Due to physical contact with the merman king, Gwen is forced to live some distance away from the others. She now occupies a tent near the river as a water source. The interaction she did was just from the members of the colonists who delivered the food. And even then, the colonists had to put food a few meters away from Gwen, so they wouldn't be exposed to radiation. Yes, they could still talk to the blonde woman, but even that had to be done from a distance.
However, Gwen usually asked whoever spoke to her to just leave. She always said she wanted to be alone.
Gwen's body hasn't shown any signs of radiation yet, maybe because she's been exposed to so little, but that doesn't mean I can take it easy. Everything that happened hit her mentally, especially with this isolation.
"Gwen, can you hear me?" I begged her desperately. "You can activate your psychic powers, right? Please, I want to talk to you for a moment."
Gwen didn't reply and was still in her position, sitting blankly staring ahead.
"Gwen!"
The scream made the blonde haired woman look back to find Eric walking towards her.
"I told you, I still want to be alone, Eric," Gwen said in a hoarse voice. She had cried too much.
"Catch this!" Suddenly Eric threw something.
Gwen caught something that turned out to be similar to a walkie-talkie but smaller and without an antenna.
"I found it in Peter's mech," Eric spoke using another communication device he was holding. "And I managed to fix that thing. If you want to talk, you know what to do."
"Thanks," Gwen spoke using the communication device she had just received.
Eric waved his hand, then walked away from the blonde haired girl.
***
It was night. Eric was still working in the cockpit of Peter's mech, with Manu watching him. Eric was opening the computer part of the war machine.
"So, what did you say earlier... If we can get in touch with another mech owner, then we can get an antidote for Gwen?" Manu scratched his head. "Sorry, I don't quite understand yet."
"Each mech pilot is equipped with an antidote for fuel radiation from escape pods and mechs," Eric answered while fiddling with the circuit board still attached to the cockpit terminal. "For some reason, I can't find it in this mech."
"Why isn't the antidote on the sky ship? If radiation is indeed dangerous, every object that uses hazardous fuel must have that antidote, right?"
Eric chuckled bitterly. "The thing is, the antidote is very expensive. Really expensive. So, the drug is only given to mech pilots, who are more likely to be exposed to radiation. You know, because they fight, so the risk of leakage is higher."
Manu scratched his head again.
"I know, our government sounds incompetent." Eric shrugged. "But believe me, the chemical is actually safe to use if the procedure is right. The proof is, Kat's plane doesn't emit radiation, right?"
Sighing, Manu chimed in. "Your speech is getting harder and harder to understand. I'd better go to sleep. You better sleep now too, Eric."
"A minute."
Manu got off the mech while Eric reassembled the circuit board in the cockpit terminal. He then turned on the terminal, pressed a few buttons on the screen.
[No connection]
Seb's son took a deep breath and leaned back. He had been fiddling with it for two days but to no avail. No wonder he was frustrated.
"Eric, are you still awake?" Gwen's voice came from the communication device lying below.
Eric took the thing. "Not yet, Gwen. I'm still dealing with this mech."
"Actually, what are you doing with that thing? Isn't that thing already running normally?"
"I'm trying to activate the communication device here. Who knows if there are other mechs to contact."
"Ah, you want to get that antidote, huh?"
Then, the two of them were silent for a few seconds.
"Hey, I just remembered, Eric. This is about your story. I heard it from Leva." Gwen cleared her throat. "Ah, but you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to... Well, forget what I said."
"About me being the cause of many people's deaths, right? To be more precise, the death of my own group. Well, in my case, there weren't as many deaths as yours..." Eric paused again for a moment. "Ah, sorry I said something like that. Basically, you want to say that our cases are almost the same, right?"
"How do you cope with that?" Gwen's voice grew hoarse.
"Well, I don't." Eric took a deep breath. "I'm just living my life to the best of my ability,
even with the shadows of that event."
"Oh, I see."
Eric had opened his mouth to speak when static was heard from the cockpit terminal.
"Wait a minute, Gwen. Looks like this thing has picked up a signal." Eric leaned forward, bringing his mouth closer to the terminal. "Hey, can you hear me?"
"May day, may day... We from unit 45-U need a backup...." A man's voice came from the terminal, but it wasn't clear.
"Hello? Sorry, we're not in any military unit. We're just ordinary citizens on that ship." Eric said while turning a knob on the terminal. The longer he did that, the less static there was.
"Ordinary citizen?" The man's voice sounded clearer now. "How did you get a mech?"
"It's complicated. However, the point is that captain Peter Smith had an accident and died, and we took over the mech." Eric Gulped. "Well, you said you needed help, didn't you? Ah... My name is Eric B... My name is Eric."
"I'm Trevor Mancini, a mech mechanic in unit 45-U. Let's skip the detailed explanation. Now my question is, can you or one of your comrades control the mech? Does the mech have adequate weapons?"
Eric shrugged. "Well, we haven't been able to fix the machine gun on this thing yet, but we still have the greatsword. As for the pilot's skill set, we're honestly not sure. We didn't get any special training."
"Okay, fine. Wait a minute." Then the voice of the man named Trevor disappeared, replaced by a soft static. Just as Eric was about to speak again, Trevor finally said. "Here, I see that your mech's condition isn't good. Many of the joints haven't been completely repaired. However, it's better than this mech outside of my escape pod. Even with amateur skills, I'm sure you guys can beat that thing."
Eric's brow furrowed. "So, you're in the escape pod?"
"For some reason, the autopilot system of several of our mechs went out of control. These mechs attacked the others, and in the end, only one remained, even though it was in terrible condition." Trevor sighed. His voice cracked a little. "What's scary is that this mech also destroyed a colony. We don't have to talk about these colonies and how they came about. We'll talk about that later."
"Ah, I already have a hypothesis. Many of the escape pods and mechs fell at different points in time. Those that fell thousands of years ago have already colonized and reproduced."
"Yes, yes... I also thought about that theory, but now it doesn't matter...." Trevor's voice stopped with a loud bang.
"Trevor, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Looks like the rampaging mech just crushed an animal." Despite speaking like that, Trevor's voice cracked even more. "But, I still need help. Because of that one surviving mech, my two comrades and I couldn't get out... And we've been in this escape pod for three weeks."
Eric's eyes opened wide.
Oh, this is so bad. Trevor may indeed have supplies, but being trapped in a place like that for almost a month is definitely not a pleasant experience.
"And these two friends of mine chose to commit suicide because they couldn't take it anymore." Trevor choked. "Please, help me. It feels like hell in here."
I couldn't imagine Trevor's situation anymore.
"Help him, Eric." I gave orders. "Ask where he is now."
This will benefit my colonists, both in the short and long term.
"Okay, okay." Eric looks really trying to calm down. "Can you show me where you are?"
"Here."
A few seconds later, the terminal screen in the cockpit flashed a red arrow heading west.
Oh, shit. I immediately whispered something into Eric's ear.
"It's still not enough, Trevor." Eric then asked, according to my orders, "So, did you interact with the colonists you met? Did you get their names?"
"Yes, I did interact with them. Those people call themselves Acornhulls."
Eric's chin dropped, and I couldn't help but hold my breath. My thoughts immediately went to Miro.
"Are you sure all the residents of Acornhull are dead?" Eric rubbed his face.
"With their primitive weaponry, they can't withstand all those mechs' attacks." Trevor's tone was cold. "Why?"
"They are our friends." Eric's lips trembled even more. "Alright, I agree to help you, but I have to discuss it with my friends first."
"Please, hurry. I'm going to go crazy if I stay here too long."
"I'll talk to you later.." Eric ended the conversation, then rose from the cockpit seat.
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