Mecham

Chapter one, Mecham

“A spear, a ball, a mask and a wall. What unites them is the simplicity in making them. Think about it. A spear is just a stick with a sharp end, a ball is… well, a ball. A mask is just a shape with a few holes that you could put on your face, and a wall is basically a rectangular block. Due to this simplicity, they have all been able to be shaped with our latest product, Mecham.” Inside a corporal meeting room, a small, 10 by 10 by 10 centimeter cube was placed in front of everyone sitting by the table in the middle of the room. The man at the front of the room continues. “This small cube has the potential to be so much more. It has the ability to change form in an instant.” All of the cubes on the meeting room table shift into a small replica of the building they're in, as some of the people sitting down quietly gasp. “Due to tens of thousands of fine-machined interlocking pieces of Kaudium, we’re able to send electrical impulses through the metal, making the small pieces change into the shape programmed into the cube.” The Mecham cubes on the table now shift into the different faces of the people sitting in the meeting room. “At its very limit, the Mecham can shift into a wall with the measurements of about 100 by 100 by 10 centimeters, or a rope with the radius of 5 centimeters and 10 meters long. The main use of Mecham is for combat. Imagine a riot shield weighing half as much as a regular one but being able to stop high-caliber bullets without a scratch, and then being able to shift to a close-quarters weapon in an instant.” A murmur filled the room as the people sitting by the table started discussing the potential uses of it. “As of now, the Mecham can only assume three different forms at a time which can only be changed through a special software only accessible to a few people who work here. The same software is also needed to activate the Mecham, to prevent it from leaking to the public. As we’re speaking, a highly guarded shipment of 10 of these Mechams are being sent to Berlin to demonstrate for our shareholders. During the next few days, a priv-” in the middle of his speech, the man gets interrupted by multiple loud thuds coming from the windows to his right. As everybody in the room turns to look out the windows at what the source of the sounds are, three heavily armed spec-ops burst through the windows, opening fire on the people in the meeting room. In just a few seconds, every single person attending the meeting had been gunned down. The spec-ops double-tapped the bodies, checking if they truly were dead, and continued through the building. Clearing the building, they went through all the rooms and corridors, planting explosives at different points along the way and shooting anyone they saw. After going through the whole building doing this, they exfiltrate the building to a chopper waiting outside. A few minutes later, when they were a safe distance away, the explosives were triggered.

“September 30th, 2035. In a mere 30 minutes, the testing facility of the Nilsson company located in a deserted area of Texas, was infiltrated and blown up. Alongside it, the headquarters and factories were also destroyed. The reason for this was to prevent the production and use of Mecham, a highly dangerous weapon in the right hands. The only vital part remaining was the shipment of ten Mechams, which was lost due to the shipment getting shipped out a day earlier than predicted. As of now, the 10 Mechams remaining shouldn't be a problem as the shipment didn’t include the special program needed to activate and change the shape of the Mecham. Instead, our focus should be on other, more important things.”

10 years later, 2045, in the city of New Berlin. The city consists mostly of large buildings lit up by the countless advertisements around them. On the ground level there are countless vendors all hectically trying to sell their wares to the hordes of people wandering the streets. The city is packed to the limit, not wasting an inch of space as there are shops and housing in every possible space. Among these cramped streets walks a boy with a dark-blue bag on his back. On one of the zippers hangs a ridiculously large keychain. The keychain was a metal cube, inscribed with the letters “MCHM”