Spring Changes, page 10
I pulled myself up a bit more and settled over the rim. Then I eased my legs over, lowering down nice and slow.
Soon as my feet were in place, the unit flicked to life once more, the inside controls syncing with my view. Green lights all around. “All green,” I shouted. “Going to walk through to an empty bay.”
With a thought, the cockpit flickered and closed, shielded, but I wasn’t sure how or even with what.
We can look at it later, Hiroto said. It’s very interesting, the readings in here, the code. All older, yes. But they also respond really well.
The kenosi adjusted a few things before I even had time to consciously adjust them. The display around me was fantastic. And I hadn’t needed to remap anything. It was as if it read me.
There’s a friend who would like to meet you, Xe said.
Oh? I replied, suddenly curious.
The image appeared next to hers on my screen.
“I believe we owe you for waking us once again,” the man said. He was in uniform, but not armour like Xe was used to wearing. “I’m Fauz, and I was the lead nite for the pilot of the mech you’re now inside.”
“Good to meet you, Fauz,” I replied. “I’ve had a history lesson from one of the Eekan. But if there’s anything else you can help with while I walk us to a bay, it’d be much appreciated.”
I took a step forward this time and it felt okay, but Tyto shouted up. “Careful, the floors are a little spongy with this guy on.”
I glanced down and tread with more care. Then when near the bay, stepped towards it, turned and stepped back till it connected perfectly with the mechanism behind me.
I disconnected and opened the cockpit. The smell on the inside had gotten a little musty. I glanced down. Tyto looked up at me.
“Your turn.” I grinned and hopped over with a swing and then with care down the mech to the floor again.
“You really want me to try?”
I nodded and walked outside to the other full mech that lay face up, looking at the sun. “No better way for you to learn than by trying. The kenosi they’ll draw is going to be hard. But I also think you’re capable of it. When you focus, just be prepared for it.”
“I’ve not got that same hit as you, I don’t want to fail.”
“You won’t,” I said.
Tyto carefully climbed onto the belly of the mech and settled on it. He ignited his kenosi, the power drawn to him easy to track, powerful in his own right. “Place your hands to the surface and just let it out, much like you might a heal.”
That is because, essentially, you’re healing the nites.
I knew it, but until his eyes lit up and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow, he hadn’t. “That was indeed very interesting. How did that even happen in the first place?”
I shrugged. “See if you can get in, and get him to the next bay. We’ll have plenty of time to study them and break their components down to upgrade, especially the weapons.”
As the mech pushed up, two enormous guns hove into view. Damage showed, as one hung limply. Missile launcher stuck low on the other side. The cannon bent at an odd angle. There would be no way it would deliver anything without blowing itself to bits.
With each tentative step, Tyto reported what he could see and feel on the inside. His excitement also started to come through. “The connection is good, all green. It feels so different though. I don’t understand it, but I know I like it.”
I couldn’t argue with him; I didn’t understand it, but I liked it as well.
10
Lacy and Spike were straight over with the second mech locked in. “You want us to do anything special?” Spike asked.
“Xirob forwarded on what the minimal requirements are. They used to fight out there, they’re just outdated. I need you to break them down, fix everything, reinforce everything. When they hit the front line, they have to be as strong as anything here now.”
“Coding and structure. Then weapons.” He nodded to Lacy. “We’ll make sure they’re running as smoothly as your others.”
“Thanks.”
I went to check on the mechs whose red lights had flashed up. “Everything okay?” I asked Quill.
“Settling them in was a bit harder—the wolf-mech just didn’t mesh with the tech here, so we’ve been tweaking and fixing. Just one red light to go.”
“We’ll try for a merge in the morning. I know you’re all wanting to.”
I looked around the hangar. They were all working, hammering, doing things. They were a great team. I tapped out the message.
Me - Up early—6 a.m.—First try for a mega-merge.
All eyes were on me. A few thumbs up.
“That gave them something to look forward to,” Tyto said.
“I know, it’s not going to be easy, but at least if we try it, we can see how much further off we are before we meet back up with Edward at breakfast.”
Tyto’s face changed, anger flared, but he soon reined it in. I understood; we all wanted to see him pay for his deed. It had to be cool, though. Calculated.
“I’ll repost the lists. We’ve a few other spots to fill. We’ll probably buddy up again, gotta look out for all of us.”
I walked back to the main central station and Tyto watched as I did exactly as I said. Sorted us into groups again.
Kyle & Hiroto
Tyto & Spike
Dylan & Craig
Paul & Rahan
Naylar & Quill
Rei & Corey
Rahan & Grogan
Reece & Derk
Evia & Anna
Resno & Lacy
Imehia & Denn
Miquel & Tesay
Vitya & Los
“We need to be united when we go in to face Edward. There’s only been a few switches, but I think it will do us good with someone else to talk to.”
“Tyto, I think you’ll like to be near Spike,” Hiroto said over the comms.
“Of course. He’s a master of skills I for sure can’t attain.” Tyto smiled. “It would be really good to get to know him and even pick his brain on the mechanics of our mechs.”
“Well, then.” I sent the new system out, and there were a few grumbles around the hangar, but then they moved around and within seconds they were talking to the other person they’d just been assigned with.
Someone moved in the doorway, and both doctors were then heading our way. I smiled as Pious approached.
“Tyto, do you have some time for me?” he asked.
My second in command hesitated but then nodded and, with a glance at me, he walked away with the psych doctor. I was left with Morgan.
“I’d like to run you through some tests this morning, if you don’t mind?” she asked, indicating I walk with her.
It felt more like a command than a request. I closed off my access from the station before me and then walked with her back out of the hangar.
“I presume Doctor Herin let you see my results?” I asked, cautious to her answer.
“He did,” she admitted. “But only after I agreed to the job. He knew how to get me curious enough to say yes.”
She looked older, yes, of course, and I stared just that bit closer. Enough to see the deep lines by her eyes. “He had said you were retired. I guess it makes sense.”
“He was adamant you needed someone to watch over you and someone he could trust. When I asked the why, he wouldn’t break.”
A stone under my foot made me lose my balance slightly; I righted myself quickly. “Things around me don’t always go hand in hand with protocol. I break enough of those myself.”
She waved a hand around our mech area. “You’re not kidding. I wasn’t expecting any of this. Brought back some very vivid memories for me.”
“I’m sorry.” I hadn’t meant for anyone to feel bad.
“Don’t be. I might have had many bad memories over the attack, but—and I say this with the greatest respect to them—the people here brought me many good ones too, and a son.” I cocked my head at her and she smirked. “Herin’s father was the mega-merge lead.”
“Oh.” I should have guessed that one.
“Your denti body is under a lot of strain,” she said, giving me the once over. “It’s a meld that’s worked with your inside mind, Hiroto. I don’t know how stable it will be the more your kenosi continues to expand as it is, though.”
“Are we at risk?”
“I don’t know, but it’s something I want to watch while you attempt the mega-merge and manage the minds of your team.”
“You have a lot of experience with the megas, right?”
“Yes, I was with the base and the teams for many years. I can follow and track everything you’ve been doing. I have, even though my son is unaware, still been keeping up to date with the tech and my colleagues.”
“A brilliant mind never stops working, even in retirement.”
She smiled and brushed her hair from her eyes. They twinkled in the sun. “The smell is much stronger now than it was those years ago. The vine’s presence is resilient, but she accepted you and us back without too much of a fight?”
“No, it was the strangest thing I’ve been through. But the smell is something else. Calming, invigorating.”
“Also one of the reasons we chose this area. Its enhancements with the mechs were proven. Shame they forgot the practice when they moved away from the tech too.”
“So it all works together?”
“Correct, yes it does. The pollen gives you many things, clarity of mind, energy boosts. Sometimes it seemed to do exactly as the pilot needed.”
She walked with me to what they’d set up for the medical bay. When I stepped through the door, I was shocked to see Frenk and Trin helping out. Frenk came right for me and I held my hand out for him. He took it and pulled me into a bro hug without hesitating. Trin stepped to me and hugged me too.
“It is good to see you, Kyle. We all thought . . .” Trin’s voice trailed off.
“I know. Believe me, we thought we were all gone as well.”
“I’ll go set up. Trin, you can help,” Morgan said, and Trin lowered her head then walked off with the older doctor.
I turned to Frenk. “How are things on the other side?”
“Not good, Kyle. Edward tried to poach some of the other teams’ top members. I don’t know how, but there’s been a few switches, the whole training team’s in uproar. After you all died, chaos really hit. There were so many who had already started to trust your guys. Your team were talking them around, especially after what you did in the Dox system.”
“I had hoped it was spreading good things.” Hearing it now though made me feel bad, like we’d done it just for favours.
You did not! Hiroto spat. Don’t ever say that again.
Frenk frowned. “You had a lot of fans already, after Flaeor.”
“Then I can’t wait to show up the day after tomorrow and see his face.”
Frenk’s face dropped all the more, his shoulder with it. “You’re going in already?”
“I can’t have him doing any more damage,” I said. “The excuses, the reasons for our wipe?”
“He said you’d gone off in the search of more glory,” Frenk said. “That you were the one who dropped on the planet without him as backup. The pilots, every one, backed him up. That they followed and saw what had happened. It’s all documented well. There’s not a scrap of anything they investigated that shows otherwise.”
I nodded. I had expected him to try to cover everything up well. But for everyone else with him to lie? I wondered what hold he really had on them.
Something, that’s for sure, Hiroto said.
“We’re going for a mega-merge in the morning, did you get the message?”
He grinned then, shaking off his worry. “The Swift Beards have been so close with the mechs we’ve had around. But still not managed it.”
I couldn’t help but nod. “I’ve seen it. You’ve done them and me proud, all of you.”
He lowered his head. “No one can lead it though.”
“No.” I winked, getting a grin back. “But I will. Let’s see how we do, tomorrow.”
“With G’hale and the other leads, you’re not many off having a full team, right?”
“No, but we can’t use them yet. I need to do this without them first.”
He nodded. “Why not try with them tomorrow, though? That way you’re only five people missing.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Seven. Vitya and Corey aren’t pilots at all for a mech.”
“Seven is better than thirteen.”
“Okay, we’ll try that. Thanks, Frenk.”
“Of course. I want this to work as much as anyone, and I really want to show Edward he’s an ass. In front of everyone.”
“You and me both,” I said.
With some manoeuvring, the six teams were set. I sent the layout to everyone. Made sure they all saw it and acknowledged it.
There was only one thing for us, though. One team, my team, had to have two missing minds.
Not missing, Hiroto said. Technically, I am here still.
You’re right, of course you are. You can do so much. That made me feel much better, and with Tyto by my side also taking a remote mech, we’d be fine. We would . . . well, I hoped we would.
Morgan shouted over. “Ready, Kyle.”
I looked her way, and Trin headed back to me.
“I’ll catch you at dinner tonight,” I said to Frenk and moved away.
As I passed Trin, she stopped, leaned towards me, and whispered, “You gave him something to live for, to fight for. It’s brought him back from that despair, thank you.” She kissed my cheek, and I heard Frenk cough.
Trin walked away and kissed Frenk on the way out.
I then moved to Morgan.
Morgan was harder on me than Herin had been, and when she started to push me, she wasn’t worried about shielding or the energy that everyone around us could see.
I heard Tyto’s voice, though, and Pious. When I did manage to look and see Tyto staring at me, I also saw just that little of something else. Fear.
You can’t blame him. He’s seeing your potential through the eyes of a doctor here now.
So I’m something that would frighten my friends? I didn’t like that revelation.
Morgan slowed the treadmill down as she glanced at Tyto. “He can see the effect you’re having on the area around you more than anyone else because he’s Eekan.”
I wiped sweat from my brow and grabbed for what I thought was a towel. It was a shirt. Oh well, it would do. I took mine off, panting, and dried myself off with the wet one, to replace it with fresh.
“Go get some food,” Morgan said. “I’ve a lot of information here to study. Thank you for letting me see it for myself.”
“No problem. If it keeps us alive because you know me inside and out, I’m all for it.”
I walked to Tyto. “Food?”
He nodded, and we both walked outside. The sun was hot, hotter than I’d first thought it would be from the early morning rays we’d seen.
“Pious,” he said eventually, then nothing. I waited for him to finish. After the silence had stretched for a while, he added, “How did you find him?”
I coughed, clearing my throat. “It was difficult. But I saw something in me I hadn’t before.” He stayed quiet, contemplating. I could almost see his thoughts whirring around. Much like my own had. I lowered my voice. “Are you okay?”
“You remember what you said to me after Lara lost the baby?”
The sweat dripped off me out here. I stopped walking and wafted some air over my back. “I’m not likely to forget that.”
“I’m drowning, close to time,” he said. “The tingles and sickness are showing.”
“Crap.”
“I need to message Melody and speak with Evossa,” he said. His eyes closed for a moment. “I have to respawn in a pure denti body. But—”
I reached forward and grasped his arms, drawing him to look at me. “I’ll talk to Shion. Every single denti born pure is something really special. You’re not losing out.”
“Pious asked I talk to Vitya and Lara about it. I don’t know how to break it to bring you both into this.” He pulled back from me, looked away.
“You’re talking to me now. As hard as that is, I’m here, right now, for you.”
“Not every guy would offer his mate up for a baby,” he said.
“Not every guy has friends like I have. As weird as it feels. I also can’t give her that. It’s not a compromise at all; this is a choice. I don’t think Shion would even hesitate. Her sister didn’t.”
“They’re both some of the strongest women I’ve ever met.”
“I think you and me both, though I think Lyndsey does come in pretty close.”
He looked away from me then. “I’m going to grab dinner, then take Vitya for a walk. We can only speak with Lara via Artemis. It would be better in person.”
“She’s just as strong as Faith and Shion,” I said. “If you need me, just message me.”
“I will, thank you.” He looked back to the medical hangar. “I saw it, you know. Darkness.”
Heat rose up my neck. “Morgan said you’d see more because you were Eekan. But I know you see it because of how close we are too.”
“What are you doing?” he asked and held my gaze. “I can see it in you, more than before. But I see your calm now, where before it was chaos. You’re planning something.”
If you tell him, you will put him at risk. He won’t be able to not follow us.
“I can’t tell you,” I said.
“Pious said I had to accept your decisions even though Jai put me over your head. I could force you to tell me. But I won’t.”
“Tyto, if I told you, it would put you in danger. I won’t do it.”
“Kyle, I trust you. I need you to trust me.” Shivers ran up my sticky back, and I tried my best to rub them away. “This is really bothering you, and for us to get into those mechs, merging on the level you need us to, the team and you have to be a hundred percent sure and open.”
