The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 31 – A Night Out

Matt wasn’t sure what he had expected of the baths but it sure was an enlightening experience. There was a sort of locker room with simple hooks and shelves on the walls and benches in the center of the room. It was all pretty standard until he was handed a very simple robe and shown to the stalls that contained a stool, bucket and a tap on the wall. Rohm took one of them and directed him into the neighboring one.

Getting settled, Matt was instructed to wash off and put on the robe before returning his clothes to the previous area. Matt didn’t need to and noticed that Rohm also had a storage device since his clothes seemed to suddenly vanish too. The water from the tap was warm but not hot, leading him to believe that the heater was not up to warming all the water in the facility. He also tossed a few buckets over Echo, getting a startling amount of dirt to run out from between his scales.

After the actual bathing, they moved into the next area which was the open-air baths. Or what Matt assumed were the baths since he couldn’t see the water. Matt could only see more stalls with letters on the doors between him and what he assumed was the pool. He could hear voices and talking as well as see the steam rising from the other side but not much more than that. Rohm, thankfully, came to the rescue.

“The stalls are to allow for some modesty for those that wish to use the main bath.” He explained. “Inside, they have a set of stairs that lead down into the water, you will hang your robe on one of the numbered hooks and then walk into the water, go to the far end and open the door there to enter the pool.”

Matt was somewhat impressed with the design. He wasn’t sure how the Romans had done things back on Earth, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t like this. “Very different than what I expected. Is this how they are where you are from?”

“Where we are from.” Rohm corrected and then explained a little more. “The population of this city is mostly from my home world. About 70 percent of us to be more exact. We all kind of grouped up, a cultural sort of thing I guess.”

“Good to know I’m in the minority.” Matt laughed and walked over to one of the stalls that was empty. Rohm took one of the neighboring stalls and they both pushed through. Echo followed Matt, just barely able to fit in the narrow space. Matt was unsure if the drake could swim but quickly confirmed that he could and sometimes enjoyed it. He wasn’t sure the drake was welcome in the baths, but Rohm didn’t say anything, so Matt was just going along with the flow.

As Matt approached the door to the main bath, the water rose to his mid chest while Echo seemed to handle the water just fine, not even his chin touching. The temperature of the baths was much higher than that of the wash area, more of a hot tub than he was expecting. He heard the door next to him open and the a few people calling out to greet Rohm, the tone seeming relaxed and cheerful. Then Matt pushed his door open.

In the span of two seconds, the crowded bath went from relaxed social chatter, through dead silent at Matt’s appearance to panicked shouts upon seeing Echo. Matt had to flare his aura out, willing everyone in the area to calm down and relax. It seemed to work, and the crowd settled, seeing that he was petting the drake who also was not attacking.

“Evening everyone, you all know of Matt.” Rohm addressed the crowd. “And this is his familiar, Echo. They wanted to see what we have been up to over the past few days, and I thought the baths were the best place to start.”

While Rohm was trying to calm everyone down, Matt surveyed the crowd. He indeed saw a healthy mix of the local population, all the races and about a perfect split of men and women. The water was plenty high to cover everyone completely and nobody seemed to care besides. He just chalked it up to one of the cultural things that would take some getting adjusted to. He did see a few familiar faces and nodded respectfully to them, not wanting to disturb their time off.

Rohm waded over and explained that the baths were not really divided but there would be warmer and cooler spots depending on where the inlets were. They moved to one side of the pool where there were some rocks submerged that had been carved into benches, again making the area all about socializing. Matt noticed that some of the pilots were lounging in this area and actually remembered the name of one of them.

“Hey, Jess, right?” Matt asked the elf, knowing full well what her name was.

“Ah, yes lo… um, Matt.” She was startled and nearly toppled from her seat, but a scaled tail gently pushed her back upright. Jess paled a little as Echo swam by and sniffed at her. Matt got the feeling the drake was laughing judging by the rumbling and trilling noise.

“What have you all been up to over the past five days?” Matt asked taking a seat at the edge of one of the rock benches. Echo came up to float next to him, his paws pulled up so he could completely float. Matt Scratched along his jaws and the soft scales under his chin.

“Not as much as you it seems.” Said one of the human men from the group. Matt looked over and the man introduced himself. “Velzan, I have one of the melee type constructs.” Matt shook his hand, and the remaining dozen people decided it would be best to make introductions too.

Sure enough, they went around and shared their names and the specialization of their constructs. Matt reintroduced Echo who just opened an eye and made a trilling sound that sounded a little like a whistle under water. Matt had an idea and just hoped it would work out.

Turning back to Velzan, he started to tell his story. “No kidding, I was just going to wander off and see what was on top of that hill.” He pointed off in the direction of the mountain top. “But I find a trial orb protected by a Giant stone bear. That lead to me getting a couple things including the summoning token for Echo.” He paused to check the effect of his brief story.

They were all looking at him like little kids watching a Disney movie for the first time. Completely zoned in, eyes wide and barely blinking. “But you probably don’t want to hear all of it. Lots of fighting, exploring and then what Frank has planned for us.” He began to get up. “I’ll leave you to your baths, don’t want to intrude.”

“Wait!” Jess said, perhaps a little too loudly. She paused, getting nods from the rest of the group. “We would be happy to hear the tale. If you have the time that is.”

Matt shrugged, playing it cool. “I mean, sure if you don’t think it will be too boring.” Seeing the group shake their heads, he suddenly had an idea and moved over to the edge of the tub, pulling a couple items out of his storage ring. “How about I show you and give the commentary?”

The first item was his tablet that could expand to a decent size like a television. He pulled up the map that Tobias had rendered. He highlighted the points along it that marked his trip. Then he pulled out his helmet, the pilots getting much more curious about that than his magically growing tablet.

“So, it went like this.” Matt began telling a rather embellished story of his journey, also showing some of footage minus the bits he wanted to keep hidden still. The pilots were awestruck, glued to his every word and the recordings. They didn’t even notice as Echo began making the rounds, soaking up the scratches and attention from the distracted pilots.

Matt ended up pulling in quite the crowd by the end of it, gathering in others from around the bath. Even trading some banter with the others who pressed him for details about the bugs and his trip into the city the first time. This also gave him the chance to survey the crowd and identify them, getting a feel for their levels.

After a couple hours, Matt had to end it, he wanted to move on and was running out of ways to deflect questions about the bugs guarding the mine. He looked over to see Echo had plopped himself in front of Jess and was getting belly rubs, somehow floating on his back in the water. Matt sent him a mental image of them going to get some food and the drake lazily rolled back over, swimming a lap around the pool to say goodbye to the people that gave him attention.

“Well, Rohm. Where are we headed next?”

Rohm was standing up and headed to the exit. “I figured we would head to one of the restaurants, food and drinks are always called for after a trip to the baths.” He spoke just loud enough for the rest of the people around them to hear. Rohm probably meant to spread the word in case anyone wanted to tag along. Indeed, before they had made it to the stalls, there was a wave of people headed out as well.

“You look weird.” Rohm said. Commenting on Matt wearing just his fatigues, forgoing armor for the evening.

“What, you can’t wear your armor all the time.” Matt said, throwing it right back at the felid.

Rohm seemed to accept that and dropped the subject. Jess was another story. “Well, I am honestly surprised.” She started. “I thought the armor made you taller, like the soles of your boots were extra thick or something.”

Matt looked down at her. He was indeed one of the taller people in the settlement, but she was still average at a bit over a meter and a half. “How much taller would it make me? There isn’t that much room in the boots and armor.”

“Well how am I supposed to know? I haven’t seen anything like it and still don’t know what it does.”

That gave Matt an idea and he summoned his helmet. “Here, put this on.” Matt helped her put it on, turning it on before settling it over her head while she guided her ears in. The difference in cranial appendages would be a problem if they tried to make a standard helmet for everyone, he thought to himself.

It wasn’t long before Jess expressed her opinion of the helmet by yanking it off and handing it back like she was trying to get rid of a primed grenade. “How do you even walk in that thing?”

Matt laughed and passed it to Rohm who tried it before pulling it off after a couple seconds. “You get used to it. I know the displays are kind of hard to take in at first, but you tune most of it out.”

“It’s not the symbols and writing, it’s the two separate views. I can’t stand to see what’s in front of me and what is behind at the same time.” Rohm said, getting nothing but agreement from Jess.

“Again, you get used to it. Or you will, if Tobias and I have our way.” Matt clapped them both on the shoulders and pushed them along the street. “So where is this bar or whatever it is?”

They had left the baths with a half dozen other pilots tagging along, only Rohm and Jess seemed up to walking side by side. It was also a problem for taking up too much of the street and served no purpose since not everyone could talk at once. Jess pointed to a building that was completed amongst the foundations and Matt read the sign.

The Whispered Meadow

The name of the establishment was a little out there in Matt’s opinion but who was he to judge, Earth business names didn’t make much sense either. The restaurant was naturally a large open area built in a ring around a central grilling area. There looked to be a bar at the back, but it was oddly vacant, with nobody bellied up to the counter. The seating was once again communal, large tables with many stools and benches around them. Matt counted, noting their little group would only fill half the seats at a table, and that was counting Echo taking up 3 spaces on his own.

The smells coming out of the grilling pit were very enticing, the smoke went up through a central chimney but still left the homy aroma of a back yard barbeque. Matt didn’t know what was on the menu, but he was going to be ordering a lot of it. He wasn’t very hungry but the look in Echo’s eyes foretold of many credits being exchanged.

Of course, a similar scene to the one at the baths took place in the restaurant, cheer then silence, then a gasp, then calm. Matt was pretty much able to predict when to waft his aura out by this point and got started before any true panic set in. They found a table with a few of the crafters sitting at it already and sat themselves before making introductions.

The crafters seemed more interested in where Matts armor was than in much else. At least until Echo wandered over to say hello to them. They seemed confused at what the drake wanted until Jess explained where to scratch, his name was Echo, and he was Matts familiar. It was just in time for a waiter to come up and take their orders.

Matt let Rohm order for him and asked that he order a lot for Echo, of course offering compensation. Velzan had also joined and made it a point to order a round of drinks for everyone, including the group that was already at the table. They didn’t seem to mind the intrusion so much after that.

Before he knew what or how it happened, Matt became totally involved in a conversation with the crafters, who were all enchanters. Food started rolling in and the drinks were a plenty as the night wore on. Everyone seemed to take a turn feeding Echo bits of the spicy grilled meat but thankfully none of the mead.

“I am telling you we need to figure out how to set up some projectors and get a movie night set up.” Matt was saying to one of the enchanters named Jorra, a scaled humanoid who’s people were known a Gorran. “Hell, we could even set up a theater and run several at once.”

“What’s a projector? For that matter, what are movies?” Jorra Asked.

Matt wasn’t quite sure how to explain that or rather, where to start. After a few moments’ deliberation, he decided. “A movie is like a stage play, with actors playing roles. It has been recorded visually and with audio so the play can be viewed anywhere and at any time.”

Jorra looked to be intrigued by the idea and pressed Matt for more details. “You said that lord Tobias has the ability to show us these movies?”

“Umm, I don’t think he likes the lord thing, but he should have them. He pretty much downloaded the whole internet when we were at the exchange.” Matt said, trying to remember what Tobias had put on his tablet.

Another crafter, this one an acolyte of the forge scooted closer to Matt. “What’s an Internet?”

The rest of Matts night dissolved into him answering branching questions like the human version of Wikipedia links. The other pilots seemed to be very entertained by him being bombarded by the crafters and even started bringing more people in to hear the stories.

Eventually, Matt and crew called it a night. Matt paid the tab saying that Rohm had paid last time which got an odd look because he wasn’t actually charged for the use of the baths. Jess and Velzan wandered with them toward the forge, saying that they had moved into a barracks in that direction. An obvious bending of the truth but he didn’t care.

Echo seemed to be enjoying himself and was moving from person to person to get any last-minute attention he could. It appeared that he was more of a sensation than Matt at this point, having made plenty of friends over the past few hours. The fact that he was being so calm surprised Matt given his antics on their trip up the mountain.

Eventually they made it to the forge and said their goodbyes, Matt insisting that he didn’t need to stay in the barracks and would be fine camping for the night. The trio left him and Echo standing next to the mech, and Matt checked in on his core after the others left.

“Anything happen while we were away?” Matt asked.

“Not anything of note.” Van replied. “Tobias came by and chatted with me for a while, he asked that you stop by in the morning.”

“What did you guys talk about?” Matt was curious, this was the first time they had engaged without him there.

“He consulted me on some things involving the mech’s armor and balance. He also asked about sensors and what spectrums they could detect.” Van said.

“I wonder what he is cooking up in that mad scientist lab of his.”

“As do I, the power of the forge is something we should leverage at every opportunity” Van said.

The following morning, Matt had been woken very early by Echo again and decided to make use of the time by laying out his armor. He was inspecting it in detail, looking for anything that needed repair or could be changed. There was of course nothing since it was always magically repaired but the habit was hard to break.

Tobias wandered out to greet him and probably to make a cup of coffee, judging by the way he was holding an empty mug. Matt had made extra and was happy to share, not really getting much from the drink after his class evolution. The two sat in silence, enjoying the sun rise over the eastern wall while they finished their cups.

“Well, are you going to ask what I have for you?” Tobias finally asked after a last pull at his coffee.

“What, fancy yourself as some genius inventor that makes clever gadgets for a not-so-secret agent? Probably going to insist that I start calling you ‘T’ now.” Matt laughed as he stood. Echo got up as well with a stretch and a toothy yawn.

Tobias chuckled. “Maybe one day but not this one.” He started walking back to the forge, Matt following along while Echo stayed behind. “I have some things you requested plus; I have the first series of repeaters made with a little twist. Also, I replicated your rifle, but we only assembled 10 of them for field trials.”

“Why only 10?” Matt asked.

“They are rather expensive when we add the enchantments, that is also with us using simplified optics and only white lights.” Tobias explained. “The cost of self-repair and the magazine replenishment enchantments is very high, but I think needed. This way we don’t have to waste time making replacement parts when we can skip the wear and tear all together.”

Matt understood completely, the logistics of equipping thousands was hard to fully comprehend. “Well, show me your magical wares.”