Usefulness

"A mechamorpho-galvanian armor?" said Max "I thought Galvan had banned this technology years ago!"

"He did," Eunice stared at the black cube in her hands.

"How did you get this?"

"In Azmuth's safe-deposit room. There's another one in my backpack. I managed to get some other devices that might be useful as well."

"And it was that easy?"

"No... Something told me that the situation was going to get worse at some point and that I would end up needing this equipment, so I spent the last few days watching Azmuth before he was arrested. On one of these occasions, I managed to see his password."

"Unfortunately, your predictions were right."

"Yes, but thinking about it now..." Eunice's eyes were focused on the object in her hands, but her thoughts were wandering through her memories. "I have the impression that Azmuth allowed me to learn his password."

"This would not be typical behavior for him, knowing his paranoid personality, and even more so with the situation that was going on. He would need to have a lot of-"

"Trust," interrupted Eunice. "He wouldn't do this if he didn't trust me, would he?" Eunice looked at Grandpa Max with a hopeful look.

"No. He wouldn't..."

Eunice looked again at the cube, a slight smile beginning to appear on her lips.

"You're not really thinking about using it, are you?" said Max.

"We have no choice, Magistrate."

"Of course we do, young lady! These armors were known for their firepower, but also because they caused serious temperament problems for their wearers."

"But..."

"It's not a question of 'buts', Eunice" Max took the object from the girl's hand. "This technology may have guaranteed victory to the Galvanians in the Galvanic Wars but because their soldiers turned into an army of psychopaths!"

"I know that, magistrate, I have researched the technology! But there is one detail that people don't know: the behavioral changes only affect the Galvanian species..."

Max was silenced by the information. What do you mean? he thought. He no longer knew if he could believe what he had learned as a Plumber. Books and more books of false information? It seemed that the Plumbers were now always the last to know about something in the universe...

"But the records show-"

"The records have been altered." said Eunice "It was another situation in which the Galvan Council acted to make the technology unattractive to other species."

"And-and how did you discover this?"

"In Azmuth's own notes, the creator of the armor."

Max walked through the command room looking at the black metal box with green details. He knew the stories. He knew about Azmuth's war scientist past. His regrets. He knew the potential of the technology. Its destructive power!

In case you don't know this technology, readers, I will explain: The mechamorpho-galvanian armor is not only stocked with a huge number of armaments, it also allows its wearer to incorporate the technology around him. In this way, it was transformed into a perfect weapon of war. All it took was to come into contact with a weapon of the enemy army and voila, another technology acquired to the Galvanians' war knowledge. And not only incorporated, but developed it and increased its power of destruction.

The young woman tried to break the uncomfortable silence that was already taking root in the room:

"Magistrate..."

"Eunice" Max turned suddenly and stared into the young woman's eyes.

"Yes?"

"Promise me one thing: don't tell anyone what you told me. The Council withheld this information, and I'm sure that Azmuth in this case agreed with them. We don't need a second Galvanic War."

"Yes, sir."

Max handed the object back to the young woman. Then he said:

"What else have you planned?"

"Just a second, I'll get my backpack and explain the details of the plan."

***

Eunice had prepared all of part 1 of the plan even before Max arrived in Galvan. According to the young woman, she installed small electrical jamming devices in regions near the prison that held Azmuth. With a command on her computer, the devices would cause some of the prison's power to fail ― not enough to cause a mass escape or anything of the sort ― but enough to cause the prison staff to request technical assistance as soon as possible.

To do this, Galvan Prime would contact the most efficient species for making repairs to technology: the Galvanian mechamorphs, inhabitants of her moon. Using a communication interceptor, she would divert the repair request to herself, and using the armor, they would both enter the prison in disguise.

The armor has two forms: the active form, which resembles a fusion of a space suit with a power-rangers megazord, and an inactive form, which consists of a simple covering over the body in the form of a mechamorph. In other words, the wearer looks like a copy of Ultra T.

You might be asking yourself, but with a weapon as powerful as that in hand, why didn't Eunice break in alone and rescue Azmuth? Very good question. Actually, Grandpa Max asked the same thing. Since the activation of the armor is based on neural connection and includes embodied technology, there was a huge risk that the armor would end up absorbing Eunice, who, I don't know if you still remember, is a Unitrix and not a full biological body. Besides not being able to rely on the help of the Galvanians to deal with the armor.

One of the problems pointed out by Max was how to enter the planet if the only ship they had available was his from Plumbers. This is where the third stage of part 1 came in. Eunice would connect to the ship's computer and, using the same signal used by the armors to modify their form, she would command part of the metal-organic matter that coated the ship and make the necessary changes to transform the plumber spaceship into a mechamorphic tech-ship.

Said and done, exactly as she planned. Now, part 2.

***

The tech-ship approaches the prison landing area. As soon as the ship's doors open, two mechamorphs descend the ramp toward the service entrance. Galvanian soldiers, with their jetpacks and weapons in hand, stand guard over the site.

Inside all the black-metallic gelatinous mass, Max and Eunice remained focused on making the plan work. Inside the armor, information about the environment was constantly being analyzed and displayed in front of their faces. In the lower right corner of their field of vision, a small window displayed each other's faces, as in a webcam conversation.

As they walked, Max and Eunice talked to each other, without exposing the audio to the environment.

"Young lady, what are the chances of the prison metal detectors discovering us?" said Max.

"There's no way we can get in without activating the metal detectors, sir," said Eunice, "but the guards know that."

A few steps away from the entrance, one of the guards approaches and says:

"Identify yourselves."

"Druhter and Cahzmiel, we are from the technical team." says Max, in a metallic voice. "We have been called to repair a fault in your power system."

Max (Druhter) and Eunice (Cahzmiel) handed the guard their respective false documents. After a check with the prison administration, the two were allowed entry. Druhter and Cahzmiel then followed one of the guards into the prison.

Eunice was the first to pass through the metal detector. Obviously, the device beeped. The abnormal part of the situation was that one of the guards came floating in with his jet-pack. Not that, thought Eunice. Silence covered the room. He stared at the young woman in disguise and said:

"Are you by any chance carrying something metal with you?"

Eunice didn't know what to say. Yes, I am literally wearing a huge metallic goo? What kind of question was that? Maybe she hadn't paid enough attention to the detector, I dunno. Inside her armor, she was sweating.

The awkward pause lingered in the room for a few moments. Then the guard let out a loud laugh, accompanied by the other guards.

"Relax! It's just a joke!" said the guard

"He...he..." Eunice tried to fake a laugh, but she was too nervous.

"That was very good!" said Max enthusiastically. "I'm even worried now! I thought to myself: now what? Am I going to have to leave myself whole in the metal box? Hahaha!"

The guards followed Max's laughter. One of them then said:

"Come on, come with me and I'll take you! Boy, it's been a long time since I laughed like that..."

Max and Eunice followed the guard around the prison. Grandpa Max's sociable manner allowed him to develop a whole conversation with the guard about Fritzian eel stew and how it was a shame that a mechamorph like Max could not be lucky enough to try such a tasty dish.

Back to the plan: Eunice's jamming devices acted on the prisoners' mess hall area, and to get there Max and Eunice would have to pass close to the cells. A huge and wide corridor, with several squares positioned in columns and rows, determined the openings of each of the cells. It was in the second row of the twenty-second column that Eunice saw her creator sitting, looking at the floor with a sad expression.

"Magistrate!" said Eunice over the comm. "I found him!"

Max looked at Azmuth. To see a creature so respected and known in the universe in that state was pitiful. There was no light in the eyes of that Galvanian in prisoner's clothing. In fact, there was none in any of the prisoners.

Max, of course, did not leave his military training aside and began to analyze the various guards that flew down the corridor, keeping watch over the prisoners.

"Here's what we'll do," said Max. "I'll put out the soldier who is accompanying us, and you run towards Azmuth's cell. I'll watch your back."

"Right," said Eunice.

Max chooses from the equipment in his armor an electrical stun system, then brings his hand close to the Galvanian in his convoy and fires the shock. The soldier lets out a slight grunt and faints. Max holds him in the air and slowly positions him on the ground. Eunice in turn runs towards Azmuth's cell.

Suddenly, a scream echoes through the corridor:

"Sound the alarm, we have a break-in!"

Eunice stands in front of the cell and begins placing small triangular devices at the ends of the opening. Max for his part activates his armor, turning his Ultra-T appearance into the advanced technological armor known to the legends.

"What took you so long?" grumbled Azmuth.

"Did you know we were coming?" said Eunice.

"No. But you still took so long..."

Max points his hands toward the guards who had begun to surround them. The arms of the armor modify their structure and become multiple firing tubes. He then begins to launch stun projectiles while trying to dodge the guards' lasers.

Meanwhile, Eunice activates her electronic devices and the laser wall that lined the opening of the cell turns off, allowing her to approach and grab Azmuth.

"I've got it!" says Eunice to Max.

The girl starts to run towards the exit. Max, in turn, follows flying right behind, shooting and making the guards fall stunned one after the other.

"Get reinforcements! Don't let them escape!" said one guard.

From the openings of the cell corridor, more and more Galvanians, equipped with laser weapons and jet turbines, appeared, infesting the place like a swarm of bees.

Suddenly, the main path to follow became crowded with guards, making it impossible for them to continue their escape.

"Magistrate, do you see a way out?" said Eunice.

"No, but we'll make one."

Max stands in front of the scientist and his assistant and crosses his arms over his chest. The guards' shots hit the surface of the armor without mercy. On the inside, Max started the M.A.F. system, locking the target on each of the guards around them.

When the number on his screen acquired the forty-eight locked targets mark, Max fired. He opened his arms and from numerous openings in his armor a small guided projectile was launched. The image was like fireworks exploding in the middle of the corridor. Each of the projectiles headed toward its target, with each impact making an electric squeak. In a matter of moments, all the guards around them were unconscious on the floor.

Eunice and Azmuth stood static and dumbfounded.

Max then says:

"Let's go! We are close to the exit!"

Eunice and Max continue running down the corridor. Gradually, new guards start chasing them.

"We make a left here," says Max, "and then we just go through the lobby with the metal detectors and-"

The headache is back.

Max falls on his face and stays that way. Eunice, who kept running for a few moments without noticing what had happened, screams as soon as she sees Max's armor lying on the ground:

"Magistrate!"

He tries to get up, but his headache was stronger than before. Kneeling down, with his hands holding his skull on the floor, he felt as if his brain was going to explode.

"What's going on, Unitrix?" said Azmuth.

"I don't know, sir!" Eunice runs and crouches down next to Max. "Magistrate, what happened? Were you hit?"

Max didn't answer. His head throbbed more and more. His armor oscillated between active and inactive form, indicating that the neural connection was absurdly unstable.

Eunice looked back the way they came and watched the guards getting closer and closer. She needed to do something.

"Sir!" said Eunice "Take care of the Magistrate, please. Without him I would never be able to rescue you."

Eunice turns off her armor and the whole black metallic shell returns to a cube shape.

"What are you doing?" said Azmuth.

"Being useful."