“It won’t be so bad, bro,” Arun said. “You’re doing this for us. Our cause.”

Arun was right. I’d do anything to destroy Jin Corp. And although he didn’t say it aloud, the memory of his mom lingered there, within all of us. Dr. Nataraj had loved Taiwan as much as we all did—that’s why she had pushed so hard for reform. It was up to us now to finish her work. I slipped the helmet over my head and into the suit’s stiff collar. I heard a hiss as the helmet’s glass darkened a fraction and WELCOME MR. ZHOU flashed across it in blue. I took three long, consecutive breaths until my eyes watered, and I felt light-headed. The air in our headquarters was filtered, but it was nothing compared to this pure stuff.

“You okay in there?” Arun asked. His voice sounded as clear as if I didn’t have a helmet on.

I nodded at him.

“There are sensors in the helmet tuned to your brain waves. You can control the suit or query the com sys by thought or through voice,” Victor said. “Just start each request with ‘command.’ Go ahead and try changing your suit’s temperature.”

“Command,” I said, throat feeling dry. “What is the suit temperature?”

21°C/70°F appeared in blue on the lower right corner of my helmet.

Command, I thought in Mandarin, change suit temperature to 68°F.

COMMAND RECEIVED. LOWERING SUIT TEMPERATURE TO 68°F.

The blue words flashed in Chinese at eye level, then disappeared after three seconds.

“I’ve set the default language to Mandarin for you,” Lingyi said. “But your suit can understand and translate a multitude of languages, more than you’ll ever encounter in your lifetime. If you speak or think your commands in English, it’ll respond in kind.”

I raised my arms to look at my hands, the only exposed part of my body, then flexed at the elbows, testing my range of motion. I walked away from my friends, who had clustered around me, still breathing in the pure air. The suit was comfortable, and I moved with ease, my actions unhindered. The helmet was the most awkward aspect. It wasn’t heavy and didn’t distort my vision or hearing, but I was very aware that I was enclosed. Separated.

“The temperature’s adjusted,” I said, incredulous. “It feels cooler.”

“You look good, man.” Arun nodded in approval.

I squatted to the floor in one swift motion, bouncing to the balls of my feet, before jumping up into the air. The suit moved with me like a second skin.

“Once it collects enough data from your voice and brain waves—both are individually unique—the suit will truly be personalized. It’ll only work for you when you put the helmet on,” Lingyi explained. “This ability to recognize its owner makes stealing suits pretty much pointless.”