Chapter 2015: Infiltration Methods

"You should have led with that," Ning said. "A helmet makes a lot more sense now. What about the object that empowers it? The other artifact?"

Crownus thought for a bit.

"They have special mechanical stands that they have to place their helmets on to recharge them. I can make one similar to that," Crownus said.

Ning nodded. "That can work. Though you need to make it adaptive. Both items need to be able to change their shapes to match whatever the current-age helmets look like. They will likely last for a long time, so future users need to be able to avoid standing out in any way."

Crownus nodded slowly. "I do believe I should do that. Then we have decided on the method by which the System works, haven’t we?"

Ning nodded. "That we have. Now, for the actual System, it should be something that works in favor of both sides, but also works once the war ends. Hmm... this is going to be tough."

Crownus fell into thought as well. Ning continued thinking about the machines.

"I guess I understand one part of the puzzle. The mechanical robots they pilot must be how Avelis has managed to keep up with the Mekharans."

"It is one of the reasons."

The humans had apparently taken inspiration from their enemies. Early combat machines had been crude compared to actual Mekharan bodies, but the designs improved over thousands of years. Eventually, human pilots could fight on approximately the same physical scale as the mechanical species they were at war with.

The machines had also created a less obvious advantage.

Crownus said, "Some human units have been built specifically to resemble Mekharans."

"For what?" Ning looked at him again before realizing. "Oh, infiltration. Does that work?"

"It has until now."

That was considerably more interesting.

A human could enter a sufficiently convincing mechanical body, travel through Mekharan territory, and appear from the outside to be just another member of the species.

"That’s an incredible method for infiltration."

"It has been used that way many times."

Ning imagined how difficult counterintelligence must have become once both sides knew such technology existed. A humanoid machine walking through a Mekharan city might genuinely be a Mekharan, or it might contain a human pilot buried somewhere inside its body.

"Avelis has the upper hand, then," Ning said. "If humans can imitate the Mekharans well enough to enter their society, that’s a serious advantage. I suppose Mekharans can’t do the same, since every once in a while, the humans would have to make the pilot get out. Since there is no pilot, the Mekharans would be doomed."

"Not particularly."

Ning turned toward Crownus.

"Why not?"

"In the 130 thousand years that passed, the Mekharans have adapted as well."

Ning raised an eyebrow. "Have they now?"

Ning had already seen how strange their development was. They had started as tiny machines meant only to contain Souls temporarily and had somehow transformed over the ages into a civilization capable of building bodies for themselves. There was little reason to expect them to remain limited to a single shape forever.

"What did they do?"

"They learned to restructure their bodies," Crownus said. "While the humans learned to resemble the robots, the robots learned not to resemble themselves."

Ning frowned slightly. "What do you mean? Are you saying they can change what they look like?"

"Considerably. Modern Mekharans are capable of rearranging large portions of their physical structure to suit different purposes. Some maintain several forms depending on where they are and what they are doing."

That sounded inconvenient for the humans.

And also quite impossible.

"Can they look human?" Ning asked. "Surely they cannot."

"No, that much they are incapable of," Crownus answered.

That answer came quickly enough, but not to Ning’s surprise.

"The difference in scale and internal structure remains too great. They cannot compress themselves into a convincing biological human body."

Ning nodded. That was at least one limitation the humans did not need to worry about.

Crownus added, "They can, however, resemble many human technologies. Given their size, it mostly ends up being their various vehicles and ships."

Ning slowly looked back at him.

"Vehicles?"

"Yes. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial."

For a few seconds, Ning said nothing.

Then he pictured a human military unit boarding what appeared to be an ordinary transport craft, only for the entire thing to turn out to be an enemy.

"That’s... wow. Anything can be an enemy, then," Ning said. "Do the humans know this or not?"

"They are aware of the possibility, but they do not know the extent of the infiltration, nor do they have any idea how to figure out who the Mekharans are."

The war started making a lot more sense to Ning now. Especially the fact that it had lasted as long as it had became incredibly clear to him.

Humans could hide themselves inside machines that looked like Mekharans, while Mekharans could reshape themselves into vehicles and spacecraft used by humans. Each side had developed methods of entering the other’s territory while appearing to belong there, which meant neither civilization could completely trust what it saw.

Ning glanced toward Crownus.

"And you still think a helmet is the best choice?" he asked. "I guess what I’m asking is, do you think it’s the best choice to give the System to a human instead of a Mekharan?"

Crownus nodded. "We have to choose one side anyway, so I decided for it to go to a human. It’s easier that way in the first place."

Ning supposed that was true. He considered the suggestion again.

For the humans of Avelis, the helmet was already tied to identity, communication, and the machines that had become central to their survival in the war. If Crownus wanted to introduce a new System without forcing people to reorganize their entire lives around it, there were few objects better suited to the task.

"Alright," Ning said. "We’ll use a helmet."

Crownus looked at him without responding.

Ning smiled slightly.

"Let’s start designing it."