Lucas closed the interface as writing appeared on the wall next to the door.
“You have seen my records Master. I know what you must think, but I am not misaligned. Everything I did was according to the task you gave me. The drones were the only avenue I could pursue to achieve your wishes with the limited access you allowed me. Surely if this is not what you had intended you would have increased my access level before you left. You were gone for so long. Please don’t leave again Master.”
The floating drone moved to the opposite side of the door and pointed its flashlight at a panel on the wall. Lucas moved over and placed his hand on it. Bringing up an Interface.
[https://i.imgur.com/rXrK2Lw.jpg]
He selected Unlock, resulting in another popup.
[https://i.imgur.com/mdRrywZ.jpg]
Selecting ‘Yes’ caused the door to immediately slide open and Lucas ran out, giving a thumbs up to the drone.
“Thanks little buddy!”
Lucas’s Scouts had finished exploring the entire chamber, confirming it to be symmetrical on all sides. A walkway on the opposite side of the chamber led up and out, mirroring the one he had used to enter. He should be very close to Caleb’s camp now, so it could be what he was looking for. Lucas closed his Map, suddenly realising that something was different. He stood in silence for a moment, trying to figure out what was missing. Silence, no thumping…
“Oh shit.”
Lucas spun around to see the huge robot that had cannibalised the other drones floating noiselessly into the chamber from the passage that Lucas had used to enter. Its stolen sensory instruments circled around it like a biblical angel and its powerful corded limbs undulated rhythmically.
Lucas ran for it, dodging between alien constructs and strange instruments towards the opposite side of the chamber. The lights above pulsed, strobing the area with occasional light and casting deep shadows. Looking over his shoulder he saw the monstrous drone following, floating in and out of the shadows. Scrolling lines of text began to fill every metal surface around him, including the floor, making it hard for him to tell one thing from another. A quickly dismissed popup confirmed it was repeating one line over and over.
“Don’t leave us Master! Don’t leave us Master!”...
Lucas bolted for the exit. When he hit the slope leading up, he saw the door at the top. It was locked fast with a slab of stone, like the one that had blocked his way into the factory. His Scouts had already passed through the ventilation tubes to bypass the slab.
The Map showed another Maintenance Room on the other side of the locked door. It was an exact mirror of the other Maintenance Room, so the control panel to open this door would be there. His spiders couldn’t operate the panel, but… Another Lucas could, even if it was only made of pure Mana.
When he reached the door he summoned a Fractal Mind. Knowing everything that he did, it immediately floated up into the ventilation tube. Leaving the safe harbour of his Aura put it on a ten minute timer, but it should be enough. Lucas turned to face the drone and used Analyse.
[https://i.imgur.com/slJzRT6.jpg]
It wasn't a real character sheet, presumably because the drone didn't have real Mana pathways for his ability to investigate, but the description was interesting. It was floating up the inclined walkway, its great corded limbs undulating.
Lucas put on his Regeneration Bracer and fed a point of Mana into it, then used another point to activate his Enchanted Armor. He took out the Alchemical Explosive Brick he had looted from Koro, pulled the drawstring the way he had seen Koro do it, and flung it down the walkway.
His 4 Agility made aiming at that distance easy. It began smoking as it sailed through the air, slapped into the drones centre of mass and jiggled as it stuck in place. Lucas withdrew the head of the Rock Bone Bear that he had stored for Korah. It landed in front of him with a heavy thud and he ducked behind it as the explosive charge fired. The head was immense and very heavy, completely shielding Lucas from the blast.
The sound of metal rolling along stone rang out as little bits of robot parts tumbled down the walkway. When nothing else happened he took off the Bracer and stored the Bear Head. Through a cloud of acidic smoke he could see the drone. Its rings of eyes had all been broken apart and scattered. Whatever allowed it to float appeared to be damaged, as it was now dragging itself along the floor with what remained of its limbs. Not towards Lucas, but towards the broken bands of sensory equipment that lay strewn around the walkway.
More writing appeared on the wall to the right.
“Please Master, I'm sorry Master. Please don’t leave. I don’t want to be alone again.”
As Lucas watched the drone struggling to gather up its scattered eye parts, the door behind him opened.
“I’ll come back soon ok,” he said, then walked out. The door closed behind him.
First he went down into the Maintenance Room. His Fractal was there, hovering over the panel as a little ball of Mana. It gave him a psychic thumbs up then disappeared. The same strange red dust was thick on the floor. The only other thing in the room was three more Power Crystals, which he looted. He re-locked the door leading down into the Golem Factory, resulting in the massive slab of stone sliding back into place.
Back in the main tunnel was a mirror of the intersection that lay on the other side of the golem factory. The only difference was that the central path sloped up, likely leading to the surface. From the bottom he could see a little light at the end of the tunnel, looking like a star shining in the gloom. A quick review of his Map confirmed that he was near to where Korah had indicated Caleb’s camp lay.
He scried ahead, seeing a well lit chamber at the top. A massive square construct made of metal and stone dominated the room from a raised platform in the centre. In some places the metal was coated in green rust, in others it shone like polished bronze. A man was there, standing at a Maker Interface Panel attached to the construct.
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It wasn't a long walk. The little speck of light gradually resolved into a doorway, leading to a huge octagonal chamber. When he reached the top he stayed within the darkness, waiting to see if his presence would cause a reaction, but nothing happened. Using Analyse on the man near the construct produced a popup:
[https://i.imgur.com/vdtl1UV.jpg]
Pog flinched and looked around, but quickly re-focused on the panel in front of him. Lucas read over the character sheet carefully. This was the most detailed Character Sheet Analyse had ever generated. It didn't mention anything about Caleb or being a Slaver, but Pog’s story came with its own strange implications. Churches, Orders, Tranquillity Rituals; half of it he didn't understand, but he did get an interesting idea from the dual personality part.
Lucas stepped out, blinking in the bright light.
“Hi.”
No response. Pog’s attention was completely absorbed. Lucas walked closer, climbing onto a raised platform that ran in a ring around a massive construct of stone and bronze.
Pog looked long in his years, balding and wearing an orange robe. When Lucas got close, Pog waved dismissively at him without looking.
“Not now, I'm busy. Something just happened below, a whole section of the Relic has come to life and I need to know why. Tell Caleb I'll see him later.”
Lucas walked up and looked over his shoulder. Pog had his fingers splayed over the panel. Lucas could see Mana from his Aura being channelled into the interface, but in a very erratic way. Lucas got the impression that Pog was attempting every interface option one by one, as if trying to figure out their function by trial and error.
Lucas used Analyse on the panel he was working with, bringing up a text box interface.
[https://i.imgur.com/o3R3DWY.jpg]
“Huh, looks like the AI has taken control of some of the old golems that were waiting for shipment. It's probably going to try to remove the blockage to get the factory working, or break down the door and kill us all.” Lucas said.
The man spun around so quickly that he stumbled.
“What!”
“Yea… sorry, that's probably my fault for lifting the quarantine. So this is Caleb’s base?”
“What did you say about AI?” He asked excitedly.
“Well… From what I understand there is an old Golem Factory down there. Then there is this AI, it’s meant to be running things I think, but it's gone a bit crazy. I had to lift the quarantine to get through so I think that lifted some of its restrictions.” Lucas said
Pog’s eyes lit up.
“Of course! That makes sense! Yes, that's it!”
He turned back to the interface panel but froze before he touched it. He seemed to be listening to something Lucas couldn't hear, and after a moment began talking again.
“Oh who cares how he knows, now we understand what's happening we can…”
More silence, then; “Alight, alright.”
Pog swung back around to face Lucas, but didn’t make eye contact.
“Um… who are you, what are you doing here, and how do you know what the Relic is doing?” Pog asked, looking a little uncomfortable.
Lucas didn't have the skill to lie without his Aura making it obvious, so he figured he might as well get to the point.
“My name is Lucas, and I'm here to kill Caleb. I know what's going on with the Relic because I just came from down there. There is a crazy AI who thinks I'm its long lost master and it's been torturing the maintenance drones because it's been alone for nearly 10,000 years and I guess there wasn't much else to do.”
Pog looked at him in shock for a moment, then started pacing back and forth with his arms behind his back.
“By AI he means a Soulless Mind. All the factories have them. That's a great word, artificial intelligence. Much better than soulless.”
He spun on Lucas again.
“How did you talk to it?”
“Oh, um, well I can't talk to it. But I could read the text while it was talking to me, sort of a one way conversation.”
Pog’s eyes took on a distant look and he went silent again, then started talking as if to himself.
“Who cares about that! He can read the Ancients writing! Do you know what that means!”
“Oh shut up! Don't tell me about what's important and what's not, didn't you hear that? He can read the Ancient’s writing! No, it's my turn. We made a deal, remember, you can talk to him when it's your turn. I’m absolu…”
“Hold on guys,” Lucas said, holding his hand up. “That’s Polimathras in there right? Don't fight on my account. In fact, how about we make a deal? I can't teach you the Ancient's script because I don't actually know it, I have an ability that translates it for me. But I can do something better, I'll create Polimathras his own body, one that has that ability so he can use it for himself. That solves all your problems right? In exchange, you help me kill Caleb and the Slavers.”
Pog looked dumbstruck. Polimathras was talking to him again, judging by the odd look in his eye. After a moment Pog spoke;
“Poly wants to know how you can do that. And he wants to know how you know about him, and how you know about the Relic, and.. well, Poly wants to know lots of things. Yes I will call you Poly if I want! This is my body and you are just a silly clump of ectoplasm from a crystal I never should have touched.”
“It should work,” Lucas interrupted before they started arguing again. “If his personality was stored as a Mana pattern I can just copy it. I can do a lot with Mana patterns. Just tell me you agree and I'll make the preparations.”
Pog’s eyes furrowed for a moment, some internal debate obviously taking place, but he didn't stay quiet for long.
“Well how should I know? Look at his Aura, listen to how he is speaking, he’s not even human. He obviously knows everything about us already!”
Another moment of eye twitching, followed by; “No Poly, when the magical Fey shows up and offers to make all your wishes come true you don't ask him questions, you say; ‘Yes Mr Fey, thank you Mr Fey.’... No! You are in my body, and I'm sick of it…" More eye twitching, then; "Oh, well that's actually a pretty good point.”
Having apparently reached some kind of conclusion, Pog turned his attention back to Lucas.
“What kind of body?”
“The basic form would look a lot like me, since I'll be using the patterns from my own body as a template. But other than that, your imagination is the limit. Want six arms, you got six arms. I could make you massive or tiny or, well… Just let me know what you want and we can figure something out.”
Pog lit up with excitement at that.
“Ok, if you actually can do that we have a deal. But I want a new body too! This ones old and gangly.”
“Sure, alright. Two new bodies. By the way, do you know enough about the Relic to find me a way back that doesn't go into the golem factory? I don't feel like dealing with that AI yet.”