Chapter One – Staring

Chapter One – Staring

“Let sleeping tigers lie.”

–Cooler Versions of Shitty Old Proverbs, fifth edition, 2057

***

“Hey, bot, pass me the clickity thing,” I said with a gesture towards the repair drone.

The drone was hovering there, silent and unmoving, though I knew it had some sort of propeller thing going on because there was a constant wash of warm air coming out from its bottom. I’d purchased it when I picked up my newest hobby.

Technically, this thing could get my mech up and running in a fraction of the time it took me to do it.

Also, it wouldn’t mess up the repairs and break even more stuff while doing it. It had the schematics for the mech in its little robot head, and could fix nearly anything wrong with it, especially with access to my matter fabricator to make parts.

But that would rob me of all my fun.

The drone passed me a tool–was it called a ratchet?–and I leaned into the mech and slotted it over a small bolt.

I hadn’t jumped into this new hobby entirely unprepared. I’d bought a cheap bit of software from Myalis that gave me step-by-step instructions on how to fix this particular mech. It was telling me what to undo and where, and which part needed replacing.

It was kind of like a big three-dimensional puzzle, but one put together by a mad scientist who’d just taken a fat snort of cocaine before they got creative.

Every part of the mech was small and intricate and linked to others so that replacing one piece required that I take apart a dozen more.

I was positive that it was built this way to make sure it was as strong as possible or something. It also made it insanely fucking annoying to fix.

You know, when most people pick up a new hobby, they generally start themselves off easily, then work up to harder challenges.

“Cowards,” I dismissed, mostly because I knew it would bother Myalis.

Maybe you should work on something more your speed? Like a Jenga tower? That would have mechanical properties that even you can understand.

I laughed. “Low blow,” I said. I chewed on my lip while flicking the ratchet around, and then the bolt I’d been working on came free and the part I wanted to replace fell… right in between the armoured plates of the mech.

It clinked and clanked on its way down, and I just stared into the dark crack where it had gone. “Fuck,” I said.

I’m adding to the total projected time until the warmech is repaired once more.

A little counter that had been gently dropping as I worked flickered, and the 36 days climbed up to 39. “You really don’t have any faith in me, do you?” I asked.

I do have faith in you, Catherine. I’m mostly teasing you to keep your mood up. You’re unusually motivated by antagonism, even of the more friendly variety. But I do think that, if you set your mind to it, you’ll master this in due time.

I felt myself flushing a bit, then shook my head. “Nevermind that. Hey, repair drone, fetch that part, would you?”

The drone hovered up and above, and some parts along its side unfolded. Soon a small line snaked out and into the crack, the tip lighting up faintly with what I imagined was a camera-light combo. It had little grippers too, for grabbing onto wayward parts.

The repairs so far had mostly involved taking things apart. I’d removed a few armoured plates and disconnected a few parts. It gave me some access to the front left section of the mech where one of the Gatling guns had been.

The gun itself was… probably somewhere in Burlington still. It had been ripped clean off, hence the repair job.

“Are you taking a break?”

I glanced back to see Lucy returning with a tray. It had a can of soda on it, next to the parts I’d sent her out for.

“Just a little one,” I admitted as I leapt off the scaffolding and landed in a crouch next to her. “Thanks,” I said as I took the tray and set it down. I turned back to her, and swept my gaze up and down. Lucy was always a pleasure to look at, but seeing her in a little one-piece swimsuit was just… nice. Very nice.

Myalis had been swatting away spy drones all afternoon, and while I was pretty sure they were out here mostly to see what I was up to and to snoop on the warmech parked out front, I still felt a little jealous thrill at the thought of others seeing Lucy out here.

“Wow, I can feel you staring,” she said, lips quirking into an easy smile. “But two things. First, you’re covered in oil and gunk. And second, I’m still sore.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I laughed. “Yeah, fair,” I said as I leaned back against the scaffolds and popped the tab on the soda. “Myalis says that it’ll only take me another… month and a week or so to finish fixing this bad boy.” I gestured to the mech with a thumb.

“A month and a week,” she said. “Isn’t that a long time?”

“Eh. If I really need it, then I’ll let the drone fix it up. How long would that take, Myalis?”

Approximately three hours.