Over a dozen marines jumped out of the door even as the craft was still settling. Quickly racing over to me, or more accurately, over to the creature I was standing next to. Unable to hear their coms, I didn’t know what they were saying to each other about what they saw.

  Two jumped into the hole. Before I could see what, they were doing, another two turned to me. One visibly gripping their weapon tighter while the other walked closer. “Private communication requested.” My AI informed me. Quickly preparing for a briefing, I mentally accepted the request.

  “Private Colson,” Came a rough voice. One that I recognized as the Marine Major. Immediately I stood straighter. “Did you engage in any communication with the creature?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Did you attempt to scan the creature?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “As of this moment, your AI connection will be severed.” My mouth dropped open at this, but she did not stop. “We will escort you up to the Kinsley where you will undergo a full medical and psychological scan. Your AI will be removed and a new one installed.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Without waiting for me to answer, my nanocomputer shut down. All my mental displays went dark while all my comms channels went dark. I felt naked without them. In fact, I felt worse then naked. Very few people didn’t have some sort of computer in their heads before the age of ten. My parents had given me one before I was three.

  In an attempt to not show just how vulnerable I felt, I tried to salute. Nothing I did moved my suit's arm. In fact, nothing I did worked. None of the servos seemed to react to my inputs. Hell, they felt like they were actively trying to keep the armor in its last position.

  The marine next to the Major slung his weapon onto the magnetic holster on his back as he approached me. One of the other marines joined him, grabbing both of my arms. As they picked me up, I started to hyperventilate. Thinking that maybe I was about to disappear. Faintly, I heard a hissing sound as something poked into my neck.

  My mind and body relaxed as they worked together to carry me into the transport ship. Dumping me into one of the open cubbies. Letting the ship clamp me into place as they turned and walked into the cubbies on either side of me.

  From my vantage, I couldn’t see the rest of the crew nor hear them, but the thrumming of the engines spooling back up told me they were likely aboard. My body squished back into the suits padding as the ship rocketed up. I quickly lost track of how long we were at full burn as I focused on keeping conscious under the acceleration and maneuvering that the pilots performed.