David

  She blinked at me. “Leave?”

  “I have an idea,” I said slowly, “but I need to see your power script first. If you’re compatible with the core system I’m thinking of…” Before I could finish, Ava reached up and undid the clasps of her dress. In one smooth motion, she let it fall to her waist.

  “Wait… I was going to ask you first,” I stammered. She tilted her head, clearly puzzled by my reaction. Her copper-toned skin pulsed faintly with blue light, each line glowing softly in the dim room. “Where…” I cleared my throat, trying hard to keep my eyes above her shoulders. “Where is your script?”

  “On my back, under my left arm,” she replied calmly. She turned, revealing the intricate etching that flowed from shoulder to waist, embedded in the synthetic skin like living circuitry.

  I stepped closer, unable to help myself. I reached out and traced a finger along the pattern, delicate lines that shimmered and shifted beneath my touch. Ava’s skin was warm, but beneath it, something shimmered like circuitry dreaming beneath the surface. I studied the lines of her power script again, watching them shimmer faintly beneath the synthetic skin. It was a beautiful design, elegant and clean, completely foreign. Yet there was something familiar about it.

  “You’re a work of art, Ava,” I said softly. “Your creator was a master. But your power script is closed.”

  She nodded. “Ealhstan Bosques. He designed me in the image of his first wife... What do you mean by 'closed'?”

  “Think of it this way: you’re like an original Mac. Self-contained, efficient… and its hardware is completely incompatible with anything on the mass market. They run forever, and when they need an upgrade, it isn’t easy. Not impossible. Just difficult.”

  She didn’t respond, just waited. Patient. Curious.

  “Allyson and the newer constructs are more like PCs. Modular, patchable. They can accept external power cores, new commands, and updated functions. You? You were designed to be perfect… but not very portable.”

  She blinked. “I… am not familiar with that model.”

  I smiled despite myself. “That’s okay. You’re prettier than any of them, anyway.”

  Her eyes glowed softly for a moment. “Thank you, Master.”

  I stepped back and exhaled. “If I want you to be with us… I’ll have to rewrite part of your script, reroute your dependency on this core, and patch in compatibility for the portable cores we use at Tower Six. It’ll be delicate, that’s why we are going to take you back with us, actually, all of you.”

  “And dangerous?”

  “Very. If I mess it up, I could fry your systems.”

  “Then don’t mess it up,” she said, calm as ever.

  “Working on it.”

  She slipped the dress back on with fluid grace.

  I glanced at Allyson. “I’m amazed you didn’t say anything. Another naked woman and all.”

  “I was too mesmerized by her design,” she said in a dry tone.

  I turned back to the core. “After ten millennia… six months left. That’s not how this ends. How about a chance to see the world? To walk beyond this vault?”

  “Master… As I stated earlier, if I move too far from here, I’ll lose contact with the core. I’ll cease to function.” I stood for a bit, looking at the swirling colors on the surface of the core in front of me. Walking around it, I noticed that it just floated there, mere inches off the pedestal. In this large room, there wasn’t anything in here except for the pedestal and core.

  “Not if I bring the core with us. Yeah…That’s the plan. We’ll take it to Tower Six and install a new power core for you there.”

  She stared at me. “You’d take my core… with you?”

  “Yes… and what about the rest of the facility?”

  “Only us, it powers only the guardians and support systems within the facility. A separate recycling core powers the facility itself, located in the lower level, three hundred feet below this level. But… when this core finally depletes, the vault will be sealed permanently. The vault doors will be sealed forever.”

  That seals it. Bad pun.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Do we have a container for the core?”

  “A what?” Ava asked.

  “A box? I want to box up your core.”

  “I can retrieve one,” she said slowly, “but Master… no one can touch the core. To do so is fatal to biological life and lethal to golems. Please… don’t risk your life for me.”

  “For now, I just need a box.”

  As she left, I turned to the shelves of the library, scanning the ancient tomes. Chemical matrices. Nuclear theory. Harmonic resonance. Arcane engineering layered with alchemical metallurgy. Some volumes were bound in leather so dark it absorbed the light; others shimmered faintly with embedded runes or etched circuitry.

  All of it written in the Engineers’ language, a dialect that blended science and spellwork into something denser than either. Equations that bent space. Theorems written like hymns.

  I reached out and touched the spine of one volume. It thrummed faintly beneath my fingers, warm with residual energy. Not just old, alive. Preserved by time, protected by intention.

  Ava returned, a golem following behind her carrying a reinforced crate. She nodded to him, and he set the box in front of the pedestal.

  I knelt beside it. The core shimmered like contained lightning, its surface crackling with arcs of energy that danced in slow, dangerous rhythms, not random, but aware. Waiting. Testing. I took a breath. Not a steadying breath, that was impossible. Just air in my lungs before whatever this thing did to me. And I reached out.

  “Master, STOP!” Ava cried, stepping forward.

  Allyson’s hand snapped out, halting her. “Let him.”

  My fingers met the sphere’s surface. It wasn’t smooth. It wasn’t even solid. It was something else, a living construct of energy wrapped in a soft shell. Warmth surged into my skin like molten metal, threading through nerves, muscle, and memory. My vision fractured. My thoughts scattered like loose bolts hitting the floor. The core pushed back.

  It wasn’t just power, it was will.

  I felt it crawl up my arms, looking for purchase, peeling me open cell by cell, searching for something familiar, or something weak. Testing. Challenging. I clenched my jaw, grounding myself in who I was. Not a priest. Not a warrior. Not even a mage. An Engineer. My training wasn’t in strength. It was in control. In design.

  “You don’t own me,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

  My glyphs lit. Not all at once, they fought to ignite. It started at my shoulders, sparks flickering through the pattern, then surging downward as if each symbol had to force its way to life. Power met purpose. And purpose won. The core shrieked, not out loud, but in my head. It recognized me now.

  My hands shook. My knees dug into the stone. The energy wanted to consume, to claim. But I gave it no foothold.

  “Yield,” I whispered. And it did.

  The pressure broke. The heat faded. And finally, I could breathe again.

  I lifted the core from its pedestal, its weight far greater than it should’ve been. Carefully, I lowered it into the crate and sealed the lid with shaking hands. No pain. No burn. No disintegration. Just silence. I stood.

  Ava stared, stunned.

  “What… how… That should have been impossible,” she whispered, grabbing my hands to inspect them. “It destroys any biological matter on contact. It fries golems instantly. I was told… I knew…”

  “Miss Ava,” Allyson said calmly, “what you just witnessed was Master doing the impossible. You’ll get used to it.”

  Ava’s expression twisted with awe and something else, hope.

  “This is the second power core I’ve handled,” I said, brushing off my hands. “Let’s not dwell on it. But this one was a little more fiesty than the others. We’ve got work to do.”

  I turned to the golem. “Take it to the central chamber, please.”

  The golem lifted the crate without complaint and began its march back.

  “Ava, do you have more storage containers?”

  “Yes, Master. They are in the storage room.”

  “Good. It’s time to pack up. No need for order, grab everything. We’ll sort it all out back home.” She nodded. And with that, we began the process of moving ten thousand years of legacy… into a new future.

  “Allyson, bring all of the other available golems in and help with loading these into the ship’s holds,” I said, watching all of the activity around me. Golems began filing into the workshop and library, carrying empty crates. With minimal direction, they set to work packing up the contents, books, tools, and components, methodically and efficiently, as if they’d done it before.

  General Kitch and Bishop Varent stepped inside, pausing just beyond the threshold to watch the strange activity unfold.

  “So, David, we were talking, and all these golems started walking in…” Varent asked, raising an eyebrow, “What exactly is going on here?”

  I didn’t look up. “It seems that we found this place at the right time. The power core feeding part of this facility is about to run dry…” I flipped through the book in my hands. ”Once it does, it locks itself down permanently. No one will be able to open it again. Ava’s coming with us, her core’s almost depleted, and I need to get her to Vaelthorn to repair it…” Placing the book that I already had in the crate at my feet, I grabbed a book from the upper shelf and started to flip through the pages. “Once she steps outside, everything here seals for good.” Ava watched the golems work, silent and still, but something in her eyes had changed. The script was still the same. But the lines were starting to shift.

  “Ah,” Kitch muttered, stepping further in. “So you’re stripping the place before the door slams shut.”

  “Exactly,” I said, flashing a grin. “This is what my people call a going-out-of-business sale.”

  Kitch chuckled. “Everything must go?”

  “Everything that’s not nailed down, and a few things that are.”

  I pointed to the crate by the entrance. “That one, don’t touch the contents. There’s a very angry power core inside. One mistake and it’ll kill you instantly. No warning, no second chances…” I exaggerated the motions with my hands, as if they were just gone. “I had a hell of a time getting into that box.” The bishop gave it a wary glance and took a step back.

  “Help yourselves to any of the liquor from the lounge,” I added. “No reason to let it go to waste. Just don’t drink too much.” More golems marched past, carrying sealed crates eventually to the airship’s cargo hold. Satisfied, I turned and made my way to the seating room.

  Aria looked up as I entered, her arms folded, watching Samual gleefully tuck bottles of exotic liquors into a padded case like he was hoarding treasure.

  “Love, what’s going on?” she asked. “Everyone’s snatching things like the end is coming.”

  “I see the word got around pretty quick,” I said. “This place will never open again once we leave. So we’re salvaging what we can before the vault locks forever.”

  She looked toward the corridor, her expression softening. “And Ava?”

  “She’s coming with us.”

  Aria smiled. “Then we’ll make sure she feels welcome.”