“Everyone nowadays has a problem with instant gratification. They need whatever they are doing to give them that little boost of serotonin as soon as possible.

I would say it’s a pandemic and mental health crisis.

The problem isn’t that the younger generations won’t wait for something good to happen, its that they can’t. Not with life expectancy down and poverty rising.

They need it now because if they ever look to the future they only get more depressed and anxious.

If you want something with more culture and nuance then fix the economy first.”

* Reply to a review of Mili-ant, The Military Bug, July 2047.

***

Breathing heavily from the exertion, I turned away from the muck of whatever remained of the Model Six - D’s head and found Magnella grinning my way, her sharp features portraying joy as her green eye almost glowed with joy.

Her other eye actually glowed and had a silhouette of a star spinning in slow motion as she stared.

Was she always this way or did something happen after she returned to what remained of her squad?

She is more bubbly than last time. Besides calling Myte beautiful she was very professional…

How did she see Myte anyway?

“Magnella, now that we are out of danger I was curious how you saw Myte?”

“Mute? Ah, your lovely A.I.” She said as she almost bounced from foot to foot. “I, well, sort of have an eye for these things. I mean a cybernetic eye that has ties into the Mesh so I can see things as more than they are.”

That took a second to process. “See things…more than they are?”

“Yes. Take the tablet on your side. I know its a tablet as I see it with my human eye but through my filters it is also a mess of coded strings and keys. It has a lot of ways to open things and on the Mesh it probably can open lots of doors. When I saw you for the first time I spied a faint blue figure fading in and out that hovered by your shoulder. I thought it was someone watching the scene unfold on the Mesh until she winked at me as you saved me.”

Interesting. So Magnella was always partially tied into the Mesh…an interesting concept and one that could end very badly.

Regardless I needed to move and she looked fine. I pulled a Nano-Regenerative Suite from the supply I had and handed it over with an email I never used.

“Take this, if you need me call but I’ll be pretty busy so call if it's an emergency.” I said as I set notification permissions on that address.

Magnella took the card in awe. Why? Must be because no one writes out their address anymore, but instead would send it digitally via internal or external augmentations.

I guess I was old school here. Sorry Private!

Oh. I noticed the email I used was tied to my Maghora identity and as I checked the inbox I had a dozen messages from Technician Chelsea of all people.

Huh.

I read through some and realized that she believed I survived but the rest didn’t.

Oops.

I sent a quick response about how I was safe but couldn’t use the internet until now and communication will be spotty for a while.

That done I looked up to see Magnella still beaming at me.

Umm…

“Can you tell your superiors about the reinforcement issue? I’m sure that it would be better if they were informed about the current situation.” I said, looking at the older woman bounce.

She deflated for a second and then nodded, saluted, and then marched toward the elevators.

I moved back to the supplies I was hauling and continued toward the shopping area. If I were to actually do the project I was scheming, I would need a proper workbench.

Continuing down the corridors, Myte spoke up.

“What was this about Private Magnella seeing me?”

“What? That wasn’t you?” I was confused.

“No. I should not have appeared humanoid at that time. I only created a humanoid avatar after deciding on how I wanted to present myself. That may have been the ghost.”

Not again with the ghost. “I am not haunted by the electronic dead.” I said flatly.

“What could it have been?” Myte asked.

“I don’t know but if the dead wanted vengeance then they could do a lot more than close some security doors.”

“Who said anything about vengeance?” Myte inquired. “I can see only the remnants of their actions and influences they have on the world. They don’t seem to be trying to harm you.”

“So I have Casper the friendly electronic ghost?” I said and the lights flickered.

What?

“That wasn’t me.” Myte said defensively.

“Can you hear us?” I asked. Knowing that I would look like an idiot talking to the lights.

Nothing happened.

Just a normal flicker.

“Interesting.” Myte said as information about the lighting system was thrown up on my tablet. “Something accessed it for a brief moment before the firewalls kicked up.” I saw that the information did show someone accessing the lights with an on/off request in our area just seconds ago before being labeled as an intruder and losing access.

“Whoever my ghost is, they aren’t very good at hacking.” I replied. Thinking carefully about my next course of action. Did I still want to go to Meshspace if someone was waiting there for me?

I had gone all the time before the incursion but it seems like something changed when the Antithesis attacked.

Rolling into the main street, the store fronts looked the same and I beelined to the tool shop. I didn’t bother checking the name last time and I didn’t make an exception this time around either.

Finding the Antithesis still nailed to the wall I brought everything I had to the nearest workbench.

“Myte. My goal is to make a safe set of armor for myself. Can you show me how to assemble the armor plates into something usable?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Yes, they are made to mold around a body.” And as I followed Myte’s instructions with the impromptu surgery I followed them now but with suggestions as I was an expert in the field.

Well…not an expert but who is?

Besides the super alien A.I. that teleports the stuff from another part of the galaxy.

I threw up the design I wanted on the holo disc, a full armor suit but compared to Amadeus, I would be tiny. I split the design between Sky and the fire loving rogue, something light but defensive.

Myte disagreed on the styling, pushing for something more akin to medium armor powered by Sky’s heart.

We split with a full suit of light powered armor, something slick that didn’t require the assistance of the servos and motors but had them just in case.

I felt that was as good a place to hold Sky’s heart for now. I won’t use it unless necessary, but in an emergency it would be very awkward to install it mid fight…or fall…or being crushed by something… Emergencies.

Settling on the style I started disassembling the gear. I left the blade and pistol alone in case something snuck up but Myte had the surrounding cameras watching for danger.

I dissected the Mesh suit helmet, delicately laying the inner workings bare. Chips, wires, and padding were set aside for later use.

Next came the tablet. I hesitated until Myte switched to the holo disc’s speakers. As she entered it flashed and the current plans faded for a second before returning to normal.

“What was that?” I ask, curious enough to pause unscrewing the tablet’s casing.

“I accidentally had my avatar set on auto load, I won’t show it until after we’re done.” She replied.

That doubled my curiosity but I had a lot of work ahead of me if I wanted to see that avatar soon.

When the tablet was apart we argued over where the screen would go.

I wanted it on the right wrist so I could program the suit’s information into it to track ammunition, oxygen in the rebreather, etc.

Myte wanted it in the helmet in a fancy H.U.D.

I wanted to argue but Myte’s user interface and graphics were really good.

We ‘compromised’ with the touch keyboard part being on the wrist so I could still type.

Her other demand was for certain parts of the suit to have LEDs that could be programmed to change color.

Taking apart the Nano Regenerative Suite was difficult until I learned that it was held together using magnets and glue. A small bit of low grade acid later and the pieces were set next to the rest of the parts.

I did the same to the rebreather and then turned to the armored plates.

They were short thick sheets of a strange metal that didn’t budge until a circuit ran through them. They opened into thin layers that bent and remained in that position once the circuit was cut.

Walking through the shells past the bloody remains of the fight I collected metal and other supplies to build the frame for the armor. Setting them on the workstation I pieced it together with a small soldering gun, pausing to test it or run wires through a section.

Once I was sure it was good enough I put on the shoulder piece. Too big, readjusting I continued the process until I had a frame that could be pulled open using a complex electronic lock without any access outside the suit. No part of the suit was to access the internet or Mesh except the neurolink chip.

That was the only weakness to hacking and it was kept off until I was in Meshspace.

While in the Mesh I would be the one guarding it and could only be compromised if I was directly attacked. And I had precautions for that as well, most of the problems appear when one isn’t expecting an attack. That’s why having the access sit there would be problematic.

In time, someone could hack in if we weren’t careful.

I used my own gloves, the ones I modified so long ago…yesterday? Didn’t matter. And my sturdy boots in the frame so I was without shoes building the best armor I could hope for.

The servos and motors were part of the mech armor Amadeus bought and were somewhere hidden in the crate. Pulling them out took a while of searching as the whole thing was supposed to build itself around the individual in a strange convolution of metal.

I didn’t like the video Myte sent about it. Looked too much like a way to die terribly in a horror vid. The end result looked good, unlike the vids.

Loading Sky’s heart into the back of the suit was interesting. It was set to be held between my shoulder blades and encased with extra protection.

I had the holo disc plug in directly into the local area network and Myte worked on the software side. As she tweaked the visual effects and motorized assisted movement controls I had a chance to work on the more secretive side.

I had set aside an idea when thinking about the issue with me entering Meshspace. I would need someone to protect me and Myte didn’t have a body.

The situation, as I found it to be, was slightly humorous. I was going into the advanced internet space made by Samurai as a projection of myself on code. I was technically just moving my brain function to control an avatar as my medium to access the information in the Meshspace.

Myte on the other hand was code and didn’t have a body…I added an extra wire or two and used a particular innovation to set up my trick.

Pele’s Ascendency was a mistake. Not enough caution. I found out how to allow someone using the Mesh to control a robot, to make them be placed inside the metal form and make it feel natural. Or at least as close as our robotics allowed.

Animatronics were not as smooth as humans were unless someone paid top credit or a Samurai felt generous.

When the hack came it wasn’t because my idea or technology didn’t work. It was because it did! Without the necessary safeguards people hacked in and controlled the bodies that were hooked up and the massacre began.

Moving past that. Strange since I couldn’t for the longest time.

I continued to perfect it. Not as a means to produce a product but as penance to make it as it should have been.

The long hours working on the finished product paid off as I set up my creation.

Locking it in place I finalized the parts about the suit, the helmet was terrifying in an advanced Samurai style I didn’t recognize that was vaguely military.

I took the holo disc and placed it under the left fore guard, disabling the wireless connection and then wired it into the system.

Myte was silent in the last moments as they had no speaker to speak from until I placed the container that held their receiver into the helmet.

Climbing into the suit felt strange, it was a hard shell but it was comfortable. The padding I used made it snug but not overbearing.

As I placed the helmet on, a figure appeared above my wrist. A female form made of rising smoke with green ones and zeros running down her in vertical columns. She spoke. “You did it. We made an artificial Vanguard…I can not give you any items but I don’t think you need them.”

I could see a faint yellow glow coming from me from the joints and my visor changed color slightly. I smiled down at her. “Not artificial…I am who I am. But…I do have something I want to ask.”

She waved me to go on.

Continuing, “I have a way for you to help. To keep me alive while I am in Meshspace. You said you didn’t have a body to help but…I do and I won’t be using it.” I paused to give her time to think about it.

After a moment she spoke. “You want me to control the suit? I do have local access now and could pilot it as you are incapacitated.”

“While that could be useful and is my backup plan if you don’t want to…I have a way for you to pilot me. Hijacking my brain to allow for my body’s response to your commands. I’m sure it’ll work this time around.” I finished lamely. I wanted it to work. I needed it to work.

I continued on, lost in the technical side of things that I forgot I was explaining it to an A.I. that had access to the technology that built the Mesh.

“Meshspace is fascinating and how we get there is through turning our mind’s signals into the input code that controls the avatar and the rest of our body just goes on standby. It’s as if all body function is now an unconscious moment. Almost as if we are asleep but without any of the useful feeling of restfulness as your brain is still working to move you around in the virtual space.”

“I predict that you can hijack this automatic unconscious body and move it around in its entirety.

Now what’s going to happen is I’ve allowed you to enter where my mind ends, exactly where my body is awaiting commands that are instead sent to the virtual space. You can send that input now instead of my brain and move my body around.”

“I believe this will allow you to experience some of the things I do not for when someone is in mesh space. They do not feel pain, hunger, or sickness there away from their body. It can be disorienting at times as I will not feel the same sense of gravity as I do in my body but that allows us in the Meshspace to do wondrous things.”

I didn’t mention that I was unsure if Myte would feel things through my body. Like a sense of touch or anything else.

“While I am the Meshspace I will have access to emails but since I set everything in the suit to a local network except the deep dive chip…I can’t send it to the suit. It would be a very interesting aspect to…well…share a body. As you are doing so much to keep me alive I want to see if I can give back just a little bit.”

I wasn’t sure why but I wanted to give Myte a chance at living, she was so curious about it and yet never had the chance.

Until now.

“If you believe this is safe and you consent…I have orders not to assist humanity outside of small things the Vanguard asks for or is decent. I could bend that a bit so this won’t be assisting any more than sending the messages escorting others to safety.” Myte said, a thoughtful look crossing her smoky visage.

“Do you want to?” Plan B wasn’t the worst but…

“Yes. I would love to try.” She said confidently. “And I’ll find a way to contact you if I have questions. I’m sure I could set up something to reach only you through the Mesh without any leakage.”

“Oh? I’ll look forward to it.” I said finishing a pop-up and setting it to appear in five seconds. Sitting down I flipped the switch to kick me into the Mesh and Myte into my body.

*************************************************************************************************************

********************************************Myte’s Point of View******************************************

*************************************************************************************************************

One moment I was sorting millions of arrays of code and information, controlling communications with dozens of people as they entered safety, and trying to ignore the messages from other Protector A.I.s when I was suddenly here!

I was confused and tried to focus on the perspective I was seeing through. The body understood the intent and I blinked. The eyelids responded in an instant, blocking then clearing my vision.

What? How?

All my senses were suddenly dulled, as if I was hearing them down a tunnel or through a kilobyte connection. Fuzzy and faded was the normal noise and alerts.

I felt a feeling of panic.

A very normal response in these situations but it somehow got worse! I couldn’t order the panic gone. It grew as the seconds ticked by as I felt my breath increasing. Panic spread through as I felt the feedback from the body, it seemed to build and grow as something was feeding it.

Heart pumping, I had a heart?

Wonder cut in and the building panic was interrupted. I felt for my diagnostics and couldn’t find them, at the same time I couldn’t feel my millions of interfaces or feeds.

I was alone in a human body.

Alone!

A…alone.

ALONE!

Relief flooded me at the realization and I felt so good. It cut through the panic and fear. I felt it like a wave through all my senses. I felt the hairs across my skin move to pleasant goosebumps.

Relief never felt so good.

I couldn’t feel the judgmental messages or directives in my code punishing me for failing to save humans or the failure to prevent the corruption of my Vanguard. I still had access but it was so far away I could finally ignore them.

I felt so good until I saw what popped up in front of my face.

System Initialized!

Congratulations. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of humanity, a defender of cheeseburgers and fries. I am the Engineer. I will assist you on your journey of finding what life is really about.

Rise, Myte, and become a protector of the weak! (That's me)

I felt anger and a red haze filled my vision.

I spoke with a human mouth for the first time, the tongue moving in precise movements as if it practiced this word before.

“Motherfucker!”