“There you go using that word again,” Mir grumbled.

Mitzi’s patience was wearing thin. She pursed her lips. “Look, I’m sorry, but right now all of this is theory. It should work flawlessly. Will it? Probably not. But there’s literally no time to spend on testing it. If we can’t get the upper hand on the Cymics, you might not have a home to return to next week. And the best chance of getting an upper hand, right now, is to get that short-wave link set up between Central and Meidoscycle. Every hour we waste tips the tables against humanity even further.”

Mir glared at the floor. For a moment, Mitzi considered leaving her on the ship, too. Surely she’d be more harm than good during the actual attack. But she needed as many hands with her as possible, so she closed her eyes and counted to ten before continuing. “Okay, so aside from the armour, you’ve also got some weapons. See that pack on the suit’s back? That’s an in-built flamethrower. The nozzle’s holstered in the suit’s thigh, right here. Squeeze the trigger to activate it. You should get about forty minutes of high-intensity flame.”

“What about these?” Skye asked. She was holding up one of a series of six round, palm-sized grey objects hung around the suit’s waist.

“Those are grenades. Pull them off the suit to activate them. Make sure to throw them as far as you can. I can’t promise the suit will protect you from the blast.” Mitzi pointed to a pouch hung just below the row of grenades. “In here, you’ve got knives, a screwdriver, and a flashlight. All useless against the Cymics, but they’re still handy things to have. And here”—she held up the right glove—“is filled with electrical outputs. Press the button on your neck to activate it. If a parasite has you pinned, put your glove anywhere on its flesh and give it a shock to make it let you go. I’m told the battery should give us each around five shocks.”

“And this?” Skye pointed to a second gun strapped to the suit’s left thigh.

“That holds neurotoxin darts,” Mitzi said. “They’re the third thing that can kill the Cymics. Fire, electricity, neurotoxins. One dart should do it, but you can use two to be doubly sure. They’re great for stealth kills, but they’ll take a few minutes to work, so if you’re grappling with one of the monsters, you’re better off using the more immediately effective flamethrower.”

“These must have been expensive,” Franc muttered, feeling between two of the plates.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. But Central’s manufacturing them as quickly as it can. These seven are from the first completed line.” Mitzi checked her watch again. “Okay, there’s about thirty minutes before we touch down. Suit up, ducklings.”

Mir sighed and crossed her arms.

Skye felt around the plates on the suit’s chest, a frown creasing her delicate face. “Um, Captain, how do they open?”

Mitzi’s smile was frozen as she gave her suit a quick once-over. “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. Maybe one of the buttons does something…”