___Chapter 113
Hands held up I stare at the Guards. Robots and one… Knight? Well he looks like a knight in a rather reworked armour, but I can not really tell.
“Follow… Us… Or… Be… Dis… assembled…”
The knight talked, but was that really a human talking? It sounded hoarse and metallic. The Language is Empire Speak, but as I had taken over the Thief in Trashtown, I can now not only understand but also speak that language fluently. I have no choice but to obey… well I have, but I am rather intrigued. As long as Tinhead is working, I can still find out more.
Following them deeper into the Facility in the lowest part I hear drilling and hammering. After a while I am in a workshop of some kind. In front of me is a dirty, haggard black haired mess of a man just working on making more and more Parts of those Robots.
“Intruder… Captured…”
“Good work. A Minute. I need time.”
With a Nod of the Knight we wait. And wait… After half an Hour he finally finishes what he is doing and looks up. His eyes are hollow and his look shows more interest in my design.
“Name. And Serial.”
“NAME IS TINHEAD. I AM THE FIRST PROTOTYPE MADE TO EXPLORE THE TUNNELS ON MY MASTERS BEHALF.”
“Loud. No Serial? Not Empire Design.”
Looking me over he comes near and shows interest on my parts.
“WITH WHOM DO I HAVE…”
“Silence. Too loud. Will change that. Lay down there.”
Well Nothing I can do but obey. I lay down Tinhead and after a small look he disassembles the front plate of my neck and rewires my Voice box.
“Try again.”
“Test one two. It works. Thank you, may I know your name?”
“Dr. Simov. Doctor is nickname. Not really Doctor.”
“Thank you Doctor Simov. Why are you here?”
“Empire. Searching for me. Wanting me back.”
“Why?”
“Repaired Hermann. Not wanted. Hermann is Friend. Now new Name. Leader now.”
With a Clank the Knight salutes. I do not understand anything. He speaks so bad I have trouble understanding him. This will be a long talk…
…
The History of Dr. Simov is the best Prosthesis maker of the whole Empire. Not long ago Simov was hired for creating those for the Army, as only recently they started using their new Weapons and were only using Humans on the frontline.
Hermann was his best friend. He was the Leader of the reserve Brigade. Mostly he was around the Castle where Simov was working on his Prosthetic limbs. The Reserve was mostly filled with People who lost Body parts but Hermann was not one of them and had all his limbs intact.
To work on fine tuning every single Prosthesis Simov created ingenious Golem cores. Those Cores were not only able to work without high Fuel need but could attach all new parts, when they were needed. With those dummies the creation of Limbs was such an easy concept, but the Empire wanted the Cores even more. If they had an army of Golems, they could rule the World, but Hermann was the one, who protected him from any direct and indirect try to reassign him into making War machines.
The most help he got is from the Veterans, as many of them had Prosthetics from him and many of them had influence in the Military. With this protection Dr. Simov made himself one of the most liked people in his area, but was still an extreme recluse.
An order came in for Hermann and the Reserve to go to a crucial point as it was attacked by former inhabitants. Not able to decline he was going, but said to Simov, it seems to be time for him to get his own Prosthesis, as it sounded dangerous.
While Simov was worried, he was assured by Hermann to be at ease. If he came back with something wrong, Simov would just fix him back up, as they are best Friends.
The time was not long for the Reserve to get back. It was a complete trap and maybe the higher ups already knew it. The inhabitants of the dangerous area were waiting in an ambush to show their determination. Hermann came back in a coffin.
As his best Friend Simov was there, when the Coffin was temporary stored in the morgue to wait for the military Funeral, and not even a day later came an order for Simov to be reassigned to the Mechanical Experimentation Corporation. The MEC were already working on the Cores they could snag, but now they would squeeze him out for every single Knowledge he has over Golem Design.
Three days Simov was not seen but working in his Laboratory. No one noticed the missing Coffin in the Morgue until Simov came out with Hermann from his Place.
Immediately Simov was incarcerated. Hermann wanted to stop them but was rather stiff and got overwhelmed before they took the heart replacement out of his body.
The higher ups had now a dilemma. For desecrating a corps of an Army General only the death sentence could be given. But his work needs to be first copied so others could recreate his genius inventions.
Meanwhile something happened in the Morgue again. Even without his energy source Hermann extremely slowly stood up. After an hour of slow movement he could insert his new heart that was still on the table for further study of function.
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With his Heart back the body worked again in normal speed and started to arm himself. Slowly entering the sealed off Workshop of the newly dishonoured Dr. Simov he started up every single Golem. As they already knew what was happening they removed their stick arms and legs and put the Prototypes on. The Night was quickly turning into a battlefield as the Dummies broke out their creator lead by Hermann, who was now calling himself Leader to the Golems.
Out of the Castle only five ‘people’ escaped. Dr. Simov, Leader and three Dummies. The others were either destroyed, disassembled or self destruct.
Finding the War Criminal Dr. Simov would net the Person who brought him in alive two Million creds, but no one could find him. While some people swear to have seen him in Trashtown there was no lead any more, just some empty place where someone created something before vanishing again.
…
“And now you are here, hiding in the most dangerous place of them all?”
“Best Hideout. Wanted to purify. Was my Dream. So much Waste.”
So he normally was working on something for the betterment of Humanity, but they wanted to create Weapons out of it. Where did I hear this story before… Oh, I know! Every single greedy bastard who thought about how to make a weapon out of a great invention.
The Empire is high on War. If they can not fight, they search somewhere they might break a Struggle out. With that their Military expenses are over the top and their technology further out than other Continents. There are only two kinds of People who over inflate their Military budget. War hungry People who want to rule the world and paranoid People who want to bend the World to their will.
“If that is so, I would like to ask you to come with me to my Domain.”
“No! Never again! No War. I want peace.”
The Guards and Leader have readied their weapons on me again.
“Easy, I did not want you to go to war. That kind of thing is the least of my Problems. I want you to help me build helpers to mine and create pumps to pump that dangerous stuff into a filtering plant, so it can go back to Mana.”
“You Lie. Everyone wants War. No one cares.”
“I do not lie. If you do not trust me, I can do it myself with you here. I just need your help to get the stuff out from below to make it to my experimental System.”
“You not lying? Can I help? Help the World?”
“Of course. But I live in a place where People Speak a different Language. We are on the Continent where the Common is different. Can you adapt?”
Within a few breaths he starts talking in Common.
“Learned a bit. Still working. Where to help?”
“You mean where I live? I live in the Starfall Crater. I am of no affiliation of any Country on this Continent. What my true purpose is, is going back.”
“Home? Where to?”
“Not home. I lost my home long ago. I was summoned into another world, and now I am here.”
“A Robot? Summoned? Why though?”
Argh, I forgot I am in a freaking Tin Can!
“This Body is only temporary. I have different ones, and needed this one to go deep into this place.”
“… Leader? What you think?”
Hermann or better Leader looks at me. Long… Very very long and does not say anything for a long long while.
“Trustworthy… but… be… careful…”
“Always. Thank you Friend.”
…
Dr. Simov might not be a Doctor in the true sense, but he is a genius. The reason the Facility is free of miasmic radiation? His invention! A frequency of special runic waves make the radiation collide with each other and while most of it gets ejected back where it came from some stays as either harmless Miasmic energy that gets harvested by his Dummies and Leader or changes right into Mana itself. Outside of the Bubble the Mana gets again irradiated and becomes Miasma, so it is not that cleansing, but as long as you are inside this place? Easy living.
To be honest I have no clue how it works, but it has to do with always changing runic circles. He can create GEARS WITH RUNES! That is what I need, Maybe he can decipher that piece of Junk I have laying around.
The way back was easier, as I can just follow my sense of direction to where my true being is. Entering my place I ask Dr. Simov what he needs but only the word Workshop, nothing else came out. He can go where I built Tincan and ask him to refine him for me, so I can use him better.
“No Fighting. Not War Machine.”
“I would lie if I say I would never be in any battle with him, as I was close to battle when we met. Remember how I was captured?”
“...No intentional Fighting. I hate Battles.”
“This I can approve of. I do not want to use Robots to fight anyway. The only thing is protecting my Friends and Family, and otherwise I do not care about any kind of War.”
“Protection Okay. First Strike not.”
“I understand your sentiments. Maybe there will be Fights in the future, but I will never ask your Robots to be in any of them. You shall help me clean that mess up down below.”
“That is okay. I will help.”
His short sentences are annoying but still, it seems to be his quirk. Maybe some kind of Spectrum, as he seems to think differently than many other. Not a disability, but a way to perceive things different and see solutions in his own way.
Well he just fixed Tincan’s Voice box with a simple Spring. One simple difference and I can now use it with volume control. How he explained it, he just looked at it to understand how I created the box and made the change on the fly. So he not only never saw a similar design, he just remodelled it in his head and with the fewest new parts. If that is not a genius, what is?
“Dr. Simov, This is Maiden. I need to change into another Body, this one is not really comfortable.”
“Rat Girl. Not Beast Person. A Monster?”
He can deduct that?
“How do you know that?”
“Breath different. Miasma gets expelled. Like you. But different.”
Different Breath? I do not understand…
“In this Castle, everyone is welcome who wants to live in Peace. Monsters, People, Robots, Villagers. As long as you are peaceful and want to live in harmony, you are accepted.”
“Understood. Name Dr. Simov. Simov is Okay.”
“Welcome to the Castle. I was already messaged for your arrival. The children did their best to make something delicious.”
“Children? Your Workers?”
“Orphans I took in. Some of them have a passion for cooking. They work to make everyone smile with their meals.”
“Helping Children. Good Person. Nice Monster.”
…
After the food I asked him if he wanted a bath, but just said he wants to see the working area. While saying nothing he readily started to create… new tools. Well most tools seem crude to him I bet, so just create what you want. The place is filled with Materials and other things. His Followers guard him, so nothing should happen.
Simov reacted positive to seeing the smiling Children. Out of this fact I will see to send the meal by a human servant more often, so he really remembers to eat. He is rather haggard, maybe he just takes in sustenance but nothing more? How is he still alive?
While he is working I can survey his techniques to make my own knowledge about those things better. To have such an Artisan in my Domain makes it much easier for me.