A Business Proposition

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon had been settled in to his new / old home for two days now, and he was getting impatient. There was still work to be done. Cannon's armor and weapons were indeed advanced, but he was just one man and could only do so much on his own. He needed help. And the first person that came to mind was the person who was directly responsible for his armor. Cannon needed to enlist the aid of Doktor Klaus Heidegger.

Cannon called up the information he needed on the HUD of his helmet and pulled up the coordinates for the Doktor's facilities in Warsaw, Poland. As he warmed up his teleporter, Cannon gave the mental command to retract his suit so he would appear as a normal business man, rather than some large, intimidating, metal man.

*FZZZZZZZTTTTPOP!*

Cannon appeared in an alleyway just around the corner from Klaus' facility. The man didn't sleep there, at least Cannon didn't think so anyway. Cannon glanced at his watch. 12:24 pm. If he was lucky, the Doktor would be on his lunch break, or at the least not in the middle of anything important, and would be able to talk.

Strolling around the corner, Cannon fell into "businessman mode". Shoulders back, head high, a steady and important stride, a sense of importance. Marching up to the door, he depressed the ringer to the doorbell, and waited. After a few seconds, a man came out. "Good day sir. What might I do for you today?" Cannon searched his memory...this was not Heidegger. An assistant probably.

Cannon bowed at the waist. "Good day to you my fine sir. I would like to converse with the good Doktor Klaus Heidegger if you please. I would like to offer a business proposal. Would you mind fetching him for me my good man?"

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

The assistant raised an eyebrow. "You can come in, but I'm not sure Dr. Heidegger will be able to speak with you without an appointment."

The assistant turned to the recptionist--a blonde, thin, buxom young woman. He gave her a sly wink that she did not return. Hiding her disgust in front of the guest, she picked up the phone and dialed the extension to Klaus' office.

"Dr. Heidegger," she said in a professional tone. She paused. She spoke very quickly in Polish. Another pause. More Polish. At last she hung up the phone. "Dr. Heidegger will be along shortly. Please be seated."

Klaus left his office and headed for the elevator. More people with business proposals. He had all the funding he needed and more than enough research projects. By now he was used to one government or private agency barging into his facility without an appointment and harrassing his receptionists until they got to speak to him.

He had already been through several receptionists as it was. Most of them were old, biting shrews that Klaus figured would offer enough hell to send the agencies away until they could get an appointment. Unfortunately the visitors proved tenacious enough to make the hags quit.

Instead he went for the opposite approach and found the youngest, loveliest women to play secretary and try to seduce the agents into leaving. "Eunuchs."

So far nothing he tried seem to work and threatening his benefactors would be stupid. So usually he would go to the lobby, take whatever packet or listen to whatever speech they cared to give, then shoved them out the door.

Klaus felt the elevator jolt to a stop as it reached the ground floor. As it opened he tried his best to put on a smile. Instead it came out as his usual confident smirk.

But this man was not one he had seen before. "Hello, I am Klaus Heidegger. I am in charge of this Jericho facility. What can I do to assist you today?"

[Gary Cannon]

Gary ran a hand through his wavy, short hair, and stood from his seat as he saw the Doktor come in from the back. He smiled at seeing the scientist in such good health. Not at all how I remember him from when I FIRST met him. Much more....sane looking.

Gary bowed deeply to Klaus. A gesture that may have been out of place, outdated, and possibly even unappreciated, but showed a large amount of respect. "It is my pleasure to meet you"again he thought, "good Doktor. I know how busy you are, and therefore, will get straight to the point. I believe that we can help each other in a mutually beneficial relationship. Especially in regards with your work on your...lower levels..." Gary smiled sincerely at Klaus.

"If you would prefer to move this conversation to a more...private area, I am more than happy to oblige you."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus didn't know who the man was, but the man was not representing any organization that Klaus was familiar with. And he referenced some of his more top-secret work.

Klaus immediately contacted the head of his security and asked the man to check for any signs of recent breaches in the computer systems and hard files. All of this happened in Polish of course. Klaus was not about to let on that the man had him on guard.

"Most certainly. We will go to my office now."

Klaus motioned to the elevator and pressed the button for it to open again.

"Please, step inside the elevator, and we will be on our way."

[Gary Cannon]

Gary stepped inside the elevator when it arrived. "I think I can imagine what you may be thinking Doktor. Probably wondering how I know about certain things that anyone else outside of these walls shouldn't know about."

Gary reached out and pushed the elevator button that would lead to Klaus' office.

"As hard as it may be to believe, your security has not been compromised. And I promise I will be up front, honest, and revealing with you. Once we reach a secure area free from prying ears." He winked slyly at Klaus. "You see good Doktor, you are not the only one with secrets."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus nodded. "Indeed. I expect I shall find out all about them shortly."

Doctor Heidegger didn't like this situation. There was a lot of uncertainty here and there was not a lot of means to control what was happening. He knew nothing and would only be enlightened at the mercy of his guest. He would manage a way to turn this around to his favor though.

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open into the floor of offices. Just a short walk from the elevator, they reached the office.

Though Klaus owned the Jericho Center, and was its director, his office was no bigger than his employees' offices. He didn't need all the big room or the pomp of most large offices. The building was impressive enough.
The office had a desk, several books, and his degree hung on the wall behind is desk.

There were three chairs--one behind the desk, and two in front. All the chairs were comfortable, but Klaus' sat on casters. It was the only real thing distinguishing his seat as the one belonging to the man in charge.

"So, we are in my office now. Would you care to explain yourself?"

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon could not allow anything unexpected to happen and so as soon as they entered they office, Cannon, with a thought of command, prompted his suit to scan for any listening or recording devices, and to jam anything within the room or the walls.

"Indeed I would care to explain myself. As hard as this may be to grasp or believe, I am from thirty years in the future. To help substantiate my claim, I am now going to show you something, so try to not be alarmed. Suit, deactivate stealth mode and activate to full." The verbal command was not necessary in the least, but Cannon felt that the verbal cue would help to put Klaus at ease a little more than if the suit would just pop up.

The white metal exoskeleton that ran along his back, arms, legs, and back of his head, materialized as the cloaking field dissipated. Cannon's armor sprang out from the metal and quickly encompassed his entire body. Lastly, his helmet fanned out and plunked down, sealing and completing his gleaming white suit.

"This, my good Doktor, is something made in my time, largely with the help of yourself. It is also just the tip of the iceberg of things I have brought back with me. Know that the reason I am here today, is that I need your help, and you, I'm sure, can use mine."

The suit flared as the light around it was sucked into it, causing it to look like darkness was seeping out of it, as the suit absorbed light energy to restore what was used in staying cloaked as well as sweeping for listening devices and jamming them.

The flare up lasted for a second or two, and then the light was back to normal.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus did his best to hide his surprise. "That certainly is impressive."

The suit was not something Klaus would have considered at the time, though he was in the process of developing weapons based on his research with Ricky Rider. It appeared to Klaus that the stranger claiming residence in the future had already mastered the technology and the science upon which it was built.

"You are from the future. You already seem privy to my works and expertise--even the ones I have not yet created. To what end to I benefit from this exhibition? You certainly don't seem to have much to gain from my help as it stands."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon smiled, tho it was hidden beneath his helmet. "Despite how impressive and...well...futuristic this armor may seem, I indeed have need of your help. For one, it was rushed. 30 years is not a lot of time, especially when under....pressure. For another, I am but one man, and my technology, while advanced, has it's limits. In addition, my mission, the reason I came back to this time, is to make the world safe for humans from...violent mutants."

Cannon paced back and forth, his suit just having a barely audible squeak as the metal joints worked, and metal rubbed against metal.

"I feel that, due to the nature of your more...secret work, we could help each other. I provide you with technology you were going to make anyway, so that you get several years head start, and can improve the technology or create new tech. In return for helping me with my armor and weapons, I can be an arm to provide you with subjects for your research, helping advance your goals, while at the same time, helping my goal of keeping humanity safe, and dangerous mutants contained, or killed if need be."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus sat down and leaned back in the chair. "Even with the the technology as advanced as it is, I'll have to back-engineer most of it so that I can interface with the software, improve the compactness of the technology. You are right, thirty years is not a lot of time to make something so complex, but I need more than just a set of post-modern plate mail in order to work with what you're giving me."

Klaus found a legal pad and a pen and started to write. "If I am to help you, I will need these things. I need my original blueprints. I keep logs of all my work and daily progress reports. I will need those as well. If you plan to use your suit while I am managing all this, I will need another suit just like it so that I can better follow my own train of thought."

What was he saying? And why was he being so cooperative? The man standing before him could be nothing more than a kook, but the technology did lend a certain credence to his claim. He would be even more persuaded if the man could produce everything he would have kept as a record of his progress in the future.

[Gary Cannon]

"I thought you might say as much. I did work with you for about ten years after all."

Cannon sent a thought into his helmet, accessing and opening a panel on his right thigh. He pulled the flap opened and an eerie purple light floated out of it. Reaching in, Cannon pulled out several rolled up blueprints, one after another. "This, as you can see, is another thing that should not be possible. But while working together, we eventually came up with a way to make 'pockets' if you will, of extra-dimensional space. Not good for much more than storing things, but I end up needing the space for various things such as these, as well as my weapons."

Reaching back into the pocket, Cannon produced several half rolled notebooks, each one labeled in Klaus' handwriting across the front indicating which particular item the notebook held notes on.

"As far as an identical suit, I'm afraid I can't provide that, but I can indeed help you with building another."

Cannon plopped the documents down on top of Klaus' desk.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus shrugged. "No matter. Now leave. It will take me some time to go through all this. If you will leave me a way to contact you, I will be in touch as soon as my preparations are complete."

Klaus flipped through the books and bent a few of them back out straight as best he could. "Of course, there will be a matter of funding. I trust you will be able to financially back this operation?"

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon nodded and pulled a small cell phone out from one a nook in his chest plate and placed it on the corner of the desk. "All you have to do is hit connect, and you will get a direct line to me. As for funding," Cannon struck a demi-heroic pose, obviously proud of his innovations at creating wealth for himself, "I do indeed have the funds, and I assure you that money, in any sum, for any length of time, will not be a problem."

Cannon bowed to Klaus as the Doktor poured over the blueprints and notes.

"Will that be all for today my good Doktor, or do you have any other questions or requests of me?"

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus put the phone into a desk drawer. "None yet. When I have reviewed my own notes--"these words came out with an incredulous tone--"I will estimate a budget for the project and prepare the space. Then I will contact you."

The doctor signaled the end of the conversation by opening the first notebook marked with the earliest date. He turned the page and began to read his own handwriting.

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon bowed again to Klaus. A slight hum began emanating from Cannon's suit as he powered up and warmed up his teleporter. He set his destination to his secret room in the Cannon estate. "Until the time when you are ready. Good reading, and I look forward to your call."

*FZZZZZZZTTTTPOP!*

The space around Cannon bent and warped, and as the noise finished off with a 'pop', Cannon was no longer there, having vanished from the office.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus hardly registered Gary's disappearance. He was already fascinated by his own work.

A few weeks later Klaus had the space arranged. All the material in the notebooks and all the blueprints had been read over and committed to his memory. All schematics, parameters, units, measurements, and relevant mathematical and scientific information had been translated to an electronic format and installed into his PDA for quick reference.

At last satisfied that the preparations were complete, he pulled the cell phone out of the desk drawer and had it connect to Gary Cannon.

"This is Klaus Heidegger, Administrator of the Warsaw Jericho Center. All preparations are complete. Once I receive the money we agreed upon, we can begin our research."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon was going over various bits of data, doing satellite recon, and getting to know the lay of the land in this era when his HUD popped up with an incoming call from Klaus.

"Very good. I take it then, that we do indeed have an agreement. I can have your funds wired directly to whichever account you'd like within an hour. If you would be so kind as to give me the account you would like the money to go into, and an amount you would like there, I will begin pulling in resources and getting things going. If you'd like as well, I can even deliver you a case of bills, in whichever currency you would prefer if you just need an untraceable cash flow for something."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus held the invoice in his hand as he held the phone in the other. "There is only one account. This account is created specifically for your project. I will need money deposited directly to this account each month. I can fax or e-mail the the project budget to you as soon as I get the information."

Klaus set the document on the fax machine to free his hand for writing. He got the fax number and sent the document to Gary. "Mr. Cannon, we will begin the project as soon as the account shows that you have deposited the required amount."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon recoiled as the fax noises started buzzing and ringing in his helmet, before abruptly stopping. Fax machines...old, antiquated technology...and I hate them. He thought to himself. The document with the account number and sum requested for each month produced itself into a section of his HUD.

He brought up a list of all the things his money was tied up into. Oil, sugar, coal, solar, stocks, government loans, CD's, IRA's, savings accounts all over the world, and many other sources too numerous to fit onto the first page that displayed itself. Billions of dollars, pounds, rubles, yen, rupees, pesos, francs, Deutsche Marks, and other obscure currencies stared at him, all under different names, all created by Cannon.

With this much money, Cannon could fund the world. At least for a few years.

So as not to bankrupt any single source, and allow interest to keep building, Cannon took small pieces from several sources, converted them all into Klaus' currency of choice, and wired the sum into the designated account. Waste not, want not...

"It will take about an hour for all of the different sources to go through the proper channels for conversions to the correct currency, and to be verified by respective governments, but my money is well on it's way to your account."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"Then when the hour is over and my bank confirms the money, we will start."

Klaus returned to his desk and began reviewing his notes for the first phase of the project. The first step to building at suit of technologically enhanced armor was to build a frame. The frame had to fit a human comfortably, but the problem was which human. The suit had to be built to a specific measurement.

Klaus had already decided on the material to use. Carbon Nanotubes were a realtively new discovery, but could link together like so much metal thread. It was very strong and durable, with high resistance to heat and electricity. It would make a fine frame and later, the armor plates that would provide the wearer with protection.

Once the frame was built, servo motors and balancing gyros would be implemented to move the frame and armor and add strength to the user. Once the servos and gyros were operational, the hard part would begin.

Neural interfacing was still a relatively new process that required a person to have an intensely focused mind. No doubt Gary Cannon would have some insight into the development of the technology. Until then he'd have to do more research on psychic mutants and try to engineer a telepathic means to control the suit.

Then of course there were weapons systems s. Once again, he would be relying on his new business partner's knowledge of the future to lend him a hand. Otherwise there weren't going to be terribly many options.

Apparently, Klaus had not included flight as an option into the finished product that Gary wore. He felt irked that he would leave the suit's only form of fast movement to the draining and inefficient teleportation system. Surely he would have found some other way for the suit to move around quickly. He would have to improve that.

He spent the hour reviewing the plans and schematics until he recieved a call from his accounting offices telling him the money was in the account and the project could officially recieve the green light.

Klaus returned a call to Gary. "We are ready to go. I will begin construction of a suit immediately. The secretary will direct you to the proper lab."

[Gary Cannon]

"Good. I'll be there in a jiffy." Cannon teleported from his home to the alleyway beside the Jericho Institute and retracted his suit to appear as a common business man should any passers by see him. He walked out of the alleyway, around the corner, and into the reception area of the Institute.

"I am Gary Cannon" He announced to the secretary. "Doktor Heidegger is expecting me." The secretary nodded. "This way please." she said in heavily accented English.

She took Gary around into an elevator and started their decent towards the lower laboratory that would be the scene for the early construction of Cannon's armor. The elevator stopped, and after a brisk walk, she halted in front of a door. "Here is the lab Mr. Cannon. If you'll excuse me, I must return to my post." She gave a curt nod and headed back the way they had come.

Gary pushed open the door and walked in.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus turned to see Gary enter and then focused back on the machine in front of him. "Today we begin fabrication of the frame for the suit. I understand you have a suit already. Would you want to be the subject for this one as well? I need a specific person's measurements to contruct the frame."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon chuckled. "If you're sure that you'd rather not make it for YOURSELF, then I'll be happy to be the subject." Cannon proceeded to rattle off his measurements. He'd been to enough suit sizing's in preparation for business meetings to know them by heart.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus considered that. He almost never involved himself to a great degree in his projects. On the other hand, most of his technicians had gotten used to his niggling habit of putting his fingers into every single project. With a suit like Gary's, he could be personally at every site and have a greater chance to study the mutants under his "care" more directly.

"Not a bad idea, Mr. Cannon."

Klaus smirked and entered his measurements. Once it was completed, he confirmed the machine's parameters and got to work. "Another facility under my care is producing the nanotubes we need to build this machine. There has not been much cause foe me to use the nanotubes for more than cell construction and blast shielding, but I have plenty of the material here to perform this first phase."

[Gary Cannon]

Gary grinned a child's grin, from ear to ear. He laughed heartily and slapped Klaus on the back like an old friend. "I never thought I'd see the day you'd take any kind of liking to this kind of thing! Maybe you are just more adventurous than I knew you to be when you were older." Cannon nodded in response to the information about the nanotubes. "Good to hear. Depending on how many suits you are thinking of making, I can get a factory up and running within the week to make more. I dare say, if it came down to it, we could create a small army, or at least a squadron, of suits. Think of the possibilities.... But I get ahead of myself. My appologies."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"Unless we were to automate the suits, I don't think mass producing them would be a good idea. Mass production involves a standardization of the product. To make much use out of them, people of very specific height and build would be required."

Klaus ignored the part about being adventuresome. It was a practical benefit to his creation of the armor. He wasn't going to joy ride.

"Very well. Let's begin with the torso."

The frame for the chest plate would be done in halves, connecting across the tops of the shoulders and at his sides, with room for his arms and neck. He began drawing out the design on a sophisticated screen, with the computer adjusting the image so that it fit Klaus' measurements.

"While we're at it, we need to discuss the power source for this armor. Development of one as sophisticated as yours will take some time and effort. In fact, it could almost be a project on its own."

Klaus' original designs placed the power source in the chest or stomach region. Klaus didn't like that idea. He wondered what he had been thinking. The correct strike to the source could cause an explosion or some other serious malfunction, causing the wearer to suffer damage to the heart, lungs, or other organs.

Instead Klaus had made arrangements to replace the single powersource with multiple ones that worked in unison, placed over the shoulder blades. That way if one was taken offline, the other could provide at least half power to the suit and provide the wearer with some small chance of getting to safety or finishing his work.

There was still the danger of risk to internal organs, but it seemed to Klaus that the risk would be somewhat reduced. Klaus worried that serious malfunction could damage a person's spine, but paralysis was, for him, better than organ failure. Not all paralysis was fatal, but any serious wounds to the stomach, liver, kidneys, etc tended to be more fatal than not. Besides, he could make arrangements to protect the spine better than he could the other way around.

"Take a look at the schematic," he said as he drew out the places in the frame where the power sources were to be mounted.

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon leaned over to get a better look at the schematics. "Hmm....I do like the idea of multiple sources of power, but not too much about them being on the back..."

Cannon straightened. "I know you yourself are not a combatant. You are a scientist, and in regards for a suit for yourself, I suppose you could put the power supplies wherever you like. Myself, I like to have it in front of me, where nobody can land a blow on it, at least, not without me knowing. I am many things, and can do many things with my suit, but I am not omnipotent, and my suit has it's limits. I have about a 180 degree vision in front of me, so I have to turn to see what's around. Anyone, or anything, if they are quiet enough, and I don't have the ability to see myself via satellite, can sneak up behind me, and strike a blow to the power."

Cannon started pacing back and forth, keeping his eyes focused on Klaus as he explained. "Another benefit, ESPECIALLY if you have a front mounted, multiple power supply, is that the armor between yourself and the supply can be reinforced substantially, so that IF the source is breached, the resulting flux of power or explosion would be directed in front of you, giving you two important things. A neigh unstoppable, short attack, and secondly, the ability to direct it, thereby having the option and ability to reduce collateral damage."

He tapped the schematic on the table. "BUT!" He raised the index finger of his other hand into the air. "I am all ears if you can find a way to make it less of a vulnerable spot."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"Well," Klaus said as he moved the delicate machines that wove the fibers into the frame, "By segmenting them and making them smaller, a person needs to have far more accuracy to hit them. Also, being smaller, I can encase them in thicker armor."

Klaus shrugged nonchalantly. "It's an alternative design I want to toy with. If it turns out to be a bad option, I can re-design. Just because I know how I did it before, doesn't mean I'm just going to follow myself down that one path. As you said, in this time frame I have the leisure to make the suit as perfect as possible. So I'm going to design several suits and test them all."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon's eyes widened. Several suits... he thought. He the corner of his mouth tugged upward in a slight grin. This is exactly why I came to him.

He nodded his approval of Klaus's idea. "A good plan, as I would expect from you good Doktor. What did you have in mind for the different suits? In case you've not had the idea in your head yet, I've one in mind. I find myself constantly wishing for more hands when I'm in my lab...and the idea of a multi-limbed attachment, or suit, came to me before I came back to this time, but alas...there was no time to explore such an option."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus shrugged. "The mechanics for the extra arms will take some time to develop. For now I just want to see what sorts of designs make the most efficient suits. We'll be playing with power sources, circuitry, HUD interfaces, and the like. We can specialize suits based on the final design choice for the basic suit."

The frame was coming along well, but the going was slow. Weaving the nanotube fibers took a long time since Klaus could not help but deal with them on a microscopic level. Klaus finished adjusting the settings and allowed the machine to fabricate the frame for him based on his inputs.

"We're going to let this machine work for us for a few hours. Come, I want to discuss power sources with you."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon nodded. "Lead the way."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus nodded. The two men left the room together and walked down the hallway to another room. "So far the only technology I can think of available to use that is even feasible is nuclear power. I am aware of zero point energy technology that is undergoing testing. Of course, creating a nuclear reactor small enough to fit on the suit is nearly impossible. However, I have been doing some research."

In the energy room several machines were being fabircated. A series of radioactive isotopes stood behind a transparent shield. Behind the shield a series of robotic machines kept track of each isotope's half-life and energy output.

"So far we have been testing longevity versus energy output to see which would be optimal for the reactor." Klaus gestured at a video screen. "I wanted to direct you to this mutant. It is located in the very bottom of the facility. His body generates an enormous amount of nuclear power. Apparently it generates out of his stomach or his heart. If I can find a way to get close enough to take samples of him, I will see what it is that is causing such a thing and apply that to the development of the suit."

[Gary Cannon]

Gary stewed over the possibility of a nuclear powered suit before answering. "Well, the power source of my own suit is complicated yet simple all at once. You were experimenting with a mutant that could absorb light, and transfer it into energy. Based on that we came up with this suit design for gathering energy. The actual source tho, is a simple, large battery. It is stored in a trans-dimensional pocket on my chest. In order to get it there, we had to make it long and narrow, about twelve feet long and no wider than the panel you see on the chest of my suit, when it's active of course. The reason it glows is because of the battery itself began to glow from storing the power, and it makes the plate glow. As you mentioned about your other sources, yes, this plate is very heavily armored, and it is not made to open as easily as the other pockets on my suit. However, a new power source could be of great benefit if for some reason I was trapped in a completely dark environment for more than a week."

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"Oh yes, dimensional pockets. Just another facet of the living work of science fiction that is the Power Suit Project."

On their way to the energy R&D room they passed another, larger laboratory where scientists were gathered around a large circular metal object with six nodes ringing the inside.

"By far the most challenging aspect of this adventure. Despite my very clear notes the team is still having trouble locking down the particular frequencies of other dimensions. It's an aspect of time and space human kind has as of yet only dreamed of."

On one of the large screens in the lab, visible from the window in the hallway was a hypercube: a four dimensional brother of a normal cube.

"We are working on reaching into the fourth dimension to create hypercubes for now. With luck by the time the month is out that phase of the project will be basic training for interns."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon nodded his approval. "It may be more helpful to yourself and your staff if, instead of thinking stricktly of the pockets as an 'extra demension', they were to view it more as a rip in the fabric of this dimension. After all, as humans, it is easier for us to cut, tear, rip, and destroy than it is to create. The dimension is already there, it's just a matter of getting to it, not creating it out of nothing. That view may help your scientists better grasp the concept."

As they walked, Cannon turned his head and looked a Klaus with a gleam in his eye. "So....I know at one point durring your research, you had mentioned wanting flight capabilities in the suit, but, due to circumstances, time was short and you were unable to progress in that direction. Now that you have time to your advantage, have you any ideas about implementing an addon, upgrade, or modification to allow a suit to fly?"

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus considered Cannon's point. "I suppose that is true, but the thought of ripping and tearing has never appealed to me. I don't think the pockets will suit well as a mere gash in dimensional fabric. It's science fiction at it's finest, but I don't want the gap to be unstable and cause problems. I at least want the pocket to open and close and remain stable when opened."

The flight capabilities were different. "I have interns working on that, actually. Most of them space and aeronautic engineers. There are a number of theories. Magnetism has been suggested. Thrusters using high-energy, high-efficiency fuels, miniature jet engines..." Klaus trailed off and he shrugged. "No matter what we try, the technology will be clunky until we can refine it."

[Gary Cannon]

Cannon shrugged. "I only mentioned it because as humans, our ability to create is fairly limited. After all, the art of healing is in reality, the art of the controlled killing of whatever ails us. It's just easier for most people to wrap thier minds around."

He switched topics only after a brief pause, "Yes it would....be klunky I mean... That was the problem we had before. Basically, it would take an entirely new propulsion system to be invented, or like you said, a massive fine-tuning of whatever we could come up with...."

He stared off at the celing as they walked, mulling it over in his mind. "If at all possible, I'd rather not use magnetism. High powered magnets would have the potential to mess with the AI and other computer components of the suit...among other things.... It would probably end up being more of a liability than a help. On the other hand...magnets could be powered by the power source of the suit, as opposed to conventional engines, which would need a steady supply of petrol...ugh."

Cannon rubbed his tempels with the middle finger and thumb of his right hand.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Klaus nodded.

As they walked along an intern dashed up to Klaus and gave him a clipboard with notes. The doctor took it and looked it over.

"Well, it would seem flight might not be impossible after all. It would appear that the technicians in Energy have developed a Zero Point Energy Generator that can fit inside of a standard backpack. This is fortunate."

He handed the clipboard back to the intern. "Go get yourself coffee."

It was the only reward Klaus ever gave an intern: the ability to get their own coffee, and not other people's coffee.

"Well, we can adapt that for sure. Plus it fits squarely with my previous design of placing the power source on the back of the suit."