A Mech's Life

Chapter 14: Shock and Awe

Elizabeth stood in front of a Sentinel she'd never seen or heard of before. Her knees were shaking and she wasn't sure if it was because of the fight she'd been in or the excitement she was feeling.

The way it had moved was simply mind boggling. It put into question everything she knew about sentinels. Sentinels were great machines, the pinnacle of technology from the old world but they didn't do summersaults, flips and rolls!

She had watched when pilots trained in the courtyard, they didn't move like this sentinel had. Average pilots would first move forward and then horizontally. Experienced ones could do both but no one could do movements on three axis.

This sentinel was agile, had as much dexterity as a human and could jump.

It had to be one of two things: either this sentinel was better than every other sentinel that exists or its pilot was the greatest pilot ever.

It seemed less likely that it was the former, since it'd be a statistical anomaly but both options were amazing in their own right.

As she made her way towards the front of the sentinel, she passed her hands on the side, touching the white paint. It felt so smooth and was perfectly uniform. Upon closer inspection she noticed there were no brush strokes, no differing colors or re-painting attempts. It went seamlessly from one color to another. A few dents were apparent but they were not rusted, likely having occurred just now in this battle.

Elizabeth: "Oh. My. God. It's the original paint."

Her knees gave way then and she fell on the grass, laughing hysterically to herself. Had this thing time-travelled here?

As she got up and continued to go around the sentinel, she noticed some older damage and repairs. How could this have stayed hidden for so long?

She knew there was only little time left until the gate would be fixed and guards would come streaming out and take her away from this magnificent machine. She'd likely be grounded if not locked up, for a considerable time as well. Therefore, she had to see everything she could. She did a full outer inspection before trying to get inside the cockpit.

The damned cockpit wouldn't open however and she was starting to worry about the pilot. If anyone knew anything about this sentinel, it was the pilot. Well, there was that whole saving her life thing also but that came second.

The sentinel was planted face first into the dirt, blades of grass dancing softly in the wind next to the large scar in the ground due to it sliding for some distance.

Banging on the outside sparked no reaction. She climbed on the sentinel's back, looking at the axe in it's back. Sighing, she sat cross legged atop the sentinel.

Elizabeth: "Come on, open up! It's not like I have long left now before they come. We might not see each other again for a while."

She leaned back and stretched, tilting her head to the side so it leaned against the sentinel.

Mechanical rumbling made her shoot her eyes open as the sentinel began to move once more.

Its front arms pressed against the ground and lifted the front up slightly, making her slide down slowly from its back and down the leg, landing in a patch of soft loose dirt.

Looking back at the sentinel, the cockpit was now opening, the arms having lifted high enough to allow room for the cockpit to extend.

Her heart racing, Elizabeth stood up, shaking the dirt from her clothes and started to approach. A figure fell down from the cockpit as she walked towards it, giving her a small shock.