“Jonah! Please! Wake up!” Diana cried, shaking him violently across the bed of heather. He stared up blankly at the sky, his eyes covered by symbols streaming across them. He was still breathing, his heart thudding out of his chest, but he didn’t respond. He had been looking at his screen and then suddenly his body stiffened and he fell. Kalyah and her had wrangled him down. The former was checking over him now, hands rich with a pure glow of prayer.

“Is he in a trance? Is he projecting?” Kalyah asked, looking around them.

Besides their panic, the city was silent. The insects had all flown off and the wind had died. Diana glared at the tiger sniffing at Jonah’s head. This accursed familiar, she thought.

“Why did you favor him if he’s constantly in danger?” she roared at the beast.

The tiger raised its head, blinking its vibrant blue eyes. No emotions came from it, but it sniffed at him again. The moment that pink nose touched his skin, he began to gag and choke. His hands shot to his neck, grabbing at some invisible force. It had no shape either as she waved her hand through the air.

Helpless to free him from whatever force was choking him, Diana put her mouth to his and breathed empowered breaths down his throat.

“There’s fingerprints…” Kalyah gasped, examining his neck. “Come on, Jonah, breathe, breathe…” She pressed her hands to his heart, praying for it to slow, praying for calm.

Jonah was trying his hardest to break free from the hand clutching at his neck. He felt a prodding in his mind with the worst headache that he could imagine. It was like his brain was being stirred around his skull. His chest expanded though and he could breathe as his throat pulsed. Faintly he felt lips on his own.

“You’re no one, you don’t even know the goddess!” cried the woman’s voice from before, heavily distorted now. “You know too much now!

“Breathe, Jonah, breathe…” he heard as a faint echo.

Hands, much gentler, were holding his shirt in a different world. They were fighting for him, the women that he loved deeply. The two that had saved his life several times before. He was always finding himself in danger in this world, but he had found his way out as well. He held the arm, trying still to rip it off. He couldn’t get it free, it was like holding onto greased metal, his hands kept slipping. All this inspiration and help and he still couldn’t do it.

The hand choking him broke off with a sudden scream and he fell to whatever made the ground. Rubbing at his throat, he witnessed the binary skin shatter off the attacker and return to a skinny arm with a pink jacket sleeve. The pale skinned limb spasmed about, bending at irregular angles. The skin ruptured like stiff paper and from it came screens, lenses and tools, rising and sinking in horrifying patterns. The glass items, metal prongs and rods tore the jacket to shreds. In the distance he could hear uproarious laughter from the woman on the desk as the arm withdrew.

The world around Jonah went dark then from beneath him came a burst of light. When he uncovered his eyes he saw that he was sitting in an endless field of grass. He felt the wind and the sun on his face, but all he could smell was ozone. Standing, he noticed the clouds were hiding a sky half in the night. There was the moon as well, off in the blue dark of the high altitude sky.

“Hallo there,” came a voice as a man materialized some ten feet away from him.

"Hey…" Jonah mumbled.

The tall man smiled at him, deep wrinkles cut along the corners of his eyes. There was a weathering to his tan skin, signs of liver spots along his cheeks. Other places had been missed by age and he seemed to be caught between young and old. Thin, yet toned in his black shirt and loose fitting jeans. The most noticeable thing though were his gray eyes with glowing white pupils. As he took another few steps to Jonah, hands behind his back, his gaze made sense, his eyes were mechanical. They were glass orbs with rotating insides of steel.

“Who are you?” Jonah asked in wonder, though he felt like he knew.

“I am the Machinist, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, my fellow Traveler,” he said, a German accent faintly trimming his words.

It took a moment for Jonah to compose himself. “Who was that?” he asked, pointing away from him.

“A dirty thief that was this close to back tracing your location,” the Machinist said, holding up pinching fingers. “I thankfully know more than her, so she won’t be finding you anytime soon.” He nodded, walking through the fake grass.

“Where am I? How did I get here?” he asked.

“Ah, well, ‘here’ is a relative term, you are still in Alp’a Linn, at least your body is,” he replied, looking around at the sky. “Your mind is connected to mine through the internet of Hera. Don’t worry, you’re not in any danger, I am not a violent man, not anymore. That little schwein barely counts as a person, she nearly has as much tech as me.”

He held up his hand and the skin fizzled off it in pixels until it got to his sleeve. Underneath was machinery that was exposed and less sleek than Jonah’s. Pistons down to his forearms shifted as he moved his fingers. He smiled at Jonah as the skin came folding back.

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“I recognize who made yours, or at least who taught him,” the Machinist said, putting his hands behind his back again. “I keep a close eye on all those that practice our magic, that’s why I am glad to find you.”

Jonah examined his own arms, finding that he wore his jacket and normal clothes, not the thin shirt and shorts he had been wearing for the last few days.

“The mind’s eye depicts your image here,” the Machinist said, tapping his temple.

Shaking out his head, he asked, “Can you read my mind here?”

“I would rather not,” the man said with a smirk. “I know what must be on your mind, how you and I got here.”

“Yeah,” Jonah said, feeling light thuds on his chest.

“Jonah, please answer me!” Diana cried from afar.

“Honey, you gotta wake up!” Kalyah urged him.

“I have so many questions, but my friends are worried about me.”

The Machinist nodded. “Return to them, I will be here.”

He awoke in Alpha and the two women embraced him, Diana covering his face in kisses. His eyes were dry and scratchy. Kalyah gave him a tap on his eyelids that moistened them. He could hardly sit up as Diana was asking him a hundred questions and holding him tightly.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he told her. “I don’t have time to explain everything, I’m talking with the Machinist.”

Her eyes were wide. “What?” she asked.

“Yeah, I know, I gotta get back. I’m afraid he’s gonna leave,” he said.

She held his shirt. “You’re safe?”

“Yeah, I’m safe, he helped me.”

She blinked. “Ask him if he can help us. I know he swore off the war, but anything. Okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed.

He closed his eyes and he was back in the field where the Machinist had taken a seat. The fake wind rustled his short black hair as it flattened the grass. For such a strong breeze, the sensation was faint and artificial to Jonah as he stepped closer. The legendary Hero smirked up at him.

“You’re right, I haven't got much time, this connection is constantly being attacked by that new schiza of Blodwyn,” he said with a shake of his head. “Once we are separated, there shouldn’t be an issue, but this is dangerous to keep up for too long.”

“How did I get here?” Jonah asked.

“As far as I can tell, an accident,” the man said. “Someone was trying to run one of my old machines and drew you here instead. Why it chose Earth and why it chose you? Well, I suppose that God only knows that. Or fate as they call it here.” He stared out at the infinite grasslands.

“Okay, okay, so that tiny woman was Blodwyn…” Jonah took a deep breath as if he had survived a shark attack. “And the other woman, the mechanic or whatever, who was she?”

The Machinist scoffed. “She is not one of mine,” he said with a sneer. “I would never teach someone who could orchestrate such a murder on the princess. No, she is a Traveler from our world. Her mind is not an open book like yours, I only know that she’s not of this world and mechanical. I have gleaned several names from her. There is talent in her, more than I had coming from such a less advanced time.” He gripped his fingers and bent them back like a stretch, but the back of them touched his forearm. It was the other hand than the one he had shown as machinery. “As to why I come from a different period of time, well, I don’t know how to explain that without a lengthy lecture on quantum mechanics.” He chuckled. “Go on, what else have you got to ask?”

“Why do I have your powers?” Jonah said, holding up his hands.

Sighing, the Machinist thin lips became a flat line. “I have found many Travelers in my life here, and read about many that I suspect were not native. I suppose we were the first to have these powers. My brother and I parted ways in the war…” He put his hands out from his knees, flexing his fingers. “We saw a world on the cusp of industrialisation. Saw people oppressed for not being able to live in it. Our imaginations were spurred by the world. For some reason metal and electricity listened to us. We were electricians in the shadow of the iron curtain back on Earth and we devoured science fiction stories. We believed that the world would be better if instead of toasters we were repairing laser guns. Then the wall would be destroyed in moments.”

Another weary sigh came from him and he shook his head, putting his hands down in defeat. “We knew just enough to begin and our magic filled in the rest. For some reason we are blessed upon entering this world. I think some of it may be the fact that it’s not our home. We know it’s different, we know what it’s like to have a world without magic. All the old Travelers in the histories, they came from a world without the wonder of modern machinery. The contraptions of the past are what Wizards make here. After the industrial revolution man imagined wonders this world had never thought of before…”

Blinking his mechanical eyes, the pupils dimmed as he stared at the ground. “We made great wonders, killing thousands,” he said quietly. Eyes closed, the lights projected behind his eyelids. He turned to Jonah, grinning. “You like music, you come from a time of great connection. Anyone can talk to anyone in a matter of seconds. And I was this close to giving this world that…” His pinched fingers balled up into a fist. “I was going to unveil it slowly, give them the power of the internet, and that sau shiza!--”--He whipped his fist through the air--"--took it!” He meshed his fingers together, glaring over them. “My satellites were all up and she took one for herself, for the Order. At the very least, I know her communication is not always reliable.”

Focusing, Jonah felt his phone taking notes. He wasn’t sure if he could record what was here. There was too much to wonder about to ask if that was possible.

The Machinist stood, walking away.

“Wait! Wait! I have more questions!” Jonah called, chasing after him.

The Hero stopped and turned. “I will send you a care package, courtesy of one of my mechanics,” he said swiftly. “I have reconfigured your phone to pick up the signal of the satellites. Hopefully they will remain mine for the foreseeable future. I have given you protection against the new lackey of Blodwyn. I’m a greater concern than you, for the moment at least. Jonah, you are on the right track so far as magic, our power is belief and a hint of knowledge. You can’t reprogram a supercomputer without extensive knowledge, but you have a great piece of technology within your limbs, and remember that it is yours.”

“We need help, there’s Order members around here!” Jonah said, heart racing in alarm.

The other man held up his hands, his expression drooping with exhaustion. “I’ve tried to fight a war already, I can’t do it again. I can’t get involved. Our connection is close to being cracked, I must leave. You are with a true Hero, one without the sins of the others. Damn them all to hell.” He poked a finger into Jonah’s chest. “This world fights back against us, tears away at our bodies. You’ve done well so far, but it won’t stop, ever. So you must fight back. Farewell, Jonah, you are the new Machinist for this war, may God have mercy on you.” He pushed him back.

As Jonah was about to hit the ground of the field, the world bursting away around him, he woke up. All the feeling was returned to his body and he was in Alpha again. Diana and Kalyah holding him tight and asking a hundred more questions than before. Over their heads he looked at the screen on his arm to confirm the images on his eyes.

Herenet Sat showed up in the top corner, alongside it was four bars of signal.