Chapter 14: Passive Weapons
Earrings that could sense a threat and then react accordingly was a fantastic concept, but I was not sure what made them passive weapons. As far as I understood it, it was more of a gaming concept than something that could actually be feasible. But maybe I was misunderstanding what Jun Li was talking about.
After all, I couldn't put Earth standards into a galactic setting.
Leaving the first weapons room, I walked through the door beside it only to step into a… jewelry store? Weren't these supposed to be weapons? The doors to the display cases opened up and a light shone down onto one set of earrings in particular. They looked like diamond studs, too small to warrant any attention, but something you could also wear every day for both formal and informal occasions.
In fact, in my second ear piercing, I had a pair of diamonds that looked a lot like them.
"These are the only weapons in this room that the Sisalik were able to identify," said Jun Li as I reached out to pick up the studs. "The studs are activated when there is a physical threat to the owner and then reflect the assault back to the assailant."
"So if someone shoots me?" I asked as I studied the earrings. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between these and what I was currently wearing.
"Then they better hope they duck as soon as they fire the shot because it will be reflected right back at them. Possibly killing them as a result."
"Huh," I said impressed. Taking out my Earth diamonds, I put in the alien technology. I would have to check out how they look later. "What about this one?" I asked as I picked up what looked like a thick silver choker that would hang right at my collarbones at their lowest. "The Sisalik scientists couldn't determine the purpose for it," Jun Li admitted.
Seeing as it looked like a type of necklace on Earth, I fastened it around my neck. It felt lighter than what I thought it would, but at the same time, it was a good weight. Running my fingers over the left side, I wished I had a mirror in here to be able to see myself. I was about to ask Jun Li if he had something I could use when I felt the necklace let out a light tremor. Jerking my hand back, I watched as small spheres of metal poured out of the necklace and within seconds completely encased me in what could only be described as armor.
"Well, that's interesting," I said as a helmet was created over my head. Looking through the front, it appeared to be more of a screen than a window that I could see my environment out of. A bunch of slashes and dashes appeared at eye level as well as what appeared to be a scope of some kind or another meant to determine the distance to a target.
"Did you know this could happen?" I asked Jun Li.
When I didn't receive a response of any kind from him, I called out louder. "Jun Li!" still nothing. I didn't know if the helmet kept my noise from going outside or if it prevented the outside noise from entering. Then again, armor that acted as noise-cancellation headphones wouldn't be all that helpful if someone was trying to sneak up on you.
I would have to come back to this during our trip back to Earth. It was too good to pass up simply because I didn't know the language. But my biggest problem at the moment was how to get out of this contraption. I brought my hand back up to the left side of my neck and felt around, but nothing happened.
Starting to be concerned that I might be stuck in this suit for a long time, I tried brushing my right hand against my neck. If the left side activated it, maybe the right side would cause it to retract.
There was a tiny tremor as the silver metal covering my skin seemed to melt and rush back to my neck and into the choker. "Can you hear me?!" shouted Jun Li as soon as the helmet was deactivated. "I can now," I assured him. "But I think I am going to have to go back to having the earpiece inside my ear at all times just to be on the safe side." If I was still able to contact Jun Li through the armor it would be the best of all worlds.
"That metal was a newly discovered alloy that, when combined with Nanos, is able to produce completely impenetrable armor. The helmet should also act as an atmospheric control device maintaining the correct atmospheric pressure and oxygen level no matter your environment."
"You mean if I fell into an ocean I would still be able to breathe?" I asked impressed. Between this and the earrings, I was pretty much good in any type of hostile situation.
"Not only would you be completely fine underwater, but you would also survive being tossed out in space and still survive," said Jun Li smugly.
"How long do you think it would be good for?" I questioned. I wanted to run my fingers over the cool metal, but I didn't want to activate it again so I kept my hands to my sides.
"What do you mean?" responded Jun Li confused.
"How many hours in a hostile environment would I be safe for?"
"Indefinitely," answered Jun Li like I asked him the dumbest question in the world. "The metal takes out of the environment what you need to survive and if it cannot do that, it would then take what you would excrete and turn it into what you needed."
"So, I need oxygen to live. That is what my lungs take in from the environment and bring into my bloodstream which carries that oxygen to my organs, blood, and muscles. I then breathe out a waste gas called carbon dioxide which travels from my blood to my lungs to be exhaled. I cannot breathe the carbon dioxide in again, my body cannot use it and I will die as a result." I explained. I didn't understand how a helmet could provide me with an unlimited supply of oxygen when I also had to breathe out carbon dioxide.
In fact, this was what caused asphyxiation.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone