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He did have something else he had kept from those days . . . he rolled up a pants leg and removed a pair of spiral notebooks, bound against his leg with twine. He undid the knots and opened the books, scanning the notes inside for something and finding a particular phrase in his sloppy handwriting.
It had taken months to copy everything he'd done working on the old X-Com weapony, and months more to get it all organized. With the time he'd had since the fall, anyway, he'd been able to organize it all. He'd destroyed the originals, and kept both spiral notebooks not too far from him at all times. In fact, they'd been tied to his leg for ages . . .
He heard a knock and looked up. Sophia looked in and smiled, "Hey..."
He smiled back. "Hey yourself."
He folded the notebook open and set it aside. "So, my first mission and already I've set myself the same reputation as I had in X-Com. Not too bad, huh?" He chuckled.
Sophia smiled and walked over to sit on the bunk. "Not too bad. Better than myself, half of the guys here won't let me help them.. They'd rather tough it out." She grinned, "So how are your ribs anyway?"
"Good." He shrugged. "They don't hurt too much." He tapped the notebooks. "I've been looking things up . . ."
"What's that?" She picked up the notebook flipping through it.
"That, Soph, is my notes on every X-Com project I've worked on. Since they're double-copied . . . they probably aren't accurate enough to recreate an X-Com base. But they do have the general idea still."
"I guess you've had alot of time on your hands." Setting the notebook down on the bunk she sighed. "You miss X-Com?"
He nodded. "More than ever these last few years. I never did really realize how bad the aliens were until I was out in the open."
"It's a lot diffrent fighting toe to toe I guess, than working in a lab." She looked around, "And the fact were stuck in Alaska. I guess Key West would be a little popular, with that grey skin those sectiods could use a good tan.."
He chuckled. "I didn't do anything other than electronics, but . . . there's a reason I knew the cyberdiscs." He tapped his hands on his knees. "One of the guys back at the lab once tried to take one apart . . . luckily he was the only one in the lab at the time." He made a face. "We needed to replace the whole lab because of the explosion."
Sophia sighed, "Its a dangerous job... you promise me to be careful, alright?" She brightened a little with a short chuckle, "I'd better stop there or I'll turn into mom. Be good, eat your vegetables, take your vitamines..."
He laughed. "Wouldn't be too bad; vegetables was all I had to eat mostly over the last few years. Then again, I guess you know that."
Sophia just smiled, she knew. She was silent for a while, then looked up again. "Wonder how they are.."
"Hmm?"
"Mom and dad. Last time I talked to them was before the invasion..Then I got shot and wasn't really able to walk back that far...and on my own." She sighed. "I think they're fine, but that's just because I didn't see them killed."
"Better that way.." He nods silently, and shifts topic. "You know, there's something I came across in these books . . ." He pulled the folded one out. "I think I have the designs for those plasma rifles. Incomplete, of course, but . . ."
"Really, could I take a look?" She sat up, glad to get off that subject. "So how does it work?"
"Pretty similar to our rifles, except the grip is different . . ."
"That's it..? If you can get them working it wouldn't be so hard to learn, but ammo could be a problem.."
"Exactly the problem you'll be having if we try to use them." He shrugged. "Because I didn't think of it, I forgot to copy down the design specs for the clips."
Sophia chewed on her lip for a moment, "If I think of it I could try and get ahold of one if there's a chance. . . if that would help any."
"No, I plan to show this to the Captain anyway, see what he says." Mike closed the books.
"Probably useless in practice, since we don't have a lab to build the stuff, but we could use some of it."
"Yeah, Wychin was from X-Com too wasn't he?" She shifted somewhat. "I don't think Harrison was though."
"Eh, I'm not going to pry that deeply." He shrugged. "But I think it will interest him, even if it's not useful."
Sophia laughed, "That's like you, keeping to yourself. Or maybe I'm too nosy? But it's nice to at least know /something/ about the people leading you isn't it?"
"I guess." He looked at the books and stood up. "I think I'll check and see if he's available . . ."
Standing as well Sophia stretched, "Yeah.. I'll go with you." She winked walking with him, "Wychin's a good guy, and so's Harrison. You'll like them."
He smiled. "I feel I will too."
Written on October 17 by "Michael Thornside"