The Age of Starfall

I’m Chen Xi, the worst mech mechanic on a trash planet. I take under-the-table repair jobs and fix junk. After saving money for five years, all I want is to put a new engine in the legless “Wildcat” and move out of the scrapyard into an apartment with hot water. Then I traded three crates of compressed rations for a piece of scrap metal from a scar-faced man. Silver. An ancient model. The chest armor was melted through, the left arm joint was rusted shut, and the main control board was incompatible with every known system. A complete heap of worthless junk. On the third day of taking it apart, I found a metal plate inside its chest that gave off heat. Then my mind exploded. I saw flames raining down from the stars. I saw someone cleave a planet in two. I saw a woman in the cockpit of the silver mech, blood drifting like beads from her right shoulder. She turned back and mouthed something to me. She said: You’re here. Then the iron door was smashed open. The scar-faced man stood in the doorway, a glowing orb floating in his palm. My shock dart crumbled into dust in midair. He grinned at me. “Hey, buddy, did you fix it?” He said the mech was waiting for someone. Someone who could hear its heartbeat. He said that person was me. Now I’ve got a lump on the back of my head, blood running from my index finger, and a silver-gray light burning in my left eye. There’s a freak in front of me who could crush me to death at any moment, and the pile of junk behind me just spoke to me “Operator, you have only one chance.”…