How to Build a Killing Machine

Matthew had been happy once. His parents had been miners like so many other Mechified in Geneva Prime. When it became apparent just how big he was going to be it was a natural assumption that he was going to be a heavy laborer. Mechanical enhancement may have lessened the importance of natural ability- who cares if you are muscled or a 90 pound weakling when you can just have some limbs replaced and be able to lift a ton- but when you are two meters tall at the tender age of 12 certain things are expected of you.

Growing up he learned to be careful. A lot of Mechified children were big- breeding, he guessed- but he was just bigger, and when you are that much bigger than those around you you learn that being careless can hurt people. Besides he wanted to be a miner like his parents, and that was another place where hastiness could cost a good deal, maybe even lives. The other kids made fun of him sometimes of course, called him freak and giant and other less pleasant names. Thankfully he had never had much of a temper and let it slide. This combined with his penchant for thinking things through before acting made them switch their tactics. They started calling him slow, stupid, retarded. He let that pass too for the most part. After a while he even started to believe them. You did not have to be smart to be a miner though. He would never be a great man; all he wanted was to work and live in peace and he figured he had a pretty good shot at that. It was not to be though.

When he started working down in Karia's Asshole he did well at first. It was not long however before a major problem presented itself: he did not like confined spaces. Not at all. While deep in the tunnels he could feel the rock all about him threatening to squeeze the life out of him. He grew panicked. He made mistakes. He almost got a lot of miners hurt, including himself. Finally the foreman declared him unfit for the work and told him he would have to go elsewhere. He was disappointed, as were his parents, but it seemed the simple life of a miner was not for him.

Matthew got a job on a horse ranch just outside the city. It was good work and he liked looking at the horses. He was not allowed anywhere near them of course, but they were beautiful and he loved to watch them run. There was another thing he liked to watch though he tried to hide it. One of the main handlers, a Biomade girl named Sakura. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, even more perfect than other Biomade girls somehow. He never had any thoughts about doing anything more than looking of course, any more than he did with the horses. There were simply some things that were outside of his world and he understood that; he just liked to watch them.

By the time Matthew had reached his full growth he was truly impressive. Nearly 2.5 metres tall with arms thicker than most people's waists he was noticed by everyone. Even without the hydraulic pumps and reinforcements he had had installed to increase his lifting and carrying capacity his strength would have been prodigious. One of the people who noticed him was a shady-looking Biomade man named Hiroko. Matthew had never seen him before the day the man simply walked up and leaned against a fence he was mending, casually introducing himself. He said that he was impressed by the youth's strength, stature, and vigor. He asked if Matthew knew how to fight.

The young Mechified man had tried his best to avoid fights in his life. Not just because it was too easy for him to accidentally hurt someone badly, but also because he simply did not like violence. He told the man as much and Hiroko told him that if he changed his mind he could make a good deal of time working for him. Confused and a bit concerned Matthew thanked him and went back to work as the chuckling man strode away.

Someone else who noticed him was none other than Sakura. He would look up from his work at times or move to wipe the sweat from his brow and find her staring at him from across the yard, much more openly than he had ever watched her. It made him a bit uncomfortable since he was not sure why she was watching; he hoped he had not done anything wrong. One day he heard hoofbeats close and looking up he found her looking down on him from horseback from only a couple meters away. More importantly, she was smiling!

"Your name is Matthew right?"

Dumbfounded, he could only nod his head.

Her smile widened. "My name is Sakura. One of the mares is getting ready to foal and I might need a good strong pair of arms to help with the birth." She openly eyed him up and down and he suddenly became very conscious of the fact that he was not wearing a shirt. "You look like you have some very strong arms indeed. So what do you say? Will you help me?"

He nodded again, wide-eyed.

"Good. I will send for you when it is time." With that she gave him one last dazzling smile and rode off.

Matthew was stunned. She had spoken to him, and she wanted his help! He was going to get to touch one of the horses. More than that, he was going to get to get to help bring a new life into the world! She did not think he would be too clumsy or stupid for such a wonderful thing, but was actually going to trust his hands to a newborn life! The thoughts left him giddy and he resolved to make sure he did not fail her trust.

A few days later one of the stablehands came running and told him that Sakura was in the birthing barn asking for him. Excitedly he gathered up his things and went. He had thought long and hard and had gathered supplies: towels, sanitizer for his hands, even a large pair of sheers just in case. He knew that they probably had all these things already, but he wanted to show her that he had thought ahead. He rushed into the barn and stopped, confused. It was dark and he saw no sign of Sakura or any mare. Then the pain began.

The first blow struck him across the back of the head and made him stagger and fall to his knees. He groggily looked around to find the source of his pain was another of the biomade handlers wielding a large length of steel pipe. There were several others behind him, each brandishing a makeshift weapon. The first handler spoke: "You should know your place. You should know better than to have impure thoughts about your betters. Now we are going to teach you a lesson you will never forget." As they moved in and started beating him he saw Sakura standing in the barn entrance, watching him. He looked at her, pleaded with his eyes. She looked pained for a moment but then her eyes went dead, her face flat, and she simply turned and strode away. After that he simply could not summon the strength to even try to fight back and the Biomade men beat him into unconsciousness.

He awoke to a whole new world of pain. He could only see out of one eye and then only partially. His breath wheezed wetly and he could not move his legs at all. He knew he was dying. Then he heard a voice in his mind. The voice of Hiroku, the man he had met a week before.

"You are dying Matthew. They beat you and left you for dead. I can save you. I can make you stronger, strong enough to take on all who might hurt you. But if I do this you will belong to me. You will have to fight who I tell you to. If not... well, I suppose you might survive. As a worthless cripple. What do you say, Matthew?" The choice had not been difficult.

* * *

All of this passed through his mind in the time it took for his spiked fist to pass through a Hei Shi's mind. That is, not long at all. It was not until years later that he had found out Hiroko was the one who had told them that he had been having 'impure' thoughts about Sakura and by then it was much too late to do anything about it. He still remembered the day he had watched the man gunned down by Goshi soldiers much like the ones he had just finished killing. Ironic. He looked around to see that the fighting had died down and ordered immediate retreat. They had learned early never to stay at the scene long, not even long enough to collect their dead sometimes, lest more Hei Shi come teleporting in. What had once been an amalgamation of the UMA and the Black Lotus Ring was now forged into the CFC, the Cheldrun Freedom Coalition. A grand name for a ragtag and disparate group of Mechified, Allskins, and even some Biomade. No longer did they fight for something as nebulous as equality for all Cheldrun. Now they simply fought for their lives and to survive the oppressive yoke of Goshi Mining Corp.

He knew it was only a matter of time before Goshi found them and crushed them, right here on their doorstep. He had heard rumors of some sort of successful resistance in Stardown and was thinking of trying to connect with them or even get the entire movement to go join forces. He knew it was a desparate plan, but he was becoming a desparate man and he could not shake the feeling that something big was coming, something terrible, and if he wanted to have any Cheldrun left free by the end of everything he had to act. Sometimes he wished he was a hero like Moses. Most of the time he fervently thanked the First Minds that he was nothing of the sort.