The first transhuman…

Athena disliked it when others referred to her as such. Technically, modern day humans were all transhumans. However, the word had transformed in the community of the neuro passionates. Many years ago, post-neuro circlet revolution, someone somewhere had come up with the theory that if a human were to continually evolve with the stimulus of the neuro circlet system, eventually one would be able to receive and process such a high degree of sensory information that one would be able to quite literally predict certain events in advance, much like animals’ capability to detect earthquakes, except on a much larger and grander scale.

As her thirty-six channels were a sudden anomaly when she was born, some in that--in her mind--‘psychotic’ community had come to call her the first transhuman.

Luckily, no one in that community decided to stalk her. No. Actually, it was more like anyone who dared to do so would immediately get doxxed and digitally nuked into oblivion by other neuro passionates. Naturally, Athena had a mix of complicated feelings with regards to these neuro passionates…

Haber was quite obviously connected to this community to a certain degree.

“A second Nexarm has been stolen, supported by six artillery systems, six sensory systems, and four combined sniping systems. The first had six of each. I need your assistance. You can… how many devices? I will attach fifteen of each for you.”

“No,” Athena sighed as she accepted her fate. “I can only safely control nine of each.” She was about to be a graduate of the EFSF. It would not do well for her reputation to reject such a task.

“Just in case,” replied the gruff voice. “You never know.”

“Don’t worry,” Haber added. “I will connect you to the whole block’s visual security system. You will be able to see them before they see you. I think.”

Visual security system over Neurorevo complex connected.

All bands of EM waves connected.

All particle detection range systems connected.

Eight ground artillery ‘mini-tank’ systems connected.

Four combined urban sniping systems connected.

Three combined drone systems connected.

Athena did not dare to control all the connected devices-- she had no wish to faint mid-battle and become a sitting duck.

She was incisive and made her choice. She picked most of the EM wave bands but removed microwave range. After all, if she could peek into their communication systems, see their heat signatures, or potentially some sort of radiation attack-- all these were needed.

As for particle detection systems, she only picked the molecular range-- air-borne poison was a possibility, but other types of attacks were rather unlikely. She also needed a channel to connect the visual security system to her mind.

She picked all four sniping combined systems and two combined drone systems, and only took three ground artillery mini-tanks. She figured that moving these mini-tank systems around would be quite difficult.

All these weapons were really quite elementary. Then again, Nexarms had no prior history of much combat… which in itself was a rather troublesome fact. Athena had no clear idea on how to intercept the other two Nexarms.

“Show information on Nexarm capabilities.” She ordered.

The interior pilot capsule of the Nexarm lit up with holographic images, and as she scanned it, the information entered into her brain.

As she contemplated her options, the track treads of the transfer systems that the supine Nexarm was resting on began to move. Through her visual system, Athena saw a wide inclining tunnel that the Nexarm traveled through towards the surface.

New communication detected. Accept?

“Accept.”

“This is Commander Alves of the EFSF. I’ve already been notified that Neurorevo has been attacked. Miss Watanabe. Our soldiers on site are unable to resist the two Nexarms, and nor do they have the required number of neuro channels. They also are needed to rescue the civilians. Reinforcements will not arrive in time. The two Nexarms are no doubt approaching the Startram system to launch into space. Your mission is to stop them.” Commander Alves’s voice was firm. He spoke rapidly yet his words remained clear to the ear.

“Perfect. Requesting permission to disable the Startram launch system.” Athena was unable to come up with a good method to combat the other two Nexarms. Thus, if they were attempting to escape into space, then the Startram system was the best target!

“You fucking crazy?” Haber had interjected himself into the conversation with a yell. “The Startram system is worth a billion solar credits! No! Rejected!”

“You fool!” Athena could feel her annoyance bubbling. “If those Nexarms escape, you’d be losing money too!”

“Surely, you military folks can come up with a method!”

Athena’s impression of this engineer called Haber was lowering by the second. As an engineer, he should know the incredible resilience of a Nexarm, and the difficulty to subdue one that was escaping.

Its internal artificial muscle system gave it movement flexibility. It has materially engineered protective plates that could absorb and dissipate heat and space debris collisions. A pilot could use the limbs on the Nexarm to shield itself to prevent a single plate from being overwhelmed by continuous fire. Then there was the nanobot system that could repair the Nexarm and the pilot within if given time. That hadn’t even taken into account all the neuro devices the pilot may have connected oneself to! How was she to stop such an engineered monster from reaching the Startram system and escaping?

“I agree.” To Athena’s disbelief, Commander Alves also had no interest in damaging the Startram. This was getting more difficult by the second. Was this Commander Alves simply worried that if he agreed, the damage that the Startram system would sustain would be in his name?

Unfortunately for Athena, she couldn’t exactly go against an EFSF higher-up’s words without sabotaging her own future.

Finally, the supine Nexarm she occupied reached the surface. Electrical dissipation releases reverberated off the urban structures as Athena controlled the Nexarm to stand. Although she had never touched one before, the Nexarm’s arms and legs were designed to sync with her own limbs. Thus, her control was superb.

Incoming.

Immediately after she stood up, she was hit by a human-sized kinetic round right in the Nexarm’s left upper chest, and she had to take a step back to stabilize the Nexarm’s standing position. As her neuro devices spread out into the surrounding area, she confirmed that another three rounds had been fired from other opposing mini-tanks, aimed at the exact same spot that the first round had hit.

Athena understood the opposing side’s strategy. They were probably trying to overload that single protective plate with enough kinetic force before it could recover.

She reflexively raised her left arm. The second round struck her bracers. Then, she rotated her arm slightly and the third round struck her elbow plate.

As she swiveled for the fourth kinetic round, the Nexarm’s internal system notified her of the state of all the protective plates on the Nexarm. She had successfully spread the energy from the kinetic rounds into multiple plates, thus none of them were at risk of permanent damage. The energy from the collisions slowly dissipated, and the plates returned to a normal status.

“Status report!” An anxious Commander Alves ordered.

“No damage.” Athena intoned. She began focusing on observing these terrorists’ activities through her sensory systems.

The first thing she noticed was that the other opposing side’s mini-tank systems were recklessly firing rounds into the sky. She computed the trajectory and discovered that the terrorists were aiming at the civilian areas!

Her gaze sweeped the areas that had already been hit and she could see numerous bloodied corpses lying in the streets. Many buildings had also collapsed on the unaware victims. Much of the police force and on-duty soldiers and their drones and automatons were already busily trying to save lives in the area despite the continual bombardment from the mini-tanks.

Athena was initially reluctant to use the Nexarm. She had initially considered her role complete after successfully preventing this Nexarm of hers from being stolen. The sight of the terrorist’s actions awakened a hardened determination in her. She had read records of the wars in long past ages. Now, she felt she truly had an inkling of the horrors of war. These ‘terrorists’, in their own eyes, were simply using the lives of civilians to prevent the police forces and their drones and automatons from intercepting their own escape towards the Startram!

The first Nexarm, meanwhile, was only a kilometer from the Startram system. Athena herself was around three kilometers away, while the second stolen Nexarm was approximately two away. As the two escaped, the mini-tanks continued firing in 360 degrees wantonly. The mini-tanks that had attacked Athena’s Nexarm had given up on her.

Athena began giving chase in her Nexarm, while transferring her four sniper systems onto panoramic positions on tall buildings in the area. Luckily for her, she received assistance. A wave of automaton crabs scuttled out from a street and launched themselves at the second stolen Nexarm.

The second Nexarm should have been able to avoid this confrontation. Perhaps its pilot lacked experience and hadn’t been properly monitoring its surroundings. Regardless, that second Nexarm was now stumbling about trying to flick these flea-like robotic crabs off its body.

Meanwhile, Athena was closing the distance and had successfully stabilized her four sniper systems on stable buildings.

She began syncing all her weapon systems

“Target alpha locked. Fire!”

All the four snipers and the two mini-tanks fired one after another in a rhythmic boom. This was the same approach the opposing side had attempted against Athena’s Nexarm. The mini-tanks had a similar plate protection system. From her own previous analysis on receiving those kinetic rounds, Athena believed that five would pierce the hide, and the sixth should destroy the device.

“Target beta locked. Fire!”

Before the first mini-tank had even been hit, Athena had already adjusted all the weapon systems onto another mini-tank.

“Target gamma…”

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Target alpha neutralized.

Target beta neutralized.

Athena’s calculations were proven correct.

Before the third mini-tank was struck, the enemy finally responded. The mini-tanks stopped firing into the civilian area and scattered, and Athena’s rounds missed the third mini-tank. They were clearly attempting to determine Athena’s weapons’ positions, and might be trying to either target or hide from them. She immediately began moving her sniper and mini-tank systems in response.

She had successfully interrupted the firing at the civilians and thus immediately switched targets. In her eyes, the two escaping Nexarms were somewhat foolish in targeting the civilians. At least, she believed herself to be a much bigger threat.

She scoped out her enemy’s sensory systems and her weapons quickly stabilized themselves in new positions.

“Target A. Target B, Target C, Target D. Fire.”

This time, her four snipers simultaneously fired.

Four drones fell out of the sky.

Target A, B, C and D neutralized.

These flying sensory systems were much easier to get rid of, as they could be simply knocked out of the sky with a single accurate round.

As for other sensory systems, many were integrated into the Nexarm’s frame-- it would be difficult or even impossible for Athena to disable those. As for the remaining part-sensory devices, she wasn’t able to pinpoint the enemy’s combined sniper systems.

“Well done, Miss Watanabe! I can see that the status of---”

Warning! EM pulse charge detected.

Athena picked up that the second Nexarm had begun charging after being unable to extradite itself from the automatons climbing all over its body!

Alarmed, Athena activated the EM protection protocols in her Nexarm and neuro devices with haste.

“Status--”

Commander Alves’ was cut off by a buzzing static and Athena herself grunted as her sensory devices momentarily disconnected before reconnecting.

Despite the pulse, Athena noticed that the second escaping Nexarm had failed to shake off the robotic crabs on its bodies. Those automatons naturally had protective systems and protocols as well.

Warning! Multiple EM pulse charge detected.

Athena braced herself again. After a few seconds, she felt her neuro devices disconnect again. This time, even her Nexarm flickered for a brief heartbeat and her ears had a ringing noise accompanied by her head feeling a tad faint. Two drones systems failed to reconnect. One of the sniper systems and one of the mini-tank systems had also been lost. They had no doubt been knocked out.

Through her remaining sensory systems, she became aware that the whole district’s systems had gone down, including all the life-saving technologies that were active in the hit civilian areas.

Absolutely livid, Athena went ballistic as she yelled obscenities at Haber. What were these fucking Neurorevo engineers thinking?!

But she received no reply due to nearly all the systems being knocked out.

She could only return to the mission at hand.

The second Nexarm had freed itself, and behind it were the corpses of those crab automatons.

The two opposing Nexarms had also seemed to realize that Athena was the larger threat. They aimed all their remaining tanks at Athena-- their own EM pulse burst had knocked out some of their own weapon devices.

Warning! Incoming.

Athena sensed eight mini-tank systems and three sniper systems that had begun firing directly at her. She continuously shifted her Nexarm as a method to dissipate the energy from the rounds. Meanwhile, she tried to lock onto the new positions of the enemy’s weapons and began targeting them with her own weapons.

Warning! Unsustainable heat dissipation!

This is ridiculous, Athena thought. Although she was moving the Nexarm deftly to spread the energy from the rounds, the whole Nexarm was about to enter an overheated state. The enemy’s weapons were firing at a rate at which the devices themselves would overheat. Then, she realized. The enemy didn’t care about the devices! They only wanted the core unit of the Nexarm! Nexarms functioned like a general in ancient war. Lop off the head of the general and the soldiers become nothing but fodder.

With this epiphany, Athena realized her foolishness in trusting so heavily in the defensive ability of the Nexarm. It was certainly ungodly strong, but there was a limit. She sprinted towards cover, and barely managed to position the Nexarm behind a tall building before any permanent damage to the plates, fully escaping the sight of the enemy’s weapons. However, this also meant that her enemies’ weapons would have the chance to cool down from their previous relentless firing.

Static buzzed a few seconds in the cockpit.

“...hello hello…! Miss Watanabe. Are you there?”

“Yes.”

“Status report.”

“Enemy released multiple EM pulses. Most systems in the area are down. First Nexarm has reached the Startram and appears to be configuring the launch system. They are sacrificing their neuro devices to lock down my position.”

While informing Commander Alves of the situation, Athena was also attempting to target the enemy’s weapon systems. However, the mini-tank systems were moving around, making it impossible to hit them in the same spot with multiple rounds to pierce their armor. The enemy’s sniper systems, on the other hand, had completely hidden themselves.

“Any other useful Nexarm functionality?”

As she browsed through her knowledge of the Nexarm, she found a feature.

“Activate stealth mode.”

Unable to activate stealth mode. Plate systems have yet to dissipate accumulated energy. Nexarm will be easily detected by infrared systems.

Athena groaned. If only she hadn’t chosen to rely on the Nexarm’s defense to receive those rounds earlier.

“Miss Watanabe! You must attack! Their escape is imminent!”

“I understand.” She replied, trying to come up with a viable method based on her shallow experience piloting a Nexarm.

“System. What are my close combat options on board currently?”

Although she had received knowledge on Nexarms, she needed to be certain of whether this Nexarm specifically might have some of these capabilities ready.

Two swords made from X-alloy. Four extra distendable arms with synced laser systems.

“Connect the four distendable laser arms to the neuro circlet. Activate the already connected mini-tanks that were placed on standby.”

Acknowledged. Caution, Miss Watanabe. Your profile indicates risk when operating more than nine motor devices.

“Understood. Continue.”

Then, she stood up and affirmed the plan in her head.

“This will work! Trust in it!”

She muttered to herself as she placed her hesitation to the side. Then, she began sprinting forward, every step releasing a static whining noise that would make any surrounding bodies wince in discomfort, accompanied by the rumble of the earth from the Nexarm’s weight.

She was immediately met by the firing of multiple mini-tanks and hidden snipers, but then she twisted and turned to decrease the knockback force of the rounds and spun into another street. Some of the mini-tanks lost the angle to fire at her, thus, the Nexarm’s plates were capable of tolerating the few rounds that a few of the enemy systems still could fire at her.

Meanwhile, she had already begun targeting the static mini-tanks with her own devices as she continued zigzagging through the streets towards the Startram launch rail.

Whenever her Nexarm successfully dissipated most of the energy in the plates, she would take the risk of bolting directly toward the Startram for a few blocks before swerving into protective cover again.

Target gamma. Neutralized.

Target theta. Neutralized.

It was hard work hitting her targets, as her own movement also caused the enemy’s weapon devices to shift their positions.

Artillery device No. 3 lost.

It was as if her opponents had also become aware of the need to continuously switch positions to avoid having the mini-tanks from being hit by multiple rounds in the same spot. There was only a small window of opportunity when a mini-tank became static due to the need to fire.

Soon, she found herself only a hundred meters from the Startram. The two enemy Nexarms were still configuring the launch system.

One of the enemy Nexarms noticed her and immediately charged toward her while waving at the other Nexarm.

“Swords!”

Two holes on the Nexarm’s back opened and two handles popped out. Athena reached behind and drew these two swords made of the X-alloy-- The material that the plates on the Nexarm were also constructed of.

The two swords in her arms began vibrating with excitement.

“Laser arms activate!”

Four extra robust arms unfurled from her Nexarm’s back. Athena could instantly feel the extra strain on her brain. She was still controlling all the other devices that were currently in a locked state of battle with the enemy’s weapon devices in the blocks behind.

In response, the charging enemy Nexarm drew a vibrating greatsword. However, it did not bother with any extra laser equipped arms.

Athena’s guess was that the pilot of this Nexarm did not have the required channels to both control the mini-tanks and the extra arms. The pilot must be worried that if he sacrificed the mini-tanks, Athena would then be able to pelt him with continuous kinetic rounds.

As her own vibrating sword met the vibrating greatsword in the first testing blows, a teeth-chattering screech resounded through the surrounding streets.

Feeling the strain on her mind, Athena was somewhat desperate as she dual-wielded her two vibrating swords in a rapid barrage of attacks.

She had been trained in close combat knife training and was quite proficient at wielding two weapons at the same time. The swords were certainly larger, so she had a degree of awkwardness in her movement.

In comparison, her opponent had it much worse-- they were incredibly slow and clunky in their movements. The greatsword in the enemy Nexarm’s hands was slow to react to any motion, and barely managed to intercept Athena’s awkward strikes. It was obvious that her opponent had little to no experience with such a weapon!

Observing this, Athena began circling around her opponent, constantly changing direction in an attempt to bait her opponent into an ill-conceived motion.

Finally, her opponent swung the greatsword recklessly and Athena deflected the heavy weapon to the side before lunging forward. Their current closeness now made it impossible for her opponent to use the greatsword meaningfully.

She lowered her Nexarm’s left shoulder and rammed into her opponent, sending them both onto the ground with a shattering earthquake.

She had abandoned one of her swords, and her arm now instead gripped her opponent’s right arm in place. Meanwhile, her other four distendable arms had tightened themselves onto the enemy Nexarm’s frame.

With a knee on the enemy’s chest, Athena immobilized her opponent then quickly but precisely slipped her vibrating sword between a gap in the enemy’s right shoulder plates. A loud banging electrical release sounded as Athena felt her vibrating sword slice through the underlying artificial muscle of her opponent’s right shoulder.

She wasn’t done. The then threw away this second sword of hers as well, and switched to holding down her opponent with the two normal Nexarm arms. Now, the four laser-equipped extra arms in cooperation with each other aimed their laser systems at the enemy’s cockpit.

Athena could already feel a strong migraine in her head as she became very much aware that she had extended herself with too many neuro devices for much too long. She, too, was controlling the other devices in the blocks behind her to lock down her opponent’s devices.

The plate over the enemy’s cockpit turned red, and the other pilot, seemingly aware of their doom, gave an almighty last struggle. However, Athena had expected that and she clenched her teeth under the throes of her migraine and exerted the whole weight of the Nexarm in a hold she learned from judo. Having lost functionality in one of its arms, the enemy had little fight.

Though her enemy managed to briefly interrupt the sight of the four laser arms, that was only for a second. Athena now had her enemy in an even tighter hold, and the four laser arms finally overwhelmed the plate’s defenses.

With the plate defense over the cockpit gone, Athena picked up a sword to her side and stabbed directly into the energy core close to the cockpit area.

“One down!” Athena yelled through her pain as the Nexarm under her whirred into stasis.

A roaring noise suddenly sounded and Athena looked up to see the launch for the other stolen Nexarm had begun. It was attached to a rocket loaded onto a tram.

She controlled her Nexarm and stumbled onto her feet. She once again gritted her teeth and hardened her jaws and she willed herself through her pounding migraine to aim her laser systems at one of the engines.

Alas, before she could fire, she found herself losing control of her Nexarm as she fell onto her knees and collapsed onto her front. The cockpit around her began flashing a dangerous neon red.

Warning! Pilot incapacitated. Administering life support systems.

Her head was a constant pain accompanied by a ringing in the ear. Through her daze, she could sense many devices attaching to her body, but none of it seemed to improve her situation. The Nexarm collapsed onto its chest and she struggled to stay conscious.

“Miss Watanabe..?”

“Athena! We’re coming!”

Many voices sounded into the cockpit through her neuro circlet.

She lost track of time and space, and her body was frozen like a deer in headlights despite an increasing warmth that pervaded her body. Gradually, she felt something rolling the Nexarm over onto its back, and a hammering on the cockpit.

Sunlight streamed onto her face.

“Athena. Athena!!” She heard both John and Selena Muller’s voice hollering in desire to awaken her.

In her addled state, she let out a small giggle, and finally her mind relaxed and drifted into a comforting darkness.