You are Summoned

I was in the void only briefly before a portal opened in front of me. Stepping through, I was greeted by the same odd gnome that had summoned me a while back.

“Hey, I got a critical success on my summoning! This one is going to stick around longer too, at least if he survives,” The gnome, Fitzfazzle, said to the other gnomes around him. It wasn’t hard to spot my summoner among the crowd of gnomes, even without the mana link to guide me. Fitzfazzle had bright orange hair that he had spiked up, and a floor-length beard of the same color.

“Huzzah Fitzfazzle, maybe this one will be a better test subject than the other one’s we’ve been using,” One of the gnomes added.

“Let’s find out. Hey, big human guy, you ready to try on one of these?” Fitzfazzle said, pointing toward a hulking machine. The machine was the size of a bus and walked on four metal legs. It had a humanoid torso made of glass and metal that was currently opened to reveal a cockpit of sorts, and the bottom half of the machine reminded me of a crab. The machine slumped over like it was broken or off balance.

“Is that a mech?” I asked, rather familiar with them from some of the games I’d played.

“It’s a magico-mechanical, exoskeletal support suit. Or as we like to call it, a MESS. Hop on in and give it a spin,” Fitzfazzle said, motioning toward the machine. Not wanting any compulsion to kick in, I took my time walking over to the machine, getting a good look at the area we were in as I walked.

It was a large domed cave that looked to have been carved into the side of a mountain. The entrance was about a hundred yards away, and I could see various machines and what looked like a smelting operation going on deeper into the cave. The ruins of a couple of other mechs were strewn about the entrance, and a team of gnomes were busy stripping them down for parts.

There was no ladder or anything to get to the cockpit, but I was able to use the machine’s legs to climb up and haul myself inside. It was cramped, really cramped, and not sized for a human. When the gnomes slammed the hatch closed, it pinched me in several places, and I was pretty sure I was bleeding from the wounds. My mace got caught in the hatch and they had to open it and have me toss out my gear before they could get it sealed properly.

Through my link with Fitzfazzle, I was commanded to push the red or maybe the green button on the control console. If the gnome didn’t know what button started this thing, how was I supposed to figure it out? The entire control panel was a mess of knobs, dials, and buttons, none of which were labeled. With nothing to lose, I hit the big red button first.

Hitting the button, I could feel the mech, or mess, or whatever they wanted to call it came to life. Energy, likely mana, flowed through it and the mech stood up from its slumped position. The torso started to slowly turn, and I kept my hand away from the controls to keep from accidentally doing something wrong.

“Can you hear me now human?” One of the gnomes asked.

“Yeah, can you hear me?” I called back.

“Yes, that’s great, the voice transfer and climate system seem to be working. At least this pilot won’t suffocate like the last one did,” the gnome confirmed to his buddies.

“Wait, suffocate? What kind of deathtrap is this?” I asked.

“It’s not a deathtrap, it’s a MESS. Now that you’re inside, put it through its paces,” Fitzfazzle said.

“How do I control it, there’s no wheel or yoke or joystick?” I asked.

“Just turn the directional knobs until you’re headed the way you want. Try to walk out of the cavern if you can,” Fitzfazzle ordered.

“This one seems smarter than the others, and he seems to be familiar with other types of controls. Maybe we should let him out before he gets killed,” one of the gnomes suggested.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, this one’s a keeper. Hey human, hit the green button and shut this baby down,” Fitzfazzle said. Their conversation didn’t give me any additional confidence in the quirky build quality of this thing, but if the red button worked, maybe the green one did as well.

Hitting the green button caused the mana powering the machine to cut off abruptly. The mech slumped back down again and several gnomes clambered up to unlock the hatch. With some effort they got the hatch opened and helped pry me out of the tiny place. It was a good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic.

“Now that you’ve had a chance to pilot this beauty, what do you think?” Fitzfazzle asked, looking far prouder of his mech than he should have been. I didn’t want to shatter his dreams, but I did want to give him some good feedback.

“An impressive piece of technology and magic. It’s a bit rough around the edges and could use some fine tuning, but the bones of it are good,” I offered.

“What kind of fine tuning?” Fitzfazzle said as he looked skeptically at me.

“Well, for one, if you’re going to have people my size test them out, the cockpit needs to be larger, but since these are likely going to be used by your people, I get why the size is what you have it at. The controls are also a bit confusing. On my world we have various machines, and they all follow a familiar pattern with how their controls operate,” I told the gnomes.

“Your world? You’re something I summoned, a mana construct,” Fitzfazzle said.

“No, that’s a common misconception. I’m actually from a world called Earth and I’m pulled from there when I’m summoned. My name’s Rico Kline and I’m a living breathing guy, not just a mana puppet or whatever most people think we are. Maybe some of the things you summon are just a mana constructs, but I know there are more summoned beings than just me that are real,” I argued.

“An intriguing concept, a real-live summoned being. Say I believe you about that, you said your world has similar machines?” Fitzfazzle asked. The other gnomes also got quiet and waited to listen for my answer.

“Oh, yeah, we’ve got all kinds of machines from vehicles that everyone drives on our roads, to construction equipment,” I offered.

“Anything like the MESS here?” Fitzfazzle asked.

“No, but we have stories about such things, giant mechs that battle each other,” I said.

“War MESS’s, you have war MESS’s?” Fitzfazzle asked excitedly.

“Not like your MESS’s we have something called tanks, large, armored vehicles with lots of guns,” I said.

“Wait a moment, while I confer with my colleagues,” Fitzfazzle said before the gnomes moved away in a huddle. It sounded like they were really getting into a heated argument when they all stopped yelling and finally came to a decision.

“Okay, Rico, your time being summoned with us is short. I need to know everything you know about these machines you’re talking about. The fate of my people may hinge on the information you can provide,” Fitzfazzle said.

“Wow, no pressure, but sure, I’ll help out as much as I can,” I offered.

“Okay, tell me about the controls you were talking about,” Fitzfazzle said as several gnomes pulled up a table and several blueprints for me to make notes on.

I gave them the basics of a joystick, and what I could remember of other controls they might want to add. One thing I did emphasize was the need to have stuff standardized, not just a bunch of buttons and knobs placed willy-nilly. They ate the information up and didn’t seem to be put off by the fact I didn’t have much to offer in the way of detail.

A few other suggestions were that the cockpit should probably be ventilated better and armored in something stronger than glass. The gnomes admitted that they were trying to create war machines to help fight off an undead horde that was slowly pushing into their territory. After my experience with the little girl, I wanted to help them out against the undead as much as possible.

“Thanks for all that Rico, I need to refresh your summoning, hold on,” Fitzfazzle said as he recast the spell, strengthening the bond between us, and allowing me to stick around and give them more feedback.

“Now that you’ll be here a bit longer, let me show you what we’ve planned for as far as weapons on the MESS’s,” Fitzfazzle said, waving me toward another part of the cave where flashes of light and loud sounds permeated the area.

“Let’s do some damage!” The gnomes shouted as they followed. I had the bad feeling that gnomes testing weapons was going to be like giving a toddler a box of fireworks and an open flame to play with.