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He put down the helmet and tapped the powered-armor circutry diagrams on the page. The amperage was different, the order of the circuits was not the same, and there was nothing marked. In other words, it was a puzzle he couldn't solve without a lot of time. And facilities he didn't have.
Again, he wondered if there were ANY places left on the face of the planet which happened to have a decent lab and workshop intact. Probably not, but he would always hope. He drained the last of his coffee mug and sighed, picking up the plasma rifle and clip one of the mutons had been carrying.
Captain Wychin wandered in as he was looking for the clip release. "How's it going, Thornside?" He was holding a cup as well, but it didn't steam like coffee.
"Sir!" Michael started to stand, then Wychin motioned for him not to bother. "Not too good. The armor is just plain weird, and the rifles . . ." He paused and rubbed his eyes. "The rifles have only a few shots left in them, and I haven't yet figured out how to remove the used clips, sir." He looked embarrased.
"Just as well . . . " Wychin shook his head. "How many shots?"
"Perhaps an average of five shots per." Michael looked at the helmet. "And no, the armor is no good to us. I can't figure out the mess of circutry inside." He shook his head at the helmet. "Again, if I had a workshop . . . this would be much easier."
"Tell me about it, Mike. Tell me about it." Wychin said dryly, and walked away.
After he left, Michael tossed the rifle onto the table with a resigned sigh, walking to see if there was any coffee left. He came back and picked up the rifle, noticing the clip felt loose. Jiggling it, he felt it snap into place and nodded. So there was a release . . . it'd just take another miracle to accidentally find it or a lot of time to probe over EVERYTHING on the rifle.
Taking a sip from the cup he'd brought back, he started again with a small piece of wire, and a screwdriver. "If this becomes any more frustrating, a hammer is going to become my favorite tool, only because you can hit things with it."
Written on October 29th by "Michael Thornside"