Chapter One - Armored Elegance Takes the Stage

"The state of education has never been better.

Our profits have reached highs that we haven''t seen since the early 2020s!"

--Richard Piece, Department of Shareholder Satisfaction, Harvard, 2048

***

I wasn''t sure if I was onboard with the whole... ''go to school'' thing. In fact, I was pretty sure it wasn''t going to work out for me.

Anything I could learn in a class, I could have Myalis pump straight into my brainpan, and while I was a little nervous about shoving raw information into my brain, it was relatively easy. That, and I''d know that whatever information Myalis gave me would probably be accurate. Or accurate enough to Protector standards, and I trusted the alien''s understanding of science and shit a whole lot more than I trusted humanity''s.

So, lots of cons. But there was one big pro. Lucy really wanted to go to a fancy school.

I''d known it forever. Half the shows we pirated and binged were school dramas. Sometimes ancient pre-Antithesis TV shows that showed an idyllic world that I wasn''t sure was really how the past had been, and sometimes more modern slop.

Modern slop meant shows that were designed around promoting some new product. Characters would break from the drama to talk up their brand new Mansung Cosmos S-series smart phone, or talk about how their clothes were the most fashionable shit.

Then the show would move on. Half the actors were AI and often so were the backdrops, but that didn''t stop the shows from being... somewhat entertaining, if you purposefully turned your brain off and didn''t look for issues.

Lucy used to eat that slop up. We''d lay down together, pressed in close on a mattress barely large enough for one person, with a tablet taped to the bunk above. For a few hours, at least, we could just enjoy the stupid while forgetting that we were hungry.

So... maybe it wasn''t just Lucy that had a soft spot for school stuff.

"So, what are the chances that Lucy''s doing all of this to distract me?" I asked.

I was waiting by the Bastion of Sekhmet, the bulkhead door leading right into the cabin open behind me. It was a bit chilly in the garage, but I kind of liked it. Chilly in New Montreal made you forget that the air stank of hydrocarbons.

The chances are rather high. But I suspect that Lucy''s intentions run a little deeper than just distracting you. I believe that she wants to reintegrate you into society.

"What? Like releasing a wild animal?" I asked.

What an apt description.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, that can''t be it. I haven''t been that bad, have I?"

You have been uncharacteristically calm since the end of the Phobos incident. Your point-earning has been at an all-time low, and you haven''t spent as much time with your peers as you usually would. However, a lot of these things aren''t truly concerns when taking into account broader circumstances.

Lucy snorted. "Sure you''re not," she said. "Are we flying this big thing over?"

"The Bastion? Yeah, I don''t exactly have a normal car, unless you wanna take the bike?"

Lucy shrugged. "It''s not exactly discreet."

I glanced back. Yeah, landing at the school in a vehicle longer than a hovering semi-trailer covered in armour and guns was a bit much, but also... "It sends a message," I added.

"What message is that?" Lucy asked.

"We have aerial superiority. Good way to avoid bullies and shit, I think."

Lucy blinked, then laughed. I found myself smiling, because Lucy''s laugh was just like that, a tinkling, scratchy laugh that practically forced me to join in. "You don''t think I can handle a few bullies?" she asked.

"Hmm, maybe letting you lose in a school full of innocents isn''t a good idea," I said. "You might hurt someone."

Lucy poked me in the short ribs. "Meanie. Should we get going? Is there even a seat for a second person in this thing?"

"You could just stand in the back. You know, there''s an entire bedroom in this thing," I said as I patted the side of the Bastion''s entrance. "But yeah, there''s a seat free in the cockpit."

Lucy followed me in. The Bastion had a small corridor that ran from one side to the other and joined in with the long passage between the cockpit at the front and the large bays at the rear where mechs were meant to be parked.

I escorted Lucy through all the way to the cockpit, the door sliding open as we got close.

The cockpit was relatively small. A single seat in the centre was surrounded by a curved screen, and there were about a million buttons and knobs all within reach of the pilot''s seat.

Fortunately, there were two more bucket seats in the rear of the cockpit, both of them out of reach of anything important, button-wise. This was a vehicle meant to be piloted by one person on their own.

Lucy hummed before picking which of the two seats to take, then she fumbled with her belts for a bit while I took my place in the pilot''s seat. I tapped an activation button on my augs and the seat slid forwards, the yoke coming up and settling between my knees.

A few flicked switches later and the entire vehicle hummed to life. The AC came on, bathing us both in fresh, cool air, and the screen lit up with a wide-lensed view out the front of the mech.

"Alright," I said as I gently raised the thrust and we started to hover off the ground and inch forwards. "Got the address before we head out?"

"Ah, yeah, one sec," Lucy said. I got a ping from her a minute later and plugged the address into the ship''s GPS.

"Okay," I said as I pushed the thrust in and we started to slide ahead a little faster. "Let''s see if this fancy school''s ready for us," I said.

***