By the time I got back to the workshop, Yolg was putting the finishing touches on the piston and bolting it back together. He wiped the back of his oily hand across his forehead and sighed as he saw me walk in.
“Good timing, I’ve just finished hammering it back into shape and refilled the hydraulic oil. If we work fast, we can have this one back up and heading toward the front lines before the end of the day.”
I nodded silently and consciously banished the thought of Sven from my mind and focused on the work lying unfinished before me.
“You’ve done good, Yolg. Give me a second to throw some overalls on and I’ll drive the mech in here to bolt its new legs in place.” I replied as I grabbed my hair and manhandled it back under my bandana.
I slipped into my overalls with practiced ease, and when Yolg rolled open the door on the far wall of the workshop I picked up my tablet and activated the manual override controls for the mech. A series of stuttering thuds reverberated through the workshop as the damaged mech carefully dragged itself into the workshop using only its powerful front limbs.
This unit was known as a Silverback Soldier due to its similarity to a strange foreign creature known as a gorilla. Our neighbours to the south east swore they’d encountered one in a foreign land on their travels. They were named so because they were frontline soldiers – their frontal armour inevitably becoming blackened and scorched, while the backs of the units rarely took damage and maintained their original silver polish. It certainly helped when it came time to give them a proper name instead of a string of numbers and letters.
Each of the front arms was powerful enough to hurl a boulder weighing 250 kilos 30 metres. They were used to propel the mech forwards, closing in on enemies at speeds of up to 6okm/h in ideal terrain. The back legs were much shorter and thicker, like tree trunks. But thanks to their enhanced hydraulics, could propel the entire unit 5 metres into the air in a single leap. The command module sat on top of the broad torso. It contained the power source and kinetic motors that kept the whole unit functioning. It was little more than a squat square barely visible amongst the rest of its armoured bulk. All in all, your average Silverback Soldier stood 3 metres high and was one imposing metal monster weighing over 5 tonnes.
I carefully eased the Silverback Soldier onto the wide-open area in the middle of the store back first, and got it to release all the hydraulic tension in the limbs before powering it down. Yolg whistled as he looked at the scorched metal surrounding the damaged right leg.
“What d’ya think managed to down this guy?” he asked as I reached down and started unbolting the metal plating.
“I got the chance to briefly review the footage when it first came in yesterday.” I replied with a grunt as I pried the plate covering the limb connectors in place. “Seems the Aseavielians have decided to start building catapults and using them as covering fire for their monsters. This unit saw the flaming boulder coming and tried to jump out of the way.”
Yolg shook his head as he started dragging the armour plating, we’d spent hours yesterday removing, retempering and reshaping over to the inert mech.
“You’d think there’d be more damage to the unit if it got hit by a flaming boulder. My buddy Tornal two shops over had one of his mechs get hit by a boulder a monster rolled off a cliff. There was nothing left salvaging once the dust settled.”
“Give us a hand with that piston would’ya?” I asked with a puff as the last of the plating was sitting aside in a pile. Yolg grunted in affirmation and hoisted the piston off the work bench before expertly guiding it into the vacant cavity in the mechs leg. “As far as I can tell, the only reason this unit even managed to crawl away from the hit was because it was airborne. The hit crushed the leg, true, but the internal gyroscopes gave it the chance to reorient itself and compensate for the damage.”
Conversation died off as we both started bolting the piston down and reconnecting the hydraulics and circuitry. The only sound was the comforting clang of metal on metal and the snap and crackle of circuits meeting circuits. By the time we had finished bolting the armour plating back into place it was almost time to call it quits for the day.
“Another job well done, eh, Yolg?” I joked as I wiped the grease and metal shavings off my hands. “do you wanna do the honours and boot em up and put it through the paces?”
Yolg grinned wide and a look of near childlike glee crossed his face. “Ya’mean it, Vanessa? You love this part.”
I waved him away with a small smile. “You deserve it ya big lug. Just don’t break anything in the shop or there’ll be hell to pay.”
Yolg whooped with glee and practically sprinted over to the full body diagnostic controls encased in a glass case in the corner. As Yolg stepped into the case a beam of blue light formed a grid and scanned him from top to bottom before instructing him to put on the diagnostic helmet. Yolg reached up and grabbed the helmet seemingly made from nothing but clear crystal with colourful wires and optics threaded throughout and a thick goggle lens that spanned from temple to temple and completely encased the eyes.
A low hum began to emanate from both the unit and the diagnostic helmet, and I saw Yolg visibly stiffen as a connection was made between his mind and the Silverback soldier. The mech slowly rolled over and pulled itself to its feet. “How’s it feel? The leg isn’t seizing up is it?” I yelled at the unit.
The mech lifted the back leg and thumped it down before rotating it every which way. “Feels good to me.” A gravely monotone voice boomed from the command module on top of the unit. “All systems are responding well and the connections between the leg and the rest of the unit are working seamlessly.” The mech stood up on just its back legs and slowly swung its arms back and forth like a boxer. “Do you mind if I...?”
I smiled and waved him over to the door leading to the loading bay. “Go have some fun. We’ve got a few minutes before we’re off the clock, I’ll take care of the paperwork while you put it through the paces.”
The ghost of a smile crossed Yolg’s face in the corner as the mech dipped its head in thanks and lumbered outside with surprising grace. I grabbed my tablet and started writing up my report and communication with the military division. As I let them know their war machine was ready to get broken again, I kept an eye on what Yolg was doing with the mech he was controlling.
The Silverback Soldier stood up to its full height and threw a series of easy punches that could kill a man before jumping forwards and rolling into a defensive position. I knew that Yolg had always wanted to be a mind soldier and be the one piloting the mechs rather than putting them back together, but he’d failed his aptitude testing three times now and the military division had made it clear he was never going to pilot a mech into battle. Yolg never talked about how much it disappointed him that he would never get to live out his soldiering dreams, but I knew that deep down he still hoped against hope that he would one day serve on the front lines. Until then, moments like these were what he lived for.
“C’mon Yolg, paperwork is almost done!” I shouted across the loading bay. “You know they’ll blow a gasket if they remote into this unit and find you’re already inside of it.”
The mech slumped a little and slowly lumbered over the workshop. “Yeah, you’re right. Still… it was fun while it lasted.” I patted the mech on the chest affectionately and hit send as the mech returned to its default position and Yolg pulled the diagnostic helmet off his head with a sigh.
The eyes of the mech lit up again and it rumbled, “Order confirmed, SS unit 27 returning to frontline services. Your work is appreciated.” The mech raised its fist to clang against its chest in salute. “May your hands always find purpose and your mind know peace.”
I gave a half-assed salute in return. “Yeah, yeah, get out of here. I’ve got things to finish up here and I don’t need you taking up space. Go beat up one of those wizards or something.”
The mech seemed taken aback for a second before bowing slightly and powering away. “Damn soldiers are so formal.” I mumbled to myself as I stepped back inside and rolled the door shut.
o.O.o
We closed the workshop for the night and walked to the transport tubes in relative silence. I could tell Yolg was still savouring the few minutes of mech control he got and didn’t want to ruin that for him.
The tubes were packed full of people clocking off and heading home same as us, and I waved goodbye to Yolg before jumping on my train and digging around in my pockets for my headphones. It was a 20-minute ride from the workshop to home, which was just enough time to listen to a few songs of Astor Silverheart’s new album. Astor was one of 7 musicians that was famous throughout Techropolis and had a style of music that could only be described as electronic pop, and despite his music being firmly catered towards girly girls, I enjoyed listening to him croon about how much he wished he could find a love that lasted.
Techropolis was designed so that the oldest and most well-to-do areas of the city were situated higher up and closer to the surface, with some special buildings having access to natural sunlight and a view that soared over the tops of the Dragonback mountains. Likewise, the areas of the city that were lower socio-economic were located closer to the bedrock and the mines that were the lifeblood of our entire civilization. Much of Techropolis was lit up by LED strips that were designed to exactly emulate the light of the real sun far above us, though few people ever got the chance to see it for themselves with their own two eyes.
The train pulled into my station and I stepped off it with a handful of others before slowly walking towards the family home. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake the image of a scared 15-year-old boy staring up in fear as a Silverback Soldier advanced upon him to crush out his life. I was still lost in thought as I walked up to my door and it swung open as soon as it recognized my electronic signature.
“Watch where you’re going, Vanessa!”
Startled, I saw that I’d almost walked directly into my little sister Tony. She was slightly taller than me with similar features that he liked to call ‘pixie-like’, but where my hair was bright red and unruly like our fathers hers was a deep brown like our mothers.
“Sorry, Tory, didn’t see you there. What’re you doing standing in the hallway anyway?”
“I’m waiting for mother to get home with our dresses for the banquet. I want to try it on beforehand and plan out how I’ll be styling my hair.” She replied with a weird gleam in her eye. Tory and I were about as close to opposites as you could get. While I loathed the idea of having to put on a dress and wear makeup, she absolutely loved the idea of dressing up and did so at any opportunity.
“Augh. Not another bloody banquet.” I groaned as I rubbed my forehead with my hand. “That’s the fourth one this month!”
Tory gave me a disapproving look before replying, “Yeah, and you’ve managed to skip out on every single one so far by claiming you’ve got important ‘mechanist work’ that urgently needed doing.”
“Hey! It was important! I’m one of the only people keeping our armies in one piece, so forgive me if I don’t have time to doll myself up and attend boring partied for foreign dignitaries every other week.” I said as I crossed my arms and huffed.
Tory rolled her eyes before addressing the crystal lens set into the hallway wall at eye height. “AVA, what was Vanessa doing last Saturday at 8pm?”
The lens flared blue and a voice piped in from speakers set into the roof. “According to my logs Vanessa was reading a book on the founders of Techropolis and listening to ‘Tunnels of Love’ by Astor Silverheart.”
“Thanks AVA.” Tory said with a triumphant smirk.
I trembled with anger and had to force myself to unclench my fist. “Listen airhead, I don’t have time for this bloody foolishness. I’m going to my room to wash away the pains of a hard day’s work, something you’ve got no bloody clue about. If anyone needs me tell them to find me after this stupid banquet is over and not a second before then.” I stalked up the hall before Tony could reply and slipped through my door. “AVA, lock my door until I say otherwise.”
“Confirmed.” AVA piped over the speakers.
I walked through the jumbled piles of clothes, books, and food wrappers that gave my room its unique topography and stripped off my dirty outer clothes as I went dumping them where they landed. “Maybe I should actually let the maids in here to clean this place…” I mumbled as I surveyed the chaos that I called my own. “Ah well. That’s a problem for another time.”
I wandered into the bathroom which was surprisingly clean and looked at myself in the mirror. Without my bandana holding my hair down, it was going frizzy and starting to resemble copper wire that’d been placed under high tension. My face was streaked with oil, grime, and metal dust. My eyes peered out from under the grime with their usual electric blue glow, curtesy of the nanobots every Mechrorian received at birth, giving my face a near manic quality.
I sighed and turned the shower onto max heat and pressure. If I wasn’t cleaned up by the time mother got home, they’d be hell to pay, and even a Silverback Soldier wouldn’t stand a chance against her wrath.
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