The Mech Touch novel Chapter 190

Ves pushed his setup to its limits when he failed to get a response. Due to the inverse-square law, the poor little transceiver had to accommodate an increasingly alarming amount of power.

Neither the salvaged energy cells, the improvised power converter or the hastily upgraded transceiver handled the increasing load well. Ves frequently shut down the power to cool down the stressed devices and replace a few of the more delicate components that only hung on by a thread.

His persistence finally paid off when his shabby transceiver finally returned a response. It came in with dense encryption that made no sense if Ves didn’t have the right key.

"Why reply with encryption?"

Then he thought about the untrustworthy elements in the expedition. If someone like Commander Keller listened in to their correspondence, then that could lead to a lot of unpleasant consequences.

Acting upon a hunch, Ves applied a unique code that his father hammered into his head to his transceiver.

The gibberish transformed into simple text.

[This is base camp. We read you loud and clear. Both your cousin and the commander are present.]

Ves checked his transceiver and noticed a trail of smoke. He rapidly typed in his reply on the projected keyboard.

[I am still in captivity and am transmitting through an improvised transceiver. It will only hold up in a limited amount of time.]

[Roger. We are triangulating your position but it will take time. Please explain your circumstances.]

Without any delay, he briefly transmitted what he experienced including the fact that he’d been operated on. He also emphasized that Doctor Jutland and his Kaius departed the cave a day ago.

[Copy that. We have anticipated his arrival. Base camp is currently in upheaval. Expeditionary fleet has suffered a defeat against sandmen fleet but fled in good order. Cmdr. Keller and his supporters have rebelled and are at large. Prospectors have found the motherlode and its exploitation has disturbed the local ecosystem. Disabling the Kaius is a critical priority. Do you have a solution?]

The brief message came at a bombshell. The defeat of the expeditionary fleet caught everyone off-guard. No wonder Keller and his ilk went AWOL. That latter part of ’fled in good order’ sounded reassuring, but who knew what the truth really looked like.

Without a stable fleet presence up in orbit, they’d never able to leave this miserable planet. If they couldn’t leave within twenty days, they’d be joining Doctor Jutland in his merry isolation.

Forget about retaining your sanity, you’d run out of food, water and air long before the next twenty-seven year lull arrived.

As for the motherlode, Ves figured that House Kaine finally found the source of all the monoexurite spread throughout the jungle. An unimaginable amount of wealth should be locked away in this vein.

Digging it out should net the expedition an unimaginable amount of monoexurite, perhaps in the kilograms even! However, taking such a valuable source of monoexurite away would also devastate the local ecosystem and cut off Jutland’s ambitions.

"He’s just like an alien who can’t do without a source of exotics. Cutting him off from monoexurite is like taking away the stimulants of a hardcore addict. Jutland will never be resigned to give up his source of bliss."

Fortunately, House Kaine took its security seriously, and with Ves warning them of the coming of the Kaius, they’d be fully prepared to repel the monstrous mech.

That reminded Ves of his data chip and the valuable schematics within.

[Please stand by while I transmit incomplete schematics of the Kaius.]

Ves retrieved the data chip and inserted it into an open slot on his transceiver. After selecting the pertinent files, the device slowly transmitted its contents to base camp. Due to the great distance and the constant interfere in the air, the transmission dragged on for minutes.

[We’ve received your transmission in full and are in the process of verifying its contents. Please stand by.]

His transceiver started to release a lot more smoke by now. It shouldn’t be able to hold on for long.

[My transceiver is breaking up. I have only seconds left. Please send rescue to my transmission point. There are half-a-dozen adult hexapods and a score of juveniles under Jutland’s thralls. No elder hexapod kings are present to my knowledge. If the Kaius returns, I will attempt to sabotage it.

[Our manpower is short. We can only divert a limited amount of help. Your rescue will hinge on the success of your sabotage. Rescue party will abort its attempt in the event of failure.]

For a moment, Ves felt the need to slam his fist down the radio. House Kaine practically pushed him into a corner and blatantly blackmailed him into disabling the Kaius! Still, if they had to fend off Jutland, Keller and the native wildlife at the same time, it’d be a wonder if they could send out a squad of mechs.

[Roger. I will await your rescue party. Out.]

His transceiver finally bit the dust before he received the final reply from base camp. He hastily put out the flames, then dismantled his entire setup before stashing his half-fried gear among the desolate pile of mechs.

After cleaning himself up, he left the junk pile and walked over the edge of the massive pool of water. A familiar juvenile hexapod padded over and croaked towards him as if he was a dog welcoming back his owner.

"Hey there friend." He said and tentatively reached out a hand to rub its head. The hexapod barely noticed his touch. "I guess you’re nothing like a dog."

The dimwitted creature acted more like a badly programmed bot than anything else. Ves wondered how Doctor Jutland managed to direct these creatures in the first place.

Did he raise them from their infancy and conditioned them to obey him from the start? Had he fed them with a cocktail of drugs and slowly weaned away their instincts? Or did the crazy doctor use some mystical mind magic?

The truth mattered little to him for now, as his rescue party could clean up the beasts themselves. Ves only had to figure out a way to cripple the Kaius. He looked down the pool of water and tried hard not to smell the disgusting scent emanating from its murky depths.

"What can I purchase with my remaining points?"

His newly added insights into salvaging provided him with a couple of decent options. Sometimes, they had to bypass obstacles without resorting to heat-based cutters.

The most sophisticated salvagers in the center of the galaxy employed highly advanced nanites. These microscopic bots not only ate through the toughest materials, but were also capable of limited self-replication.

Sadly, the System’s Store charged a ludicrous price for a thumbnail’s worth of basic nanites. Even if he possessed the points to exchange them, his lack of expertise prevented him from employing them as he wished.