Maybe, a miracle

I plugged the third cable into my chest without hesitation. Pausing would have allowed me to reconsider my ridiculous idea.

"Vega, what the hell are you doing?!" Bootes protested.

My head itched as my implants came to life. Bootes continued to protest in my ear. I wouldn't be surprised if Command joined him soon. I didn't reply. My attention was too focused on the connection for that. Connecting to Eae would be more difficult than connecting to Cerviel. Connecting to Eae’s personality core would be like linking my brain with Alya's. In the early days of the Angel program, there was an experiment where scientists tried to link human minds together to create a shared consciousness. Nobody survived.

"Vega! Disconnect immediately!" Bootes demanded.

"I'm fine!' I blew out my breath as the itch started to go away. "The load levels are dropping. I'm connected."

"Vega, you are... hang on. I'll let Command talk for me."

"Vega, are you out of your fucking mind?!" I winced when Command screamed into my ear.

"I knew you wouldn't like it."

"Not like it?! I wouldn't have considered it in the most desperate of situations!'

"You mean there's worse ones than what we're in now?"

"Ooh, the sass! Wait, I have a broken toaster at home. Do you want to try connecting to it as well? See if you can get it working because its AI says it's not too damaged?"

"Command..."

"I'd pull you off the roster if I could. I'm overloaded with prep work and I've only had two hours of sleep in the last three days, so I simply don't have time for your shit right now!"

"Glad to know you care."

"Save it." I heard her deep breath through the connection. "Can you actually get Eae to move?"

"I haven't checked her boosters yet. Everything else looks good."

"Boosters are running in suboptimal condition," said Eae.

"What does that mean?" Command asked.

"Diagnostics indicate three operational jets. Booster cooling systems are damaged by a foreign material. Estimations indicate this unit only stays airborne for about one minute before overheating."

"You're too far out for that."

I shrugged. "That means I have to walk over. I can boost to get into the dome."

"See if you can do so. Use Valoel's repair bay. We've decommissioned the others."

"Will do. Bootes?"

"I'm here." Bootes said.

"Tell everybody to stand back. Eae is going to walk again."

"We're already clear. You're free to go."

"Thank you.” I took a breath to steel myself. “Starting now."

"You're a special one, you know that?' Bootes sighed.

"Trying my best. Eae, enable motion actuators."

"Activated."

"Then here we go." My vibrations flowed through my body as Eae's motors came to life. More than one motor squealed as it tried to grind out the dust, and I heard several worrying clangs. "Eae? Are you good?"

"Limitations in leg motors detected. Compensating."

"Roll us around. Let's push ourselves upright."

"Rolling."

I instantly understood why the lone pilot won against the experienced ones. Piloting Cerviel felt like moving an extension of myself. Her personality core would understand my every movement and the intention behind them. Likewise, every action she took of her own volition would feel like I had planned it. The only difference would be the slight lag as my brain processed the emotional aspects of Cerviel's actions.

Piloting Eae was the opposite. Her personality core would take longer to process even the simplest movements. My implants struggled to process Eae's feedback, which made my head tingle to the point of pain. Something as simple as rolling around felt like my brain would split apart.

"Action completed."

"Right." I blinked twice to reclaim my sense of balance. I saw stars flicking in and out of existence. "Okay, left arm first." I balled my left hand into a fist before punching forward. The haptic suit tickled from the shockwave as Eae’s fist smashed into the ground. "Right arm, then left leg." I did the same with the other side before retracting my leg.

A loud clang paused my progress.

"Leg motors have locked up," Eae said.

"Can you compensate?"

"Attempting." I held myself still as Eae worked on the problem. "Please try again."

"Trying..." Whatever problem held it in place had been removed. The motors ground and stuttered with every millimeter my leg moved.

"C'mon... crap!" I slammed Eae's left hand against the ground when she tilted to the left. "Eae, pull in the left leg!" I nearly fell off balance when my leg moved upward. It took several more adjustments to keep us from crashing onto our sides. I shuddered to think of the headache if that had happened, or whether Eae's dusty motors would have survived.

"C'mon, Eae, push!"

"Pushing."

"Push!" With my left leg in position, I redirected all my strength into my core muscles. "C'mon... c'mon!" My suit itched as the motors stuttered. My chest threatened to burst aflame, but we rose, slowly.

Eae's final stance was signaled by two thunderous footsteps.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed to no one. I would have raised my arms triumphantly if I had been piloting Cerviel.

"Seems you are not the only one satisfied," Eae commented as she looked down. Five figures stood next to Eae's foot. Each either clapped their hands or held their arms above their heads.

"Seems so," I grinned. "Come. Let's get you to the dome."