Quoted By:
You shake your head to get back in reality. “I'm sorry, what? You said you're pilots?”
Mikey nodded his head and sipped his cocktail. “Yeah! We're with the Chicago Red Dogs. You probably know our R&D department. They make the portable pneumatic system, the volt machetes, and a couple other neat toys. We get first dibs on them. Through VR gear, mostly, so it's often drones and other scouting machines, other stuff we can use with some latency...”
The pilot leans in and points his eyewear at you. His grin is infectious. “But there is one you can actually climb in! Get to do it all in person. It's twelve feet tall, weighs a couple tons, has weapons custom made for it each mission, and we need the local government to sign a few agreements before we can even turn the engine on. The tech is... under copyright, y'know?”
What the hell is even in that thing if it can't even be walked around for two seconds without waivers?
“Yeah, yeah, spotless record! Two dozen sorties! This thing wrecked so many jersey devils, you wouldn't believe.” He talks with a lot of pride in his voice. “It's called Big Dog, and I'm Big Dog Mikey, cause that's me in the cockpit. Little Beth is in training for it, but she's usually on ground. Black Coat Durant stays on foot in case of repairs.”
You were going to ask why they would need a giant robot, but honestly that's probably a good reason. A giant metal encasing probably protects you from hungry beasts and trolls. Remote piloting has its flaws, they made clear.
“But you guys - your tech guys, over here in Helsinki - cooked something up our boys liked the sound of, so we're here watching over a collab project. That and general recovery, should it come to that.”
