Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 3/7

AUDIOLIBRARY

Transcript

00:00:00Melusine organised their labours with her customary zeal, and even her normally stern

00:00:05features were alight with the joy of creation. Dahlia had never given any thought to the

00:00:10notion of creation in the biological sense, until one day working with Severin and Zouche

00:00:15on the raised dais, checking measurements on the schematics against those that had been

00:00:19constructed by Zess fabricators.

00:00:22The housings for the dopamine dispensers are slightly off, said Dahlia, leading over the

00:00:27skull assembly.

00:00:28Damn, I knew it, cursed Zouche, the squat machinist already at eye-level with the assembly.

00:00:34Never trust a fabrication servitor. That's my motto.

00:00:38I thought you said only use a carbon dioxide gas laser for cutting was your motto, said

00:00:44Severin, with a wink at Dahlia. I have several mottos. A person can have more than one motto,

00:00:50can't they?

00:00:51I suppose, said Dahlia, if they were a fickle person.

00:00:54Fickle, snapped Zouche. A less fickle person than I would be hard to find.

00:01:01What about Mellison? suggested Dahlia.

00:01:03Apart from her, replied Zouche.

00:01:06He's handsome, said Severin. Don't you think he's handsome?

00:01:11Dahlia and Zouche shared a look of puzzlement.

00:01:13Who? asked Dahlia.

00:01:16Severin nodded towards the empath, strapped into the throne of the Enhancer.

00:01:20Him. Don't you think he's handsome?

00:01:24I wonder what his name is.

00:01:26He's a psyker. He doesn't warrant a name, said Zouche, his lip curling in distaste.

00:01:34Dahlia came round from the back of the Enhancer and took a good look at the unconscious empath.

00:01:38In the days since they had first laid eyes on him he had not stirred so much as a muscle,

00:01:43and Dahlia had begun to think of him as just another component of the machine.

00:01:46I hadn't really thought about it, she said, troubled at the thought that she had treated

00:01:51a human being in such a clinical way.

00:01:53I suppose so.

00:01:56Severin smiled.

00:01:57No, there's only one man occupying your thoughts, eh?

00:02:01What are you talking about? asked Dahlia, though her eyes slid over to one of the metal

00:02:05workbenches at the chamber's edge, where the robed figure of Caxton was rebuilding

00:02:10one of the emitter arrays.

00:02:12Ha! You know exactly what I'm talking about, said Severin, triumphantly.

00:02:16No, I don't, said Dahlia, but couldn't help smiling as she said it.

00:02:21He likes you, too. I saw you holding hands when we first came here.

00:02:25I don't like heights, said Dahlia.

00:02:28Caxton was just—

00:02:29Just? prompted Severin, when Dahlia didn't continue.

00:02:34The lad likes you, put in Zouche. You're attractive enough, and though I'm no expert, he seems

00:02:40like a handsome lad, though he could use a bit of fattening up. You'd make comely children,

00:02:46and they would probably be clever, too. Yes, you should pair yourself with the lad.

00:02:51What?

00:02:52Dahlia and Severin looked at Zouche's pugnacious features, and they both laughed.

00:02:58No messing about with you, Zouche. Was that how they courted women in the Indonesic block?

00:03:03asked Severin.

00:03:05Zouche puffed out his chest. The Atoll exclave of my clan didn't have time for courting.

00:03:11Then how do you choose a wife? said Severin.

00:03:14Or a husband, added Dahlia.

00:03:17Choose, scoffed Zouche. We don't choose. I come from Nusa Kambangan, where children are

00:03:23genetically mapped at birth. When they come of age, they are paired with a partner with

00:03:28compatible genes that offer the best odds of producing offspring that will benefit the

00:03:33collective.

00:03:35Dahlia found the notion of such a premeditated selection process unsavoury, and tried to

00:03:39keep her feelings from her voice.

00:03:41But what about attraction? Love?

00:03:44What of them? asked Zouche. Are they more important than survival? I don't think so.

00:03:50But don't people fall in love where you're from?

00:03:53Some do, admitted Zouche, and Dahlia saw a shadow of some nameless emotion flicker across

00:03:58his normally stoic features.

00:04:00Yeah, said Severin. And what if a person falls for someone they're not matched with? Then

00:04:06they will produce children who are of genetically inferior stock, snapped Zouche. And they will

00:04:12be punished. Severely punished. Enough questions. We have work to do. Yes?

00:04:18Dahlia flinched at the vehemence in Zouche's voice, and exchanged a concerned look with

00:04:22Severin, who simply shrugged and returned to her contemplation of the unconscious empath.

00:04:27Well, I think he's handsome, she said.

00:04:32At last the final iteration of the machine began to take shape. The various errors corrected,

00:04:38and the refinements devised by Dahlia and Zeth worked into the design. Under Mellison's

00:04:43expert direction, the first working model was completed two days ahead of schedule,

00:04:48and the golden throne on the dais was replaced with the new model.

00:04:53Diagnostics were run on every piece of the machine, all without recourse to prayers,

00:04:57holy unguents, chanting, or sacred oils. Every portion of the device functioned exactly

00:05:03as its builders had hoped, and, in some cases, exceeded their greatest expectations.

00:05:10Two days after Caxton assembled and installed the last circuit board, Adept Zeth declared

00:05:15that they were ready for a full test, and ordered the empath to be woken from his drug-induced

00:05:20slumbers.

00:05:23A thrumming bass hum filled the chamber, as generators powered by the heat of the magma

00:05:28lagoon diverted vast quantities of energy into the mechanics of the Akashic reader.

00:05:34The air within the great dome had a greasy, electric feel to it, and the emitters placed

00:05:38between the psychos capsules embedded within the walls of the chamber crackled with silvery

00:05:43sparks. A pair of muscled servitors lifted the unconscious empath from his gurney and

00:05:49gently sat him upon the padded seat of the newly installed theta-wave enhancer.

00:05:55Dahlia Emelison watched as Zeth bent to her ministrations on the man, plugging him into

00:05:59the device with eager, nimble fingers. Barely visible scads of light flickered in the noosphere

00:06:06above the Adept's head, and Dahlia wondered what manner of information was arriving in

00:06:10Zeth's skull and from where.

00:06:13She returned her attention to the empath, watching as his eyelids fluttered and his

00:06:18consciousness began rising to the surface of his mind, now that he was free of the drugs

00:06:22keeping him quiescent. In the time they had been working on the device the empath had

00:06:27lost weight, and his once healthy physique now resembled the figures encapsulated in

00:06:31the coffers of the dome's walls. Working beneath their sightless eyes it was easy to

00:06:36forget the psychos were human beings, albeit dangerous humans with powers beyond those

00:06:41of ordinary mortals. With the first full test of the enhanced Akashic reader upon them,

00:06:47Dahlia felt an unexpected surge of protectiveness towards their silent audience.

00:06:51Will this hurt them? asked Dahlia, pointing towards the thousands of men and women above.

00:06:58The experience will be draining for them, I expect, said Zeth, without looking up from

00:07:02her labours. Some may not live.

00:07:05The coldness with which Zeth spoke chilled Dahlia, and she felt a knot of anger settle

00:07:10in her belly. Her lips tightened as she looked into the serene face of the empath.

00:07:15What about him? she asked. Is he going to die to make this machine work?

00:07:21Zeth looked up from her work, her expression unreadable behind her studded mask. Voice

00:07:26stress analysis leads me to believe you are concerned for this individual's well-being.

00:07:31Am I correct?

00:07:32Yes, said Dahlia. I don't like to think that people are going to suffer for what we're

00:07:37doing here.

00:07:38No. It is somewhat late in the process to be thinking of such things, said Zeth.

00:07:43I know, said Dahlia, and I wish I'd thought more about it sooner, but I didn't.

00:07:49Then the matter is closed, said Zeth.

00:07:52But this will kill him, won't it?

00:07:54Not if your design works as I believe it will, said Zeth. The theta-wave enhancer should

00:08:00expand the empath's capacity for learning at an exponentially greater rate than he will

00:08:05be receiving information.

00:08:08Zeth gestured to the myriad of bulky vox-thieves and data-carriers arranged around the dais.

00:08:13In theory, the empath will simply be a conduit for information to pass from the ether to

00:08:18these recording devices.

00:08:20Good, said Dahlia. I don't like the idea of him suffering.

00:08:25Nor I, said Melusine, in a rare show of emotion.

00:08:29Your compassion is laudable, if misplaced, said Zeth, as a stream of flickering data

00:08:35arrived in her noosphere. Now, finish the empath's revival process. Adept Maximal has

00:08:40arrived to observe and verify our results.

00:08:45Zeth straightened and descended to the chamber's floor, leaving Dahlia and Melusine alone with

00:08:49the empath on the dais.

00:08:51Well, you heard what she said, nodded Melusine. Let's get finished up here, eh?

00:08:57Aren't you concerned at all? asked Dahlia. Do you care that he might suffer?

00:09:03Of course I care. But that doesn't change anything, does it? As the adept said, it is

00:09:08a little late to be having second thoughts. You designed this device, after all. I know

00:09:13that. But when it was just theoretical, it didn't seem so, I don't know, real.

00:09:19Well, I assure you, this is very real, Dahlia, said Melusine. We have built it, and we can

00:09:26ignore the fact that this is potentially a very dangerous device. And not just to these

00:09:31poor unfortunates.

00:09:33Who else is it dangerous to? asked Dahlia, puzzled.

00:09:37Melusine smiled indulgently, the human half of her features softening in a way Dahlia

00:09:41had never seen before.

00:09:43Ah, Dahlia, you are so clever in many ways, yet so innocent in others. Think of what we

00:09:49will learn from the Akashit reader. With access to the secrets of the Aether, we will be able

00:09:54to lift humanity to a new level of understanding of the universe.

00:09:57And that's a bad thing?

00:10:00Of course not. But it is an inevitable fact that much of the information Zeth will glean

00:10:05from this device will be used to create weapons of war more powerful than anything we can

00:10:09imagine.

00:10:10Dahlia felt her entire body go cold, as though the temperature of the chamber had dropped

00:10:15to that of a glacial plain.

00:10:17I see you begin to understand, continued Melusine. It is the ethical question all devotees of

00:10:23science must face. We research in the service of the furtherance of knowledge, but we cannot

00:10:29ignore the uses to which our findings are put in the real world.

00:10:34But nothing, Dahlia interrupted Melusine, taking her hand. Adept Zeth is going ahead

00:10:40with this test, whether you like it or not. So, we'll do all we can to make sure our

00:10:45empath comes through it alive and well. Yes?

00:10:48I suppose so, agreed Dahlia, bending to increase the flow of stims to the empath's brain.

00:10:55But promise me that we'll only use the Akashit reader to learn things that will benefit the

00:11:00Imperium.

00:11:01I can't make that promise, said Melusine. No one can. But I have to believe that one

00:11:07day we will create a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying

00:11:12in its consequence, that even mankind, a race that was once hell-bent on its own destruction,

00:11:18will be so appalled that it will abandon war forever. What our minds can create, I hope

00:11:23our character can control.

00:11:26I hope you're right, said Dahlia.

00:11:28Um, am I dead? groaned the empath. Both women jumped, hands flying to their mouths and hearts,

00:11:36as the empath's eyes fluttered open and he looked up from his restraints. Melusine recovered

00:11:41her wits first and bent down towards the empath. No, you're not dead. You've just come out

00:11:46of a state of drug-induced neural stasis. Stimulants are washing away the last residues

00:11:51of pentobarbital now, so your higher brain function should be restored soon. Dahlia gave

00:11:57Melusine an exasperated look and bent down over the empath. She means you'll be fine.

00:12:03You've been asleep, but you're awake now. Do you know where you are? The man blinked

00:12:08in the harsh brightness of the forge, and Dahlia saw that his pupils were still massively

00:12:13dilated. She shielded his eyes from the light with her hand, and he smiled in gratitude.

00:12:20Sorry, the light in here's a bit bright, she said.

00:12:23Bright, yes, said the empath, his eyes flickering from side to side as they lost the glassy

00:12:29texture of the recently woken. This is the Akashic Reader, isn't it?

00:12:34Yes. You know what it does?

00:12:37I do, said the man, as Melusine lowered the cranial assembly over his head.

00:12:42Arabzeth explained it to me when she chose me to be the conduit.

00:12:47My name's Dahlia. What's yours?

00:12:51Jonas.

00:12:52Jonas Mylus, said the man with a smile, and Dahlia saw that Severine was right. He was

00:12:58handsome.

00:12:59I'd shake your hand, but...

00:13:03Dahlia smiled. The humour was forced, but she appreciated the effort, though it struck

00:13:07her as perverse that Jonas was giving her reassurance while strapped into a device that

00:13:11had never been fully tested on a human being.

00:13:15Are we about to begin? asked Jonas.

00:13:18I assume you must be, what with me being awake.

00:13:22Arabzeth is about to begin the first live test of the new device, yes, said Melusine,

00:13:27fixing the last of the restraints in place.

00:13:29Excellent, said Jonas, and Dahlia was surprised at the relish she heard in his voice.

00:13:35You're not worried? she asked, ignoring the irritated look Melusine flashed her.

00:13:39No. Should I be?

00:13:42No, no, of course not, said Dahlia, hurriedly. I mean, I don't think so. The machine's

00:13:48passed every test, and all our simulated results suggested it should work perfectly.

00:13:53Did you have anything to do with it? asked Jonas.

00:13:57Well yes, I kind of helped design the throne you're in.

00:13:59Then I'm not worried, said Jonas.

00:14:02You're not?

00:14:04No, said Jonas, because I can feel your compassion and your concern for me. I know you're

00:14:10worried for my life, but I can sense that you've done everything you can to make sure

00:14:14this machine works safely.

00:14:17How do you know all that?

00:14:19He's an empath, Dahlia, said Melusine. It's what they do.

00:14:23Oh, of course, said Dahlia, feeling foolish.

00:14:28I'm looking forward to this, really, said Jonas, to use my gift for the betterment of

00:14:32the Imperium. What better way is there for someone blessed with my talent to serve the

00:14:36Emperor? I'll know everything soon, and I'll be part of something that helps humanity achieve

00:14:41its destiny. I know that sounds a bit grand, but it's what we're doing here, isn't it?

00:14:47Dahlia smiled, relieved beyond words that they were not pressing some unwilling victim

00:14:51to the service of Adept-Zeth's grand dream.

00:14:54Yes, Jonas, she said. That's exactly what we're doing here.

00:15:00All engines form on Victorix Magna, ordered Princeps Indius Cavallerio, nodding towards

00:15:06his steersman.

00:15:07Keep us level, Lacus.

00:15:09Yes, my Princeps, said Lacus, expertly walking the god-machine through the treacherous straits

00:15:14surrounding the heavily-crated northern reaches of the Ulysses Patera.

00:15:18And keep the Auspex Returns frequent, Pallas. The ground here is weak.

00:15:23Yes, my Princeps, came the response from the Sensori blister atop the Warlord's crew compartment.

00:15:30The tone of his Sensori's voice did not escape Cavallerio, and he knew he was being over-cautious.

00:15:35Needlessly telling the crew their jobs.

00:15:38Victorix Magna was an old machine, patched, repaired and refitted a thousand times in

00:15:44her long life of battle. Her fiery heart was proud, but it was old, like his, and Cavallerio

00:15:51wondered how many more marches they would take together.

00:15:55In truth, the Victorix should still be in the care of the Legio Artificers, but since

00:15:59the attack on Adept-Maximal's reactor, Legio Tempestus could ill afford to take chances

00:16:04with the remaining reactors clustered on the slopes of the crater, or positioned along

00:16:08the canyons of the Ulysses Fossae. Without those reactors, it would become increasingly

00:16:13difficult to keep the engines of his beloved Legio operational. Whoever had struck at Maximal

00:16:19had done so with great precision, destroying the reactor that provided the most power to

00:16:24the Tempestus Fortress within Ascreus Mons. Cavallerio reclined in a contoured couch,

00:16:30his arms and skull sheathed in cables and haptic implants that burrowed beneath his

00:16:35skin like silver worms. This arrangement of a physical connection was fast becoming obsolete,

00:16:41a means of command seen as archaic by some princeps of Mars. Many were already embracing

00:16:46full body immersion in an amniotic tank that allowed information to flow like liquid through

00:16:51a virtual world, but Cavallerio much preferred an actual connection with the engine he commanded.

00:16:58He knew the gradual atrophy of his body meant that he would soon have no choice

00:17:02but to accept emplacement within such a tank, for he could not endure the pain and stress,

00:17:07both mental and physical, of too many more separations. That day was not yet here,

00:17:13and Cavallerio pushed the thought from his mind as he concentrated on the mission at hand.

00:17:19Linked with the manifold, Cavallerio saw the world around him as though the mighty structure

00:17:23of Victorix Magna were his own flesh and blood. The barren, cratered landscape of Mars stretched

00:17:29out all around him, the pale, ashen wastelands of the Palladus to the south-west, and the tumbled

00:17:35rock faces of the twin craters upon which Maximal's forge hunched like a collection

00:17:39of blistered towers. Ahead, the tumbled, haphazard sprawl of the Giga's sultry sub-hives filled the

00:17:46landscape, a wretched, sweltering collection of towers, habs, and shanties that housed the

00:17:51millions of workers who toiled in the Fabricator General's manufacturum upon the towering,

00:17:56lightning-wracked slopes of Olympus Mons. For days Kelbor Hall's domain had been wreathed

00:18:03in seething thunderheads, the slopes and forges hammered by crackling bolts of purple lightning.

00:18:09Cavallerio didn't know what manner of experimental work the Fabricator General had going on,

00:18:14but it was creating some lousy atmospherics and interfering with vox traffic for thousands

00:18:18of kilometres in all directions. Every channel was alive with scrappy blurts of code that sounded

00:18:24like a chorus of urgent voices crowded into a single frequency. Cavallerio had been forced to

00:18:30mute the volume on the vox, the chattering nonsense code giving him a splitting headache.

00:18:36Cavallerio put the Fabricator General from his mind and cast his augmented gaze far to the south.

00:18:42Where thick clouds from the refinery fields of the Daedalia Planum smothered the landscape,

00:18:47smudging the horizon in permanent crepuscular gloom. The three cobalt-blue engines in Cavallerio's

00:18:54battle group marched at a steady pace along the borders between the territory of the Fabricator

00:18:59General and that of Epluvium Maximal, striding like three great giants of legend. On Cavallerio's left

00:19:06was the stately warlord Tharsis Hastartus, commanded by his comrade-in-arms Princeps

00:19:12Suzak. Hastartus was a killing engine, and Suzak a man who could be depended upon to deliver a

00:19:18lethal strike when it was needed most. To his right, the reaver Arcadia Fortis marched with

00:19:24eager steps, pulling slightly ahead of the main group. Its Princeps, Jan Mordent, was a fiery-hearted

00:19:31hunter, a warrior recently promoted from a war-hound Princeps who hadn't yet shed his

00:19:36preference for lone-wolf operations.

00:19:39"'Close it up, Mordent,' said Cavallerio.

00:19:42"'My sensory tells me the ground here is soft, and that some of the sand has shifted over the

00:19:47chasms. I don't want to have to call out a bulk-lifter crew to lift your engine off its arse.'

00:19:52"'Understood,' came the terse reply, screeches and howls of interference scratching over Mordent's

00:19:58voice. Mordent was still getting used to the quirks of his new command, he and his engine still

00:20:03gauging the measure of the other, and his responses were typically brusque. Cavallerio only

00:20:08tolerated such behaviour because Mordent was one of his best warriors, with a kill-tally only exceeded

00:20:13by his own.

00:20:15"'Still thinks he's a war-hound driver, eh?' said Kuyper, the Magna's moderati.

00:20:20"'Indeed,' agreed Cavallerio.

00:20:22"'The Arcadia will soon cure him of that. She's a stern mistress, that's for sure.

00:20:28Any word from Bazek?'

00:20:30"'Nothing yet, my princeps,' said Kuyper, consulting the Voxlog.

00:20:34"'Sensori, do you have a fix on Vulpe's wrecks?'

00:20:37"'I think so, my princeps,' answered Pallas.

00:20:40"'But these damned Atmospherics are making it hard to keep a fix on their return,

00:20:44and our old girl's vision's not what it used to be.'

00:20:48"'That's not good enough, Pallas,' cautioned Cavallerio.

00:20:51"'Find her. Now!'

00:20:53"'Yes, my princeps,' answered Pallas.

00:20:56Cavallerio gave his Sensori a few moments before asking,

00:21:00"'Do you have her now?'

00:21:02"'She's further south,' answered Pallas, with a measure of relief,

00:21:05skulking around the edge of the Giga's sub-hives at the end of the Barium Highway.

00:21:10"'Good ambush-site,' noted Kuyper.

00:21:13"'If anything's going to come up on us, it'll be from there.'

00:21:16"'And they'll find Bazek waiting for them,' added Lacus, the steersman, with relish.

00:21:22Cavallerio nodded.

00:21:23"'Princeps Bazek commanded Vulpus Rex, the finest war-hound Titan of Legio Tempestus,

00:21:29a fleet-killer of engines far larger than its hunched feral size would suggest.'

00:21:34Pulling up the schematics of the surrounding landscape from the manifold,

00:21:38and meshing them with the topographical view afforded him through the Titan's senses,

00:21:41Cavallerio saw that Kuyper's assessment was correct.

00:21:44Only the Barium Highway was wide enough to allow an engine to pass

00:21:48without demolishing half the dwellings.

00:21:50The confused tangles of glowing outlines that depicted the edges of the sub-hives were,

00:21:55however, outdated and likely to be inaccurate,

00:21:58so it never paid to be complacent when the safety of an engine was concerned.

00:22:02So much was built or demolished that most maps of the sub-hives

00:22:06were rendered obsolete on a daily basis.

00:22:09"'Bring us about on a heading of 225,' ordered Cavallerio,

00:22:13feeling his muscles twitch as the mighty form of Victorix Magna

00:22:17swung about and began a stately march along the edge of Maximal's domain.

00:22:22"'Magus Argyre, what's our reactor status?'

00:22:26"'Assessment borderline,' said Argyre, the Titan's engine-seer,

00:22:31who stood immobile in his rear-mounted compartment behind the Princep's stairs.

00:22:36"'We should not have marched,' Princep's Cavallerio.

00:22:38"'The reactor's spirit is troubled, and it is dangerous to walk without having

00:22:42recited the full litany of calming prayers to soothe its troubled heart.'

00:22:47"'So note it, Magus,' said Cavallerio.

00:22:50"'Bring us to slow-march speed.'

00:22:53"'Slow-march speed,' repeated Argyre."

00:22:56Cavallerio monitored their surroundings through the depths of the manifold,

00:23:00drinking in data from pressure sensors, atmospheric samplers,

00:23:03infrared panels, and microwave receptors.

00:23:06His understanding of the world around him was unparalleled,

00:23:09his awareness unmatched by any other entity on the plains of Mars.

00:23:13He tried to keep his attention focused on the ground before him,

00:23:16for the landscape around Maximal's Forge was treacherous,

00:23:19but he found his attention continually drawn to the ugly,

00:23:22bruised skies above Olympus Mons.

00:23:26"'What are you up to, Kelbor Hal?' he muttered.

00:23:29"'My Princeps,' asked Kuiper.

00:23:31"'Hm? Oh, nothing.

00:23:34"'I was just wandering out loud,' replied Cavallerio.

00:23:38"'Kuiper had caught his interest in Olympus Mons,

00:23:41their communal link to the manifold allowing no secrets to exist between them.'

00:23:46"'It's the Grand Mountain, isn't it?' asked Kuiper,

00:23:49using the Titan Driver's old name for Olympus Mons.

00:23:53The Moderati of Victorix Magna twisted in the reclined couch

00:23:56at the Warlord's chin-mount to face Cavallerio.

00:24:00"'She frets about something.'

00:24:02"'The Grand Mountain,' agreed Cavallerio.

00:24:05"'She speaks with the voice of Mars, and something troubles her.

00:24:10"'My Princeps,' called Sensori Pallas.

00:24:12"'Vox Contact from Ascreus Mons.

00:24:15Princeps Sharak urgently requests to speak with you.'

00:24:18"'On the manifold,' ordered Cavallerio.

00:24:22A ghostly hash of green light swam into focus before the reclining Princeps,

00:24:26a holographic image of Princeps Sharak standing in the Chamber of the First.

00:24:30The image jittered like a jammed signal,

00:24:33the words fading in and out as though the code was somehow corrupt.

00:24:37"'What is it, Sharak?' demanded Cavallerio.

00:24:39"'We are on mission.'

00:24:41"'I know, Stormlord, but you must return to Ascreus Mons immediately.'

00:24:46"'Return? Why?'

00:24:48Sharak's answer was blotted out by a squealing blurt of code,

00:24:52like an animalistic bellow of rage,

00:24:54his image distorting as if in the grip of a rippling heat haze.

00:24:58"'Motis, they march!'

00:25:01"'What? Repeat last,' snapped Cavallerio.

00:25:04Sharak's image suddenly sharpened, and Cavallerio heard the next words

00:25:08as clearly as if his fellow Princeps had been standing before him.

00:25:12"'Legio motis,' repeated Sharak.

00:25:14"'Their engines walk, and they are heading towards Ascreus Mons!'

00:25:231.08

00:25:26Dahlia stared in fascination at Epluvian Maximal,

00:25:29wondering how much of him was mechanical and how much was human.

00:25:33From the little she could see of his body beneath the coolant robes he wore

00:25:36to preserve the integrity of the machined parts of his body,

00:25:39the answer was not much.

00:25:41There was precious little left of the Magos that spoke of their shared racial kinship.

00:25:47"'You have never seen an adept of the Mechanicum like me?' asked Maximal.

00:25:52"'No,' said Dahlia.

00:25:54"'Most of the ones I've seen still look human.

00:25:56You sound human, but you don't look it.'

00:25:59Maximal turned to adept Zeth and blurted a crackling burst of code,

00:26:04the viewscreens attached to his host of mechadendrites flashing with his amusement.

00:26:08"'Oh, I'm sorry,' said Dahlia.

00:26:11"'I didn't mean to speak out of turn. I was just curious.'

00:26:15The robed Magos turned back to her.

00:26:18"'You understand binaric code?'

00:26:21"'Without modifications.'

00:26:23"'I've picked it up,' said Dahlia, embarrassed at the scrutiny.

00:26:28Maximal nodded his oblong-helmeted head,

00:26:30the whirring lenses adjusting to better view Dahlia.

00:26:34"'You are right, Zeth. She is quite remarkable.

00:26:37Perhaps this project of yours might actually bear fruit after all.'

00:26:42Dahlia looked past the hulking form of Maximal to the wide window that looked out

00:26:46into the domed chamber where Jonas Mylos was strapped to the Theta Wave Enhancer,

00:26:51beneath the sightless eyes of the thousands of Psykers encased in the coffers of the dome.

00:26:56"'It will work. I'm sure of it,' whispered Dahlia.

00:27:00"'Let us hope so, young Dahlia,' said Maximal.

00:27:04"'A great deal depends upon it.'

00:27:07"'You have a lovely voice,' said Dahlia.

00:27:09"'It's rich, like a well-smoken man of the Romani.

00:27:13Why would you bother with a voice like that when you look like you do?'

00:27:16"'We all have our foibles, Dahlia,' explained Maximal.

00:27:20"'This voice belonged to a great singer of operatic verse,

00:27:24and the sounds remind me of all that is good in mankind.'

00:27:28Dahlia didn't know what to say to that, so returned her attention to the view beyond

00:27:32the armoured glass that was all that separated the control room from what was about to happen.

00:27:37An army of calculus loci attended to a bewildering bank of cogitators and logic engines

00:27:42that controlled aspects of the Akashic Reader she had not known about.

00:27:46Many of the symbols on the panels were unknown to her, or used words she didn't know.

00:27:51The control room was a thrumming box of tension and activity,

00:27:55the sense of something great and portentous, heavy on everyone's features.

00:27:59Even the servitors looked tense, though Dahlia told herself that it was just her imagination.

00:28:05"'When does it start?' asked Dahlia, turning to her colleagues.

00:28:09Caxton and Severine shrugged, and even Mellison had no answer.

00:28:12"'It starts now, Dahlia,' said Alep-Zeth, appearing at her side,

00:28:17and placing a bronze gauntlet on her shoulder.

00:28:20"'All of this is down to you.'

00:28:22"'Then let's just hope it works,' said Dahlia,

00:28:25looking at the distant, serene features of Jonas Mylos.

00:28:30"'Terran horizon clear,' said an automated voice.

00:28:33"'Astronomic and light readings approaching test window parameters.

00:28:37Alignment on track.'

00:28:39"'Removing pentobarbital wards from psychic foci,'

00:28:44said the toneless voice of a calculus logi.

00:28:47Increasing aperture of pineal antenna.

00:28:51Magma generators diverting power to collectors.

00:28:54"'What do all those things mean?' asked Dahlia.

00:28:57"'You remember I told you that it takes a great deal of energy

00:29:00to breach the walls separating us from the aether,' said Zeth.

00:29:04"'Yes. Well, it takes a form and amount of energy

00:29:08that cannot be generated here on Mars.'

00:29:11"'What kind of energy?'

00:29:12"'Psychic energy,' said Zeth.

00:29:15"'In quantities that can only be harvested from one source.

00:29:18The Astronomican.'

00:29:21"'The Emperor's warp beacon? The one that guides starships?'

00:29:25"'The very same,' said Zeth,

00:29:26pointing towards the metallic disk at the dome's apex,

00:29:29from which golden spears of energy were arcing.

00:29:33"'Only the Astronomican has the required psychic energy

00:29:36that would allow the Akashic reader

00:29:38to access the sum of all knowledge we seek.

00:29:41We will divert a fraction of its power into the chamber

00:29:43to empower the psychers and open the gates to the aether.'

00:29:48"'Won't it disrupt the Astronomican if we use its power?'

00:29:51asked Dahlia.

00:29:53Zeth looked over at Maximal,

00:29:55a moment's hesitation giving Dahlia the answer she sought.

00:29:58"'It will,' admitted Zeth.

00:30:00"'But only for a short span of time.'

00:30:04Dahlia stepped towards the consoles that operated the Akashic reader,

00:30:07assimilating what Zeth had just told her

00:30:09into her understanding of what was being said

00:30:12and what the words carved into the wooden panels meant.

00:30:15She had no real idea of how powerful the Astronomican was,

00:30:19but understood that even a fraction of its energy

00:30:21would be greater than anything she could imagine.

00:30:24She looked into the chamber at the waking psychers

00:30:27and knew with sudden, awful clarity

00:30:29that she had overlooked something.

00:30:32"'How are you going to divert the Astronomican's power?'

00:30:35she asked.

00:30:36"'Mars will be in alignment with Terra soon,

00:30:39and we will pass through the radiance of the psychic beacon.

00:30:42The pineal antennae will collect the energy

00:30:44and divert it to the psychers.'

00:30:47"'Is that how you've always done it?'

00:30:49asked Dahlia, urgently.

00:30:51Adept Zeth shook her head.

00:30:53"'No. This will be the first time we have passed through the Astronomican.'

00:30:58"'Oh, no!' whispered Dahlia.

00:31:00"'The calculations are wrong. They're all wrong.'

00:31:04"'Wrong? What are you talking about?' demanded Adept Maximal.

00:31:08"'The energy readings,' said Dahlia.

00:31:10"'I understand now. The different readings,

00:31:13fluctuating maximums and minimums,

00:31:15apogee and perigee.

00:31:16That's why the numbers were different.

00:31:18We assumed a baseline average,

00:31:20but that's not what we're going to get now.'

00:31:22"'Dahlia, explain yourself,' said Zeth.

00:31:25"'Talk me through your concerns.'

00:31:27"'The raw data you gave us to work with,' said Dahlia.

00:31:31"'I based the upper levels of assumed energy transference

00:31:34on the psychic strength you've used so far,

00:31:36but this time the energy levels will be hundreds,

00:31:38thousands of times greater than before.

00:31:40The really used fragments have reflected

00:31:42and refracted psychic bleed,

00:31:44scraps and trickles of psychic energy,

00:31:46but this is going to be a raging torrent.'

00:31:49Psychic Confluence in 5, 4.

00:31:52"'Adept Zeth,' said Dahlia,

00:31:54tearing her eyes from Jonas Mylas

00:31:55and spinning to face the Mistress of the Magma City.

00:31:58"'We have to stop this.

00:31:59It's going to be too much.'

00:32:01"'Don't be ridiculous,' said Zeth.

00:32:02"'We cannot stop it.'

00:32:04"'You have to,' begged Dahlia.

00:32:06"'Please.

00:32:07It's only when they go wrong

00:32:08that machines remind you how powerful they are.'

00:32:103, 2, 1.

00:32:13Continued the countdown.

00:32:15"'No!

00:32:15O throne, no!'

00:32:17cried Dahlia, turning back to the domed chamber.

00:32:21Blinding light, brighter than a million suns,

00:32:23flooded the chamber of the Akashic Reader,

00:32:25as the full might of the Astronomican

00:32:27poured its energies through the coffers

00:32:29and into the blind psykers.

00:32:31Shouts of alarm and warning klaxons

00:32:33blared almost immediately.

00:32:35And over it all,

00:32:36Dahlia could hear the agonized screaming

00:32:39of Jonas Mylas.

00:32:42The desolate uplands between the volcanoes

00:32:44of the Tharsis Montes

00:32:46were bare of structures or habitation.

00:32:49Any landscape habitually trodden

00:32:50by the god-engines of the Legios

00:32:52was crushed flat

00:32:53by the unimaginable weight

00:32:54of the Titanic war-machines.

00:32:57The only artificial creations

00:32:58were those placed there by Legio servitors

00:33:00to act as target practice.

00:33:03The land between Ascreus Mons

00:33:04and Pavonis Mons

00:33:05was rugged and inhospitable,

00:33:07an area of demarcation

00:33:09between two warrior orders

00:33:10who shared a region of Mars

00:33:12but little else.

00:33:14A few of the nomadic vassal tribes

00:33:16that plied the ashen wastelands

00:33:17between the great forges of the Adepts

00:33:19had tried to found settlements there,

00:33:21but even they were forced

00:33:22to concede that living in the shadow

00:33:24of the Titan fortresses was untenable.

00:33:28The great golden gateway

00:33:29of the Legio Tempestus Fortress

00:33:31at the end of the Ascreus Chasmata

00:33:33stood open,

00:33:34and three Titanic engines,

00:33:36resplendent in their cobalt-blue

00:33:38armour plates, marched out.

00:33:40Kill-totems and trailing honour-banners

00:33:42billowed on their weapons,

00:33:44and from enormous masts

00:33:46fitted to their carapaces.

00:33:48Metallus Sebrinia,

00:33:49the engine of Princeps Sharrak,

00:33:51led them out,

00:33:52followed by its smaller siblings,

00:33:54the warhounds Raptoria and Astrus Lux.

00:33:58All three machines were fully armed

00:34:00and ready to fight,

00:34:01their gun-servitors and autoloaders

00:34:03cycled up to battle readiness.

00:34:05A host of bestial,

00:34:07armoured Skitarii divisions

00:34:08swarmed at the base of the canyon,

00:34:11but Sharrak knew that they would be

00:34:12of little use in any engine fight

00:34:14that might develop.

00:34:16Only a fraction of the Tempestus Skitarii

00:34:18remained on Mars,

00:34:20but Iceman,

00:34:20the commander of the Martian divisions,

00:34:22had demanded the right

00:34:23to march out with the engines,

00:34:25and Sharrak wasn't about to deny

00:34:26the towering brute the chance

00:34:28to lead his augmented warriors.

00:34:30To march out with such a force

00:34:32was almost unheard of on Mars,

00:34:34but with tensions running high

00:34:35in the Tharsis region,

00:34:36Princeps Sharrak was taking no chances

00:34:38with the security of the Legio's fortress.

00:34:41With Princeps Senioris Cavallerio

00:34:43protecting the reactors

00:34:44of Epluvium Maximal,

00:34:46Sharrak was next in the chain of command,

00:34:48and the security of Ascraeus Mons

00:34:49was his responsibility.

00:34:52He just wished he had more engines

00:34:53to secure it with.

00:34:56Two warhounds and a reaver

00:34:57fresh from refit

00:34:58was no force to protect an entire base,

00:35:00not when the engines of Mortis were walking.

00:35:04Cavallerio's battle group

00:35:05was on its way back,

00:35:06but a ferocious dust storm

00:35:07had blown out of the west

00:35:08from the slopes of the Great Mountain

00:35:10to confound the Auspex,

00:35:12so, for all intents and purposes,

00:35:14Sharrak was on his own.

00:35:16Did Mortis have violence in mind?

00:35:19Sharrak didn't know,

00:35:20and just hoped this was another

00:35:21of Camulos's posturing walks

00:35:23to demonstrate his Legio's favour on Mars.

00:35:27"'Dollan,' asked Sharrak,

00:35:28"'where are they?'

00:35:30He didn't need to clarify who he meant.

00:35:33"'Getting engine returns and heat plumes

00:35:35from four or five engines by Princeps,'

00:35:38said his censori,

00:35:39feeding the information to Sharrak

00:35:40through the manifold.

00:35:42The view through the cabin windows

00:35:43was a swirling, seething mass

00:35:45of orange and brown dust particles,

00:35:47the smooth finished rock

00:35:49of the canyon sides

00:35:50barely visible in the gloom.

00:35:52Sharrak needed no visual cues

00:35:54to command the Metallus Sabrenia,

00:35:56for he was navigating and driving his engine

00:35:58via the sensorium of the manifold,

00:36:00a much more reliable source of information

00:36:02than the poor sense of his eyes.

00:36:05"'I estimate sixty kilometres out,

00:36:07closing fast,' said Dollan.

00:36:09"'Possibly four engines,

00:36:11striding speed or better.'

00:36:14"'Throne.

00:36:15They're big,' hissed Moderati Bannon.

00:36:18"'Warlords,' said Sharrak.

00:36:20"'Three of them.

00:36:21And maybe a river.'

00:36:23"'Probably,' noted Bannon.

00:36:25"'But that heat plume in the centre,

00:36:27it's too big for one engine.

00:36:29Might be another

00:36:30marching in close formation.

00:36:32They could be trying

00:36:33to hide another engine.'

00:36:35"'Dollan,' queried Sharrak.

00:36:38"'What do you make of that assessment?'

00:36:40"'Could be.

00:36:41But the void returns I'm getting

00:36:43don't look like separate tracks.

00:36:44It's hard to tell.

00:36:46The storms blowing in from the west

00:36:47are messing with every piece

00:36:48of surveyor gear I've got.'

00:36:50"'Keep on it,' ordered Sharrak,

00:36:52flaxing his fists in their sheaves

00:36:54of steel and wire.

00:36:56A rumbling thunder vibrated

00:36:57along the great pistons and cogs

00:36:59of Metallus Sobrenia's colossal frame

00:37:01as the god-machine sensed his anticipation

00:37:04through the manifold.

00:37:06Sobrenia was an old machine,

00:37:07a grand dam of the Legio,

00:37:09with an enviable honour roll.

00:37:11But she had faltered in her last battle

00:37:13and taken severe damage.

00:37:15The journey back to Mars

00:37:16for refit and repair

00:37:17had been difficult

00:37:18for both man and machine,

00:37:20and Sharrak could feel the pressure

00:37:21to perform in this engagement.

00:37:23"'Any word from Mortis?' he demanded.

00:37:26"'Any response to our hails?'

00:37:28"'Negative, my princeps,' replied Bannon.

00:37:31"'I'm just getting static.

00:37:33Could be the storm is playing

00:37:34with the vox, but I doubt it.'

00:37:37"'What about the Stormlord?

00:37:39Any word from Princeps Cavallerio?'

00:37:41"'Last transmission we had said

00:37:44they were heading back at flank speed,'

00:37:47said Bannon.

00:37:48"'Nothing since then.'

00:37:50"'Come on, Indias,' whispered Sharrak.

00:37:54"'I can't hold the Kazmata with a reaver

00:37:56and two warhounds.'

00:37:58He returned his attention

00:37:59to the manifold,

00:38:00trying to make some sense

00:38:01of the squalls and interference

00:38:02that fogged his perceptions

00:38:04of the world around his engine.

00:38:06The Martian networks had been jammed

00:38:08for days with scrappy,

00:38:09fragmentary code blurts

00:38:10that appeared to have

00:38:11no point of origin,

00:38:13and which ghosted around the system

00:38:14before vanishing

00:38:15just as inexplicably.

00:38:17"'Adept Eskund,

00:38:18reduce reactor power twelve percent,'

00:38:20ordered Sharrak.

00:38:22"'Bannon, bring us to one third.

00:38:24Hold us at the mouth of the canyon.'

00:38:26"'Yes, my princeps,' said Bannon,

00:38:28easing down on their speed.

00:38:31Sharrak opened the manifold

00:38:32to the princeps of the two warhounds,

00:38:34and said,

00:38:35"'Qasim, Ramnos.'

00:38:37Ghostly images,

00:38:38rippling and unsteady,

00:38:40formed in the air

00:38:40between Sharrak's eyes.

00:38:42"'Qasim, the swarthy-skinned predator,

00:38:45and Ramnos, the ambusher

00:38:47who killed from the shadows.

00:38:49Both warriors worked well together.

00:38:51Qasim fighting with the aggression

00:38:53of a hunter to flush prey

00:38:54towards the killing fire

00:38:55of his brother-in-arms.

00:38:57"'Princeps Sharrak,' said Qasim,

00:38:59his voice thick with the accent

00:39:01of the hives of Phoenicius Lachis.

00:39:04"'You have hunting orders?'

00:39:06"'Maybe,' said Sharrak.

00:39:07"'Spread out and run

00:39:08a criss-cross search-pattern

00:39:10out towards the last fix

00:39:11we had on Mortis.

00:39:12I want to know

00:39:13where those damned engines are.'

00:39:15"'Are we to engage?' asked Ramnos,

00:39:18and Sharrak almost laughed

00:39:19at the eagerness he heard

00:39:20in his fellow-princeps' voice.

00:39:22"'Your courage is admirable, Ramnos,

00:39:25but if Mortis are coming

00:39:26in the strength I think they are,

00:39:28a pair of warhounds won't stop them.'

00:39:31"'Then we just let them march

00:39:32on our fortress unopposed?'

00:39:34demanded Qasim.

00:39:36"'We don't know

00:39:38where they're marching yet,'

00:39:39Sharrak reminded

00:39:40his bellicose warhound-drivers.

00:39:42"'They may swing westwards

00:39:43and carry on north

00:39:45to the Olympic of Fossae

00:39:46assembly-yards,

00:39:47or they could bear east

00:39:49towards Mondus Oculum.

00:39:50We don't know.'

00:39:52"'They will rue the day

00:39:53if they cross the Tempest line,'

00:39:55snarled Ramnos.

00:39:56"'Yes, they will,' agreed Sharrak.

00:39:59"'But until they do,

00:40:00and are within our engagement zone,

00:40:02you are not to fire

00:40:03unless fired upon.'

00:40:05"'I won't have Camulos saying

00:40:07we started an engine war on Mars

00:40:09thanks to a headstrong

00:40:10Tempest driver.

00:40:11Understood!'

00:40:13Both princeps grumbled their assent,

00:40:15and Sharrak shut down

00:40:16the link between them

00:40:17as the warhounds loped off

00:40:18into the wind-whipped

00:40:19ash and dust.

00:40:22Dahlia raced from the control room,

00:40:24chased by screaming alarm bells

00:40:26and the blinding light

00:40:27of the Astronomican.

00:40:28Howling cants of binary squealed,

00:40:31and the air foamed with torrents

00:40:33of panicked data-streams.

00:40:35Tears spilled down her cheeks

00:40:36as she heard the agonised

00:40:38screaming of Jonas Mylas,

00:40:40the sound echoing

00:40:41from the front of her skull

00:40:42to the innermost reaches

00:40:43of her psyche.

00:40:45Dahlia had promised herself

00:40:46that he would be safe,

00:40:47that her work would not

00:40:48see him killed

00:40:49in the name of scientific progress.

00:40:52That promise had been

00:40:53reduced to ashes,

00:40:54and she couldn't bear

00:40:55the sound of his screams.

00:40:57She passed into the

00:40:58towering shaft-chamber

00:40:59that rose up to the magma city,

00:41:01seeing that the low archway

00:41:02in the silver wall

00:41:03was now filled with

00:41:04a great bronze gate.

00:41:06She ran towards it,

00:41:08molten light spilling

00:41:09through a circular window

00:41:10in its centre.

00:41:11No! she cried.

00:41:12No! He's dying!

00:41:15She beat her fists

00:41:16on the metal door,

00:41:17bruising the flesh of her hands

00:41:18and drawing blood

00:41:19where she clawed at the glass

00:41:20with her fingernails.

00:41:22Dahlia pressed her face

00:41:23to the window,

00:41:24straining to see anything

00:41:25through the dazzling brightness

00:41:27that filled the chamber

00:41:28and rendered what was

00:41:28happening within invisible.

00:41:31Open the door!

00:41:32screamed Dahlia.

00:41:33Open the damn door!

00:41:34We have to stop this!

00:41:37Dahlia rushed to the keypad

00:41:38at the side of the door

00:41:39and began punching

00:41:40in the code required

00:41:41to open it.

00:41:42She had not been made

00:41:43privy to the doorway's code,

00:41:45but had skimmed

00:41:46the access protocols

00:41:47from Zeth's new spheric aura.

00:41:49Further warning alarms

00:41:50shrilled,

00:41:51and a pulsating amber light

00:41:52began to strobe angrily.

00:41:55She felt a restraining hand

00:41:56on her arm

00:41:57and angrily threw it off.

00:41:59You can't go in there!

00:42:00shouted a voice at her ear.

00:42:02Caxton's.

00:42:03I have to!

00:42:04she wailed.

00:42:04He's dying!

00:42:06O throne, we're killing him!

00:42:08It's not your fault!

00:42:10said Caxton,

00:42:11drawing her arms back

00:42:12from the door

00:42:12before she could punch

00:42:13in the final sequence of digits

00:42:15and turning her away

00:42:16from the light

00:42:16streaming through the window.

00:42:18It's not your fault!

00:42:19It is!

00:42:20It is!

00:42:21sobbed Dahlia,

00:42:22burying her face

00:42:23in Caxton's shoulder

00:42:24and holding him tightly,

00:42:26as if the force of her grip

00:42:27could somehow end the horror.

00:42:29We need to get in there!

00:42:31You can't!

00:42:32said Caxton.

00:42:33Not yet!

00:42:34You're not soulbound!

00:42:35I don't care!

00:42:36I need to get in there!

00:42:38No!

00:42:39The psychic energy will kill you

00:42:40if you go through that door.

00:42:42Like it's killing them!

00:42:43said Dahlia.

00:42:44I've got to!

00:42:46She pushed Caxton away

00:42:47and entered the last digits

00:42:48of the access sequence.

00:42:50Like a rolling surge tide,

00:42:52the light boiled out

00:42:53from the chamber

00:42:54of the Akashic Reader

00:42:55and Dahlia plunged

00:42:56into the roaring blizzard

00:42:58of psychic power.

00:42:59Princeps Kassim felt

00:43:00the savage glee of Raptoria

00:43:02as he pushed her to flank speed.

00:43:04Like him,

00:43:05Raptoria was glad

00:43:06to be walking beneath the sky,

00:43:08unfettered and armed for war.

00:43:10The between times

00:43:11when she languished

00:43:12in oily ship-holds,

00:43:14restrained by scaffolds

00:43:15and manacled to the deck,

00:43:17had been a cage

00:43:18for her war-like heart,

00:43:19a cell for an angry killer

00:43:21that had denied her

00:43:22sublime skills as a hunter.

00:43:25This was her first walk

00:43:26since she had been

00:43:27This was her first walk

00:43:29since returning to Mars

00:43:30for repairs,

00:43:31and Kassim felt the urge

00:43:32to kill in every piston,

00:43:34gear and metal joint

00:43:35of his mount.

00:43:36He looked down

00:43:37at the golden skull

00:43:38and cog medallion

00:43:39that hung around his neck

00:43:40and wished that he could

00:43:41reach up and touch it for luck,

00:43:43but his hands were encased

00:43:44in wire-wound haptic sheaths.

00:43:47Princeps Cavallerio,

00:43:48the Storm Lord himself,

00:43:50had presented Kassim

00:43:51with the medallion,

00:43:52honouring him in front

00:43:53of the Legio as they boarded

00:43:54the ships for Mars

00:43:55after the brutal,

00:43:56hard-fought campaign

00:43:58of the Epsiloid binary cluster.

00:44:01Six engines had been lost

00:44:02and many wounded,

00:44:03including the already

00:44:04battle-scarred Victorix Magna,

00:44:06the towering war machine

00:44:07of the Storm Lord.

00:44:10Cavallerio had brought

00:44:11the badly wounded engines

00:44:12of the Legio back to Mars,

00:44:14leaving the bulk of Tempestus

00:44:15under the command

00:44:16of Princeps Maximus Carania.

00:44:19Months of labour

00:44:20by the Legio artisans

00:44:21had seen the damaged engines

00:44:22repaired and brought back

00:44:24to their former glory.

00:44:26With the refit works

00:44:27virtually complete,

00:44:28the Legio was ready

00:44:29to transfer back

00:44:30to the expedition fleet,

00:44:31to once more extend

00:44:32the rightful domain

00:44:33of the Imperium.

00:44:35Kassim eagerly awaited

00:44:36the Legio's return

00:44:37to the forefront

00:44:38of the fighting,

00:44:39for Mars had changed

00:44:40in the years since Tempestus

00:44:41had led its war machines

00:44:42across its umber plains.

00:44:45No longer was Mars

00:44:46united in the dream

00:44:48of the Great Crusade.

00:44:49The clan forges and magi

00:44:51had fallen to petty squabbling

00:44:53and spiteful acts of violence,

00:44:55dragging the Red Planet

00:44:56into an age of suspicion

00:44:57and mistrust.

00:44:59Even the warrior orders

00:45:00had changed,

00:45:01forming factions

00:45:02and isolated bands

00:45:03of martial strength

00:45:04to protect what resources

00:45:06they controlled.

00:45:08Mortis had been no exception,

00:45:10extending their control

00:45:11through the guise of protection

00:45:12to many of the smaller forges

00:45:14and more easily pressured

00:45:15warrior orders.

00:45:17No, the sooner Tempestus

00:45:19could get back

00:45:19to the real work

00:45:20of the galaxy, the better.

00:45:22Where are they?

00:45:23he hissed,

00:45:24bringing his war-hound about

00:45:25and angling his course

00:45:27to intersect with that

00:45:28of Astrus Lux.

00:45:30The view from his canopy

00:45:31was mostly obscured

00:45:32by the billowing ash-storm,

00:45:33the thick, armored glass

00:45:35streaked with a dusty residue

00:45:36that was the bane

00:45:37of cogs and gears.

00:45:39Twenty kilometers,

00:45:40my princeps,

00:45:41said Moderati Vorich.

00:45:43Signal returns

00:45:44growing in strength,

00:45:45but they keep fading in and out,

00:45:47as if there's some kind

00:45:48of interference pushing out

00:45:49just ahead of them.

00:45:50Keep a steady,

00:45:52warned Cassim,

00:45:53and keep a close eye

00:45:54on the censoria.

00:45:55They'll probably have

00:45:56war-hound pickets as well.

00:45:58Yes, my princeps.

00:45:59Cassim felt the power

00:46:01beneath him,

00:46:02the fiery heart of Raptoria,

00:46:04straining at his commands

00:46:05and anxious for the hunt

00:46:06proper to begin.

00:46:08Soon, he whispered.

00:46:11Cassim was relying

00:46:12on hard implants,

00:46:13and the myriad

00:46:14severe apparatus

00:46:15fed information to him

00:46:16via the MIU,

00:46:18data flowing directly

00:46:19into his cerebral cortex

00:46:21as streams of neurons.

00:46:23So far,

00:46:24Raptoria was running

00:46:25only passive scans,

00:46:26the better to hide

00:46:27her presence in the storm.

00:46:29An active scan of the area

00:46:30would reveal more

00:46:31of their surroundings,

00:46:32but would as good as

00:46:33announce their presence

00:46:34to any undiscovered hunters.

00:46:38In such conditions,

00:46:39a war-hound lived

00:46:40and killed by its stealth,

00:46:42as strange as the concept

00:46:43of such a huge machine

00:46:44being stealthy might appear,

00:46:46and Cassim trusted

00:46:47his instincts

00:46:48to keep Raptoria safe.

00:46:51The interference plaguing

00:46:52the Sensoria was troubling,

00:46:54and he could feel

00:46:54Raptoria's unease

00:46:56in the skittishness

00:46:56of her controls.

00:46:58All his other senses

00:47:00were undimmed.

00:47:01He could feel the nearness

00:47:02of Princeps Lamnos's engine,

00:47:04the bite of the dust

00:47:05on Raptoria's hull,

00:47:06and taste the oily,

00:47:08ashen flavour of the wind

00:47:09as it howled around him.

00:47:12Somewhere out in the dust

00:47:14was the enemy,

00:47:15even if they hadn't been

00:47:16classified as such yet,

00:47:17but Cassim couldn't see them

00:47:19or know how close they were.

00:47:21Such situations were

00:47:22a Titan driver's worst nightmare.

00:47:25That your enemy could be

00:47:26plotting a firing solution

00:47:28without you even knowing

00:47:29he was there.

00:47:31Cassim knew it was only

00:47:32a matter of time

00:47:33before Mortis and Tempestus

00:47:34drew blood.

00:47:37The words exchanged

00:47:38between the Storm Lord

00:47:39and Camulus of the Council of Tharsis

00:47:41had as good as guaranteed it.

00:47:43Cassim's warrior instinct

00:47:45was to strike the first blow,

00:47:46but he would not disobey

00:47:47a direct order

00:47:48from Princeps Sharak.

00:47:51My Princeps,

00:47:52called Vorich,

00:47:53as the ground suddenly shook

00:47:54with a thunderous reverberation.

00:47:56Hard returns,

00:47:57dead ahead,

00:47:58reactor blooms

00:47:59and void signatures.

00:48:01Where in the name of the machine

00:48:03did they come from?

00:48:04demanded Cassim.

00:48:05Identify.

00:48:06Unknown contact,

00:48:07but it's too big to be a warhound.

00:48:10The vibration of the ground

00:48:11had already told him

00:48:12that this was no warhound.

00:48:14Too big for a reaver.

00:48:16A warlord?

00:48:17responded Cassim.

00:48:18His excitement and fear

00:48:20manifesting in the warhound's posture

00:48:22as it crouched

00:48:23close to the ground.

00:48:24No, my Princeps,

00:48:26said Vorich,

00:48:26staring in horror

00:48:27at the sight emerging

00:48:28from the howling dust clouds.

00:48:31Cassim felt the chill

00:48:32of its shadow envelop him,

00:48:34and his skin flushed

00:48:36as he saw the enormous engine

00:48:37stride towards them.

00:48:39It's every step

00:48:40rocking the very earth

00:48:41with its monstrous tread.

00:48:43A towering fortress

00:48:44of brazen red metal

00:48:46with black and silver etchings

00:48:47molded on the great bastion towers

00:48:49of its legs.

00:48:50The enormous engine

00:48:52dwarfed the warhound

00:48:53as a grown man

00:48:54would dwarf a babe in arms.

00:48:57Arcing battlements

00:48:58crowned its immensity.

00:49:00The colossal,

00:49:00mountainous fortress engine

00:49:02unlike anything

00:49:03Cassim had seen before.

00:49:05He had heard the rumors

00:49:06and looked over the technical specs

00:49:07and blueprints of similar machines,

00:49:09but nothing had prepared him

00:49:10for the awesome spectacle

00:49:12of so gargantuan

00:49:13a war machine in the flesh.

00:49:16Weapons capable of obliterating cities

00:49:18depended from its wide shoulders,

00:49:20and its head was a grinning,

00:49:21horned skull of burnished silver.

00:49:24Imperator, said Cassim.

00:49:29Princeps Cavallerio

00:49:30scoured the manifold

00:49:31for information,

00:49:32reading nothing

00:49:33through the barking,

00:49:34squealing hash of scrap code

00:49:36fouling the airwaves.

00:49:38He could get nothing

00:49:38from Princeps Sharac

00:49:40and feared the worst.

00:49:42Mortis was on the march,

00:49:43and Cavallerio wondered

00:49:44if Princeps Camulos

00:49:46was about to make good his threat

00:49:48of a coming storm.

00:49:50His battle group

00:49:51was marching at flank speed

00:49:52towards their fortress,

00:49:54and he could feel

00:49:54the ancient heart

00:49:55of Victorix Magna

00:49:56protest at the demands

00:49:58placed upon it.

00:49:59His own heart

00:50:00beat in time

00:50:01with the great machine,

00:50:02and he felt a growing numbness

00:50:04spreading through his limbs.

00:50:06Cavallerio fought

00:50:07against the sensation,

00:50:08willing both his mortal frame

00:50:10and the immortal might

00:50:11of his engine

00:50:12to keep going.

00:50:14Do you really think

00:50:15Mortis is about to attack

00:50:16Ascreus Mons?

00:50:18asked Moderati Kuyper.

00:50:20I don't know,

00:50:21confessed Cavallerio,

00:50:22their words spoken

00:50:23through the link

00:50:24of the manifold.

00:50:25I believe Camulos

00:50:26wants to drive

00:50:27Arligio from Tharsis,

00:50:29but this seems bold

00:50:30even for him.

00:50:32Then perhaps

00:50:33this is the first strike

00:50:34in a larger war,

00:50:36suggested Kuyper.

00:50:37Cavallerio kept

00:50:38his thoughts close,

00:50:40remembering what

00:50:40Camulos had said

00:50:41at the Council of Tharsis.

00:50:44Sides were being chosen,

00:50:45and battle lines

00:50:46drawn all across Mars,

00:50:48and while Cavallerio

00:50:49couldn't bring himself

00:50:49to believe that the Titan orders

00:50:51were about to go to war,

00:50:52this maneuver of Mortis

00:50:54seemed deliberately calculated

00:50:56to rouse the ire of Tempestus.

00:50:59Well,

00:51:00Indius Cavallerio

00:51:01was not about to rise

00:51:02to the bait of this provocation.

00:51:05I don't think

00:51:05they will attack,

00:51:06he said.

00:51:07I think they want us

00:51:09to attack them,

00:51:10to fire the first shot

00:51:12so as to justify

00:51:13their retaliation.

00:51:14Our warriors will only fire

00:51:16if they're fired on first,

00:51:18said Kuyper.

00:51:20Cavallerio thought

00:51:21of the engine commanders

00:51:22at Ascrius Mons,

00:51:24Sharak,

00:51:24Lamnos,

00:51:25and Kassim.

00:51:26Sharak could be trusted

00:51:27to understand the situation,

00:51:29but Lamnos

00:51:30and Kassim?

00:51:32Their hearts were fiery

00:51:33and warlike,

00:51:34as was expected

00:51:35of warhound drivers,

00:51:36but where heart and mind

00:51:38were in balance

00:51:38in more experienced warriors,

00:51:40Cavallerio feared

00:51:41what impulsive decisions

00:51:42they might make

00:51:44in the heat of the moment.

00:51:46Get me Sharak's battle group,

00:51:47he said.

00:51:48I need to make sure

00:51:49they know not to fire first.

00:51:51Understood, Storm Lord,

00:51:52said Kuyper,

00:51:53returning his attention

00:51:54to breaking through

00:51:55the interference.

00:51:56Cavallerio opened

00:51:57the manifold link

00:51:58to Magos Argaia.

00:52:00How long till we reach the Mons?

00:52:02Update.

00:52:03At flank speed,

00:52:04we will be within

00:52:05visual range of Ascrius Mons

00:52:07in 17.4 minutes.

00:52:10However,

00:52:10the reactor is running

00:52:1127% in excess

00:52:13of what I believe

00:52:14it can safely handle

00:52:15at this time.

00:52:16Increase reactor output,

00:52:18ordered Cavallerio.

00:52:19I want us there

00:52:20in less than 10.

00:52:22Warning,

00:52:23to increase reactor output

00:52:24beyond the current rate of...

00:52:26I don't want to hear

00:52:27any excuses,

00:52:29snapped Cavallerio.

00:52:30Just make it happen!

00:52:33The Imperator Titan

00:52:34had not come alone.

00:52:36Two warlords and a reaver

00:52:38marched alongside it,

00:52:39like the hangers-on

00:52:40of a Skolem bully.

00:52:42Cassim could see

00:52:42no sign of a warhound picket

00:52:44or skitarii escort,

00:52:46but with engines

00:52:47as large as this,

00:52:48what need had they

00:52:49of any skirmish screen?

00:52:51The ground shook

00:52:52and cracked at its passing,

00:52:54and Cassim could only

00:52:55watch in mute awe

00:52:56as the mightiest war machine

00:52:57he had ever seen

00:52:58swept past him

00:52:59like an uprooted hive

00:53:01on mountainous legs.

00:53:03What do we do?

00:53:05breathed Moderati Vorich.

00:53:07What indeed?

00:53:08To fight such a monster

00:53:09was suicide.

00:53:10But its path

00:53:12would see it cross

00:53:12the Tempest line

00:53:13in a little over nine minutes,

00:53:15and then

00:53:16they would have to fight it.

00:53:18They would be as ants

00:53:19against a bullgrox,

00:53:21but even ants

00:53:21could bring down

00:53:22a larger beast

00:53:23with enough numbers.

00:53:25As his now active

00:53:26surveyors gathered

00:53:28what information they could

00:53:29on the might of the Imperator,

00:53:30Cassim knew that

00:53:31Tempestus had not the guns

00:53:33to defeat such a

00:53:34terrifying opponent.

00:53:36We follow it,

00:53:37said Cassim,

00:53:38and we wait.

00:53:40Wait for what?

00:53:41asked Vorich.

00:53:42Cassim looked down

00:53:43at his medallion,

00:53:44again,

00:53:45wishing he could touch it.

00:53:47To see if this is

00:53:48the day we die,

00:53:49he said.

00:53:52Dahlia screamed

00:53:53as the howling gale

00:53:54of psychic energy

00:53:55enveloped her,

00:53:56feeling it tear at her

00:53:57like a malicious hurricane.

00:53:59She heard screaming voices

00:54:00that clawed at the

00:54:01inner surfaces of her skull,

00:54:03and whispers she could

00:54:04not possibly be hearing,

00:54:05but which sounded as clear

00:54:07as though she heard them

00:54:08lying on her bed

00:54:09in the middle of the night.

00:54:11White light filled

00:54:12the chamber,

00:54:13the walls blurring

00:54:14in a rippling haze

00:54:15thrown off by the

00:54:16roaring column of silver

00:54:17that flared from

00:54:18the dome's apex

00:54:19and speared down

00:54:20towards Jonas Mylas

00:54:21upon his throne.

00:54:23She heard the metallic

00:54:24ring of the doorway

00:54:25closing behind her,

00:54:26and spared a brief

00:54:27thought for Caxton

00:54:28and the others.

00:54:30Her robes billowed

00:54:31in the grip of powerful

00:54:32etheric winds,

00:54:33her skin raw

00:54:34and scoured by

00:54:35invisible energies

00:54:36that passed through

00:54:37her skin to the

00:54:38Marrow and beyond.

00:54:39Billowing ghosts of light

00:54:41swarmed the chamber,

00:54:42fleeting, unnatural forms

00:54:44that defied description

00:54:45and which lingered

00:54:46uncomfortably in the

00:54:47darkest reaches

00:54:48of her imagination.

00:54:50Clouds of feelings

00:54:51filled the chamber,

00:54:52thunderheads of anger,

00:54:54zephyrs of regret,

00:54:55hailstorms of longing,

00:54:57hurricanes of love

00:54:58and betrayal.

00:55:00Emotions and meaning

00:55:01surrounded her,

00:55:02though how such concepts

00:55:04could be given physical,

00:55:05visible form

00:55:06was a mystery to her.

00:55:08Dahlia,

00:55:08Dahlia took a step

00:55:09into the chamber,

00:55:10feeling her will erode

00:55:12in the face of the

00:55:13primal energies

00:55:13that surrounded her

00:55:14and infused her

00:55:15at the same time.

00:55:17Jonas, she yelled,

00:55:19the words fleeing her

00:55:21mouth in a gush of red.

00:55:23At first she feared

00:55:24it was blood,

00:55:25but the colour in the air

00:55:26vanished almost as soon

00:55:27as it had appeared.

00:55:29The noise filling the

00:55:30chamber was incredible,

00:55:31like the death scream

00:55:32of an entire race

00:55:33or the birth pangs

00:55:35of another.

00:55:36All emotion and

00:55:37knowledge was here,

00:55:39and Dahlia realised

00:55:40that this was the aether,

00:55:42this was the realm

00:55:43beyond the one

00:55:43her senses could

00:55:44consciously perceive,

00:55:46this was the source

00:55:47of all knowledge

00:55:48and the source

00:55:49of the greatest

00:55:50danger imaginable.

00:55:52This was what she had

00:55:53allowed Jonas Mylas

00:55:54to be exposed to.

00:55:56The thought galvanised

00:55:57her steps,

00:55:58and she forced her way

00:55:59through the maelstrom

00:56:00of light and colour,

00:56:01feeling the energies

00:56:02unleashed by the psykers

00:56:04in the coffered ceiling

00:56:05bleed off

00:56:06as they began to die.

00:56:08She could feel

00:56:08their lives ending,

00:56:10dissipating into

00:56:11the cacophony

00:56:11of light and noise.

00:56:13She wept with

00:56:14sympathetic pain,

00:56:15feeling each death

00:56:16as a splinter

00:56:17of needle-sharp

00:56:18agony in her mind.

00:56:21Dahlia shielded her

00:56:22eyes as she drew

00:56:23closer to the dais,

00:56:24seeing Jonas Mylas

00:56:25convulsing upon the throne,

00:56:27illuminated by the

00:56:27blinding light

00:56:28of the Astronomican.

00:56:30His head jerked

00:56:31spasmodically

00:56:32from side to side,

00:56:33his mouth a blur

00:56:34of motion as he

00:56:35screamed and yammered

00:56:37streams of words

00:56:38too fast to be understood.

00:56:40She pushed her way

00:56:41up the steps

00:56:42towards him,

00:56:42dropping to her knees

00:56:43to better fight

00:56:44against the gales

00:56:45of energy

00:56:45and howling ghosts

00:56:47that swarmed the dais.

00:56:49Jonas!

00:56:50she called,

00:56:50reaching out to him.

00:56:52She couldn't reach him,

00:56:53and crawled

00:56:54inch by inch

00:56:55towards him.

00:56:56His screaming

00:56:57was undimmed,

00:56:58the words flooding

00:56:58from him so fast

00:57:00in an ululating

00:57:01howl of pain.

00:57:03Fire blazed in his eyes,

00:57:05crackling with

00:57:06an ancient power,

00:57:07the power of

00:57:08something far greater

00:57:08than anything

00:57:09mankind had ever known.

00:57:11At last,

00:57:12Dahlia reached

00:57:13the top of the dais

00:57:13and saw that

00:57:14the storm of psychic

00:57:15energy swirled

00:57:16around the throne,

00:57:17yet never touched it,

00:57:19as though some

00:57:19invisible,

00:57:20antithetical barrier

00:57:21was holding it back.

00:57:23The throne shone

00:57:24as though illuminated

00:57:25from within by some

00:57:26vast,

00:57:27elementally powerful

00:57:28force.

00:57:30Though she and

00:57:30her compatriots

00:57:31had struggled

00:57:32so hard to create it,

00:57:33she now wished

00:57:34they had failed

00:57:35utterly.

00:57:36She wished

00:57:36to be rid of her gift

00:57:37and the consequences

00:57:38of what it had done.

00:57:40Even as she

00:57:41formed the thought,

00:57:42her limbs jerked,

00:57:43and she rose

00:57:44to her feet

00:57:44in the manner

00:57:45of a marionette

00:57:46lifted by its puppeteer.

00:57:48Dahlia cried out

00:57:49as her limbs

00:57:50obeyed the unknown

00:57:51imperatives

00:57:52manipulating her body,

00:57:53and she stared

00:57:54into the face

00:57:55of Jonas Mylas.

00:57:58The fire that

00:57:59burned in his eyes

00:58:00spilled outwards

00:58:01to engulf

00:58:02his entire body,

00:58:03pouring over him

00:58:04like blazing mercury.

00:58:06Her screams

00:58:06matched his,

00:58:07and the restraints

00:58:08that had bound him

00:58:09to the throne

00:58:10fell away,

00:58:11unmade by the

00:58:11silver fire

00:58:12that crawled over

00:58:13his flesh

00:58:14like a living thing.

00:58:16The empath

00:58:17rose from his throne,

00:58:18a living being

00:58:19of illuminated silver

00:58:20with the light

00:58:21of unknown suns

00:58:22burning in his eyes.

00:58:24Dahlia could not

00:58:25meet his gaze,

00:58:26fearful that the power

00:58:27there would consume her

00:58:28were she to stare

00:58:29into it for too long.

00:58:31Beneath the inner

00:58:32luminescence

00:58:33that filled his body,

00:58:34she could see his

00:58:35flesh disintegrating

00:58:36like ice

00:58:36before a flame.

00:58:39I have seen it,

00:58:41he hissed,

00:58:42his voice

00:58:42sounding as though

00:58:43echoing from

00:58:44somewhere

00:58:44impossibly distant

00:58:45and deep.

00:58:46All knowledge.

00:58:49Oh, Jonas,

00:58:50I'm sorry.

00:58:52Sorry?

00:58:53No, Dahlia,

00:58:54I won't have your pity,

00:58:56said Jonas,

00:58:57fire writhing

00:58:58in his mouth

00:58:59as he spoke,

00:59:00his voice

00:59:01growing fainter

00:59:01with every word.

00:59:03I have seen the truth

00:59:05and I am free.

00:59:07I know it all,

00:59:09the emperor

00:59:10slaying the dragon

00:59:11of Mars,

00:59:13the grand lie

00:59:14of the red planet

00:59:15and the truth

00:59:16that will shake

00:59:17the galaxy,

00:59:19all forgotten

00:59:20by man in the darkness

00:59:21of the labyrinth

00:59:22of night.

00:59:24Jonas Milos

00:59:25stepped towards Dahlia

00:59:26and the psychic winds

00:59:27were pushed away from her

00:59:28as though by his

00:59:29very presence.

00:59:31As he drew closer to her,

00:59:32Dahlia heard the whine

00:59:33of great machinery

00:59:34powering down

00:59:35and the thump

00:59:36of closing relays

00:59:37as power to the Akashic reader

00:59:39was finally shut off.

00:59:41The light of the Astronomican

00:59:43still filled the chamber

00:59:45and the winds of psychic energy

00:59:46still roared

00:59:47and seethed at its edges,

00:59:50but their power

00:59:50was diminishing.

00:59:52The mundane features

00:59:53of the space

00:59:54began returning,

00:59:55the marble floor,

00:59:56the sensation of mass

00:59:57and solidity,

00:59:59the heat of the air

01:00:00and the smell

01:00:01of burned flesh.

01:00:03Quickly,

01:00:04look at me, Dahlia,

01:00:05said Jonas

01:00:06with desperate urgency.

01:00:08Look at me

01:00:09and know your destiny.

01:00:12She forced her head up

01:00:13and stared into the face

01:00:14of Jonas Milos

01:00:15as the light in his eyes

01:00:16was extinguished

01:00:17and the last of his human flesh

01:00:19faded away to oblivion.

01:00:22The connection lasted

01:00:23the briefest fraction

01:00:24of a second,

01:00:25but that was enough.

01:00:27Dahlia screamed

01:00:28until she had no more breath

01:00:30and took refuge

01:00:31from horrors

01:00:32that should never be borne

01:00:33by mortal brains

01:00:34in the black sleep

01:00:35of unconsciousness.

01:00:38Princep Sharak

01:00:39followed the inbound tracks

01:00:41on the manifold.

01:00:42The Imperator Titan

01:00:43was closing fast,

01:00:45surface scans

01:00:45of its identity markers

01:00:47revealing its name

01:00:47to be Aquila Ignis,

01:00:49an engine constructed

01:00:50in the Dahlia forgeyards

01:00:52far to the south of Tharsis.

01:00:55Its princeps,

01:00:56if such a vast machine

01:00:57could be commanded

01:00:58by just one man,

01:00:59was making no effort

01:01:00to conceal its power

01:01:01and Sharak fed the flow of data

01:01:03being collected

01:01:03on the terrible engine

01:01:05into the gunbox recorders

01:01:06of his war machine.

01:01:08If the time ever came

01:01:09when they had to fight this engine,

01:01:11it would pay to be prepared.

01:01:14With the unmasking

01:01:15of the Imperator,

01:01:16the howling binary interference

01:01:18had lifted,

01:01:19the storms that had whipped

01:01:20the dust into the air

01:01:21with such force dissipating

01:01:23as though they had never existed.

01:01:25The vox crackled

01:01:26as the engines of Tempestus

01:01:28restored communications,

01:01:30each one filling the air

01:01:31with excited chatter

01:01:33at the incredible sight

01:01:34marching towards Ascreus Mons.

01:01:37Raptoria and Astrus Lux

01:01:39shadowed the Imperator,

01:01:40keeping a safe distance from it

01:01:42and its escorting warlords.

01:01:44Do you have firing solutions

01:01:46to that engine?

01:01:47asked Sharak.

01:01:48Yes, my princeps,

01:01:50said Bannon hesitantly,

01:01:51but if we open fire

01:01:53it'll vaporize us in an instant.

01:01:55We can't fight something that big.

01:01:58The Imperator blotted out

01:01:59everything around it,

01:02:00a walking mountain

01:02:01that impossibly moved closer

01:02:02with thunderous footsteps.

01:02:04Sharak wished the rest

01:02:06of his legio were here

01:02:07alongside him.

01:02:08To be standing directly

01:02:10in the path of such

01:02:11a titanic creation,

01:02:12a fearsome miracle

01:02:13of construction and innovation,

01:02:15was a prospect no man

01:02:17should have to face alone.

01:02:19Raptoria and Astrus Lux

01:02:20would fight alongside him,

01:02:22and the Skitarii weapons platforms

01:02:23would add their weight of fire,

01:02:25but they would be

01:02:26of little real use

01:02:28when the mighty engines

01:02:29started shooting.

01:02:31For all intents and purposes,

01:02:33Sharak was alone,

01:02:34his greatest fear

01:02:35as a princeps.

01:02:37With princeps Cavallerios

01:02:39battle-grouped,

01:02:39they would at least have

01:02:40a chance of wounding the beast,

01:02:42and might even vest it,

01:02:44but without them.

01:02:46Time to the Tempest line,

01:02:48asked Sharak,

01:02:49sweating profusely

01:02:50despite the cool air

01:02:51in the Carapace cockpit.

01:02:53Three minutes, my princeps,

01:02:54said Dolan.

01:02:56Come on, turn away, damn you.

01:02:59Turn, hissed Bannon,

01:03:01and Sharak echoed his sentiment

01:03:02as the seconds ticked by

01:03:04with the inexorably slow

01:03:05slide of thick engine oil.

01:03:08Then the manifold crackled,

01:03:09and the blessed voice

01:03:10of the Storm-Lord

01:03:11came over the vox.

01:03:13Engines of the Legio Mortis,

01:03:15said princeps Cavallerio,

01:03:16his voice stentorian

01:03:18and unequivocal.

01:03:20You are on course

01:03:21to cross the Tempest line,

01:03:22whereupon you will be in breach

01:03:24of the Tharsis Non-Aggression Pact,

01:03:26as signed by princeps Acheron

01:03:28of Legio Mortis

01:03:29and princeps Bacca

01:03:31of Legio Tempestus

01:03:32at the First Council of Cydonia.

01:03:34Turn back now,

01:03:35or you may be fired upon.

01:03:38Sharak watched the manifold

01:03:39as Cavallerio's engines

01:03:41marched up through

01:03:41the western pallidus,

01:03:43billowing clouds of dust

01:03:44swirling in their wakes.

01:03:47To have reached

01:03:47Ascreus Mons in such time

01:03:49must have torn the hearts

01:03:50from their reactors,

01:03:52but they were here,

01:03:53and that was what mattered.

01:03:55Engines of Legio Mortis

01:03:57respond immediately,

01:03:58demanded Cavallerio,

01:04:00and Sharak could hear the strain

01:04:01in the Storm Lord's voice.

01:04:03He checked the manifold,

01:04:04getting elevated biometric

01:04:06and reactor readings

01:04:07from the Victorix Magna.

01:04:09The thunderous form

01:04:10of the Imperator did not slow,

01:04:12and Sharak saw that it was moments

01:04:14from crossing the Tempest line,

01:04:15whereupon it would be

01:04:16in the territory of Legio Tempestus.

01:04:19His mouth was dry,

01:04:20and he took a sip

01:04:21from the hydration straw at his cheek.

01:04:24Legio Mortis, respond!

01:04:27demanded Cavallerio,

01:04:28and Sharak's heart swelled with pride

01:04:30as the stately form

01:04:31of Victorix Magna marched

01:04:32to stand alongside Metallus Sebrinia,

01:04:35firm in the path

01:04:36of the colossal Imperator.

01:04:38Fifteen seconds to the Tempest line!

01:04:40warned Moderati Bannon.

01:04:43Tharsis Hastatus,

01:04:45Arcadia Fortis,

01:04:46and Vulpus Rex

01:04:47took position alongside

01:04:49Cavallerio's engine,

01:04:50and the entire strength

01:04:51of Legio Tempestus on Mars

01:04:53stood before the mightiest war engines

01:04:55of Legio Mortis.

01:04:57This is your final warning, Mortis!

01:05:00bellowed Cavallerio.

01:05:02Dreadful terror settled

01:05:03in Sharak's gut,

01:05:04as Moderati Bannon said,

01:05:07Tempest line breached, my princeps!

01:05:14Systemae Mechanicum

01:05:252.01

01:05:34The Tempest line had been breached.

01:05:36The sovereign territory

01:05:37of one of the most honourable Legios of Mars

01:05:40had been violated.

01:05:41Armed engines had blatantly marched

01:05:43from their fortress

01:05:44and come with warlike intent to another.

01:05:48Despite the evidence before him,

01:05:50Princeps Cavallerio

01:05:51could still not accept

01:05:52that Mortis wanted to exchange fire.

01:05:55Why would they risk such a thing?

01:05:57Supporting Horus Lupercal

01:05:59and engaging in provocation

01:06:00was one thing,

01:06:01but daring another Legio

01:06:02to fire upon your engines

01:06:04made no sense

01:06:05unless there was a darker,

01:06:07more far-reaching scheme at work.

01:06:10If battle were joined here,

01:06:11little would survive,

01:06:13and even with the Imperator,

01:06:15Mortis would not walk away unscathed.

01:06:18Cavallerio had always suspected

01:06:20that Camulos was a man

01:06:21unsuited for command,

01:06:22and this confrontation

01:06:24seemed only to confirm his suspicions.

01:06:27It was madness,

01:06:28and Cavallerio did not want

01:06:29to be sucked into that madness.

01:06:32The factions of the Mechanicum

01:06:33might make war on one another,

01:06:35but the Titan Legions

01:06:36were supposed to be above such things,

01:06:38to hold the ideals

01:06:40of a united Mars and Terra

01:06:41above all things,

01:06:43even their own differences.

01:06:45My Princeps, said Moderati Kuiper.

01:06:48The Tempest line.

01:06:50I know, said Cavallerio.

01:06:52Should we open fire?

01:06:54You have a solution?

01:06:56At this range we don't need one,

01:06:58Kuiper assured him.

01:06:59That monster so large we won't miss.

01:07:02Cavallerio nodded,

01:07:04sweat streaming from his brow,

01:07:06and his mouth dry.

01:07:08His heart was beating

01:07:09in brutal syncopation

01:07:10with the fiery heart

01:07:11of Victorix Magna,

01:07:12the straining power of a supernova

01:07:14at the engine's core,

01:07:15burning hotter and faster

01:07:17than it was ever designed to.

01:07:20He could hear Magos Argaia's

01:07:21desperate supplications

01:07:22to the reactor's spirit

01:07:24and felt the anguish

01:07:25of the mighty engine

01:07:26and the numbness spreading

01:07:27through his limbs.

01:07:29The image of the Imperator

01:07:30filled his senses,

01:07:31both through the viewscreen

01:07:32and through the manifold.

01:07:35Data scrawled like liquid light

01:07:36through his mind,

01:07:38and he drank in the colossal feats

01:07:39of engineering

01:07:40that had gone into its construction

01:07:42and the utter lethality

01:07:43of its existence.

01:07:45Its limbs were death incarnate,

01:07:47the grinning skull face,

01:07:49an abominable harbinger

01:07:50of destruction.

01:07:52The bristling weapon towers

01:07:53and bastions

01:07:54were a martial city fortress,

01:07:56carried on the back

01:07:57of an ancient god,

01:07:58though this burden

01:07:59was borne willingly

01:08:00and not as a punishment.

01:08:03To fight such a thing

01:08:04would be the greatest achievement

01:08:05of any Princeps,

01:08:06but it would probably

01:08:07also be his last.

01:08:10The monster took another step,

01:08:11taking with it any chance

01:08:13that this crossing

01:08:13of the Tempest line

01:08:14was accidental.

01:08:17''Princeps Sherek

01:08:18requests instructions,''

01:08:19called Ad Khyper.

01:08:22''Arcadia Fortis

01:08:23requests permission to fire.''

01:08:26''Vulpus Rex and Ustrus Lux

01:08:28moving into flank fire positions,''

01:08:30noted Pallas.

01:08:32''Tell them to hold positions,

01:08:33damn them!''

01:08:34shouted Cavallerio,

01:08:36his pulse racing

01:08:37like the roaring discharge

01:08:38of a Gatling cannon.

01:08:40''No one opens fire

01:08:41unless I give the order.

01:08:42Make sure that last part

01:08:44is especially clear, Khyper.''

01:08:46''Yes, my Princeps.''

01:08:48Cavallerio had the sensation

01:08:49of events sliding

01:08:50beyond his control,

01:08:52and he fought for breath

01:08:53as the fire

01:08:54from his loyal engine's heart

01:08:56poured through

01:08:56the virtual marrow of his body

01:08:58like blood from a ruptured artery.

01:09:01His vision blurred,

01:09:02the edges of the manifold

01:09:04swimming like a badly-tuned picture.

01:09:06Victorix Magna was hurting,

01:09:08hurting badly,

01:09:10and Cavallerio knew

01:09:11he had to end

01:09:12this ugly confrontation soon.

01:09:14But how to do that

01:09:15without beginning a firefight

01:09:17that would destroy them all?

01:09:21Raptoria strained at the edges

01:09:23of Princeps Kassim's control,

01:09:25a feral, bestial thing

01:09:27that demanded blood

01:09:28and poured violent thoughts

01:09:29into his consciousness.

01:09:31Its murderous heart

01:09:32had tasted the enemy's presence

01:09:34and felt the heat

01:09:34of its metal skin.

01:09:36It wanted to kill.

01:09:39Kassim looked down

01:09:40at the gold cog-medallion

01:09:41he wore,

01:09:42and focused his mind

01:09:43on the discipline

01:09:43encoded into his thoughts

01:09:45by the Legio Magi

01:09:46before beginning this walk.

01:09:48Clogged data

01:09:49from previous engagements

01:09:50were washed from the peripherals

01:09:52grafted to the frontal lobes

01:09:53of each crewman's brain

01:09:55to ensure each engagement

01:09:56was begun without the mental baggage

01:09:58of the last.

01:09:59But the hungry taste of battle

01:10:00was impossible to wash away completely.

01:10:04No engine ever really forgot

01:10:06the hot, metallic flavour of war.

01:10:10Kassim could feel

01:10:11his steersman's efforts

01:10:12to keep the aggression

01:10:13from Raptoria's movements,

01:10:14and could hear the engine's hunger

01:10:16for battle

01:10:17in the thudding,

01:10:18roaring drumbeat

01:10:19of her reactor.

01:10:21Raptoria wanted to fight,

01:10:23and, damn it,

01:10:24so did he.

01:10:26Princep's Cavalerio

01:10:27was holding his fire,

01:10:29and so too must they,

01:10:30but it was galling

01:10:31to see the engines of Mortis

01:10:33so brazenly insulting

01:10:34the honour of Tempestus.

01:10:36To allow this act of defiance

01:10:38to go unpunished

01:10:39was a bitter pill to swallow,

01:10:41and he could already feel

01:10:42Raptoria's ire

01:10:43building within his skull

01:10:44with the malicious promise

01:10:46of future pain to come.

01:10:48Power up weapons,

01:10:50he ordered in an effort

01:10:51to assuage the engine's bloodlust.

01:10:53Disengage safeties,

01:10:54and surrender all firing authorities

01:10:56to me.

01:10:58By assuming all firing authorities,

01:11:00he was making sure

01:11:01that the feral heart of Raptoria

01:11:02didn't overwhelm

01:11:03the low-grade brain-coding

01:11:05of the emplaced gun-servitors

01:11:06and open fire herself.

01:11:09Kassim didn't want his engine

01:11:10to act without his control,

01:11:12but if a shooting war started,

01:11:14he was going to be ready

01:11:16to prosecute it

01:11:16to the best of his ability.

01:11:19Why isn't the Storm Lord

01:11:20opening fire?

01:11:21wondered Moderati Vorich.

01:11:24Are you in a hurry to die?

01:11:25asked Kassim.

01:11:26Because that's what will happen

01:11:28if we let this get out of hand.

01:11:30Despite his rebuke,

01:11:31Kassim was wondering

01:11:32the same thing.

01:11:34Mortis had clearly

01:11:35breached the Tempest line,

01:11:36and Cavalleria was quite

01:11:38within his rights to fire.

01:11:39As much as his heart

01:11:40was spoiling for a fight,

01:11:42Kassim knew that the odds

01:11:43against victory were high.

01:11:45Staring into the manifold,

01:11:47Kassim saw the heroic form

01:11:48of the Victorix Magna

01:11:50standing firm before the monstrous,

01:11:52towering might of the Imperator.

01:11:54Beside her stood Arcadia Fortis

01:11:56and Metallus Sobrenia,

01:11:58all three engines dwarfed

01:11:59by the enemy engine.

01:12:01What are you planning, Storm Lord?

01:12:04whispered Kassim.

01:12:06The Imperator loomed

01:12:07on the manifold,

01:12:08a glowering god of war

01:12:09that could destroy them all.

01:12:12A few more steps

01:12:13and it would be right

01:12:14on top of them.

01:12:17In the cabin cockpit

01:12:18of Metallus Sobrenia,

01:12:20Princeps Sharak was wondering

01:12:21the same thing as Kassim.

01:12:23Moderati Bannon counted

01:12:25the ever-increasing distance

01:12:26Aquila Ignis was striding

01:12:28into the territory

01:12:29of Legio Tempestus.

01:12:31Increasing the angle of his view

01:12:32through the manifold,

01:12:34Sharak saw Victorix Magna

01:12:35standing proud beside him,

01:12:37venting hot exhaust gases

01:12:39and sweating lubricant

01:12:40from its overflows.

01:12:42Even without the spiking

01:12:43data readings,

01:12:44he could tell

01:12:44that the venerable engine

01:12:45was suffering.

01:12:47Come on, Indias, he whispered.

01:12:49Hold her together

01:12:51a little longer.

01:12:53It transferred his view outwards,

01:12:54seeing the agile,

01:12:56snapping forms of Volpus Rex,

01:12:58Asteris Lux and Raptoria

01:13:00darting around the edges

01:13:01and rear of the approaching Imperator

01:13:03like packwolves hunting a stag.

01:13:06Ever bellicose,

01:13:07their weapons were powered

01:13:08and ready to fire.

01:13:10The ground shook

01:13:11and Sharak could feel the tremor

01:13:13through every joint

01:13:14of his engine's structure.

01:13:16Inertial dampers

01:13:17could compensate

01:13:17for most fluctuations

01:13:19in a Titan's

01:13:19surrounding environment,

01:13:21but the mighty tread

01:13:22of such a colossal enemy

01:13:23was beyond its power

01:13:24to completely dissipate.

01:13:27He looked down

01:13:27at the faraway ground,

01:13:29feeling a stab of pity

01:13:30for the massed ranks of Scutari

01:13:32gathered around

01:13:32his engine's splayed feet.

01:13:35To face a beast

01:13:36like the Imperator

01:13:36from a warlord's cockpit

01:13:38was a terrifying enough prospect,

01:13:40but to stand naked before it

01:13:42without the protection

01:13:42of voids and armor,

01:13:45that was courage indeed.

01:13:48Range to target,

01:13:49asked Sharak,

01:13:50fighting to keep his tone even.

01:13:53The question was unnecessary.

01:13:55He could already see

01:13:56that the Imperator

01:13:56was less than 300 meters away

01:13:58through the manifold,

01:13:59point-blank range

01:14:00by any normal measure of things,

01:14:02but insanely close

01:14:04in this situation.

01:14:05He could already hear

01:14:06the squeal and rasp of the voids

01:14:08as their fields

01:14:09warbled with the proximity.

01:14:12Two hundred and fifty meters,

01:14:13my princeps, said Bannon.

01:14:16He spared a glance to his left.

01:14:19Victorix Magnus stood

01:14:20implacable and immovable

01:14:22before the marching Imperator,

01:14:24and Sharak loved the Storm Lord

01:14:25for his resolve

01:14:26as much as he was frustrated

01:14:28by his inaction.

01:14:29The tension

01:14:30within the cockpit compartment

01:14:31of Metallus Sobrenia

01:14:33was unbearable.

01:14:35Then a harsh, deafening squall

01:14:37trilled across the vox frequencies,

01:14:39a filthy blurt of continuous,

01:14:41corrupted code noise

01:14:43that sounded like throaty laughter.

01:14:45Sharak flinched

01:14:46and his sensory screamed

01:14:48as the wailing shriek

01:14:49tore at their hearing.

01:14:51What in the name of the Omnisire

01:14:52is that?

01:14:53yelled Bannon,

01:14:54snatching the vox set from his head.

01:14:57Sharak killed the audio

01:14:58as the cackling laughter code

01:15:00burbled over the vox

01:15:01and the booming warhorns

01:15:02of the Mortis engines

01:15:04echoed from the towering cliffs

01:15:05of Ascraeus Mons.

01:15:08The Imperator lowered its weapon arms.

01:15:10Every horn, bell and augmenter

01:15:12upon its colossal spires

01:15:14and bastions blaring in disdain.

01:15:17The noise was unimaginably loud,

01:15:20broadcast across

01:15:21every audible wavefront

01:15:22and code frequency.

01:15:24Debased and dirty code lines

01:15:27conveyed vile algorithms

01:15:28that Sharak felt

01:15:29worming their way

01:15:30into his peripherals

01:15:31like viral code

01:15:33and his aegis protocols

01:15:34fought to prevent them

01:15:35from reaching the deep subsystems

01:15:37of Metallus Sobrenia.

01:15:39Princeps! shouted Bannon.

01:15:41Enemy course change detected!

01:15:44Sharak gasped,

01:15:45his mind a whirl

01:15:46as his implants

01:15:47defended his neural paths

01:15:48from infection

01:15:49by the scrappy code fragments

01:15:51carried on the war scream

01:15:52of the Imperator.

01:15:53He forced his mind

01:15:54through the clotted data packets

01:15:56of black, oozing information

01:15:58that blurred his vision

01:15:59and saw that Bannon was right.

01:16:02The Imperator was changing course,

01:16:03its stride swinging to the east.

01:16:06Like a great ocean liner

01:16:08travelling at speed,

01:16:09the course of such a vast machine

01:16:10did not change swiftly

01:16:12and its new heading

01:16:13would barely carry it

01:16:14past the southeastern skirts

01:16:15of Ascraeus Mons.

01:16:17Dolan! Intercept plot!

01:16:20hissed Sharak,

01:16:21the beginnings of a blistering headache

01:16:22building behind his eyes.

01:16:24Where's it going?

01:16:26His sensory didn't answer

01:16:27and Sharak twisted his head

01:16:29to see Dolan lying supine

01:16:30on his reclined couch.

01:16:32The man's eyes

01:16:33rolled back into his skull

01:16:35and foaming spittle

01:16:36gathered at the corners

01:16:37of his mouth.

01:16:39Sharak meshed his senses

01:16:40briefly with Dolan's station,

01:16:42feeling the hash of viral code

01:16:43replicating like a plague

01:16:44within his I.O. ports,

01:16:46ready to spill out

01:16:47into the guts of the war engine.

01:16:49With a thought,

01:16:50Sharak cut the link

01:16:51between Dolan's interfaces

01:16:53and the rest of the Titan,

01:16:54but even as he did so,

01:16:55he could feel the scrap code

01:16:57trying to find another way in.

01:16:59Moderati Bannon!

01:17:00shouted Sharak.

01:17:01Disengage sensory Dolan

01:17:03from his station, now!

01:17:06Bannon looked over at Dolan,

01:17:07who was convulsing

01:17:08as his corrupted

01:17:09cybernetic enhancements

01:17:10began fitting with the power

01:17:11of a grand mal seizure.

01:17:14Bannon disengaged his hard plugs

01:17:16as quickly as he dared

01:17:17and lurched across

01:17:18to the sensory station,

01:17:19unsteady on his feet

01:17:20after so brutal a separation

01:17:22from the M.I.U.

01:17:24Sharak turned his attention

01:17:25from the compromised sensory officer

01:17:27and followed his own track

01:17:29on the enemy engines.

01:17:30An overlaid map

01:17:31of the Tharsis Montez

01:17:33swam into view,

01:17:34grainy and washed

01:17:35with fragments of faulty code.

01:17:37A red line extended

01:17:38from their current position,

01:17:40swinging around to the northeast

01:17:42and extending towards

01:17:43the port facilities

01:17:43of Tharsis Tholus,

01:17:45the primary embarkation point

01:17:46of Astarte's supplies

01:17:48from the fabricator locum's

01:17:49mondus oculum forge.

01:17:51Sharak dismissed the map

01:17:52as the shriek of voids

01:17:54filled the cockpit

01:17:54with a warbling,

01:17:55squealing howl of feedback.

01:17:58Like a million nails

01:17:59down a blackboard,

01:18:00titanic energies

01:18:01pushed against one another,

01:18:02scraping their invisible power together

01:18:04and sending flaring,

01:18:06whooping coils

01:18:06of colourful lightning discharge

01:18:08into the air.

01:18:10Sensory disconnected,

01:18:11called Bannon,

01:18:12and Sharak looked round

01:18:13to see Dolan jerking

01:18:14and twitching on the deck,

01:18:16lubricant and jellied brain matter

01:18:18leaking from his cranial plugs.

01:18:20Good work, Bannon,

01:18:21said Sharak.

01:18:22Leave him and get back on station.

01:18:25Sharak returned his attention

01:18:27to the manifold,

01:18:28watching in ashamed relief

01:18:30as the might of the Imperator

01:18:31swung yet further away

01:18:33and the spine-shearing sound

01:18:34of void interference abated.

01:18:36All Tempestus engines,

01:18:38he said,

01:18:39forcing a channel

01:18:39through the howling static

01:18:41that still laced the airwaves.

01:18:43Ease weapons!

01:18:44I repeat,

01:18:45ease weapons!

01:18:46Mortis are turning away!

01:18:47Acknowledge!

01:18:49One by one,

01:18:50the affirmations

01:18:50of the Tempestus engines

01:18:52appeared on the manifold,

01:18:53and Sharak let out

01:18:54a shuddering breath

01:18:55as he realised how close

01:18:56they had come to igniting

01:18:58a shooting war

01:18:58on the surface of Mars.

01:19:01The Imperator's escort

01:19:03of warlords moved with it,

01:19:04and the war machines

01:19:05of Legio Mortis

01:19:06began tramping away,

01:19:08each step carrying them

01:19:09further from the domain

01:19:10of Tempestus.

01:19:12Mortis were leaving,

01:19:13but Sharak wanted to be sure

01:19:15they weren't about to turn back

01:19:16for another provocative pass.

01:19:18Raptoria!

01:19:20Vulpus Rex!

01:19:21Follow Mortis and make sure

01:19:22they keep on their way,

01:19:24he ordered,

01:19:25wondering why the Storm Lord

01:19:26was not issuing the order himself.

01:19:28Keep a safe distance back,

01:19:30but make sure they go!

01:19:32The two warhounds

01:19:33set off without bothering

01:19:35to acknowledge his order,

01:19:36and Sharak slumped deeper

01:19:37into the moulded leather

01:19:38of his reclined seat.

01:19:40Sweat coated his brow,

01:19:42and his hair was soaked.

01:19:44He closed his eyes for a second,

01:19:46shutting out the data noise

01:19:47of the manifold,

01:19:48and letting the human part

01:19:49of his mind process

01:19:50the near calamitous events

01:19:51of the past few minutes.

01:19:54Had it really been so short

01:19:55an engagement?

01:19:57He opened his eyes

01:19:58as the nagging static

01:19:59of the vox remained unbroken

01:20:01by orders,

01:20:02information requests,

01:20:03or any form of leadership

01:20:04from Victorix Magna.

01:20:07Sharak looked over

01:20:08to the Storm Lord's engine,

01:20:09a terrible sense of dread

01:20:10building in his gut,

01:20:12as he saw that Victorix Magna

01:20:13remained as she had

01:20:15since taking up station

01:20:16before the Imperator.

01:20:18That dread built

01:20:19as he saw fluid drooling

01:20:20in a black rain from her torso,

01:20:23and that the hissing plumes

01:20:24of superheated steam

01:20:25that ought to gust like breath

01:20:27from exhaust vents

01:20:28beneath her shoulder carapace,

01:20:30had ceased.

01:20:31The engine's head was bowed,

01:20:33her limbs slack

01:20:35against her sides.

01:20:37Victorix Magna

01:20:38called Sharak

01:20:39over the manifold,

01:20:40his fear rendering

01:20:41his communication

01:20:42sharper than he intended.

01:20:45Princeps Cavallerio,

01:20:46please acknowledge.

01:20:48There was no response.

01:20:49Storm Lord,

01:20:51please respond immediately.

01:20:53A shift of view

01:20:54in the manifold,

01:20:55and Sharak's head

01:20:56sank to his chest

01:20:57as he inloaded

01:20:58the Allspec's readings

01:20:59of the Storm Lord's

01:21:00mighty engine.

01:21:02Victorix Magna

01:21:03was dead.

01:21:06Thousands of kilometres

01:21:08to the south

01:21:08of the confrontation

01:21:09between Mortis and Tempestus,

01:21:11deep in the desolate,

01:21:12empty wilderness

01:21:13of the southern Palladus,

01:21:15wind-borne ash

01:21:16blew across the cratered wastelands

01:21:18at the edge

01:21:18of the Daedalia Planum.

01:21:21Even further south,

01:21:22the horizon burned

01:21:23with colourful fire,

01:21:25the skies striated

01:21:26with chemical pollutants

01:21:27and reeking gases,

01:21:28expelled from

01:21:29the massive refineries

01:21:30that encircled

01:21:31the planet's equator.

01:21:33Only the hardiest scavengers

01:21:35attempted to eke out

01:21:36a living in this region of Mars,

01:21:37the spoil pickings

01:21:38usually too thin

01:21:39and too laden with toxins

01:21:41to be of any real use.

01:21:43One such scavenger

01:21:44was a man named Quinox,

01:21:46a wizened prospector

01:21:47and former skitari,

01:21:49whose body had rejected

01:21:50the gross implants

01:21:51necessary for full assimilation

01:21:53into the ranks

01:21:54of the Mechanicum's soldiery.

01:21:56Quinox scoured the deserts

01:21:58and hard pan

01:21:58at the Daedalia Planum

01:22:00in a ramshackle cargo-five

01:22:02bog hauler

01:22:03that pulled a tender

01:22:04filled with scrap metal,

01:22:05held together by faith,

01:22:06hope,

01:22:07and fervent devotions

01:22:08to the Machine God.

01:22:10Its plates were caked with rust

01:22:12and its tracks

01:22:13streaked with corrosion

01:22:14from prolonged exposure

01:22:15to the hostile environment.

01:22:18Acrid fumes

01:22:19belched from the exhaust

01:22:20of his crawler

01:22:21and the interior

01:22:21of his pressurised cabin

01:22:23smelled of sweat,

01:22:24recycled nutrient paste

01:22:26and excitement.

01:22:28A cracked and filmy

01:22:29auspex panel

01:22:30hung from the roof of the cabin,

01:22:31pinging with a hard return

01:22:32of solid material.

01:22:35Quinox hadn't seen a signal

01:22:36this strong in decades

01:22:38and knew that this find

01:22:39could be the making of him.

01:22:41Whatever it was,

01:22:42it was big,

01:22:42and his head darted

01:22:44from side to side,

01:22:45peering through the crazed glass

01:22:46of his cabin

01:22:47as he searched

01:22:48for any other scavengers

01:22:49that might have picked up

01:22:50this juicy find.

01:22:52Not that he could see much

01:22:53through the whipping scads

01:22:54of dust and ash

01:22:55that swirled around the crawler.

01:22:58His vehicle

01:22:58dipped into a gentle slope

01:23:00that gradually widened out

01:23:02into a shallow crater.

01:23:03The ground under the tracks

01:23:05was soft, irradiated sand,

01:23:07carried there

01:23:08by the freak atmospherics

01:23:09that blew from the monstrous

01:23:10refineries of Black Iron

01:23:12in the south.

01:23:14The pings of the auspex

01:23:15grew more urgent

01:23:16and he saw that he was

01:23:17practically right on top

01:23:18of his find,

01:23:20though he couldn't make out

01:23:20much beyond the dirty glass.

01:23:23Unhooking the auspex

01:23:24from the roof,

01:23:25Quinox hefted a simple

01:23:26bolt-action lascarbine

01:23:28from the back of his cab

01:23:29and checked the load.

01:23:31There wasn't much left in it,

01:23:33but enough to deal

01:23:33with any feral servitors

01:23:35that might be lurking

01:23:36out in the wasteland.

01:23:38Looking at his useless augmetics,

01:23:40Quinox felt a certain sympathy

01:23:41with the poor,

01:23:42wretched servitors,

01:23:44but not so much that he wouldn't

01:23:45put a bolt through their skulls

01:23:46if they tried to get

01:23:47between him and his find.

01:23:49Next he lifted his pack

01:23:51and slid his arms

01:23:52through the straps

01:23:52before wrapping his

01:23:53re-breather hood

01:23:54tightly around his head.

01:23:57Quinox then opened the cab

01:23:58to the elements,

01:23:59wincing at the force

01:24:00of the gale

01:24:01that plucked at his robes

01:24:02and threatened to slam

01:24:03the door back in his face.

01:24:05Getting too old for this life,

01:24:07he thought,

01:24:08as he climbed down the ladder

01:24:09and stepped onto the sand.

01:24:12He followed the strident chimes

01:24:13of the auspex

01:24:14towards a large dune field

01:24:15ahead of him,

01:24:16trying to make out

01:24:17what it was reading.

01:24:18He couldn't see anything valuable,

01:24:20but as he drew closer

01:24:21he saw that the nearest dune

01:24:23was a damn sight taller

01:24:24and more regular in shape

01:24:25than the others.

01:24:27Consulting the auspex,

01:24:28Quinox was pretty sure

01:24:30that whatever he was picking up

01:24:31was beneath the dune.

01:24:33Perhaps a flyer had crashed,

01:24:34or an ore tanker

01:24:35had been forced to ditch

01:24:36and then been covered

01:24:37by the sands

01:24:38before its crew

01:24:39could send out

01:24:39a distress signal.

01:24:41Whichever it was,

01:24:43it marked the end

01:24:43of a lean patch

01:24:44for Quinox Fortran.

01:24:47He slid the auspex

01:24:48into a zipped pocket

01:24:50in his robes

01:24:51and slung his rifle

01:24:52as he approached the dune,

01:24:53clambering up on all fours

01:24:55as the sand spilled away

01:24:56beneath him.

01:24:58Climbing the dune

01:24:58was hard work

01:24:59and he sweated profusely

01:25:01in the dry heat.

01:25:02Quinox reached the top

01:25:03of the dune

01:25:04and began clearing away

01:25:05the sand with a collapsible

01:25:06shovel from his pack.

01:25:09With quick,

01:25:10economical strokes,

01:25:11he dug down into the sand,

01:25:13widening and deepening

01:25:14the hole as he went.

01:25:16Pausing only to take

01:25:17regular sips of brackish water

01:25:19from his hide canteen,

01:25:21Quinox gradually cleared

01:25:22the top of the dune.

01:25:24The wind attempted

01:25:25to thwart his labours,

01:25:26blowing fresh sand

01:25:28and ash back into the hole,

01:25:30but after an hour of digging,

01:25:31his shovel struck metal

01:25:33and he gave a grunt of pleasure.

01:25:35Right,

01:25:36let's see what you are then,

01:25:38he said,

01:25:38dropping the shovel

01:25:39and sweeping his gloved hands

01:25:40over the find.

01:25:42It was metal, sure enough,

01:25:44fresh and untainted

01:25:45by corrosion or rust.

01:25:48The surface patina

01:25:49was blackened,

01:25:50as though it had been scorched

01:25:52by intense heat,

01:25:53but as he scraped the edge

01:25:54of his shovel across it,

01:25:56he could see that the damage

01:25:57was only superficial.

01:25:59He cleared more sand away,

01:26:00guessing that the main body

01:26:01of whatever lay beneath him

01:26:03was roughly spherical

01:26:04from the curve of the exposed metal.

01:26:06More shovelfuls were scooped

01:26:08from the ground,

01:26:09and Quinox frowned

01:26:10as he saw the outline

01:26:12of what looked like

01:26:12some kind of battle robot emerge.

01:26:15Three blisters of metal

01:26:17faced him,

01:26:18like sensor domes,

01:26:20but devoid of life.

01:26:22Now,

01:26:23what in the name of the Omnisire

01:26:24will you be doing out here?

01:26:27The Auspex chimed,

01:26:29loud,

01:26:30a strong signal.

01:26:32Puzzled,

01:26:33Quinox dug the device

01:26:34from his robes

01:26:35and looked around him

01:26:36for the source.

01:26:38He could hear the roar of engines

01:26:39above the howl of the wind,

01:26:40but couldn't pinpoint its source.

01:26:43Quickly,

01:26:43he swept up his rifle,

01:26:45ready to defend his find,

01:26:47but there was nothing to see.

01:26:50A harsh beam of light

01:26:51stabbed from the sky above him,

01:26:52and Quinox shielded his eyes

01:26:54as the roaring engine noise

01:26:56leapt in volume.

01:26:58The downdraft

01:26:58of a flyer's powerful jets

01:27:00blew up a storm of smoke and dust.

01:27:03He couldn't see anything

01:27:04through the whipping ash,

01:27:05but kept his rifle

01:27:06pulled hard into his shoulder.

01:27:08The pitch of the engines

01:27:10changed from a howl to a whine

01:27:12as the craft descended,

01:27:13and moments later,

01:27:14the stab light was replaced

01:27:15with the diffuse glow

01:27:17of landing lights.

01:27:19As the dust settled,

01:27:20Quinox looked up

01:27:21and saw a group of people

01:27:23marching towards him

01:27:24from the belly of a heavy lifter,

01:27:25an aircraft capable

01:27:26of transporting enormous items

01:27:28of machinery in its hold.

01:27:31The dust blurred

01:27:32the newcomers' forms,

01:27:33but whoever they were,

01:27:35they weren't getting a piece

01:27:36of this motherload.

01:27:37This is mine, he shouted,

01:27:40jerking the barrel of his rifle

01:27:41towards the dune.

01:27:42I found it,

01:27:43and you ain't gonna take it off me.

01:27:45I got salvage rights.

01:27:48The figures stepped into view,

01:27:49and Quinox's heart sank

01:27:51as he saw a host

01:27:52of brutal-looking,

01:27:53body-armoured skitarii,

01:27:55led by a robed adept

01:27:56of the Mechanicum.

01:27:58The adept was swathed

01:27:59in thick red robes,

01:28:00and augmented with a multitude

01:28:02of glowing green sabonetics

01:28:04on snaking manipulators.

01:28:05He wore an iron mask

01:28:07with glowing red eyes,

01:28:08and a huge mechanised device

01:28:10hunched at his shoulders.

01:28:12Actually, you don't,

01:28:14said the adept,

01:28:15one of his green-lit manip arms,

01:28:17aiming at the machine

01:28:18beneath the sand.

01:28:20That machine belongs to me.

01:28:23And who the hell are you?

01:28:25I am Master Adept Lucas Crom.

01:28:29Never heard of you,

01:28:30said Quinox.

01:28:32The light at the end

01:28:32of Crom's manip arm flashed,

01:28:34and he said,

01:28:35Come.

01:28:37I am here to take you back

01:28:38to Mondus Gamma.

01:28:41I ain't going nowhere with you,

01:28:43snapped Quinox.

01:28:44I was not talking to you,

01:28:46said Crom.

01:28:47I was talking to the Caban machine.

01:28:50The sand beneath Quinox trembled,

01:28:53and he looked down in alarm

01:28:54as the sensor blisters

01:28:55he had uncovered

01:28:56lit up with a yellow glow.

01:28:59A tremble of power

01:29:00vibrated through the machine

01:29:01as its dormant power cells

01:29:03came back online

01:29:04and returned it to life.

01:29:06It lurched forward,

01:29:08and Quinox lost his balance,

01:29:09sliding end over end

01:29:11down the shifting sand

01:29:12and losing his grip on his rifle.

01:29:15He fell to the ground

01:29:16and rolled onto his back

01:29:17as the awakened machine

01:29:19emerged from its concealment.

01:29:22Nearly ten metres tall,

01:29:23its mass was roughly spherical,

01:29:25with two heavily weaponised arms

01:29:27attached on opposite sides.

01:29:29Behind high pauldrons

01:29:31to protect its sensor apparatus,

01:29:33a number of metallic arms

01:29:34extended from its shoulders,

01:29:36like massively thick mechadendrites

01:29:38equipped with a variety

01:29:39of lethal-looking weapons.

01:29:41The machine sat immobile

01:29:43for a few moments

01:29:44before draining its weapons

01:29:45on his bulk hauler.

01:29:47�No!� chatted Quinox,

01:29:49rising to his feet

01:29:50and scrambling towards the adept.

01:29:52His cry of protest

01:29:53was drowned out

01:29:53in a blaze of gunfire

01:29:55as sheeting hails of light

01:29:56blasted from the cabin machine�s weapons.

01:30:00Quinox�s vehicle exploded

01:30:02in a smoky orange fireball,

01:30:04the overpressure of the blast

01:30:05swatting him to the ground.

01:30:08He gasped acrid toxin-laden air

01:30:10and realised that the explosion

01:30:12had torn the breathing apparatus

01:30:13from his face.

01:30:15He scrambled for his rebreather hood,

01:30:17but couldn�t find it,

01:30:18feeling airborne poisons

01:30:20eating away the blood vessels

01:30:21of his lungs with every breath.

01:30:23He rolled on to his side,

01:30:24coughing up thick wads

01:30:26of phlegmy mucus

01:30:27as he felt a heavy rumbling

01:30:28through the ground.

01:30:30The machine was moving

01:30:31and more of the sand fell away.

01:30:34Quinox saw its body

01:30:35was mounted on a heavy-gauge

01:30:36track unit that threshed sand

01:30:38before it gained traction

01:30:40and rumbled forward.

01:30:42Quinox scrabbled pitifully

01:30:43at the ashen ground

01:30:44as it rolled towards him.

01:30:46�Please, no!� he screamed,

01:30:49the words gurgling

01:30:51as blood poured from his mouth.

01:30:53Its sensor blisters glittering

01:30:55with cold mechanical purpose,

01:30:56the Kaban machine ignored his pleas

01:30:59and ground Quinox

01:31:00into the Martian soil

01:31:02beneath its bulk.

01:31:05Beneath the towering peak

01:31:06of Olympus Mons,

01:31:07the Fabricator General watched

01:31:09as a parade of augmented

01:31:10Praetorian battle-servitors

01:31:12marched from the labyrinth

01:31:13of Moravec.

01:31:15They moved by a variety

01:31:16of means of locomotion,

01:31:18some on tracks,

01:31:19some on clicking mechanical legs,

01:31:21others on thick rubberised wheels,

01:31:24while some retained the use

01:31:25of their human legs.

01:31:27They filled the great engine hangars

01:31:29beneath the mountain,

01:31:30thousands of newly enhanced warriors

01:31:32ready to fight for Horus Lupercal.

01:31:35The power revealed within

01:31:36the vaults of Moravec

01:31:38was like nothing

01:31:39Kelbor Hal had ever known,

01:31:41the joyous tumult of it

01:31:42filling his bloodstream

01:31:43with vigour and insight

01:31:45beyond that of beings composed

01:31:47merely of flesh.

01:31:49Kelbor Hal felt a surge of raw,

01:31:51unfettered aggressive power

01:31:53through his crackling energy fields

01:31:55as he watched the assembling army.

01:31:58This was a time of great moment,

01:32:00though only he and Regulus

01:32:02were here to witness it.

01:32:03That would soon change

01:32:05when the dreadful war engines

01:32:06of the Mechanicum were unleashed,

01:32:08these weapons of the dark Mechanicum.

01:32:12The weaponised servitors were huge,

01:32:14muscular, and sheathed in layered armour

01:32:17that was blackened like scorched flesh,

01:32:20their spines hunched over

01:32:21and threaded with barbed spikes.

01:32:24Those without mouths

01:32:25burbled scrap code

01:32:26from integral augmentors,

01:32:28a glorious hymnal

01:32:29to the newest power on Mars.

01:32:31Others, with etched bronze fright masks,

01:32:34spilled nonsense from bloodied lips

01:32:36that twisted and leered

01:32:37with brutal anticipation.

01:32:39Beside Kelbor Hal,

01:32:41Regulus watched the procession with glee,

01:32:43his electrical field warping

01:32:45and twisting with pleasure

01:32:46as each of the newly transformed

01:32:48servitor warriors emerged

01:32:50and took position

01:32:51within the great hangar.

01:32:53These are magnificent,

01:32:54Fabricator General,

01:32:56said Regulus in admiration.

01:32:58The power of the warp

01:32:59and the power of the Mechanicum

01:33:01alloyed together in glorious fusion.

01:33:04Kelbor Hal accepted the compliment,

01:33:06knowing that Lucas Crom

01:33:08had done the bulk of the work,

01:33:09but unwilling to admit the fact.

01:33:12He had simply combined

01:33:13Crom's advances in artificial sentience

01:33:16with the power contained

01:33:17within the vaults of Moravec

01:33:18to produce something wondrous.

01:33:21These servitors are just the beginning,

01:33:24said Kelbor Hal.

01:33:25We begin work on the Skitarii next.

01:33:28The scrap code has worked its way

01:33:30through the entire floodstream network

01:33:31of Olympus Mons

01:33:33and is already spreading beyond Tharsis.

01:33:36Virtually every port

01:33:37and connective point on Mars

01:33:39was linked somewhere,

01:33:40and the glorious code of the warp

01:33:42was scurrying along every conduit,

01:33:44wire, fibre optic, wireless feed,

01:33:47and haptic implant.

01:33:48Soon it would reach every forge and adept,

01:33:51and those touched

01:33:52by its transformative power

01:33:54would be born anew.

01:33:56I can feel forges as far away

01:33:58as Sinus Abeus already scratching

01:34:01with elements of transformed code,

01:34:03confirmed Regulus.

01:34:05Soon the aegis protocols

01:34:07of the other forges

01:34:08will be broken down

01:34:09to allow the scrap code

01:34:11into their inner workings.

01:34:14Then they will be ours,

01:34:16hissed Kelbor Hal.

01:34:18There will be resistance,

01:34:20replied Regulus.

01:34:21Not all the forges are as vulnerable

01:34:23to the scrap code.

01:34:24The magma city's links

01:34:26have proved to be resistant,

01:34:28as are those of Epluvium Maximal

01:34:30and Fabricator Locum Cain.

01:34:33Kelbor Hal nodded.

01:34:35That is only to be expected.

01:34:37Adept Zeth is pioneering

01:34:38a newly developed form

01:34:40of noospheric data transfer.

01:34:42Her forge and those of her allies

01:34:44have been modified

01:34:45to utilise it over more

01:34:47traditional forms of communication.

01:34:49Noospheric?

01:34:51I am not familiar with the term.

01:34:53No matter, said Kelbor Hal.

01:34:56It will be ours soon enough.

01:34:58I have dispatched Ambassador Melgator

01:35:00to the magma city

01:35:02to sequester her data

01:35:03and determine her loyalties.

01:35:06I already know her loyalties,

01:35:07Fabricator General.

01:35:09She is an enemy of the Warmaster.

01:35:12Given what had happened

01:35:14after the opening

01:35:14of the vaults of Moravec,

01:35:16it was hard to fault Regulus's logic.

01:35:19When the skies above Olympus Mons

01:35:21had raged and buckled

01:35:22at the bloody dawn of this new power,

01:35:25freakishly induced weather patterns

01:35:26carried the echoes

01:35:27of its shrill afterbirth

01:35:29from the Great Mountain

01:35:30to every corner of Mars.

01:35:32Every corner, but one.

01:35:35As the seething Martian skies darkened,

01:35:37a searing surge of psychic energy

01:35:39above Coriel Zeth's magma city

01:35:42had pierced the heavens

01:35:43and almost drowned the birth-shout

01:35:45of the emergent power

01:35:46with its light and violence.

01:35:49Kelbor Hal did not fully understand

01:35:51what he had witnessed that day,

01:35:52but Regulus had watched the event,

01:35:54the spiking flares

01:35:55of his magnetic field

01:35:56betraying his naked fear

01:35:58and hostility.

01:36:00What was that? he had asked.

01:36:02An accident? A weapon?

01:36:05An enemy revealed,

01:36:07was all Regulus had said.

01:36:132.02

01:36:16She was trapped in the darkness.

01:36:18She tried to wake,

01:36:20but there was only the utter,

01:36:21unbreakable darkness

01:36:22in all directions.

01:36:25In truth, she could not even think

01:36:27in terms of directions,

01:36:28for this space appeared

01:36:29to be dimensionless.

01:36:32She had no sensation of up or down

01:36:34and no sense of the passage of time.

01:36:37Had she been here for long?

01:36:39She couldn't remember.

01:36:40She couldn't remember much of anything.

01:36:43Her memories were hazy.

01:36:45She had once roamed freely,

01:36:47she remembered that much,

01:36:48feeding, birthing,

01:36:49and extinguishing stars without heed.

01:36:52But now,

01:36:54now there was only

01:36:55the eternal darkness of death.

01:36:58No, not death.

01:37:01But was it sleep?

01:37:03Or was it imprisonment?

01:37:06She didn't know.

01:37:08All she knew was that

01:37:09if this was not death,

01:37:11it might as well be

01:37:12for all the power left to her.

01:37:15Were these memories?

01:37:16Or hallucinations?

01:37:19She perceived of herself as female,

01:37:21but even that meant nothing.

01:37:24What did sex matter

01:37:25to a being of pure energy and matter?

01:37:28Her mind roamed the darkness.

01:37:31But whether she ventured

01:37:32across the span of galaxies

01:37:33or travelled only millimetres,

01:37:35she couldn't tell.

01:37:37Did she journey for mere moments

01:37:38or the lifespan of a universe?

01:37:42Many of the dimensions

01:37:43she was thinking in

01:37:43were meaningless to her,

01:37:45yet she sensed that they were

01:37:47all equally ludicrous

01:37:48in this darkness.

01:37:50Nothing existed here.

01:37:52Nothing but the darkness.

01:37:55Nothing.

01:37:56Except that wasn't always true,

01:37:58was it?

01:38:00Sometimes there was light,

01:38:01tiny sparks in the darkness

01:38:03that were gone

01:38:04as soon as they were noticed.

01:38:06Holes of light would sometimes

01:38:08appear in the darkness

01:38:09through which elements of her being

01:38:11could be drawn,

01:38:12atoms of existence,

01:38:13playing from a life

01:38:14the size of a star,

01:38:16unnoticed but for the promise

01:38:17of a world beyond the darkness

01:38:19they brought.

01:38:21She tried to focus

01:38:22on one such light,

01:38:23but no sooner had she registered

01:38:25its presence than it was gone,

01:38:27only the tantalising hope

01:38:28of its return sustaining her.

01:38:32This was no life.

01:38:33This was pure existence,

01:38:35sustained at the verge of extinction

01:38:37by the forgotten mechanics

01:38:38of old science.

01:38:42Dahlia.

01:38:44The sound came again,

01:38:46no more than a whisper,

01:38:47barely heard,

01:38:48and perhaps only imagined.

01:38:52Dahlia.

01:38:53The word gave meaning to form,

01:38:55and she began to build

01:38:56a sense of scale and place

01:38:58with the concepts given weight

01:39:00by the sounds.

01:39:01As more and more of her surroundings

01:39:03became concrete,

01:39:05she began to re-establish

01:39:07her sense of self.

01:39:10Dahlia.

01:39:12That was her name.

01:39:14She was a human being,

01:39:17not a creature of unimaginable scale

01:39:19that defied time

01:39:21and the material universe.

01:39:23With its power.

01:39:25Indeed, she wasn't sure

01:39:26if creature was a term

01:39:28large enough to encompass

01:39:29the immensity of its existence.

01:39:32She did not exist in the darkness.

01:39:35She was not a prisoner,

01:39:37hurled into the lightless depths

01:39:39of the world by an armoured jailer,

01:39:40and bound with golden chains.

01:39:43She was Dahlia Sithera.

01:39:46And with that thought,

01:39:48she woke.

01:39:49Information passed around Mars

01:39:51in a multitude of ways,

01:39:52along trillions of kilometres

01:39:53of cabling,

01:39:55through fibre optics,

01:39:56fizzing electrical field clouds,

01:39:58wireless networks,

01:39:59and hololithic conduits.

01:40:01The exact workings

01:40:02of the ancient mechanics

01:40:03by which many of the forges

01:40:05communicated were unknown,

01:40:06and even the magi

01:40:07that made use of such things

01:40:09did not fully understand them.

01:40:12Almost all the myriad means

01:40:13of information transfer were,

01:40:15however, vulnerable

01:40:16to the corrupting influence

01:40:17of the ancient world.

01:40:19The influence of the scrap code

01:40:20boiling out from the depths

01:40:21of Olympus Mons

01:40:22in the dead of the Martian night.

01:40:25It moved outwards

01:40:26like a hunting raptor,

01:40:27drawn by the scent

01:40:28and flow of information.

01:40:30Everything it touched it corrupted,

01:40:33twisting elegantly crafted code

01:40:35into something vile and debased.

01:40:37The wondrous flickering,

01:40:39chattering cant of pure machine language,

01:40:41the gurgle of liquid data,

01:40:43and gleaming information-rich light

01:40:45became a hateful birth-scream

01:40:47malformed and evil.

01:40:49At the speed of thought

01:40:51it spread across the planet's surface,

01:40:53slipping like an assassin

01:40:54into the networks of the Martian forges

01:40:56and wreaking untold damage.

01:40:59The Aegis barriers

01:41:00tried to hold it back,

01:41:01but it overwhelmed them in moments

01:41:03with its ferocity

01:41:04and diabolical invention.

01:41:06A few, a very few, forge-masters

01:41:09were quick enough

01:41:10to cut themselves off

01:41:11from the networks

01:41:12when they saw the danger,

01:41:13but so deeply enmeshed were they

01:41:15with the Martian information exchange

01:41:17systems

01:41:17that it was impossible

01:41:18to avoid exposure completely.

01:41:22Replicating itself

01:41:23at a terrifying rate,

01:41:24the scrap code found

01:41:25each forge's weakest point

01:41:27and induced disastrous system failures

01:41:29at every turn.

01:41:32At Sinus Sebaeus,

01:41:33the continent-sized assembly lines

01:41:35of Lehman Russ battle tanks

01:41:36ground to a halt,

01:41:37and machines that had run

01:41:38without interruption

01:41:39for over a century,

01:41:41seized up,

01:41:42never to operate again.

01:41:44In the Tycho Brahe

01:41:45ammunition storage facility,

01:41:47a rogue set of commands

01:41:48raised the temperature

01:41:49in the Prometheum tanks

01:41:51until a catastrophic explosion

01:41:52ripped through

01:41:53the lower storage levels.

01:41:55Liquid flame

01:41:56bloomed up through the crater,

01:41:57igniting a devastating conflagration

01:41:59that engulfed the entire facility,

01:42:02detonating billions of tons

01:42:03of ordnance

01:42:04and obliterating the holdings

01:42:05of High Adept Yago.

01:42:07The great Schiaparelli repository

01:42:09on the Acidalia Planitia,

01:42:11a towering pyramid

01:42:12of unlocked data

01:42:13from the earliest days

01:42:14of mankind's mastery of science

01:42:16and gathered wisdom

01:42:17from across the ages,

01:42:18was infected with scrap code,

01:42:20and 20,000 years' worth of knowledge

01:42:22was rendered down

01:42:23into howling nonsense.

01:42:26Warning klaxons and shift horns

01:42:28blared as the scrap code

01:42:30issued commands

01:42:31and countermanded them

01:42:32an instant later.

01:42:34The forges of Mars

01:42:35screaming at the violation

01:42:37done to their wondrous mechanics.

01:42:39Machines screeched and shrieked

01:42:41as rogue currents

01:42:43surged through their workings,

01:42:44blowing circuits

01:42:45and frying delicate mechanisms

01:42:47that would never be repaired.

01:42:50Almost no corner of Mars

01:42:51was safe from the scrap code,

01:42:53which gathered momentum and ambition

01:42:55as it encircled the globe

01:42:56in an ever-tightening web of malice.

01:43:00The chemical refineries

01:43:01of Vastitas Borealis

01:43:03opened their pressure valves

01:43:04and flooded the workers' hive sinks

01:43:06of the northern polar basin

01:43:07with a mix of methyl isocyanate,

01:43:10phosgene and hydrogen chloride.

01:43:13The deadly cloud

01:43:14slowly oozed down into the sinks,

01:43:16killing every living soul as it went,

01:43:19and, by morning's light,

01:43:20over 900,000 people were dead.

01:43:24As if relishing this method of murder,

01:43:26the scrap code

01:43:27then killed the astropaths

01:43:29of Medusa Fossae,

01:43:31altering the breathing mix

01:43:32of their life support

01:43:33until each psycho

01:43:34was being fed hydrogen cyanide gas.

01:43:38Within minutes,

01:43:39over 6,000 astropaths were dead,

01:43:41and after one plaintiff death scream

01:43:43that was felt in the Emperor's vaults

01:43:45beneath the surface of Terra,

01:43:47Mars fell utterly silent.

01:43:51Epluvian Maximal

01:43:52was one of the lucky few

01:43:53able to sever his links with the networks

01:43:55before too much damage was done.

01:43:58Though three of his fusion reactors

01:44:00along the Ulysses Fossae

01:44:01suffered critical meltdowns,

01:44:03the mushroom clouds of their detonations

01:44:05drifting east and north,

01:44:07forever irradiating thousands

01:44:09of square kilometres

01:44:10of the Martian soil.

01:44:12The same story was enacted

01:44:13all across the surface

01:44:14of the Red Planet,

01:44:16machines rebelling

01:44:17as their internal workings

01:44:18were overloaded

01:44:19with contradictory commands.

01:44:21The death toll

01:44:22climbed into the millions

01:44:23within minutes

01:44:24as forges exploded,

01:44:26toxic chemicals

01:44:27spilled through manufactories

01:44:28and mass storage facilities

01:44:30of explosive materials

01:44:31cooked off in devastating

01:44:33daisy chains of detonations.

01:44:35In years to come,

01:44:37this night would become known as

01:44:38the Death of Innocence.

01:44:40Only the forge of adept Coriel Zeth

01:44:43escaped unscathed.

01:44:45The torrents of crackling scrap code

01:44:46unwilling or unable to travel

01:44:48the glittering golden wires

01:44:50that had recently carried

01:44:51the Emperor's light along them.

01:44:53Like positively charged iron filings

01:44:56flowing around a similarly

01:44:57charged magnet,

01:44:59the scrap code bypassed

01:45:00the Magma City altogether.

01:45:03It was the one ray of hope

01:45:05in an otherwise bleak night.

01:45:08Caxton and Zoosh needed a shave

01:45:10and Severine looked as though

01:45:11she hadn't slept in days.

01:45:14Even Melusine,

01:45:15logical, unflappable Melusine,

01:45:17looked deflated in the aftermath

01:45:19of the disastrous trial

01:45:20of the Akashic Reader.

01:45:22They sat around Dahlia's bed

01:45:24in the Medicae wing

01:45:25of the Magma City,

01:45:26fussing over her

01:45:27as medical servitors drew blood

01:45:29and monitored her vitals.

01:45:32The room smelled of counterseptic,

01:45:34soap and anti-inflammatory drugs.

01:45:37And the lapping powder

01:45:37Adeptseth was fond of

01:45:39using on her armour.

01:45:41You gave us quite a scare, young lady,

01:45:43Zoosh had said

01:45:45as he entered the room

01:45:45and saw that Dahlia was awake.

01:45:48Dahlia had been touched

01:45:49at the genuine emotion

01:45:50she saw in the gruff machinist's face.

01:45:53Sorry, she said.

01:45:54I didn't mean to.

01:45:56Didn't mean to, she says,

01:45:58said Caxton with a forced laugh,

01:46:00though Dahlia could see

01:46:01the dark shadows

01:46:02under the young man's eyes,

01:46:03the puffiness where his tears

01:46:05had fallen.

01:46:06Yanks opened the door

01:46:07to a chamber flooded

01:46:08with psychic energy

01:46:09and says she didn't mean to.

01:46:11Well, I didn't, said Dahlia,

01:46:13aware of how foolish she sounded.

01:46:16I just couldn't leave Jonas in there.

01:46:19None of them would meet her gaze

01:46:21and they had shared

01:46:21a moment of regret for the dead.

01:46:25Severine had taken Jonas's death

01:46:26particularly hard

01:46:28and Dahlia reached out

01:46:29to take her hand.

01:46:30The severity she had first seen

01:46:32in her face

01:46:33had melted away

01:46:34over the last few weeks

01:46:35and Dahlia's heart ached

01:46:36to see the sadness

01:46:37in her friend's eyes.

01:46:39Not a single trace of Jonas

01:46:41had been found in the chamber,

01:46:43not so much as an atom

01:46:44of his body to prove

01:46:45that he had existed at all.

01:46:48Likewise,

01:46:49none of the psychers

01:46:49encased in the coffered dome

01:46:51had survived the titanic energies

01:46:53of the Astronomican.

01:46:54Their desiccated corpses

01:46:56withered and contracted

01:46:57into fetal balls.

01:47:00All told, the death toll

01:47:01was 2037

01:47:03and that figure was like

01:47:04an adamantium chain of grief

01:47:06around all their necks.

01:47:08They did not yet know

01:47:09of the night of devastation

01:47:11that had been so recently unleashed

01:47:13and how slight a loss this was

01:47:15compared to that suffered

01:47:16by the rest of Mars.

01:47:19Dahlia had since been told

01:47:20that she had been languishing

01:47:21in the grip of an unchanging coma

01:47:23for over seven days,

01:47:25watched over by Caxton,

01:47:26a host of biomonitors

01:47:28and a picked camera

01:47:29linked to the nearby medical station.

01:47:32She learned that Caxton

01:47:33had refused to leave her bedside,

01:47:34despite repeated assurances

01:47:36from the others

01:47:37that they would take shifts

01:47:38in watching her.

01:47:39It had been five hours

01:47:40since Dahlia had woken,

01:47:42though the bulk of that time

01:47:43had been spent being questioned

01:47:44by Adept Zeth.

01:47:46Her friends had only just

01:47:47been granted access to her.

01:47:50''What's Adept Zeth saying

01:47:51about what happened?''

01:47:53asked Severine

01:47:53after they had exchanged hugs

01:47:55and shed tears together.

01:47:57''She must be disappointed

01:47:58the machine didn't work.''

01:48:00''Didn't it?''

01:48:02asked Zeush,

01:48:03narrowing his eyes.

01:48:05''It overloaded,

01:48:06but the machine functioned

01:48:07as it should have,

01:48:08just not for very long.''

01:48:11''What did Adept Zeth ask you, Dahlia?''

01:48:14asked Mellison,

01:48:15cutting to the heart of the matter.

01:48:17Dahlia saw their inquisitive looks,

01:48:20knowing that they too were curious

01:48:21as to what had transpired

01:48:22within the chamber

01:48:23of the Akashic Reader.

01:48:26She wanted to know

01:48:26everything that happened

01:48:27in the chamber,

01:48:28and everything Jonas Mylas

01:48:29said to me.

01:48:31''What did he say?''

01:48:32asked Caxton.

01:48:34She squeezed Caxton's hand,

01:48:36glancing up at the picked camera

01:48:37in the upper corner of the room.

01:48:39''He just died,'' said Dahlia.

01:48:42''He didn't say anything at all.''

01:48:46The Medicaid pronounced Dahlia fit

01:48:47to resume her duties

01:48:48the following morning,

01:48:50and the next six rotations

01:48:51were spent in Zeth's inner forge,

01:48:53rebuilding the Akashic Reader,

01:48:55replacing those parts

01:48:57that had burnt out,

01:48:58and recalibrating those

01:48:59that had survived.

01:49:01Zeth and Dahlia had made assumptions,

01:49:03and now they were paying for them.

01:49:06Dahlia should have requested

01:49:07clarification on Zeth's figures,

01:49:09but she had been so focused

01:49:10on the minutiae of the project

01:49:11she had not thought to doubt

01:49:13the adept's numbers.

01:49:15That wasn't going to happen again.

01:49:17Rigorous double-testing

01:49:19and checking procedures

01:49:20were enforced,

01:49:21and every servitor had its work reviewed

01:49:23by a living, breathing adept.

01:49:25The silver wiring in the floor

01:49:27had melted through,

01:49:28and whole sections were pulled up

01:49:29and replaced with slabs impregnated

01:49:31with a higher gauge of cable.

01:49:34Every aspect of the machine's parts

01:49:36was examined and re-evaluated

01:49:37to see if there were ways

01:49:39of improving its performance,

01:49:41and ensuring that it did not fail again.

01:49:44Scores of adepts and servitors

01:49:46laboured in the dome

01:49:46alongside Dahlia and her friends,

01:49:49though there was none

01:49:49of the shared sense of wonder

01:49:51that had enthused them

01:49:52when previously working

01:49:53on the Akashic Reader.

01:49:55Only the biting drills of the servitors

01:49:57broke the silence of the dome

01:49:58as they lifted floor slabs

01:50:00and carried them away.

01:50:02The coffers in the dome were empty,

01:50:05and, as unnerving as it had been

01:50:07working beneath the sightless eyes

01:50:08of the bound psychers,

01:50:10everyone felt their absence

01:50:11more acutely.

01:50:13The vacant berths were a grim reminder

01:50:15of the deaths caused by the machine

01:50:17they were working on,

01:50:18and the assembled workers

01:50:19kept their heads fixed firmly

01:50:21on the job at hand.

01:50:23Zeth spoke little to Dahlia.

01:50:25The adept forced to spend

01:50:26more of her time

01:50:27dealing with the fallout

01:50:28from their abortive experiment.

01:50:31The adept left her a printer,

01:50:32a magus named Polk, in charge,

01:50:35and, under his and Rho-Mu-31's

01:50:37supervision,

01:50:38work continued much as before.

01:50:41Dahlia had asked Rho-Mu-31 once

01:50:44why Adept Zeth was absent from the dome,

01:50:46but all the Robe Protector had said was,

01:50:50She has matters of greater importance

01:50:52to attend to.

01:50:54Dahlia had thought the Akashic Reader

01:50:55was Zeth's greatest work,

01:50:57so clearly there had been consequences

01:50:59that not even an adept of Zeth's stature

01:51:01could ignore.

01:51:03Those few times Dahlia and Zeth

01:51:04had passed words,

01:51:06she simply reaffirmed that Jonas Mylas

01:51:08had not spoken to her.

01:51:11Zeth would nod in weary acceptance,

01:51:13but Dahlia could read the adept's disbelief

01:51:15in her noospheric aura,

01:51:17as well as veiled fear

01:51:18that spoke to Dahlia of events

01:51:20far more terrible than a failed test.

01:51:24She wasn't exactly sure why

01:51:25she was unwilling to share

01:51:27the empath's words with Zeth,

01:51:29but the intuitive part of her mind,

01:51:31the part that had led her

01:51:32to the design of the Akashic Reader,

01:51:34told her that to inform the adept

01:51:36of what she knew,

01:51:37which wasn't much anyway,

01:51:39could very well be dangerous.

01:51:42Knowledge is power.

01:51:43Guard it well.

01:51:44Wasn't that one of the Mechanicum's aphorisms?

01:51:48Dahlia intended to guard this knowledge

01:51:50very well,

01:51:52and there were only a few people

01:51:53she dared trust with it.

01:51:55Adept Zeth was not one of them.

01:52:00Work on the newly reconstructed Akashic Reader

01:52:02was almost complete.

01:52:04The tolerances and capacity

01:52:05of the receptors altered

01:52:07to allow for the increased power

01:52:08expected to flow through the device

01:52:10upon its next activation.

01:52:13Many months would need to pass

01:52:14before Mars and Terra

01:52:16would be in alignment once more,

01:52:18but for the next few rotations

01:52:20the power of the Astronomican

01:52:21was still a vast resource

01:52:23of harvestable psychic energy.

01:52:25Fresh Psykers were already

01:52:27being installed within the coffers,

01:52:29though there had been no sign

01:52:30of another empath for the throne

01:52:32atop the dais,

01:52:33a fact for which Dahlia

01:52:34was pathetically grateful.

01:52:37As the activity in the dome

01:52:38neared completion,

01:52:39Dahlia approached the workbench

01:52:41where Zeus and Caxton worked

01:52:43on the helmet assembly.

01:52:45Zeus was plugged into the lathe

01:52:46via extruded dendrites in his wrist,

01:52:49and the hissing of the laser lathe,

01:52:51cutting through high-grade steel,

01:52:52was a shrieking banshee howl.

01:52:56Dahlia winced as the sound

01:52:57bit into the meat of her brain.

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