AFTERWORD - FADING AWAY

The old man cooked a simple meal in his similarly spartan quarters. There was a kitchen, a combined shower and bathroom, and a coffin like bed which flipped around to reveal a closet ... of sorts. Among his belongings was a faded portrait of a regal looking bald woman with liver spots on her head dressed in a incongruously fancy wedding gown. The portrait was an antique - the frame was made of real silver, and the image itself was printed on actual material.

As the stew simmered, he mindlessly scrolled through the news feed on his view sheet. The man's eyes were resigned to the continuous display of bad news. He stopped and lingered though, on an item that had a familiar name.

:: 2154 AUGUST 24 ::

:: Colonel Miles Quaritch (RET.) formerly of UniCom's 1st Army's 14th ::
:: Combat Rig Battalion and First Recon, and lately the Chief of Security ::
:: of the Resource Development Administration, has been reported killed in ::
:: action by aboriginal inhabitants on Pandora, one of the inhabitable ::
:: moons of Polyphemus in the Alpha Centuari system. ::

:: Witnesses describe that one of the moon's native fauna attacked ::
:: Quaritch while he was in operation of a RDA AMP Suit ::

He arched a brow as he read. When he had finished, the old man set down his diaphanous reading sheet, then got two glasses and a bottle of brown liquid from the drawer. Pouring the contents into the cups, he began muttering to himself.

"Always had you pegged as smart, but guess I was wrong," Cheng growled as he stared at the second glass. "Fightin' giant Smurfs with construction equipment? That's sheer stupidity, Rook."

APPENDIX

Errata and miscellaneous notes during the writing of this fun little short. Some back story elements influenced the character's motivations, but were not explored within the time the story takes place.

NOTABLE CHARACTERS

STEPHEN CHENG - Male. Chinese. Approximately 40 to 50 at the start of the story. Tactical Sergeant in a United Command assault rig squad. Catherine Cheng, his last surviving blood relative, was a pediatric nurse killed during the first wave of the prawn invasion. Exhibits a blood thirst when it comes to anti-prawn combat.

MILES (THE ROOKIE) - Male. Caucasian. Approximately 20 to 30 at the start of the story. Member of a United Command assault rig squad. Rank not given. Principal narrator.

TANYA DOYLE - Female. Caucasian. Approximately 30 to 40 at the start of the story. Member in a United Command assault rig squad. Informal call sign "Teabags". British (specifically Manchester). Shady or sordid past as an adult entertainer turned alien hunter and rig driver. This character is based off adult entertainer Tanya Tate - of whom the author knew personally. Doyle's last name is an anagram of sorts.

MIRIAM WEBSTER - Female. Newcomer. Apparent age young adult at the start of the story. Member in a United Command assault rig squad; serves as robot controller. Informal call sign "Virgin". Webster and Cheng were childhood classmates (although she would have been much younger than Sergeant Cheng). This character is based off a classmate of the author's with a similar first name. The first/last name combination is a play on the cruel jokes employed by American immigration officials to Romanize immigrant names.

NASTASHA SUDEK - Female. Russian or Slavic. Approximately 30 at the start of the story. Member in a United Command assault rig squad, serving as a scout. Romantically involved with OIGUCHI ... because the author loves lesbians. Partly based off the fictional character of Viktoriya Lychenko (who herself was based off Madame Drubetskaya).

YUKO OIGUCHI - Female. Japanese. Approximately 30 at the start of the story. Member in a United Command assault rig squad, serving as a scout. Romantically involved with SUDEK ... because the author loves lesbians. Partly based off Rinko Kikuchi's character in Del Toro's "Pacific Rim".

GLOSSARY

ACTUATOR - Machine device capable of imparting motion in multiple directions, often a combination of several motors. Used in AMP and rig manufacture.

AMP - Short for Amplified Mobility Platform. Human operable machine that exaggerates and amplifies basic movement, physical strength, etc. Term introduced in James Cameron's "Avatar".

BACTRIAN - United Command combat rig model that carries a warbot control module into combat to issue mid tier strategic orders to semi-autonomous combat robots. Crew of two.

BATTLE BLISTER - Common name for the cockpit module of a combat rig, the BLISTER.

BERSERKER - Large alien fauna possibly native or gen-engineered by the prawn. Used as a siege and shock surface unit.

BLISTER - Operator's control chamber for a fully enclosed combat rig, featuring an interface CRADLE, connections for liquid waste disposal, connections to the CAM PLATE, and liquid crystal touch screens for human interface.

BOT - Short for robot. Robots are generally not autonomous, and generally follow instructions without questioning them.

CAM PLATE - Short for camera plate, the piece of instrumentation on the outer frame of an enclosed rig that features various devices by which the rig's operator may view his environment without exposing himself.

CHIRPER - Derogatory slang for POLEEPKWA. Chiefly Canadian.

COMBAT RIG - A militarized version of the AMP, featuring a fully enclosed environment that protects its user from unwanted or alien hazards. Usually shortened to RIG.

CRADLE - Physical interface device in a BLISTER for a rig driver to translate the motions of his limbs to his machine's limbs, usually on a 1-to-1 ratio basis.

CRICKET - Derogatory slang for POLEEPKWA. Chiefly British.

DHAMPIR - United Command combat rig model made for their Special Operations Groups. Crew of one.

DRACHE - Unmanned aerial vehicle launched from a V-rack. May be set to semi-autonomous or non-autonomous (controlled) flight. Carries a variety of ordnance, including low-yield nuclear packages.

DRONE - Unmanned vehicle capable of autonomous or programmed actions. Militarized versions often use biological IFF devices to determine the validity of engagement targets.

EINVELOCITY CANNON - Classified United Command weapon using "adopted Newcomer technology to discharge a de-synchronous wave that accelerated normal matter to barely faster-than-light speeds." A thin beam of antimatter was then directed through the center of the wave, and the resultant reaction turned all matter in the wave's path 'vanish' into nothing."

FRAME - Referring to the outer frame of a combat rig. This is to distinguish the "expendable" hardware of a military AMP from the less expendable (and more expensive) BATTLE BLISTER.

GIBBON - United Command combat rig model manufactured for mass deployment. Crew of one.

GLITTERSTICK - Rig weapon that bundles six laser emitters around a carbon fiber pole. Each emitter may be fired in sequence, in pattern, in a simultaneous pulse, and/or directed to discharge their beams at differing angles, essentially functioning as a "laser shotgun."

HOPPER - Derogatory slang for POLEEPKWA. Chiefly American.

LASER MITT - Rig weapon that emits an 80 Terajoule beam in 3 second bursts. Often installed on a rig's off-hand.

M/AM ROUNDS - Matter / Anti-Matter ammunition. Used primarily in rig weaponry, chiefly the PIG.

MECH - Short for mecha. Mecha derived from "mechanical". Applies to mechanized apparati used to enhance an individual's physical performance.

NEWCOMER - English term used for the humanoid aliens who crash landed in the United States' Mojave Desert in 1988.

PIG - Particle Impeller Gun. Rig weapon that uses Gaussian principals and magnetic fields to propel antimatter laden rounds from a cyclotron down and out a linear launcher.

PIMP - Portable Indirect Munition Platform. Rig weapon that functions as a short range cruise missile with MARV capable antimatter armed warheads. Mounted on a rig's back.

POLEEPKWA - Afrikaaner term used for the insectoid aliens who landed near Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982.

PRAWN - Derogative Afrikaaner term for POLEEPKWA.

RIG - Military grade AMP.

RIG DRIVER - User or operator of a RIG.

SKINDICK - Racial slur for a man of Jewish descent or a man who has been circumcised.

SLAG - Racial slur for a Newcomer (gender neutral).

SLAGGOT - Gender neutral derogative for a human who engages in sexual activity with a Newcomer.

SODA PACK - Rig weapon that launches antimatter canisters each with the approximate dimension of a 12 ounce soda can.

SPACE GUN - Slang for EINVELOCITY CANNON.

VOID CANNON - Slang for EINVELOCITY CANNON.

UNICOM - See United Command.

UNITED COMMAND - Military organization formed of various human and Newcomer military and paramilitary groups to fight the alien Poleepkwa.

WARRIOR - Caste or sub-species of PRAWN who are larger than their worker drones. Has two fully functioning pairs of upper arms and is capable of independent action.

AUTHOR AND TECHNICAL NOTES

I originally wanted to write this back in 2009, when Blomkamp's D9 and Cameron's Avatar were released that same year. I first saw Blomkamp's original work, Alive in JoBurg, in 2007 when it was featured on ImageMakers (a good reason to donate to PBS) and thought it was an interesting approach to South Africa's era of apartheid.

I did not think much of Alive in JoBurg as a technical demonstration of military mecha until the 2009 version of District 9 showed off WETA's "prawn mech" on the silver screen. As impressive as the prawn mech was, it was still not meant for human habitation (especially not feasible was the drilling of neuro-bolts into the pilot's temples).

Thankfully, James Cameron's Avatar visualized a more pragmatic approach to exoskeletons, but something about how the AMPs were portrayed disturbed me. If the purpose of military mecha was to protect and enhance the soldier within, why would the Cameron AMP use plexiglass for its canopy? Certainly the all-enclosed environment of D9's prawn mech was a better approach to design.

With that in mind, I set about "designing" an ideal mecha ideally suitable for human use. I am a terrible illustrator, but what I lacked in hand-eye coordination, I made up in the ability to cherry-pick the best traits of one thing and merge them with another to create the best possible combination. Hence, a completely enclosed powered suit with a deadly payload of effective weapons was the answer.

There have been many approaches to the machine suit in the past: Battletech's Elementals and Protomechs, the Veritech Fighters of Macross, the Fire Marines from Warhammer 40K, et al., with Heinlein's StarShip Troopers being the most revolutionary and Haldeman's Forever War being more rooted in real-life physics. That still leaves a lot of room for improvement since the original powered armor suit concept of 1959.

However, those concepts (with the exceptions of Heinlein and Haldeman) were chiefly one to create a universe where people use large fighting robots to do fictional battle (e.g., Mobile Suit Gundam, et al.). We often forget that old Frank Wright adage, "Form follows function." A military mecha is a tool designed to kill your enemy and to protect its user (at least until the first task is completed); hence, its very appearance, shape, and motion should be designed to do those two jobs and to do it well.

So, the Gibbon was designed with those goals in mind and then some: intimidate the enemy, correctly deploy lethal measures when required, automate the mundane things to simplify operator training, and - above all - be effective.

Mechanized warfare will continue to evolve. The human element of initiating the killshot (or putting into motion the events leading to killing another) will still be there, but the procedures and methods will be simplified, and in some cases, automated.

While completing this story, there have been mecha/robot movies (like Travis Beacham's atrocious "Pacific Rim") that has served as good examples for what not to follow. It's my sincere hope that the CoRi combat rigs - whether Gibbon, Bactrian, or Dhampir - and the units described herein will serve as a better example of what military machines ought to be.

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