The abused sweat covered body demands sleep above all other needs and desires. But to sleep is to give into never waking up again. Eventually the body shuts down and along with the spirit, as the thumping heart becomes white noise to the wary mind.

…

……

……..

Manual Release Required.

I stifle a scream as the machine whirs into life and the claustrophobia kicks in. The suit feels like a coffin in the vague outline of a human being, a super-heated iron maiden. I gasp for a breath that doesn’t come, I try to scream with a mouth to dry to gargle a sound.

Don’t panic, you're safe!

I’m trapped!

Remember the manual release.

The real purpose of the neuro-link is to allow the brain to be hyper aware of the Goliaths functions on a subconscious level. It's not a true substitute for months of training but it does allow the Goliath to feel more like a second pair of skin as opposed to a two-ton repurposed space suit.

So, with a gasp, I fling my mind toward the thought of the two buttons associated with releasing the Goliath armor. The thought proved strong enough that the first release button, located in the back of the armor's fused neck piece, popped on its own. The resulting decompression released a hiss as the sealed environment met outside air, mixing the heated sweat with the cool night air.

The rush sent a shiver up and down my spine, and as the Goliath armor locked into a half-seated position. It was sturdy but not uncomfortable, and now with my body relaxed I manually press the last release button located at the small of my back. The resulting opens the mech up, splitting it in half across a seam that runs from the helm to the waist. As the mech splits open a keyboard module pops into place along with an LCD screen.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Together they form the user interface for the Goliath and its connection to the ARK ship network, which to my surprise wasn’t severed. The home screen is the NOAH logo, a vague outline of an ARK ship eclipses a blue planet on a black star filled screen. This small reminder of home makes my heart ache, and for a moment, well more than a moment to be honest, I regret every decision that led to me this god forsaken place.

In the fresh night air, with a moon on the other side of the globe, and the stars shining their cruel phosphorus light from millions of lightyears away, I can feel beginning to cry. I try to suppress the feeling, murders shouldn’t cry. If I was smart I would have used those tears at my hearing, begged for leniency, for understanding, for anything but exile. I would have begged for death.

I take a shallow breath. The horror of the mounds, of the swarm and their many moving parts crowded my thoughts and replaced the smug self-righteousness with the reality of war.

“I should have let Kevin come to the surface.”

It was the most obvious choice but not something someone like me could make without hindsight. I’m a bureaucrat in a world of bureaucrats, molded to supervise menial tasks and to manage those lower in the ladder. And If I truly understood that about myself, I would have made no attempt at being a hero even if my superiors dismissed my claims.

Because Kevin would have died anyway, his loss a tragedy but cautionary tale of the hubris born from false empathy and liberal thinking.

“I truly killed him for nothing. Threw away a comfortable future for nothing. And for what? Glory?”

The real motivation for killing Kevin becomes apparent. Oh, I cared that he was a traitor, but it was my ego that wanted to bring him to justice! That was the ambition after all. That fantasy of rising to fame and prestige, even if unlikely. Even if I would die a martyr. Because if they saw reason, if they saw what I was willing to do… I could skip the line and be here. Inside a David.

I truly got what I wanted. The screen flickered, and the emblem turned bright to gray. A notice on the bottom left side informed me that connection to the private VPN was severed. An observation repeated by the mental pings between the armor and my brain.

I went to sleep shortly after.