CHASE 6: RESPITE (part 1)
“Well, you’ll just have to stay there and be quiet.”
Covarn gently laid me down in the corner of a cramped, dingy room. Only a single, bright lightbulb hung from the ceiling, and the air around me was murky.
“Where is this?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“Geographically, it’s northwest of Arg. The second level, in the canopy directly above the depopulated area. You could call it our hideout. A gathering place for those oppressed by the black ones…”
As Covarn spoke, a door at the back of the room opened, and two men slowly emerged. A man with loose, wavy hair approached me.
“Are you the Blue Knight? You’re seriously injured.”
As the man said this, he shook his shoulders, covered in a short cape, and reached out a sturdy hand to grab my arm. I glared at the man, clearly refusing.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m your doctor.”
“Doctor?”
“Yes.” Covarn said in a gentle voice. “You’ve been a lone wolf up until now, so you might not know, but we’ve got a guy on the team who’s here to manage the health of our Votoms pilots. His name’s Vilpeg, and he used to be a military doctor. Ronni brought your A.T. to the workshop and was making a huge fuss, so he wanted to check your condition right away. Just stay quiet and let him handle it.”
Vilpeg grabbed my left hand and placed his thumb over my artery.
“Kain, everyone here bears a grudge against that black bastard. You’re one of us. That man over there is Bakuel.”
Covarn pointed his thumb at a large man standing by the door. The man called Bakuel raised a calloused hand and scratched his cheek, which was covered in thick, bear-like hair.
“He’s a man of few words, but he’s an excellent mechanic. He can repair any A.T. in two days.”
Vilpeg, who had been taking my pulse while Covarn spoke, released his thumb and spoke calmly.
“Your pulse is erratic. It seems your body’s regular functions are severely impaired.”
“Do you think it’ll heal?” Covarn asked.
“It’s hard to say without a closer examination.”
Vilpeg opened his trunk and removed a measuring device. He placed a microphone-like sensor on my left shoulder, as if our conversation had nothing to do with him.
“Just as I thought…” Vilpeg said this in a heavy voice and began checking my body.
“Why did you all come to the third level?” I asked Covarn.
Mima Sencutter, who was sitting at the desk in the center of the room, pressing his temples, finally spoke.
“I’ll tell you about that.”
He stood up with a composure that belied the loss of four Rising Tortoises, as if he’d been preoccupied with future strategy all along, and walked over to me.
“I heard you were missing, so I contacted Covarn this evening. It was about an hour after you’d finished your match with Radolf. Then, that girl…”
“Ronni?”
“Yeah, she contacted me. She told me you were fighting the Black A.T. And that’s how we ended up breaking through the canopy.”
Mima nervously shook his goggles up and down.
Trying to hold back a gasp, I said, “That was quite a large-scale assault…and the timing was too perfect.”
“What? That helicopter, those firearms…standard equipment for a wandering matchmaker,” Mima said calmly.
I continued, gasping for breath. “Really? You had to know I was on the third level before Ronni told you…ugh.”
But Mima continued, expression unchanging. “And I contacted Covarn because I wanted to use this hideout. Yes, as a cover for my own actions.”
“That’s stupid…why would a simple matchmaker have…”
Mima cut me off. “Because I’m not a matchmaker.”
“Wh…what are you…?”
He tried to ignore my question. “There’s no guarantee the Black A.T. will wait. Let’s move this along.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not a matchmaker? You’re a lieutenant colonel in the intelligence department, aren’t you?”
I put more force into my voice. Pain ran through my entire body. But if I didn’t press this man now, I wouldn’t get information about the Shadow Flare.
“I met Kevec,” I spat out, holding back the pain.
Mima’s expression changed. “Kevec? Kevec Vokton?”
“Yes, he was captured on the third level. And he told me your true identity.”
“What about him?”
“He’s dead. Killed by the Black A.T.’s partner, Oura Nigada.”
“What…?” For a moment, Mima was gloomy, but then regained his composure and continued. “Is that so…”
I took the opening. “So…here’s the deal. I have a trade to propose.”
“A trade?” Mima smoothed his messy hair back.
“The combat information you obtained from Berserga should be enough to cover the payment. Isn’t the data from the battle with the Shadow Flare currently being analyzed?”
“You knew about that…”
I continued. “Yeah, there was a trivial transmitter built into the Berserga’s tactile sensor. I knew it was your doing, but I thought it might be useful someday. I kept it until now. It’s a sneaky tactic, typical of the Intelligence Department. It’s not like it would be different for a military-issued A.T. during wartime, but it’s easily detectable on a single-owner Berserga.”
“So if I don’t agree to the deal, I won’t get the information?”
“That’s right. And it’ll likely hinder development of a new A.T. too.”
Mima twitched. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“Good answer.” I brushed him off and continued. “I’d like you to analyze the mission disc left behind by Kevec.”
With trembling hands, I pulled two square disc cases from my chest pocket and handed them to Mima.
“These were Kevec’s?” Mima murmured softly.
“Yes, they contain information on the Black A.T he collected in Arg. But they probably use some kind of intelligence code. Even the Black A.T. couldn’t crack it.”
“Information on the Black A.T.? Very well.” Mima took the disc and carefully placed it in his pocket.
I called out to Covarn. “Covarn, keep an eye on Mima.”
Covarn, sitting on the floor with his back hunched, answered. “Fine.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t betray you,” Mima said calmly.
“I can’t trust what other people say,” I replied.
“Even if I gave up the information and slaughtered everyone here, including you, it wouldn’t matter to me if I could protect my true identity and the new A.T. intel. But you still have reasons not to die yet. I’m interested in those reasons. That’s why I’m cooperating.”
I looked him square in the eye. “I don’t plan on letting you kill me, though.”
“You’re an interesting man. This data is something Kevec risked his life to collect. I won’t let it go to waste.” Mima said this with a sad expression. His once-straight shoulders now seemed slightly hunched.
“That’s not like you.”
“Kevec’s real name was Eema Senquater. He was my younger brother.” Mima looked as if he wished he hadn’t said this.
“You had a brother? Lucky guy.”
“All the more reason the enemy must suffer.” Mima stood up.
“Kain, maybe we should give that guy a name. Ronni or someone else.” Covarn said, as if he’d figured it all out.
“Do that,” I answered.
“You might never be able to ride an A.T. again,” Vilpeg said as he removed the measuring device from my right shoulder.
Covarn’s expression became serious. “Is it really that bad?”
“His legs and body will begin to heal once the paralysis from the electric shock wears off. His internal organs haven’t ruptured. His right arm has severe muscle tears, but with effective treatment, they should be fully functional in about two weeks. The real problem is his left arm.”
Flustered, Covarn spoke up a second before I could. “Is it useless?”
“Yes. It may never be of any use again. The nerves are completely shredded. He must have forced it to move when the nerve fibers were under extreme tension.”
“If we could contact the military,” Mima said regretfully, “treatment would be quicker. But this city has strong radio jamming, so we can’t send communications outside…”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have abandoned the helicopter,” Covarn interjected.
I silenced Covarn. “No, I’d be dead by now.”
A heavy atmosphere filled the room.
“More importantly, Kain, how did you fight?” Covarn asked with a puzzled look on his face. His voice sounded slightly cheerful, perhaps trying to change the mood. “How could your body be affected internally while inside the cockpit? If we can figure that out, we might find a way to fight that black thing.”
“I don’t know. I was overusing my right arm. The left one died before that.”
“Your left arm, which wields the pile bunker?!” Covarn and Mima shouted simultaneously.
“That’s right…”
The figure of the Black A.T. appeared in my mind. The figure of Chris Kurtz slowly rising to his feet. The strange presence emanating from his expressionless eyes was constantly focused on Berserga’s left arm, the pile bunker. Only Bersergas are equipped with a pile bunker, the most powerful ground-based weapon. Moreover, it is made of an alloy that can only be produced with Quent technology. Did he know the pile bunker’s power, or did he possess a highly tuned detection sensor? It tried to kill Berserga’s most powerful melee weapon first. It might have been an act achievable only through a terrifying combat instinct.
“It tried to kill my left arm. With a force other than a physical weapon.”
“Is there such a thing?” Covarn gasped.
“Physically, Vilpeg is correct,” I said. “But the cause is the unidentifiable sense of intimidation it gives off.”
Mima spoke, regaining his composure. “We may be able to find out its true nature from Kevec’s disc. We should hurry. Knowing his true nature might be what you need to regain your strength.”
“Yes… please do.”
“All right,” Mima replied, approaching the dull, gleaming door.
Just then, Ronni rushed in, pale as a ghost, leaning on two men for support. Their clothes were torn and tattered, faint traces of blood seeping through in places.
Covarn rushed over to them. “Monete, Atodo, what’s wrong?”
“It’s a major mess down there.” Monete groaned, blood crusted around his mouth. He spoke as his fat body slowly slid down to sit on the floor. “Military police A.T.s are roaming everywhere, so we can’t move by car. On top of that, the elevators in the main tower are out, and the buses operated by the Chamber of Commerce aren’t operating. Probably blocked the access routes in and out of the city too…”
I gritted my teeth. “We’re trapped. It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”
“How did you get here?” Covarn yelled.
The slender man called Atodo answered, panting heavily. “If we’d taken the usual corridor, we’d have been found right away, so we used the wall ladder and somehow managed to get here.”
“Sorry, but get to work immediately.” After saying this to the two men, Covarn turned to me. “Hey, Kain. Now we can fix the Berserga. Monette is the city’s top black market dealer. Atodo is an expert on computer settings. You leave the rest to us and get some rest.”
“Monette…a black market dealer…” I strained my legs to stand. My knees gave out.
Covarn shouted at me. “Stop, Kain! You need to rest now. We don’t know when they’ll find us.”
“Shut up.”
“If you end up in a state where you can’t fight, what was the point of saving you? Only you can kill that black bastard. We want you to avenge us.”
“Back off. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Kain!” Covarn stood in my way, arms outstretched.
I staggered to my feet. “Covarn, I want to destroy it, too. To achieve that, let me do things my way. Where’s the jeep?”
Covarn lowered his arms slightly and shrugged. “I’ll lend you my shoulder. If our goals are the same, then we’re allies.”
“Allies” was a word only Sha Bak had used to describe me. But Covarn’s words now carried just as much warmth.
“Sorry about that.”
“Just don’t push yourself.”
Covarn slipped under my right shoulder and matched my pace as we walked through the door.
The next room was the maintenance yard. Covarn slowly walked over to the jeep next to the wall and had me stand next to it.
I handed Covarn the keys. “Use this to fold down the passenger seat. Once the lock opens, lift that cover and set it to 13F.”
Covarn did as I said, grabbing the bottom edge of the seat and pushed it forward to fold it down. A large trunk opened up behind the seat. It was fully extended under the cargo bed, with its opening at the back of the passenger seat. A bag tied with a rope spilled out from the opening.
“There are thirteen of them in total. Pull them all out.”
Covarn reached for the bag. A high-pitched jingle sounded. “These are 100 gildan bags, aren’t they?”
“Yes, all of those bags together make 240 million and counting.”
“What, all this is money?” Covarn stared at me intently.
“This is all the bounty I’ve won in battles so far.”
I turned to Monette, who was staring blankly at the coins.
“Use that money. I don’t care how much you spend. Gather the most accurate muscle cylinders and polymer Ringer’s fluid in this city. Average battling equipment won’t be enough to defeat the Shadow Flare.”
The moment I spoke, a blood clot rose from deep within my body. I clenched my molars and stopped it in my throat.
“Understood. Leave this part to us. You rest. You’re as pale as a ghost.”
“No. I’m going to dismantle the dead parts right away. You two just gather the equipment.”
Even if they were allies, I couldn’t leave Berserga’s modifications to just anyone. I thought I was being firm. But Covarn’s face clouded over. He must have heard the groans of a dying man. Panicked, he waved his hands to stop me.
“What can you do now?” Covarn’s usually gentle manner was different this time.
I pushed Covarn’s hand aside and headed toward the Berserga. “I know Berserga better than anyone. I have to repair it.”
Ronni, who had been watching the whole thing from the sidelines, came running forward. “Stop it, Kain! You’ll die!”
“What are you… saying?” I shouted. At that moment, the blood clot flew out of my mouth. My vision went red.
“Are you sure Kain’s okay? He’s not moving at all.”
Ronni’s shrill cry pierced my brain. It seemed I had collapsed, coughing up blood. My body was still drifting on the edge of a hazy consciousness, but one clear sensory nerve remained active. Relying on that, I slowly opened my eyes. The dim yet dazzling light irritated my eyes.
Ronni’s head blocked my view. She let out a cry of joy. “Oh…he moved!”
I tensed my stomach muscles, trying to sit up. I felt no pain. Ronni put both arms around my shoulders.
“No, you can’t get up yet!”
“Get out of the way,” I said.
Ronni cautiously pulled back. Using my right arm for support, I slowly sat up. Neither my spine nor my legs felt any pain. I sat cross-legged and scratched my head. It felt different from when I normally wake up. My mind was unfocused.
I reached for my chest to get a cigarette, but my pressure suit was open down to my waist. My upper body was bare. Using just my right hand, I searched the pocket of my pressure suit and pulled out a crumpled cigarette pack. I tapped the bottom, pushed a cigarette up to my lips, and pulled it free.
“How long was I out?”
“Two whole days since then,” Ronni answered happily. “But your recovery is incredible. Your internal organs and shoulder tendons have already begun to heal. And at an incredible speed.”
Vilpeg looked at me as if I were a monster. “I can see it clearly. I can see how your body is healing.”
My body was beginning to change…
Suddenly, I heard a word that brought me to realization.
“Any changes in your body…”
Sha Bak had said those words six months ago.
Could this be a sign of my transformation into a…a human capable of controlling a machine at will?
“It wasn’t like this before…” I stared intently at my limbs.
“But your left arm is hopeless,” Vilpeg warned. “There’s practically no change at all. It hasn’t started rotting yet, but your consciousness is gradually becoming clearer. It’s fine for now, but if it continues like this, I’ll have to consider amputating it.”
“I see…” I sighed. Apparently, only the body parts that didn’t defy that destructive impulse were showing an abnormal level of recovery.
“So I have to control Berserga and activate the pile bunker with just my right arm,” I muttered, exhaling smoke from my cigarette. “I’ll have to come up with some kind of solution.”
Ronni panicked and started yelling. “You still plan to do it? Covarn’s all fired up telling us to fight, but it’s obvious we should just quit now. You collapsed, coughing up blood. I’ve never seen anything worse! It was terrible. Your pressure suit was covered in blood from the collar to the chest…your lips were completely blue.”
“I’m used to it. Blood’s good. Especially bright red blood.”
“You like blood? What’s wrong with you, Kain?” Ronni asked, surprised.
“Because you can destroy anything with blood flowing through it.” I said it almost unconsciously. My mind gradually cleared.
“Kain, are you crazy!?” Ronni shouted in my ear.
“Worry about your own body,” I replied.
Ronni snatched the cigarette from my mouth and yelled, “Hot!” as she slammed it to the floor, stomping on it, making a thud.
“That just makes me look like a complete fool! Why did I go through all that embarrassment and tell Covarn about you? I didn’t want you to die!”
“You didn’t want to lose your only source of income,” I said sarcastically. “That’s all there is to it.”
“I don’t know about that. But you were saved, so it’s all good now, right?”
Somewhere deep inside, I was feeling wary of Ronni. “So you saved me so I’d owe you a favor? That was your plan?”
She shook her head, messing up her hair. “No…I honestly didn’t know the Black A.T. would show up. That’s why I took your A.T. and contacted Covarn. I honestly didn’t want to. Covarn always treats me like a kid. That’s why I took you to the third level…”
I interrupted. “Well, whatever. Thanks to you, I found out where the Black A.T. was. Vilpeg, lend me your shoulder.”
I stood up, leaned on Vilpeg’s shoulder, and started to stagger toward the door.
Ronni called out to stop me. “Wait, Kain. Where are you going?”
“Let’s go check out Berserga.”
Ronni clung to my right arm. “Once we’re done modifying the Berserga, let’s forget about the Black A.T. and just do normal battling, Kain. You have to be more resourceful.”
I pushed Ronni away and opened the door.
“For someone saying that, you’re a pretty clumsy woman yourself.”
“You idiot! Seriously!”
I continued thinking about modifying Berserga, ignoring Ronni’s voice yelling at me from behind.
When we arrived at the A.T. maintenance yard, which was quite well-equipped for a place built in secret, Covarn approached me with machine oil smeared all over his face.
“You’re awake, Kain? How’s your condition? You should still be resting, shouldn’t you?”
I gave him a small smile. “I’m fine.”
“Is that true, Vilpeg?” Covarn asked again, worried. “He looks a bit shaky to me.”
“Sixty percent…no, seventy percent. He’ll probably be almost fully recovered by the end of the day.”
“Even so…”
I interrupted the cautious Covarn mid-sentence. “Let me see how Berserga’s doing.”
“Uh…yeah.” Covarn replied, confused. A look of disbelief still lit in his eyes. “I just finished removing the unusable parts.”
“How’s it going?”
Covarn spread his arms and tilted his head. “Sixty percent of it is useless. Plus, a lot of the armor plating needs rebuilding. It won’t be fixed in just a day or two. Look here…”
Covarn pointed to Berserga’s pitiful, skeletal remains. All of its muscle cylinders had been removed, and it no longer had arms or legs. It was now suspended in the air by two cables. Next to it lay the detached pile bunker, lying face-up.
“It’s a sad sight, seeing something like this,” I muttered.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Covarn said sympathetically. “It’s never been so badly damaged before, has it? If we’re going to rebuild it to this extent, it would be cheaper to switch to a new unit. With your money, I could buy a brand new A.T. fully tuned for battling.”
I brushed it off. “That’s a bad joke. I’ll fight with this one as long as it’s still alive.”
“Don’t be so stubborn. Why are you so picky?” Covarn asked half-seriously.
I forcefully changed the topic. “It’s not worth telling you. Anyway, so you have the refurbishment gear ready?”
“Enough to get it started. Look, it’s over there…”
Covarn pointed to the edge of the maintenance yard. There, plastic packages measuring one cubic meter were lined up haphazardly. Smaller packages, about 50 cubic centimeters, were so stuffed so full that the lids wouldn’t close. Three of them were tossed out front. Five 50-liter gel cans, their surfaces covered in water droplets, had been thrown in next to them.
I left Vilpeg’s shoulder and walked over to one of the packages. I opened the lid and found two arm parts casually tossed inside. They were the elbow sections of an A.T., measuring at least 80 centimeters in length. Now without armor, their interiors were exposed, revealing at a glance the powerful built-in air suspension and arm punch mechanism with its large chamber. They seemed new, the metal frame shining with a lustrous, oily sheen.
“This thing looks powerful.”
Covarn smiled sarcastically. “Yes, it is. The cartridges also use 1.5 times the amount of liquid gunpowder as before. That’s why Monette is frantically searching for some right now. If we can’t find any, we’ll have no choice but to make our own.”
“The stronger the better,” I said, opening the package next to me. It was filled with electronic equipment. Also brand new and high-quality.
“Kain, it’s not just electronics. I’ve got some good sensors. Except for the Quent sensor on the shoulder…”
“You don’t have that?”
Covarn looked at me apologetically. “And the pile bunker’s long spear. There’s nothing that can withstand the firing force. We tried sharpening steel beams, but they snapped right away. Besides, the skill to sharpen it to the original point’s specs doesn’t exist in this city. Monete’s still searching for a Quent sensor.”
“I see…” I opened the next pack. “What’s this?”
The words tumbled out of my mouth. A dirty, rusty muscle cylinder had been carelessly tossed in. Startled, I opened the lid of the gel can next to me. It gave off the unpleasant smell of poorly refined polymer Ringer’s liquid. When I shook it, it made a rattling sound and had extremely low viscosity.
“That’s the highest quality muscle cylinder you can buy around here,” Covarn spat out in frustration.
“That’s ridiculous. You have all those arm punches and sensors, don’t you?” I asked with a glimmer of hope.
“That belongs to Mima.”
“Mima?”
“Yes. Apparently, the one Mima had ordered from the Chamber of Commerce ended up on the black market during the chaos. Monette pulled some strings and bought it back.”
”Then, doesn’t that mean other muscle cylinders are available too?“
“Well, I tried everything I could…” Covarn’s shoulders slumped.
Cold blood ran through my body.
“No good. There’s no way we can defeat the Black A.T. with this!” I shouted, venting my frustration with defeat by slamming the muscle cylinder with all my might.
To be continued