The Mech Touch

5689 Reconstructed Personality

Ves had 'created' an unprecedented lifeform.

When Professor Vector Loban initially arrived out of the blue and foisted the Yuri Machine onto him, Ves grew incredibly concerned that he was at fault for what had happened.

Even now, he still did not know whether the Ultimatum lost control and devoured Yuri Enfame on its own accord!

This was part of the reason why he felt driven to 'restore' Yuri's shredded spirit and reconstruct him into a more human whole.

Though Ves made it sound easy, it was actually quite a delicate and challenging ordeal.

People's spiritualities weren't actually made out of intangible building blocks that he could assemble and disassemble at will.

Unlike mechs whose physical components could be swapped in and out with little consequences, any major change to any aspect of a human would induce massive and possibly traumatic consequences to their psyche!

It went without saying that Yuri experienced one of the greatest pains imaginable.

His soul got torn apart before being devoured by his own living mech piece by piece!

The Ultimatum hadn't been gentle about it as it somehow went out of control as well!

The agony suffered by the pilot as he was being absorbed against his will amplified the negative consequences to the Yuri Machine and most definitely fueled its chaotic mutations.

This was why Yuri's recovery became so important. Ves needed answers, and since no one else could give him what he needed, he hoped that the pilot himself might be able to fill up the many gaps in the story.

"The mech is not responding." The visiting RA mech designer noted.

"It is still in a recovering state I think." Ves speculated. "We can probably wake it up if we stimulate it, but the risks of doing so are... considerable. I have no idea whether my attempt to piece Yuri back together has actually improved his condition. It may be that the rest of the Yuri Machine will try to assimilate him again,thereby causing further trauma and losses."

"We understand the risks, but we have a great degree of confidence in your abilities. As I have already stated, we have taken all of the possible safety precautions aboard this ship. Please proceed."

Ves just shrugged and tried to wake up the Yuri Machine as gently as possible.

Since there was no real cockpit anymore that contained any activation buttons, Ves utlized Blinky to gently poke at the machine's dormant spirituality.

Though he would have liked to wake up Yuri alone, the fact that he was an extension of the mutated spiritual foundation meant they were a package deal.

In order to wake up Yuri, Ves had to wake up the monster as well!

It took several attempts to prod the Yuri Machine awake. The half-organic machine had gained a lot more traits associated with organic lifeforms due to its mysterious transformation. Sleep was an intensely beneficial process that enabled any organism to accelerate the recovery of its physical and non-physical condition.

Getting interrupted was not pleasant to say the least. When the Yuri Machine finally received enough stimulation to come online, it did so by producing both noise and heat!

THRUUUUUM.

A low booming noise hummed from the monster as its organic and mechanical parts started to come online.

The four weapon modules mounted on the back began to twitch and move as if they were ready to open fire in an instant.

The powerful Onyx Cannon slowly began to accumulate a charge, not because the Yuri Machine wanted to fire it right away, but instead wanted to keep it on standby in case its firepower was needed.

As the powerful machine continued to come to life, its strong but mixed spiritual foundation became more active, causing the machine's behavioral pattern to follow a confused and inconsistent set of orders.

When the machine's powerful sensors finally started to register its immediate surroundings, it immediately started to get alarmed at the unfamiliar environment!

However, when it detected the presence of Ves and the absence of any obvious threats, it did not feel as threatened enough to lash out. The symbol of the Red Association was placed on the bulkheads and Ves' active glow did much to reassure the machine that it was not surrounded enemies at the mind.

"Please remain calm. Commander Pellicky passed you over to the mechers in order to fix your faults." Ves spoke directly to the Yuri Machine. "Do you remember what you used to be? You used to be a living mech, a copy of the Ultimatum UDS-550 that I designed a few months ago. Do you remember your roots? Please think back on who you used to be. Are you still the living mech that is made to serve its mech pilot and become his battle partner?"

The monstrous machine started to shift its enormous body. Its uneven legs looked as if they were about to move, but they did not do so as there was nowhere obvious to go. Ves had the sense that the machine was confused more than anything.

It would have been much simpler if a clear and obvious enemy was in the vicinity. At least it knew what to do, as it still retained most of its combat instincts.

This was an unprecedented and unclear situation to the mutated mech. It was alone and isolated from any obvious ally. Its progenitor, which it vaguely managed to recognize, was a friendly presence, but it did not really ask to be reunited with its maker.

All the while, the Yuri Machine's more destructive and violent instincts constantly urged it to let go of everything and start to blast its entire surroundings!

There were even a few alien traces inside of its spiritual foundation that strongly pushed for turning its miniature laser cannon battery towards the two humans before opening fire!

This was why Ves and Professor Loban remained on guard. There was no telling what kind of impulses the Yuri Machine might indulge in at any moment of time. The fact that its Onyx Cannon and its other weapons continued to twitch showed that it was clearly warring from within!

"Remain calm. There are no enemies here. The aliens are far away and no human is under threat in this star system. I did not wake you up to fight, but rather because I wanted to talk with your mech pilot. He is still there, are you aware of that? You merged with your mech pilot, causing him to become a permanent part of you. Can you wake him up and present him to us? We would really like to talk to him. I know you can bring him forward. Please allow Yuri Enfame to come forward and speak to us. I am sure he would appreciate the opportunity to talk."

The mention of its mech pilot's name triggered a lot of associations to the Yuri Machine. It began to make a louder noise and almost tried to step forward.

lightsΝοvεl ƈοm Fortunately, the Yuri Machine eventually understood what Ves was asking. It froze and fell silent for half a minute before it became active again.lightsnovel

A projector suddenly came online and began to form a shaky image of Yuri Enfame as he was last seen!

The image of the man in a piloting suit was not exactly clean, but it did the job.

"Yuri?" Ves asked. "Are you awake?"

The projected form of the mech pilot did not appear to be in a good condition. He bent over and held his head as if he was suffering the worst migraine in the galaxy.

[Ahesciena.] The pilot said in a garbled and off-tone voice.

"What?"

[Hurt... I am hurt...]

"I know. There is little I can do about it. This may sound harsh, but please pull yourself together. I have tried my best to restore you, but I can't do anything else unless you tell me about your current condition. Do you still remember your name? Who are you? Who do you work for? What mech do you pilot?"

These were basic questions, but they were related to his core identity.

Even so, it looked as if Yuri had trouble recalling those basic points of information.

[I think... I remember. I am Yuri Enfame. Pilot and mercenary. I work for... Pellicky something.]

"Your employer is Pellicky Praetorians, founded by Commander Andrea Pellicky."

[I remember! Commander Pellicky has always... been good to me. Why... why don't I remember her face anymore?]

"There are certain problems with your memory." Ves said. "Don't think about what you cannot recall. Let us leave that aside for the time being. Focus on what you can recall instead. Do you remember your mech?"

[Of course I do! I received the first pick of Ultimatums bought by my commander. I became so happy and proud when I first piloted the machine.] It appeared that the pilot's memories of his mech were much stronger.

"Do you remember the live practice sessions where you put your new mech through its paces?"

[I do! It took so long for me to get accustomed to the limitations of the Onyx Cannons. The four artillery cannons were also powerful enough under the right circumstances. I spent so many hours trying to go deeper and activate its powerful abilities. Wait... my mech. What happened to my mech?] The pilot began to look dumbfounded as if he was just beginning to register the highly altered state of his current 'mech'.

"Yuri! Don't pay too much attention to your mech! It is still okay, in a manner of speaking. Let's focus on you and your life instead. Where did you grow up? Which mech academy did you attend?"

Ves attempted to divert the attention of the pilot, but Yuri looked increasingly more distressed as he was beginning to register how much his mech had changed since he was last in control!

[Why... why is my mech larger? Why has it become so bloated? What is the matter with all of this strange flesh embedded throughout the mech frame? WhY Does mY OnYx CanNon LooK like It Has Grown bOnE SpiKes!? WheRe Are tHe FoUr HeaVy aRtiLlerY CannOns? WhY Is TheRe A GIANT HAIR STICKING OUT OF MY MECH?! WHY DOES MY MECH HAVE AN ALIEN TENTACLE STICKING OUT OF ITS BACK?!] As Yuri started to become more and more freaked out about the state of his 'mech', the man's depiction started to look increasingly more distressed!

At the same time, the Yuri Machine reacted to his elevated state by becoming just as active as its human side!

The two started to mirror each other, which was exactly what Ves did not want to see.

The two weren't as separate as Ves thought!

If one of them began to panic, the other did so as well!

[WHY IS MY MECH LIKE THIS?!] Yuri roared in full-blown panic!

His monster machine echoed his cry by lashing out with its black tentacle and firing its laser cannons in a random direction!

Bang!

Frssssss!

Azure energy shields immediately came online and prevented the Yuri Machine's attacks from going anywhere.

Ves flinched. Even though he knew that there were a ton of protective measures in place, it was still scary for him to be so close to a mutated mech.

This was especially the case when the monster in question had powered up so much that its current attacks could give an expert mech a run for its money!

"It is beginning to absorb a lot of destruction E energy! It is charging up its transformed Onyx Cannon!"

"Not to worry, Professor Larkinson. Do not underestimate the defensive measures of our warship. You are not at risk. The Yuri Machine remains fully contained. First-class multipurpose mechs are just as powerful if not more."

"I am not too sure about that! Don't measure this mech by its physical characteristics or its historical performance! Everything about it defies common sense!"

[DIE ALIENS! DIE TRAITORS! IWEFXXE JUO KHALASI!]

BOOOOM!

The entire compartment shook as the Yuri Machine opened fire with its mutated Onyx Cannon!

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