Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

The Keepers, a newly formed department of the enforcers.

Created just three years ago, they boast a whole slew of new technology and capabilities.

Orbital deployments, subterranean environment, city policing, the Keepers are trained for all these and slated to eventually be the de facto face of the enforcers.

Supporting this push is the introduction of autonomous exosuits, also known as drones. The Keepers somehow had their exosuits modified to serve as the central node for the autonomous exosuits, enabling each Keeper to control up to five other drones.

Ceres finally understood why he couldn’t see any colours from certain exosuits during the fight in the research lab, especially the original two Athen Defenders. They were not even ‘alive’ to begin with, so how could they display emotions?

He found it quite impressive, especially when Halyon elaborated on how the Keepers could control them.

Apparently, only a select few could be selected. Halyon himself had dropped out of his graduation competition early during the qualifiers but was still selected to be a Keeper directly by the enforcers. He trained to control multiple drones at a single time, being forced into combat scenarios one after the other.

“I find it impossible that humans can handle such a high nerval load.” Ceres was sceptical. “It’s already hard enough for most humans to have a high NEIR level – yet the Keepers can handle multiple exosuits like it’s their arms and bodies? If they only had a single exosuit, wouldn’t they be considered a high-level expert?”

Halyon couldn’t argue, knowing that his baseline NEIR wasn’t good at all, only being a mediocre 1.05. All he could explain was there was a secret technology that the Keepers were using, but even he did not know what it was due to its security.

Ceres pondered over the information, while Oswa continued asking. “Kid, it seems like with such technology, you can easily rule the surface. AI automation of combat exosuits is extremely difficult without Council help and is heavily restricted due to the Alpha Uprising in the past. It is unlikely for a D-class state like us to comprehend and implement such technology on a wide scale. How is it possible for a backwater planet like Athen to achieve such advancements?”

“It’s not exactly automation, but more like a remote control with computer assistance. It’s a bit like playing games and pressing a single button that would execute multiple moves or commands. The drones won’t work without a Keeper nearby.” Halyon tried to explain in his own terms.

Ceres could not recall any inkling of hearing such technology appearing elsewhere in the Loeric Empire apart from the museum trip. He had been up to date with the new technology being touted on the empire-wide news before his five-year coma, and he did not remember any mention of such automation.

“This technology would be a real game-changer for the Loeric Empire military. Each soldier theoretically could control up to five other exosuits, multiplying their combat strength. Why hasn’t the military bought this technology yet?”

“It’s not perfect yet, and many of the limitations are still being discovered. The project would be completed in three to five years from now, I assume.” Halyon shook his head.

Ceres tried probing for more information, but Halyon could not tell him anymore. Ceres also knew that Halyon was not hiding anything anymore, using his new vision mode to scan Halyon’s emotions.

“What about the rebellion? What’s the current status?” Ceres asked.

At this point, Halyon was somewhat convinced that Ceres and Oswa were not rebels, seeing as they were asking such inane questions. “The rebellion is slowly ramping up from what I know. The enforcers and local military garrison are doing their best to suppress it and weed it out. The rebels mostly hide underground deep, preventing orbital scans from detecting them clearly. A large number of weapons and resources are being transported all over the planet, especially through the outer zones or other outposts and towns beyond New Saint like Rockhold.”

“I heard the outers are now labelled as second-class citizens, with diminished rights.”

“Yes, because they are all violent and feral with no moral compass… I mean, they have maybe a few little grievances that cause them to get a little bit angry at times. Almost all of the crimes in the city now are committed by outers.” Halyon quickly changed his tone when he finally connected the dots that Ceres was previously an outer – characterized by his tanned skin.

Oswa scowled. “Is it not obvious that if you suppress a group of people, they will feel oppressed and some will fight back? It’s an ancient adage to not push a desperate foe too hard. From the sounds of it, you barely left anyone an outlet.”

“But they are criminals who threatened the stability of the city. The mass riots five years ago were a great example. When their violent, callous representative Ceres died, it took a lot of effort to control the outers.”

Ceres looked at Halyon incredulously, while Oswa stared at Ceres upon hearing Ceres’s name. “Why are you shocked? This is old news - I know many who have lost their parents in the mass riots. Don’t try to gaslight me!” Halyon shouted.

“Do you know my name?” Ceres asked.

“Drone C?”

“My name is Ceres. I’m the one who died then.”

“What? No… you don’t look anything like him… wait a minute..” Halyon squinted as he started to put the pieces together in his head. “That’s impossible. Everyone knows you died because you tried to cheat and win over Chad Athen. Chad himself came out to announce it!”

Ceres’s eyes twitched slightly. He was accused of cheating? What in the world? “Chad Athen, looks like I’ll have to hunt him down too.”

Ceres couldn’t care less if Halyon believed him or not. While Halyon continued muttering to himself, trying to sort things out in his head like rationalizing the revival of a known criminal, Ceres walked over to the Athen Defender exosuit, interested in the ‘secret’ technology that allowed the Keepers to control multiple autonomous exosuits.

Checking the spine and the nerval processor of the exosuit, he suddenly felt an intense reaction on his hand, as though something within his body was trying to lunge outwards.

He quickly pulled back his hand, stopping the reaction. “Halyon, you mentioned the secret technology that allowed you to control the drones. Have you ever opened the nerval component of your exosuit before?”

“Huh? That’s out of bounds. We were told to never open it up ourselves, lest we damage the expensive components inside. We don’t get paid a lot you know…”

“Oswa, come over here and touch the exosuit. If you feel anything weird, pull back immediately.”

“Kid, stop using me as a test subject. Get the captive to try it.”

“It wouldn’t be anything special if he touched it, he used to wear it.”

Oswa sighed, before moving over and touching the exosuit. “There, happy?”

“Nothing at all? No reaction?”

“Ceres, you’re becoming weirder by the second. Maybe I should test you again?” Oswa scowled as he walked back towards his hut to check what Halyon did.

“No, no need, I already know you have six fingers.” Ceres was curious. He had to bring the Keeper’s exosuit back to the workshop to open it up so he could figure out what made it tick. He did not dare to open it here next to Oswa’s hut in case of an explosion.

“Please don’t damage the exosuit, else the repair department would give me an earful and dock my pay!” Halyon whined, not realizing he almost had a zero chance of returning to the Keepers with Ceres around. Why would Ceres ever let him out of his sight?

Before Ceres could respond, he saw Oswa storm out of the hut immediately, before using his herding staff to smack Halyon repeatedly. “You fucking idiot, you ate half of the food stored in the hut?”

“What? I was hungry! I’ve been here for almost a month now - STOP!” Halyon cried out as he was continuously beaten. “I thought this hut was abandoned. WAIT WAIT, I still got some leftovers, see.”

Halyon took out from his pocket a few melted packets of ice cream that looked a few weeks old. “Oh right, forgot ice cream melts.”

Ceres almost facepalmed. How was this guy a legitimate Keeper? Were the enforcers expanding too rapidly or were there some secret criteria he did not know about?

Oswa sighed as he ran out of energy, both him and Halyon panting hard. “First, this idiot chases away all the grodaws, then he eats half my food storage. Give me one reason why we shouldn’t feed him to the mawsies.”

“Sorry, I need him alive for answers. Don’t worry Oswa, I’ll forage some diamond fruits and mawsie meat to make up for it.” Ceres wore his heavy exosuit and grabbed Halyon who was still tied up and carried him with one hand.

“Wait where are you bringing me? Put me down!” Halyon shouted continuously, struggling as Ceres easily lifted him out of the grodaw farm, towards a nearby cavern.

“Okay, if I untie you, would you listen to me?” Ceres asked.

Halyon nodded quickly. “I’m a man of my word. Haven’t you learnt this from our conversation?”

However, as soon as he was untied, Halyon immediately jumped up and sprinted away.

“Dumbass, you better hope you never run into me again, else I would…” The last thing he saw as he turned was a stone the size of a fist hurtling faster than he expected towards his face, knocking him out cold.

***

Halyon woke up groggily, but his eyes immediately opened wide as he found himself dangling over near the edge of a lava river. The continuous mini-eruptions and flying sparks seared his skin as he screamed. “ARRGGH WHAT THE FUCK!”

“Hey, you. You're finally awake. It’s better when you’re awake, at least that’s what I think.” Ceres sat in his heavy exosuit a few meters away, holding a long metallic branch in his left hand while his right hand still held a spiked mace. Halyon used his eyes to trace the branch upwards, where the end of it was attached to the top of his rope, like a fishing pole.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? I ALREADY TOLD YOU EVERYTHING!” Halyon shouted in anger as his body continuously wriggled to avoid the heat.

“Don’t stop shouting, keep moving!” Ceres called out.

“You fucking rebel scum, I’ll bite your ass off if it’s the last thing I do…” Halyon struggled with all his might to break free of the rope, but he couldn’t. Instead, his eyes spotted something moving in the lava river. “What the hell is that?! Hey let me down - I’m seriously going to die! HEY!”

Just as he said it, a large figure suddenly lunged upwards from the lava river, a blue metallic claw aimed directly at him. “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Halyon screamed as Ceres quickly swung the branch out of the way, causing the lunging mawsie to miss the yelling Halyon and land outside the lava river.

Stuffing the metallic branch into a ditch in the ground for support, Ceres quickly rushed out with his spiked mace and struck the head of the mawsie before it could react, causing a splat sound as the orange blood and chunks of meat burst out.

“Are you fucking insane!? You’re using me as bait!” Halyon screamed violently as Ceres walked to the lava river, dipping the spiked mace in to clean the blood off with a scorching sizzle. The heat hardly fazed Ceres in his heavy exosuit which had a cooling system to regulate the temperature, so he felt a little bad for Halyon.

Just a little.

This continued for a while, allowing Ceres to catch up to five mawsies, with a few of them having their limbs removed for safer transportation back to the town. Ceres hoped that his assumption about the mawsies growing back their limbs worked.

Halyon soon realized that his shouting and squirming were causing mawsies to come, so he decided to become extremely still to foil Ceres’s plan.

However, all Ceres had to do was to lower him a bit more towards the lava river, causing Halyon to panic and in turn attract more mawsies. “This is too easy, there’s no need for the town to worry about food now with all this meat.”

At some point, Oswa was sitting next to Ceres, slowly peeling away the mawsie armour shell with crafted tools provided by Ceres and extracting the raw meat. The meat was already edible raw, but a good roast gave it much more flavour.

Oswa stared in fascination as Halyon swung like a pendulum, whilst enjoying every mawsie ‘skewer’ he made.

“Let me eat a bit, please! I’m sorry I tried to run! I won’t run any longer!” Halyon pleaded fervently as he saw Ceres and Oswa enjoying the raw crayfish-like meat, his own stomach rumbling since he had been dangling for quite a while.

He had hardly eaten anything good since arriving at the grodaw farm, and the smell of the mawsie meat wafted around his nose, enticing him.

“You know, dangling people might be the best way of luring mawsies out. With this method, we could catch more than a hundred mawsies and start to domesticate them.” Ceres completely ignored Halyon, talking to Oswa, who looked at Ceres as though he was crazy. Not for using Halyon as bait, of course – that was something they were aligned on.

“I think you’re the only one who actually has the strength and reaction speed to catch them. It might be hard for us to do it on our own. At most, we could dangle grodaws.”

“When I get back to town, I’ll make multiple exosuits for the guards to use and train them, that way they can handle fighting the mawsies in a team at least.”

“Alright. I’ll bring back a few skewers.” Oswa began to grab a few of the skewers, before heading over to Halyon who was dangling freely.

Halyon saw the old man coming over with the skewers and felt deep gratification. A tear came to his eyes as he began to sob. “Thank you, thank you so much, my faith in humanity has been restored – no, actually I trusted in you guys all the time, this is just a prank that friends play on each other right? I love this ‘friend’ thing going on right now, and no need for all the skewers, just one would do…”

Just as he finished saying it, the old man suddenly turned around, muttering to himself just audibly enough for Halyon as he walked away. “Ah, I was heading in the wrong direction, look at me, such an old man. I’ve forgotten the way back to the grodaw farm with age. Oh, what a shame…”

“YOU DIRTY OLD FUCKER I’LL KILL YOU I SWEAR ON EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! BRING THE SKEWERS BACK! I WILL FIND YOUR GRODAW PORN STASH AND DESTROY YOU!” Halyon raged as he swung furiously from side to side, still tied to the end of the ‘fishing rod’.

Ceres looked at him as though Halyon was a hamster stuck in a cage.

Halyon let out every curse he knew in his head, screaming his lungs off.

Ceres was expecting yet another mawsie to leap out from the lava river, but nothing took the bait over the next half an hour. “That’s interesting, how are they avoiding the bait? Do they have the means to share information over long distances? Or do the injured bodies give off pheromones that warn of danger? Can they smell while in lava?”

“Maybe there needs to be a swap in the bait. I think they can tell I’m a fake human. How about you and I exchange places? I promise I’ll stay and be gentle…” Halyon tried to ‘negotiate’, while Ceres simply smiled at him. This enraged Halyon much more, causing him to struggle even harder.

Ceres finished the last of his skewers and burped, completely satisfied with one of the best meals he had to date. He wondered how the townspeople were doing with the new diamond fruit. Hopefully, they rationed it a bit. While the taste was fairly disgusting, it could not be denied that it could provide sustenance and improve self-sufficiency.

Now that he had properly escorted Oswa to the grodaw farm, his next step was to conduct a survey on how to domesticate the mawsie, if anything. So far, he established an effective method to catch mawsies, though only he could execute it right now. That was useless for the town.

On top of that, he had to figure out more of the changes in his body. Ceres definitely needed more practice with his new vision mode as well as exercise with his body in general. Right now, his speed was not as fast as he expected. It felt like his brain was lagging behind his physical enhancements.

Sure, the heavy exosuit acted as a large obstacle, but Ceres believe with his enhanced body he should be more than capable of moving a lot faster than he did when fighting Halyon.

Ceres stared at Halyon, finally wondering about what to do with him. Halyon suddenly could feel some sort of pressure from Ceres, as though a scientist was examining him like research material.

“Hey, don’t get any funny ideas about me. I still got loads of valuable information on me, and there are plenty of benefits to keep me around. Most girls call me a real Keeper you know. Also, I can be a really good sidekick if I wanted to.” Halyon tried to espouse his worth, but Ceres was thinking about something else.

Could he use Halyon as a testing platform for his H.T. mode? It was like the perfect lamp post!