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Echelon - Ch 1
🕑 Added 2022-06-06 00:01:00 +0000 UTC"Dad! You needed me?"
"Yes. Come here."
Within a rural house, a young man called out to his father. The father waved his son over, handing him a list.
"I need you to go to the market and get these things for me."
"Oh. Alright."
The son answered dully, not unhappy, but not excited to have to run an errand.
"I'll go now then."
"Thanks."
The son nodded as he turned. After grabbing a few things, he left the house and hopped into a vehicle. The vehicle was a red truck, but it had dirt and mud all over it. It had clearly seen better days, but other than the dirt, it looked to be in good shape.
Thankfully, the inside was much nicer than the outside. The young man hopped into the clean interior and planted his bottom onto the brown leather seat. He started the engine, and the truck let out a low roar. Shifting into gear, he sped off away from the house and onto a dirt trail.
After crossing a few dozen miles at nearly a hundred miles an hour, he rolled up to a city. The city had tall buildings and covered an extremely large area. The buildings were neat and orderly, but there was a sense of disorder brought about by all the bustling people and wires being run to and from each building. The outskirts of this city were more like a town than a city.
As he pulled up and hopped out of his car, the young man immediately contrasted against the surrounding populous. He looked to be in the prime of his life, a sculpted and lean body with a handsome face and wavy medium-length void black hair. His black shorts were opposite to his white shirt that had a few small holes in them. His hands were also calloused, showing the obvious signs of a hard working man.
The only defining features on this young man were white strips through his darker than black hair, along with his almost pitch black eyes that occasionally flashed with ribbons of color.
Normally, such a young man would come off as a bit more elegant and refined, but this boy clearly wasn't such a person. He seemed like the most ordinary of people. And in fact, this boy came from a farming family.
In this world though, farming families weren't ordinary families.
After jumping out of his car, the boy looked around before he heard a rustling behind him. One of the truck doors opened up, and something came jumping out.
It was a cat. This cat wasn't an actual animal though, instead built from mechanical devices. Its body was comprised of black metal plating with some gaps that exposed its intricate internals. It had ears, a tail, whiskers, claws, and eyes that glowed blue.
This mechanical cat was the size of a normal feline, if not a bit smaller. After jumping out of the car, the cat shooks its body, the metal plates on its body shifting around before settling in place. Contrary to the boy's rugged look, this cat's body was sleek and refined, like a piece of artwork.
"Let's go, Nifty."
*Meow*
After the boy waved, the cat let out a cute sound before taking a few steps and jumping. It landed on the boy's shoulder with perfect balance and agility. He scratched its head before walking off.
The boy took to the streets of the city, jumping between various shops that he already knew the names and faces of. When he stopped by, he would always wave to the owners who smiled back at him with familiarity.
"Issac! How's your father doing? He hasn't stopped by in ages!"
"Hello Issac. The usual?"
"Issac! You still have yet to pay me back for that sandwich! And hello Nifty."
The boy whose name was Issac would hear his name ring out as he strutted down the streets. The route he took was routine, obviously not the first time he had run errands for his father. After about an hour, Issac had several bags hooked on his arms, and even Nifty the cat was carrying one. Checking to make sure he had everything his father wanted, he walked back to his car.
While he was returning though, he was suddenly waved down by an old lady from a shop. Smiling, Issac changed course and took large strides toward the lady."
"Miss Mary!"
"Oh, sweet Issac, you look like you're getting bigger every day. How's work on the farm?"
The old lady, Miss Mary, was a short little granny with wrinkles that scrunched up whenever she smiled. Issac smiled at her sweet compliment.
"Eh, it's just harvesting and maintenance. Gotta make sure the silos and machines are always working."
"Oh, what a strong man. Well Issac, I truly hate to ask, but I've been having some machine problems myself recently. Could I ask you to take a look sometime? Of course, I'll be sure to get you plenty of candies for your services."
"Of course! Have you made those caramel ones?"
"You know I always have some for you."
"Sweet! I'll take a look right now. Lead the way!"
With a clap, Issac followed Miss Mary into her shop. The shop was actually a candy shop that was a bit larger than most, and it was manned by Miss Mary's two grandsons. After walking into the back, Miss Mary pointed to one of the heating machines that melted candies, currently shut down and not producing anything.
"It's been offline for two days, and for some reason it won't channel heat properly. At first it would just take longer to melt candies, but it would soon just not melt anything at all."
"Interesting. Let me have a crack at it."
Saying that, Issac went over to the machine. There was a screen panel, and after powering it on, Issac went on to run diagnostics and tests. His hands were skilled and his eyes sharp as he rapidly opened up core components of the software.
Eventually, he found several error codes. Taking out his own device, Issac searched the internet for the error codes and quickly discovered what was wrong.
"Somethings wrong with your heat dissipation. In order to keep from melting components, the machine has stopped heating after the heat went somewhere it wasn't supposed to. The internal temperature would spike whenever you flipped it on. I'll have to open it up."
"Go ahead and do whatever you need. As long as I can get that back up and running without buying a new one, then I'm happy."
"Sure. I'll grab my tools then. Nifty, jack in and see if you can't narrow down the problem more."
*Meow*
Issac spoke to his cat as he grabbed all the grocery bags. The black mechanical cat jumped off his shoulder before strutting over to the machine and jacking in with its tail. The tail's end transformed into hundreds of thin threads as it tapped into a plug. Nifty's body then glowed, processing information.
Nodding, Issac turned and left the shop. After going back to his truck, he threw in the groceries before grabbing a black bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder before leaving, returning to the shop.
"Alright. Let's see if I can't find this problem."
Popping his knuckles, Issac took a drill and began tearing down the machine as if he already knew how it worked. Within a few minutes, dozens of internal components were exposed, and Issac sifted through all of them. While he worked, Miss Mary would bring in little bags full of caramel candy that Issac snacked on.
Finally, half an hour later, Issac retreated from the machine, his hands and forearms black from the oils in the machine.
"Alright, good news and bad news."
"Good news first."
Miss Mary's eyes lit up as Issac scratched his chin.
"Good news is that you won't need to buy a new machine. It can be fixed."
"And the bad news?"
"Despite the machine's best efforts, some parts have melted. I can replace and repair things and get the machine working again, but you'll need to buy the ruined parts. Luckily all the parts are pretty easy to buy and it won't cost you much."
"Thank the heavens. That's all I needed to hear. Issac, you've helped me tons."
"It's no problem. Buy the parts on this list and then call me when they arrive. I'll come back and fix up your machine then."
Saying that, Issac sent Miss Mary a digital message containing the list of parts and where to buy them. This wasn't the first time Issac had helped Miss Mary with things, so they had each other's contact info.
"Will do Issac. I truly appreciate it. Only god knows how much I'd need to pay if it weren't for you."
"It's no problem, really. I like this kind of stuff anyway. Alright, then I'll be off."
"Oh, don't forget your candies."
As Issac prepared to leave, Miss Mary hurried over and dropped a big bag of candy in his hand. Giggling with glee, Issac waved as he walked with his robot cat out of the store.
Man and cat walked side by side. After getting back to the truck, Issac jumped into the passenger seat while Nifty the cat jumped into the driver seat. Jacking into a plug on the center console, the truck suddenly turned on and drove out of the city. Like this, the cat drove home while Issac laid back and ate candy.
"Took you long enough!"
"I was helping Miss Mary!"
Upon arriving back at the house, Issac was greeted with the shout of his father. He shouted back while grabbing the groceries, walking into the house.
Issac's house was a large 4 story house that covered a decently large area, almost like a mansion. However, this mansion was out in the middle of nowhere. All around the house were fields of trees, bushes, and other fruitful plants. This was farmland dotted with silos and subject to an almost constant groaning of machinery that drove up and down the fields.
Issac walked into his house and set all the groceries in the kitchen. Then, his father came from who knows where.
Issac's father looked similar to Issac himself. The man was lean, tall, and handsome with a rough disposition and sharp eye. If it weren't for the dirt smeared on his face, he would almost look noble. He was a more mature version of Issac who still had the disposition of a young and adventurous kid. In actuality, Issac was 22 years old while his father was almost 50. Still, the father looked much younger than he actually was.
The father's name was Max, short for Maximus, and he sighed as he met Issac in the kitchen.
"So what did that old lady break this time?"
"Trying to push her candy equipment to its limit. She also hasn't replaced it in almost a decade. Everything's falling apart."
"Go figure."
Max let out a breath as he grabbed some water and downed it. As Issac put groceries away, his father turned to him.
"Your presence is requested at the lab."
"Really?"
"Your mother needs help I guess. With what, I have no idea."
"Okay. I'll head over."
Issac nodded, a bit of excitement in his voice. Max smirked seeing that.
After quickly taking care of things, Issac and his cat rushed out of the kitchen toward a staircase that led downward into a basement. Stepping down, Issac came upon a large metal door that looked like a vault. Seeing this door, Issac's cat, Nifty, glowed a bit before shooting a laser out of its eyes toward the digital door lock. In a second, the door was unlocked, and the two burst through.
"Boot it up, Nifty."
Issac gave an order. At the same time, the inside of the vault lit up.
What greeted Issac was a pure white room. In this room, there was a single item: a portal. This portal was built on a black metal platform and was shaped like a large ring. Next to it was a console, and Nifty lept up onto this console, using its tail to jack into one of the plugs.
Issac watched as the portal began glowing. Its center rapidly swirled with an invisible vortex, distorting space. Then, another image was revealed. It was a different space.
This space that Issac could see through the portal was the lab, or more like a room within the lab complex. When a green light flashed, Nifty unplugged and jumped onto Issac's shoulder. Then, Issac walked through. He felt a slight fluctuation that distorted his mind for a second before appearing in the room.
As he had done this countless times, Issac didn't even need to shake off the feeling of distortion. Behind him, the portal shut down. Issac looked next to him at a coat rack with a white coat hung on it. There was also a table with a single bracelet on it.
Issac walked over and threw the white coat on. He then slipped the bracelet over his wrist. The metal band shrunk to his wrist size before pricking his skin with a needle. It flashed green, signifying that his identity had been verified.
With this, Issac walked through another pair of doors, entering the actual lab. He could immediately hear the sounds of conversation and see a few dozen people walking to and fro in white lab coats like his. When these people saw him, a few waved with a smile. Issac waved back.
"Come to lab 87."
Suddenly, Issac heard a voice in his head. This was his mother's voice, and it was transmitted through the bracelet. Issac turned and headed through a few sets of doors.
His shoes tapped down brightly lit hallways built entirely from marble-like stone. At each door, Issac's identity was verified. Even Nifty had a piece of hardware inside of it that verified its identity. From this, one could easily see how locked down and secure this facility was.
After going through several hallways, Issac found a pair of thick metal doors with the sign '87' over them. Upon approach, Issac's entire body was scanned by a camera before he was allowed through. The doors slowly opened with mechanical clicks, allowing him to enter.
After walking through, Issac saw some more people who were either clacking away on computers or leaned over tables with various pieces of machinery. They were all working intently, and the items they worked on were exceptionally high tech. These lifeless pieces of metal seemed to come to life in his hands.
"Mom!"
"Over here!"
Issac shouted before receiving a response. Turning a corner, he found his mother working with a group of people in another isolated room. He strolled in.
Issac smiled as he saw his mother. Her name was Victoria. She was a small woman, her black hair tied in a ponytail and glasses on her face that flashed with various displays. She was directing the people around her to carry out various tests.
And the thing that they were working on caused Issac to smile even wider. It was a suit.
This suit was a foot taller than Issac himself who was 6 foot 3 inches. Its body was currently comprised of thousands of mechanical strands that occasionally activated under the stimulation of the people around it. There were metal joints, flowing black liquids, and an uncountable number of cutting edge pieces of tech.
This was a personal suit, and its intended user was actually Issac himself.
"If you don't mind sweetie, we need to run a few tests. Go ahead and jack in. You too, Nifty."
Pulling her head away from her work, Victoria gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before pressing a few buttons on a computer. As Issac walked over to the suit, it glowed to life and opened up to receive him. The hundreds of mechanical components shifted away and exposed its interior. Issac then stepped in and laid himself inside. Once his limbs were in place, the suit closed over him, shifting a bit before fitting to his figure perfectly.
At the same time, within the suit, a device extended a pitch black metal prong behind Issac's head. This prong poked between his hair before splitting into hundreds of fine strands. These strands made contact with an inconspicuous pitch black metal port at the base of his skull, plugging in. After that, power flowed.
Issac felt his brain and nervous system receive data from the entire suit within a mere few moments. As he had done this before though, he instantly adapted and understood the state of the suit. It was like it became an extension of his body as he suddenly stood from the platform.
The black metal strands of the suit shifted like muscles as he stretched his body. On his head, a blue visor glowed, taking in information from the surroundings. From the new height of around 7 feet tall, Issac looked at his mother and all the workers. They weren't looking at him though, instead focused on the displays in front of them.
"Alright honey, go ahead and boot up the Conversion Core. Let's see if we didn't reconcile your power rejection."
"Alright."
Issac's voice echoed from the suit. The next moment, the entire thing glowed a level brighter.
Strands all over the suit lit up blue while a disk shaped object on the back of the suit whirred to life. It revolved with intense power, and sparks began to fly. Issac looked down at his hand where these blue sparks jumped between the fine metal fibers.
"Core accumulation at 80%. Throttle it there and draw on your power."
"Understood."
Issac nodded. He stopped filling the core on his back and lifted his hand. Even more sparks extended out like lightning as his hand began to draw something in the air.
These sparks congealed and formed a solid structure above his hands. This structure glowed blue as it grew and formed into the shape of a staff. After the staff was created, Issac grabbed the body, raising it and swinging it around with trained movements.
"Conversion capacity at 87%! Success! How does it feel Issac?"
The mother cheered with a clap as she looked at her son. After feeling the movements and ability to channel power through his suit, he felt a small surge of euphoria. He felt powerful.
"This feels great! Although, the power guidance could use some tweaking. There are some small irregularities in the core accumulation too. Other than that, the suit works great."
"Yes, we saw that. Have Nifty help you with those tweaks and adjust to your own parameters. After that you can step out. This thing should actually be ready for an independent test by tomorrow."
"Hehe, okay."
Issac giggled a bit before bending down and scooping up Nifty, cuddling him. After that, he laid back on the platform while Nifty jacked into the suit. The two worked on adjusting certain settings in the suit before Issac felt comfortable with everything. After shutting down, he stepped out of the suit. A small feeling of weakness came over him as he reverted back to nothing but a flesh body. That suit truly did make him feel powerful beyond words.
As he jumped from the suit, his mother came over and reached up, ruffling his hair.
"Congratulations. Your suit is finally coming together. You've worked hard this past year."
"Well, thanks to this lab I was actually able to start the project."
"Please, you've paid your fair share. Don't let it get to your head, but you've inherited your mother's smarts plus whatever dregs of intelligence your father retained. The result was a brighter son than I ever could've hoped for."
Issac's mother combed back his hair as she smiled lovingly. Issac smiled at the praise. He had indeed contributed a lot and made his own way, eventually earning the right to start this project. While his mother helped a lot, it was his own intelligence that built this suit from the ground up.
This marvelous piece of tech was built almost entirely by his own hand. Compared to that, some broken down candy melter was nothing more than junkyard crap.
