The Mech Touch

e sky looked as bright as ever.
In fact, the brightness of the astral winds annoyed so many Vandals and Swordmaidens that they started to wear protective visors or ocular augments in order to prevent their eyes from straining.

Others simply unfolded the helmets of their hazard suits or combat armor in order to save their eyes the trouble.

The fast transport halted five kilometers away from the walls of A27.
Ves peered in the distance and admired its apparent.
The patina and rust adorning the walls alluded to a rich history.

Captain Byrd collected the three experts together in an elevated compartment of the fast transport.
The roof started to fold back while the deck rose into the air, placing them onto the upper surface of the vehicle.

”A27 stands before us. ” She began.
”Right now, our main challenge is to initiate peaceful contact.
To do so, we ’ll have to convince them that we don ’t have any hostile intentions to their city.
I ’m not sure whether they are familiar with mechs.
It could be that they have lost the technology to field them into battle, so there is a risk that they ’ll mistake our mechs as giant monsters.
Do you have any suggestions to facilitate peaceful contact? ”

The young female exobiologist spoke up first.
”I ’ve been studying the markings on the walls and they definitely show signs of being attacked by exobeasts that are even larger than most mechs.
Most of them appear to have been inflicted by quadrupeds or multi-limbed exobeasts, so the sight of upright mechs should be sufficiently distinguishable from whatever it is they are fending off. ”

”Good point, Dr.
Tillman.
While it is impossible to predict how they will react to mechs, it is necessary for us to project a certain amount of strength as well, so I will bring at least four of them along to impress upon the rulers of the city that we mean business.
Any other suggestions? ”

Chief Dakkon raised an important point.
”I know that wireless communication is kind of borked under all of this interference, but why not try to send a powerful transmission first? If they still operate functioning transceivers, it may be possible to start a discussion at a safe distance. ”

”No. ” Captain Byrd shook her head.
”First impressions are important.
They may not even believe who we are if we attempt to hail them from a distance. ”

After entertaining a bit more feedback, she eventually decided to just stand on top of the fast transport and slowly approach the walled city under a modest escort of four mechs.

As the small delegation detached itself from the rest of the mech company that would be staying behind in case they needed backup, the fast transport dictated their pace as it crawled into view of the city and vica versa.

Though the errant distortion made long-ranged detection rather hard, the large transports and mechs should have been visible long ago.
Disconcertingly, the city exhibited no reaction at their approach.

As the range fell to a kilometer, the city seemed like a dead husk rather than a thriving settlement.
However, the increasingly-detailed sensor readings revealed that A27 hosted at least a hundred-thousand people, all of them spread through every part of the city.

By the time the fast transport stood five-hundred meters away, Captain Byrd ordered a halt.

Silence dominated the plains before the city wall and its ditch.
After several minutes of patient waiting, Byrd came to the decision that the inhabitants wouldn ’t be making the first move any time soon.

”Transmit my voice over the loudspeaker. ” She ordered one of the operators of the fast transport.
”Amplify and project my voice towards the city.
Let ’s see them ignoring us now. ”

Once the transport ’s ’mouth ’ opened up to reveal a shaped loudspeaker built just for this purpose, Captain Byrd started to greet the city in the simplest manner possible.

”TO THE PEOPLE INHABITING THE CITY BEFORE US! WE ARE VISITORS FROM BEYOND THE SKY.
YOUR ANCESTORS FROM THE COMMON FLEET ALLIANCE ARE KNOWN TO US.
WE GREET YOU IN THE NAME OF FRIENDSHIP AND TRADE. ”

Despite projecting Captain Byrd ’s booming voice over the entire city, not a single human showed up to give a reply.
The mech captain waited for an entire minute before speaking again.

’WE HAVE COME FROM BEYOND THE STARS TO HELP YOU ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE GALAXY.
WE CAN HELP YOUR CITY BECOME STRONGER.
WE HAVE BROUGHT FOOD AND TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS ADDITIONAL POWER REACTORS AND ANTIGRAV MODULES.
WE ARE PREPARED TO TRADE ALL OF OUR GOODS IN EXCHANGE FOR FRIENDSHIP AND INFORMATION. ”

Another gnawing silence followed after those words.
The city didn ’t appear to be rousing itself in response to Captain Byrd ’s enticement at all.

”Have the descendants gone deaf or something? ” Chief Dakkon wondered.

”That ’s unlikely. ” Doctor Tillman rejected the suggestion.
”The environmental conditions here does not give any reason for humans to decouple themselves from their hearing. ”

Ves threw out another guess.
”Maybe their prevailing language has drifted so far from standard human language that they don ’t even understand what we ’re saying. ”

”That is a possibility, but it is unlikely if they have maintained a certain degree of technology from the CFA. ” Captain Byrd replied.
”I believe that the inhabitants are simply flustered by encountering something entirely different from the threats that they have faced so far.
We need to give them time to make sense of our presence and form a unified response. ”

”I have a bad feeling about this, though. ” Ves cautiously said.
”They had plenty of time to see us coming, and they would have definitely heard your greeting by now.
What if they are preparing something other than a peaceful response? ”

An alarm suddenly rang from the transport.

”Detecting incoming ordnance from the city! Take cover! ”

All of them directed their attention towards the city.
Of all the possible responses they could muster, the Vandals never expected the city to launch aircar-sized boulders at them with great force and speed! Though the heavy gravity pulled them down the ground rather quickly, they still ranged far enough to crash in the vicinity of the fast transport!

”Retreat! ”

A second volley of boulders slammed into the terrains next to the transport and its modest escort.
Neither the transport nor the mechs possessed any armaments that could intercept the boulders, so they couldn ’t do anything against the rocks!