A Mech's Life

Chapter 6: A Lukewarm Welcome

Steve watched with curiosity as Sonjo focused intently on the training program. One of the handful of programs still intact in Archive's databanks, he figured it would be a good thing for Sonjo to learn.

After all there was only so much he could do to not arouse suspicion that he could move on his own and while he did not want to have someone else control him, he had to get used to the idea.

(I can always take back the controls if anything goes wrong.)

"Execute a d@$shi&g maneuv#% now."

"Dashing? Like this right."

A part of Steve smiled as he watched the young man taking his training very seriously. He could almost see himself in Sonjo's shoes and in a way envied him. The training program was a simulation and the mech did not actually need to move for this first phase of the training, which spared Steve much needed energy and gave him time to think about what to do going forward.

Sonjo handled the joysticks with more ease than before and correctly did what he was instructed by the Archives.

As usual, the Archives then contacted him, looking to know what to say. While Steve thought it was a good idea to speak with Sonjo, he wanted to make sure of what the Archives said and so had required all communication to go through him first. Thankfully since both of them are technically AI, no delay is noticeable in response time while Steve conversed with the Archives.

"What reply would be appropriate here?"

"You don't need to reply anything, just do a happy sounding bell chime, then proceed with the training program. How far along is he again?"

"Progress is currently at 17/22 for module 1. After completion, module 2 has 15 parts and focuses on real movement."

"Sounds good, continue."

Thinking about his energy use, Steve looked at his power reading, which now displayed 34% and he frowned. True, he had exerted himself when escaping the military base but it reminded him that he couldn't keep doing that forever.

Another part of him was trying to construe this as a positive, that perhaps it was at 35.1% and now simply dropped to 34.9%.

(It's too early to tell, I need more data to go on.)

Steve then reflected on the events that occurred earlier that day.

(I wonder if going with him is truly the best decision. He does seem like a good person and to genuinely care about the condition of the mech. Hopefully his grandmother can fix most of my other problems as he claims. To be honest though, I don't really know anything about this world except what Archive can share with me but that's largely irrelevant now being hundreds of years old. I suppose he's sort of my guide on this world and when I think about it I do trust him somewhat, that'll have to do for now.)

Sonjo's training continued for most of the morning and he made good progress. Far from being able to pilot in a combat scenario but he could still maneuver the mech well enough for movement.

"Hey Archives. It's close to mid day now or thereabouts, we should call this training over for now and get to his camp before nightfall."

"Affirmative. How should I inform the pilot that the training is over?"

"Hmm, tell him that the results must be analyzed before proceeding any further. If he asks more about it, say you need time to customize the rest of the training program based on his current performance."

Archive proceeded as instructed and communicated Steve’s message with Sonjo. Steve listened in to see what response Sonjo would give, to be ready to make up a proper reply. It did feel odd to speak through a secondary person but Steve did not have access to Archive’s systems and therefore had to delegate such tasks.