The Greatest Mecha-Chapter 60: Alto’s Little Game

Alto yawned, he had spend most of the night working on the internals of the Opis magnum, he was tired and weak. Spending the first two hours with the mech systems was enough to make him groan at multiple occasions. The mechs complexity was above what he should have been capable of but he was not one to be put off by this, Alto had learned the hard way that there was no one who was willing to hold his hand down the path he had chosen, not his friends and not even the system, it only awarded him for his worth and that he had to prove.

Due to his slightly increased intelligence Alto was able to recall notes from the books he had read vividly, the professor it seemed had given him slightly advanced books and not beginner friendly works. In a way he felt like she was always testing him in every way she could. Another thought slipped into his mind and it was one he had dreaded for a very long time.

"I wonder if she knows I took the tech from the pod." But then again what was the pod. Alto knew he would find his way back into that room to get answers but for now what he wanted was simply to finish working on the internals of the Opis magnum.

Alto forrowed his eyebrows as he only managed to understand only a fraction of the internals of the mech that was far beyond his current ability. The circuitry had to do with the wiring, inputs and connections to the various components like the cooling systems, the sensors, and many more.

By the time the next day came Alto had collapsed on the bed tired, the nurse came in to check up on him. He pleaded for her to let him go claiming that he was healed but she argued with this saying he was in no condition to be moving again. Alto was yet again confined to the room, the only thing he appreciates was that he would have a bit of freedom for a while before the nurse or anyone came. Alto was hospitalised for three more days, the only people coming to see him being his friends, Eleven would always drop by very early in the morning even before anyone was allowed to. He would sneak in to keep Alto company, this he did in silence, Alto found it strange that this young man who had ignored his existence for years now cared deeply about him, it really was a mystery.

But Alto was able to turn Eleven into an accomplished to being in books he would need, Alto would hide it under his bed to keep it secret and by the next day he would hand it back to Eleven. This had been a very normal routine between them, Eleven would at times bring in sweets. Alto was soon coming to like the awkward young man a bit more.

The next set of people who came to see Alto were Amy and Kram, surprisingly Vexar and Denise were always with them. They would come by in the morning in their way to the training room to check up on him and by lunch time they would come to chat and keep him company. Alto could understand if Amy would do this since she was always attached to him but Kram reacted differently, it was not affection was a coldness. For his two new friends Alto had nothing against them, he was more grateful that his two friends had made such good companions.

Due to Alto’s prolonged research in the med bay he was made to stay for a full week, he took this as more of an opportunity to study, and work on the Opis magnum design, he embraced the complexity of the work. Due to the fact that his friends would always be interrupting his study sessions by day and also the bothersome nurse at times, his nights were always filled with endless working leaving him no time to have a good sleep. This caused his health to deteriorated even further, and his visitors to come for longer.

Alto knew how important rest and sleep was to a mech designer having learnt that the hard way. He soon devised a plan to solve all his problems. He would work extensively during the night and sleep during the day, this would give him his much needed rest and also keep his visitors from disturbing him. Not long after the nurse would limit the visitors time to allow him to rest more and this was just what Alto wanted.

When night came he would spread out his wings and do what he loved to above all else, mech designing. He felt his new friends all achieved their dreams together, challenging each other to become better. While this was not bad Alto lacked any form of such support, his only challenge was to surpass the him of the previous day and nothing more. This drive with his newdound live for mechs forced him to improve at a drastical rate, every time he felt a pain in his head like it would explode he would have his trusted nurse coming to his aid. She would always complain about his health improving and then falling back every time.

Eventually she caught on Alto’s little game, she had hidden in his room while he spelt in the day and had apparently fallen asleep herself. By the time she had woken up it was dark and she snuck out from where she hid to found the porridge dying boy working in a virtual mech, reading books and overworking himself to death. The nurse wasted no time attacking him and almost blowing his cover, Alto managed to come to an agreement with her.

Alto was put in isolation for a while according to his own plan with the nurse during this time he would be free to work and practice as much as he wanted but in the condition that he would have to follow her schedule, meal plan and sleep plan. This Alto did not have a problem with, he was able to learn in peace under the guise of an illness. While he hated being away from his friends or lying to them, he knew what his priority was and that was to master the Opis magnum.

In his isolation Alto took a week to learn and master the inner workings of the Opis magnum, this conflicted with his original plan to finish his work on the internals in three days whereas he was able to just master it in seven days.

He was pleased to find that the Opis magnum had a few sensor compartments within like radar and heat sensors which his first mech lacked. Alto had learned how important such components were, now he would be able to bring his mech to standards. The AI system if the mech had also proved to be more sufficient than Alto had hoped for.

At the end of the first week Alto sighed, his forehead dripping with sweat as he successfully aligned a muddled projection of the internals of the mech design. From time to time the designers eye would activate and give him insight on the flaws the design has, it would circle them out in red and it was up to Alto to figure out what the error was and how to avoid it.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" The nurse asked Alto as she watched him breathing heavily before her, she did not know why he would be risking his health just for what exactly? An assignment?

Alto looked at her and managed a weak smile. "It’s nothing, that was just the warm up. The real work behind now."

The nurse had never seen such tenacity in both his dedication to his work and his pride. To her surprise every time his health deteriorated, he would recover much faster than any normal person would. It reached the extent that she chose to believe that he was genetically enhanced but that did not seem to be the case. She heard rumours about him and learnt of his background from his friends, he had apparently been the awkward kid from the orphan. One of those who no one ever expected to be chosen for any purpose and here he was trying to make a name for himself. From what she had gathered he had been insignificant for three years.

"Poor boy, he’s trying to hard to prove everyone wrong. I hope he succeeded." She thought to herself. She then approached him and did a body scan on him before saying, "I want you to be have your bath and sleep within the next fifteen minutes, am I clear?"

Alto did not argue, "Yes ma’am." He knew how poor he was with his health so there was no way he would say no to a professional. He did as ordered and the next day moved towards the external of the mech design.