Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Stoking the Fire - Chapter Sixty

The dull hum of powerful hydraulics cut through the void of silence, while at the same time a narrow beam of light parted the inky blackness to reveal Penumbra rising from a horizontal position. It had been modified, updated, and as it rotated from a horizontal position to vertical, it almost looked like a ghoul rising from its grave. A moment later the symphony of industrialism repeated, along with it rose the newly constructed MA-X1 Viper Grip, a tall but lithe Argonaut characterized by its vibrant coloured details, asymmetrical half-obscured face, and suspiciously bulky upper arms. Following its dramatic rise, a third machine was revealed to finish off the trifecta, the MA-X2 Avalanche, which complemented the previous suit by being wider, boxier, and having larger forearms and lower legs lined with multiple nozzles.

"Impressive, aren't they?" Marcus asked the teens who simply stood in awe next to him, disbelieving of what they saw.

"Sure are..." Elia uttered.

"That's so fucking cool," Silva said, then glanced nervously at Marcus, "I mean freaking cool."

"That's quite alright," he said with a smile, "your enthusiasm is refreshing."

"Makes me wish I had a camera," Silva said, a childlike sense of glee compelling him to grin uncontrollably. Elia was still digesting most of it, but when Marcus had arrived in his giant robot things immediately began to fall into place. Over the last two days they were gradually weaned into the specifics, and the reality had taken shape in their minds. Marcus had not taken them to the Habitat, but he showed them pictures, videos, and examples of its technology, including these machines.

"Do they really move like people?" Elia asked. Video lacked a sense of scale or proportion, but these machines were bigger than a house, so it was difficult to grasp.

"Thanks to the advanced nerve interface, yes," Marcus tapped his finger on the glass, and glowing transparent images came between them and the machines, "the method of manipulation is called a harness. It's a complicated series of sensitive arms that conform to your body. Physical movements and impulses are mapped, read, and communicated between the brain and machine for real-time motion control. The brain is fed the spatial and physical information pertaining to the suit's body, removing any disconnect between your physical body and the Argonaut."

"Awesome, now how about the long version?" Silva quipped, and Elia had to admit to herself the explanation hardly seemed simple. She didn't understand it, but she believed it.

"And we're gonna pilot these?" Elia asked, "like a plane?"

"It's far less complicated than that," Marcus said, "but yes."

"My dad doesn't even trust me with the car..." Silva continued to gawk at the gigantic Argonauts, "how are we supposed to learn how to control those?"

"You needn't 'learn' anything," Marcus exposited to the youths who seemed less than convinced, "we managed to duplicate the control harness from the one of the far left we call Penumbra. It is more responsive and sensitive than our most advanced control harnesses. Only two such duplicates were completed under our time frame, but we plan to make more."

"Can I ask one thing?" Elia began, "why us? You have so many soldiers, why do you need me and Silva?"

"The nervous systems are quasi-organic in nature," Marcus said. He seemed eager to explain the details, like it was some secret he desperately wanted to confess, "and more literally resemble that of a human than the computerized facsimiles we normally produce. The one in Penumbra is so precise, so close to a living brain, it took all our resources just to produce these two, and even then we had to... cheat a bit."