by Han Yang
I needed answers, and the heavily augmented warrior would be the one to give me the information I required.
“Can you hear me?” I leaned forward to stare into the assassin’s expressionless face. “I repeat: Can. You. Hear-”
“Affirmative.”
The crackly response filled me with a surge of hope, but I didn’t let my excitement get the better of me. Various questions leaped up, each one demanding their time in the spotlight, but I decided to go for the most pertinent first as I sorted through the options available.
“Who sent you?”
“I- Alone- No one- And everyone -” The man’s body twitched slightly as he tried without success to form a coherent answer to my query.
This guy is long gone.
I forced the pessimistic thoughts away as I moved onto my next line of inquiry. “Who was your target?”
“Target priority is unknown. Confirmation is required prior to selection. Escalation requires full authorization. No authorization received.”
I waited for several moments after the augmented assassin’s disjointed speech ended, but it was clear he felt his response had answered my question. Technically, it might have, though I increasingly felt like I needed some sort of translator.
Duke, who was standing just outside of the door, had not spoken up since the start of the interrogation. Clearly, he didn’t understand the responses we had received any more than I did.
“Okay. Helpful. Thanks.” I muttered to myself as I leaned back in my chair. After a few moments, a new idea formed in my mind.
Maybe- No, it can’t be that easy, can it?
“Were you sent here by the leaders of Portin?”
“Negative.”
Simple my ass. Yes or no, but I need to figure out the right questions to make it stick!
I repeated my query for each of the other towns with a vested interest in the downfall, though every one of them was shot down. I even tried variants on the word leader just in case the assassin’s mangled thought processes weren’t parsing the word correctly.
No dice.
Without any other options popping up, I moved back onto my prior line of questioning.
“Were you sent here to kill me?”
“Negative.”
Joanna? Negative.
Ginli? Negative.
Duke? Corvo? Leon? Lei?
Negative. Negative. Negative. Negative.
No specific targets set, only a general priority list. As that thought popped up, a sudden pressure settled down upon me as I asked the next query.
“Did you kill anyone in Norn?”
“Negative.”
A weight dropped off my shoulders as the one word finally gave me a positive reaction rather than a negative-
“ARRRGHH!” I slammed a palm into the side of my head to stop the robotic word from bouncing around in my skull. Unfortunately, the childish attempt only added a slight ache to the migraine I felt building behind my eye.
There were more questions to run through, but something which had been niggling at the edge of my mind finally caught my attention. No matter how I looked at it, the sheer scale of augmentations the assassin had been through should have been impossible for any human.
Gearnix had an, ironically enough, artificial limit set so that any one person didn’t change themselves enough to lose their, well, humanity.
“Do you originate from Gearnix?”
Several awkward seconds of silence passed after my question. It wasn’t very precise, so maybe it had confused the frazzled brain of the assassin. Technically everyone on Gearnix originated from Gearnix, in a way. So, what did it mean if I asked -
“Negative.”
Duke let out a low growl from the corridor, but I ignored his shock as I focused on my own thoughts. The old assassin hadn’t come from Gearnix, so maybe he was related to that monstrous slug monster I had fought back at the survey site?
My notes spoke of doors to other worlds. Maybe this man had wandered from his own planet onto ours. But then why was he so heavily augmented? Maybe his planet also had a system like Gearnix’s?
It made sense. If anything happened once, the chances of it occurring again increased dramatically.
“Sickness- Sleeping- Ends without ends.”
My spiraling thoughts burst apart as the robotic man finally spoke of his own volition. While his words at first seemed like yet more garbled rubbish, the few bits of meaning I could glean from them made it impossible to ignore.
Sickness? Sleeping? Endless?
Only one person came to mind when all those clues fell into place.
“Ginli.”
“Affirmative.” The assassin’s eyes glimmered, shooting out a shimmering blaze of lights up onto the ceiling. At first, it looked like little more than a blurry mess but, the longer I watched, the more sense it made.
“A map? Duke!” I called out to my venturebot companion, who shook himself off before he stomped into the room. “Can you copy this? Quickly!”
“Of course, Baron Lord.” Duke’s newly replaced arm extended as he raised a metallic finger up to the ceiling. “This will not take long. You may wish to cover your eyes.”
I didn’t understand what the hell he was talking about until his rigid finger dug into the stone roof above my head, sending a rain of debris down as he carved a long, flowing line.
“Madmen and idiots, all of you.” I huffed angrily as I moved into a corner of the cell. It wasn’t certain how long the old man could keep up the light show, so Duke’s ‘ingenious’ method to copy the map he had created saved precious seconds.
On the other hand, the rock dust and stone splinters filling the air did little to help my lungs. Though the assassin had an augmented breathing apparatus attached to his throat, I was less inclined to stay in what was quickly becoming a health hazard.
It wasn’t too bad in the corridor, though I could only barely see Duke’s form in the grey dust cloud when he swept in front of the illumination coming from the old man’s robotic eyes as he methodically swept over the ceiling corner to corner, side to side.
It didn’t take him long to finish up his drawing. Only after the dust had been cleared out by several hardworking venturebots did I make my way back inside to view his handiwork.
A perfect relief of the map I had seen not so long ago had been carved into the roof itself. Duke’s arm, which had been upgraded not so long ago, clearly held enough power to punch into stone with a single finger.
I shook off that thought as I pursued the engraving above my head. There were several points marked out, showing some sort of route or path. A city, Norn from what I could tell, lay near one edge, while the eventual end point had been marked at the other side of the room.
A long, arduous journey. But for what, exactly? Was it some sort of trick? It was a little too obvious for that to be the case, right?
“What is this-” I cut myself off with an angry shake of my head as I realized my error before I corrected my question. “Is this related to Ginli’s sickness?”
“Affirmative.” The old man shuddered a little as I opened my mouth to ask another carefully worded query. Before I could speak, he continued without any prompting.
“Energy absorption. Beyond words. Beyond time. Future requirements not met. Following journey further work required-” His speech cut off with a judder before he started up yet again. “Confirmation is required prior to selection. Escalation requires full authorization. No authorization received.”
“Damn it, not that loop again!” I leaned in close to the old man’s bed as I tried to get any sort of response from him again, but he didn’t even react to my attempts as he continued to mumble to himself quietly. “Duke, thoughts?”
“I believe I understand what he is pushing us toward.” The bot’s eyes glimmered as he surveyed the map one last time. “Legends and rumors, mostly, but there are stories of an ancient technology that can be used to absorb and store Hydrox.”
“Absorb and
store? That’s perfect.” I slammed a fist into my palm as I recalled the doctor’s diagnosis of Ginli’s condition. “But if it’s well known, then will it still be there?”
“The wilds, Baron Lord. The wilds.” Duke hummed to himself as he traced the route indicated on the carving he had created. “Others searched for it in the past, but none returned. Most assumed the dangers of Gearnix had taken them. This map does match the most recent findings, though. Perhaps they were merely unlucky on their journey?”
“Yeah, I guess that does make some sense.” I craned my neck back as far as it would go, so I could see as much of the map as possible in one go. “Okay, so… this might be a stupid thought, but -”
“I will make preparations for the journey, Baron Lord.”
I glanced at Duke, who merely gave me one of his shimmering winks before he turned to leave the room. It was clear my companion fully understood how my thoughts worked, and that it would be impossible for me to ignore such a blatant cry for adventure.
After one final look at the assassin turned guide slumped over in the bed behind me, I shook my head and left the cell.
We would keep an eye on the old man, but first, I had an adventure to plan.
And who better to go on such a trip than literal adventurers, right?
Chapter 23
“Ya can’t be serious!?”
Joanna held my collar in both her fists as she heard about the journey I planned to take. The other members of my hastily cobbled together council watched on as all of them tried their best to keep their cool.
Most failed.
“Baron Lord, the Baroness’ concerns do have merit.” Corvo tapped a finger atop the beautifully drawn copy of the route map laid out on the table we were sitting around. “This is a long journey with only a vague promise of a reward waiting at its completion.”
“Indeed.” Leon chuckled as he watched his daughter half strangle her husband to be in front of his very eyes. “There aren’t even any cities closer than Norn. No escape routes, no safe places.
“We fly.” I shrugged as best I could through Joanna’s intense throttling. “Straight there, straight back. It might be costly, but we have the funds to spare, and the Moonlit Goddess has more than enough range for the trip.”
“And what about landing?” Lei chimed in as she heard my casual response to the issues her husband had presented. “The closer a blimp flies, the more difficulty it has in remaining airborne. This might be a touchy subject, but I believe you should be the most acquainted with this design flaw, correct?”
I didn’t take offense when she drew attention to how I had first arrived in Langshire. I didn’t remember anything about the blimp crash that had left me stranded in the wilds, but her sharply spoken worries did match up with everything I had learned about the flying marvels of technology.
Duke rose to the occasion as he stepped forward and addressed the gathering.
“We have designed a rapid descent device which will allow remote drop off once we reach the destination. Retrieval of the team once the target has been secured will be completed by remote escalators piloted by each member of the crew.”
“Remote escalators?” Corvo’s grin turned to a grimace as he glanced back and forth between Duke and I. “And how in all that is holy does that work? Don’t tell me, you fire Hydrox out and it shoots you up, right!? Hahahah! Haha. Ha….”
His laughter tapered off as Duke remained silent. I hadn’t really wanted to explain the specifics of the gadgets me and Duke had cobbled together but, seeing as the cat was well and truly out of the bag, I saw no other way around the discussion than to fully reveal what we had in mind.
The rapid descent device was merely an upgraded soft fall cube. Nothing too fancy, though the enhancements made it far easier to recover and reuse without any required replacements, though the Hydrox supplies still only lasted for a single drop.
But the ‘remote escalators’ brought about a far more divisive reaction.
Corvo and Lei love them, while Joanna and Leon refused to even contemplate the thought that we would entrust our lives to the barely tested device wheeled in for them to inspect.
It didn’t help that it was still a prototype. I gave Duke a hard look as Joanna tugged and pulled at a loose steam pipe, almost wrenching it clear before her strength finally gave out. Leon then took over, giving the loosened connector a vicious yank as he tore it clear of the housing.
Duke, as ever, was on hand to help as he stepped forward and took the length of pipe from Leon’s hand.
“I can fix that.”
“Not helping.” I flicked Duke on the side of his head as I moved next to the now useless hunk of metal on the trolley by the table. Though it had been swiftly dismantled by the combined power of the daughter and father team, I knew the finished product would have enough sturdiness to last the short trip up to the waiting Moonlit Goddess.
Hopefully.
Probably.
If we didn’t veer off course and fly out into the wilds mid-way through.
Or-
“Look, I’ve seen these things being tested. This is the best option.” I avoided Joanna’s intense glare as I took the pipe from Duke and set it down beside the rest of the prototype ‘remote escalator’. “And I need to go personally. According to the rumors circulating about this thing, it only reacts to one Gearnix has recognized.”
“That may be the case, but it still seems like an immense risk.” Leon slammed himself back down in the chair beside his wife. “I know you care for your friend but think about what she would say. Do you really believe she would want you to risk your life on a wild gamble like this for a CHANCE to bring her back?”
“May I interject?” Duke leaned forward again and, after no one spoke out to decline his request, he pulled out a folder and pulled out a single paper. “The target item is held within a temple, but that is not all we should find within its walls. Hydrox containers of various shapes and sizes have been stored in the vaults, while ancient technological devices wait for anyone willing to brave the depths to claim them-”
I had read the script that Duke was parroting myself not too long ago. While it wasn’t a historical text by any means of the word, we had received some confirmation via his Gearnix contacts that it did hold some nuggets of truth at least.
And, after we passed that little juicy bit of information out to the rest of the group, their opinions changed a little on our excursion.
While it was still a risk, everyone at the table knew how important resources were for Norn as it expanded through the tiers. Walls alone needed a massive investment, while the backbone of the city rested firmly upon its supporting systems.
The docks, along with the newly added trading hub, would improve our potential massively, but those few weren’t the only upgrades available.
Factory districts, warehouse storage, inventors’ quarter, or even a fully functioning blimp tower.
The more we built, the fatter the eventual returns if I didn’t overstep our bounds. Norn’s initial sorry state was enough of a warning for me to avoid investing too much too fast.
But still, a sweet chunk of change from this mysterious temple would allow us to leapfrog several difficult steps, and that alone would give Norn far more financial and political stability.
Tier four walls could still fall to a sustained assault, and some cities had entire fleets of blimps at their beck and call.
Adding more siege cannons would take a lot of resources as Duke had used up the most difficult to find pieces during the initial construction of the five cannons we had used in the war. One of those had been damaged by the single shot it had taken, leaving four in working order.
But even those could only fire a single time before they needed to be repaired and recharged, a process that could easily take more than a day.
By that time, the remaining blimps would drop their troops in Norn, and the battle would end not long after.
“Damn it, Bradley.” Joanna’s e
xpression crumpled as she realized that her battle to stop our journey had failed. She knew it wasn’t possible for her to be a part of the crew, given how far along she was in her pregnancy, but clearly, she had wanted to do everything she could to keep me from leaving again.
I didn’t want to leave her. It hurt to even think of abandoning the one I loved, but we needed to move fast.
We didn’t know how long the assassin had been on Gearnix, how he had gotten a hold of the map and its plotted route, or who else knew about the temple and the rewards it held within.
If I delayed the journey for too long, we might get to the destination only to find it absolutely looted.
“I vote yes.” Lei gave her daughter an apologetic look as she cast her say on the matter. I had already promised that we would only leave if most of my newly formed council agreed to the matter.
“Do you even have to ask? No.” Leon growled as he leaned back in his chair. Though his wife shot him a pointed look, the man ignored her as he gave me an irritated look. “I know you have the city’s best interests at heart, kid, but I just can’t agree to this whole mess.”
“Logically, I agree with Leon,” Corvo spoke slowly as he stared down at the map with a thoughtful expression. “But I can’t help but believe this is the right thing to do. Destiny, perhaps? I vote yes.”
Two to one? That’s… bad.
I turned my gaze to the last remaining member of the council. Joanna’s shoulders shook as she returned my gaze with tears streaming down her face. I knew what she would say, but it still hurt to see her look away as she spoke.
“I vote… yes.”
“What!?” Leon rocked forward in his chair as he heard his daughter’s stuttering response. “You- He- This- Damn it all!”
The old man stormed out of the room after shooting me one last bitter glare. After a few moments, Lei followed suit, though she also didn’t seem all that impressed with how things had turned out, despite the fact she had contributed to the vote going my way.
“You will return safely.” Her cold, calm gaze met my own as she spoke what seemed less like encouragement and more like a warning. “We will be waiting. All of us.”
