92 M1 - Term 2, Round 5 (2/2)
”Enough,” Mace scolded, heavily this time. ”Look at the river, its beautiful at night isn't it?”
Daedo looked to his left, ”Ah, yeah, if you say so.”
”Bah,” Mace said, ”Sometimes you're the smartest person in the world, and others you're thick as constructofoam.”
”Ah, yeah, if you say so,” Daedo responded totally bewildered by the accusation. In his opinion he deserved neither, it wasn't him coming up with all the breakthroughs it was the mystery box. Other than the muscle like mesh compound supporting both the mech and the exo he hadn't really done much. He couldn't even solve the cosmological constant.
”You don't even realise you repeated the same response,” Mace said sadly.
”Did I?” Daedo asked, and after a quick review, he realised she was right. He figured he must have auto-answered to save thinking time.
”Ay, its da rich kids,” a kid sitting on a wall yelled confrontationally as they ran by, ”Yeah keep running ya fukkas.”
Mace looked at Daedo who shrugged, he had never seen that kid before, but the kid seemed to act like the reverse was true.
Daedo wasn't threatened by the aggressive tone, even if they were accosted by armed thugs; given their training, communications and proximity of friends let alone authorities, they could handle most situations. Other than a head shot, or decapitation, most woundswere treatable.
The pair ran another five minutes in silence, Daedo's mind was wandering until Mace spoke.
”What are you thinking about now?” She asked softly this time.
”The kid,” Daedo said, ”No not that kid specifically. But…if the EUDF only have a hundred thousand exo soldiers and the private militaries are all gone, what will happen to most of the people? Surely a hundred thousand exo soldiers and a few thousand mechs can't protect all of Europe.”
”And Africa,” Mace added.
”Yeah!” He said all of a sudden he was emotional.
They ran on for another five minutes in silence.
”We really do need to make that billion bitcreds,” Daedo said.
Mace was crying, it was only a tear or two. She wiped them away and said softly, ”Surely it can't be left to us? That street rat was correct, we're kids. We're just kids.”
Daedo stopped Mace. He put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him.
”We're not alone, there is the Marais, Colonel Martin and even Master Nader, but wehave to do everything we can,” Daedo consoled and inspired Mace.
She pulled him in close and hugged him. ”You're such an idiot,” she said softly.
The tone sounded like a compliment, but the words were confusing. He felt uncomfortable but accepted the hug and even returned it a little.
Suddenly Mace pushed him back, ”We better start running again. If the others catch us like this, we will never hear the end of it.”
They crossed the river at a bridge and began the return run leg on the other side of the river.
”Speaking of Marais,” Mace said, ”How did you and Barran convince them to loan us two million bitcreds.”
”Oh,” Daedo began, ”Well, at first we offered them Daedalus as collateral with all our IP. But Sophie, the CEO, rejected that saying it wasn't nearly enough.”
Mace laughed a short burst before asking, ”You were going to ask us?”
”Yes and only a unanimous affirmative decision would suffice,” Daedo said.
”What happened then?” Mace asked.
”She made a counter offer that I couldn't refuse,” Daedo said.
”Spill it, stop playing with me,” Mace said.
They ran a few more metres before Daedo finally replied, ”If we are relegated I will have to hand all my shares to Marais and not only work for them, but they would own any invention or discovery I make.”
”For how long?” Mace asked.
”Forever,” Daedo said.
”Daedo!” Mace yelled. ”Why did you agree to this!”
”We won't lose,” he said emphatically.
”I know Barran is this stupid, but I didn't think you were as well. I am never leaving you two alone again,” Mace stated with a large slice of authority.
The pair arrived back at the workshop just in time to witness Ikaros and the robots finish assembling the second prototype Mech for the Upper Inter-Academy first team. They would need to manufacture sixteen Mechs in all, but only after they got the design right.
”She's ready Daedo,” Ikaros called. ”Well, no paint job, but that can wait, you may want to recycle this one as well.”
”She?” Daedo asked.
”You're right, best not to give her a designation if you're going to kill her in a few hours,” Ikaros stated smiling.
”You're still doing it,” Mace observed.
”Bah,” Ikaros said, ”Ok lady lets get you jump-started.”
”I guess this one's a girl,” Axelzero said after arriving on the scene.
”We can't go back now,” Daedo responded.
Within minutes Ikaros had the reactor working. ”I'll walk it to the shed,” he said.
The shed was what the squad were now calling their large practice area next door, their first practice range was simply called; lower one.
**Daedo: Alright Myrmidon, I don't want to fry myself so keep three eyes on the temperature in the plasma storage, please.
Although simulations in their new modelling tool showed the mech was stable in both power generation and thermal loads, from experience, Daedo had learned that even the best modelling tool was wrong most of the time.
**Myrmidon: I will have eighty eyes on the temperature and can force a shutdown in nanoseconds if needed.
**Daedo: you can shut it down in nanoseconds?
**Myrmidon: misleading. I am sorry. I can begin the shutdown process within nanoseconds of determination.
**Daedo: understood. Ok, lets put this lady through her paces.
The rest of the squad watched jealously as Daedo ran, twisted, jumped, knelt, dodged and even slid.
”Oh my freakin ballsack,” Barran exclaimed.
”Wow,” Axelzero agreed. The Mech ran rings around Old Dawg and made Dead Beat look dead in terms of movement capability.
”Did you know it was this good?” Vannier asked Kang.
She shook her head, even she had to hand it to the smug little bastard. No Mech in the pro league moved this well.
Barran was getting more excited by the second, ”It's fucking Svarski material.”
”This is his first Mech design?” Kang asked Vannier who nodded once.
”Fark me,” Kang said.