Deia pulled his ear.
“Ow owow, what?” Dave asked as she let go.
“If there’s anything out there, I want you and your Touch to find it,” she said as he pouted. “It will also be good training if we do run into anything.”
The other parties listened in, a few smiling at Dave’s unhappy pouting.
“Let’s clear this place out. The faster we get it done, the longer you get to play with the big magical plug.” Deia smiled sweetly.
***
The council ate and drank, few of them talking, but most of them deep in thought.
“Copper for your thoughts?” Ela-dorn asked Hamdir as he munched on hard biscuits.
“Things have changed greatly since we were last on Emerilia. Our old enemies and alliances will have fallen apart for the most part. The Dwarves and the Elves are still in the same places and there might be a few of them who remember us, though we must forge new alliances and keep an eye out for new enemies. The Gray God woke me before we were sent back here. He told me that strife and war is coming to Emerilia. We may wish to hide from our fellows, to keep our privacy and our technology to ourselves, but Emerilia is still our home and we herald from the other races. I am wondering if it would be of benefit to us to meet with and talk to the Stone Raiders. They have made a good number of allies, Shard has reported. They have also collected a variety of people who would make any kingdom more powerful with their allegiance. They are a formidable ally in the making. Given time and resources, they could become truly powerful in their nine-year cycle.” Hamdir looked to Ela-dorn to gauge her response.
“They are indeed possible allies, but I think it prudent for us to wait until we are secure before talking to them. We can still use Shard as an intermediary in those regards. We can use Shard to give them quests to act as our forces aboveground. Shard has already positioned us to be able to use their connections to buy and sell items. For now, we should focus on getting the greenhouses back into production and purchase foodstuffs. We have the shelter but not the edibles and other resources that the Gray God has requested we fulfill in order for more of our people to join us.”
Hamdir nodded, agreeing with her plan. He didn’t like the hiding and secrecy, but as they grew in strength, they could come to understand all that had happened on Emerilia while they were gone.
“As you say, the Stone Raiders are working to re-establish our power and clear our areas free of aggressive creatures. Having an undying force eagerly following our quests is quite the useful asset. I have been putting thought into their reward if they are to complete all of the facilities. I wonder what your thoughts might be on them.” Hamdir shared a file he had created with her.
“Generous, but do you think they will be happy with just this? They fight for gold, weapons, and gear,” Ela-dorn said.
“They look to be a forward-thinking group. This will be of more help than any weapon, armor, or gear. Of which they have plenty that they are waiting to sell to their traders,” Hamdir said.
“I agree to it. We shall raise it with the rest of the council,” Ela-dorn said.
“Of course.” Hamdir snorted and shook his head.
“What is it?” Ela-dorn cocked her head to the side in curiosity.
“When we left, the Dragons had been gone for decades. I missed my friend Gelimah dearly. Now we return to find that they have as well. I wonder what that cantankerous old Dragon is up to.” Hamdir snorted.
“Is he still active in your friends list?”
“Yes, though he is not one to check his friends list and contacts frequently. I wonder who will be the first to contact the other.” Hamdir looked amused as he looked at the council chambers.
The world he knew had changed, but now truly a secret from all of the races, the Aleph could begin to rebuild, not worrying about outside forces pressuring them for information or threatening murder and kidnapping. Information was a rare resource, one that the Aleph people closely guarded.
***
Suzy’s last metal creation turned into a spike, impaling the last remaining rock worm, breaking its hard shell and stopping its movement. Black ichor fell from its side as the others looked on.
“Ugly bugs.” Steve swung his axe in a bored manner. “When can I get to hit something?”
“When you hitting something means it will die. Those things’ armor would make a hit from your axe feel like a tickle,” Suzy said.
“No, it wouldn’t. Don’t talk about axey like that.” Steve caressed “axey” as if it were some lovable beast instead of a half-ton of sharpened metal.
“Can we go plug the power station in now?” Dave asked, not paying attention to Suzy and Steve.
“Fine,” Deia said.
“Woohoo!” Dave’s face lit up as he rubbed his hands and shared a look with Malsour. Malsour’s face split into an eager grin as they took off jogging for the main command center of the power station.
The command center was laid out like a water ship’s command center: banks of consoles at the front, with more behind them and a raised platform for whoever was in command to sit at.
Dave and Malsour went through the systems. Malsour was the only other person on their expedition who came close to Dave’s knowledge on runic systems.
“Suzy and Anna, gonna need your help.” Dave moved to a table at the side of the room. His eyes glowed as he smiled. His tattoos flared with light as gray smoke poured from his arm. “Nice little top-up to get things started,” Dave said as systems started to come online.
“The hell is that?” Matt, from one of the other parties, pointed at Dave’s arm.
“I’m just directing energy from my soul gem into the power station’s grid so that we can start using some systems and get this puppy started,” Dave said.
“You made the party gems, right?” Jackie asked.
“Party gems?” Dave asked, confused, as he lifted his hand from the table. The light faded from around him, but the whole command center was powering up around him, screens coming online with different information.
“The gems that our necklace runes are attached to. They take a percentage of our power, training us every second, even when we sleep. Stores up our energy, but if we hit ten percent, the energy is returned to us to use,” Jackie said.
“Yeah, I guess I started them, though I didn’t make all of them.” Dave moved to a console that looked important.
“Accessing systems. Coming online. Insert information upload.” Shard’s voice started from the command center’s speakers.
Anna moved to a console and put a command crystal into the console.
“What is that? That voice is all over the place,” Matt asked.
“That’s Shard. He’s the AI of the Aleph, the one that gives us our quests,” Induca said.
“Though this one is just a subprogram of his. It doesn’t have enough energy to connect to the main program, so it needs a command crystal to know that we aren’t a threat,” Anna said.
“Skynet anyone?” Fred joked.
“I didn’t think that there would be an AI in a fantasy game,” Matt said.
“Well, he’s made from runes and Magical Circuits—he’s complicated as a mother fucker,” Dave said.
“Permission granted to Anna’kal, ally of the Aleph people, and her comrades. Security measures being lifted. Control access granted to certain personnel.” Shard’s subsystem might have his voice but it was robotic without Shard’s massive computing power.
“All right, let’s do something crazy,” Dave said.
“Why do I feel suddenly scared? Oh right, it’s because no one who is putting a damned rod into a circulating force of electrons in a planet’s crust ever wants to hear we’re going to try something crazy.” Suzy glared at Dave.
“Well, it is pretty crazy. I don’t know of any other group that might think of doing this,” Malsour said.
Good man, that one. Dave moved through the Aleph menu.
“Okay, so, this isn’t going to be ea
sy. First, we need to make sure that we’re grounded properly so we don’t have magical ley line energy zinging out everywhere. Malsour, could you check?”
“Can do.” Malsour closed his eyes, using his own version of Touch to create a mental map of all the inorganic material that made up the facility.
“Suzy, I’m going to need you to move to an auxiliary control room that will allow control of the crane holding the spikes. I’m going to have to go check on a control fault. Deia, could you watch these start-up tests and let me know if anything goes wrong? Anna, can you act as interpreter? If anyone has questions about the symbols on their screen, send a screenshot to her. Don’t want to be pressing the wrong buttons here!” Dave moved for the main door.
“What do you want us to do?” Matt asked.
“Don’t touch anything!” Dave said as he left.
“What makes him the boss of this all? It can’t be that hard,” someone said, thinking he couldn’t hear them.
“He used to make rockets that go to Mars and the moon, and this facility has more power than a dozen nuclear reactors going through it. I’d say he’s the best qualified out of us,” Suzy said.
“He’s also a Dwarven Master Smith. They don’t just let anyone on the council,” Deia said.
“The Dwarven Master Smith Council? I thought that was just a myth?” Matt asked.
Dave smiled, happy to have his friends backing him up as he sprinted for the control rune he needed to fix.
After some quick repairs, applying different metals to the control runes, turning one of his rods into a destruction staff to heat it up and using soul smithing to fix it up, he jogged back to the command center.
“Okay, Suzy, you can start powering up the spikes and lowering them down toward the iris,” Dave said through the party’s voice chat.
“Can do.” Suzy’s tone told Dave she was already working on it.
“Do we have any errors showing up from the tests?”
“After that control rune was fixed, we’re looking good across the board,” Deia said.
“Malsour?”
“We’re grounded and I looked at the irises. The upper one is good. The second might be a pain—the magical flow is disrupting the runes on it.”
“Okay, I might have an idea for that. We’ll have to see.” Dave watched as machinery started to whine and an alarm shrieked. Lights started to blink as the two spikes extended down toward the iris just a few stories below it.
Dave quickened his pace, arriving at the command center shortly after.
“Thanks, babe.” Dave gave Deia a quick kiss as he stood at the station she’d been watching over.
“Okay, Suzy, hold the spikes. Malsour, open iris one. Anna, keep an eye on those power gauges.” Dave was just ad-libbing now. He knew they knew their jobs, but his anxiety was making him talk more.
“Iris one opening.” Malsour’s voice showed none of the nerves Dave felt.
The massive iris seemed to twist as thick sheets of metal withdrew into the sides of the pit.
“Suz?” Dave’s throat was dry.
“Lowering.”
Dave’s eyes turned from the spikes and to the screen in front of him. It showed the two spikes lowering down toward the next iris. The room was quiet; only the whine of heavy machinery disturbed the room. Everyone watched the massive two spikes lowering into the floor.
“Heh, they’re kind of like vampire fangs, you know—sucking energy out of the planet and being all sharp and stuff?” Dave looked around. Malsour shrugged, while Deia shook her head.
“Vampires are strong and violent creatures that gain strength and knowledge from every person they defeat. They are not to be taken lightly,” Deia said.
“Don’t fight vampires, got it,” Dave said.
“Ten meters to go,” Anna said.
“Iris two please,” Dave said.
“Opening iris two,” Malsour said. After a few moments, nothing happened. “It’s stuck.” Malsour looked to Dave.
“Okay, plan B. Suzy, I need you to have the spikes touching the iris—don’t dent it.”
“These things weigh more than those payload shuttles to Mars, and you want me to finesse them?” Suzy’s voice was indignant at her situation.
“Yeah, slowly does it. You’ve got this. Just think of them as a big pair of chopsticks!” Dave smiled.
The people from the other parties smiled and chuckled at the byplay.
“I deserve a pay raise,” Suzy grumbled as the spike’s descent slowed, bit by bit.
A loud bang made everyone wince.
“Well, they’re touching now!” Suzy said, sounding a bit panicked.
“I’ve been getting a power reading for a bit. Got a spike with it touching the iris,” Anna said.
“Malsour, try to open the iris again.”
“Opening iris,” Malsour said. Everyone watched the screens.
“Energy spiking—nothing dangerous,” Anna said.
“Iris is opening slowly,” Malsour said.
“Come on, you big metal door,” Dave whispered.
“Speed is picking up.” Malsour sighed and grinned at his screen.
“Power input increasing,” Anna said.
“Well shit, that is a sight,” Jackie said.
Dave looked out of the command center. The spike’s runes glowed blue while arcing electricity moved between the two spikes. “Shard, run tests on all subsystems.”
“Starting.”
Lights started getting brighter around the facility, clearing shadows away as the spikes descended into the earth.
“Everyone, be alert. We don’t know if anything we missed will be coming to hunt us down,” Deia said.
Dave spread his senses out. He couldn’t sense anything moving around, except various systems as they were being checked by Shard’s fragment.
“I have found several deficiencies. None are major issues but together they will create a problem,” Shard said, his tests still running.
“Use automatons for jobs that will require heavy lifting. Anything that is technical we can take care of,” Dave said.
“Very well. Updating priorities.”
His notification bar blinked. Dave opened it.
Quest: Aleph Homecoming
You have restarted an Aleph power station. Make sure that there are no threats. Starting the facility was just the start. There are a number of repairs that need to be fixed before the station can be left to manage itself.
Repair train lines
Fix power relays x4
Fix grounding protrusions x3
Rewards: Increased power usage to assist in other activities.
“All right, well, looks like we have some more work to do. Who are my smiths?” Dave asked. Matt’s party put their hands up.
“Damn, okay, well, half of you follow me. We’ll look into the power relays. The other half go with Malsour and work on the grounding protrusions,” Dave said.
“Keep an eye out for possible threats,” Deia said. “Shard, can you send out scouts to look for threats?”
“Orders understood. Permission granted, Oson’Deia. Four scouts moving to search the facility for threats.”
“I’ll stay here with Anna. Induca, go and keep Suzy company,” Deia said.
With that, everyone started to go their own ways.
The facility had come to life. Dozens of repair bots moved around, moving broken parts and new parts to replace them.
Dave moved to the elevators that were now working, taking one up to the upper reaches of the facility.
“So, all the power is directed up here, passing through runes and silver wiring to that charging station we saw earlier,” Dave said as the lift’s doors closed. Malsour was talking to his group, leading them toward the grounding prongs sticking out of the station. They each had a group of the combat-focused parties tagging along with them.
“The one that looked like a train station?” Matt asked.
“The very one. They’re hooked up,
powered up and then shipped off to other Aleph installations to keep them powered. The charging stations in the cities are really backup to these big bastards.” Dave tapped the side of the elevator affectionately.
They exited it a little while later. Dave answered the questions he could about smithing and different metals. He couldn’t tell them anything about Mithril; he trusted them, but he had sworn an oath to the Dwarves. Although they might be a paranoid bunch, they had been around for a few hundred years, so Dave was willing to trust their judgment.
Repair bots heaved a derailed cart back onto the tracks and repaired the ones that it had come off and bent. Dave walked past it and got to the relay panel he needed to work on.
Unlike electrical circuits, he didn’t have to turn off shit before he got to work, so he opened the closet-looking power relay. Runes were engraved into the surface, in swirling organic circles.
“Ah, memories.” Dave snorted to himself as the others looked at the runes now opened for all to see in mild awe and confusion.
“We’re going to check the area,” Xiao, a human tank, said, clearly not that interested in runes.
“Go for it,” Dave said. He had already found the issue with the runes, but he wanted the others to learn. “Okay, so let’s go over the basics of rune making and Magical Circuits. Everyone has their Magical Circuit skill, right?” Dave looked at them; a few people looked away sheepishly.
“Good! If you don’t, you can learn the new and easier way of making Magical Circuits!” Dave clapped his hands together before they could start feeling sorry for themselves.
“The new way?” Matt asked.
“Progruning or runegramming.” Going to have to think of a better name than those. Maybe Magical Coding? Dave continued. “Well, anyway, it’s combining the runes of Emerilia with the coding that we have back on Earth. Don’t worry—even if you’re not a coder, this is some pretty easy stuff!” Dave winked. It had been too long since he talked about crafting or could teach someone something technical.
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 36