Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

With the town’s food and mawsie’s issue both being solved, it was time for Ceres to focus back on himself. “The town can eat the diamond fruit and they can use it to tame the mawsies, so it’s a win-win. The domestication mission can wait.”

Ceres was back at the workshop, working hard on disassembling the Keeper exosuit. With no manual or datasheet to back him up, he had to wing it by hand. Halyon was still passed out on the floor, so Ceres merely tossed him to a corner.

The Keeper’s exosuit was not vastly different from an Athen Defender, so Ceres used his past knowledge and experience fighting them to slowly take it apart piece by piece.

Seeing that Halyon had been specifically instructed to not touch the nerval spine, Ceres had no doubt that there was some sort of explosive failsafe or backup that could maybe blow him up and potentially damage the town.

It was for this reason that he borrowed combat armour from Captain Kai to carry it out, as his personal heavy exosuit was not nimble and accurate enough in its digits to perform the disassembly.

Opening his multi-terminal, he quickly mapped out a wiring schematic and connection diagram as he slowly pulled apart components.

Ceres was proficient in reverse engineering due to his time in Uncle Dawn Rigor’s workshop, where he had to revive old second-hand technology or scavenge new parts from worn-down equipment in the trash yard.

Ceres became more and more confident as he got a better grasp on the design of the Keeper’s exosuit. It felt like he was living through the eyes of the designer but backward in time. Ceres recorded all his learnings and the little tricks of ingenuity that the designer placed into the exosuit.

It took many hours, but Ceres did not feel the slightest ounce of sleepiness. The emotions released by the festival were more than enough to give him something akin to a sugar rush, allowing him to actually feel excited and engrossed in his work.

He was so engrossed that he did not notice Mercer opening a festival stall in front of the workshop, giving dozens of townspeople who walked past the workshop a tour and a chance to see the ‘hero’ at work.

“Behold, our hero is always hard at work to improve our town. Look at his pure eyes of concentration, allowing him to stare right through into the very soul of the exosuit!” Mercer proudly told the ‘tour group’ that followed him.

A wave of oohs and aahs went through the tour group, who nodded in excitement. “And right here, we have the first homemade exosuit, an heirloom of the ‘hero’ himself. A heavy exosuit with armour made up of the enemies that he has pummelled to death – the exosuit represents the hero’s stalwart resolve to defend the town against our foes!” Mercer continued elaborating, as though he was speaking of ancient myths.

“And you are his disciple right?” One of the ‘tour group’ members asked excitedly.

“Yes! I’m his best and brightest disciple. The one who will eventually inherit the mantle ‘Lord of the Underground’!” Mercer inflated his chest as he pointed at himself.

The ‘tour group’ was very impressed. “Indeed, with such an improvement to our lives, he is a true living hero, even willing to teach our young ones to develop future heroes!”

Halyon groggily woke up from the floor. “Hey, can you idiots keep it down? I’m trying to sleep here!”

The ‘tour group’ looked at him like he was an animal in a zoo. “Is that someone new? Another disciple of the hero?”

Mercer looked awkwardly at Halyon, trying to explain. “He’s err… he’s one of the ten legendary subordinates sent from deep within the depths of this planet. To…To assist Ceres in his quest to save all subterranean towns. His name is Enforcer, and his family name is Keeper. For they always keep their promise!”

“You idiot, my name is Halyon! I’m a Keeper from the…” Halyon was about to rage when one of the children in the ‘tour group’ walked forward and bowed before offering a piece of diamond fruit. “Thank you, Mr. Enforcer Keeper - please continue helping our hero!”

Halyon was stunned. He had never been complimented before by someone outside the enforcers. Every time he performed a mission, he was always cursed at or heckled by the outers and criminals for being a ‘dog’, a ‘slave’, and the inners barely praised him. A warm feeling rose in his heart that he never felt before.

“Well… yes of course I will. I’m a Keeper, and we always keep our promises. But don’t forget, I’m rank one among all the subordinates that Ceres will have!” Halyon stood up and saluted, with the ‘tour group’ saluting back.

Ceres glanced up from his work for a moment, witnessing the sight in utter confusion before wiping it from his memory, re-focusing back on his disassembly of the Keeper exosuit.

Mercer motioned to the next ‘exhibit’ that was laid on the ground. “Behold, the holy spear our hero wielded when he first ascended to our town. Before it arrived here, it had pierced ten thousand mawsie hearts and drenched in the blood of its foes. But now, it wields its strength for the sake of our people…”

An entire day passed till Ceres finally managed to isolate the spine. He had painstakingly ensured that nothing would go wrong at all, re-looking over all the electric schematic diagrams and network connections. The multi-terminal displayed them holographically, filling the air with multiple screens.

Halyon was slurping on a slushed version of the diamond fruit from a packet drink. “I still don’t get how you can see more than one holographic screen at a time.” He watched as Ceres’s eyes continuously darted from screen to screen.

Halyon was not an exosuit repairer, and his NEIR level wasn’t even enough to clear the qualifiers. In fact, he failed at the first theoretical stage.

“It’s easier than controlling an autonomous exosuit apart from your own exosuit.” Ceres replied, driven by the curiosity of how the Keepers were able to control other exosuits. “You don’t seem to have that high of a NEIR rating, so it’s impossible for you to handle the two nerval loads at the same time. Hopefully, what’s inside this spine can explain why.” He pointed at the spine.

Ceres took a deep breath before launching into action. He needed something to prevent a possible explosion, so he looked around for any enclosed areas. He couldn’t do it outside as he needed his tools nearby in order to inspect the spine once opened, and it was hard enough to transport all of them.

“The arc furnace should be sturdy enough.” Ceres wore his heavy exosuit again and quickly brought the spine over into the furnace, jumping down into it. “Halyon, control the furnace to close the cover.”

“Err… sure?” Halyon fumbled with the control panel, finally getting the cover to close. “Hey, if the spine blows up, you’ll be fine right?”

“No worries. I think.” Ceres was confident that his heavy exosuit and enhanced body can withstand anything. Even if the spine was effectively a warhead, he could handle it at its size.

With the furnace lid closed, Ceres did not hesitate any further, turning on his helmet’s floodlights before reaching out to the spine and peeling it open. It was hard to do fine work with his bulky exosuit hands, but he had no choice.

The exterior of the spine was forcibly ripped off, revealing a black glossy interior that was shaped like the spine itself. “Huh, that’s weird. The material almost looks like…” Ceres paused.

“Looks like what? Ceres?” Halyon asked from beyond the wall of the furnace, but Ceres couldn’t reply, stuck in horror as he watched the spine transform.

The black spine started to deform, growing a skeleton-like arm and hands as it tried to wriggle itself out of the exterior mechanical shell. Six arms formed as it gripped onto the floor and dragged itself out. Three faces formed on the spine, two human and one alien face that looked gruesome.

The human faces were locked in despair and anguish, while the alien face possessed only three insect eyes. Ceres did not recognize which alien it was, but the face looked at Ceres and ‘smiled’, if that was considered smiling.

It did not possess a human mouth, but Ceres could somehow see it ‘speak’ as though a perfectly normal human could speak. It only said one word, but it reverberated through Ceres’s being as though someone had rang a gong in his bones.

[FREE-DOM!]

The six-armed black spine with three faces started to crawl towards Ceres, the human faces turning to emotions of ecstasy and happiness, their mouths cackling away. The black spine suddenly lunged at him grappling onto his heavy exosuit as Ceres yelled in shock.

“Ceres? Are you okay? What’s going on in there? How do I open this damn cover!?” Halyon frantically tried all the controls on the control panel, but nothing moved the furnace cover. He couldn’t afford to lose Ceres otherwise he might be trapped in this town forever.

Inside the enclosed furnace, Ceres could finally ‘hear’ it.

He had always felt the hunger and something else living in his body, but this time, instead of just feeling it, he ‘heard’ it.

From deep within his cells, something replied on his behalf without his control as the black spine’s arms seeped through the gaps in his neck joints, aiming for his face.

[CON-SUME]

From his nose and ears, the black goo within his body formed arms and grappled with the black spine’s arms, being much stronger and forcing it back.

[IDEN-TITY!] The black spine screamed as it tried to fight back against the numerous arms that sprouted from Ceres’s body, emerging through the gaps of the heavy exosuit and grabbing onto the deformed black spine.

Soon, the deformed black spine lost strength, the three faces disappearing as it dissolved into goo. Ceres heaved a sigh of relief, but soon noticed that the new black goo wasn’t going back to the spine’s exterior, but instead flooding into his exosuit.

Without warning, the new black goo immediately seeped and forced itself into Ceres’s pores, integrating itself with his body. The blood vessels were slowly forced wider as Ceres’s body cracked and groaned, expanding to accommodate the new black liquid in his bones and muscles.

The pain was nothing like what Ceres had felt before, feeling as though his veins and flesh were burning up from within.

“ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!” Ceres screamed as blood started to seep from his eyes and ears, his body overclocking to handle the influx as his muscles tighten and loosen in rapid fashion like a seizure.

He could not even control his body, as though someone had taken control of his entire nervous system.

The cover finally started to be removed. “YES, I got it! Ceres, I’m coming!” Halyon rushed to the furnace, peeking inside. Instead, all he saw was an empty spine and a heavy exosuit lying in a pool of blood and sweat. “CERES!”

***

The town chief tapped his finger on the table as he sat in his office with the other town leaders. In front of them was a projected 3D hologram map of the area. He sighed as he looked at the outline of where the expedition was and the tunnel network.

It’s been a week since the festival, and it’s been nothing but bad news. First, the ‘hero’ collapses and is in emergency condition at the clinic.

Then, a messenger comes back from the expedition a few days later, saying that additional resources and help are needed to break their encirclement.

“Why are the Chosen even attacking the expedition now? They never used to attack so violently before.” Captain Kai sighed.

“That’s because they were scattered, but the appearance of the ancient temple has somehow caused them to reorganise and bond against it. We may be better equipped and trained, but they have way more numbers when they are not busy trying to each other alive.” The town chief replied.

“They are also trying to cut off reinforcements as well! Most of the old tunnel network is now being patrolled by them. Even if we had a team to send, we can’t make it there on time while fighting off all of them.” Zhang banged the holster of his chair.

“If Ceres was awake, maybe he could solve this.” Xi lamented.

The town elders sighed in unison. “It’s best not to put our hopes on Ceres. He went into a coma previously for five years and he’s done enough already for us. We need to solve this on our own as a town.” The town chief said.

But deep down he knew it was impossible! No one had the capability to reach the expedition, and the rescue team might even suffer losses! It was truly an unexpected scenario.

The town elders all knew this too, so they were equally lost on how to solve it. “Maybe Mr Enforcer Keeper can help us? He’s a surface dweller too isn’t he?” Xi asked.

“No way, his exosuit is disabled and he can’t even hold a candle to Captain Kai.” The town chief shook his head.

“Okay, I’ll be leading the rescue team. We have a few slightly older fighters in the town that can help since they have prosthetics now, so let’s just come up with a quick plan and what we need to bring.” Captain Kai began drawing on the hologram.

The expedition’s message dampened the entire town’s mood right after the festival. Even if they had enough food, what was the point if the expedition could not survive? Zhang gritted his teeth. “I’m going too. I’m not going to let my daughter be eaten alive by those damn Chosen!”

The town elders began listing out all the resources needed to be brought to the expedition. Water, food, batteries all required them to load up onto multiple trucks – they had to feed 75 people for more than two weeks before they got back to town.

“We don’t have enough food to give to the expedition without rationing ourselves again. The fruit that Ceres harvested is running out fast, and it doesn’t last forever either. We won’t be able to grow the fruit that fast to feed all of us consistently as of right now. We need to buy time.” Xi warned.

There was no choice, however. The town had to take a hit for the bigger picture. Losing the expedition was never an option anyone considered. Too many lives and equipment were at stake.

“As long as we can somehow clear the tunnels enough to maintain a safe route, we can easily ensure that we deliver supplies on time. We might not need to bring all the food in a single convoy.” Captain Kai said.

“But how are we going to defeat the Chosen? According to the messenger, some of them even have projectile weapons.” Zhang pondered.

The town chief slammed the table. “Those damn Rockhold bastards. I warned them to not trade with those Chosen as well, but they’ve gotten greedy. I don’t know what they traded for the weapons, but once we save the expedition, I’m not going to go easy on Rockhold.”

Captain Kai frowned. It was difficult for the town to maintain energy or kinetic rifles so it was given up in favour of melee weapons. The recent addition of mawsie metal made them stronger, but their enemies now had the absolute range advantage.

They also did not have any upgraded combat armour yet, so they couldn’t rashly head off first. “Zhang, you may need to manufacture some new combat armour that can withstand at least a few energy shots. You can do it with your new prosthetic limbs, right?” Captain Kai asked.

“Yes, but this will delay the mission. We need to save the expedition ASAP.” Zhang replied.

Suddenly Mercer barged into the office, panting hard.

“We’re having a meeting here, I told you not to disturb us if it’s not important.” The town chief stared him down.

“Cer-Ceres is awake!”