“Enough with drooling over Summer. What’s up?” Pepper asked.
Brent was still enjoying the mental place he had gone to, but finally he seemed to snap out of it and return to reality. “Did you watch the most recent fights from the underground?”
Pepper had given up on watching the unsanctioned matches. Though you couldn’t get in trouble for watching them, if you ever wanted to participate in the Golem League, you could not be a part of them in any way, shape, or form. The underground matches certainly had a host of previous Golem League gladiators who had left and started competing in them. A vast amount of gambling occurred at the matches, and with a very unregulated rule structure regarding runes, they were often raided by police. It wasn’t uncommon for news reports to highlight the number of innocent bystanders injured simply by attending an underground match.
“No. I haven’t really seen the need for it. Why?” Pepper asked.
“Timo Burnham and his samurai warrior had this awesome decapitation finish to their match. Check it out.” Brent adjusted his wrist and activated his holodex.
Pepper’s was an officially sanctioned Golem League holodex. Therefore it was not an unlocked device that could access outside servers or applications. Brent’s, on the other hand, was an unlocked device that could access unsanctioned matches and internet forums about them.
The two watched the match on Brent’s device. Timo was one of those Golem League competitors who had left and begun fighting in the unsanctioned matches. He had only spent two years in the Promina League and hadn’t generated a huge following. But in the underground, that had all changed. His popularity had skyrocketed, and he’d quickly started to rack up victory after victory.
“The forums are saying he won over 2,000 Flex for that single match!” Brent exclaimed.
Pepper couldn’t help but think about how much money that was. He could practically rebuild two-thirds of his golem with that much money. At least, if he still utilized a clay base. His mind continued down the rabbit hole, counting up a rough estimate of Timo’s winnings. “How many wins does he have in the underground now?”
Brent’s face scrunched and shifted. “Something like fifty-six or fifty-eight victories, I think. That isn’t even including all the money he won in the League and all the endorsement deals, either.”
Pepper’s own holodex buzzed with activity, and he looked down to see the notification.
[:::] Message: Hey, Pep … if you are not too busy, can you swing by the store and check out these new golems that arrived? One of them is acting all weird, and it would be a huge help if you could troubleshoot it. - Dad [:::]
Pepper groaned.
“What’s up?” Brent inquired.
“I gotta go help my dad out at the grocery store. They have an issue with a new golem or something.”
“Lame…” Brent replied.
“You want to come?” Pepper asked, slowly getting up from the table.
“No way. I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
“Looks like it.” Pepper chuckled. “All right—later.”
The boys fist bumped, and Pepper went and retrieved his bike from where he had left it locked up. It was a couple of minutes’ ride to get to Nordon’s, where his dad worked. It was one of the largest businesses that had made it through the war and was the sole source of groceries in the area.
He recalled hearing his dad talk about all the places he had applied to once he had left the military. But nobody seemed to give him a chance. When Nordon’s had offered him a simple stocking position, Trent had taken what he could get. That was years ago, and now his dad was one of the managers overseeing the place.
Pepper made his way towards the back of the store and pushed through the double doors into the freight area. His dad did not even see him enter; he was busy scrolling through a holopad with produce orders and shipments that were set to arrive at the store.
“You rang,” Pepper said.
Trent seemed to jump out of his skin. “What the heck, Pep!” He took a few deep breaths and composed himself. “I have asked you not to sneak up on me.”
Pepper shrugged. “I wasn’t even trying to sneak up on you.”
His dad took another few seconds and then motioned with his head. “Over here.”
Trent guided him around the corner to a long line of service golems that looked to have just come out of a box. At the end of the row was one that stood slightly out of synch with the others. There was a partial lean to one side, and it also leaned forward slightly.
“Dang, these are Gleegon Industry SD2000s,” Pepper said, nodding his head in surprise.
“So you know about them?”
“I would say I know of them, but not a whole lot about them.”
Trent used the holopad like his hand and motioned with it towards the golem at the end of the line. “Well, let me rephrase. You think you can figure out what is wrong with this one?”
“Don’t you have that guy Eric who does this type of work?”
“Yes, but Eric is out in Pennsylvania helping out store 712. He can’t get out here for another two weeks, but we already put the old golems on the semi-truck to ship back to Gleegon. These new golems are all I got, and the last thing I need is for one to not be working. I’m already short staffed as it is.”
Pepper hummed. “What do I get out of this?”
“Pep, I don’t have time to negotiate. If you could help me out, I would really appreciate it.”
A female voice chirped to life over the intercom. “Mr. Walker, we need you at checkout stand 4 for a coupon issue.”
The two looked at each other and Pepper didn’t delay. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you. That is all I’m asking. I’ll check on you in a bit,” Trent said over his shoulder as he quickly walked away.
Pepper reached into his small backpack, found his ear buds, and loaded up some music. The noise was a nice distraction from the work environment he found himself in. He scanned the area and finally found the technical manual buried underneath some of the packing materials the golems had arrived in.
He started to flip through it and eventually found the start-up and diagnostic procedure. Step 1, flip power module switch to the on position. Pepper looked around and quickly found the switch on the back of the golem’s shoulder. He reached over and flicked it up.
A faint blue and white coloration came from the few gaps in the golem’s construction. Pepper could see the five power lights turn on next to the switch. The golem attempted to adjust itself upright but instead began to jitter around. The movement quickly became more sporadic and even hazardous, and it continued to get worse the longer it was active.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Pepper dodged under one of the arms that swung around. He lunged with his hand and flicked the switch back off. The golem instantly powered down and returned to its contorted state.
“That could have been bad,” he muttered.
He looked around and found the small multitool that had also come with the golems. A quick retrieval of the tool but then the slow and tedious process of removing the front and back access plates. Pepper was just happy that these weren’t League golems, where the runes were hidden to minimize the chances of them being damaged in battle. Service golems were not complex, which made them easier to work on.
Pepper was finally able to get the access plates off, and he looked at the golem’s digital organs—an array of cards that looked more like an old-fashioned computer than anything else. He began to count off the cards: “Power, controller, synchronization, stabilizer.” He reached in and grabbed hold of the stabilizer card. A firm tug and it detached itself from its seated position into his hand.
Pepper reached his free hand in from the back access panel and began to gently disconnect the cables from the stabilization rune. The card was finally completely free, and he brought it in front of his face. The physical card itself was constructed of a black fiberglass layer with silver tracers that went all over the fabricated board. In the center of the card was the large chipset.
The chip had a glossy sheen which coated the top semi-transparent layer. Inside, there was a bright luminescent green rune. The ethereal energy of the rune allowed it to glow and shift with every angle Pepper tilted the card. There was something about the rune cards. He could easily sit there and admire the craftsmanship for hours. The two technologies blended together was a thing of beauty to him.
He meticulously looked over the card and followed every millimeter of the silver pathways. There was not a single flaw he could see. The entire card looked in perfect condition. Pepper carefully set the card down on a box off to the side and continued the process with each card.
The results of his inspection, however, remained the same. Everything was exactly how it should be. Pepper took his ball cap off and scratched his head. I wonder if there’s something wrong with the power core, he thought.
He went back to the small multitool and began to remove the front and back lower access panels on the golem. It was in roughly the same area the intestines would be on a person. His eyes widened when he saw the core. This is a Campell Big Mack! He was in disbelief at the discovery, for the core itself was roughly three times more powerful than the one he used in his own golem.
To Pepper, the large power core seemed like nothing but complete overkill for what the golem was required to do—an energy supply that was merely wasted, in his opinion, on something as trivial as stocking the shelves, rather than being devoted to competing.
He realized he would need more tools in order to properly diagnose the core. He opened his holodex and sent a quick message to his father. He informed him that he would be returning home to get his tools and would be back shortly.
The process didn’t take much time overall, and Pepper returned to the job with everything still where he had left it. His father didn’t even reply to his message, and Pepper didn’t think much of it. It was common for his dad to be wrapped up at work and completely forget to reply for hours unless it was an emergency.
Pepper began to unload his backpack with the tools he had retrieved and started to connect his analyzers up to the core. The technical manual was open next to him, but he couldn’t find the information he was seeking. He knew he had seen the technical data before regarding the core, and he quickly began to navigate through his holodex.
His finger swiped from side to side through the options until he accessed the Golem League archive. There he isolated his search down to the Campell power cores and saw the different models and options: Hauler, Big Mack, Hass, and Workhorse.
Campell power cores were rarely used in the Golem League anymore. They were one of the first companies that had learned how to harness the ethereal energy that powered through the portal during the Rift Wars. They were simply utilized at first because they were one of the few options available and people started to experiment. The company soon found their niche, which was in government contracts, more specifically in the defense sector.
Almost every golem or armored mech used by the military had a Campell power core. Their rated power level, otherwise known as RPL, was considered the best out there. Within the RPL grading system were three tiers: Unreliable, Dependable, and Trustworthy. Each of those tiers had a level of five on the grading scale, five being the highest.
For the Campell Big Mack that was now in his hands, Pepper knew the RPL was rated as Trustworthy—Level 4. He had not seen or even read of any power core that was rated as Trustworthy—Level 5. But that was why the Campell cores were sought after by the military. When you needed power, you could trust in Campell.
The area that Campell did not succeed in was Signal Response Time—SRT—and Energy Generation Response Time—EGRT. Those two categories were the reason they had not worked out well in the Golem League. The competitive fighters needed energy delivered to their offensive and defensive capabilities instantly. The high speed and intensity of competitive combat required each gladiator to have a golem that could harness the energy needed to react instantly.
In a head-to-head fight, golems from the League could easily out-perform a military armored mech or golem, for that matter. The difference, though, was that the military mechs didn’t need servicing after each match. The competitive golems, on the other hand, could easily be compared to Formula 1 race cars. They were delicate, precise creations that needed to be pampered after every match.
Pepper finished hooking up his analyzers and initiated a power sequence that only turned the core on enough for him to run diagnostics. His holodex was already synched to his analyzer, so his device would automatically know which technical data to compare the results against. It took no more than five minutes before his testing was done. The results… everything reported back normal.
Pepper sighed. He supposed it was a good thing the core was working properly, but he was also saddened at not yet discovering what the problem was. Well, if the rune cards are good and the power core is good, it can only be one final thing … the wires. Each and every wire now needed to be checked, and Pepper sighed but began the process of doing so.
His fingers started to cramp a little as he maneuvered inside the hollow space of the golem. After a few more tests on each set of wires, he finally heard the “test failed” chirp come from both his holodex and analyzer. “Finally,” he said with a large exhale. He tilted his head down to see which cable it was.
His fingers wrapped around the 8 × 8 GTC 12V power connector. His eyes followed the cable trail from the power core compartment up to the rune circuit compartment. “I gotcha now.” Pepper reached for the neon green electrical tape in his backpack and quickly wrapped a small piece around each end of the cable.
He still checked the rest of the cables, but everything else came back with a good reading. The power core is top notch, the rune cards are standard mass market supply, but go figure that the company went with less than good quality wiring, he thought to himself while shifting random items around in his bag.
Pepper was not necessarily different in that regard, though. It wasn’t like he had money falling out of the sky and could buy all the top-tier parts. In contrast, he was lucky his golem even worked at all. He was just like the majority of club fighters. They had to jimmy rig every spare part and cable together just so they could compete.
He finally found the one and only spare 8 × 8 GTC connector he had left and began the process of swapping the cable. He let out some grunts as his fingers continued to work within the small space, though it was nice having two access compartments that perfectly contained the specific items. The rest of the process now involved cables that were all precisely measured and fabricated. The mass production process made this portion more difficult than Pepper thought it should be.
His wire cutters were able to finally cut the last portion of the secure ties free, and he yanked the failed cable with a forceful tug. The wire came free and was now in his grasp as he leaned upwards and took a deep breath. A bead of sweat fell down his forehead and landed in his eye. Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle.
He found a fan mounted on the wall by the loading bay door. He flicked the switch to the on position and the device slowly wobbled to life. The cool breeze comforted him, and he closed his eyes as he stood there for a moment.
“How’s it going, Pep?”
He jumped out of his skin. His dad was standing about a foot away from him when he posed the question. The fan noise had veiled his father’s arrival.
“Way to scare me,” Pepper countered with a sarcastic look. He rolled his eyes and turned to finish his job. “It shouldn’t take me too much longer. I just need to throw this in, reconnect everything, and button it all back up.”
“Well, that’s great. So you figured out what it was?”
Pepper continued to focus on his task while he replied over his shoulder, “Yeah. Just a bad cable connection. Happens all the time. I should only be a few more minutes now.”
“Awesome. Well, the store is closed now, so how about I bring the truck around back and we’ll go grab some dinner when you’re done? My treat.”
Pepper smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
It was only a few minutes later that his dad returned and hovered over him. The proximity of prying eyes didn’t bother him too much. He was almost accustomed to it at this point. Whether it be his dad intruding upon him, Meg, or even Brent, Pepper had learned to roll with it and keep his focus on the task at hand.
He performed a quick power-on sequence and the golem powered up the way it should. Unlike the first time, however, the golem stood straight up as it was supposed to. Pepper ran a quick diagnostic check and, in a flash, the holopad reported a clean bill of health.
Pepper quickly packed up his tools and followed his dad as the two headed for the door. He couldn’t help but notice the code his dad entered into the security panel: “#8487 Activate.” The alarm activation sequence began, and a small beeping sound advised them to leave through the back door.