Chapter 62

You Must Be This Tall To Ride

You Must Be This Tall To Ride

Yep, the seven words all kids fear most, at amusement parks across the universe, hit me square in the face. The only difference is the level of excitement possible. Yeah, a short kid, gets denied something like two minutes of fun moving and twirling at high speeds. Then they wait a year and find out the ride they had been dreaming about all year is no longer as exciting, for there is a newer better faster ride.

Sad part is those kids could ride in the next level up space suits I was currently drooling over. Dwenvarians, they must have amusement ride envy or something. Making it so the top tier and diamond tier models of their mechanoid suits are built solely for Dwenvarians.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. The salesman said the same thing, it is all based on the market of sales, the trust factor, and a whole slew of other reasons that basically boiled down to this. Dwenvarians have been denied all types of rides across the universe due to their size. To compensate, yes compensate, they made cool mechanoid suits that everyone wants to drive, but they made them so only the lemon and bronze tier models were available to everyone. While keeping the sleeker and faster versions for themselves.

When we asked about getting one custom made, I found out the hard truth. Basically, it would be easier to buy the entire company, stop all production, then go about redesigning everything to create a cockpit that would fit my size. See even the advanced attachments would have to be re-created, and repurposed. Basically, I was too tall to ride this ride.

Worse I needed to work on my relationship with Goldie to even get this model. I am still kind of leery around her. I still remember her for the bro she used to be, I also feel sort of forced to be with her due to her preternatural musk that I can't seem to get enough of. Part of me wonders if there is something deeper at play here, as I can't seem to get her out of my mind. I almost wonder if supernatural elements are at play. Still despite my reservations, I can't find any fault with her. I've used Cleanse, Revelation Sight, and even Heal-X on myself and still find the attraction to Goldie to be real. Which is odd, as part of me finds my level of infatuation that I share with Goldie to be the same as I find myself reverting back to for Jess. But it's weird, part of me can't quite remember Jess. In a way this is good, as all my memories for Jess have slowly been faded out, as if Jess was only a dream. To me in this reality, that is all she was. Still, I occasionally hear echoes of the past. Memories of her that I know I am now imposing the face of Goldie onto. Is this normal? In a way this is good, as I've felt like a lost puppy who is attracted to Jess. With Goldie I have the same level of emotions, but none of the baggage that comes along with those deep memories. Also I find that it is harder to fight these thoughts. Almost as if something is controlling me. Mind Blink.

“Ah, don’t look so glum. You look good in your new suit. It really fits you. I mean, suits you…” Goldie says.

“Oh har, har.” I say.

“Look the lime green color really suits you. It really seems to accentuate your hair and eyes.”

“You know he did that on purpose. Making it so the only module available, with the solar charger upgrades, and increased fuel capacity modules was the electric lime green one.”

“On the bright side you are really easy to notice and shouldn’t get run over by accident in space.”

“Yeah, now it only the people that want to run me over on purpose that I need to worry about.”

“You know, the fact that you have to worry about such a fate, says a lot about your charming personality.”

“Wow, I think I liked you better as a drunken old man.” As soon as I say the words, I am hit with immediate regret. I do care for her, sort of. Though I realize now she needs me far more than I need her. My heart pauses as I realize I might have gone too far with my joke.

“Hey!” I am about to apologize when she makes a quick dig at my dignity. “At least the little guy likes me better.”

Phew.

I had dodged a bullet there. I was still getting used to the new Goldie, but I noticed she seemed a lot happier. Also, I don’t remember her being able to banter so well before the transition. Must have been all the alcohol slowing her down.

“He is not little.” I say, trying to defend my little guy once more. Wait, now she’s got me thinking it.

“Look, all I’m saying is that one of you could ride in the really cool expensive diamond model suits. While the other is you, in that electric lime green color mid-tier suit.”

Hearing that a strange question filled my mind.

“So, you like them smaller?”

“What? Gods no. Where would you get such a stupid opinion like that?”

Ouch.

After a second’s pause, she continues. “But when life gives you lemons, make them into aiders. Then when life gives you limes, make them into your suit.” With that she bursts out laughing hysterically at her own joke.

I pause, as I am completely lost by that. “Wow,” is all I manage at first. “You completely butchered that idiom.”

“Trust me, it is not as badly as you have butchered some of my people’s idioms.” She says, her breathing ragged, as she is trying to calm down from her own joke.

“Fair enough.”

There is an awkward pause as we both realize we are just going in circles at this point. I feel at ease with her, I even find myself bantering with her the same way I would with... huh, I am drawing a blank on the name of the person I am reminded of. How strange?

“So, you ready to get your weapon mods?” Goldie finally asked.

“Yeah, might as well.” I say, as my thoughts are being derailed and I am having a hard time of thinking of someone other than Goldie.

Mind Blink.

With that we went one shop over. Once there, we were able to get weapon modules that would integrate nicely with the larger cockpit module that my mechanoid suit employed. I learned that this size cockpit was the base size for all future mech designs, but the layers of protection were a lot thicker, making it so there would have to be a complete overhaul of the mechanoid design to protect taller pilots.

In the end I went with two of the largest caliber projectiles available. And no, it was not because I was compensating for something as some golden skinned goddesses might have you believe. No, my rationale for having the two large caliber rocket launchers that could punch a mechanoid sized hole in the hull of destroyer class ships was simple. I trusted myself.

In combat, I trusted myself to an extent that if I ever managed to breach the hull of a destroyer class ship, I could easily make my way through the ship and disable it from the inside. Also, my Psionic abilities made it, so I didn’t really need much support elsewhere.

I did take a small side blaster, along with gauntlet and feet protectors that could allow extra heat and pressure when in close quarters combat.

The easiest way to think of the mechanoid suit was that it was an extension of yourself. That it, like a hammer, was a force multiplier. The only difference being that the mechanoid suit allowed you to hit, bend, and mold multiple surfaces all at once. While the hammer only had one small area that it could directly impact.

Still the suit was amazing. We even got the top-of-the-line model that could scale with me and my Attributes. Meaning that I could cast my newest spell Physical Attribute Boost on me and within a second be able to charge through the training grounds that were provided. The good news is that my Attributes were increased by three-fold with my spell, and then that was mirrored in yet another two times multiplier by the suit. Meaning I could move and react at speeds close to six times my base levels. I say close to, as it will take a lot of practice to get used to going that fast.

My Piloting skill helped me get the basics of movement down for moving the suit. Letting me feel what it would be like to move with a Dexterity and Agility of 40. The only problem was the spell I used made that speed look like I was running backwards. So, I would likely need a lot of practice in open space to get decent at piloting my mech.

Mind Blink.

In fact, that is where Goldie and I currently found ourselves. We were in the middle of flying to our next contract. While we were nothing official, well nothing more official than a verbal agreement that we would be together long enough to sire a child together. We did still try to make sure we were both doing things that we wanted.

In this case, we were running down a potential ring of space pirates who would pluck off unsuspecting merchant class vessels.

Goldie and I were in the back of one of the large cargo vessels practicing basic movements and speed drills in close quarters environment. This apparently was important as I would have to take a practical test if I wanted to be able to use my suit on a planetary surface. Basically, I was currently given a space license, or what might be considered a Farm Use Only exemption from my people. Meaning that I would need to help around the vast open plains of space, but the moment I got to the city I was in the wrong. In this case, I was being seen as a tourist by most of the travelers.

While most of the Dwenvarian crew often sought Goldie’s attention, she made it clear that her first child would come from me. This of course made it so that all the crew that had lust filled gazes towards Goldie, now made angry glares in my direction. Added to that, was the fact that they made it seem like I purposefully chose the obnoxious lime green color of my suit, you know to help me stand out more. And you guessed it. I was their number one enemy on this flight.

Not only was I a trashy rich kid tourist who bought a space suit, but I was blocking them from getting at Goldie. I almost wanted to call them gold diggers, but then realized that idiom likely wouldn’t translate well. To the Dwenvarians, what self-respecting space dwarf wouldn’t dig for gold? Especially if they could smell it. And yes, Dwenvarians can smell metals, it was how Goldie knew the lime green suit was right for me. Though I think my aversion to the color of the suit, also had something to add to her decision for why it was perfect for me.

I looked at the timer, for our time remaining in the hyperplanes. That is when I, like a moron, said those twelve words that always come back to jinx you.

“Well, looks like this is turning out to be a milk run.”

“Don’t you dare say that. You better knock-on gold.” Goldie said.

I knew it was part of her culture. Something about the ringing frequencies caused by flicking your finger against gold that warded off evil, or something. The whole custom seemed odd to me, as I couldn’t hear anything. But Dwenvarians swore that gold sang to them, when struck just right. I was about to tell them that wood might be a better substitute, but quickly found that neither gold, nor wood were readily available to give a warding strike to.

As such, I could almost feel the next few moments come to me, as my Precognition-X came to life and warned me of the imminent danger that we were in.

We were in a precognition dream. I knew, as I was able to look at the world and universe as a separate entity from my own body. I could see everything for a moment. Off in the distance were space mines, deliberately lined within the hyperspace lanes. Normally these wouldn’t be much of an issue, but in hyperspace, even the slightest variance in speed, trajectory, and yaw can have you spiraling uncontrollably. That is how I knew that the space mines were meant to direct us up to the left, where we would immediately make impact with a real mine that would send us spiraling back the direction we came. Think of this as having debris on the road and swerving to avoid the debris. Only to be forced into a larger object that blended in with the background. That is what we were going to do, and there was nothing we could do to stop. The precognition dream continued, as parts of the hull shattered and broke apart. The ship was split in half, and we were on the crew quarters, at the exact opposite end of the ship from where our mechanoid suits were.

This was bad, but then I saw a flash of inspiration from my dream. I grabbed hold of Goldie, and then disappeared. We were here one second, then gone the next. I was lost as to what happened, but fortunately my vision jumped to where we now were. The two of us had somehow gotten to the aft of the ship, in the cargo section, right where our suits were.

I was confused for a moment. I know the action was something I did, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand how I did what I did.

Goldie seemed to ask that. While her voice was muted, I could still read her lips and body language enough to realize she asked what I just did. “What happened?”

Then, I replied with two words that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I gave a two-word answer that felt so obvious and stupid for never using before.

With the vision and the knowledge of future sight, I rationalize that this is likely why I have felt off all day. Why my memories of the past and present have all blurred together. Why I have felt so lost. I was mis-remembering Goldie. Then I realize I need to save her, to save us both.

Shaking my head, I broke free of the vision.

“You better knock-on gold.” Goldie said. With that I realized I was safe.

BOOM!

Pop! Hiss!

The world spun around us as the ship began making the violent motions I saw in my dreams. Rather than reaching back for safety, I lunged forward grabbed Goldie. Then we blinked out of existence for a moment.

Only to reappear on the cargo bay of the ship. Goldie was stunned, and for a second I thought I had somehow misused the power. Finally, she calmed down enough to look at me and ask. “What happened?”

With that, I answered the two-word answer. The same one I saw in my dream. “Total Recall.”

“What?”

“I don’t really know, but that is the power I used. It is called Total Recall. I think I can go back to anywhere I’ve been previously.” As I said that, more visions of possibilities flooded my mind. I realized there was likely more, a lot more, that I was not aware of.

CRRUNNNCHH!

We were about to say more, but the bending and screeching of the hull being torn and ripped apart let us know we had to move quickly. It seemed the gravity simulator was already offline, but fortunately there was not a breach in the air supply.

Without gravity, I quickly pushed Goldie towards her mech. This also had the added benefit of moving me closer to mine. With a quick spin, I turned around and was now directly facing my floating suit of five tons of metallic alloys. Then with a quick pulse of Telekinesis-X I did the smart thing, I pulled the floating suit towards me. As soon as I got in, I began engaging the automatic safety features and lock down methods, sealing in air with me.

Then I turned to see Goldie had grabbed her suit but was having a hard time swimming up to the cockpit. She was in the cockpit and able to activate the suit. Instantly the restraining straps clicked into place, this was a safety feature that had to be applied before the cockpit could close.

“Phew. She is going to make it.” I thought to myself. Then I felt the next wave of regret as I knew I was jinxing this whole operation.

GRROOOOOAAAANNNN!

Snap! Hiss!

At that moment, the hull broke open instantly pulling all the oxygen and other gasses that had been safely sealed away, out into space. Fortunately, emergency features kicked in that locked Goldie into her pod, before all the air could escape, but she was low.

Fortunately, I was a support mage. Not just any support mage, but prime support. Meaning I was built for such conditions. With minimal effort I used Air-X to summon forth a pocket of crisp air that was quickly and gently placed within her cockpit.

“Ah! Thank you.” Goldie said, as her lungs filled up with the precious gasses.

“No problem.”

There was a brief awkward silence. Before I broke out. “So, I assume this was why we were hired for this milk run.”

“I do not know what your milk runs are, but if they are this dangerous then I never wish to perform such an event.”

Hahaha. I laugh.

“Can’t blame you there. So, I follow your lead?” I asked.

She paused as she realized I had never done this type of operation. In fact, that was part of why we took an easier mission like this in the first place. I could gain simple experience in my suit, while earning back some money.

“Yeah, follow me.” Goldie said, as she turned her machine. Jets and micro thrusters shot out pulses of energy that made moving a breeze in space. Possibly literally, no wait, I remember there was no air in those thrusters, just compressed excited particles. Again, not my job to know the reason why these things work so well in space. The only thing I care about is that, for once, I finally get to do the fighting from one.

With that, I moved forward and then like we had practiced so many times over the past two weeks. She led the way, while I followed. We were ready to take on whatever the universe could throw at us. Which if my vision was any indication, then it was roughly two large warships, a few freighters, and a whole lot of mechanoid units. This was going to be fun.