My vision was hazy, with darkness spreading all around me. I felt different, raw and scaled, a monstrosity under whose vengeance no being could ever hope to survive.
I looked down, examining hands that were now taloned and vicious. My senses were heightened, every rustle of the leaves whispering as I stomped through the dusky outlines of a forest, a strange orange orb glowing on the horizon.
Inside me, there was hunger, and the juicy sluice of blood-borne hydraulics, accompanied by the whine of many gears. How was it even possible? Flesh and gears didn’t go together . . .
“Graaaa!” I roared, stomping toward the orbs, creatures fleeing in droves before me as something tugged at my mind. It was almost as if I was stuck somewhere and wanted to get out but I couldn’t.
With a start, I awoke, confused and disoriented. I was on a cot of straw, several sharp strands poking through the bottom of its sheets to prick my feet. A pair of arms were slung over me and the leather-metal smell of unwashed Elli wafted up in my nostrils.
I reached backward, patting the softness of her shoulder. Yep, she was naked. It was too bad I wasn't in the mood.
Sighing, despite the sharp pains shooting through my head and body, I skillfully edged her arms off me and pulled the cover back over her before stumbling out into the little rest cubby that she’d pulled me into.
I scanned the place, checking out this part of Elli’s life that I’d never before been invited to see, despite her making a move on me so many times.
It was a cozy home away from home, the space compact, every inch of the wall adorned with tools and schematics. Above the cot, makeshift shelves housed an assortment of components and gadgets. In one corner stood a sturdy workbench, its surface etched over with scrapes, dents, and illuminated by a single, flickering light that cast long shadows into the corners of the cubby.
Various mechanical parts, some old-tech and some newer, lay organized and ready for whatever she had her mind set on next.
“Good morning, Alaric,” a voice spoke. It was tinged with amusement.
“CD.”
“Alaric. It would seem you aren’t nearly as apish as I imagined. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but you attuned to me well. And to that mech, too, for what it matters.”
“Wasn’t sure it was possible?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck and groaning.
I wasn’t quite ready to deal with the fact that I’d just been CD’s guinea pig. Especially since it didn’t seem to matter to him. If I wanted to get ahead in life while using a shortcut, there’d have to be sacrifices. Maybe I’d even have to play the ape once or twice to indulge the evil little bastard lizard from another world, but I’d do it. The barbar attack on our city had only solidified that even further.
The Chic-A-Go base rose in my mind, and I wondered how the barbars would have fared against its defenses. The missiles had been nightmarishly powerful; would 'Merica have had any defense against them?
A rustle behind me, combined with a deep and mighty yawn, told me that Elli had just woken up. I heard the rasp and zip of cloth as she pulled an engineer’s uniform over her nude form.
“You look like you've been trampled by a herd of Glimmerhusks,” she commented and then coughed. “Shit. Have you been pouring oil down my throat? I feel as if my mouth’s on fire. Oh, wait, that was us doing the fun things last night and—”
I turned just in time to see her sheepish grin and wiggling her eyebrows.
“You wish. I’m not into old chicks. Don’t you know that by now?”
Elli gasped and threw a wrench at me, but it missed by a fair margin.
“Old. Ass. I’m not old.”
“You’re still older than me.”
“By three months! Jackass. Considering you’re standing and being mean, I figure you’re healthy enough to get the hell lost and get stomped on by a Cataphract!”
“Ouch. I think she’s pissed, apeling. Maybe you should learn to keep that mouth shut and just accept praise,” CD added with a condescending tone. Yeah . . .nothing changed after all.
“Shut it, tin can. Only I am allowed to talk crap on Al,” Elli shot to the evil lizard farmer. “And you, stay here while I go make us something to help with the headache and stuff.”
Without waiting for a response, she marched to a section of schematic papered wall and yanked it open, revealing that it was in fact a door.
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered, sitting back down on the bed. “I’m not saying no to painkillers.”
She winked and stepped out, or rather into a room. Beyond the door, I saw a sort of makeshift kitchen with a small newtech stove and a bunch of metal dishes and utensils. She bustled about, grabbing a hose and spraying water into a kettle, before gathering and spilling different colored powders into it and setting it to boil.
“Drinking your love life away often here?” I joked, and she sent me a mock glare.
“Because a certain someone just wants friends with benefits.”
CD appeared between us then in his hologram form, and I gave him a good once over, noticing he was still a soldier. I started wondering if the military aspect of the image appealed to him before a sharp spear of pain told me to stop thinking about things that didn’t matter, and look forward to some meds instead.
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I didn’t have to wait long as steam began to whistle from her kettle. She poured the now reddish-purple fluid into two large metal mugs, and then walked back over to me, the steam wafting up and into her face.
“Here you are. Drink up. It's my special hangover cure. Guaranteed to make you feel much better. Or much worse, depending on how good you were last night.”
“You’re rather horny today,” I observed, taking one of the two mugs she held out in front of her. I sipped on the hot liquid, expecting it to taste like swamp water, but the liquid was somehow both revolting and miraculous, sending a wave of warmth through my body and clearing the fog in my mind, even if only slightly.
My eyes must have widened, because Elli laughed and slapped me on my shoulder. A bit of my new drink sloshed out of my mug and onto the floor.
“It’s a good one, hey? I’ve got more in the pot, but usually, just a mug will do.”
I smiled back at her and lifted the mug in cheers before taking another heavy draught of it. This time it was really good, and I sucked it down quickly under both of their watchful eyes. She sipped on her mug, too, and winced as if it was sour or something.
“Is he now operational?” CD asked. “I still think he’s broken if you ask me.”
“You’re damn right he is,” Elli said, laughing. “But he's better than his usual self. There’s nothing that little recipe won’t cure. Now get off your ass and come on, Al. We’ve got work to do. See, even CD is being respectful.”
I could see she was excited as the little skip to her step made me smile. She speed-walked out of her cubby and back into the mech bay. Looking at the trashed Barbar mech that hung by its supports, I couldn’t help but feel a little enthusiasm myself. We both had a full mech on our hands and even though it was broken beyond what we’d originally be able to fix ourselves, we had a secret ace up our sleeves. And once the mech was fixed, it would be just ours.
Which in itself was a little problem. We had a full mech on our hands, and we weren’t legally allowed to have it. So . . .why would we even want to fix it? Spend hard-earned creds on the thing only for it to sit there and gather dust . . .
“Uh, I think we might not have thought this through so well,” I said, a bit of my headache returning with the mere thought of a finished, polished, and working mech just sitting there doing nothing.
CD snickered.
“Apes with cold feet and hands do not get the banana,” he said and made his way over to the foot of the mech. “This mech here, we’re going to take it apart, piece my piece. Then, we will reshape and refit every bit of the machine. A lot will probably be scrapped, but by the time we’re done, my fine simians, we will have the best mech we could possibly get under our current circumstances.”
“Best mech under the circumstances?” I asked.
“It's a barbarian mech of even less sophistication than that shown by your Cataphracts and Toxotais. It won't be amazing. But it will be a start,” CD retorted as if defending himself from attack. “Indeed, with the right tools and parts it might make for a fine stealth mech, a small class of infiltrator by which to operate in this accursed colony of cavemen.”
“And in the meantime, what do we do if the guards come about?” I asked.
“This isn’t serf town, Al. I’ll just go out and put up guild signs letting everyone know this hangar is out of commission while it's getting renovated. Will explain the noise and keep the guards from poking their pesky noses inside as well. It’s the perfect plan.”
“I agree with Elli,” CD said. “It is a wonderful ruse, especially because of all the noise we will be making.”
I snorted, thinking of how much respect guards would have had for such a renovation over in serf town. Signs like that would only invite guards to come and have a better look. But this wasn’t serf town, and as a free woman, Elli had rights. It was a good idea to use them.
“Yeah, alright, but we’ll have to work it fast and hard. I doubt even the rights of a free woman will keep this mech bay closed forever. What’s the first thing, CD?”
“Parts!” the holo-soldier said, standing ramrod straight and saluting him. “I have a list of items that we need to get, which I am willing to share with you monkeys. The most important part of the rebuild that I envision will be a quantum resonance core. The rest of the items we can construct ourselves, if necessary, but the QRC is not something we can build using the resources of your very primitive civilization. So we are talking old-tech. Can you get one?”
Elli and I exchanged a glance, before staring back at him in total incomprehension.
“Quantum?” we blurted simultaneously.
“Yes, yes. A QRC core will allow us to modify the memory of the frame, convincing the organics within to take a different shape. We can create a mech of a different size and structure from the organic scraps of this one. It is a perfect retooling device; surely even apes have one on hand?”
I shook my head and sighed.
“If there’s anything like that out there, it’s in the hands of the city and the nobles, CD. It sounds like something they would kill each other over.”
“Or bandits,” Elli added thoughtfully. “Is there any chance there’d be one in the black market?”
“That would be deep-deep, Elli. That would be sell-your-soul territory if anyone had them deep. Are we really willing to go to the worst parts of the black market to get this mech made to CD’s design? Maybe we should just make something else as we won’t be able to ride it anyway.”
CD coughed, interrupting their conversation.
“I don’t think I made the parameters of this particular device clear enough for cave-dwelling ape people to understand. We can either fix this mech as is, or we can make an entirely new and unfathomably better one by which to accomplish our goals. I am offering you great power. There really is no question to be discussed.”
Elli nodded and took my hands, staring into my eyes.
“Hey Al, guess what?” she asked.
I sighed and didn’t even need to ask, as I already knew the answer.
“We're heading to the black market again?” I asked.
She laughed. “You’re a brilliant man, Al. Better go grab some sacks.”
I nodded, giving the mech a quick once over.
“What does a QRC even look like? And can we use any of that mech’s parts to pay for it?”
CD's eyes flickered.
“Never would have I suspected to weep so over the piteous fall of my enemy. The Quantum Resonance Core is quite distinctive,” he began, his voice shifting to that of a seasoned lecturer talking down on a handful of school rejects. “Imagine a 3D circle. A sphere. Are you following?”
I growled.
“Cut the shit. I just need to know what it looks like so we don’t get scammed. If we head into the market yelling Quantum Resonance Core over and over again, we’re either going to get shanked or scammed. Do you want to stay locked inside Elli’s safe forever?”
“Yes, alright, and no, I do not. The QRC is a cylinder, not much larger than a human fist, encased in a shell that is true black, but sparkles when held up to the light and turned. This is how you can judge its authenticity.”
He paused as we just stared at the holo soldier.
“The surface is smooth, almost liquid in appearance, but if you look closely, you might see faint, intricate patterns etched into it—quantum circuitry—magic I mean. Check for those patterns. If those patterns aren’t damaged, you won’t be able to see them. We can’t fix them, so damaged circuits mean the QRC isn’t worth buying. They're part of the core's function, channeling and harmonizing quantum energies.”
“Alright, good info,” I said. “See, now even if they don’t know what the hell a QRC is, I can find one. If there is one.”
“When you handle it, you should feel a slight vibration, a hum of power. It feels much like the heartbeat of a mech. And despite its appearance, it's surprisingly light.”
I nodded and turned back towards Elli’s cubby, feeling a pit of dread in my stomach. This device didn’t sound familiar at all, sounded very expensive, and deep down I was pretty sure it was going to cost us a lot more than we had to barter with.
“So, about this thing. Any parts we can cannibalize to pay for the QRC?”