With reluctance, I let her inspect my injuries. “They wore masks,” I replied as she turned my head side to side.

  She glanced to Lance. “Cowards. I will find out who they are.” When she looked back to me, she said, “Good choice on no healer. Now you go show ‘em.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She let me go, looking out to the others. “I’ve assigned mechs to your stats—you can move them around your teams. You’re not stuck with what I give you. You will be able to upgrade and more as you progress. Sound good?”

  “Very much so. I’m looking forward to seeing how this all runs.”

  “My squad consists of a full unit with your men and women. There are 216 fully combat and capable men and women in there, who are under my command,” Lance said. “As you know, you’ll be training and working with Edward Kerns. At the moment, he’s lead. I believe you’re in the running for it too.”

  “Only when you think I am capable, sir,” I said.

  “Good.” Lance then moved up and down my team’s lines. “Your bays are third on the left. Assigned mechs will have your designation above them. This morning will be simple. Manoeuvre and control. You haven’t used anything like these babies before. They’re very different to the mechs on the other side. Take it slowly. They’re not armed as yet. They will be.”

  He stopped in front of the mech wolves. “This is the first time we have met your species, and I am impressed by your stats and your learning capabilities. Those will come with prejudice. You’re above the curve, and they won’t like it.” Quill’s lips curled, and I could see his frustration. He held his tongue, though. “They will be educated, just as they have been with any new species we’ve brought to the fold. If Kyle trusts you, I trust you.” Lance held Quill’s eyes with his, even though Quill stood heads taller than he. Then Lance held out his hand. “I really want to get to know you more, Quill. Would you join me after the first bout of training?”

  Quill glanced to me, and I just nodded. It wasn’t special attention for no reason. Quill’s curl changed as he spoke. “Of course, it would be my honour.” He placed his fist to his chest.

  “Then without further ado, let’s get you in and inside your mechs. Any issues if they crop up, the command channels are as follows: - 3 - to your team lead, Kyle. - 2 - to the mech merge lead, which is Edward, understand. And - 1 - direct to myself and Ohara, to be used in dire circumstances only.”

  Everyone nodded, and I looked to Ohara. “Ready,” I said.

  She moved to lead with Lance behind her, and we all followed.

  There were many faces inside as we walked into the building and past the mech bays to each side. They were more than impressive. Six sets of six, 216 mechs. Lance pointed to our area. It was easy to see Edward and his crews. They lined up in perfect parade display, waiting for Ohara to say something. She moved to stand before him.

  “I’m watching.” Then she turned and walked away.

  Lance pointed to the mechs. “Lock and load. Outside in five!”

  Edward stayed looking at me. “You good?”

  “Ready for everything you got,” I replied.

  “Good, let’s see how you do.”

  I knew Edward wasn’t going to hold back, and I didn’t expect him to; I knew my teams would do everything I asked of them and more.

  I turned and looked to the mechs. All the others had found theirs already. There was one left. Mine.

  I stepped up towards it, looked up at the strong steel legs, the sharp angles and body. Its long mechanical arms that packed power with hydraulics and kenosi. The cockpit shield shimmered, waiting for commands to open. I put my hand to the metal and watched as the shield faded. Then I climbed up. You any experience with this style? I asked Asht.

  I haven’t, I’m afraid. I have only seen those in your memories. All of this is new to me.

  Well, let’s learn together then. I dropped down into the cockpit. It fit like a glove. The lid closed around me with a soft thunk.

  I pulled up the details from its stats and started the energy pooling around my systems, alongside harnessing my kenosi, now I was feeling free to do so.

  I waited till everything before me clicked into place. The language was similar, just not something I could grasp right away. The layout was slightly different as well. 3D image to my left instead of my right. Laid out to match but on opposite sides to the weapons section confused me. I need to switch these.

  Xe replied, appearing on my screen for a moment. Simple switch. Let me. Less than a second later and everything was where I was used to it. This was better. I took a tentative step up and forwards. It responded very quickly. A lot faster than I was used to, and I almost overstepped.

  I righted myself quickly and thought a little on the slower side with my steps and timing.

  That felt better. Then it felt off again. Something was wrong? It felt wrong. Being in here felt wrong.

  Asht, I asked. You feeling okay?

  Bit strange, to be honest. I can’t put much finger on it.

  I agreed with him. I keyed in for my teams. “How are you doing?”

  “All green,” came some of the replies.

  That was good.

  “I have red on three sides,” Quill said. The others as they headed on outside, and I glanced around till I spotted his tag above his mech. I moved to his side.

  With kenosi activated, I reached forward and touched the side of his mech, opening up the flow between myself and the mechanics. Molecular Insight was easily sparked.

  There were a couple of wires that were out of line. I didn’t think it would take me too long to sort. But I had to open the cockpit up. Flick of the switch and I was able to reach out and feel things better.

  “See what you need?” Quill asked.

  “Yes, give me a minute. I’m almost there.”

  I could feel the ground shiver beneath me. And I turned to see a mech behind me, then looked back to my work.

  “What’s wrong?” Edward asked through comms.

  “Three red lights,” Quill said for me, as I concentrated on seeing around the inside of his mech. Right down to the molecules and nites he had whirring around attempting their own version of a fix.

  “What’s he doing?” The question was about me but said to Quill.

  “Kyle’s using Molecular Insight to see inside the mech and what’s wrong.”

  “That’s actually a skill?”

  “Kenosi, special, yes.”

  “You know how he’s doing it?”

  “Yes, we all do.” It was the way Quill paused. “And you don’t?”

  This interested me; did we have something that they didn’t? A real advantage?

  I was very curious as to what this meant for us. I glanced towards him. “Step closer and I think I can show you.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ll try.” It didn’t bother me showing them something new.

  Edward’s mech did come in closer, and he popped the cockpit so he could see further. I saw what he was doing in regard to trying to watch, but he had no actual clue. He didn’t seem to be able to see anything. Or even grasp what I was doing with some explanations.

  I could see his frustration, and when I finally managed to fix the issues on the inside. He wasn’t happy that I had something he didn’t.

  “Good to go, Quill,” I said and pulled back.

  “Yep, all green, thanks!”

  I tapped the side of his mech and closed mine up, then I got a DM from Edward.

  I accepted it.

  Edward - I’d really like to see some more of that, if you’d show me at some point?

  Me - I’ll do my best.

  MOLECULAR INSIGHT – RANK 71

  I followed the both of them outside into the arena—this was huge. The teams were already practicing a merge.

  My team channel was going wild.

  Naylar - Have you seen this?

  Los - That’s amazing, I can’t wait to try.

  Paul - That is sick.

  Craig - We’re really doing that?

  It was going to be interesting for sure. I really did want to try it. But honestly, the idea of giving myself up to Edward . . . I was struggling with it. I was also struggling with not knowing any logistics before actually trying it. They were, in my opinion, going through everything backwards, and I felt this was just testing us, to see how far they could push before we stopped it. I would let them because I wanted to do things their way.

  You can record everything that happens, right? I need a record to go through like we would on the ship, I asked inside. Xe, Asht?

  Yes, of course. We will make sure nothing is missed. Do not worry, Asht said.

  I was worried, though. Very worried.

  It is because you do not trust any of them yet, Asht said.

  Yeah, I don’t know how I can build on that.

  He’s trying to help in his own way.

  Moving to take a position before the others, we watched. Over the main command comms, I asked, “Is there anything different we need to know?”

  “If you can complete a merge in six, you can do it with thirty-six,” Edward said. “The only difference is I will assign you a spot due to your mech calibres.”

  That made sense; we wouldn’t just slot in anywhere. It had to be organised. Something I would have to get used to, I was sure. Organising thirty-five other amounts of stats and numbers. Ugh, my head was breaking already.

  There will be an easy way of sorting them when you’re ready, Asht said. Do not worry about that just yet.

  He was right. I needed to listen and learn.

  “So,” Edward said, standing before us all. “You’ll be assigned a number. When the merge is called, you’ll see we start with thirty-six and thirty-five. Then build upwards. We’ll start slow, so you can get used to the transfer, then we’ll work on speed through the day. Ohara expects us to be able to merge in one thought, one breath. That’s less than it takes her to breathe in and out. About five seconds.”

  That was intense . . .

  I received my number: twenty-one

  So I was, by the looks of it, part of the torso. I wouldn’t be doing much there, I guess. This felt like punishment from the start. But I pushed the thoughts aside and focussed on the actual job. A wave of something washed through me, and I shook myself to try to shake it off. Was it something I ate?

  Edward was quick though, forcing my feelings aside even more. He called for the merge, and the order came through to the mech.

  MEGA-MERGE INITIATED

  ACCEPT

  Y/N

  I clicked the Y. We were doing it. It was fantastic to see the others start off. Each mech had a numbered position. Starting with the feet, one and two. They both stood solid where the merge was to complete.

  Most of the order at the bottom were Edward’s guys. Numbers three and four ran towards the feet positions, quickly followed by some of ours. As their connections moved and melded together, it was easy for me to see why they were fast at it, but we weren’t. The noise of clicking and melding machinery was also loud.

  I never expected that, I said to Asht.

  There’s a lot more power building here. They’re bound to be loud.

  Moving up the torso was much slower. My team fit in when asked. I could hear on the internal comms how it felt, one or two complaints as well already. But it was slow—it was taking time.

  I couldn’t see us getting this down in five seconds. Ever.

  When it got to my turn on top of the torso, I was going to have to make a run for it. That leap was not only a leap of faith, but quite a distance to get up there.

  With a thought and slight use of the boosters, I jumped, and I was in place. It felt really strange. The many voices in here, most I didn’t know, and I had just handed myself over to be used like a pawn. This wasn’t what I’d been accustomed to, and I didn’t like it.

  MEGA-MERGE - RANK 1 ACHIEVED

  The others joined the merge, and all the voices came at me at once. I was struggling with everything about it.

  But I held on.

  I don’t feel good, Asht said. Like, really not good.

  I clicked the channel I wanted to comm’d my team. “I feel really off,” I said. “Everyone else, okay?”

  There were confirms of, “We’re all good, still,” and, “Green here.”

  But I started to feel worse and worse.

  Then it flashed all red around me.

  MEGA-MERGE FAILING

  The world collapsed around me, and I landed with a thud. I blinked. What the hell?

  It didn’t take long before I had a mech standing and leaning over me, screaming. I couldn’t hear anything. I presumed it was shouting at me, doing something . . . but my head. Man, it hurt.

  Eventually I saw red, red everywhere.

  Asht spoke. We’re down to ten percent health. I do not understand why either.

  I popped the cockpit open, and even though I was in the middle of a practice field, I got out. I got out and threw up all over the feet of the mech before me.

  It was Hiroto who was first out of his mech and at my side. “What happened?”

  I tried to look at him. The world spun, spun so fast. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

  Hiroto looked up at the bigger mech. “Back off, Edward. Lead or not, he’s not going anywhere.” I saw the mech step away, Hiroto whirled around and shouted, “Tyto!”

  My second was also at my side then, kneeling down to my level. His hand on my shoulder, healing energies crossing over with ease. As the world around me stopped its spinning, I could look into his face.

  “I felt it,” Tyto said to me.

  “Felt what?” Hiroto asked.

  “Something in my mech was bad,” I replied.

  “Bad? How is that possible?”

  “‘Tampered with’ bad. I don’t know all the people in the teams; I can’t say for sure. But it was intentional. Poison, something.”

  “Someone’s still out to hurt him, and they’re on our team?”

  I could only nod. “They knew exactly how to target me, yes.”

  “We need the doctor out here,” Hiroto said.

  Lance’s message came through to my team. “Dr Herin is on his way. He’s watching all of you. Will be with you in a minute.”

  “You said you might know who it is?” I asked Hiroto.

  “I’m not sure. It was really difficult to do anything in there, like they were blocking all of us. We were nothing more than batteries.”

  I could only nod. It was awful. In the distance, I could just about make out a vehicle making its way over to us.

  12

  I could see Lance and Edward talking at the edge of the field. But at least the doctor was almost here.

  The notification flashed before me.

  UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE INVADING SYSTEMS - KENOSI IN FLUX

  KENOSI WILL RISE AND DIP WITH THE EFFECTS, CAUSING AN EXPLOSION EFFECT IF THE OWNER IS NOT IN CONTROL OF HIS FACULTIES

  What the fuck? I had to stay conscious and in control of myself or I’d blow up? Kill everyone around me? What?

  Edward was out of his mech and stomping over in person. “You will not ignore any of my messages,” he spat at me.

  My team was about ready to lynch him. Looking up with my kenosi fluctuating wildly, I sparked it. “Does it look like I am capable of answering any of your stupid messages?”

  Sparks from my kenosi as it pulsed in and out around me lit the ground. The colour faded and twisted as much as my stomach was, and I wanted to throw up again. There was nothing left, so I dry heaved instead.

  Edward raised his hand, waving. A few moments later there were literally five other people surrounding us. I didn’t want the attention, or for people to see me like this, but it was obvious I wasn’t getting out of it without everyone seeing.

  Dr Herin kneeled before me. “I need to get you back to the med hangar, if we can.”

  “Get the others away from me,” I ordered to Hiroto and Tyto. “I don’t feel safe.”

  Tyto nodded and with only a look moved them all backwards. Edward kept glancing at me, and all I would do was glare. He knew this was coming. There was no way for me to tell who had done it. Someone in that merge had specifically attacked me in a way I’d never been attacked before.

  Xe, can we try to figure out what the hell hit me in there?

  I don’t have a clue, I’m sorry. Dr Herin might be your best to figure out this with. He’s more experience with kenosi at your level.

  I figured. Thanks.

  Dr Herin motioned for me to try to stand. “We’re not allowed on the field with the shuttle. Sorry.”

  With my knees hurting, I decided to give it a shot. I wobbled. Then I managed to stand, mostly on my own.

  “That’s good, if we get you to the edge of the training yard.”

  “That’s easy,” Tyto said from a distance and waved Dylan over in his mech. “Spot of transport for the lead.”

  “Of course,” Herin said. “Thank you. There’s a med shuttle bus waiting for us.”

  I looked up at the mech as the large arm reached down. “You better not drop me,” I said.

  I could swear I heard Dylan on the inside laughing.

  I stepped onto the hand and gripped tight as the large machine moved slow and steady to the edge of the field. The doctors and team were no doubt rushing behind me.

  Dylan dropped me down nice and steady, and I opened the shuttle bus without thinking, climbing in to sit as best I could in the back.

  I held my hands out focussing on the kenosi, trying to see why it felt off, bad. I thought back to the many poisons I’d come across. Nothing had been flagged by the system.

  The kenosi still sparked in and out, colour fading.

  I have no experience of it, Asht said. I’m sorry.

  We’ll figure it out.

  I saw another mech arriving, and sadly I then watched as Edward’s team carried on with their practice without me.

  What had I failed at this time? My body couldn’t cope. Seemed weird, especially with how powerful Lance and Herin had said I was the other day.