Mecha Corps (34 page)

“To where?” Tomita thundered, cutting off Cruz. “This was the impossible location. Impossible to imagine, impossible to find, impossible to assault. And we nearly lost it today!”

“Rayder was significantly handicapped by the maelstrom,” Dr. Roth said. “He was only able to bring in a single armored Displacement Drive ship. The others had to withdraw, which gave us a competitive advantage.”

Tomita glared at Dr. Roth, blowing out a big breath. “Over the past decade, we’ve provided trillions of Union Units in funding for your cadet-destroying Mecha—”

“And the return has been—,” Roth began.

“I will finish!” Tomita thundered. “And you will hear me! We have funded everything you asked. Three generations of BioMecha. A hidden training facility on Earth—a veritable underground city. The most remote and secure base of operations ever imagined by the Union, maintained at great cost in a condensing planet. All for nothing! Net result: you were found and nearly taken over by a single man in a single Displacement Drive ship.”

“Rayder is hardly a man, and the
Atlas
is hardly a single Displacement Drive ship. If you consider Rayder’s captured battleships and—”

“If you consider how big the rest of Rayder’s forces are! If you consider his next move will likely be to drop an asteroid or two on Mecha Base, like he did on Geos!”

Roth fell silent, looking away from the camera. Cruz’s jaw worked, but he said nothing.

“I’m shutting it down,” Tomita said.

“What?” Dr. Roth asked.

“All of it. Mecha Base. Mecha Training Camp. Mecha Corps.”

All the color drained out of Roth’s face. “You can’t do that,” he whispered.

“Not unilaterally,” Congressperson Tomita admitted. “But I believe I can swing it. We need to stop wasting our time on fairy-tale technologies that simply don’t work.”

“Sir, we could follow Rayder and finish the job, sir!” Matt blurted. He couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Tomita grimaced. “Your HuMax final-world coordinates ? Another fairy tale?”

“It’s worth pursuing, sir,” Yve said, joining Dr. Roth. “Dr. Stanford was closest to that division of HuMax research.”

“Even if true, we’d never prevail against Rayder at the HuMax world,” Tomita said.

“You seem very confident of that,” Dr. Roth said.

“Of course! Do you know what the HuMax achieved? Have you seen what they did . . .” Tomita trailed off, looking suddenly embarrassed.

“The Union seems to know an awful lot about the HuMax,” Cruz broke in. “But I’ve never been enlightened.”

Dr. Roth laughed, a harsh, mechanical sound. “They know everything,” he said softly.

“Dr. Roth, I warn you—,” Tomita said.

Roth nodded. “Yes, I know, speak now or speak never again. It is always that way with the HuMax.”

Silence fell over the room. For a while, the only sound was the whistle of air escaping into space.

“I don’t care,” Matt said. “We can take him.”

“We’ll finish it,” Michelle added.

“Send us after Rayder,” Soto said.

“Pure insanity,” Tomita said. “You have no idea what you’re up against!”

“No,” Dr. Roth said. “It is pure insanity not to try to finish Rayder now.”

“Dr. Roth, you pursue your own agenda, not the Union’s!” Tomita barked.

Roth smiled. “I thought that the final destruction of the HuMax survivors and their descendants was the entire point of the Union.”

Tomita’s face went deadly still. “Dr. Roth, you speak treason.”

Roth shook his head. “I have nothing but devotion for the Union.” He looked around at everyone, as if daring them to argue. Then he started shrugging off his coat.

“What are you doing?” Tomita asked.

“Demonstrating my loyalty.” He unbuttoned his dress shirt and peeled off his undershirt.

Gasps came from both the video and from the room.

Shining metallic ridges rose out of Dr. Roth’s skin. Gleaming veins spread from his chest to his sides, weaving together in a meshwork at his shoulders and arms. Tiny ports shining with gold ran down his sternum. A polished jewel was set into the center of his chest.

“What have you done to yourself?” Tomita breathed.

“I have simply installed the components necessary to complete advanced biomechanical integration. It is part of my work. For the Union.”

Matt was simultaneously revolted and fascinated. So that was why Roth could use Hellions, Demons—any Mecha—and suffer no ill effects.

Would I do that?
Matt wondered. But he already knew the answer:
To get Rayder, yes.

Nobody said anything. Congressperson Tomita’s image slid sideways and dissolved in bit-rot before coming back solid.

“I propose we allow the Mecha Corps to have their shot at Rayder,” Dr. Roth said.

“Have you calculated the chance of a three-Demon Merge standing against—”

Roth laughed. “This team has not yet even achieved a Merge. But they’ve already accomplished impossible things.”

I can do things nobody else can,
Matt thought, smiling.

“Seems like an excellent plan to me,” Cruz said.

Captain Ivers nodded. “I’ll be the taxi service.”

Tomita glared from one man to another. “I will still lobby for the end of the Mecha program!”

“But you won’t achieve that this afternoon,” Cruz told him. He turned to the cadets and Soto, his eyes sparkling. “Get him. Get Rayder. No matter what it takes. Those are your orders.”

Matt’s heart leapt so high, he didn’t think he’d be able to speak. But he shouted, “Yes, sir!” in unison with Michelle and Soto.

 

Matt’s, Michelle’s, and Major Soto’s Demons clung to the
Helios
’ exposed scaffolding. The
Helios
’ unfinished Mecha dock hadn’t been large enough to hold them, so they had to ride on the skin of the armored ship.

“Isn’t this dangerous?” Michelle asked, her comms icon flaring. “I’ve heard that if the Displacement field goes unstable—”

Matt barked a laugh, cutting her off. The irony. He remembered all too well wanting to lie out on the surface of UUS
Ulysses
with her and watch the stars change. Now he’d get his chance, as soon as they were under way from Mecha Base.

“Old wives’ tale,” Major Soto said. “We’re completely safe. Just don’t go on a jump before we Displace.”

“Yep,” Matt said. “No problem.”

“Uh-huh.” Michelle didn’t sound very sure.

“I’ve done it a thousand times in a space suit,” Matt told her. “I did it on my way to Earth.”

“You did?” Michelle sounded stunned.

Matt nodded. “It’s really nothing to worry about.”

Michelle’s comms icon remained silent. Matt searched for words to reassure her, but with his heart pumping double time in anticipation of meeting Rayder, he couldn’t think of anything

Near Mecha Base, the UUS
Cerberus
powered toward the twisted wreckage of the Demon Dock. Probably to take Dr. Roth and Yve back to the Union. They’d shuttled out before Matt, Michelle, and Soto had arrived on the
Helios
.

“First Displacement in ten,” Captain Ivers said, his comms icon lighting.

Matt’s talons gripped the steel girder involuntarily tighter, scarring the pristine metal. He made himself relax. The girder groaned, and Michelle’s Demon turned its visor toward him, as if amused.

“Displace,” Captain Ivers said.

Suddenly, they were out in open space. Michelle gasped. Matt grinned. It was almost as good as being on the surface, lying out in nothing but a space suit. He wanted to reach out and take her hand, but he kept his talons locked on the scaffolding.

Another Displacement. Another. Silence stretched between the three Demonriders. They’d be outside for well over an hour—it was 155 Displacements to the HuMax final world.

“You really think we can do it?” Major Soto said, his voice echoing and hollow.

“Do what?” Matt asked.

“Take out Rayder.”

“Of course!” Matt said. He was amazed Soto had even asked. Soto, the veteran of the biggest Mecha engagements out there. Always in control, always strong and confident. The Hellion pilot who’d mastered the Demon against all odds.

Silence from Soto. As the Displacements ticked away, Soto’s words grew like a cancer in Matt. Maybe he was right to ask. They’d never even tried to Merge with Soto. And even if they Merged, it was only a third-order configuration, not a fourth-order one. They were missing a fourth pilot. Would they have enough power to overcome Rayder?

Matt shivered, suddenly ill at ease.

Mesh feedback,
he thought.
Amplifying my emotions.
But knowing that didn’t help.

“We can only do our best,” Michelle said. But her voice was uncertain too.

“We’ll do it,” Matt said. “We’ve done the impossible. We’ll do it again.”

“You’ve done the impossible,” Michelle mumbled. “Not us.”

“We don’t know what we’re getting into.” Soto’s voice quavered.

Matt searched for a way to bring the team back, but Captain Ivers cut in before he could say anything.

“I’m betting you can do it,” Ivers said.

Silence from the Demonriders, but Matt sensed the chance to change the mood. “How much, sir?” he said.

“How much what?” the captain replied.

“How much will you bet?”

Ivers guffawed. “Five units.”

Matt laughed, and Michelle and Soto joined him. Suddenly, the mood didn’t seem so oppressive.

“That’s not much,” Michelle told Ivers.

“When you do this, you won’t need my pocket change,” Ivers shot back. “You’ll be the biggest heroes the Union has ever known.”

More laughter echoed through the Mecha; then everyone dropped into comfortable silence for a time.

Space enveloped them in its glory. Every star like a perfect pinprick in velvet. The shining alloy of the
Helios
’ armor, lit only by the distant stars. Ahead of them, a vague red-purple smear grew slightly larger. A nebula like a black eye glowering down at them.

What waited for them there? Would they Displace into the middle of a fleet, charged and ready to crush them?

Matt set his comms to PRIVATE: CADET M. LOWELL ➙ CAPTAIN J. IVERS.

“How much do you know about the HuMax final world, sir?” Matt asked.

Iver’s comms icon lit, but he hesitated before he spoke. “Not much, unfortunately.”

“How much does the Union know, Captain?”

Another pause from Ivers. “A hell of a lot more than I. I knew the Union and the HuMax are intertwined. But that’s about it. Tomita surely has his reasons why he doesn’t want you to go. But I don’t know what they are.”

The Union and the HuMax are intertwined.
Matt shivered. How much so? What did that mean? A cold hand clutched his heart.

But he couldn’t think about that now. He had to stay focused.

Matt’s Perfect Record unreeled the vision of his father’s death once again. Matt squeezed his eyes shut against the image of Rayder’s thin, cruel smile as he said those final words.
Courage must have its reward.

No. Obsession would have its reward. Obsession with revenge had set him on this course. Everything else was an excuse. His life had been folded into a single purpose, like a paper airplane. He’d launched himself on a singular mission, and today it would pay off.

Matt breathed, deep and ragged, as he imagined Rayder cowering under his Demon. Only this time, it wasn’t courage that would have its reward. Evil would have its reckoning, and the payoff would be death.

And when that was done, he could finally do . . . whatever it was he wanted to do.

What do I want to do?
Matt wondered.

 

They were deep in the nebula now. Entire swatches of stars were masked by its black-purple tentacles. A single blue-white sun lay before them, little more than a bright star, like Earth’s sun as seen from the orbit of Saturn.

Thirty seconds to final Displacement.

“So what’s the plan?” Soto asked.

Matt started. Soto was the leader.
Isn’t he?
It didn’t make sense that they were looking at him to lead.

Or did it?

Act like a leader,
he told himself.

“Kill Rayder,” he said, finally, low and rough. “Go home.”

Soto chuckled. “Simple. But I can go with that.”

“So can I,” Michelle breathed.

Matt counted down the seconds to the final Displacement, his heart hammering double time.

They Displaced.

The
Helios
snapped into existence over a world painted in blue-tinted darkness. A white dwarf sun hung close and huge, larger than earth’s moon. Solar storms and gray-black pockets of magnetic flux writhed on its surface. Matt’s radiation readings wavered at levels twenty times higher than long-term human tolerance.

Human tolerance,
Matt thought. Not HuMax tolerance. Their carefully designed genetic backup and repair system made them relatively immune to radiation, unless the exposure was massive. They couldn’t walk into a nuclear reactor or survive a nearby atomic blast, but the radiation levels of this system were well within their comfort zone.

This system. The Demon’s star charts had refused to give it a name or even a numeric descriptor. The overlays on his POV remained stubbornly set at LOCATION: UNKNOWN (0.0,0.0,0.0) (JOTUNHEIM).

Matt’s Perfect Record brought back a single line from an Ancient Human History lecture. Jotunheim was the land of the giants in Norse mythology. It was also one of the places where Ragnarok, the end of the world, would be ushered in.

It’s an appropriate name,
Matt thought. The HuMax were giants in their own right, and they almost brought about the end of the human race.