Excerpt of History of the Eras abridged

***3rd ERA***

Mutation

Humanity believed as a whole that the worst had happened. Once communications, fragile as they were, resumed people started tracking the deaths and a correlation was quickly found between size of the city and amount of people. The virus seemed to be activated when there where many people together and the logical response was to reduce the population density by not overcrowding places.

Now that some way to at least prevent the worst from happening and the worst behind, the survivors tried to rebuild, looking for stability and security but it wasn’t over.

Within a calendar year humanity realized the plants and animals where changing. Animals, plants even some fungus started to mutate. The first to do it where those within the automated hydroponic farming towers called "Agro towers". One particular event brought attention to this barely 6 months after the start of the era.

It was the first city to be found after the event first month, and people believed that it was the virus once again but it wasn’t. It was rice.

The rice inside the city Agro Tower had mutated becoming toxic yet no one realized. 2 days later it was too late, everyone that had eaten the rice had died.

4 months later after, a strain of tomato started to release a potent odor similar to that of rotting flesh that attracted animals which caused countless problems.

Plants had mutated but where not the only ones, animals had mutated too.

Industrial farms, pets, wild animals, genetically enhanced animals built for multiple reasons. All of them started to mutate, slowly but surely. The first mutation was invisible and the same as plants. They were more effective, needed less energy and so the excess energy could be used to mutate. All animals became more beast-like. Gone was the loyal dog or cat, now every species would become highly aggressive to humans. More changes followed, over time these changes started to happen in almost every part. Animals becoming bigger, faster, harder, deadlier.

One particular bull had grown to the size of a normal elephant with some kind of armored skin and was not injured by normal weapon fire and could run quite fast rupturing metal and cement with its hoofs and horns. It would eventually die to a speed trap targeting its feet. Still, it was classified as a mega-fauna the very first one, an animal that had grown too much, enough to break all previous records.

The adjective Mega however was mostly applied to plants. A densely packed rose bush had grown to cover over 100 km2 where smaller animals would hide and humans could never destroy, it resisted fire, had long and hard roots, resisted chemicals and physical force. This mega flora was just the first of many that would, eventually, reshape a planet.

With both plants and beasts mutating over time, becoming more dangerous, they could even target standing infrastructure as some plants started to consume steel, iron, even concrete.

Yet humans still needed food, materials. Now going outside of cities even with exo suits was becoming more dangerous than ever.

Marcus woke up feeling strangely refreshed. No headache, no pain, he touched his head in happiness and remembered " yeah no hair too…" regardless, he felt quite energetic.

Started his morning as usual, bathroom, kitchen, a quick print of hash browns with eggs and a coffee. Took one look at his data pad for the time and left his house for the workshop.

Coming to normalcy after yesterday’s secrets seemed almost refreshing and, curiously, a bit strange. Doing a job he knew how to it and how to do it well, it was particularly calming, like using that comfortable shirt filled with holes or an old comfy pant.

"Morning Val, looks that you couldn't quite rest well after the party" said Marcus with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh now that you don't have kids" Val's cranky tone and pale faced spoke volumes “It’s nice seeing your wonderful shining self too Marcus" a snicker flashed in her face.

"Har har, because someone here shaved my head, so funny" deadpanned Marcus.

"First things first. Today you have quite the docket, we have some worked queued from yesterday, 2 broken logger mechs with busted power, control, capsule modules and quite beaten up after a monster attack.

Then you must check 3 malfunctions from the Vigiles, for some reason the neural module wouldn't connect. Give priority to the broken loggers, the guards have more than enough mechs" said Val while looking at her data pad with the orders "Second point, your radiantness, you looked like a cue ball BEFORE you came here last Monday so it wasn’t us that shaved you, that’s why we did the oil bath, to cover that reflector you had there, otherwise we would be blinded by you. Understood?"

"Sure thing BOSS" said Marcus loudly, enjoy Val’s sudden wince while picking a data pad, logging, and confirming the job queue "I would like some moments later to talk about my plans for the future so please don't run away even with the headache" a smile crossed his face while looking at Val

"Yeah wise-ass, now get to work and don't bother me" Val closed the door to her office.

Marcus went through the corridor to the lockers while greeting his coworkers in different states of hangover "Seems like no one really took their time to rest after the party" said Marcus pretty loudly while looking at Marcellinus "How you doing Mar?"

"Mar" a short greeting with a head nod, a slowly rising extended finger and a look that could kill came from Marcellinus as an answer. ‘He shouldn’t bet against me’ though Marcus internally.

"Hey Marcus. How in the hell are you not dying from a headache after the party?" Asked Otho from the door

"Clean living Otho, that's the secret" the smile in Marcus face was incredible. That mana jolt may have not had the expected outcome but he could certainly get used to this.

"Bullshit Marcus, bull shit" exclaimed Otho while Marcellinus and Titiana grabbed their heads and looked at him icily.

Otho disregarded both coworkers and kept going "You even drank the secret mix that should have enough burnable oil to power any reactor" said while shaking his head "Lucky bastard"

By the time Marcus had finished changing so had Mar and Titiana so they left together to the main part of the shop.

Mar nodded to the left and said to Marcus "Yours are on bay 7, 8 and 9. Don't make too much noise" then look at Titiana "you are on smelting duty sub level 2, pick a thick mask for the glare but there will be no noise" and left with Titiana downstairs towards the manufacturing shop.

Marcus loved the ‘Cemetery’, usually they would deposit the wrecks filling most of it so while the place was always messy, he could work uninterrupted, in silence and alone. All bays could do most jobs however usually they were used for different things. Bays from 1 trough 9 where all the same, metal cubes of 6x6x7 with a ceiling crane and connected to the main rail delivery system, on the side they had every tool that they needed plus terminals for information and some automatized equipment. All the bays where also equipped with scanning equipment so they wouldn’t need to use the smaller, less effective versions like the portable scanner.

The sub levels held the smelting furnace on sub level 2 and manufacturing in sub level 1 the later with machining tables and 3d printer.

Then the "main" workshop on the back which was divided into 3 wings.

Assembly was to the right with bays 1 through 4, usually used for reassembling mechs after repairs, easily their busiest. They were in two parallel lines almost as the letter U with the base being the main corridor. This was useful because the area in the middle had a railing system for moving mechs and could also be used in case they needed to serve a big mech.

Shit detail was on the left closest to the main city door where all the wrecks and problems went.

Bay 5 and 6 were used for broken still functioning mechs that needed to be partially dismantled. They would remove whatever was broken and send the good parts to assembly. They will deal with missing supplies, making new custom parts and the rest.

Bay 7, 8 and 9 was the ‘Cemetery’ where wrecks ended. In there they would be disassembled and whatever still functioning part be salvaged, then the rest would be used as scraps or sent to the smelter.

Finally bay 10. The biggest bay with 2 entrances with double airlock, its own locker room and side containment room. It was 8x8x8 with 6x6x6 empty space in the middle with an outside loading door. It had special sprinklers on the ceiling, multiple cranes with different attachments and a few other extra toys. Bay 10 was used for rescue jobs, thankfully it was rarely used.

At the front you had the biggest bays 11 and 12 used as the main deposit. Stripped parts that were not used, raw metal, useful and slightly broken modules and many more shit. They where actually the oldest bays and the only to survive the first time but had the most antiquated equipment so they were rarely used.

Coming into bay 7 the light turned on shining harshly over the 2 wrecked logger mechs. Technically, logger mechs were a multipurpose humanoid 2-legged mech. A general model that could attach a variety of different arms. This 2 had big extendable pikes and hooks in one arm and they were lacking the big chainsaw used for cutting trees.

Logger mechs were used to maintain a clear surrounding space around the city cutting any trees, bushes, or tall grasses to keep good visibility and clear ground.

As Marcus started to get close to the mechs he started to analyze the best way to disassemble the wreckage. How to get the most working parts with the least amount of damage and then separate all the smeltable parts quickly.

Usually, all mechs had some parts that were always more expensive and usually the order was something like generator, capsule, sensor blocks, additional modules, artificial muscle, and the rest (motors, electrical wiring, armor plate, internal metallic structure, and other smaller components). They would get disassemble and separated into categories. The still working parts and the broken ones that could be fixed would be sent to another workshop that would carefully fix them or strip them for parts and, finally, the rest separated and smelted into bars.

Not all parts where as easy to reach. The worst part was the capsule, not only the placement of it was in the most central place and surrounded by armor, structural beams, data cables and protection, but, obviously, was where the pilot should go and if anything went wrong is where he would cut open to reveal a cadaver. Thankfully it was usually heavily armored and had 2 escaping hatches. Combat pilots even have an expulsion system in the capsule.

A wreck was a like opening a puzzle box that had some parts that were broken. You could follow the manual to do it easily but, at some point, you had to use the plasma cutter and make your own solution or you could use the broken parts to arrive at a solution faster.

Marcus started with the first, used the magnetic multi segmented crane to hoist the main torso upright and started with the normal procedure, releasing fluids, and checking batteries, connecting with the internal computer to release structural unions and joints to separate and the rest. Most would fail to release but it would help.

While dismantling the mech Marcus started to understand its history. On the front the clear impression of a giant tree that fell on top, one of the legs buckled from handling too much weight while the back had lots of blood, pieces of fur and meat and some claw marks.

He released the legs quickly, thanks to the damage he could just avoid the armor plates at the main articulation in the hip, removed them and just cut through the metal joint. With both legs on the floor, he used a small lift drone to carry them to the side. They would be checked by another workshop.

He lowered the mech and started to inspect the rest. Using a small projector, he would aim at different parts and it would show the internal diagrams whenever possible, either due to the original schematic or due to the bay scanners.

He kept going, cut armor plates, release arms, cutting the attached tensors from the back, cutting into the back support which was partially destroyed due to the claw marks, eventually most of the armor plates were on their way to the smelter while the arms and attachments went with the legs ‘Thank to the little guys’ though Marcus thinking on the lift drones as they had already moved all that fell from the mech.

Now all he had was the main internal structure with the capsule, some modules, and the generator. It was curious, clearly the beast that attacked this mech had been on the back of the mechs and when the mech crash down the beast got trapped under it because the internal parts had lots of blood, including the generator, it was covered in it. All the parts that had that blood were not responsive which wasn’t uncommon, beast blood had a way of fucking up electronics. Anyways, the parts were cut and sent to the side while the main internal structure was being cut following prearranged lines so it’s easier to move and thrown into the smelter.

Meanwhile Marcus went to check on the generator, small modules to malfunction was normal but the generator had a full casing protecting it. He opened the fuel valve, place some boomrat fuel and then went for the data connection port that was full of blood. Like hundreds of times before he just used his gloved hand to remove a bit of it but this time, before touching the blood, he felt something strange, he didn’t know what it was so he ignored it and carefully touched the blood.

An energy jolt came to him.

"FUCK" Marcus recoiled in pain. He had received a shock from the blood, he felt a rush of energy leaving the blood and traveling into his body.

"I'm... OK?" Marcus kept looking at his hand expecting to see some burn marks or something but nothing, his hands where totally fine. The shock had been similar to the shock from the mana stone. Maybe it was mana?

Marcus kept thinking ‘Maybe I absorbed the energy of the blood? Do beast blood have mana?’

New questions for old problems but he had no new answers and a job to do. With care he extended his hand again touching the blood but no new jolt came. He connected the data cable and lo and behold the generator was working. ‘Maybe mana was the thing that screwed electronics?’.

Quickly testing the other modules, he got no results, no shock and still not working so he left the mystery aside and went for the second mech. Maybe the second mech would provide some new clues.

As fast as he could he hoisted the second mech and looking for more blood but it was completely empty ‘Maybe it was cleaned by the Vigiles.

With some disappointment he started to disassemble the second one too with nothing new jumping.

Now that the 2 wrecks where done he had to pick a few parts of the capsule. While most parts would be disassembled carefully by other workshops some were easy to remove and VERY expensive, well, mainly the Neural Interface module. He climbed inside the first capsule, removed the connection cables, and picked the half helmet metallic plate with no problem, until he left the capsule. He had missed a step due to the movement of the capsule and he started to fell…

FEAR, BLOOD, DEATH.

Marcus hit the floor and couldn't scream or move struck by fear, his heart racing, his mind reaching light speed. He couldn't comprehend, couldn't process what had happened. He was hyperventilating in the floor in fetal position.

It took over 15 minutes for his heart to calm down, for him to stop sweating and shivering uncontrollably.

Something had happened again. Did he perceive mana again? But this were feelings, not the surge of energy he got before. Why?

He wasn’t touching blood, he had the Neural Interface in hand and had missed 1 step. Many questions kept popping up but one resolution. He would NOT test this on the second capsule. He went inside carefully, removed both data cables, placed a magnetic holder, left the capsule, and then pulled the Neural Interface out. Too many new things for one day.

Having finished with the wrecks he went for the mechs from the Vigiles. They had issues with the connections of the Neural Interface, most likely someone had been careless and had forced the connecting jacks or cables. Doing tests would take too much time, so he simply re connected the whole thing, tested, and got perfect results. It was a very delicate equipment and the connection jacks were not fool proof.

Having finished all of that he contacted Val to ask for those few minutes he request previously.

While he was shocked, had hundreds of questions in his mind that he kept forcing down and needed to rest, he still had to speak with her about his working future.

"Sure Marcus, you can swing by now" replied Val not 2 minutes after.

"OMW"

"Come in Marcus" Val voice came from inside her office when she saw him on her door.

"Why, Marcus, why did you have finished everything faster than expected?" asked Val with a scowl.

Confusion appeared in Marcus face.

"Couldn't you have taken just 30 minutes more? Just for me?"

Realization dawned immediately "It is bad form to make bets on how someone would work, particularly with a hangover" said Marcus with a deadpan "AAAAAnyways, do you have time or you just wanted to tell me I fucked your bet"

"Ohhh mister I'm a SHINY Mech Designer who wants to talk about business" replied Val with a small smile "So do you have any offers already?"

"Well actually I kinda do"

"You what? It's been less than 2 weeks and less than a day that you were not either drunk or with a massive hangover" surprised showed in Val's face "How? Who?"

"Well, is not technically MY contract but, the university added me to government list of provisional Mech Designers and there is a public offer for one for this planet and I wanted to try my hand at it" then Marcus begun to explain all about the offer, the particularities, and the 2 months limit.

"Do you feel ready to start so soon?"

"Feel ready? No, but I'll never feel ready if I don't start and this is an excellent opportunity. The government has already given the list of licenses that can be used so while limited I don't have to fight for patents, parts or supply"

"OK then, what do you want to do with the job?" asked Val with a neutral face.

"Keep working half time, 4 days a week so I can concentrate in that" Marcus faced marked with a tinge of worry, he liked working at Val’s, the placed served as a second family and many times it had helped to ground him.

Val smile bloomed “No problem, we can keep your working schedule from when you were studying” said Val “I thought that you were going to quit” confessed.

“Not yet, I like working here and still need money so I will keep working”

After reaching an agreement Marcus said goodbye and left the office ready to go home.

Val kept looking at the door and thinking

‘It was good, not losing Marcus so quickly, though having an offer already is surprising’ mused Val internally, ‘he is an excellent worker and a bright kid’