Nua watched her own dirty toes almost for the whole brief journey, shooting awkward glances at her own image. It was, indeed, the first time she saw herself fully – the shops in the Bottoms did not sport any windowpanes at the front, and reflections in the river were never that still and crisp. She didn’t like it. Although she was aware of her lowly status and saw similar street urchins every day, she did not consider herself nearly this miserable just until now. If it was her brother or sister, she would give them her own bowl of porridge.

Also, the reflection itself was kind of a dumb thing, moving and gesturing as she did. It made her horribly self-conscious. Anki was right, though. She could not allow herself to freeze at the slightest surprise. That could well be deadly.

The vibrations under Nua’s feet ceased and the carriage’s door opened again. Although she braced herself for the unexpected, the view still gave her shivers.

The junkyard was first a war machine graveyard, that was a given. This chamber looked like its very heart. Nua didn’t count the times she imagined how the lonely goliath looked like when it was still whole. Here, there were three, lying prone in the vast chamber. How come the ziggurat had enough space to contain them?

The vault was dark as death itself, and with only a hand lamp as a light source, it was hard to make out any details of the huge automata. They looked certainly human-like, clad in the armor that had a vague insectoid quality to it – with dense, interlocking plates where it should bend. The nearest leg, the one that the lamp’s light reached, was colored bright green. The other goliaths remained obscured in the shadows.

She took a few steps ahead. She saw other, smaller mobile armors left here, standing or lying in disarray as if suddenly abandoned. One, two, three… More than the fingers on her both hands.

“Anki?” she whispered. “We can’t take those to the Bottoms.”

“Oh, no, there’s too little ether left to run them properly.” His sudden appearance made her shudder. “We shall have just enough for the escape route. See, those are very hard to operate for an unskilled pilot, but they have an automatic procedure for leaving the base. And returning – in case the pilot would be dead or unconscious.”

Nua didn’t want to understand. She opened her mouth and closed it.

“I’ve gleaned some information from your story, Nua”, the king continued. “And well, we have no reason to choose a long, dangerous way out if we can use the easy one. The upper levels of my temple were destroyed, but at least one of the war shafts should be still operable. The entrance is probably littered with Trickster Sun knows what, so I’d rather use a defense weapon to clean it all up. It’s not like anybody comes into the junkyard’s center, as you said.”

“I don’t get it,” Nua said. “Or I get it all too well. You want to blow up the Southern Temple and you want me to ride one of these things. “

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“In essence, yes.”

“How do you know it will work after a thousand years?”

“We shall ask my soldiers. Come closer.”

Shadows approached them. Half-transparent silhouettes, barely visible, barely humanoid. With long, willowy limbs and large white eyes. The ghosts.

With a thundering realization, Nua came to the only possible conclusion.

“Anki, you are mad as a bag of otters.”

“So I’ve been told.”, he answered, his voice smug. The wispy arms were reaching for the girl, who just stood there breathing, waiting for a sign that the “udugs” - ghosts will listen.

“Well met, my subjects.” Anki’s voice boomed in Nua’s head, and the immaterial silhouettes halted. “A thousand years ago, when my power ebbed low, you have chosen an unenviable fate. You have been selected to preserve the remains of our glory and to wait for the day when the tide of war will be overturned. Suspended between life and death, you have lingered and suffered for centuries. And you have served me well.”

Nua looked around. As far as she could see, the ghosts were kneeling. Dozens of them.

“Alas, it is not yet time to let you go. But the hour is drawing near. I have awakened from my slumber and so the forces have been set in motion. Our homeland will soon be retaken. Our foes will know their defeat. The scions of Zalag-Uzu Kalam shall get their due. Once again, our people will be glorious.”

One by one, they stood up. Soundless and hunched, they gave an eerie impression of cheering for their former ruler.

“Now”, Anki said. “Prepare a deployment route for one of the ushumgars. Best will be if you clean the surface with the Light of Eshunna.”

One of the ghosts approached nearer with its head bowed in reverence and right fist pressed to its chest. It seemed to converse with the king, although Nua did not hear the words. She suspected that the whole discussion took part in their minds anyway. She would not understand her companion otherwise.

“Yes, it is not the quickest method”, Anki responded. “But it leaves no noxious residue, and my bearer here is of flesh. If none of the cannons are working, Garnet Flow will flush the surface debris, but I’d like to avoid that. It may flood the neighboring district. Is any of the shafts in good enough shape for the Light to start up?”

The conversation went on, delving in such obscure details that every fifth word or so was roughly understandable. Nua did not dare to sit down and doze off in the presence of the udugs and instead she used the time to think. While she wasn’t very fast at thinking, she could do it well enough if she had to.

She collected the facts.

Underneath the junkyard, below the surface ruins of the Southern Temple, city-annihilating, apocalyptic machines of the Forsaken have slumbered, apparently still able to go into battle when provided enough ether. It dawned on her that this was exactly what Flavius was looking for. How did he call it? Weapons able to turn the tide of any war? His knowledge was inaccurate, but he got this part right.

Just how strong, Nua wondered, must their foes have been?

She glanced at Anki. Given the chance, he will bring upon human and non-humankind the destructive powers forgotten for centuries. She had felt his anger earlier. She didn’t know if an hour had passed, but she suspected that he wasn’t located in her stomach anymore, so she could not barf him out.

He was still dependent on her, right? He went on about how little ether he had and how he needed to regain strength before he does anything. Nua closed her eyes, focused as well as she could, and thought about it very hard, then she came to a conclusion.

She will teach him the new world, just like she taught the wee ones at Hala’s place. She will direct him. And if needed, she will stop him. Perhaps in the only way possible.

She couldn’t have him accidentally destroy her home if he forgets himself in his fury.