The Mech Touch

Eventually, the invisible force acting upon Lord Pearian's body disappeared. Perhaps the Trampler of Stars felt that he had made his point.

If so, then the alien leader had miscalculated.

The pride ingrained in Lord Pearian's bones had remained as strong as ever.

In the face of Jugal Meren's ridiculous subservience, Pearian felt it became more important than ever to show this native alien that humans were strong and uncompromising!

He stubbornly climbed up to his feet and regained his straight-backed posture.

Even if his weakened body wasn't able to remain completely still, it was clear to the surrounding alien courtiers that this captive human did not respect the instructions of the Trampler of Stars.

Yet instead of crushing his body yet again, the powerful alien disdained from taking action again.

"HUUAHAHAGUAH. WEHHUSHAH."

"This warlord has little time to waste on futile human trickery. You may keep standing like a two-legged mammal if you wish, but do not think that you are permitted to deny your instructions."

What could Pearian say to that? He opted to remain silent in order to prevent himself from making any further offenses.

The Trampler of Stars took a few steps forward.

Each stomp of his armored hoof seemed to echo unnaturally loud in the chamber. Even Pearian felt as if he was experiencing a minor earthquake as the deck vibrated from the force of the steps.

This shouldn't have been possible!

The deck of this important compartment was extremely strong. It should have never been able to vibrate as if it was a string on a guitar.

Something about the Trampler of Stars made it so that each of his steps channeled an unnatural amount of strength that far exceeded what his limited form could produce.

"YEWHHAHUAHAGAH."

"What is the strength of humanity?" Jugal Meren obediently interpreted for the Trampler of Stars.

Lord Pearian grew annoyed. Even though it wasn't wise for him to continue to push the lines, he couldn't care less about his preservation at the moment.

"I am not going to play this game with you, filthy alien. I refuse to answer a question that you can easily obtain from your human slave over here. My value to you is much greater than a source of basic information about human civilization, so skip this stupid inquiry and tell me what you truly want from an ordinary pioneer like myself. I may not be as strong as you, but my race is far superior to your nunser race! Do not forget that, alien."

Mr. Meren did not immediately translate Lord Pearian's defiant words to the alien warlord, but he had no choice but to do so despite his great reluctance.

The air steadily grew heavier in the chamber as the Trampler of Stars made his obvious displeasure known in a strange and invisible way.

Lord Pearian could feel that the alien warlord had come a lot closer to trampling his vulnerable human body.

If that happened, the scion would welcome it, for he would at least be able to prevent himself from committing any treasonous acts!

Sadly for him, the alien warlord did not play along.

"HUWEHFAHAW! YUWHFAHW! HUUWAHHAFHWEHAA!'

"You are a weak and pitiful human! The only reason why your race has the upper hand at the moment is because you have access to superior resources and stolen technology! The Red Cabal shall protect the rightful occupants of the Red Ocean and wipe out every life that does not belong in due time!"

Pearian had to admit that the cosmopolitan was doing a good job at interpreting for the alien leader. If not for the fact that Mr. Meren completely disgraced his race by standing on all fours like he was cattle, he would have earned more respect!

"We shall see." The first-class scion said. "Why did you capture me? Why target me when there are so many more valuable pioneers and other individuals that you could have taken? I do not understand why you have made so many sacrifices and suffered so many losses just so that you can toss me into a cell and forget about me for a few weeks."

Silence descended in the audience chamber. The Trampler of Stars did not appreciate Pearian's attempt to grasp the rhythm of this conversation.

"HUWAH."

The Trampler of Stars took a powerful stomp forward.

"WAHHHUAH."

The alien took another powerful stomp forward.

"HHUUHAHAAA."

"You are a human-shaped voribug." Mr. Meren translated. "You have little to no value to this warlord. There is no special meaning or purpose behind your capture."

"...Excuse me?" Lord Pearian asked. "I do not understand. You brought your warfleet into human territory and arbitrarily targeted my pioneering fleet out of all of the other human fleets for no specific reason?!"

"HAHHE. WEFEWHAHS. WEGAHHW AHGHA."

"Yes. The Trampler of Stars kills whoever he pleases. It is not humanity's business to limit his actions. No human is pleasing to him, but on that day, this warlord has decided to turn you and your fleet into his latest kills to satisfy his need to retaliate against your weak and insolent race."

Lord Pearian couldn't accept this answer. It had to be a lie. There was no way that the Trampler of Stars went through all of that trouble and lost almost his entire fleet to MTA retaliation because this alien was irrational.

There had to be a greater purpose behind capturing him in particular!

This was the only way for Pearian to maintain at least some sense of his circumstances.

If it turned out that the Trampler of Stars truly didn't have any other reason to destroy his pioneering fleet aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, then Pearian might probably wish to get trampled by this tyrannical alien!

"Why am I here then?" Pearian asked in a softer tone of voice. "What is the point of interrogating me? Do you want to ridicule your latest captive? If that is your purpose, then you have succeeded."

The Trampler of Stars stepped to the side. Each of his powerful steps shook the deck just as strong as before.

"EHHUUAHAHAH. HEWFEUAH. WSFWAHUUUHA."

"Your false assumptions and your inability to accept reality is not this warlord's concern. Since you are in his possession, you may as well prove useful. This warlord has plans to break the human spirit. Are you willing to submit and become his servant slave, or will he need to surrender you to his puelmer associates so that they can transform your mind into a more pliable and obedient tool?"

Lord Pearian grimaced. This was an impossible question. If his implants were still working, he would have commanded them to end his life beyond the point of recovery.

It was too bad that he had been reluctant to do so when he still had the chance. He was too much of a coward at the time.

"I do not agree with being used like this, you overgrown cow! Kill me if you have to, but I will never let myself be toyed by you filthy aliens!"

In order to strengthen his point, he even spat in the direction of the Trampler of Stars!

It was too bad that the 1.4 g gravity along with the distance caused his spittle to land far short of its intended target.

The cloud of oppression grew much greater this time. There was no way that the Trampler of Stars would be able to misunderstand the grave insult in this action!

Just as Lord Pearian became convinced that he would become the latest human kill of the Trampler of Stars, the powerful alien warlord became distracted by a new development.

A puelmer entered the chamber and rolled down the ramp before moving deeper into the large pit.

The small ball alien continued to roll until he arrived a fair distance away from the master of this homeship.

The puelmer looked a little fancier than the other individuals of his kind. His leathery surface was almost entirely covered by a black hardsuit that integrated my small but powerful technological modules.

Even his tiny arm limbs were covered by armor, making him look like a metal sea urchin.

The newly arrived puelmer and the Trampler of Stars appeared to be communicating in private over a private communication channel.

This prevented Jugal Meren from eavesdropping on the conversation, though the man who maintained his inhuman posture didn't look as if he minded.

The Trampler of Stars made a single powerful stomp before a sense of energy and anticipation radiated from his body.

"AAHFHEWWUHAH."

After receiving this single instruction, the puelmer made a weird salute by wiggling numerous armored limbs before rolling his way back out of the pit.

The Trampler of Stars then turned towards the cosmopolitan. "HWEHAUFWAH. HAHAHWFUAH. HAWUFHAAAA."

"Huwhahfhawh. HShduaaahh."

"YAWHAWEFH FWFWH FWAUAH!"

"Hufufwhaa hawh ewo."

The conversation lasted for a short moment before the Trampler of Stars evidently became satisfied with what Mr. Meren said.

"What... what is happening?" Lord Pearian asked in confusion.

"The Fractured House of the Collapsing Star has detected the intrusion of an unexplainable metal object. The Trampler of Stars has ordered his subjects to investigate and ascertain whether it is a threat."

This caused everyone to halt. The Trampler of Stars appeared to have lost interest in interrogating Lord Pearian any further.

It was rather eerie to the captured scion that everyone just decided to remain completely still and silent.

Perhaps the Trampler of Stars was still talking to someone over a private communication channel, but Pearian didn't get the sense that the alien warlord was doing anything but waiting.

The aliens showed a remarkable degree of patience and discipline.

Mr. Meren also followed suit. If the aliens wanted to remain frozen, then this cosmopolitan would also stay frozen!

Lord Pearian found all of this disgusting, and he was tempted to break the equilibrium so that he could mess up the mood of the Trampler of Stars.

He refrained from doing so because a part of him grew curious about what had caused the mighty warlord to shift his attention away.

As much as hope bloomed inside his heart, Lord Pearian did not dare to assume that his clan had finally come to rescue him from the clutches of this tyrannical nunser.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed without his implants, but he guessed that roughly twenty minutes had passed before a change occurred.

When the gates to the audience chamber opened again, a small procession of nunsers entered while escorting a floating metal container.

The heavy nunsers stomped their way forward until they reached a distance deemed acceptable.

Curiously enough, their loud steps failed to shake the deck.

"HUAUHWAHA." The Trampler of Stars addressed the latest arrivals.

The nunser guards all lowered themselves for a moment. "Hhhuauhaha!"

"HAHHAUWH."

"Yhahwuah."

One of the guards transmitted a command that caused the crate to lower to the deck. Another command caused it to open itself up so that it could reveal its contents.

Lord Pearian blinked as he tried to make sense of what he saw.

At first, he thought he was looking at a beaten and pitted statue of some sort of whale alien.

Though the material looked a little special, Pearian wasn't particularly impressed by the shape of the alien artwork.

It wasn't until the Trampler of Stars came closer and slowly raised one of his forehoofs before making contact with the metal statue that a drastic change had occurred.

"For a moment, a powerful alien presence woke up from the statue!

The armored guard instantly became vigilant and half of them pointed their mounted cannons at the recently retrieved alien statue!

"HUWAHHAHA!"

However, the Trampler of Stars immediately waved the guards to step back and stand down.

Everyone gazed at the statue with fascination as the presence that had come to life began to channel greater and greater strength.

Just as Lord Pearian suspected that the statue was about to explode, a glowing whale apparition jumped out of the statue!

The new whale creature looked almost identical to the whale depicted by the statue. The creature conveyed a lot of power and Pearian felt as if he was close to a source of phasewater for some strange reason.

The Trampler of Stars exhibited a much stronger reaction to the sight of this ghostly phase whale.

A small shockwave exploded from his large armored form, causing Pearian as well as Mr. Meren to lose their footing and get pushed back from the warlord!

None of the aliens seemed to care about what had happened to the humans. They all gazed at the ghostly phase whale as if they had encountered a god! Each of them lowered themselves in order to show respect.

Though the Trampler of Stars had reacted quite strongly to this development, he did not bow down like the rest. The nunser apparently had too much pride to submit himself to another alien.

"HHUWAHAHA. HAHWUAUAHAH. HHAUWUAFEWFA."

The phase whale apparition didn't appear to be doing anything. The aquatic ghost merely stared at the warlord for a few more seconds before he disappeared as if a call got interrupted.

The statue retrieved from space had become completely lifeless and inert!

"YAYHAHWAHW!"

The Trampler of Stars grew angry! The powerful creature raised his upper body and stomped both of his forehoofs down in a mighty gesture!

BOOM!

It was as if a bomb had exploded in front of the nunser warlord!

"Ahhhh!"

The captive human let out an undignified scream as the shockwave from the explosion flung his body off his feet again and threw him dozens of meters away!

"HUWAHAHA! HUAWAHWHA! HUAUAHHW!"

Whatever happened had displeased the Trampler of Stars a lot! The nunser warlord not only raged, but also issued a series of orders to his subordinates.

Lord Pearian guessed that a lot was about to happen soon!