Pandora Mech

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Titus stood on the hangar floor with the rest of the team members, distracted.  He shouldn't have been; in front of them in a nice neat line were seven gorgeous bi-pedal robots, looking like they just came out of the latest sci-fi summer blockbuster movie. 

They were incredible to look at. The lights of the enormous hangar gleamed off of their burnished metal alloy frames.  Surprisingly, they didn't look that complicated.  If he was to compare them to anything they reminded him of AT-ST's or the Chicken Walker's in Star Wars but much smaller and sleeker.  One of the other things that threw him off was how small they were.  Maybe five feet at the most, but what they lacked in size they made up for in maneuverability.  He should have been drooling and antsy to get his hands on one, but instead he was trying very hard to keep from texting on his phone.  He got a text right before they unveiled the mechs and it was from Sabina Mahra, the hotel clerk he had met in Dallas at last month's tournament.  He had texted her earlier, letting her know he was in the Dallas area, but he never thought she would text him back.

Peeler sat behind one of the control stations in what looked like a hastily built plywood control room in a corner of the hangar.  One of the mechs seemed to unfold a bit and loosen up at the joints.  It then began to walk out from the line of other mechs and stood in front of them.

Trub whistled admiringly.  "That thing looks sick."

"Stand back a bit guys.  I'm going to do a quick demo."  Peeler's voice came over an intercom.

The mech then began a slow jog away from them down the length of the hanger, picking up its speed into a fast sprint.                                                                                                                                      

"That is fast," Sage remarked. "How fast is it going?"

"Just guessing?  Maybe twenty five miles per hour?"  Trub, who was standing next to him, shrugged.

Peeler brought the mech to a full stop and ran it back to where they were standing.

"Hey, Titus, go up and give it a shove,"  Peeler said over the intercom.  Titus hesitated for a moment, a bit unsure of what to expect.  It looked stable when it was running but it had thin legs with curved carbon fiber blades for feet. He doubted it could withstand a hard shove from the side.  He shrugged and jokingly got in a three point stance and drove into the mech like a linebacker. The mech stagger stepped to stabilize itself, but didn't fall over.

Titus winced and rubbed his shoulder, "Ow, metal."

There were a few low whistles from the team.

"It moves like, like a--" Yomi, stopped for a loss of words.

"Like a person?" Trub offered.

"Yeah, but the way Peeler's controlling it, I was going to say like a real life video game avatar."

"Well, you'll find the controls very similar," Henry Thorpe said, the ever present hands-on CEO of Thorpeco who was standing behind them, observing. "Show them some of the more advanced movements, Chris,"   he yelled towards the control room.

Peeler nodded and got the Mech hopping, increasing its height the more it jumped. Teak and a few others shook their heads, smiling.

Teak, who had been pretty quiet so far, spoke up."It's so quiet. What's it running on?"  she asked.

"A very, very small and powerful battery. It hasn’t reached the mass market yet, but when it does, it will change everything," Thorpe answered.  " And believe it or not, one of the most expensive elements of the U.R.G.W.S's."