Chapter 4

“You’re something else mister,” Frankie said. “You know that?”

Uzik and Dani came into the habitation a few minutes after I’d suited up. They were both in their Cymech suits. Uzik donned his helmet as he led Dani across the space.

“How’s the new suit, Gnath?” Uzik said.

“A dream come true, so far,” I said.

“Don't speak too soon,” Frankie said. “We still got a lot of work to cover. I’m going to put you through some training while those two run off into space. I need to see how you handle your Mech.”

“Dani and I shouldn’t be gone for longer than a day,” Uzik said. “We’ll communicate as we need to, so keep active with SIGINT.”

Uzik and Dani’s Mechs each opened to reveal the cockpit. Both Cymechs lifted off the ground and floated into the cockpits. The torsos closed them in and locking mechanisms whirred. Stabilization harnesses detached from each Mech and they walked off to the far end of the habitation. The two Mechs stepped into a tall deployment chamber and a double door closed them in. The further door opened into space, and the two flew off, propelled by blasting jets.

“Love that sound,” Frankie said. Then she turned back to me and clapped her hands. She hooked a thumb under each overall strap and kicked a foot out. She swept a hand over a massive blocky mech behind us. “Alright Cymech. This here is F1290. Stands for Frankie. Heh. It's yours. Basic quad fuel jet system. Dual plasma, mana power systems. Cymech specification integration. Negative .314 latency anticipation intelligence.”

“It's boxy,” I said.

“Yes it is. The moment you sit inside, your Vox will guide you through the rest. The Mech will evolve per your… personality, let’s say. Then I’ll be adding some weaponry and blah blah blah. You get it?”

I gawked at the Mech for a minute. It was massive. Two stories tall, and just as bone-white as my Cymech suit.

[The color is a default,] Orion said. [Just like our Cymech suit, you can change the color at will. Costs mana, of course, but it’s a tactical tool at our disposal.]

[I can change our color right now if I wanted?] I thought.

[Give it a shot,] he said.

I thought about changing the color to red. My Cymech suit instantly stained red. I wanted the color to be a little darker, and it continued to change until stopping at a deep blood red.

[Specification ChameleonX acquired,] Pipper said. [ChameleonX has five points of mastery. You are currently at 0/5. Next point will allow you to utilize camouflage patterns.]

“Nice red,” Frankie said. “That’s what I’m talking about! So your Mech will be able to do the same thing. Whatever specs you’ve mastered will synchronize with the capabilities of F1290. Alright, Gnath. Let’s keep things moving. Hop in, and let’s get you into space for some training.”

Flying with my new Cymech suit was quite the experience. I hadn’t been able to fly when Orion was just a helmet and a pair of gloves. Now that the whole Cymech suit was intact, I had enough mana to float around for an hour. Instead, I took a few minutes to get oriented before hovering over to F1290.

[How do we open it?] I asked Pipper and Orion.

[You and Orion can both open the hatch,] Pipper said. [F1290 has been fitted with mana and plasma circuits that are assigned to you, Gnath. Simply spend the mana to open the hatch.]

“We haven’t got all day,” Frankie said. “C’mon Cymech! Get your butt in the Mech! We’ve got some training to do. You and I are both going out there. I’ve got things to do, you know! I can't babysit you all day!]

I floated up to the torso of my blocky Mech. I reached out and spent the mana to open the hatch. I could sense where every mana circuit on the Mech was. I powered the one in the hatch and it opened to reveal luxury upholstery in a mix of off whites and coffee inspired colors. I clumsily turned about in my Cymech suit and settled down onto the seat.

The hatch closed. Mechanics whirred as it locked and air rushed through the edge of the door until it self sealed. The seat beneath me adjusted to my form. A multitude of screens appeared before me. IMINT brackets appeared on my visor, detailing the purpose of each screen. The main screen in front of me provided the view from my Mech’s eyes, which I guessed was about four feet above me.

[Acquiring Mech data,] Pipper said. [Data acquired. Would you like to download the data, Cymech?]

[Yes,] I said, and braced myself.

A torrent of instructions raced through my mind like a river of knowledge. I gritted my teeth and braced myself against all the information I was receiving. It felt like the owner's manual to the Mech was shoved into my brain in a single second.

I heard Orion laugh from the thrill of receiving the information in some echo of space.

[That’s quite interesting,] Orion said. [That was fun!]

I now knew everything there was to know about operating the Mech. The only thing left to do was to build and train muscle memory.

There were mana and plasma circuits all around me. They were small, the size of my pinky nail, and each one had a different effect. IMINT bracketed each one with their name. Though I didn’t need IMINT for that, because I already knew what each one did.

I powered the circuits which lifted my cockpit pod up four feet until my head was in the head of the Mech.

[Finally,] I thought. [My first Mech.]

[Signal, incoming,] Orion said.

“Gnath,” Frankie said. “Can you hear me?”

I heard her voice in the Third Intelligence of SIGINT.

“Loud and clear. I’m ready to follow your lead.”

I saw Frankie on half of my screens. She was in her rusty, junkyard looking Mech. Heavily greased chains swung and clattered against her Mech as she walked up to me. Beyond the clear bubble headpiece of her mech I could easily spot her. She had no Cymech helmet on. Her freckled face bore a massive grin. Though her Mech was a single story tall—half the height of mine—it looked no less menacing.

“Geez,” she said. “Finally. C’mon.”

The torso of her Mech turned one-eighty, and it began walking backwards toward the deployment chamber where Uzik and Dani had been minutes ago.

Without much thought, I powered the circuits that made my Mech walk forward. Though my body floated in my Cymech suit in perfect comfort, I could feel the smash of every step my Mech took. I felt my body sway a little to the left as my Mech stepped left, and then a little to the right, as my Mech stepped right.

[Gnath,] Pipper said. [Now that you’re fully suited and in your Mech, you’ll be acquiring experience points at an increased rate per action.]

[I’m definitely looking forward to leveling up and earning more spec points,] I said.

Frankie and I entered the deployment chamber. The double door slid closed behind us. The door separating us from space opened, and Frankie blasted off. The calves of her Mech opened up and jet turbines, arranged in a group of six, blew back a tremendous amount of jet power.

I engaged my quad fuel system and watched the same thing happen to the calves of my Mech. I leaned forward and blasted off, out into space.

“I’ll give you a few minutes to put yourself together,” Frankie said.

“I’m gonna need it,” I said.

“That’s why I love being out here. It’s beautiful.”

As I flew further and further from the FreeWheel, I was awestruck. Space was all around me. The nearest planet was Miconia, but even it seemed like a distant moon. The stars, the planets, the galaxies; they all astounded me. I shut off my jet turbines and floated there, admiring the universe. Stars didn’t twinkle like they did on earth, or earth clones and variants. They were solid points of light. There were so many stars. So many colors.

[Absolutely astonishing,] Orion said.

I spent a few minutes simply existing in the universe.

“I’m going to engage simulation enemies in a 500 meter radius from the Freewheel,” Frankie said. “You’re going to tag each one as fast as you can. Your objective is to stop any of the enemies from touching the FreeWheel by tagging them. Understand Cyborg?”

“I’m ready,” I said quietly, as I slowly started to slip back into Cymech mode. “Let’s do this, Frankie.”

“Let the training begin!” she said.

Enemy Mechs appeared in monochrome red all around us.