When Techlock came back to the bays, the sky was darkening and the lights of the city were flickering to life, some sparking erratically as they fired up their ancient innards for yet another night of labor. I opened the door to him, and he entered hunched, his face a flickering mess of emotions.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he muttered. In his hand he held a battered sheaf of papers, one of which held a wax seal that I was rather sure I recognized vaguely as being Geoffrey’s. It was red crimson and circular, the image of a serpent and cross imprinted in its center.
“I take it that’s good news?” I asked him as he stutter-stepped across the bay to the table, slumping into what my mind had decided was his chair.
CD appeared next to him, causing the black marketer to utter a quick shriek and almost fall out of his chair. He stared down from under his ridiculous commander’s hat, pinning the man to his chair.
“Well? Are things as we planned?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. Techlock sighed, letting his head fall back across his shoulders to stare at the bay ceiling. “I reached out to some pickpockets, told them I wanted to pay for peace with Geoffrey, and it didn’t take long before I got his official summons.”
I looked pointedly at the still sealed sheaf of papers he’d now planted on the desk.
“Oh, fuck off. You aren’t supposed to open them. You get told what to do then present them as evidence when you get there,” he explained.
“Clever,” CD said, giving them a cursory once over while not touching them in the slightest. “These documents are indeed well valuable kept sealed. They are a permission for Techlock to meet Geoffrey in his black market bunker, along with instructions to come alone for the purpose of obeisance.”
Techlock gave a dark snicker. “That’s an interesting way to say death.”
“Hey, no worries. I’m going to do this right. You’re going to be a crime lord in no time,” I said. I gestured with my left hand towards the Scout Nexus, standing at attention in the bay and simply waiting for my entrance. “I’ve got your back.”
“Pff. You don’t even like me.”
“No one likes you,” I informed him, breaking into a grin. “But I’m apparently hitched, now, so I’m looking for a way up and out of the bottom.”
He smiled back, flashing half-dirty teeth in my direction. “Ha. Yeah. I’m an asshole. Glad to see you two finally bumping bones though. Was wondering if maybe you had something broken in the ole groin mech.”
CD flickered. “Are these more simian coupling rituals? Your species are so fascinatingly stuck on your sexual organs. It is a surprise you ever evolved to fight, let alone defeat, my own.”
Techlock barked a laugh, looking a lot healthier. “Are you two sure you don’t want me to look at that code. I mean, you did great and I’m shocked, really. Not many have good mastery of old tech programming lingo. But someday someone might think he’s a bit more than what he really is, and then its church gallows bye-bye time.”
I shook my head, still smiling. “Nah. CD’s good as he is. Speaking of, what time is this meetup?”
As I watched, Tecklock’s face fell, reality once again dominating his forebrain.
“Now. As soon as possible. I just had to stop by here first, make sure everything was set.”
“I will be monitoring everything,” CD said.
Something felt off, but I wasn’t sure what it possibly could be. Elli was back out at my workshop. Techlock was about to head out for his meeting and I was absolutely ready to jump back in the Nexus now that I knew I could handle her.
“TUNI!” I yelled, the thought exploding in my mind. “We need to get Techlock set up with TUNI!”
CD shook his head. “Not now. There isn’t the time nor do we have extra chips set up as broadcast-receiving apparatuses. No, this mission we will simply have to trust that Techlock knows what he is doing.”
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Both our heads turned to him, and he flashed us a thumb up.
“Yeah. Great,” I muttered.
“Hey, you’re not the one walking straight into the lion’s den, Al. I’ll do what I can. You just be sure to get there before the damn psycho takes off my skin and wears it like a suit.” He stood up stiffly, straightening the outfit that Elli had made for him, and I noticed his slight flinch at the pain that coursed through his body.
Whatever I thought of him previously, the slick and sly dealer of the black market and raider of old tech bunkers, I couldn’t help but admire the strength he was showing. The man had his ass kicked this morning, and was walking straight back in literally asking for more.
“I’ll get you out of there,” I said again. I stared in my eyes and stuck out a hand. I shook it, and he turned, walking back to the bay door.
“If you don’t get to me, give the crime lord stuff to Elli,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Then use all that new free time of yours to avenge me.”
I chuckled and waved, though the door was already closing.
“He’s strong,” CD mused, his hologram flickering and flashing once again. “There might come a time when you’ll have to take him down. I wouldn’t get too attached, Simian.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, CD. Elli told me something similar. I’ll be as hard as I need to. Let’s skip all that stuff and just get this over with.”
I ambled over to the Nexus Scout, giving the alien-human tech a once over, marveling at its glistening claws and tremendous dexterity.
It was go time. I stepped to the back, once again inserting myself into its chassis, letting it close in around me. The static ozone and oil of my entry filled my nostrils and again the lights blinked blue, red, and green, pulling me away from myself and into the dreamzone of the organic frame.
My pulse quickened, and I was the Nexus.
“Alright, Alaric, let’s see what you can do,” CD said, his voice echoing through the bay.
My attunement levels rose quickly, easily jumping to 20% at a thought. I took a tentative step, and the mech responded with surprising lightness. Encouraged, I broke into a jog, the bay’s concrete floor a blur beneath my swift clapping strides. With each step, the connection between my thoughts and the mech’s movements grew more intuitive, almost second nature and before long I was at the 50% of before.
“Try a jump,” CD instructed.
I obliged, leaping up a full story and grabbing hold of the railing above. I laughed, a sound that echoed out the mech’s speakers. Realizing that I’d already accomplished more than my efforts that morning, I let go, clumping back to the bay floor.
“Not bad for a primitive. Let’s get you out there, see how you handle the real world,” CD said. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I detected a note of approval in his voice.
As he flicked off the lights, I nodded to myself, steadying my breathing and walking toward the bay door. It slid open with a hydraulic hiss, revealing the night beyond.—dark and alive with the distant sounds of the city. Cool air brushed against the mech’s sensors, carrying the scents and sounds of the urban night.
Luckily, in this neighborhood, most lights were already out and families were asleep. Still, I knew I’d have to stay to the shadows and out of people’s sight as much as possible. Scanning my situation, I noted that the city lights cast long shadows, painting a maze of light and dark.
It'd work from a distance. The question was if I could keep it up all the way to the city walls.
Silently, I moved slowly through the shadows. The mech's stealth features were a marvel; even as I moved, the suit's systems worked tirelessly to dampen the sound of my footsteps, turning my mechanical strides into mere whispers against the rough concrete.
Each decision to turn a corner or cross a street was weighed with the risk of exposure. The dark, less frequented paths of the city became my route of choice, offering solace from the prying eyes of patrols and the occasional late-night wanderer. The mech's sensors painted a vivid picture of my surroundings in my mind, alerting me to the warmth of a stray cat tucked away under a dumpster or the soft, rhythmic breathing of a homeless man nestled in an alcove.
And as I went, CD kept up an active scan. He wasn’t able to keep up real time data, but his delay wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t guide me away from clumps of people. His words through the TUNI guided me through the darkest and least populated parts of the city, leading me over the river.
I could feel my nerves on edge. The night was so annoyingly busy away from the bay, a symphony of sounds that filled the cool air—a distant laugh, the clink of glass, the faint throb of bass from a neon-lit club blocks away.
It wasn’t without incident. As I threaded through a particularly narrow alley, the walls close enough to touch on either side, I suddenly noticed a splotch of heat. Turning and kneeling, I spied the form of a small girl huddled in absolute terror under a patchwork of worn and tattered fabrics. She squeaked when she saw me looking at her, and her blanket fell away from her tiny, rag-attired form.
I reached down and grabbed the blacket with my talons, placing them back over her, before raising one claw to my lips in a plea for silence. The servos in the suit whirred softly, the gesture deliberate and gentle. For a heartbeat, she remained motionless, and I could feel the metallic core of my heart pulsing and throbbing in fear. I’d told Elli I’d be hard, but not here. Not with children.
She nodded, wrapping her ragged patchwork about herself and turning her head to sleep. I rose back to standing, gave her one last look, and set off again.
Block by block, I slipped through the cityscape, navigating networks of narrow back alleys and deserted service roads until I stood before the very same break in the wall that Elli and I had chanced so long before.
Just one long leap, and I’d be on my way to the black market.