Objects in Motion

I beat Eddie at Spinball. I didn't just win; I beat him by fourteen goals and nine spin-outs. That's 88 points. I've never gotten more than one goal in a game against EMF Eddie, and I had to catch him napping* every time. Attempting to spin him out almost always ends with me trying to keep him and his motive force out of my goal with my ball.

Spinball requires every player to control his or her momentum in a freefall environment, using the environment and the spinballs to do so. This symbiote has given me the ability to 'feel' momentum. If you think about all the ways a person can 'feel,' you might get an idea what it's like. Eddie will probably be unbeatable once he gets one of these.

I also got to test out my new vac-suit. It takes half an hour to get into a standard vac-suit, and then another 15 minutes for someone to double-check seals and such. It takes about 10 minutes for my new suit to form itself around me. I have to admit a bit of nervousness when no one checked my seals that first time, but the heads-up display probably makes the highest high-tech displays (which I've never seen) look like child's drawings. I didn't once feel like staring stupidly into empty space.

Counter-Spin doesn't play much spinball, but he is insanely fond of micro-grav. Or maybe it's the ice he likes. Rick and I spent 16 hours hopping from slush-bomb to slush-bomb, and showing off our bio-tech vac-suits to the half-trained OSA troops. Officially we were double-checking paperwork before we move them to Fort Falling, but mostly we were putting on a show. Doc's idea, but Rick made it his own. I was busy test driving.

Those Submind driven ion-thrusters are like riding mag-rails. I'm serious. I've never enjoyed riding a vac-suit before. I doubt if even the Martian Republic has personal scout suits capable of sustained 0.396 Gees. Add the Submind grav-sensors to that, and we didn't even have to slow down to find our landing zones. Did I mention the plasma cutter? The troops who go back to the OSA will have some very scary stories to tell the jerks who sent them here to take away our home.

• Napping: In spinball, napping is a slang term for a state of low or no momentum.