Chapter 40…
Well… to call it a "Titan" was rather generous…
The mech was curled up in the center of the wooden shed. It's four metal limbs had been retracted and the torso compressed so that it's resting position was almost… fetal, in appearance.
"This is Big Ivan…" Anatoly drawled and held out his hand in gesture to the titan.
The older man's hand was lowered as soon as it was raised and was quickly slipped into the pocket of his jumpsuit. Taking slow, ambling steps, Anatoly crossed through the now open doors and into the shed, his boots crunching against the gravel floor.
Ashley, perhaps in a trance, followed him wordlessly. Try as she might, the dark haired woman could not tear her eyes off of the titan in front of her. In the dim light of the shed… or perhaps "garage" would be a better descriptor, given what it contained… Ashley noticed the metal chains and winch hanging from the ceiling; the chain hooks were fitted into the titan's cockpit safety bars - which kept it from tipping onto its side.
"He lives up to his name, yes?" Anatoly lightly jested. The man had come to a stop perhaps a meter from the titan's feet; both of his hands were now in his pockets and he was gently rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"I- I guess…" Ashley stammered, the shock still wearing off. "I never realized that Okraina could support a titan…"
"We could and still can…" Anatoly jerked his head in the direction of the diagnostic equipment. "He is in mostly working order…"
"Mostly?" Ashley swallowed and tilted her head.
For a moment, Anatoly looked uncomfortable.
In the shadows, Big Ivan's yellow paint looked far darker than it actually was. The paint was marked with scratches and peeling patches, as well as the occasional orange stripe
Back on Earth, industrial titans like Big Ivan hadn't been an uncommon sight. In urban centers one would be hard pressed to not find a titan lumbering around somewhere. Unlike the titan's used by the military or the IMC, however, those urban titans had been built only for labor.
Growing up not far from Tokyo's industrial sector, it had been quite the spectacle for Ashley to see those freight-titans performing their mundane tasks. One minute they were moving storage containers around in a yard - the next minute, those titans and their trained pilots were tasked with handling dangerous compounds. In a shipping yard or construction site, the heavy moving and lifting always fell onto the shoulders of titans.
But… by the standard of titan Ashley was used to seeing, Big Ivan was ancient…
Very, very ancient...
There were multiple parts of Big Ivan's chassis that were archaic. First and foremost was the plexiglass chassis hatch - a design which had been phased out decades ago for the poor protection offered to the pilot. Also, unlike modern titans, Big Ivan did not have hands capable of articulation. Rather, the titan had metal sockets on the ends of its arms where different attachments could be fitted.
The chassis was big and unwieldy - more block-like than the streamlined titans Ashley was used to seeing. Instead of it's plating being made of carefully layered titanium alloy, it was made from bolted on steel. Many of Big Ivan's wires and components had not been covered properly, leaving them exposed to open air.
Perhaps the titan's most outdated feature, however, was it's optic. The optic sat below the plexiglass hatch; it was a large, perhaps foot-wide brick that was jutting out from the chassis. There was no glow or blinking from the optic… which could mean only one thing…
"He's been placed into hibernation…" Ashley mumbled as if in a trance, her eyes narrowing to view the optic brick carefully. She felt her boot impact against something and realized that she was now standing right next to the titan's leg.
"Yes…" Anatoly cleared his throat. "It would not be a good idea to wake him up…"
"Is he… hostile?" Ashley blinked in confusion. She gingerly moved her hand out to feel the cold metal of the titan's leg.
"No… not in a purposeful way," Anatoly huffed. "Big Ivan is… unpredictable. He was built in a time before the three protocols, when-"
"Titan OS was dumber than a bag of rocks…" Ashley finished. "Long before titan-linking was developed...
"Yes…"
"So he's not hostile… just indifferent…" Ashley mumbled. "I'm no expert… but titan OS tends to degrade after a few years, doesn't it? How long has this titan been in operation for?"
"Big Ivan has existed for as long as Okraina has existed," Anatoly answered. "He was most likely seized when the IMC first abandoned the frontier."
"If that's the case… he's way past his expiration date," Ashley frowned. "This titan is a fossil. Why is it still here?"
"For the longest time we at the sawmill used him for labour. But we cannot use him anymore without a proper pilot… there have been too many incidents over the last year," Anatoly sighed. The older man left the spot he was standing and paced around the dormant titan, approaching Ashley from the side. "But without Big Ivan… production for the sawmill has slowed down to a crawl…"
"What happened to the pilot's then?" Ashley removed her hand from the titan's leg. "I'm assuming there was at least one in the past… given that you have a titan and all…"
"That would be 'Little Ivan'..." Anatoly slipped his hands back into his pockets.
"Little Ivan?"
"He was a little man… but a very fine titan pilot. For a long time business in Okraina was good," Anatoly chuckled and held his hand out at a low height. "In fact, it was how Big Ivan earned his name, you know? Big Ivan… Little Ivan… get it?"
"No, I got that part," Ashley gently chewed her lower lip. "What happened to him? Little Ivan, I mean."
Anatoly's face darkened. For a moment the man looked considerably older.
"He was killed by the marodery over a year ago…" Anatoly answered in a low tone.
"Marodery?" Ashley blinked. She twisted her nose in thought for a moment. "Do you mean... marauders? Bandits?"
"Yes," Anatoly shrugged. "There are many different names… but they are all the same…"
"I didn't even know that you people had to deal with that stuff…" Ashley frowned. "I know pirateering is still a problem off-planet… But bandits? Here?"
"Many of them were once IMC - left behind when the corporation was run-off Antheia," Anatoly explained. "Some of them are the guerilla fighters who once fought the IMC… and got a taste for violence…"
"How did I not hear about this until now?" Ashley narrowed her eyes and looked to the open door of the shed.
"We have not had to deal with them for some time now… the last we saw of them was when Little Ivan was shot, and even that was a minor skirmish," Anatoly waved his hand. "The Militia sent in troops to the known hideouts… things have been very quiet since…"
"First, tainted rivers…" Ashley sighed. "And now bandits…"
A very small smile tugged on the corners of Anatoly's lips.
"We are getting off track," Anatoly gestured for Ashley to join him at the titan's feet. "Without a pilot Big Ivan must operate off of his OS… but he is far too dangerous to be left alone. There have been too many injuries… I do not want to risk more lives. But without the titan… all of the tree-cutting, logging, and moving must be done by hand. We cannot take large orders anymore… we need the titan…"
"And you're asking me if I can pilot it…" Ashley sucked in a breath.
"If you can…" Anatoly spoke slowly.
Ashley wordlessly brushed past her superior. The dark haired woman placed her hands against the cool metal of the titan's chassis and began to scale the mech. She worked her fingers into the joints and servos to gain leverage and hoisted herself up towards the cockpit.
Peering past the titan's curled-up arms, Ashley looked through the plexiglass cockpit hatch. Beyond the glass was the padded pilot's seat - which had clearly seen better days. There was no control panel, rather, several metal clamps for the pilot's arms and legs. It was another archaic design, the use of bodily input for piloting rather than a dedicated control board.
Ashley's eyes narrowed in on one of the leg clamps, which looked dented and stained. She suddenly had a good idea as to how that worker's leg got so horrifically broken…
"The leg clamps…" Ashley trailed off for a moment. "Is that what-"
"Broke the last guy's leg? Yeah…" Anatoly responded. "At first we thought that it was just a malfunction…"
"At first?" Ashley narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Anatoly frowned, his whiskey mouth shaking as he chewed his lower lip.
"Like I said… Big Ivan has been unpredictable ever since Little Ivan died…" Anatoly spoke slowly. "I will not lie to you… there is a great risk here."
Ashley nodded and turned her attention back to the interior of the cockpit.
Technically speaking… piloting an older titan such as this wasn't out of the realm of possibility for Ashley. Newer titans were far more sophisticated and it took years of training to learn just how to stand one up properly. The older, archaic machinery Ashley saw before her wouldn't be impossible to understand, given what she already knew.
"Well?" Anatoly called down from below. "Can you pilot him? You said that you worked in heavy machinery, yes?"
"I-"
Ashley froze.
The dark haired woman looked down at her hands, feeling a strange sensation on her fingers. Unknowingly, she had placed her hands against the titan's rather clunky optic for support. The sensation was… curious… as if the optic was gently humming in response to her touch.
Ashley's fingers felt tingly…
Was someone speaking to her? The dark haired woman carefully turned her head to view her superior; but Anatoly was silent, instead giving Ashley a curious look.
There was definitely someone speaking to her… but Ashley wasn't sure who it was. It was if someone was gently whispering into her ear but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Ashley took a hand off of Big Ivan's optic to rub her ear gently, but the whispering noises persisted.
The voice whispering in her ear… although it was unintelligible, sounded rather odd. It didn't sound human… not in the complete sense… but rather like a scraping noise, like a knife against stone…
Ashley felt bile rising in her throat and she hurriedly removed her fingers from Big Ivan's optic; the tingling sensation left her fingers the moment she let go. For a moment she teetered where she was standing, but Ashley quickly regained her balance and clambered down the titan's chassis.
"I can't help you…" Ashley said perhaps a little too quickly. The moment her feet touched the ground she brushed past Anatoly and headed for the shed's open door. "I'm sorry…"
"What do you mean you can't help!?" Anatoly sputtered in surprise as Ashley brushed past him. "You were looking at it like you could! Like you understood what it took!"
"I can't help you… find someone else," Ashley tersely responded through gritted teeth. She could still feel the sensation of bile rising up in her throat.
"Wait!" Anatoly begged. "Hold on for just one moment!"
A strong hand clamped down on Ashley's bicep and the woman moved out of pure instinct. Ashley curved the arm that had been grabbed backwards so that her hand was grasping her attackers elbow. She then retaliated by twisting her body to the side and used the muscles in her shoulders to deliver an open-palm strike - brutally mashing the palm of her hand into her attacker's nose.
Anatoly stumbled backwards, tenderly clutching his nose and clearly reeling from the hit.
Ashley could now taste vomit in her mouth. Her senses returned to her and the dark haired woman was left realizing that she had just struck her new boss in the face.
"I'm sorry!" Ashley quickly apologized. Anatoly had stumbled away and his back was now pressed against the titan's chassis.
For a moment, Ashley's superior only responded by letting out a breath that rattled with anger.
"No… I am…"
"What?" Ashley gulped and lowered her shaking hands.
"I shouldn't have grabbed you…" Anatoly pinched his nose for a moment and seethed. The man squeezed his eyes shut out of frustration before taking a deep breath. "That was a good move… where did you learn to do that?"
"Just a self defense move" Ashley mumbled. "Nothing more…"
"Are you certain…?" Anatoly rubbed his red nose one last time. "I know technique when I see it. That move was instinctive."
"I'd rather not talk about it," Ashley spoke flatly. "I shouldn't have hit you… and I'm sorry for it. But I can't help you here. I've never piloted a titan before… it's too dangerous."
"I understand," Anatoly cleared his throat and slipped his hands into his pockets. "You just left the hospital… I'd rather that you not have to go back."
"Yeah…" Ashley looked to the floor.
"When you said heavy machinery, what did you mean?" Anatoly asked.
"Y'know… cranes, forklifts… stuff like that," Ashley cooly lied.
"Fair enough, piloting a titan would be a bit of a jump," Anatoly wiped his nose with his hand. "Shall we go back to the mill? There is still work to be done…"
"Sure…" Ashley swallowed before heading for the door.
There was a slight tapping noise as Ashley shuffled the credit chips around. The tiny squares that represented currency were stacked neatly in her palm. There were exactly one hundred credits worth of chips in her hand - her salary for the day.
Holding the chips in one hand, Ashley used the other to remove them individually. She laid the plastic cards down on the wooden floor below her feet. Every chip was carefully counted before being sorted into one of three groupings.
The first grouping was for living expenses - food, in particular. This group of credits was the second largest.
The second grouping was for rent - the largest of the three piles. Exactly half of the credits Ashley had earned would need to go towards paying her new rent. As it turned out, Okraina had an inn that had been willing to take her in… but the room's were neither luxurious nor cheap...
The third and final grouping was for Ashley's debt - which she relegated at least fifteen credits too. It was a drop in the bucket… but at least it was something…
"Fuck…" Ashley muttered under her breath. The dark haired woman leaned back so that she was sitting on her heels. There was a creaking noise from the wooden floor below her as she did so. "A day's worth of work and I barely made anything…"
It was a painful truth - Ashley had made jack squat. Her pilot training honed physique meant she did not feel the fatigue from her long work day; but the lingering disappointment was slowly gnawing at her.
Just one job for the IMC had seen Ashley making several thousand credits… but a day's worth of work had provided nearly nothing!
A groan escaped from the dark haired woman's lips as she moved her legs to the side. Ashley bent her body and laid down on the wooden floorboards, allowing the side of her head to rest against the ground. From her low vantage point the small stacks of credits appeared far larger than they actually were.
'What the fuck am I doing here?' Ashley thought to herself. 'In some tiny little town, breaking my back for almost fucking nothing…'
Ashley allowed the little war to wage in her head. She felt the urge to close her eyes…
...or perhaps for something else...
Rolling over onto her back, Ashley turned her head so that she was looking under her new bed. Hidden under the crawl space was a small, opaque bottle of liquid. Ashley reached out her arm and grasped the bottle gently with her fingers. She then retracted her arm, pulling the bottle of cheap swill out from under the bed.
Ashley sat herself up and uncorked the bottle. The dark haired woman took a very small sip of the alcohol, letting the sour liquid sit in her mouth before she swallowed it down. It was nowhere near as much as she wanted to drink, but the woman corked the bottle before haphazardly rolling it back underneath her bed.
Closing her eyes in concentration, Ashley felt the worst of the longing beginning to subside. It had been just enough alcohol to sate her desires...
Moving up and off the floor, Ashley scraped up the three piles of credits and tucked them underneath her bed for safekeeping. The dark haired women then stood up and unzipped her jumpsuit, allowing the garment to simply fall to the floor. Kicking off her boots and gathering up her clothes, Ashley made an attempt to fold her jumpsuit and slid her boots underneath the bed's crawl space.
Now left in her undergarments, Ashley crawled under the moth-bitten sheets of the bed. The dark haired woman could hear footsteps on the creaky floorboards above her head but did her best to ignore the noise.
Night time was… quieter… than it used to be…
A month ago, it usually took half a bottle of hard liquor for Ashley to fall asleep. The alcohol blocked out the worst of the voices and memories...
But now? Now, there was nothing except the oppressive sound of silence. The only reason Ashley had even taken a sip of her stash was just to sate her longing...
Above Ashley's head, the wooden ceiling of her tiny room was in full view. The dingy wood that occupied her vision was mottled with stress lines and cracks that extended like a spider's web. There was something comforting about it, perhaps in its simplicity… yet sophistication.
Ashley was feeling a slight sense of deja vu… but she wasn't exactly sure if it was appropriate or not...