that came to mind.
“Wait. Are thoseexo-suits?” I heard a gasp behind me, and saw it was Ryland’s father, who had shared the same tram shift as us.
“What are exo-suits?” Jessie asked, frowning, but Ulrik was too preoccupied with gawking at them to answer her question.
We got a demonstration of one barely a minute later, when a blue-uniformed man approached one of the large, metal figures—formed in a very clunky shape of a human, with arms, legs, a head and a wide torso. He proceeded to explain how they were used: step inside the padded interior, press the red button on the right to close oneself inside, and begin moving.
He did so, and I stared in awe as the machine moved around him like a clunky second skin.
“So, they’re basically machine suits,” Jessie breathed.
Rosalie appeared beside us, a hint of a smile playing at her lips. “And by the looks of it, they’d give anyone an advantage.” She caught Robert’s eye and offered a shy smile, her cheeks coloring just slightly. “Though I’m not sure you need any extra help.”
Jessie shook her head, amused, while Robert moved closer to Rosalie, slipping an arm around her shoulders and pressing a brief kiss to her cheek.
“Sensors within the suit detect your movement, so the suit will move along with you automatically,” the instructor explained. “Extending the suit’s limbs is also possible, for tasksthat require it.” He showed us green and orange buttons positioned at the right and left of the interior, which extended the machine’s arms and legs. “Even with the machine’s limbs extended, the sensors will continue to detect your movements."
It was oddly straightforward for something that looked so complex: just step inside, press a button, and suddenly you had the strength and reach of a small machine. I couldn’t help thinking how useful these suits would’ve been back in the jungle. No more scrambling from spiders, or keeping watch for anacondas and poison dart frogs; the suit would have turned all those dangers into minor inconveniences.
Our instructor signaled it was time to practice. Soon, thirty of us were moving cautiously around the site, getting used to the clumsy weight and movement of our new mechanical bodies.
Behind me, Robert’s voice came through the visor, amused despite the distortion. “I could get used to this.”
I couldn’t help a brief smile. Jessie approached from my right, arms open in her suit, making a slow, exaggerated gesture. “Come here, you,” she called. I met her halfway, and we made a clumsy attempt at a hug, the suits knocking together with a hollow thud.
“Enough. These suits aren’t toys,” the instructor called sharply from behind us.
Jessie and I broke apart, stepping back in unison, both of us suddenly sheepish.
“Sorry,” I muttered, but the instructor had already turned his attention elsewhere.
It was easy to forget, inside the suits, that we were here to work—not play.
After another twenty minutes of maneuvering and adjusting, the instructor finally seemed satisfied.He directed us toward the piles of materials stacked near the construction site, ready for the real work to begin.
“I want you all to head there and pick up materials from the first row. They are wall pieces. Try picking up two each. But be careful not to squeeze too hard, or you could damage the material.”
He then headed to the hard suits to get inside one himself, while the rest of us lined up to do as instructed.
Everyone did a surprisingly good job picking up the wall pieces, myself included, with only Zina dropping one of the pieces accidentally. Nico helped her gain a firm grip on it, and before long, we were all standing with large white wedges held over our heads. I had to hand it to the engineers—the suitswerepretty “intuitive” to use.
Our instructor then joined us in his suit, and we marched over to the construction site.
The foundations for the buildings had already been laid. Large metal clips had been set into the ground at intervals around each foundation, and I soon noticed the corresponding metal clips on the materials themselves.
The rest of the morning passed almost in a blur. We worked nonstop to slot each piece of wall into the ground, clicking it into place over the corresponding metal clip, to form the basic structure of a ground floor. Our supervisor watched us closely, directing us, and not mincing his words whenever one of us got close to making a mistake.
There was little to no time for chatter. We were all too focused on not screwing up any of his instructions. And despite the suits doing the heavy lifting, it was surprisingly hard work. We were constantly moving around, and making sure the machines always did what we wanted was brain-taxing. The temperature inside the suits rose along with the sun outside,and while they seemed to be designed to keep us at a safe temperature, it got more unpleasant the more the day wore on.
By midday, we were all sweating and panting. The thirty-minute break was direly needed.
We stepped out of our suits, leaving them on the side of the road, as a large shuttle stocked with water bottles and steel-gray flasks pulled up. Everyone lined up in front of it to collect the refreshments.
