by Brett Patton
And if we don’t perform, it won’t matter, because there might not be any Union to make the records, Matt thought. If the Corsairs could hit us on Geos, the Corsairs could win.
“That is all. Cadets, dismissed.”
Among some grumbles, cadets moved toward the door. Matt continued watching the images of Geos on the screen, until Soto turned it off.
Matt turned to leave and saw something that sliced at him like a blade: Michelle and Kyle leaving together. Michelle leaned on Kyle, as if for comfort. Kyle had his arm around her waist, and she wasn’t trying to shake it off.
Three days. He’d been gone three days. Not long.
But long enough for the world to change.
“Get up!”
Another terrible dream. Matt grabbed his covers and wrapped them tighter around him.
“Cadet Matt Lowell, get up!” Something tugged on his covers, hard. He tugged back.
“You are ordered to get up, cadet!” That angry voice again. Matt decided to open his eyes.
Bright sunlight streamed into his little Mecha Cadet Housing dorm, splashing Sergeant Stoll’s face. The shadows made her look even stranger than usual.
Surprised, Matt let go of the covers. Stoll immediately yanked them off him. He was glad he didn’t sleep naked.
“Your access card has been on alert for ninety minutes,” Sergeant Stoll said. She flicked the buzzing device at Matt. It read, REPORT FOR MEETING, ADVANCED MECHAFORMS TOWER, ROOM 1248.
Matt groaned, his body still heavy as lead. Was it from the lingering effects of his Merge and rush to orbit, or was it from the rigors of Roth’s tests? Matt didn’t want to think about that. How much did Roth know about him? And, more important, what had Roth done to him? Matt didn’t want to dwell on that disconcerting thought.
“A meeting?” Matt got up and headed toward the bathroom.
“You don’t have time for that. Put on a clean jumpsuit.”
Matt did as told and followed Stoll across the city. She walked ahead of him at double-time pace, not emotional enough to be angry, but clearly not happy.
In the Advanced Mechaforms Tower lobby, Sou Tomita grandstanded on a wall screen showing the Union News Network. The same Sou Tomita he’d seen talking to Dr. Roth. Matt paused for a moment to watch.
“Mark today’s date,” Congressperson Tomita said. “We will look back many years from now and say, ‘This is the day the Corsairs began to fall.’ ”
“Come on,” Sergeant Stoll said, stopping to cross her arms.
“Another minute won’t kill them.”
On-screen, Congressperson Tomita continued. “This day, the Universal Union invokes Constitutional Clause 13: Full Survival Measures. Yesterday’s attack on Geos goes beyond any raid. It was a precisely planned and maliciously executed act of war, perpetrated by a force that would be considered a standing army in any state. For this reason, we are suspending budget oversight to provide our Mecha forces with the resources necessary to meet this threat—”
Sergeant Stoll grabbed Matt’s arm and pulled him along. She was surprisingly powerful.
“What’s your genemod?” he asked. “Strength?”
Stoll looked away. Finally, she said, “Of a sort.”
Matt’s face burned in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. For being so direct.”
Stoll shook her head. “Why should you be? At least here, I’m valuable.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mecha Corps embraces all advantages, no matter history or prejudice,” Stoll recited.
Matt nodded. She was referring to the genemod paranoia that still resonated in the older generations within the Union. Humans must stay pure, they said. Genemod leads to HuMax, they said.
But parents will always try to give their children advantages. That’s why, despite the prejudice, genemod was slowly coming back. Stoll’s parents had probably tried their best to conceal the violet-eye marker. To make her undetectable but still special. Much like Matt’s own father wanted for him.
Was that why he felt a distinct bond with her? Was that why he defended her from the start? They hadn’t spoken much at all, but their engineered heritage implicitly united them.
She showed Matt into an elevator, punching the button for the twelfth floor. Room 1248 was a typical conference room: piano-black table, comfortable gray leather chairs, great view of the underground city beyond. Five people already sat at the table: Michelle, Kyle, Ash, and Peal were in a little cluster on one side, and Major Soto sat on the other. The air in the room was tense and electric, like a show just before it’s about to begin.
“About time, coma boy,” Peal said.
“Shut up,” Major Soto said in his clipped, familiar refrain. Peal’s mouth closed so fast his teeth clacked. “Take a seat, cadet.”
Matt did as told, and the door opened. Dr. Roth walked in and took a seat beside Soto. The major’s lips compressed into a thin line. He leaned away from Dr. Roth, as if he found the other man distasteful.
“Dr. Roth!” Kyle said, standing and holding out a hand. “It is an honor to finally meet you.”
Dr. Roth stared down at Kyle’s hand until he pulled it away. “I allow for physical contact only at specific times. But thank you for your gesture.”
Everyone shifted in their chairs or found something else to look at during the awkward exchange. Roth didn’t seem to notice, remaining basically expressionless.
Allow for physical contact? Matt thought, imagining all manner of invasive probes during his lost three days under Roth’s supervision. He resisted an urge to pat himself down, looking for scars or other signs that he’d been tampered with.
Major Soto cleared his throat. “We’ve brought you here because of what happened on Geos. Does anyone have family there?”
Head shakes from the cadets.
“That’s good news. Due to the attack, the Union is planning a radical offensive on the Corsairs.”
“Was it Rayder, sir?” Peal asked.
Soto frowned and nodded. “But there’s no official confirmation. There won’t be. There was only limited ground activity.”
“Ground activity, sir?” Matt asked, leaning forward. “Did they get surveillance video?”
Soto shook his head. “All video is classified, even at my level.”
The room dropped into uncomfortable silence for a time. Ash broke it finally. “Why’d they do it, sir?”
“We don’t know. A show of power as a prelude to demands, I’d expect. But there’s been no credible Corsair faction to step forward and talk terms.”
“Geos’ most-advanced research labs are located in the three cities destroyed, sir,” Peal said.
“Mecha technology?” Matt asked.
“No,” Dr. Roth broke in. “They obtained no Mecha technology in the attack. Geos is not an active area for my Mecha research.”
Peal frowned. “What were they after? What did they get?”
Major Soto held up a hand for silence. “We don’t have all the answers. I promised yesterday that your training timeline would be moved up. This is a lot bigger than that.”
Soto nodded at Dr. Roth.
“At this moment, Congressperson Tomita is introducing our latest Mecha, the Demon, to the Union,” Dr. Roth said. At one end of the table, an NPP sprang to life, showing the huge red Demon towering over a black Hellion.
The cadets sat rapt, staring at the hologram of the huge new Mecha. In direct comparison, the Hellion seemed only half-formed, incomplete. Like a child’s toy.
“Is that image to scale?” Peal asked.
“Yes,” Dr. Roth said. “A Demon is thirty meters tall, and commensurately more powerful than a Hellion. However, that is not its most distinguishing feature.”
Peal nodded.
Matt kept waiting for cadets to turn and stare at him, but nobody did. They didn’t know about his adventure with the Demon, he realized.
“More significant features are in-built flight functionality, exceptional transformational capa
bility, and exponential power increase when merged.”
Soto broke in. “The Demon is the core of the Union’s planned offensive against the Corsairs. An irresistible weapon for an irresistible force. The stated goal is no less than the complete elimination of the Corsair threat.”
“Wouldn’t Hellions suffice, sir?” Kyle asked.
Major Soto’s jaw set grimly. “I don’t make the decisions.”
“And why are we here?” Matt asked.
Dr. Roth’s heavy eyes fell on him. “To be the hope of the Union. I invite you cadets to become my Demonriders.”
Matt’s heart raced, and he felt momentarily lightheaded. That same powerful need rushed through his body. He would absolutely do it, become a Demonrider. In that moment, Matt knew this path was what he was born for. His father had given him one hyperskill, and it got him this far. Now he had the chance to become one of the greatest pilots in the history of humankind. That would be up to him, his guts, and ability.
Kyle frowned and spoke up. “Why not use experienced pilots?”
Matt turned to him. He wasn’t getting swept away in the excitement, and he was asking all the right questions. Matt had another moment of begrudging respect for his fiercest rival in the class.
Major Soto nodded vigorous agreement, glaring at Dr. Roth.
“Unlearning neural responses is an unresearched and dangerous challenge,” Roth said. “Experienced Hellion pilots like Major Soto are deeply channeled by the Hellion interface, which is an impediment to learning the Demon. Perhaps a fatal one. I don’t yet have enough data. I haven’t had enough pilots to test.”
Soto sat with his hands clenched, his entire attitude saying, Just give me a chance. But Matt couldn’t shake the feeling that it was guinea pigs that Roth was really after. Lab rats hooked on the rush of Mesh. But for Matt the possibilities were too great to hesitate. Revenge and glory first; ask questions later.
Dr. Roth turned his attention back to the cadets. “You cadets have not yet been deeply affected by your Hellion experience, and you are the most advanced among your induction group. I expect you would make an exceptional team.”
“I accept, sir,” Michelle said first.
Always the most hoo-rah out of the lot, Matt thought. Always surprisingly beautiful and brave. But maybe she was like him, making the decision simply to run away from her past, to escape her dead-end future on Earth. Even in that way, they were aligned. Matt started to speak up, but he was beaten to the punch by Kyle.
“I’m in too, sir. It’s a daring plan, but one we need to carry out for the sake of the Union.”
Kyle and Roth both turned to Matt expectantly. Matt nodded, for some reason feeling a bit sheepish, “Yeah, I’m in too.”
“No,” Peal said.
Everyone swiveled, shocked. Peal blinked and blushed in the sudden examination. “I believe I can serve the Union much better as a Hellion pilot. I also would like to stay here with my brother.”
“A noble half-truth,” Roth said. “Retain this one as backup. Reassign both family members to Mecha Base.”
Now everyone looked to Ash. She plucked at her lip, her eyes darting back and forth.
“We require a minimum of four components,” Dr. Roth said.
Major Soto broke in. “Cadet Moore, we understand your special circumstances. We can arrange communication with your family, if you feel it necessary.”
Ash nodded. “I thank you for that, sir. But I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission. I know what they all would want me to do. I’m in.”
“Good. We’re done,” Dr. Roth abruptly said. He stood and left the room without another word.
Soto sighed. “You don’t know how much I’d give to be in your boots, cadets.” Matt caught Soto’s stare, and he could see he meant it. He was yearning for this mission.
“What does it mean, reassigned to Mecha Base?” Peal asked.
“It means you’re still going to the same place they all are,” Major Soto said while gesturing at the other cadets.
“And where, exactly, is that?”
Soto grinned. “You’ll find out soon enough. Tomorrow we ship for Mecha Base, and believe me, it ain’t a hospitality cruise.”
10
BASE
Against the blue backdrop of Earth, the Displacement Drive ship UUS Ulysses looked more like a battleship than a converted asteroid. Except for a few rocky outcroppings along its equator, almost none of the asteroid remained. Everything else was hidden underneath human-made structures: squat buildings with tiny, slitlike windows; giant dish antenna arrays like impossibly perfect craters; huge swathes of battle-scarred steel armor; swollen gun emplacements ; and even the carbon-lined pits of reaction jets.
Matt pressed closer to the tiny window of the shuttle to get a better look. Yes, those were fusion-reaction jets, the kind you’d see on a large freighter. That meant Ulysses had its own maneuvering capability. It was no immobile rock, completely dependent on its Displacement Drive. Matt marveled at the thought of an antimatter generator core large enough to move an asteroid. That was almost unimaginable power.
At the same time, a small voice asked, Where is the balance between the power of the Union and the power of Dr. Roth? The Ulysses is impressive, but is it anything more than a giant Mecha transport?
And Congressperson Tomita had just given Dr. Roth carte blanche. How did that change the balance?
But those questions were academic. Matt had too many more personal and pressing issues surrounding his future survival in combat and advancement through the Corps. What was it going to take to master the Demon? Did he have what it took? And should he tell everyone what happened on his first exercise in order to seek out advice?
And what about Michelle? She sat in the front row of seats directly across from Kyle. They’d been talking about their exercises for the entire shuttle ride. Apparently, they’d both been able to rescue their fictional ambassador. But they never mentioned the Corsair’s Mecha. Did they even come up against one, or was that a surprise reserved for Matt?
Stark jealousy twisted at Matt’s guts as he watched Michelle and Kyle talk on and on with gestures, grins, and playful touches. Michelle’s hair floated free in zero g. She tried vainly to pat it down, as if she were trying to impress Kyle. Matt gripped the arms of his seat and tried to tell himself it didn’t matter.
“Grab that any tighter, you’ll break it off,” Peal said, nodding at Matt’s white knuckles.
Refusing to comment, Matt turned pointedly to look out the window. Guns on the Rhino-class warships surrounding Ulysses swiveled to track their shuttle. They passed by one close enough to read its insignia: UUS Renegade.
On the side of the Ulysses, a gray metallic expanse of armor split and retracted, revealing a pitch-black cavern the size of a city. The shuttle carrying the cadets advanced inside.
Coming out of the sun dazzle, Matt gasped. The Ulysses was almost completely hollow. Warships of every imaginable configuration berthed on every surface of the giant cavern like stalagmites of death. Rhino- and Hedgehog-class battleships. Cheetah-class fighters. Even a hulking Elephant-class troop transport.
And, among the ships, Mecha. Hundreds of them. Hellions, mostly. They stood dark and menacing, reflective surfaces like obsidian in the dim space. There were empty foot clamps along the floor for hundreds more.
Michelle and Kyle had fallen silent, each pressed against their windows, looking at the Hellions. Did they feel the same desperate pang that he did, the same uncomfortable need to get back in the cockpit?
The shuttle rotated toward an expanded-metal deck, where four giant red Mecha stood. Their Demons.
Up close, the Demon was a seamless personification of power. Bright red and mirror-smooth, its lines were more spiky and angular than the Hellions. Hundreds of apertures clustered along its sides, and striated metallic musculature flowed over its body. Serrated ridges ran down its upper arms and across its back. Its legs trifurcated as they joined the torso in three strong attach
ment points bulging with muscle. In comparison, its head was tiny, with a mere slit of a visor and two tiny protrusions, like horns, on top.
Only one Demon was complete. The three remaining Mecha swarmed with people in space suits. Biometallic skin was pulled back to expose mirror-finished sinew and muscle, glowing with fiber-optic data. One Demon’s visor was open, exposing an array of conventional sensors grouped in support of four organic-looking orbs that looked uncomfortably like the eyes of an insect.
As their shuttle docked, Matt finally got an idea of the true size of the Demon. It was the height of a ten-story building—bigger than virtually every structure in Aurora University, bigger than anything Matt had seen outside of natural caverns in the Rock.
“Holy moly,” Ash said, whistling. “We’re gonna pilot that?”
“Reconsidering?” Peal asked.
“Not a chance, kid.” Ash’s voice was confident, but her eyes were wide.
Sergeant Stoll came down from the pilot’s seat and opened the air lock. Chill air rushed in, bringing the familiar stale-rock-and-steel scent of a Displacement Drive ship. Matt sighed. In a lot of ways, this was like coming home.
They floated down a spotless steel corridor, though an auto-security booth manned by a regular Union Army private. Michelle stayed close to the handrail, her eyes wide. Matt understood. This was her first time in zero g. Looking down a long hallway was a lot more disconcerting than being strapped in a small shuttle. She was probably fighting the vertigo that everyone got the first time out.
“How’re you doing?” Matt asked.
Michelle’s eyes flickered to meet his then went forward again. “Okay. It’s—”
“You’ll get used to it,” Kyle said. “Keep your eyes fixed on one point; that’ll help.”
“Thanks,” Michelle said, swallowing.
Preempted again, Matt thought
Once through security, Sergeant Stoll handed out new access cards. They showed a complex maze of tunnels and halls, most of which glowed bright red and RESTRICTED. The only green traces led to QUARTERS, MESS HALL, and UTILITY DOCK.
