Mecha Realm

Marvin liked sleeping. He liked how he could do it with a single tap, and he liked how he always woke up with the same energy level. Sure, it took a moment to get oriented, but he was never tired.

This time, however, he woke to a jump scare: his right eye had a clear view of his left one being pulled out of its socket, wire trailing behind the spherical camera. A girl Marvin didn’t recognize was committing the act.

He didn’t dare move as he asked, “Um, what are you doing?”

The girl separated the camera fully and stuck another wire into his empty eye socket. Marvin was still able to see as clear as before, but something felt incredibly uncanny.

This must be Renee, he thought. The girl looked a year or two younger than him. She had dark hair, pale skin, and large, round eyes—ethnically ambiguous, like many of Megacity 14’s residents—and wore a brown scarf that covered her entire neck.

“Are you Renee?” Marvin asked, rather redundantly.

Renee nodded but still didn’t say a word.

“Can I ask… what are you doing?” Marvin repeated.

No reply. Renee stepped aside and began typing on a laptop. Marvin wasn’t muted, was he? He could hear his voice just fine, but maybe it was a figment of his imagination, like his phantom facial features.

“Has Caroline told you about me?” Marvin tried.

Renee moved away from the laptop and began typing on her tablet.

Marvin was starting to get a little annoyed. Did Renee have some sort of superiority complex? Was he just a test subject to her?

Renee kept tapping away. Marvin slowly twisted his wrists and confirmed that he was attached to his mech body. However, from his low point of view, he figured he was sitting down. He wondered if he should call for Caroline or Ben.

What if this isn’t Renee? he thought. What if this girl invaded the workshop and killed Caroline and Ben?

Just then, Renee held her tablet up to Marvin’s functioning eye. She had written a few sentences.

Hi Marvin! My name is Renee Hindaro. Sorry for the rude awakening—your Core has to be on for this. I’m trying to give you a false NID so we can register you on the mech-fighting website. We’re waiting for the program to upload, so you can ask me anything you want.

Renee frowned, retracted the tablet, and typed an additional message.

By the way, I forgot my voice box at home and home may or may not be forty minutes away. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Marvin cringed with embarrassment. He had just gotten mad at a mute person for not talking. Well, now he could start a conversation and make up for it.

“Are Caroline and Ben here?” Marvin asked. He winced again. Now it sounded like he didn’t want Renee’s company.

They’re doing some outsourcing, Renee replied. We’ll meet them at Sibao Pot at 8 for dinner.

Marvin tensed up. Ben must have recommended it, having no idea how close it was to his high school friends.

Whatever. He had to stay under the radar till they found his body. He suspected he only needed to wait another month or two, then he could hang out with his friends as much as he wanted.

Renee wrote some more and showed the tablet to Marvin.

Caroline told me about how you were killed. That’s really messed up and I’ll do everything I can to help you find your body. I also know you will be piloting for us, which is amazing! This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I was a big Saberstar fan. I was the one who told Caroline it was your NID in the implant, haha.

“You knew about me from the start?” Marvin asked.

Caroline just asked me if I recognized the NID, Renee responded. She said she couldn’t tell me anything else till I got back.

Huh, my first stalker, Marvin thought. He’d always known he had fans, but memorizing his NID? That was some dedication.

Still, Renee was chill. She too was invested in solving Marvin’s dilemma for her own gain, not that there was anything wrong with that. She, Ben and Caroline seemed like good people, making this the most-likely-best case scenario.

Renee rolled back on her heels and ceased writing. Marvin realized she was waiting for him to say something.

“How long have you been programming?”

He immediately realized his mistake. I didn’t even acknowledge what she said before! That was the nail in the coffin to confirm he would die alone.

Fortunately, Renee wrote a nice, long paragraph about how she was trained by a professional hacker and wrote her first mech program when she was eleven. From that point on, she discovered she had a talent for the stuff and worked as an apprentice for a mech team, where she met Ben. When her mentor passed away, the two of them inexplicably left and were taken in by Caroline.

“Which mech was it?” Marvin asked.

Renee shook her head. You wouldn’t know, she wrote. It’s been retired.

She then asked how long Marvin had been piloting, and he was more than happy to share that side of his life.

Their talk turned out to be quite relaxing. It was more akin to texting, honestly, and Marvin was far better at that than face to face.

However, the entire time, he couldn’t shake the thought that one more person knew his identity. One more person that couldn’t do much about it. He wondered if it would be wiser to tell Bob and Sienna, the people actively investigating his death right now.

What if this is a hoax? Maybe it’s not so dangerous and Caroline’s just trying to delay this as much as possible.

That theory didn’t take root for long; the few encounters with the Manhunters had unnerved him enough, and he knew what even the smaller gangs were capable of.

At the end of the hour, when Renee’s program had finished uploading, she unplugged the wire and reattached Marvin’s left eye. Marvin glanced at the holo clock in the middle of the room—it was 6:15.

Maybe I’ll just sleep for the next hour and a half, he thought. Talking to Renee was fine but he could only do it for so long.

However, at that moment, Renee turned her tablet towards Marvin with a new message on it: Do you mind if we stop by my house to get my voice box? I can also go myself and come back to get you.

Going with her meant sitting in the shuttle for forty minutes. Forty minutes of potentially conversing with her. However, piloting the shuttle would probably restrict the amount Renee wrote, and Marvin did love flying through the city. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to go on a brief side quest.

“Sure,” he said. He stood up and suddenly grew to over twice Renee’s height. Renee stared at him for a minute, then gestured to the factory bot’s body that was leaning against the adjacent worktable.

Marvin nodded.

After transferring heads, the two of them boarded the shuttle and accelerated into the airways. Renee’s apartment was in one of the richer neighborhoods of the megacity, where the skyscrapers almost grazed those of the flipside sector and holograms swam through the streets, casting colorful reflections on the glass walls.

Marvin recalled Caroline saying Renee and Ben were in a tough situation and needed money. The context clues didn’t exactly support that.

“How come you forgot your voice box?” Marvin asked as they soared through the sky.

I always forget it, Renee replied. I’m used to writing and even when I do use it I don’t really talk normally. Unfortunately I can’t eat and write at the same time.

“You won’t be the only one anymore,” Marvin said, pointing to his own voice box.

Renee wrote, No, it’s not that—I talk like how I write. It doesn’t make for good conversation.

“It’s alright,” Marvin said.

It was a stupid, all-purpose response, but Renee laughed silently and offered him a look of gratitude.

The horizon borders’ light was fading. Soon, the megacity would be enveloped in cool neon colors against a starless night. Renee and Marvin parked in a garage and took a sky bridge to get to Renee’s apartment room on the 86th floor.

The hallways were a kind of luxury Marvin had only seen in movies. Everything was so crystalline and sterile that it appeared no human had passed through. Their footsteps twinkled on the glass floor and their reflections washed along the silky walls.

Renee stopped in front of a door labeled 8606. She tapped her tablet against the keypad, then let a dim red light sweep over her face. Confirming her identity, the door slid open.

The apartment was pristine, organized, spacious, but dark. The dying light on the horizon borders struggled to find its way through the closed shutters.

Marvin regarded the empty chairs and sofas warily. Renee didn’t seem bothered; her family must usually be out at this time.

They walked past the living room, passing the light switch. Marvin was about to flick it on when Renee shook her head.

“Why not?” Marvin asked. Was she sensitive to light or something?

Renee wrote, Trying to save electricity.

Marvin frowned. If she was strapped for cash, why not just sell the apartment? Someone would pay a fortune to live here.

He didn’t say that, scared Renee would be offended.

They walked by the kitchen—a cozy divot in the left wall—and reached the opposite side of the room where Renee’s bedroom was. Renee went inside by herself, leaving Marvin to soak in the rest of the apartment.

It was truly foreign to him. The most high-end place he’d been was the Cassiopeian History Museum in Sector 14—Lindon had taken him when he was twelve, and they made a habit to return every year because of how much Marvin liked it. Although the museum was a lot grander, it was a space shared by hundreds of people. This apartment belonged to a single family. To a single person, sometimes.

And yet, Renee was going to spend the next few months with him, Caroline, and Ben in the farm workshop. What made her want to abandon this place?

A knock on the front door startled him out of his thoughts. One second later, Renee scurried out of her room, eyes wide with fear. She was carrying a thin, curved piece of metal.

“Wha-” Marvin began, but Renee held a finger to her lips.

The knock came again. Marvin and Renee stood as still as statues, and it sounded like Renee was even holding her breath. She clearly knew who was beyond the door.

By the third knock, which was louder than the previous two, Marvin began to feel unnerved. Renee had the opposite reaction—she grit her teeth and glared at the door as if willing whoever was outside to go away.

No such luck. There came an ear-splitting screech as something began prying open the door.

Marvin nearly yelped. Renee widened her eyes and dragged him into her room. She pressed her back against the wall on one side of the door, and Marvin did likewise on the other side. If he had a heart, it would’ve been pounding out of his chest. A dark room, an unknown intruder… this was too reminiscent of another time.

You better tell me what the hell this is, Marvin thought, glancing at Renee. If we make it out.

The screeching continued. Marvin wanted to cover his ears, but he knew that wouldn’t help at all. At length, the noise stopped and there was a hiss as the door slid open.

Footsteps. One… no, two pairs. A click. A flashlight beam swept through the room. Jackets ruffled.

Renee lowered her scarf and deftly slid her voice box ino her neck. She unwound a valve and pinched her nose, now breathing through the device.

The footsteps grew closer. Another flashlight clicked on and briefly illuminated the bedroom before moving to a different section of the apartment.

What if they come in? Marvin thought. Could I try to fight them? Mech-fighting required a lot of combat training in real life, but Marvin wasn’t sure how well he could fight in this factory bot’s body.

Did Renee know these people would come? What if this was a trap and she was just pretending?

The footsteps stopped. Marvin estimated that the intruders were by the kitchen, 15 feet away or so. He had a sudden itch to peek around the corner, to catch a glimpse of who these people were. He reminded himself that the apartment most definitely had security cameras.

There was a clink as someone set something on the kitchen table.

The footsteps resumed, but this time they were receding.

Marvin stole another glance at Renee. She looked relieved, but mixed in that comfort was a strange sadness. As if she had expected or wished something else to happen.

The door closed with a thud.

All was quiet for three seconds. Then Renee closed the valve on her voice box and ran into the living room. Marvin started after her.

“What was that?” he demanded.

Renee swiped whatever the intruders had placed on the table into her pocket and spun to face Marvin.

“It’s nothing,” she said. Her voice sounded more human than his own, but its intonation was slightly off.

“Who are they?”

“I don’t feel comfortable sharing this part of my life. I’m sorry you had to experience that, but I promise those people aren’t dangerous. They do come by occasionally, but they don’t disturb anything.”

“Why’d we hide from them, then?”

Renee’s lips formed into a thin line. A few seconds passed, as if she was writing her words down before saying them. “I’m not ready to face them yet. I don’t know what I will say.”

“Where do you know them from?” Marvin asked again. She could tell him that much, couldn’t she?

Renee took a few more seconds to think. She replied, “They’re friends of my old mech team.”

Marvin creased his phantom brow. Maybe they were mad that she’d left; some mech teams were very possessive. “Do you have security cameras?”

Renee nodded.

“Let’s report them to the police.”

“No. They haven’t done anything wrong.”

“They broke into your house!”

“They had no intention to harm either of us.”

“But-”

“Marvin, you’ll have to trust me,” Renee said. “This doesn’t affect you or the mech team at all. Caroline and Ben will tell you the same thing. Even if I told you everything, you would probably feel no different about any of us.”

“I’d feel less confused,” Marvin muttered. He looked down. “I’m part of your team, aren’t I?”

It was a stupid argument. He’d known Caroline and Ben for two weeks, and had only met Renee today.

“Yes. I do owe you an explanation,” Renee said. “Eventually.”

Marvin knew that was the end. Even if he was socially adept enough to keep arguing, nothing would come of it.

Things used to be so much simpler. Lindon, Theo, and Sina had their secrets, but they didn’t have trespassers leaving things in their homes.

Home. Man, I just wanna go home.

But he was stuck with these people for the year. The best he could hope for was to resolve his death quickly and reconnect with his old team.