Episode 15: Unit 34 #
Joji dutifully complied with Director’s Ryu’s suggestion and made his way early in the day to the Seraph to report in with Kaelen. He wasn’t fond of the idea of complying, or following orders of any sort, but he did feel a sense of relief in having a sense of direction for the day.
His walk to Kaelen was swift, aided with the compelling thoughts of being able to sync with the Seraph. With each step he felt more energised.
To his dismay, although, perhaps not completely by surprise, Kaelen had requested Joji to his lab, away from the hangar which was housing the Seraph. The data that Kaelen had needed was in fact baseline figures from Joji himself. The excitement that had powered him in the morning had faded away like someone had opened up the earth itself at the bottom of the ocean - the waters flowing away to nothingness.
His return journey was slow and, as he was fully aware, extremely sulky.
Each passing person triggered an irrational anger that festered and brewed within him. The white lights scratched his patience, and even the uneven floors were adding to the fire that had been lit that morning.
“Joji!”
He turned to see Mikkel, fighting to not show that he was in fact now out of breath.
“Joji- I came to find you,” he said, breathing quite intensely through his nose, “you’re needed for the mech training. Director Ryu is insisting on it, Thorne isn’t too happy about it, but well, is he ever too happy?”
“Aris Thorne is leading the mech training?” asked Joji.
“Yes, yes, you can think of him as the main military man, as far as stuff goes on this base anyway. I’d be wary of some of those pilots though.”
“In what way?”
“How do I say this politely… they’re the kind of kids who should have had a smack round the ear. Giving mechs and sending them out as boots on the ground only inflates already fragile egos. I guess it’ll all be fun for you to find out, I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes!”
Mikkel smiled, in his cheerful, cheeky way.
“Anyway, come on lad, otherwise I’ll be in the shit for not getting you in time.”
Joji followed Mikkel through a winding maze of tunnels that he had yet to travel through during his stay at the base. As they got closer to their destination, he became more aware of the smell of metal in the air and a certain ruggedness to the walls that was not present closer to his room and the main hangars. It was not that they were less maintained, but rather, more worn and harshly treated. A growing sense of unease filled his stomach, that Joji put down to the anxiety of what was to come.
They turned to the right through a narrower tunnel with a closed door at the end. Mikkel tapped away at the control panel and it opened up revealing a small room; but at one end opened up into the largest hangar that Joji had ever seen. So large was the hangar and so bright and numerous were the lights that he was hit with the sensation that he was in fact in a room overlooking a giant outdoor courtyard. He walked slowly to the overlooking platform and saw beneath him a huge array of obstacles and turrets that resembled a make-shift town.
Then, to his left he saw several armoured mechs.
They were tall and clunky in design, much like the UGA mechs that all boys had to learn to pilot as part of their compulsory training at the age of 16. They contrasted heavily to the Seraph - which had a sleek and elegant beauty to it; these mechs were cumbersome and functional looking, and had obviously been repaired and put together with many replacement parts over the years. They were metallic in colour with some parts covered in dark paint.
“Sekko, what are you doing?” came a voice from his side.
It was Aris Thorne, arms folded and face grimaced and angry.
“I’m here for the mech training, Director Ryu-”
“Are you trying to be funny, boy? I mean why are you up here and not in your mech?” replied a scathing Aris.
“I’ve only just got here, how am I supposed to know where I’m meant to go?”
“And you’ll address me as sir whilst you’re here, Sekko. You might have had the good luck to find the Seraph, but here you’re just at the bottom of the pile, do you understand?”
Joji’s mind flicked back to his previous encounter with Aris, and suddenly the temptation to throw a punch once more came to the forefront of his consciousness. The wonder and awe that had swept over him at seeing the arena and hangar below had dissipated and frustration and anger had bubbled up inside. He saw the smug and goading look on Aris’ face, and he felt compelled to take action; not in haste or on a wave of emotion, but rather with a clinical clarity of purpose.
“Joji,” cut across Mikkel from behind Aris, “if you go down there you can follow the corridor down to some lockers. Get changed and then introduce yourself to the mechanics - they’ll get you loaded up into a mech.”
Joji nodded in agreement, and, sharing one final glance at Aris, walked off to get ready.
“You’re too soft, Mikkel,” retorted Aris with a hint of condescension.
“What are you trying to achieve, Thorne?”
“I will train my pilots how I deem fit, Mikkel. I’m in charge here, don’t you forget it.”
“And don’t you forget,” Mikkel replied as he made his way to the edge of the room to look over the hangar, “that he’s not one of your pilots. Oh, and I won’t always be here if he decides to kick your ass again.”
Aris smirked and closed his eyes before turning to walk away.
Joji followed the corridor and stairs down to another closed door; this time it slid open as he approached. He found himself in what seemed to be an ordinary, and somewhat underwhelming, locker room.
Lockers framed two of the walls and a set of benches were set out neatly between. Upon one of the benches were what he assumed were the clothes that he was expected to wear.
Joji had experienced piloting mechs before. Seeing the folded overalls and thick fire retardant underlayers brought back fleeting memories of his time at school, and the UGA academy. Every boy, once they had their 16th birthday, was required to spend their last year in the UGA academy; learning to pilot mechs, learning basic surveillance and technologies, and receiving special education as to the UGA military processes.
Joji had seen it for what it was; the next phase of indoctrination of the youth and their processing into the UGA machine. The key, he had found, was to do enough - don’t stand out or excel, but don’t lag so far behind that you become a problem. Those special achievers were handpicked to start a glorious career in the UGA inner workings in whatever specialty that one displayed a particular knack for. Those who did just enough, faded into the shadows - expected to lead an average life into whatever sector the UGA decided needed more manpower.
Joji started to change; the thick layers were scratchy and coarse and before he had an opportunity to even put on the overalls, he felt his body overheating. The heaviness of the material restricted his movement and the material scratched at his skin. He put the overalls on and the stench of dry sweat and fuel covered him. He was being strangled by the dense clothing and offensive smells of his clothes - and now he needed to figure out just how to arrange the mech harness so that it didn’t cut him to pieces or thrown about when in the cockpit of an unstable and clunky mech.
He relented and did the best he could - but he felt as though he was a thick glove being tied up with an ever tightening rope.
He bundled his clothes into a locker, and made his way towards the whirring and grinding of the hangar. As Joji got closer, the clamouring and sound of sparks and machines grew, so too did the smell of metal in the air.
Joji made his way to the workshop that opened out into the larger part of the hangar that housed the makeshift town. He saw a series of mechs lined up below a grated metal mezzanine that looked to operate as a convenient access point for the mechs.
Machinery and mech parts littered the workshop - it was dirtied and messy, but in an industrial purposeful way, that Joji assumed had some logic or purpose. As he weaved his way between the various hazards, he saw a group of mechanics wearing similar overalls to himself, but were so covered in grease, rust, scorch marks, and seemingly every other possible substance known to man and otherwise, that they were no longer the dark grey of Joji’s overalls, but were an indistinguishable assortment of browns and blacks.
“Sekko?” asked one of the mechanics as they noticed Joji making his way towards them.
“That’s me,” replied Joji.
“Right,” the mechanic had a thick and rough accent, and rubbed his dirt ridden face and dark beard, “Unit 34 there is ready for you, you know what you’re doing?”
“Are they standard UGA units?”
“Aye, well mostly - they’ve had some tinkering and the like, but got the default ai and controls.”
Joji had forgotten about the ai syncing on the mechs. He knew, of course, that he would need to sync, but the experience is altogether different than with the Seraph. The Seraph came with a relief, a calm, and a resonance that felt like diving into a still pool and floating and breathing effortlessly, being completely at one with himself; bliss.
His previous experiences with mech syncing was not so relaxing. It felt like an itch in his mind, where his impulses and intuition was being guided and slowed by an external force. It was like being hungover, but being compelled to act against your better judgement, or whatever was left of it. Prolonged use grated him.
Joji made his way up the ladder onto the metal walkway, and climbed about Unit 34. He clipped his harness into the cockpit the best he could, and before he could check, the bearded mechanic was reaching across him to do the same.
“All set?” asked the mechanic.
Joji sighed and looked around the cockpit. It was dirty, illogical, and claustrophobic.
“I guess so.”
“Fire it up then, here we go!” The mechanic disappeared and shut the mech’s cockpit hatch, leaving Joji sitting alone, strapped to the innards of the rugged robot. Unlike the Seraph, the cockpit had physical viewing panes - not windows as such, but the light got in and even when the system wasn’t online, he could still see outside and look around.
Here we go…
Episode 14 - Burden to Bear
Episode 16 - Coming soon
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