Excerpt of History of the Eras abridged

***3th ERA***

Neural Interface

The Neural Interface was a device that changed our conception about controlling machines.

At first the exos were our go to answers for most problems, they were an adaptable solution that could be piloted without any complication. The pilots could use simple augmentations to handle better the exos too however it was not a scalable solution.

Bigger machines were needed but were unwieldly and required either remote connection or multiple pilots to control a more complicated machine.

Over time the exo was not enough, we needed more specialized machines that could work in more environments or with a heavier equipment that was impossible to wield with an exo so specialized tanks were made which allowed specialized equipment to be fielded and that could also protect the crew inside of it however their use was not widespread, they were too specialized, always needed a convoy of exos for protection and were simply unable to reach certain places due to topographical issues.

Enter the Neural Link.

It was a small device that had to be connected near the base of the skull and would use a physical jack to connect. It was a complicated but low risk procedure that would allow someone to send their brainwaves as impulses to the outside. At first, it was very hard as both the body AND the mech would move in synchrony as the pilot would not be able to separate the new connections from his body. It required surgery, implantation of machinery in the base of the skull and months of training for a pilot to be ready.

The second improvement upon that technology relied on a short-range wireless receiver so they could prescind of the connecting jack. The surgery was needed to install the receiver and it was more expensive but the recovery time was much shorter.

Both versions coexisted for hundreds of years however most pilots would tend to go for the wireless one as it became more affordable over time.

The Neural Link worked through the inherent control of the pilot over his body and the information sent back was reflected on his senses so it was common for pilots to have cross-linkage and feel damage to the mech as physical pain.

It took over 500 years of constant refinement until it led to the creation of the first Neural Interface.

There were 2 main improvements over the link which allowed it to become the only choice. First it required not surgery at all, a simple injection with nanobots every few months would allow the brain to connect with the helmet allowing to send signals back and forth. Not only it became much less expensive by several orders of magnitude but it also allowed more complex messages to be sent and received. The downside was that it needed some time and testing until the brain was completely mapped.

Instead of relying on the pilot’s ability to move they would completely highjack the pilot’s neural connections to the rest of the body leaving it in a resting state and control the mech completely through mental commands.

It was much better, now pilots didn’t need to twitch their eye or neck to do specific movements, they could simply think what to do and the mech would move. However, a new problem came due to the total disconnection of the mind and the body which was termed dissonance. The pilot will present problems while trying to control their bodies after spending too much time controlling a mech, the more time and the more stress the more likely it would happen, since then cognitive therapy and mental training became a standard part of the pilot’s training.

While many improvements were made for this technology the best one was made thanks to virtual reality thanks to a newly growing videogame market. A secondary implant that would generate a virtual space within the pilot’s mind allowing him to customize his connection and to provide an improved human to machine translation so that pilots could directly interact with data.

Scientists are still trying to understand the why but the pilots that created virtual bodies for them to work within the virtual space would need no time to reconnect to their bodies and would lower the chance for the dissonance to happen.

The message was short.

"Designer Marcus

There is a possible contract that we would like you to consider, please access the government network and look for available contracts"

Marcus frowned. He had sudden flashbacks to all the manipulation, the scheming, the… no, he had to remain calm. Mina and Val, both recommended him to keep working and Mina did say something about a contract so maybe she knew. He calmed down his emotions and breathed.

In and out

In and out

In and out

Now that he was calmer, he became a bit curious so he logged in and a contract was offered exclusively to him. It was for a new push to reclaim an old manufacturing complex and to create the city Quintus 10.

The contract had lots of data but the more important was this. He was being recommended by Minerva’s Lab and Arbiter Fulvia to go as a prospective Mech Designer that would work as the on-site Designer working with the reclamation team in any task required, from fixing mechs to modding any design. He would have to be answer to the expedition chief and the Praetorian command on-site and take matter into his own hands whenever he saw an opportunity.

It was interesting because he would be permitted to work with military mechs and non-combat mechs used for city building. He would also be consulted in a multitude of other topics too. A Mech Designer had to study physics, chemistry, metallurgy, electronics, design, and many other related things to be able to develop by themselves a mech, they were experts in dealing with anything mechanical in nature and a manufacturing complex was basically a big machine. He may even design modifications to the manufacturing plant in case of need.

It was an interesting offer; he would think about it.

Marcus shut down the virtual display and the room became dark again and thought about the past.

To think that a bit less than 4 months ago he had started in his path.

His graduation, discovering mana and the System, which he still had plenty of questions to ask and mysteries to unravel, to taking his first contract, talking to Evander, and making the design, the last few days had been stranger even with corruption, plots, and power plays.

He looked around, the furniture, mostly industrial looking with matte black tables, the black and gray sofa, the table and even the few scant decorations, an old design framed and signed that he got from Anne for his 10th birthday, a picture of the 3 in the main ship of the Aquilae, another of Anne in her exo next to a beast she just hunted, Mina with a pan full of coal blocks when she was teaching Marcus how to make old school electrical engines. Looking to the side he saw the forgotten Augustus’s Neural Interface; he hadn’t asked his mothers about that. He also remembered what had happened in the capsule he salvaged in the workshop.

That week he lived a lot of life changing events, he had to adapt quickly, shift his mind state quickly into what was needed at each moment, designing mechs, work, relax, study. He liked that, the challenge, the changes, it invigorated him. He also liked working as a mechanic, he wanted to keep doing something like that too… If he took the government offer, he would.

There was also the incident with Darius and his logger mech. He had checked with him and had managed to recovered but he couldn’t pilot anymore so he decided to retire. The trauma had affected him and if you included his age, it was a miracle that he was still working. Darius is already over 150 years and the median age of a pilot was 70, after that 100 most retired and lived easily as being a pilot paid handsomely. The most common cause of death is accident with the second being beast attack. Pilots were prone to both and not including that they would also lose part of their piloting abilities overtime. As your brain aged it would find more complicated to handle the data load.

He also remembered working with and in Dextra, fixing the buses. It was strange but highly enjoyable and Dextra’s company had been fun, meeting her today reminded him how good it felt to help others. As a mechanic he would not always be appreciated and, thinking about it, he was given lots of praise for his design but it has been his second family that had built the thing, they also deserved the praise… Well technically they got it, now they have a contract to make 20 more, ‘I bet Hilaria is having fun assembling legs’. Marcus chuckled at the though.

The Vigiles job, that had to be due to the government paying attention to him, going into a place filled with boomrat blood and boomrat chunks to discharge a battery to prevent a catastrophe only to fall and knock himself unconscious. Well not the ending but they should have used the chance to observe and evaluate him.

The last few months had been more stable, kind of, at least until his mothers came back and they went to transport the mech. That forest jaunt was though, stressing, jarring and incredibly interesting. A place so dangerous and because he was with Anne piloting a mech it had been almost pleasant. He also had to recognize that the sights were incredible. Walking on top of trees, flying in the air, the forests. Marcus sighed.

Dealing with the reveals, with the drugs, boy was that ‘FUN’… he would never ever trust anything like that from either. 2 days acting like a zombie with no recollection of what happened. Sure, discovering how his ability manifested itself was good but he still didn’t know how to use it.

Then the last part, going for the contract, the discussion and winning it then going for the second proceeding to hear about corruption that the government ignores up to certain point.

Finally learning all the darkness in the government. How broken is it so long you have connections or power or whatever. He had never seen it like that. He had seen small displays of corruption but nothing so grand, so controlling and in such a way.

If he kept being nobody he could get dragged again however, if he got that power, he could use it as a shield to protect himself from others.

Talking about manipulations, why had the Arbiter contacted him directly telling him of the contract, the same contract he guessed his mother knew, she may had learnt about it after hacking the government. He could always ask, didn’t he?

A quick message to Arbiter Fulvia later he just stood waiting patiently while thinking. He expected a message but received a call.

"Arbiter Fulvia, thank you for returning my call"

"Designer Marcus, please cut the pleasantries my time is limited.

You were involved in an incident with boomrats. By your looks and your mother, you may already know that it was a test but it was also needed.

The government is smuggling in certain augmentations from the factory that must be reclaimed. The smuggled augmentations are products manufactured during the previous era and are already stored there but the factory was lost. Now the deposit only has a few units so we would need to reclaim, repair and restart the factory once more or we are going to have issues in the future"

"Mind telling me what augmentation is that one?"

"The factory can make multiple but the most valuable is a Combat Neural Link used for our Praetorians, you should have heard of it"

"Helps mech pilots have a deeper connection allowing them to work better. It also improves the Neural Interface connection allowing for more bandwidth and prevents dissonance. Didn’t we have a factory already?"

"Correct in all accounts. Our troops use that and we need more. This factory holds both the blueprint and the required machines to make an improved version that we give to all prospective Augustus pilots, the factories already in our power don have neither of those"

"Why do you smuggle it?"

"You don’t need to concern yourself with those questions.

We wasted enough time, if you want the position then it is yours, you will accompany Evander to the command center we have close to the factory in 2 weeks planet time when the team will be ready to start to reclaim the city. Do you accept or not?"

"Send me all the information, beasts and plants, mechs used, general plans, etc. I will study the information and, as long as it seems OK, I will accept the contract"

Fulvia brows raised for a moment, as if she saw something amusing but immediately went back "Seems that previous events have helped you to develop and understand a bit more of how things work however you don’t understand enough.

Congratulations on accepting this contract. Get ready, you are travelling in 2 weeks, do not tell anyone about the particularities and simply say that is for the next push. You are to travel to the town of Quintus 6-63 in 2 weeks planet time. Good bye." and the communication was cut.

Marcus kept staring at where the screen while thinking I haven’t accepted yet. A notification from his data pad nailed this point again.

"The Roman Civilization needs you.

A position as the Mech Designer of the next expansion was assigned to you and it is your duty to accept it for the betterment and further development of our civilization.

You can find all the appropriate details in the following documents.

You have 2 weeks 1 day and 13 hours before you are expected to be in the town of Quintus 6-63 for deployment"

She volunteered me? Marcus started to consider alternatives and think about what she said to me

‘It sounded almost like a compliment yet she declined and force me to take this’. After a few minutes the conclusion was obvious ‘If I was a proper Mech Designer with multiple contributions I would be able to ask that, to negotiate terms even, this is an improvement of the first or second proceeding for her. Mina was right’

He usually acknowledged that whenever any of his mothers gave him a lesson, they were usually right but accepting this reality was still hard. Even more now that he just tried to adapt and failed. He tried to use his personal connection and leverage it to get something that wasn’t offered in the contract. It was a blind choice and he wanted the information before accepting any risk. He ended up taking the risk with no choice because of his failure.

The rest of the day Marcus spent in meditation, he would accept what had happened and would continue because he wanted to design mechs. He would need to deal with more things like that so he needed power and connections so he would grow, accept what he ignored previously and change.

After that he got in touch with Val and let her know about his new contract, organize a party before leaving, sent a message to his mothers not knowing when they would receive it and then read all the information sent for the contract.

He had to learn about the 23 designs of mech he would have to watch over, also learn about the beasts and plants that could become a problem AND, as he was already part of the expedition, he could be asked to design modifications or new mechs for the push starting now so they be done by the time it starts.

Preparing everything on time after being voluntold made Marcus feel a complex mix of emotions which he didn’t had too much time to really deal with as he had to prepare. He also knew that if he went outside, he will need a good exo and not the standard one.

He contacted a workshop that made custom made exos. Anne didn’t consider them as good mechanics however even she recognized them as the best in the whole Agrippa system. They were the best here and they were expensive, he picked one of the best exos for mechanics they have and solicited a few changes in the design. It ended costing 13500 credits for the rush job and transportation.

The first week was a blur of schematics, names of important people, preparations, and general lack of sleep.

The second week started with a headache result of the weekend party at Val’s. Besides the people he already knew there were also 7 new full-time workers to add another assembly line and to man the new smelter and machining shops.

It wasn’t wild, they all had to work tomorrow and couldn’t do a crazy party but…

"Nice to see you Marcus" started Otho "Now we know that you already have a second contract and you are leaving to plumb toilets at a small fringe city or something like that but before you leave, we are going to help you improve your survival chances. They say that small towns in the fringes are full with poisonous spiders or even blood sucking mosquitoes. Alcohol kills all insects so DRINK DRINK DRINK"