The postman was discreet. There was no shiny black bike, or secret handoff of the goods. He just came in the middle of the day, stood in front of the door of the workshop, and verified who I was with a retinal scan. Once that was done, he handed over the item and left. The postman turned around and walk away. Within five steps, he disappeared.

He literally disappeared.

Sensors indicate that the man was there, so Salma believed the postman had used some sort of teleportation device to jump out of sight. I didn’t even know that was possible, but Salma said that the military has been experimenting with teleportation for years. Evidently, they had some success.

After that bit of excitement, I look at the item that was delivered. It was a metal box. Salma scanned it and said that no explosive was deducted. Even so, I hesitated for a moment before opening it. I found a small metallic device inside. A holographic image of Professor Wang popped up the moment I put my hand on it.

“Good day to you, Tobias. I am sorry about this little bit of spy-craft, but I am afraid my financial sponsors have been insisting that I increased my security since the assassination attempt on Njord. We didn’t have much time to talk since that day, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your help that day. I had expected an attempt after my presentation, but I did not expect them to take a shot at a public event like the dinner. That was my mistake. Honestly, I believe my cybernetics are good enough to ensure my survival but getting shot is never a fun experience so, I thank you for your help that day.

Now, on to the main event. The reason of my message Mr. Wong is the item in this box. It is a Forever Life device. This is my gift to you. I had been thinking about your idea and I have concluded that it is feasible. The idea of having an operator jumping from battlesuit to battlesuit is possible. In fact, my current research is already leaning in that direction. Transferring a person’s consciousness from robot to robot is already possible. The trick is to find a way to do it without a direct connection between the devices. After a month of intense research, the result is what you see before you. A small Forever Life device I called the ‘Forever Life Jumper’, or FLJ for short. This device will allow a consciousness to jump from it to another FLJ device if the secondary device is within ten meters of it. I understand ten meters isn’t much on a battlefield, but this is already a great advancement after just a month of research. With more time, I believe I can increase the distance exponentially but the basic principal behind the FLJ should remain the same.

My sponsors had been very impressed with this new line of research and they believe the financial opportunity here is enormous. Various military had already expressed interest in this area of my research. They will have to come first, but the commercial market will not be far behind. This is the reason I am giving this device to you.

I cannot give you access to my research, most of them are top secret, but I can give you this prototype of the FLJ. It is an early model but if you can use it to design a battlesuit that incorporate the FLJ, then you would have a leg up on the competition when the FLJ goes on the market. I am not a designer of battlesuits so I shall leave the design to you. I am sorry I cannot help you more but know that I am impressed with your idea and I wish you the best of luck for the future.”

The hologram disappeared once the message was delivered, and I heard a small cracking sound from the device. I looked and saw that there was a small lens on it. The lens was cracked, and I knew the message that was embedded in the lens was gone. No one would ever know Professor Wang was the one who gave me this device. He gave me a prototype of his latest top-secret device but didn’t want anyone to know. It was his idea of plausible deniability. I cursed the man.

“I should have let the assassin frack the guy! I should have let the assassin tested just how good the man’s cybernetics are. A prototype? It’s not even the real thing. It was just a prototype, and everyone knows there is a world of difference between the prototype and the real thing. The professor even tried to make it sound as if he was doing me a favor by giving this thing. I saved the man’s life! I took a bullet for him and this was the best he could do? That ungrateful scaredy-cat! He hadn’t even held up his end of the bargain. I had checked with Liam Haraldsson and the man confirmed that he had not received any feedback from the professor. The man took my idea, ran with it, didn’t hold up his end of the exchange, and now had the gall to act as if he was doing me a favor? Fuck him!”

“What are you going to do with the prototype?”

Salma, bless her heart, had kept silent as I went on my rant. Either she agreed with me on how ungrateful the professor was, or she was just too smart to disagree with her employer. At her question, I ponder for a moment before deciding.

“I am going to use it.”