Ash Haven: Descent Chapter 3

I backstepped instinctively, hand flying to the long knife sheathed at my belt.

Casings, dead crystals and other cast off scrap scattered to the floor, an endless stream of noise as a light array on the ceiling flashed on, casting shadow around the broad shouldered figure.

“Who-who-who- goes! I will not be taken alive! A-A-A-Activate defense grid Gamma-”

“Gramps! Gramps! Calm down, it’s me, Kaz!” I shouted, the tension going out of my shoulders. Damn old codger, letting himself fall asleep while he was working again.

The mechanical clacking and clicking stopped, replaced by a loud whining whirr as the hulking figures, eyes widened and flashed with inner light, pupils narrowing to focus down on me.

“A likely story! I know your menace, wear my child’s face will you! Fool, my sensors are not so addled. Not enough time has passed. My Kazimiera is still delving!”

“I finished early Gramps,” I replied, exasperated. Wincing, I raised my hand, and channeled just a little letting light swirl through the whorls of my wind circuit… and the personal identity pattern Gramps had encoded there.

Whirrs, clicking, another light array flickered on.

“...Did you scavenge the light systems for parts again?” Vee asked exasperatedly, wriggling his way out of my bag.

“No!” Gramps boomed defensively. “It was only one thaumaturgic transistor!”

Gramps was more than half again my height. He’d always towered over me. I’d thought I was going to get that big when I was a kid, but no such luck. Under the reactivating lights his exterior shell gleamed dully, save in all the places the metal had gone corroded or rough. Exposed gears whirred and dense weaves of mechanical muscle fiber flexed visibly in the gaps, backlit by the glow of his reactor. Most gholam liked to cover up, but gramps was an odd one. Only his face still had any artificial skin and hair. Sandy brown skin, a bald head, huge curling bushy white sideburns, a hawkish nose and saggy jowls.

“Kazimiera, what have you done to your Crimson-Heart Incendiary array!” He declared after staring me down. “The third and fifth circuits are burned out entirely.”

I reached up and scrubbed a hand through my hair. “So… funny story.”

***

The lights in the workshop were still working thankfully. I grimaced at the feeling of cold steel against my skin. Lying chest down, stripped to the waist in the artificially chilled chamber was never comfortable, but doing it while Gramps carefully extracted metal and ceramic shards from my back with a pair of surgical tweezers was a whole different beast. I gritted my teeth as I felt him grasp another shard and begin to carefully twist and wiggle it free of my skin. I was lucky my healing hadn’t already sealed them inside. Getting cut open would have been worse.

“Child, you can’t just overload an array on a whim!” Gramps said. He glowered down at me. “It would be one thing if I had the material to give you a more robust array, for dampeners and self repair, but I do not!”

The other reason I was stripped down like this was to give access to the core of my augmentation arrays. Though I couldn’t see it now,  I knew my whole back was covered by the curving lines of complex thaumaturgic circuitry. The tattoos that extended down to my hands, the rose to my forehead were just the outputs of the two arrays gramps had installed in me.

Crimson Heart Incendiary, hooked into my heart and circulatory system. Vernal Hawks Soaring, connecting to my lungs and spine.

“I didn’t have a lot of choice,” I protested, turning my head to the side so I could look up at him. The smaller, more delicate manipulators extending from his palms to hold the tweezers twitched as he fixed me with an unimpressed look, and dropped the ceramic shard into a bowl beside the table.

“Child! I know the specifications of that kind of automaton, With some finesse escaping would have been possible without exceeding your parameters.” Gramps scolded. “You have so much capacity, but brute expenditure is not always the solution.”

“That’s what I keep telling them,” Vee said primly, looking down his snout at me as he perched on the shelf in front of the table. “It's no good to spend prana so freely!”

“Bah, you’re too stingy, little drone. Our prana collectors keep up with our expenses here. The air is rich with wind and fire and light from the ruins. Water is the only thing we need to worry about,” Gramps scoffed.

I would have to empty those after this, taking the crystals and dust that had built up in the collector filters on the roof. Gramps was too heavy to get up there.  I clenched my hands as the tweezers went back in, the feeling of metal under my skin making me want to squirm.

“...I know I need to use more finesse,” I said through grit teeth. “It's hard to remember that when you’re in the moment.”

“You lack experience, if a little danger unsettles you! I understand your trouble, power yearns to be used! ” Gramps said. I exhaled as I felt the last shard withdrawn, clattering into the bowl. “Oh, what I could do for you without their pursuit.”

I sighed in relief. “No signs of the bird’s Gramps, I’ve kept an eye out.”

“Good!” he boomed, his metallic feet scraping the floor as he turned to retrieve other tool. “Spying, feathery wire gnawing thieves! Be watchful of the skies Kazimiera, always! I wish humans lived more sensibly underground!”

I had never seen a ‘bird’. They were some kind of flying animal from pre-scouring, like a drone but organic. Amara said there were some still around in the Garden. It was just one of the old man’s oddities. I still humored him, even knowing better now.

“Are you going to be able to fix the burned out circuits though?” Vee asked worriedly, cutting through the banter.

“Who do you think I am?” Gramps scoffed. “Belshazzar, built of Ashkalom, cannot be stymied by such simple damage!”

“...Then why am I getting scolded?” I wondered.

“Because you are flesh, child! Your parts are much less replaceable… and resources are limited,” Gramps grumbled. “It is a trivial procedure, but I have only so many reagents.”

I put my head down, carefully not looking at the circuit etching needles he was preparing.

“Now Kazimiera, bring your power down, shut off all flow to active circuits,” Gramps instructed. His slightly manic tone was absent as I felt his shadow fall over me.

I hated this, but I liked having my circuits more. Closing my eyes I focused on my mental image of my power. A burning reactor core, with branching pipes running out like outstretched wings. Concentrating, I began to draw the lingering power back into the core. It felt like my arms and legs falling asleep, like the world having a shade thrown over it.

To be augmented with thaumaturgic circuits, one first had to have ‘capacity’, the ability to process prana internally. This was natural, and you could do very little with it. You were healthier, you needed to eat less, you healed a little faster, retained muscle better.

Until an Array Engineer like gramps installed a circuit array in your body and spirit. With that the prana built up in your core could be accessed to execute active functions and passively enhance your body much more efficiently.

But the nature and quality of the arrays was what decided your limits.

“And yet skill and experience may let one act well beyond specification!” Gramps said. I winced that I’d spoken aloud… and from feeling the needle slide under my skin. It pinched and pulled as the extraction of the burnt out circuit began.

I heard a crackle, like electricity coming from the bottom of a well,and my shoulders shook as I felt a prickling pain sweep over my mind. It wasn’t physical, it was more invasive than that, touching down in the soul, where arrays were truly anchored. I heard a faint clatter and cracked open an eye to see Vee there,  he rested his paw on my face sympathetically. My teeth clenched down a moment later, as Gramps’ etching instrument dug further into the burned out channel, scraping away spiritual detritus.

It felt like my whole body was hot and itching.

“Luckily it was only the output channels! So There’s no need to operate deeply. Still, to have my child be using such low quality arrays… Ugh. I will upgrade these just as soon as I can!”

“I know Gramps, not a lot of resources out in the wastes,” I grimaced. My first memories were being carried in a chest harness by Gramps as he trudged through the ash. Nights under the stars, squatting occasionally in a dusty ruin while he scraped away at rocks and weathered metal. Every once in a while finding refuge in a nomadic tribes camp for a few days, with Gramps peddling his services for food and crystals. Everyone needed engineers. Augments decided their tribes survival. “But hey, we’re doing better right? You’ve got all of your tools now.”

“That I do! I can work properly again, even repair some of my systems! I know this life is more dull, but bear with it a while longer!”

“Yeah… I don’t mind it,” I liked wandering, but there was appeal to this, even if it got dull sometimes. I wouldn’t get to joke around with Amara, or trade tips with other delvers if we were alone… and we definitely wouldn’t get to poke around a ruin this big and complete, without joining up with somebody.

“Honestly you two… We’re so much better off here than we ever were before,” Vee huffed. “I don’t understand you at all.”

“Small minded drone,” Gramps scoffed. “Not understanding the romance of the open tunnel and the dunes stretching unto the horizon!”

“Yeah, I like the ‘romance’ of regular fuel and a safe place to go into rest mode,” Vee scoffed right back.

“Could we focus on the soul surgery here,” I said, exasperated.

“Pfah, this is an easy procedure with the tools I have now,” Gramps dismissed. I winced as I felt a pinch and my whole perception of the world wavered, colors inverting. I think I could smell things with my elbows for a second there. “Ah… bit of resonant turbulence. Do calm down Kazimiera.”

“Right, right, my fault,” I grumbled, the world righting itself, as I forced my thoughts into calm against the rippling discomfort of the extraction.

Gramps worked in silence for several minutes more as I squeezed my eyes shut and kept my breathing steady. Bit by bit the dull buzzing numb sensation that the more active prickling of the embedded shards had let me ignore was going away, replaced with a whole new discomfort, my energy, the prana stored in my core trickling out into my spirit through now open connections.

“Do you require suppressants, my child?” Gramps asked.

“C’mon, I’m not a kid anymore, Gramps,” I said. I could control my own energy well enough that it was just a tiny trickle of flame, enough to make me break out in a sweat and no more.

“Hm, You are at organic maturity,” Gramps allowed. There was a clack as he laid down the extracting tool, and then a hiss and buzz, a bloom of heat and the whirring machinery at my back. Time to re-etch the circuits. “While I cannot improve the capacity of your circuits on what I have… I could add a secondary function to an array, with my supply order in! What would you find useful?”

I cracked an eye open, looking at Vee, waiting.

He turned up his snout. “C’mon that’s a good investment, I’m not going to complain about that.”

“I was wondering,” I chuckled weakly. The etching process wasn’t itchy, or uncomfortable or numbing. It was outright painful. I’d burned my hand on a campfire once and this felt like that, only under my skin. My current arrays were simple things, single element projection functions.

They channeled prana into producing fire or wind. I could be pretty free with my uses, and I had with my wind. Flight and acceleration were actually really hard, without dedicated functions. I couldn’t count how many times I’d ended up head down in a dune at first.

The narrower a function, the more powerful it generally was. But more powerful arrays could also change you more. Look at Amara, with her extra limbs and eyes. I’d even seen her get riled up enough for her jaw to split apart and the fangs to come out once. Physical enhancement functions like the Gardenborn used were pretty extreme though.

“Maneuverability to my Vernal Hawk Soaring array,” I said. If you can. “I can’t improve my control any further, with the basic function.”

“Ah, my child you do love the sky, dangerous as it is,” Gramps said. “Ugh, such an ugly name for a beautifully simple array. But, I can manage that, hm, with your height to weight ratio, limb length and…”

I closed my eyes again to let Gramps work, mumbling technical specifications to himself

***

I sat up on the operating table, feeling as wrung out and worn as an old dust rag. My whole back throbbed dully, and the inside of my head wasn’t much better.

The prana running through the arrays built into the walls powered down with a low hum and a hiss of depressurization, warm ashlands air rushed in through the unsealing door frame. Gramp’s main lab looked a lot more mundane without all the branching circuit lines lit up. The steel table I was sitting on in the center, a couple of wheeled metal and ceramic carts strewn with tools and jars of prana dust, and rarer things beside.

“Do not attempt any intensive channeling projection for at least three days Kazimiera!” Gramps boomed, clapping a heavy hand on my shoulder.

“I know,” I said, tilting my head to look up at him. I flexed my hands, feeling the new flow settling in. The backs of my thighs and the soles of my feet itched with the extended functions too, but it wasn’t nearly as bad.

“So how’s the new stuff going to work?” Vee asked curiously, scampering up onto my other shoulder claws prickling on my skin. What was I, a shelf?

“The Experience Integration procedure went well!” Gramps laughed, releasing me from his grip. “No memory or cognitive damage at all! As expected of my talents.”

“The what now?” I asked, feeling like there were some concerning words there.

“Oh just etching the new array into your memory functions, to smooth the transition,” Gramps said dismissively. “Necessary to integrate the controls of the new function without requiring a transition period.”

Well, it was Gramps, he wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t sure I would be fine. I shot Vee a look, and he scampered down, allowing me to grab my undershirt and throw it on. It prickled on my back, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. The worst would probably be past after I had a sleep.

Ugh, I was going to have to sleep on my stomach though, wasn’t I?

“Thank you… I can’t wait to try it out,” I said with a cheeky grin, glancing over to Vee. “And its even an ‘investment’ since I gotta practice while its safe huh?”

“Hah, hah,” he said, unamused. “Ugh you’re gonna rocket around everywhere, now huh?”

“You bet,” I chuckled. Sliding off the table, I bounced on my heels. I felt lighter overall, it was like I’d lost a half dozen pounds, though nothing had changed physically. “No feathers, Gramps?”

He reared back, indignant. “I would never! The lightening functions were applied on the spirit layer. Another stage might require a transmutation of bone structure to a lighter lattice based design, but I would never defile my child with something so ugly!”

“Just kidding,” I said, holding up my hands apologetically. “Ah, that reminds me. I picked you up a souvenir. I left the real mats for the Association, but I found an interesting little artifact you might be able to translate.”

“Oho! Interesting! Give it here and let your grandfather see what you discovered,” Gramps sound proudly, extending his palm. It opened up. Smaller, delicate manipulators wriggling eagerly in expectation.

“Yeah sure, just a sec,” Vee leapt onto my shoulder again, curling his tail around my neck as I moved over to the counter where my belt and cloak and outer clothes had been folded and piled. Fishing around for a minute, I found the crystal card I’d found on the chair, the image of the precursor thaumaturge staring up at me from the shimmering surface.

“Check it out. Cool huh? Looks like some kind of rank identifier I think?” I said, grinning up at Gramps as I surrendered it to his manipulators.

“Interesting, interesting! Let me have a look here,” Gramps said cheerfully. A panel on his shoulder opened, a manipulator limb unfolding and clamping onto the side of his head, extending a bronze rimmed magnifying lens over his eye. “We find so few personal effects of the makers. It is always wonderful to have another window into…”

Gramps’ booming voice trailed off as his pupil dilated behind the magnifying lens, and he stared down at the card in his hand, going still and silent. Ten seconds ticked by. Then thirty. A full minute went, and I crinkled my brow in worry.

“Hey, did you malfunction again, you old rustbucket?” Vee asked. His playful prodding held a worried edge to it, even to my ears.

“Yeah, Gramps? Gramps do you need a jolt?” I asked, eyes scanning his chassis the internals still looked functional, the prana light under his shell was still there. We had a couple prana batteries, if he’d let his reactor run down again ‘cause he was helping me…

His tall broad frame shook violently. A pneumatic hiss and a few fizzing sparks popping out of his joints. “Ah! No, I f-f-function, don’t worry over me child. Your old grandfather just got lost in thought for a moment. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this kind of artifact!”

“Oh, oh alright,” I said, pushing the concern back from my mind, and with it the sense of relief. “Old man, you can’t go scaring me like that.”

“Haha! Belshazzar is sturdier than that child! I will be with you until you return to dust,” he laughed. “Ah, thank you for this Kazimiera. This will definitely aid my studies!”

“Well glad to help out in return for the upgrades Gramps,” I said, really relaxing now. He was fine, just got into his own head. Usual for Gramps.

“Bah, a child does not owe their parents for their upgrades,” Gramps dismissed. “But, I think this old man does need a few low energy cycles. And you do too! Clean out and change the collector filters, and then get you fuel and rest. You are going out again tomorrow,”

I rolled my shoulders once, it prickled and throbbed there were no more twinges. It was just a matter of letting the new circuits settle.

“I’ll make sure they take care of themselves, like usual,” Vee said. I could feel his reactor humming under their scales as he curled up on my shoulder. It definitely wasn’t a purr of course.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, reaching for my bandoleer and strapping it back on, the rest of my clothes went under my arm.

“See you tomorrow Gramps. Will you be out for breakfast?”

“I will d-d-d- most likely remember!” He announced proudly.

Yeah, all fine.