The Mech Touch novel Chapter 148

The three young Larkinsons disgorged from their forcibly landed aircar in a run. They approached the entrance of what appeared to be a junkyard. A single security officer along with a host of rickety security bots held them up at the entrance.

"Stop! No entry allowed!"

"Let us in! It’s an emergency!" Ves retorted as he banged his fist against the gates. "The BLM is after us right now!"

The portly security guard appeared puzzled. He looked around and failed to notice anything amiss. "I don’t see any rebels. Are you sure you’ve got your heads on straight?"

Just as Ves wanted to respond, everyone flattened themselves when a huge explosion threw them off their feet. His antigrav clothing instantly righted his body in place, but his cousins had to roll on the ground before they came to a stop. Everyone gawked at the gigantic plume of smoke a few blocks away.

"We’re under attack!" The guard panicked and quickly slammed his fist against a button. The entire junkyard started to go into lockdown as metal shutters rolled down windows and all of the fences became electrified.

"At least let us in before you hole up in your little corner!"

"It’s no use." Melkor said and pulled Raella back before she could bang her fist against the metal shutters. "Look around you. Everyone’s running scared."

All of the airtrucks and shuttles zipped away, even those who were still in the progress of loading their goods. Some of them even dropped their cargo as their hatches hadn’t closed in time.

Along with the retreat of every vehicle, every factory and warehouse started to put up their barricades. In an unsafe environment like the industrial district which was plagued with criminals and other unsavory characters, such an exaggerated level of security was a basic requirement. Even as the air grew a little hotter due to the nearby flames, no one looked out for others.

As the Larkinsons tried to find some shelter at the warehouses and workshops next door, they were only met with stony silence.

"It’s no use." Ves eventually said. "This is one of Dorum’s worst neighborhoods. A lot of gangs like to threaten and steal from these facilities. You won’t be able to find a good samaritan in this part of town."

Melkor frowned behind his glaring red visor. "I don’t see any police. How could Bentheim let its public security deteriorate to this degree?"

Even if the Dorum Police Force sleeped on the job, they should have sent some help over. Ves brought up his comm but only got an invalid signal.

"Our comms are still blocked! The rebels must have sabotaged the nearby broadcast towers!"

Things weren’t looking good, Ves thought. A nefarious force had blown up something big and blocked their wireless communication attempts. Had the rebels given up on the quiet option and therefore opted to go loud?

An intense sensation suddenly engulfed him. For some reason, Ves felt as if an apex predator stared hungrily at him. Sweat trickled down his brow as he tried to parse this unfamiliar probe. His so-called Sixth Sense only triggered when he came into contact with the X-Factor.

Did this mean that one of his own mechs was close?

"The flavor is wrong."

For lack of a better word, he described each different sensation from the X-Factor as a flavor. As someone who personally designed and fabricated the Mark I’s and Mark II’s, they possessed a unique blend of daring and aggression.

The flavor currently pinging his senses lacked the boldness he had personally imbued. Instead, it tasted like a cold winter wind snuffing out a lonely candle.

"VES! GET DOWN!" Melkor suddenly yelled and tried to tackle Ves to the ground. A sudden shield sprang into being that forcibly bounced him back.

Distracted by his attempt to parse his Sixth Sense, his entire vision suddenly bloomed as a solid projectile suddenly crashed against his shield. Master Olson’s gift prevented the incredible amount of kinetic energy from affecting his fragile body.

"That’s a railgun!" Raella yelled and haphazardly fired her laser pistol in the direction of the attack. "We’re all going to die!"

Melkor forcibly bent down her weapon arm so that her deadly laser beams burnt harmlessly against the pavement. "Calm down. Ves didn’t die. We can still make it through."

The attack had pulled Ves out of his stupor. He finally realized that his Sixth Sense hadn’t picked up a mech, but rather an assassin. His heart beat loudly inside his chest as he belatedly learned he just escaped death. He quickly looked at his comm and had a scare. His shield generator just lost nine percent of its charge!

"Screw it!" He swore, and pointed at the barricaded warehouse they were currently standing in front of. "Lucky, cut down an opening for us."

Lucky didn’t act cute this time and directly clawed a crude man-sized opening in the metal shutters. The three along with the cat barged their way inside the storage area which blared in alarm at their intrusion. Security bots armed with both lethal and non-lethal weapons started to hover over their heads.

"Damn it! These assholes want to shoo us out!" Raella exclaimed and raised her pistol at the robots.

Just as she pulled the trigger, they all lost power and crashed to the ground. The three had to jump away in order to avoid getting pummeled in the heads.

"Melkor?"

"These are ancient models. Even if their firmware is up to date, they’re nothing compared to the models used in Rittersberg." The man grinned with satisfaction and tapped his finger against his glowing red visor. "I’m not wearing this for show, you know."

It turned out that Melkor had taken a course in hacking. Though he wasn’t a genuine programming expert, he had more than enough skills to apply a standard script to old vulnerabilities. As long as the system wasn’t too new or advanced, he’d be able to bypass its lock.

"Why didn’t you hack open the doors in the first place, then?"

"It didn’t work." He shook his head. "Every property in the block is secured with both mechanical and electronic means."

This wasn’t unusual as the people who operated these facilities couldn’t afford to update their cybersecurity. Just because Ves could afford to employ Sanyal-Ablin to fortify his systems didn’t mean that anyone else could do the same. The cutthroat competition along with all of the other dangers on Bentheim often forced the local businesses to cut corners.

"Is anyone around?"

No one made a peep. Whoever supervised the warehouse must be holing up somewhere safe.

The Larkinsons groaned. They recognized the BLM’s slogan. _{freewebnovel.cσ๓}