The Angel

My feet tapped against the tiles as I hurried down the corridor. Screaming alarms accompanied my journey as a flurry of white coats acted as obstacles. I could see several shoulder insignia peppered throughout the crowd. Those tended to hurry to either the observation post or the war room, usually with half a dozen white coats following.

But not me. No white coat covered my body, only a white suit. My destination lay beyond the double doors at the end of the corridor.

"Five minutes to contact," spoke the voice in my ear.

"Roger," I answered. "Any sign of Nova?"

"He was in the clinic when the alarms triggered. Should be a minute out."

"I'll meet him outside. Is... oh, sorry!"

"Vega? What's the matter?"

"Nothing." I smiled at the technician before spinning around and continuing my jog. I blamed the goggles for obscuring my vision around the edges. Nova had warned me about running down the corridors while wearing them. "I almost added some patients to the clinic."

"Please don't. There's few enough as it is."

"You don't need to remind me." I stepped around another white coat without incident. "Is she prepared?"

"Cerviel's armed and fueled. We're running final diagnostics, but everything looks good. The only thing missing is our pilot."

"Tell her I'll be there in five."

"I'm sure she can't wait," the chuckle stopped with a click as the connection dropped.

My smile gave way to a nervous breath. The hallway was starting to clear. A few white coats still scurried around. Some glanced in my direction as I trotted past. They were ignored. I was used to the attention by now.

The double doors grew larger with every step. The alarms sang their song, but it was more for show by now. Being under siege for a year had programmed everybody to seek shelter at the first note of danger. Those remaining unconvinced needed only to cast their eyes to the heavens and see the falling red stars. I could already feel the thud-thud-thud as the powerful pulse cannons burst to life. The lights dimmed ever-so-slightly with every blast of their barrels. A few stars would undoubtedly split apart before drifting into the void, but not enough.

It was never enough.

The doors ground apart as I stepped into range. The tap-tap of my shoes turned metallic when my feet moved onto the gantry.

"Pilot on deck," the voice filled the hanger, but I was the only one to hear it. Correction; the only human to hear it.

The smile was automatic. "Hello, Cerviel."

"Welcome, pilot Vega." The twin cyan eyes locked with mine.

"Ready to save everyone again?"

"I am fully functional and awaiting our connection."

"I'll take that as a yes." I scanned the thirty-meter mech while heading down the right fork in the gantry. Half of the intention was to scan for damage. Cerviel's sensors and Command's readings might report everything to be working, but a manual check never hurt anybody. An odd looking plate could be discarded as something insignificant, but could grow into a life-threatening breach if struck by an enemy.

The other part was to admire my companion. Cerviel and I had been together ever since the fighting broke out and she fascinated me just as much as the day I met her. Her entire figure was covered by white plates with silver edges, with a design reminding me of a medieval knight. The religiously inclined might say she looks like an angel. I understood the comparison. While most assuredly built for combat, the design seemed almost serene. I've often retreated to the hangar on days when my troubled thoughts would fail to settle simply to enjoy her presence. That her AI was capable of speech was a welcome bonus.

But a war machine would need a way to conduct combat. Cerviel was no exception. The most visible show of force would come from the sword whose hilt stuck out past her right shoulder. That would be aided by a blade hidden within each of her gauntlets. My favorite weapon was the missile launchers hidden within her slightly enlarged neck plates. The best way to stay safe was to keep your enemy as far away from you as possible, after all.

"Pilot Vega?" The mechanical head tilted slightly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, just getting my head in the game," I answered while mentally chastising myself. "Please open exterior access."

"Opening." A section at the side of her head split apart to reveal a circular passage.

"Thanks. Now stand still, you hear?" I grabbed hold of the top railing as I stepped inside. Only a small part of Cerviel's structure was intended for human traversal. Several maintenance chutes tunneled through her body, but those could only be used if she stood still. Nobody wanted to be crawling through a mech when your passage could move or collapse at any given movement. The cockpit was safe from such dangers, but a shake of her head would send me tumbling.

The cockpit itself was a marvel of engineering. The room was pitch black, with only a ringed platform in the middle. Several buttons and controls blinked along the ring. Those were there for emergencies. Her primary means of movement came via a different mechanism. I started my connection by pressing my feet into the two metallic footrests. Each clicked as they secured my feet and locked me in place.

"Pilot secured," Cerviel confirmed. "Proceed with connection."

Three yellow lights turned my attention to a series of cables sticking out from the ring. Another would be shining at the back of my head. My fingers fumbled as I unhooked the cable at the back of the headband and connected it to a port on my neck. A solitary green light turned on at the top left of my vision. Next were the first two of the yellow lights. Each surrounded a circular connector, two of which I connected to each of my arms. The full-body haptic suit briefly pondered the connection before two additional lights appeared inside my visor.

I hesitated a bit with the last one, arguably the most important. Maybe that's why it was twice as thick as the others. I knew what to expect. I've completed the connection many times before, but the hesitation never went away. Connecting the last cable could mean there would be no coming back.

Despite being powerful, Cerviel's AI was not strong enough to pilot the mech alone. Such an AI would require a direct link to the Command Center. It was impractical in the middle of combat. The AI needed help, which came in the form of a human mind. Inserting comments via console or terminal would be too slow, and motion capture was too error-prone. The only means of communication fast enough was a neural connection. Dozens of tiny implants would connect me directly to Cerviel's neural core, linking us in the deepest way possible. Our movements would become one. I would move Cerviel's body as if it were mine, while she would make some corrections without the actions coming as a surprise. All in real-time.

Modifying the human brain always carried risk. Our link went behind movements and reactions and into the realm of senses. Damage to Cerviel's body would sting as if I was the one struck, and a loss in connection would risk crippling her. The most severe danger lay in the load balancer. Actions and reactions, decisions and instincts, sensors and senses. It was an enormous amount of data, all transmitted between my brain and Cerviel's personality core via the neural implants. If something were to happen to either of those then the load would shift to the remaining processing power. While Cerviel could sense the incoming danger and shut down her systems to protect herself, the human brain had no such safeguards. The implants would fry themselves out in a matter of seconds, leaving behind irreparable damage to my brain.

All of this was enabled by plugging in the last cable.

Lord, give me strength. I prayed, connecting the cable to the middle of my chest. The haptic suit came alive in an instant. A gentle vibration flowed throughout my body as its sensors connected to Cerviel's. The strangest sensation was saved for last. A tingle flowed through my head as the implants connected to Cerviel's personality core. It would be the strongest during the initial sync. Sometimes I felt my head itch during heated battles, which would warrant a hasty glance at the load levels.

"Syncing complete." Cerviel's spoke.

"Glad to see we're still compatible." I flexed my fingers to get a feel for the newfound inertia. I couldn't see it from my angle, but I knew Cerviel's fingers were making the same gesture.

"Connection looks good," spoke Command. "Neural implants are working at one hundred percent capacity. Load sitting at twenty-two percent." A glance at the numbers next to the four green dots showed the same thing.

"Everything looks good here as well," added Command.

"Understood. Opening the silo doors." Cerviel and I looked up as the circular door started to open. Little by little, the night sky crept through the growing opening, accompanied by the thud-thud-thud of the pulse cannons. Stars dotted the sky as the Milky Way arm stretched into the void, but my concern lay with the red ones raining down. Each could wipe out the complex. They would have done so a year ago were it not for us. "Clearing the gantries."

I felt the vibration as the metal bridges disconnected from Cerviel.

"Pilot Vega, I am detecting an elevated heartbeat."

"Just some pre-battle jitters."

"I find it curious that your ‘jitters’ remain after a year of fighting."

"It's called ‘being human’."

"Gantry is clear," interjected Command. "You're cleared for launch."

"Roger," I replied, but I didn't move. I didn't press the button on my left palm, the one to activate the boosters on Cerviel's back and free myself from the hanger's restraints. Instead, I folded my hands together and bowed my head.

Father who art in Heaven. Hallowed be your Name...

Kingdom come, Your Will be done...

Your strength guide my blade...

Your wisdom guide my path...

Your hand deliver us from evil...

And may we take one step closer to Your new dawn...

"I'll never understand why you do that silly prayer of yours," Command's sigh was audible.

"I look forward to the day you find out."

"So you always say. You're free to go."

"Thank you." I pressed the button. "Angel Two, launching."