A smile spread across her lips. If we survive today, you can shower me in all the compliments you want.
She darted into the building, following the echoes of the artificial brain. She entered pure darkness and moved by instinct. She could see a map of this place in the shouts. Her mind was interpreting it, like she was imagining the layout of Dualayn’s manor.
Only she’d never been here.
So much data plunged into her. It was amazing she was able to function at all in the ruins. It was so strong here. She was in the heart of it. The rest of the city had died, but the controls for the crystalmen had triplicate backups to keep them supplied with the resonating frequency they needed. She didn’t quite understand the specifics, but she understood the principal.
The artificial mind needed more tonal resonance than what naturally echoed through the universe. That background hums she’d heard just weren’t loud enough. The ancients had amplified it somehow to fuel their more powerful jewelchines.
She went left and right. Her boots kicked up dust. She smelled the decay in the air. In her mind, she could see the crystalmen approaching her father and lover. The two most important people in her life faced death head-on.
She couldn’t fail them.
She found stairs. Light spilled up them. It flickered, oscillating shades of purple mixed with the steady light of a diamond lantern. Dualayn’s mutters rose from below. She hurtled down the stairs, taking them two or even three at a time.
He’d opened a metal door, clearing the dust from the floor in a sweeping arc and leaving it piled behind the portal. The room beyond was surprisingly clean. She was shocked by how white it was. Dualayn’s boots had left thick tracks across the pristine surface towards the large diamond wrapped around the obsidian. Purple letters of light floated before him. He touched one.
“Mmm, that doesn’t seem to be it,” he muttered. He glanced down at a notebook he’d brought with him. “Pity, that seemed to be the right word.”
“Dualayn!” she shouted.
He whirled around and blinked. “Avena, child, this is a surprise. I had not expected to find you here, but I am heartened to see you’re alive. Is Bran with you?”
“Just get out of the way, I need to shut them down,” she said.
“That is what I am attempting to do,” he said. “If you think you know better than—”
“Yes, I do! Now step aside!”
He did, a look of shock at her brusque words.
*
The four crystalmen fanned out as they marched towards Ōbhin and the impostor, a skirmish line bearing down upon them. He drew his resonance blade, knowing it was a futile gesture. He glanced up at the ceiling illuminated by Fingers’s lantern. It now rested on a small rock and shone bright around them.
“No way to bring that down,” he said. There were no support columns like at the carriage house. “Is that glass above us?”
“Diamond,” muttered Fingers. “What else could be strong enough?”
Ōbhin glanced at the thing pretending to be his friend. Now wasn’t the time to hate it. He had to work with it. “Any ideas?”
Fingers shook his head. “We can run in circles until Avena does . . . whatever it is.”
“You don’t know what that building is she ran for, do you?”
“Nope.”
“So how does she know that’s where they can be turned off?” asked Ōbhin.
Fingers shrugged. “She’s a smart one.”
“No one’s that smart.” Ōbhin activated his blade. The humming gave him comfort, a false hope that he could somehow do anything about the death lumbering for them. Their diamond eyes all flicked on, focusing on him.
The ground around him was illuminated. The black, tar-like rock was marred by cracks. They would give treacherous footing. He couldn’t trip and fall. That would be the death of him. He slid his foot back as he fell into a guard stance out of habit.
The back of his foot slipped over one of those cracks. He heard pebbles spilling down into it. Struck metal.
Metal?
An idea kindling in his mind, he turned around and peered at the crack in the ground. The automaton’s diamond light shining down him spilled down through a small hole through the plaza into a space below. He could see a horseless carriage rotting below.
There’s only a cubit of stone between us and another level.
“Well, you want to run left or right?” Fingers asked. “They’re getting close. Probably the best thing we can do is split up.”
“Go left,” Ōbhin said and spun around. He slashed at the ground before him. His resonance blade sliced a long line through the black stone. The ground shook. The crystalmen were almost upon him. Fear clutched his chest.
“Eh, Ōbhin?” asked Fingers, backing away. “This isn’t the time to attack the ground.”
“Run, Fingers!” Ōbhin snarled and slashed another line, forming a cross on the ground before him. He looked up to see the lead crystalman only cubits away and closing fast.
There was no time for him to escape. Shouts echoed behind him, Miguil and Dajouth crying warning. The crystalman stepped onto the ground where he’d cut, arm drawing back for a skull-crushing punch. Earth groaned. Rocks ground together. The thing took another step and raised its arm to crush him.
The plaza gave away.
The automaton dropped down into the carriage house below. It hit with a loud crash. Crystal shattered. A new alarm rang, a high-pitched screeching. It assaulted Ōbhin’s ears. Through billowing dust below, he could see the thing lying on its back, its legs shattered.
“Ōbhin!” Fingers exulted and slapped him on the shoulder. “Now let’s move! The others are on us!”
From Ōbhin’s right, a crystalman lumbered in and swung an amethyst fist at his head.
