Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 62: Mecha Activated

Jace climbed down from the mecha as he shrugged. He was worried because of her wrath but honestly he did not feel he was at fault here.

{Not at fault?} Salem remarked directly in his mind.

Oh, please. It was for carnal release. I would have been fine if you found a companion to get some release with as well. Actually that might be a good idea, you seem a bit pent up.

That comment caused a crack in Salem's fake smile as she glared at him. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers causing him to flip upside down and land on his back.

"Jackass," Salem responded as she was growling. Elena did not know what to do while Ulin was invested in whatever entertaining thing was about to go down. Hiding her grin since it was usually Jace that was annoyed with Salem when they were at the academy.

"Can we talk about this later, I need to finish this and- one of you should stop Taylor it looks like she is about to get into a fight." Jace pointed out as Taylor was now loudly arguing with an engineer and it was catching attention.

"Damn it Taylor!" Ulin turned around and ran towards Taylor and the engineer who were now throwing hands.

"Fine, we can have 'that' conversation later." Salem answered begrudgingly. She took a moment to sigh then looked over at Elena, "then we can talk while you work and you can chime in when you feel the need to."

"Umm… Jace?" Elena asked, still feeling awkward about not knowing what was going on.

"Elena this is Salem, Salem this is Elena." He waved at the respective women while pulling himself up. "Salem was my roommate at the academy. As well as our designated class commander. Elena has been a good friend and companion while I have been on this station and even took care of me when I was badly injured." Jace introduced them while walking back to the mech he was only halfway done with what he needed to fix.

"Badly injured? How badly?" Salem asked in surprise, fully knowing how tough he was.

Jace shrugged, "not that bad, the doctors were just being fussy."

"He broke most of the bones in his body and was almost completely scarred along the side of his face. But they threw him into a medical vat so his injuries would not be as severe. He was in there for a few days before he even woke up." Elena began explaining, "Then when he left the hospital he had to stay confined to a wheelchair with minimal movement in order to heal properly. Actually until a few weeks ago he still had a cast on his right arm because all the bones in that arm were broken in several places."

Salem flinched and then frowned, "how is that considered not bad?" Glaring at Jace as he worked. "What do you consider bad and more importantly how did you manage to get that injured?"

Jace shrugged, "permanent maiming would be what I consider bad. Coma or worse would be pretty bad."

"That is an odd way to categorize injuries." Elena pointed out.

"Oh, you have no idea. He talks about things that would give normal people nightmares like it is nothing." Salem commented, "and he is completely trash at video games."

"Oh I know about the things he casually comments on but I have never gotten him to play any video games. He usually uses the excuse of being too busy to get out of it." Elena answered honestly. Jace had a bad feeling as the two began getting more into their conversation.

A few hours later he was done with the repairs as the ladies down below were sharing some food and alcohol that Elena's mother brought. He looked down and saw her in her piloting outfit.

"Mrs. Romav, they are ready for testing. I will help you with the startup sequence and then you will be in the hands of your capable engineers." Jace called down restraining himself from overhearing their conversation.

Once she climbed up he was waiting with the diagnostic screen open on his datapad. "Those are some fun stories your friends are sharing. Were you really part of a secret prank war between the students and the teachers?"

"Yes but eventually Dakota and I had to call a truce. He was far too experienced in pulling pranks and I was far too inventive with my own pranks. It was starting to cause psychological damage to other teachers and students." Jace answered honestly, smiling at the reminder of one of the memorable moments from his time at the academy.

"Ha! Well it looks like Elena will miss you, even if she decided to go on a journey at the same time as you leave I appreciate you helping her figure out something other than partying." Mrs. Romav told him honestly as she sat down in the mech's pilot seat.

"Yeah, well I just answered honestly as I saw it. Now start up and I will run the live diagnostic and then sync the mecha to your genetics and brain waves. After the diagnostic we will do the immersion test." Jace nodded at the gear that was hanging on the back of the mecha pilot's seat.

He then walked further back as the catwalk he was on began retracting along with everything else that was keeping the mech locked in place. Jace watched as the system diagnostic began. Externally the optical lens or rather the mech's eyes began glowing red as they activated.

Then as the cockpit closed up in the front there was a crackling as the external mics began working. "External communication check." Her voice came through the mech. Jace responded by giving a thumbs up.

"Internal receiver and visual system?" Jace asked over the comms quietly.

"Receiving transmission and yes I can see the thumbs up." She responded over the comms. Jace nodded and quickly started making notes on his datapad.

"How about when I yell!?!" Jace asked.

"External mics are picking it up." She answered.

Jace nodded and began stepping further back. He looked down and yelled at all the people watching and nearby. "STAND BACK! WE ARE GOING TO BE TESTING ITS MOVEMENT NOW!" He waited until the area was cleared out before turning to the mech and giving a thumbs up, "you are all good to start moving."

Instead of responding the mech started moving. It quickly stood up, causing itself to launch slightly in the air and fall down. The ground shook slightly and it nudged a nearby catwalk nearly collapsing it. "Sorry," Romav's voice came from the mech. "This thing works way better. I just have to move around a bit right?"

"To the entrance of the hanger and back."Jace answered as he began sorting through the diagnostic report and forwarded it to the Red Sanix's chief engineer. Aside from some adjustments everything looked to be in working order. So as she moved he had the mech register her genetics and brain waves as the primary operator, that way no one else could use the mech even if she died.

She quickly completely walked back and forth in the mech; the adjustment she made only took a few moments which was a testament to her skill as a pilot. Jace was honestly impressed since this went from a heavy weight and slow moving mech into a fast and agile mech with a greater source of mobility. As she arrived back at her mech's repair bay her genetics and brain waves were fully matched up with the mech.

"We are all ready for the immersion test. You can begin whenever you are ready!" Jace called out as he closely watched the monitors that were tracking her heart rate, brain activity, and blood pressure. All these things were observed by her pilot suit and the cockpit.

"Okay, beginning now." She said through her mech as there was a quiet almost undetectable hum that Jace could hear now. Most might miss it, but he could still hear it.

Despite hearing the strange hum he could not figure out where it was coming from. As he closely watched the mech he saw the moment her immersion system activated because along the mech's visible skeleton there appeared neon green lights that he could only assume were along those thin lines that were along the skeleton.

"Umm… Steel I don't think immersion systems are supposed to be this good." The mecha began a smooth movement of raising the hand with a sword and looking over it. It looked as natural as a person doing it. Jace looked at his datapad and frowned at what he saw. There was supposed to be some change when she activated the system but instead it was too smooth. "I feel like I can move the mech like I move my own body."

"Uh, yeah. I am guessing it is…" Jace started to explain it to calm her down but gave up immediately. "Actually I have no idea what is going on. I am guessing this is the original mechs programming activating in cooperation with the immersion system. See if you can stop it first then we can run some more tests while it's operating." He told her with a guess.