Mechas at the Earth’s Core

By J. L. Ender

The mecha’s armor plating groaned as another giant twelve-legged spider slammed against it. I shoved back. My megabot’s left arm swung out, smashing the monster into the hard-packed snow. Two more spiders replaced it, stepping over the twitching remains of the first.

I took a step back. The mecha’s foot slipped into open air. A shiver of fear crawled up my spine. The Devil Pit, birthplace of monsters.

No. Keep fighting.

I swung the blade in the mecha’s right hand, slicing through one spider’s legs. The horde stood between me and my squad, cutting me off from help. In the distance, the cheery lights of our stalwart base glowed warmly, mocking me with warmth and safety. Home.

The third spider rammed me, and I fell into the Pit. I caught a flash of cold, impassive Antarctic sky… and then darkness. I spun end over end, falling faster. All I could do was hang on and await—

The mecha crashed, and my world with it.

I awoke hanging from my harness. I fumbled and clicked the release, then fell against the cracked viewport. I could only see dirt and my own terrified reflection.

Where am I? Shouldn’t I be roasting in lava? Or about to become monster food? Crushed to pulp and splinters?

I tried my radio. Something garbled and alien crackled, then nothing. Great.

I opened the hatch. Humid air washed over me, dampening my face and tickling my nose. A wide, dirty brown beach spread below, terminating in a thick jungle. Further on, two stepped pyramids loomed above the trees, and beyond them, a stone cliff veiled in mist. The water of a placid sea lapped at the mecha’s feet. The sun shone down from above.

No, not the sun. The light was too dim, too red.

Also, I’m underground. How is all of this underground?

Footsteps shook the forest. My blood ran cold.

Ahead, something huge rustled the trees. A long-necked dinosaur chomped on a huge fan-shaped leaf. Half of it vanished into the behemoth’s mouth.

Brontosaurus? Apatosaurus? Hebigosaurus? Who cares as long as there’s no T-Rex around.

I relaxed. I would process freaking dinosaurs later. It wouldn’t even crack my top ten strange sights so far that day.

And then something grabbed the bronto, and with a shrieking roar, an enormous silhouette dragged the giant dinosaur down.

A kaiju. Was this where they came from?

Heart thumping, I cowered low. The dinosaur screamed, then the jungle went deadly, pin-drop silent.

Until I sneezed.

Eyes on long stalks swiveled. Boom! Boom! Boom! The ground shook as the monster headed my way.

For two seconds, I almost lost myself in panic. No. Time to fight.

I threw myself back into the mecha. I fumbled with the generator controls, fingers slick with sweat throwing the switch for the emergency reboot again and again. It sputtered pathetically.

BOOM BOOM BOOM! The monster stepped onto the sand, and I heard the dry click of segmented legs, the shush of heavy feet through sand.

I’m a snack. I’m a kaiju snack in a mecha candy shell.

And then with a little rumble, the megabot came to life.

I forced down a cheer and collapsed into the pilot’s chair. Shoving the control stick, I put mechanical hands to the ground and rose on unsteady legs. The motor chugged with an ugly rhythm and one of the legs dragged.

But it could move. And not a second too soon.

I stared through the cracked and dirty viewport at a nightmare. A monstrous crab monster with a dozen unblinking black eyes and white skin, hard as bone. Blood stained its wicked jaws.

It dragged enormous pincers behind it, each almost half the size of its body.

I extended a blade. Bring it!

The skull-crab scuttled in and hefted a pincer, bringing it down like a hammer. I staggered to the side and swung. My blade bounced off the hard shell. The ground shook as the pincer landed beside me. I kicked out with the bad leg, knocking one skinny leg aside. It stumbled, but brought up the other pincer in the same motion and threw it into my mecha’s chest.

I flew backward into the water. An enormous shark clamped onto one arm. I shook it off and rolled just as the first pincer came down again. The crab roared, flecks of blood splattering my viewport.

And then a giant turtle smashed into the skull-crab, flipping it over. As the first monster struggled to right itself, the newcomer somersaulted, driving its spiky shell into the crab’s soft underbelly. The crab went still, and the monster turtle turned fierce red eyes on me.

I stood the mecha, feeling sick but refusing to give in to fear. Come on pal, you and me.

A young woman stood by one of the turtle’s hefty legs. She wore a woven green sweater and brown glasses.

Behind them, the crab twitched. Some chivalrous instinct activated. I charged forward and stabbed one eye. The beast stilled.

Turtle and woman watched impassively.

“Come out of your clockwork turtle,” the woman called. “I can take you where it’s safe.”

The turtle rumbled forward and snuffled, misting my viewport. He grinned at me with impassive intelligence. His eyes had faded from red to a soft brown.

“You can bring your metal turtle,” she continued. “If it can still walk.”

“Thank you.” My voice felt hoarse.

With another snort, the turtle padded into the jungle.

“You’re not the first we’ve rescued. You can follow me.” She pointed toward the distant pyramids.

“To where?”

“Home.”

“It’s not my…” I glanced up. The sky was a distant blue pinprick. I had no idea how to get back to Antarctica. No one escapes the Devil Pit.

Maybe this was home now.

Despite the day’s terror, I grinned. The adventure continues.

At least it was warm here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J. L. Ender is the author of the superhero series Steel Fox Investigations and mecha vs kaiju mayhem The Cold Below, as well as a number of other novels and short stories. Ender has worked as a dishwasher, a beef jerky labeler, a warehouse worker, a shelf stocker, a greeter, a traveling technician, a laser engraver, a package handler, a copywriter, a graphic designer, a librarian, an editor, a dispatcher, a phone operator, a hotel clerk, and hopefully someday soon as a novelist… He lives in Ohio with his wife and fellow writer SCE Ender.

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