After coming to an agreement Kassandra she says,

"Alright, now let's take you down to the workshop and take a look at your scrap pile."

I nod and slide off of the bed in what would normally be a feet-first manner, but I had forgotten that I no longer have those. When I suddenly realize there is nothing beneath me I fall and slam into the tile floor hard. I let out a swear as Kassandra begins losing it laughing. I'm a little embarrassed, but it's not like I am used to having no lower legs anymore.

After finding myself a wheelchair and a change of clothes out of the shitty paper gown I am wheeled into an elevator. Kassandra swipes a key card and I realize that this isn't a hospital. I'm in what's effectively a research facility. It's a little disheartening that I didn't get to a hospital but then again I'd rather not hang for crimes I didn't commit.

The elevator begins descending down and I see the wall opposite of the door is made of glass. I wheel myself around wanting to see what kind of view is in store. Rather than an external view of the surrounding city or land instead I am greeted by a massive hangar bay type area. It's two floors worth of heavy machinery all designed with the purpose of maintaining, building, or rearming AMS systems. I can see a rainbow of different hull colors and tons of strange and unique designs. Some I recognize as Solar Empire models I had faced during the war, and others of models I have never seen before. I sit there mesmerized looking at each new and cool object that catches my eye.

Kassandra says to me from behind,

"Since you were gone our foundation has done quite well for itself. This building is merely our headquarters and main R&D facility. We are the largest producer of AMS on earth and second in the entirety of human-controlled space. We are only dwarfed by the Imperial Industries corporation which is stationed on Mars. Yet unlike them, we are forerunners of technology on all fronts. So impressed?"

I nod and reply,

"Yeah it's cool and all, but I'm more interested in the fact there are cool giant robots. Ya know, just basic monkey brain level interest."

Kassandra nods as the elevator lowers to a stop in an enclosed space blocking my view of the production floor. The doors open with a friendly chime and before I can begin wheeling myself Kassandra grabs onto my wheelchair's handles and beings pushing me at a speed very uncommon for a woman wearing heels. She pushes me rapidly towards what looks like a simple platform stacked with crates of munitions and a couple of men wearing construction uniforms. Once we get on it Kassandra greets the two men who greet her in kind.

The platform which I now realise is like a rail system begins moving and exits the enclosed area into the massive open area I had seen before. It speeds along very quickly with almost no sound but the wind rushing past. Kassandra speaks to the two men about a project or something they are working on, but to me, it sounds like they are reciting spells as the tech they speak of definitely didn't exist nearly two decades ago.

Eventually, the platform stops and the two men head off to a workstation that has a dark green AMS that seems to be designed for speed due to its slender frame and very lightweight build. Two very fancy-looking forklifts come over and collect the munitions crates and the platform is left with just Kassandra and I as passengers. It begins moving again and it finally stops in a far corner of the huge open area.

There on the workstation held up by heavy chains and a few braces is my service AMS. All its paint is currently stripped off revealing the gray unfeeling steel beneath. One arm is completely missing and the other looks as if it were put through a grinder. The legs just might as well been missing considering how torn and mangled they look. The visor looking bit which works as the eyes of the AMS is cracked and clearly damaged to a very heavy degree and the chest cavity is completely cored and where I had spent 19 years in stasis is gone leaving behind a mess of wires and other hardware.

I let out a long whistle and say,

"Just as sexy as the day I first saw her"

Kassandra laughs and says,

"Yeah, the heavy infantry model 2s are very nice pieces of machinery. While I am today considered the forerunner of technology when it comes to these suits, I can never hope to truly reach the level man and machine interface my father had created. And also how well...human his designs ended up being. It's a long explanation, but I assume you know steel and metal don't act like flesh and sinew."

I nod along and roll myself off the platform getting closer to the scrap-heap before me. I start going down memory lane trying to remember the first mission I had in this shell and how even before going into stasis I had been living inside it for five months without ever leaving. Before I truly go down memory lane Kassandra touches my shoulder and begins talking in a business-like tone,

"Mike. As per our agreement, we are sending you to what is effectively a pilot school. It's really up to you what you wish to do with yourself there, either as a civilian AMS pilot or some form of combat role. Knowing you I feel as if you will choose combat, but one thing that is not debatable is that you must use this AMS in front of you to aid the foundations' research. We will be researching further into AI as stated earlier and the first truly human-like AI ever created is inside that shell at this moment. You will pilot it despite the neural interface being less than legal. I apologize but you won't get a fancy future suit."

I nod and reply,

"I really wouldn't want any other one. This old boy has served me well, kept me alive, and kicked some major ass. I and it are one at this point so I would refuse an offer for a different one."

Kassandra smiles and nods. Then coming down a small one-man lift is a man in a lab coat. HE approaches us and he also is familiar to me, I just can't completely remember. He is blond-haired and blue-eyed with massive glasses that take away from his rather masculine look. If it weren't for his thick glasses he could easily pass as almost a male model, except for his height. He is by my guess five foot four. He is middle-aged-looking and has a slight five o'clock shadow. He smiles as he approaches and when he gets close Kassandra meets him and they embrace and give a loving kiss. He has to stretch upwards to kiss Kassandra.

After that and I let them talk back and forth for a moment as I am not one to get between two folks who love one another. Kassandra turns to me and says,

"This is my husband, Marshal Holstein, you should know him he was one of the main assistants for my father"

I nod and the gears in my head start turning. Then I remember him and blurt out before I can stop myself,

" Milk cow Marshal!"

The man grimaces and says to me adjusting his glasses,

"Yep. That's me, You don't remember me at first except by that damn nickname. I should have figured."

I smile let out a small laugh and say,

"Yeah, that came out before I could stop myself. How's it been bud?"

He nods a little and with a small smile says,

"It's been pretty good, got myself married, got a great job, and am highly respected in the scientific community. I am the head researcher on AI and other pilot assistance systems. You somehow have managed to accidentally give me a massive breakthrough in my research. Hell, this could get me a Nobel prize."

I nod and reply,

"Yeah go ahead and get that. Make everyone proud, but I do have to ask. Why didn't Kassandra take your last name?"

Both lab coat-clad people look away from me and one another and are clearly flustered and turning red. I sit there confused for a moment then it clicks just how rude that question may have come across. Then Kassandra replies not making eye contact in a low voice,

"Well...we both have our accomplishments as scientific minds and didn't want two Dr.Holsteins to come into conflict on future records. That and...well I didn't want to be referred to as milk cow either. It's a little less funny and more harassing when you call a lady a milk cow."

I nod a little embarrassed myself and say,

"My and. My brain is still a bit scrambled and it took me longer than it should've to realize that was inconsiderate and kinda mean for me to ask."

After a few moments of awkward standing Marshal says to me,

"Well it's good for you to be alive and all and I am glad you came by to say hi, really am, but I gotta get back to work, and I'm sure you have stuff needing to be done."

He nods once more and hurries off back to the lift where he came from. Kassandra lets out a long sigh and puts me on the platform which whisks us off back down the open area. Kassandra breaks the silence,

"Well that was awkward as hell, but that's about what I expected to happen. "

I nod kinda agreeing and I say

"I apologize about that. I really don't have my social graces back into my mind yet."

She stays quiet but I assume she nodded towards me. Then something crosses my mind and I ask Kassandra,

" I know it may be asking a good amount, but can I go visit my father?"

I look up and behind me towards her and she looks down at me and says,

"Yes, of course, we can. That's what I was about to do as well. There is something with him I need to ask you about once we go to where he is."

About ten minutes later we are in a flying vehicle not that different than a helicopter that flies through means I do not understand. It flies over a stereotypical futuristic city at breakneck speeds at cause any feature to go past me in a blur. After an hour of flying, we arrive at a wide-open grassy field and I see the structure we are headed to on top of a hill. The flyer lands and we dismount. I roll through the grass and towards the structure. I stop just ten feet away and say,

"Hey, dad...Long time no see."

Of course, I get no response but the sound of a light breeze through the tall grass. Before me is a steel cross in front of the wreckage of the behemoth. The eight ever-created earth AMS. It's half-buried but untouched by everything but rust. I roll to the cross and get close enough to touch it. I sit in silence letting the warmth of the sun and cool breeze wash over me. I feel a tearing feeling in my gut but feel no tears. I had already cried enough over his passing.

My father was one of the first AMS pilots brought into service and he passed away fighting the Champion of Sol who apparently had the best AMS system ever created only made second by the Imperial titan, but the skill of the pilot was beyond anything anyone has ever reached. From what I heard my father defeated the champion in combat at the cost of his own life. The cause of death was never stated, but Kassandra's father Dr.Hussain stated that he couldn't have asked for a better pairing of pilot and machine.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The Behemoth, my father's AMS is special. It used technology that shouldn't have existed and that tech ceased to exists with it. Apparently, it was nearly identical to a human but made out of advanced metals. Apparently, it could even workout and become stronger through similar means a human does. The wreckage of the AMS was left here next to his grave and was never touched. My father's body was annihilated during the final stages of the fight so he isn't buried. That's why the AMS was left. So that anything similar to a body could be left in the memorial.

I sit by the grave for a few moments longer in silence, not sure what to do or say really. A deep pain shoots through my heart as I remember all the good times I had with my father. My father raised me alone, I remember just faintly, even more so now my mind was fractured, but the pain remains. When I was little my mother left us. I don't remember the reason but I remember how bad it hurt. My dad was a great man, he did everything he could to make sure I had a good childhood and have the ability to grow into an upstanding gentleman, at least in his words.

He was one of the first AMS pilots from the earth with a near one hundred percent compatibility with the neural interfaces and whatnot. This was back when the US government attempted to have quality over quantity with AMSs' meaning pilots had to first be a skilled combatant which my father was, and highly compatible with the system at least eighty percent or higher. Despite this philosophy, we found out quickly even our best tech really was unable to compete with things like har light shields and strange technology that seemed to border on magic.

After my fathers death on the first week or so of the war I managed to lie about my age into the AMS program to follow in my fathers' footsteps. Back then I was driven by revenge and fought with a fervor not seen by most enemies, later on, the fire in my heart subsided and was replaced by this current icy grip that makes it hard to breathe and my throat tighten up. The feeling I have now.

Finally, my silent contemplation and wallowing in sadness and the past is broken by Kassandra's voice,

"Mike... I brought you out here for more than just to pay your respects to your father. Although that is the main reason we came out here I came to ask your permission. What I want to ask is if we, my foundation, have permission to salvage the Behemoth. The tech my father produced early on and throughout the war is still a mystery to everyone and the Behemoth is the only early earth AMS still in a condition that isn't complete slag or has been scrapped...we plan on integrating systems and parts into yours as you are the only neural interface compatible person in the entire world as of the moment. Please, Mike... I know it has sentimental value but it will just sit here and rust and my own father, who also has passed, this is his legacy as well..."

I sit there silent for a moment and go through just about every stage of loss in a few seconds. I calm myself but my voice betrays my calm face. I am clearly a little offended at the offer but I have a question first,

"What do you mean I am the last compatible person around? I know damn well there were at least two hundred good men and women still alive when I took the long sleep."

I hear Kassandra shift her weight awkwardly probably realizing her asking was probably a little inconsiderate but she answers regardless,

"Well, with the banning of the neural interface system most pilots compatible and with the system built into them, they got it removed or over time have lost their compatibility, just a nature of time kind of thing."

I feel Kassandra touch my back just below my neck, her fingers touching my spine then moving over to the metal circle at the base of my neck where the main cable attaches to me when I pilot the AMS. He hand slides down going over every bump on either side of my spine each about a centimeter across showing more metal attachment points, but these are where massive spikes drive into my spinal cord to further the integration between man and machine. She then says,

" What my father and I did to you all to make the system work is almost unforgivable. I know it weighed heavy on my father the pain you all had to go through to complete his work. Yet he continued anyways hoping to one day find out how to make it painless."

I nod remembering the agony of the surgeries prior to becoming a pilot. Being put under wasn't allowed due to the nature of anesthesia in your system ruining something or another in the process. They just trapped you face down spread eagle on a table and gave you what's effectively a horse bridle and told you to bite down. I don't think there is a pain worse than what happened there. Every nerve in my body screamed out in pain. Similar to how it is when I detach from the AMS but over the course of twelve hours. Sadly, the pain never stopped as I was unable to pass out or go into shock.

Disregarding that for now I turn my head towards Kassandra and say,

"Now. Onto the elephant in the room. You want, what is effectively my father's body for your science experiments. I do not agree that it is a good idea and I can't really condone it, but I don't think I can stop you if you needed it. Hell, you probably would've taken it already. So... Why ask me?"

There is a tense silence between us before Kassandra says to me in a genuinely remorseful tone,

"Nineteen years... that's how long it has been Mike. I can tell you don't believe that I am a different person than I was nineteen years ago but I can assure you that I am. You don't understand what it was like for those long years. So much political maneuvering, legal troubles, and the fact most people hated me or my father. Even when you were around I was seen as a heartless sadist and they weren't wrong. I honestly enjoyed harming people for the sake of science and for my country... I was awful.

Then... you well died for all intents and purposes. Everyone thought you got annihilated in the mini-supernova. That...that got me. I won't say I liked you in any special way beyond a friend, but you were the only person who didn't seem to hate me or my father. You in fact didn't flinch when we came up with new horrible schemes and most of all, you didn't avoid us. As much as I thought I was above everyone and didn't need anyone when you suddenly disappeared I learned just how lonely I was. I did and still do think of you as a friend.

I guess... I have to say it. I'm sorry for all the bad and horrible things that I had done and especially the things I had done to you.. my first friend I ever had. Yet, I may still seem heartless asking you for your fathers memorial, but in a sense, it is also my father's memorial. This is very hard for me to ask as there isn't a pressing reason to salvage what we can, if we were on the verge of war or something I know you would do what was necessary to save lives and give it up, but this situation is one of selfish desire and uncontrollable ambition.

That's why I never took it and wish to ask your permission. I don't deserve it. I really don't, but because of those two things, I cannot let it go. I am greedy and require this knowledge, I wish to further what I know and what I can do, but I did not, and do not want to piss on my friend anymore."

She stops speaking for a while and I sit there and simmer conflicted about what she has said. I am happy she has changed for the better it seems. My mind in its fractured state slowly pieces together memories of our interactions in the past. All she has said is more or less true to my knowledge. She was one cruel bitch. After a moment longer, I speak up, calmer now,

" I understand your point... I too would be eaten up if my end-goal was right in front of me but my morals got in the way of me achieving it. Yes... it is quite unfortunate, and I am glad you hold me in high enough regards to not just say 'fuck it' and take the one thing in this current world I hold dear.

It is a point we really don't see eye to eye on. I won't expect two people to hold all the same views on any point, especially moral and sentimental points. Yet, since you have been kind enough to not just keep me in a vat of stasis fluid I am willing to make a deal, I will give no quarter on this. Take it as it is or not at all...

I will let you take the Behemoth and do whatever you want with it, so long as you replace it with some sort of memorial. I don't care how it looks so long as it is firstly tasteful and respects the dead, and lastly, it must have a bed of tiger lilies planted around it. My father was quite fond of those flowers so I want to give him them."

I finish and Kassandra stands processing what I said and then excitedly says,

"Of course I will do that. I wouldn't imagine taking it without putting something else there to replace it!"

I nod with a light smile and say,

"Alright. I guess we are done here... do your thing and let's saddle up."

As Kassandra grabs my wheelchairs handles I say towards my fathers final resting place,

"Bye, dad... Finally getting ya a cool gravesite...Love you."

With that, We board the flyer and begin the journey back. I curiously ask Kassandra,

"I thought you were gonna get it then and there. What gives?"

She shakes her head,

"No. I did contact a recovery team to properly excavate and retrieve it."

I nod and stare out the window watching the world pass me by. In no time we return back to the foundation building and I am wheeled to a room that was clearly an office before they took out the desk and replaced it with a bed and steamer trunk. Kassandra then explains,

" This is your room for the time being. The academy we are sending you to is a boarding school so you will have a room there. The school doesn't start for another two months, so make yourself comfortable. On this floor, there is a rec room which has a television. It's two doors on the right. The restroom is right across the hall. In the steamer trunk are some clothes that should fit you and a bag of dollar store toiletries. As you can guess this is where we part ways for now as I must get to work. Food will be brought to your room every day at six and six. I guess have fun, and I wish you the best."

She releases me and before I can say anything she hurriedly walks off with the loud clicking of her heels growing fainter as she leaves me behind. Muttering "fucker" under my breath I roll up to the trunk and open it. Inside is a bunch of military fatigues in my size. A couple with my name on em clearly from my old footlocker. The toiletries include a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a bulk size 3 in 1 shampoo bottle. There are a pair of size 15 boots that would fit me if I had feet still. After that, there is nothing of note. I roll over to the bed and slap it a few times. It's an old army cot. Not comfortable at all. I sigh and roll out of my room which has no lock and go to the rec room. It's absolutely massive.

It has four TV stations with two couches facing towards each easily seventy-inch flatscreen TV. There is a bar that has no alcohol but is fully stocked with sodas and snacks, there are a few brands I recognize but there are a few I have never seen before in my life. I'm starving having not eaten for nineteen years and look around the snacks for a bit looking up and down to see if I am able to take one or not.

After about ten minutes of not seeing anything, an employee suddenly walks in. He is wearing a white button-up with a tie, clearly an office worker. He sees me confused looking around the bar and says to me with a laugh,

"Everything in here is complimentary. We make enough money."

I nod at him and he goes and grabs a candy bar and a cup of coffee. I thank him for his help and he nods going off back to his job. I grab a couple of granola bars of some kind and chow down drinking a soda. I explore the room more and find a small gym towards the back end. I smile happy I can do something active while waiting. I leave the rec room and head to the restroom and use it.

I roll back to my room and look out the window. It is overlooking the front entrance area of the facility. There is a small fountain in the middle of a circle drive. There is no parking lot but I see a turn-off of the drive that leads underground most likely to a garage. The landscaping is well maintained but not really colorful. It's a futuristic production and research facility so of course it's not gonna have bright cheery flowerbeds. In the distance, I can see skyscrapers with shapes I recognize and a couple with more abstract and obscure architecture. I let out a long breath and roll to my bed and lie down. It looks about noon, and despite having just woken up a few hours ago I feel exhausted. I guess I technically didn't sleep for all those years. I fall asleep quickly and have no dreams.

My stay at the facility was boring, to say the least. There are over eight hundred television channels and almost none of them have any content that I enjoy or understand. I guess pop culture legitimately kept going down the same path from when I last remembered. Those darn punk kids and their nearly pornographic television programs.

About a week into my stay I am called into a lab with a bunch of nerds I don't recognize. They come over to me and stick something in the large metallic port on the back of my neck and I instantly pass out. Upon waking I see I got new legs.

The new legs are well made of metal as I expected. The calves look very similar to humans just the toning isn't very distinct, It's just a curve and that's about it. The feet are where much difference appears. There are no toes but the foot is articulated in three places, once where the toes would start, second in the middle of the foot allowing for more flexibility, and finally the ankle which seems oddly flexible for a robotic joint.

Asking one of the techs walking me through my fancy new legs I get a full rundown on them. They are by far one of the most advanced prosthetics in the world and I can really feel it. I have almost complete feeling in them and best of all they don't need charging. They are charged by a mixture of my body heat, some solar bullshit, and interestingly enough can accept raw energy from my bloodstream, not sure how the lat part works but I apparently gotta feed em like the rest of my body.

The joints for all intents and purposes are nearly identical to their human counterparts, but the replacement "tendons" are far more flexible and allow me to nearly turn my foot one hundred and eighty degrees.

After standing up way before I should I spend the remainder of my time at the foundation working on walking just as I did when I had my legs. It's not as bad as you'd think, especially since I still got my thighs. The only issue is, that both of them weigh over sixty pounds each. My legs according to bodyweight before only weighed in the lower thirties. This is just the lower part of my leg. It took the remainder of my time just to figure out how not to stomp around like the terminator, and now after lots of trial, I can sprint apparently faster than I could before.

Finally, it was time to leave this boring place and onto a new life at a school...in a world I don't understand...as a deadman....who is a war criminal....and also I guess a disabled veteran? This is gonna be one hell of a ride.