The Old Man and the Black Bridge

The old man traveled through the canal admiring the surrounding area, what once had been a decadent yet sprawling city was now dormant, a slowly banishing legacy of times where humanity prospered beyond the ghastly domes and spires they called home.

The old man knew the surrounding area well up to the main bridge everyone called the black bridge, no one dared cross from that point on with no specific reason as to why this was like this, the old man was not superstitious but did care more for his life than younger peers, many of which never made it back many years ago.

His raft was somewhat impressive considering the type of material used was rare to find, the old man played it off and ignored the requests to know more of the source, in reality the old man knew quite well what was beyond the black bridge.

While young this man had traveled to the black bridge and beyond, discovered a large settlement that thrived by trading with the neighbors to the north and south of their location, some of these neighbors knew quite well of a place where they could get some quality metal.

This metal would indeed prove to be a valuable trading commodity, the old man at that time had helped dismantle some of the old ships in order to recycle the materials, for this effort he was rewarded considerably with land, a house and enough trading currency to live a few years in basic comfort without the need to work.

But the young man decided to leave this behind and move north, to where the old Corporations ruled for many years and where their left over monuments littered the horizon, many works also being undertaken to bring them down for new uses, destroying a history they did not wish to remember.

During one of the operations the group in which he worked made a discovery that chilled them to the bone, a human trapped in a metal cocoon, alive, waking this human up had been a terrible mistake as it took wrathful vengeance upon them, they ran, not too far but they ran.

The young man was the last one alive, the ghost of the old world warned him about coming for him if he ever returned to this land and to warn the rest to leave or suffer the same fate, the young man warned anyone who would hear him and kept running back home.

To this date the old man watches the black bridge, he was saw the silhouette of a figure he immediately recognized as the ghost of the old world, for a day they looked at each other without making a move, the ghost faded and so did the spirit of the young man.

Death to all Tyrants

The man with the hat and the kid ride Justice to the statue of mother Leucippe, a marble statue standing on a large pedestal, standing on her right foot, left leg extended back, on her left hand a large piece of cloth with something written in it, on her right hand a large spear extended forward as if trying to pierce something or someone, her head looking forward with a face of pain and wrath, on her left cheek a tear rolling down halfway.

As both got close the man with the hat read the plaque: “Here you find what is left of mother Leucippe, mother to all kings and empress of the world. What she has given only she can take”

“What does that mean?” Asked the kid at the man with the hat

“What part of it all?” Asked the man with the hat back

“Everything”

“It is split in three parts, the first part talks about what is left of her, no one knows where Leucippe rests” The kid looked intrigued at the statue

“So how do they know that this is how she looked?”

“No one knows, this is an assumption, if you look closely her face has little details on her, she is the unknown mother of the world”

“Why is she the mother of the world?”

“Legend says that she gave birth to the first king of all men, if this is true then she is mother to all kings and the empress of the world, in other words she has given birth to all of those who control the world”

“But aren’t those bad people?”

“Some of them, but the way to hell is paved with good intentions so I can’t tell you, you need to use your own judgement, what I can tell you though is that she is a vengeful mother and one that does not take lightly on tyranny, she is said to have given birth to the first kill but also of killing him, the first regicide of the world”

“Is that why she carries a spear on her right hand?”

“Most certainly, it is symbolic too you know? To signify that no one is out of her reach, that is also why she carries that piece of cloth with her, so that all that sees may know that from the very cloth of that same king she killed she wrote a letter to the world”

“What does it say?”

“A mothers last wish is the death of her own son, but when her son kills all others there is no choice, a mother must do what she will, from her ripped to life has come a tyrant and all tyrants must be put to death, by her own hand back to other fields to bring health to other wombs, it is by my own hand that this and all tyrants are to rest, death to all tyrants”

Maul Asik

Sixty Two days after I escaped that hell hole. Civilization has begun to crumble. I don't care if I see survivors. Only I matter. I was dead to the world before it ended, now that the world is dead and I am alive. My name is Maul Asik and I am reborn again.

The converted mail van went down the highway with Maul pushing the pedal to the metal. Where was he going, at this point he didn’t know nor care but he wasn’t stopping, unless something or someone would allow him to remain safer he would skip and skip again.

It had been probably some six months since the world had ended, Maul at this point wasn’t sure anymore but he wasn’t keeping tabs with time anymore, not after all the time that had been stolen from him in prison. Yes, he was a criminal and yes, he deserved to go to jail, he deserved to be treated as a human being too but someone forgot this at some point in the checklist, fucking animals, that’s all he could think about when the memories came back to him, the beatings, the solitary confinement, the in-fighting, at least now I have the upper hand, was the next thought that filled in the gap, he had looted the prison armory and the three police stations in the nearby area, some gun shops had better surplus than what he had originally obtained from the police stations and it made him laugh, paranoid people bless your dead rotten heart, and when looking to make his best loot at the army base he found remnants still around so he really had to skip on that even though he wanted to get his hands on one of those beautiful tanks or an APC at least.

To his amazement there were also civilians or the broken, as he was now fond of calling them, and while they presented an organized threat they were slowly falling apart, conditions were not optimal to keep enough crops to feed people, few knew how to take care of the fields, good water was scarce as far as he had seen, moving to better terrains was a death trap and a logistical nightmare, better on my own, is what always came to mind when he thought about it, no better than fucking savages.

On the distance Maul saw an old gas station and pondered the situation, I could skip this one but a little extra on the side won’t hurt for future trading. The van slowly stopped in front of one of the gas pumps and Maul stepped out of the truck, he had his orange bodysuit from prison, number 552160335542, gas mask hanging from his neck, a generic black Kevlar vest, a holster on his right hip with a semi-automatic pistol Garibaldi .45 inside, a Galt Mk II SMG strapped to his left shoulder; he took a pair of empty jerrycans leaving them next to the pump then proceeding inside the convenience store with sub-machine gun in hand.

As soon as he stepped in he could hear some sort of machinery working, a dim light on the back where a fridge stood, the shelves were empty but he had the feeling this was a recent thing, a few more steps inside and he knew this was as far as he was going until the content of the refrigerator got his attention, water, shit. It rushed through his head to just go for the water and forget about the gasoline, no, this was probably a trap, he was going to really get it this time, fuck it. He rushed back to the van for a backpack then into the store again to fill it up with as many bottles as he could, half-way through he heard the cracking sound of a gun being cocked.

"I’m assuming you are paying with cash" Said a voice to his right, Maul turned rapidly to his right and saw an old man behind the counter, probably around fifty years of age, almost bald, thick jacket, shotgun pointed firmly towards him, on the corner of his right eye he could see another person holding a revolver almost at head level. “So, what will it be, make it quick boy or I’ll just splatter your ass on the floor”

"Old man the world is dead, no point on keeping it all for yourself" Replied Maul with a thick guttural accent, almost as if he was singing.

“Son, I don’t care if the world is gone or not, you pay for the water or you get a couple of buckshots up your ass” Replied the old man, no one was moving, Maul even tried not to blink at this point.

"The world is dead old man and so are you" Said Maul with his finger slowly pulling the trigger to make it go into full action.

"You wish" Said the old man, he fired first but his shot was slightly off to the left and hit one of the racks, the shot from the revolver hit so close to him that he felt the heat from the bullet just on front of his face, his finger pulled hard on the trigger spraying from left to right onto the counter and the entrance, he pulled back quickly once he felt the click from the sub-machine gun and switched magazines as a bullet crossed the shelves behind him with deadly precision although not hitting him directly. "Come out you little shit!"

How the fuck did he do that, thought Maul as he quickly examined his surroundings and noticed a set of mirrors on the top of the refrigerator area, another shot came down his way this time closer to him, not taking any chances he took pot shots at the mirrors above him while covering from the falling glass.

“You spoiled brat, those cost a fortune!” Yelled the old man angrily as he released another shot in the general area of Maul who in turn was already moving with care, avoiding glass in order to not make any noise, as he was turning he felt the bullet before he heard it, it crossed through the top of his right shoulder, he acted fast but the jolt from the impact forced his sub-machine gun to rip the remaining bullets through the general direction, he managed to change magazines again and heard some faint sobbing coming from a shelf or two in front of him.

“Old man, time out” Said Maul as he walked to the next shelf and taking cover on the back, he examined the next shelf could barely notice a tennis shoe showing slightly from the side, it twitched slightly with what Maul assumed was every breath, the sobbing had stopped but assumed it was the same person. “Old man talk to me, I’m not fucking around here and I will shot whoever it is if you don’t give me an answer back in three seconds”

“Calm down you little turd” The voice was somewhat closer, Maul assumed the old man was moving towards the figure so he rapidly crossed to the next shelf and peeked through the corner, he saw a woman, probably in her late teens, she had three bullet shots on her right leg and was applying as much pressure as possible but evidently that wasn’t working too well for her, she looked pale, tears running in a non-stop line down her cheeks, having small spasms as she tried controlling her breathing and sobbing, lips twitching fast, eyes constantly gazing at her wounds, the blood covering almost all of the right side of her jeans.

“You are an absolute piece of shit, sending your granddaughter to do your own shit” The teenager immediately turned to her right, Maul had placed the end of the barrel as close as possible to her head, her left hand instinctively reaching for her revolver. “If you raise that thing I will shoot you, I am not kidding”

“I am not his grandfather and who are you calling a piece of shit, you wanted to rob me” Asked the old man who was at the other end of the hallway probably taking cover for all Maul knew at this point.

“Your daughter, niece, whatever, had you let me go with the water none of this would be happening right now” Maul slowly examined the wounds and noticed she was still bleeding, this reminded him of his own wound but a quick checkup gave him good sign on his shoulder although the pain was probably going to hit him hard after the adrenaline was gone. “She’s bleeding badly, man”

“She’s not my family and I already know that, you flushed that thing down on her” Maul found it curious that the old man was trying to take care of someone that wasn’t her family, what an alien concept to consider right now of all times. “Look, just get out of here and we’ll call it even”

“Can’t do chief, I’m not going out empty handed, I want the water and the gas plus everything else that’s useful in this store”

“Unbelievable, you are worse than the fucking military or the nomads, whatever happened to loving your neighbor and helping in times of need, Christ”

“Homo homini lupus est” Replied Maul as he checked the other side of the shelf, his suspicions confirmed that the old man was trying to go around him when he could see the edge of his jacket on the next shelf on the other end of the hallway. “You know what I mean?”

“Cut me a fucking break, now you speak Latin, what a world to live in, of all places I find a guy trying to rob and kill me that tells me proverbs in Latin at the very end of the world, the odds I tell you what” Maul was seeking silence, he knew the old man was not as nimble or fast moving as him, he knew that he had to act fast as soon as he slipped, he needed patience, patience, haven’t I learned to have a world of patience now after so long; Maul looked at the teenager who in turn looked back at him enraged, her right hand still holding tight to the largest wound while her left hand floated on top of the revolver, twitching, just waiting for that right moment.

Crack.

Maul let loose on the shelf on a general direction, he sprayed from right to left at what he thought would be hip level, as soon as he heard the click he moved the weapon to his side and took out his sidearm with which he advanced quickly towards the refrigerator area, there he found the man laying against one of the refrigerators, glass broken over him from the refrigerator doors, a small pool of blood forming below him, he wasn't sure how badly wounded the old man was until he noticed a bullet hole on the side of his head, Maul figured that he had probably crouched in order to avoid his bullets, fucking irony, he holstered his handgun with peace of mind.

Maul immediately grabbed the shotgun and pumped it, no shell came flying out, he was going to bluff it, that man had balls, and with that he had some pity on him, going all the way to risk it for someone who wasn't even his family, no matter how young the person it was foolish in his eyes, what a true waste. Maul went for his backpack and finished filling it with as many water bottles as he could, back to the van to drop his loot including the shotgun and back for whatever was left, as he went in for the second time he heard sobbing again, how the fuck is she alive, Maul walked toward the sound and found the teenager trying to raise the revolver at head level with her left hand, shaking and probably unable to lift that much weight at this point Maul walked towards her.

“Hey, kid” The eyes of the teenager slowly turned to him, rage still filled them but there was also disappointment, lose of hope, he knew that feeling too well from his time in that hole. “How do you work the pump or is there even any gas left here?”

Maul wasn't waiting for a reply, he didn't get it anyway, he took the revolver with ease and stashed it on an empty holster he carried with him for such occasions.

“I could give you the benefit of blowing your brains out, kid, but I could always use that extra bullet, you're dead anyway” The words came out with such ease, he smiled perversely not because he felt joy in what he was doing or what had happened, he felt a natural smile because this is how life was turning out to be.

Maul did not take much time to look around for loot, he took the extra water, an incomplete first aid kit and a box of .44 bullets that would go well with his new acquisition, the jerrycans back without any extra gasoline since he did not have the time to figure out how to work out the system, a small gasoline can on the back of the store next to the still working electrical engine worked as some additional decent loot, aside from that nothing else left, the van roared as he turned the engine on and before leaving he thought about the situation, shit, I can't leave this like that.

He turned the engine off, got off the truck and into the store, he heard a gasp coming from the back of the shelves but he ignored it, he simply started piling up some of the trash he had found on the store and with a lighter lit it up then dropped some of the flaming trash on the shelves, the counter, the back of the store, he made sure everything started burning up before getting back into the van and into the road, no need to leave any sort of valuable behind.

Dementia

There was nothing left during the intervention, the attack had gone through so well that they had cleaned throughly with incredible precision.

It was not common for them, what they had asked them to do was out of their jurisdiction and clearly their boss had been forced into this by the powers that be, far beyond him and everyone else in the department.

The door creaked.

Uneasiness was all around them, the investigation was not going through as planned, they had little to put on record and with anxious hands the typewriter flew, then stopped, a pair of letters, going back and forth, nothing could come out of his mind to fully put the report into motion.

What was he going to tell the chain of command, that his team had lost half the men to an unrecognizable form which they could not hurt with their weapons, he would be considered a mad man if that was the case; if he was to consider writing so far fetched he needed solid evidence but there was nothing to put on the pedestal for him not to take the blame, a horrendous splash of memories flashed through his eyes, blasts coming out from guns all around him, handguns were ineffective, shotguns only seemed to enrage it and the Thompsons did nothing, not a dent, could not and would not force it back and everything happened in split seconds.

Then they arrived, he had never seen them before but he was certainly glad they had reached them, one of them fired at the thing and it squirmed and bellowed hard, one of the "arms" dropped furiously on the agents and he was gone, forever, no, he was not dead per say, he simply was not there anymore as if he had been sucked out of this reality; they continued their assault on the thing, two of them protected the fourth member, he looked old and weary but his eyes flashed with incredible strength.

Then it happened, I was aloof.

In a strange tongue he mumbled, nothing I had ever heard before could be compared to whatever is it that he said, let alone none of them had ever produced such a response, the ceiling and ground cracked open, wood and plaster coming undone as if they were nothing, some bricks became dust and finally that, whatever it was, had released one final scream that pierced my ears, blood coming out of the left one, I instinctively covered my eyes for I assumed it would explode.

It didn't, everything was in order again, the remaining agents and me looked around in confusion, the four men were gone just as they had arrived, nothing made sense but I knew I had no seen things, I was right, I knew something had happened... I remember now.

"Guard, guard!" The man screamed, it took a while for the eventual screaming to receive an answer, a set of eyes came from the small opening on the metal door. "Guard, I know what happened, I know it, yes, it was that thing that made this to me, please, I need to see the Doctor"

The eyes moved to the left and there was a nod, the door opened up with effort and after the cacophony it produced had stopped the man looked in horror at two guards coming at him with a third man holding a small syringe with his right hand, ready to jab it at him as soon as the guards had restrained him.

"No, no, please don't, I know the truth, I know what happened, I need to speak with the Captain!"

"Calm down Frederick, everything will be alright, it is just another nightmare" The man pronounced as the guards held down the man in dementia. "Remember, you have been here for too long, you still think it happened yesterday but it has been quite some time, a decade at least, remember the other Doctor, Frederick?"

"Please, I need to speak with the Captain" The man with the syringe sighed as he approached the man, he delivered a jab at him and slowly released the liquid inside for him to calm down.

"There Frederick, now remain calm and remember that you are here until we can get you back into this reality"

The man smiled, the door creaked.

The Doctor

Space Station Antioch, Orbiting Uninhibited planet

"We have made rather interesting discoveries in our latest batch" Said a man wearing a transparent lab coat with a black uniform underneath. He walked a group of what looked like first year students to a room he called, "The Incubator, here we breed and raise our subjects"

"How long does it take to breed and raise a test subject?" Asked one of the younger students.

"We take around a month at most, two is the farthest acceptable time period for the subject to achieve self-awareness. Once they begin to do most basic interactions we commence the induction process" The man approached the door and it opened revealing a room filled with at least five hundred small metallic tubes, ordered in several lines, connected to their network sentient computer that analyzed every single input from the test subjects. "Right now we are running only half of our tubes due to a lack of subjects but we await to have the rest by the end of our planetary cycle"

"Professor" Another young man, blond haired, rose a hand which was immediately lowered as the man placed his on the man. "I mean, Doctor Helger"

"Never forget. I am a Doctor not a Professor, I don't follow nor would I ever follow any of the academic methods or procedures, to follow through with the established paradigm is to eventually die a fool, we must push boundaries, never mind the academy and the government funding this project, ignore their lackeys, the hunt-hounds and the political trash that dare step into our station, they are only a mean to reach the true objective” The young man remained silent for a second wondering if he should say anything at all. "Their little minds lack the power to understand what the true power of becoming a God means, for them it is only an economical gain or a tactical superiority, it sickens me” The Doctor clenched his fists as he looked to the ceiling and began breathing in a controlled pattern. “I am sorry about that, could you repeat the question again?” Seeing no answer from the student the Doctor berated him immediately “Come on I don't bite, I may be angry most of the time but ignore that, it is part of being me. What was it that you wanted to know?"

"Well, I wanted to know about the current batch of subjects, has at anytime any of the subjects become fully aware of what is going around him?"

"As in?"

"Have they awakened?"

"A very Interesting question you just brought up. To this point we haven't had a subject that has achieved such thing but we are also speaking about subjects that have never been--" The station suddenly quaked as if it had been hit by something. "Hercules, report"

"Hercules on-line. The source of the impact is located in the thruster A, it is unknown at this point what hit us, nothing was reported on sub-space scanners" Reported an almost Human voice but still revealed the taint of a mechanical being. "At this point no security or emergency deployment is necessary as per current damage assessment, the Chief of Security and the Chief of Engineering have both been informed of this incident to investigate further"

"Good Hercules. Thanks for the report, keep me informed of the development"

"Hercules off-line"

"That is our advanced defense system, also a prototype from the early days of the station, he has been assigned to protect us ever since we released it to the station and now has reached a point where it also runs the experiments of this station, at this rate it will not be necessary to have human interaction with Hercules when our first batch is released into a protected environment"

"Hercules on-line. Doctor Helger I will advice you to--" The signal crackled and went out for a second. "Please proceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Slowly the voice began to get deeper and to fade away to the point where it died.

"Hercules, Hercules?" The Doctor walked past by the students and when trying to enter the room where the super computer was located the door wouldn't open. "Damn. Well I think our tour for today just ended and I just hope security has--"

Lights went off on the station together with the life support system, everything slowly stopped around them and with it panic slowly grew with it, panic turned into horror when the emergency systems did not go off-line and the group found itself floating in a cold hallway, struggling to breath. From both ends of the hallways horrible squeals could be heard, metal being ripped apart and something breaking down, machines and glass. to ensue when the backup system was not coming on-line and when horrible squeals could be heard from both ends of the hallway.

"Everyone remain calm" The Doctor, holding from a side bar next a window looking at the planet, awaited for security or engineering to do something about the situation, it worried him that he had seen no answer yet and was fearful that they would not survive whatever was coming at them, specially with the squealing becoming louder and no gunshots around them. "Damn..."

Suddenly one of the doors on the hallway opened and a massive figure appeared on the frame, it was someone from security as the Doctor recognized the mechanical sounds of a power armor, when it walked into their sight it became apparent that the situation was worse than he had thought, the armor had been terribly damaged with cables coming out of the left side of the torax, the left shoulder and upper arm missing, the top part of the helmet ripped apart by something that looked like a claw and a clank and buzz coming from both legs. The eyes on the armor pulsed with a bloody red and analyzed the surrounding area until they found the Doctor.

"Doctor Helger" The voice, a mechanical dead voice, came from the armor, the Doctor was not sure who the person was, he had doubts he was part of the security team to begin with. "You are coming with me"

"Who are you?” Asked the Doctor with a low tone of voice

“Salvation” The mechanical voice echoed as the squealing and destruction approached them ever faster. “There is little time left for you to come with me”

What if I don't!" The man pointed his rifle at the group of students. "No, wait, stop it, what do you think you are doing?"

"Leaving a bait for those things, they are not a priority or of anyones interest” Red and yellow lights lit up on the hallway and slowly life support systems picked back up, the Doctor took a deep breath and looked again at the power armor. “Doctor, you have little time to choose and if I can't take you willingly I will do it by force”

“Fine, fine, don't hurt them” Light violently returned to the hallway and with it came a moment of blindness.

“We must prepare”

"Prepare for what?" The readjustment to light took longer than what the Doctor had expected, as he slowly picked up his vision he saw in horror at the body armor, the damages he had seen with the poor lightning was nothing compared to the reality of the power armor, scrap metal was the correct word for it, furthermore no one was inside the suit, the suspicions of the Doctor were slowly being confirmed, the impact had probably been a drop pod full of automated suits that were looking for him. From the open door came more of the suits and service robots that had probably been reprogrammed as they now held weaponry. The body armor extended the left arm toward the open door. "Please, proceed"

“Don't do anything stupid” The Doctor said while facing the machine and walking to the door, the message had been intended for the students but they did not listen, instead the students tried to push through and run, the Doctor was in shock as the machines rapidly worked their way through the feeble attempts of the students to go through them and soon there were only pieces of them laying around, flesh and bone ripped apart, sinew and organs littering the ground, the machines had no heart and seek only the best way to resolve an issue and by their calculations this would avoid them any additional quarrel with whatever was coming to them for long enough for them to get out.

"You retarded mongoloids, this will not go unpunished, Earth will respond to this violation--" The powered armor pushed the Doctor through the open door and quickly through the hallway until they reached a door with a the emblem of a cog and a triskelion. "The Empire of the Machines, really?"

"Doctor Helger you are of interest to the Empire of the Machine, this is why we have come this far to include you in our current set of plans" The mechanical voice rang through the hallway and as soon as he had finished the door with the emblem opened, inside a cryogenic tube open and waiting.

"Are you aware of the repercussions this will have, you are mad, they will hunt you to the end of the universe if necessary!" The powered armor pulled the Doctor into the room and threw him into the cryogenic tube. “Fools!”

"Humanity could not even begin to understand the power we hold. The Empire of the Machines cannot be stopped by your armed forces or space fleet, we have begun to transcend such idiocies" Robots ran through the hallway at full speed into the room, some stood back firing at an unknown danger rushing towards them. “Deploy”

The machines moved inside the ship and the door closed and pressurized, there was an explosion and the room had been expelled from the station, it continued to be pushed out of reach of the station until it gravitated towards something not visible through normal sight. The Machines had placed the Doctor in cryogenic stasis at that point and connected themselves to the internal battery of the room to wait for their time to wake up.

It would be centuries before they reached their destination.

The Misadventure of Carlo Belruso

"Watch the coat! Hey-- Hey!" There was a commotion inside the local tavern of Kain'Tus, now only known as Kantus, that grew to an almost threatening point. The apparent resolution for the problem inside was a male human flying through the door frame of the tavern, he covered his face as he landed roughly in some mud that stank to feces. After he had landed in the mud and tried to recover himself as fast as he could a group of Draconian Imperial soldiers formed around him, tall, burly, still dressed in their grays and carrying their service guns. "I told him I would pay him later!"

"That's not what he is saying" The Sergeant, the figure was easily recognized by the Imperial Dragon etched on the helmet with a roman numeral two in the middle, pulled his sword from the sheath, an old officer saber from the pre-Imperial days, a rare sight in this time and day, then pointed at the human with it, the cleanliness of the artifact of heydays partially reflected back at him to the point he could see himself, his neck, reflected on the blade. "Our Lieutenant has patience and confidence in you but I say you are just a scoundrel looking for a quick tap and run"

"Sir, I feel offended!" He quickly rose up and stood as tall as he could, at that point he barely reached the Sergeants shoulders, and cleaned what he could with his bare hands, his face specially, spreading mud everywhere, even to the other soldiers who grunted back at him. "A man of my level would never do such a lowly thing. I wish that you apologize for that!"

"I owe no apologies to your kind, scum" The blade moved closer to the human, it flashed quickly and it stood a fingers distance from his chest.

"I demand to be recognized for what I am, as a citizen of the Empire!" The Sergeant have him a cocky smile.

"Your papers then, citizen" The man rushed through the many pockets of his coat and pants which only provoked laughter from the soldiers, he had to be careful though since there was too much inside the pockets that he did not want them to found out, it had been a highly productive night and the interception by Lieutenant Dael soldiers put a heavy strain on his work. "You left them on your other coat, citizen?" He played for a few more seconds and rapidly produced the papers from within his coat. "Hmm"

"Inner lining pockets, I always forget about those" The Sergeant carefully placed his sword back into the sheath and examined the papers.

"Name"

"Carlo Belruso" The human clapped the back of his shoes, heel with heel.

"City"

"Taer'Sin, bay city of the green kingdom"

"That is Taer now, citizen, Capital of the state of Sindoru. Remember that" Carlo

"I will Sergeant, I will also take my papers to the Office of Citizenship for correction"

"Good. Fair enough that I need not remind you of this" The Sergeant examined the papers again and the small booklet in which they came inside. "What class is your citizenship?"

"Human, Second Class non-Imperial" The Sergeant gave a couple of nods as he continued going through the papers.

"The Empire processed nineteen thousand Third Class licenses and one thousand Second Class licenses. What exactly was your profession during the Elvish occupation?"

"Why I was a tailor!"

"A tailor..." The Sergeant looked at the men around him who were just waiting the order, or a signal of any kind, to beat the man where he stood and take him to the pen. "And exactly who did you serve?"

"The former King. I was one of the many tailors at his service and so was my father and his father" The Sergeant gave a slight nod as he walked to a place with more light to examine the papers with even more detail. "If you need proof I can give you some?"

"I have enough proof as it is"

"Ah. See, nothing to worry, it is just that I am running with a bad streak of luck, with the war and all"

"Yes the war" He turned his attention from the book towards the Human. "One final question"

"Sure, go ahead Sergeant" The calmness in the voice of Belruso was breaking, he knew there was something going on with the Sergeant but he could not rush unless he wanted to be filled with lead then choking for air on the ground.

"How do you spell your last name, with an s or a z?" Belruso hesitated for a second, drinking put a strain on his memory and he found himself doubting which papers he had delivered to the Sergeant, he had to play it smooth even if he missed it.

"With an s my good man although they misspell it with a z, another thing I have to correct at the Office first thing in the morning" The Sergeant gave a nod then ripped the papers apart and threw them to the mud, the soldiers rapidly raised their guns and cocked them for firing. "What?"

"Hard to misspell that when your last name is Balru, isn't it?"

"A common misunderstanding from the Office my good man!" The Sergeant unsheathed his sword again and pointed as Belruso with it.

“To prison with you!”

“Come now Sergeant, be reasonable, it is a mistake on your end not mine”

“Mistake was to give you a second chance, our Lieutenant has been very patient and kind with you but I do not share his sympathy for you, the gallows sound like a more fitting place for you”

Shit, Belruso thought about the situation but he found himself in a hard position to escape, it would be better for him, as he had played all the possible scenarios, to be taken to prison and work from there than try to make a run for it.

“Fine then, I will pay for a mistake made by you, your Lieutenant will not let this pass though, remember that”

“Shut up and walk”

Wake up Call

“Poseidon this is March Walker Twenty Seven, we’ve found some debris on the surface, may be something of importance, over” Corporal Waldo Ibañez looked at the strange charred and twisted pieces of metal over the barren planet surface, a planet infested with heat, pollution of unknown sources and impossible amounts of broken remains from civilizations past gone for an unknown time, the exploration team had been dropped in what was deemed the safest area of the planet in order to probe for possible resources or technology that could be salvaged. “I think we might have found something important… hopefully” He said to himself as he awaited a reply from Poseidon, the rest of his team looked around, moved rocks, examined some of the metallic remnants and took samples with them and into a small solar cart that followed them around in order to stash their discoveries.

“March Walker Twenty Seven this is Poseidon, cleared for investigation and extraction as deemed fit, over and out” A good sign, he thought, as the unlock code ran through his visor, he sent this to all the equipment and suits nearby and with it Waldo and his team began the excavation process, heavy machinery rapidly came to life and proceeded to break down any debris blocking their progress and processing anything the team had marked previously as unusable as is, which meant grinding and forging. After half a planet day they had found nothing of importance, they had recovered resources but Waldo was conscious that more could be obtained by mining raw ore than what they had pulled from this operation. “Shit, command is going to rip me a new one for this” He said through the local comm and his team cheered him and asked him to remain positive, they had just begun an operation that was deemed for at least one Earth year. “Poseidon this is March Walker Twenty Seven, we have--”.

“Hey Waldo, wait, I’ve got something here!” The team of eight rapidly gathered around the private in yellow power armor and red visor, they examined it rapidly and at first it seemed a sort of metal tomb in the shame of a humanoid figure.

“March Walker Twenty Seven this is Poseidon, repeat”

“Poseidon this is March Walker Twenty Seven, hold on” Waldo moved in closer and examined the object, it was not a tomb per-say but he had seen or read something about this, in Earth exploration times the members of a crew would be sometimes jettisoned into space to avoid cannibalism when resources were running short, in other instances they would bury them in their armor if the conditions outside did not allow it or if they were bound to pick them up after an operation and it was unfeasible to carry the extra weight, for said purpose the emergency beacon would be turned on and deliver a signal asking to bring the deceased somewhere, this one in particular was not sending any sort of signal which gave several possible scenarios, it was either damaged beyond repair or the battery inside had run out. Whichever was the final case it meant good salvage which in turn meant good credit on the Company, putting more thought on it Waldo figured more of these should be somewhere on the planet and with luck they would be at reachable distance.

“Poseidon this is March Walker Twenty Seven, we have good loot on our hands, send in collector for inventory cleansing”

“March Walker Twenty Seven this is Poseidon, collector heading your way, signal will be sent when arrival is at the thirty second mark, keep everything in a designated area and mark it for pickup, over”

“Poseidon this is March Walker Twenty Seven, loud and clear” Waldo looked at the armor then back at his team and the equipment still running around. “Alright team listen up, get everything ready for collection; Chunky, mark the spot for pickup”

“On it” Chunky had a yellow power armor with black stripes crossing horizontally through his torso, he took out a small metallic tube, pressed one of the sides and created a large square in the ground, as soon as he finished he pressed one of the ends again and the machinery stopped working then walked to the newly created square to drop whatever they had gathered.

“So, what is it?” Asked Meinz, his power armor blue with a white helmet and black visor, as he kept examining the recovered tomb-armor with curiosity but without touching anything on it.

“It could be a tomb as Chunky mentioned or it could be lost equipment, casualties of war. It looks old, older than anything we usually run through the Company”

“I think I know what it is” The old-timer, Greg, had been around the Company longer than most of the field operatives or officers, while he had been liberated from any heavy work at the Company or any work at all if he wished but he decided to go into the field to avoid feeling useless.

“Give me some ideas Greg, is it from back in your day?” Everyone laughed, Greg chuckled for a while and approached the tomb-armor, he removed dust from the top and the sides, noticed there was no equipment and an empty utility belt, small marks on the front and the left side but nothing severe. “So?”

“It's not a tomb, this is not even Human, probably a machine of sorts” Replied Greg as he continued examining, moving it to the side and examining the back he found what looked like a service panel, removing it without the necessary tool would probably damage something in the process so he left it and placed it the way it was. “Definitely a machine, probably a service unit”

“What's it doing this far out into the Rim?” Asked Chunky as he formed up with the rest. “Weren't those only designated for the inner worlds?”

“Well you are in a way right about it, this should not be here but it is here and it is not working, I see no damage on any side aside from some dents which makes me suspicious about it”

“You think it still works?” Asked Waldo as he reached for his side-arm, a large laser pistol he could only wield with his power armor.

“I doubt it” Replied Greg with a serene voice as he examined the head of the tomb-armor. “We could probably salvage some parts and if we are lucky enough the memory core, transferring the information is a whole 'nother story”

“Anything else you know about this, Greg?” Asked Chunky looking intrigued at Greg who in turn would not stop examining the tomb-armor.

“There is a possibility though that this robot is an old remnant of an ARC expedition, it would be far-fetched though”

“No, that would make perfect sense now that you mention it” Said Waldo who rapidly started looking for information on his visor. “The old ARC's were not designed with the same layout”

“Could be a miner expedition sent by Earth, we do know for a fact that they sent many ARC ships out into space but for one to reach this far is crazy” Replied Greg as he stood up  and wondered, he looked around him and the machinery still dropping their salvage and it struck him right there “That makes sense now, the debris around the planet could be remnants of the ARC, reaching this far into space probably sent it into emergency mode and it crashed into the surface. What a tragedy”

“That's horrible” Added Meinz “Do you think that's what happened?”

“Who knows, so far it seems reasonable to assume that” Answered Greg while looking towards space. “We did not find any ships floating or sending distress signals, no lifeboats, escape pods, tubes or boxes to hint us in the right way”

“We'll let the Company figure it out”

The Rats

It was through the old streets of Jerusalem, at night, with trembling torches in one hand, the other at the ready to draw for the threat of Saladin was near.

The night stood quiet, too quiet, the wind from time to time hit the patrol tenderly but every time it felt as if a knife was crossing through their skin, that they had been betrayed by their senses and their death had finally arrived.

None of this had happened so far, the weeks at night quiet but tense and even more during the day with everyone waiting for the dreaded strike, the patrols doubled and tripled, men pushed to the brink by the horror of a full scale attack, how would they fare, how long could they survive, how horrible would be their death, some had come to bet on the situation, the money had been hidden in a reservoir, at the bottom, for the survivors to live off from it as an insurance, others would drink it all away and hope for the best, or the worst.

Throughout the dead streets they heard their own footsteps, always wary of the direction the sound came from it never ceased to stress them, their armor crunching and ripping, leather and metal in clash, the torches cracking slowly and if they stood quiet long enough not only could they hear their breathing, their heartbeat throbbed hard on their ears, fast.

It wasn't long for them to find an oddity in the streets, a man lay dead, at first they stood in shock at the visage, then rapidly attended the body to find the culprit, their failure to rapidly grasp what was happening led them to their doom.

Rats, rushing out of the shadows in the hundreds, silently awaiting for their next pray, screams of panic and warning were followed by those of pain and horror, the torches did little to put them out of harms way, swords ineffective with such small targets even in the quantities present they seemed well aware of their intentions and evaded easily, their armors useless as the rodents flew towards their face and any openings between legs, arms or chest, no flesh left to tear, no bones left to gnaw, the metal and leather turn to pieces or taken away by the wave, the torches only a few splinters now, nothing remained save for the infusion of terror that the surrounding inhabitants had to live with every night, pray the next victims were not them.

Tech Men

EVERYDAYS WORK

"The Cathedral" Engineer Solomon Sanchez looked at the magnanimous Gothic structure in front of him, it never stopped awing him but at the same time it produced a sense of disgust inside of him, it represented not only a pinnacle in human engineering but also in ignorance. Remembering his classes at the Monitor School, one of the few remaining educational institutions in charge of educating a few select individuals in the secrets of information and technology, the structure was constructed by the fervent religious people of England back in the lost ages, known as such due to the continuously deteriorating veracity of the information found throughout the world, information being transferred back into palpable objects, books or parchments, of terrible quality and questionable importance to the greater structure of history. Everything was slowly deteriorating into the void, said his old master, with humanity going into nothingness with it, forgetting who one was and where he came from was the eventual and final decline of civilization and an organized society, the end of all things and probably the beginning of chaos unless it could be stopped. This cathedral, as the men inside called it, was a place to preach to a God foreign and unknown to the Tech Men, one which they knew from the texts but never fully understood or debated, a metaphysical object in their cosmogony. Officially and bureaucratically to the them, the Tech Men, this was just another place, another building, another congregation, nothing special about it except for the fact that it contained a small amount of ancient machines they worked with from time to time.

Approaching the Cathedral drew the attention of Law Men, he wasn't sure if they were police or army since the standardization of one uniform for all Law and Military Forces, they called them Law Men anyway since they in the end had the final say and word on a judical situation, courts removed and only assembled in case of a major emergency, the constitution and civil rights almost all abolished in the frantic and explosive end of what was once known as the first world. They, the men in uniform, wouldn't stop him though, he was wearing the only emblem that distinguished him from the local population and any other surrounding entity. This was his emblem, a simple black jacket made of an unknown material but built to last an atomic blast if neccesary, covered in what they themselves called the Tech Man regalia, an ensemble of emblems and symbols long forgotten but still in use to identify each other through and through. This immediately opened doors, differentiated him from the plebs and the remaining government figures, placed him in a strange pedestal from where he was untouchable, in the end it was a blessing and a curse as he had no way to escape his destiny as hard as he tried.

"Greetings, do you come to the congregation?" Called a man dressed with a simple brown robe, a monk had recalled Solomon, who didn't recognize him at first until he squinted his eyes to examine him appropertly and finally with a gasp he raised both hands. "Ahh, my apologies! Welcome, welcome great holder of knowledge, this way please"

It was strange, they always bowed and kneeled as if he was some kind of noble or politician, or sanctity, truth be told he was a simple man, with no more power than the Monk, that simply held knowledge, in fact just like the Monk, knowledge once thought lost and forgotten, yet again just like the man he was now following, that was part of a a 'Legacy Society and Workframe' as it was called at some point by Science Men.

The steps of the boots worn by the Engineer echoed in contrast with the sandals the Monk was wearing which made a 'flap' every time he gave a step. He was taken straight into the mouth of the main library where a congregation of monks were studying a bunch of old books on separated tables, each of them held at least three terminals that connected to a series of small sized local servers.

"Engineer Sanchez" Called a man sitting behind a desk on the bottom left side. The whole congregation turned to him and then to the Engineer to which they bowed. "Welcome"

"Bishop McCay" Sanchez simply gave him a nod, a formality as he called it, which McCay understood quite well as the Engineer was a quiet man who kept his thoughts and emotions only to himself. The Bishop and the Engineer had worked for quite a while now, approximately seven years, but only twice he had been taken to this specific library to fix terminals. This time it came to something a little more severe to which the Engineer was unsure if he could fix. "Where is the ailing machine?"

"Brother Nellus, take the Engineer to the location" The Monk that had led him to the hallways once more became his guide. He took him to a group of four conventional machines, standard sized computers, that were left on a wooden table, which the Engineer assumed immediately were the local servers.

During the twenty something years of his career as an Engineer, from which seven of those were dedicated solely to the study of Legacy Hardware which had proven to be a horrendously difficult task. He as an Engineer had seen a lot of things in his time, he had found computers in sewer systems, he had taken systems back to life after being put under harsh conditions, he even had the opportunity to build two ancient systems himself from scratch gaining great respect from his master and the council, and then he had seen awkward things done to these marvels of technology, like decorating them with gold and silver, dressing them up or even glorify them as Gods.

These particular ones were decorated with several candles and incense burning on top of them which immediately infuriated the Engineer. There were ashes everywhere on top of casings and one of them had been burnt by a candle, the reason why he had been summoned here. He passed his right hand over the casings and removed all the dust and ashes leaving his black leather glove dirty and with a combined smell of old, decay and wild flowers, the Monks gasped as they saw the dust fly and the candles removed.

"Clean them every week at least, daily under this conditions, do not put warm objects on top or anything that burns. No liquids either or anything that can melt, like candles" With these words he moved the chair to the left edge of the table and looked for the service tag. Once found he took out an old book from his gas mask bag, painted with the most holy of the symbols the Cross of Technology, and looked for the serial code.

"Great one, what is this great book about?" Asked Brother Nellus who approached a lantern to the Engineer.

"It contains information regarding these machines, this one in particular is the one that I am looking for" The pages of this book were not ancient, they were archaic to the point Engineer Sanchez was fearful they would just rip and disintegrate in mid air, once he found the service tag, and giving a sigh from not having to torture the poor relic anymore, he now became worried with the information provided. "Pre-Y2K. Custom made... oh... curses"

He sighed at the thought of having to work with a mess of cables and things that were built before there was a firm standard in computing. They called this the Pre-Y2k, machines built before what was to be a great cataclysm that wouldn't happen until thirty two years later, this great event was was known as U32, the Unix 2032 Cataclysm that literally drove the world down in flames due to the negligence of the great Gurus. If only such was his luck...

"Is it bad news Master?"

"Maybe" From his bag he took out a small LCD screen created by the blessed Mechanical Engineers of the 4th Office, those were the ones that he had to thank for all the times they helped him solve one of this peculiar problems. The LCD serial port was connected to the back of the machine and a display showed only red and purple lines all over the place. "Not Good..."

Pressing the restart button did remove the lines but afterward nothing would happen. The machine would remain in a semi-dead status with a whirling sound coming from the back and an annoying TAK TAK coming from the heart of it that went silent after a few seconds.

He came up with the idea of reconnecting the LCD cable just in case it was not fitting in correctly. Doing the most holy of techniques, the power cycle which consisted only of turning the machine on and off, did not work either which had put a dent on the his 'Let this be fast and painless' plan.

"Time to disassemble" After putting the LCD back into his bag he removed the cables from the machine as if he was taking it out of life support.

"G-Great one, sorry to interrupt!" The monk called a little worried at what the Engineer was doing. "But would you not be killing the great machine?"

Ignorance was not a bliss. Solomon had to deal with this kind of things every time he was working with a machine or computer. People seemed to think computers and machines were actually alive, with a spirit and mind of their own, at first he always tried to tell them the contrary but with the current culture of the local population he decided to go with the flow and avoid any problems... like that time in Norwich when they almost lynched him.

"No Brother Nellus do not worry. The machine ails but it goes to sleep before I remove his power source thus it will not die" Brother Nellus seemed relieved by that.

"Ahh if only we could be like that" If he could only explain the process of medicine...

"I need an empty table" As soon as he asked for a clear table the Monks removed everything from one of the work stations closest to him and gave him enough space to maneuver with the metal beast. A set of conventional screwdrivers released group of rusted old screws barely holding onto the body and revealed what he had expected, a jungle of cables and devices he feared working with. What scared him actually was the fact that the candle had managed to burn through the casing, the cables and the motherboard. And the dust... dear gracious god the dust accumulated inside the machine... Engineer Sanchez was sure he could sew himself a new robe with the quantity of dust inside this thing. A simple task it was not. "An unfortunate event has led to the death of this machine"

In the book he wrote down a technical note about what had happened. He began to make notes on pieces that would probably work on other bodies and then with a red marker painted a D over the case of the machine.

"I will take this back to our shop for a proper disposal"

"And our information? What will happen to it?" Asked Bishop McCay who approached the Engineer.

"It can be recovered. But as a matter of fact we need to do this at a time when nobody is working on this library to avoid anymore interruptions thus I would gladly take it with me and do the proper repairs in our shop"

"As you well know I cannot allow you to take anything unless the information contained is preserved here. In an hour we will have a congregation in the Cathedral that will last the rest of the day. I can allow you in here but you will be under heavy watch"

"Fair enough. I shall return shortly in that case"

"Do you need to report back to the Master Engineer?"

"Yes and I also need additional tools to perform the repairs on the machine"

"Very well, give my regard to the Master Engineer in that case"

"Will do Bishop McCay" With a nod Engineer Sanchez left the room and headed back through the ugly grim crowded streets of the city known as Lincoln.

PREPARING FOR RESURRECTION

Lucky enough the 7th English Office of Adepts of Technology was not far from the city itself. It held ground close enough in Lincolnshire to quickly respond to any calls from the city and nearby south counties.

The Office itself was nothing of grandeur, on the contrary it was a simple two stories house, quite modest one would say for men of such knowledge and 'power'. Two reasons had lead to this, the first was economy and the second security, scoundrels and extortionists had tried to rip the Order once before and by mere luck they managed to get out of the situation but not without learning a valuable lesson.

"So Bishop McCay sends his regards" Master Engineer Gabriel Johansen began to examine the book carefully.

"Yes and he was reluctant on me taking the machine"

"That man has always been like that since I've known him" He read through the report.

"Hmm... do we know the exact year?"

"Label indicated compatible with Windows 95 and NT 4.0, I am assuming this machine has to be from... '96, maybe '97"

"Borland save us! That machine but be a monster!"

"Indeed Master a monster it is. A jungle of cables that sends shivers down my spine, transistors and chips the size of my pinky, and the dust..."

"Cursed dust demons, your worst enemy to date is it not Solomon?"

"Yes indeed Master... yes indeed"

"So an ancient one" The Master Engineer finished examining the notes Engineer Sanchez had prepared on his report. "Gold and silver decorations... Candles... ohh those monks and their beliefs"

"I wouldn't complain as much in my report if they followed the instructions we give them Master. Even a monkey could perform such tasks everyday and it is not as if we could come up with the required replacement pieces with such ease"

"Unfortunate to think that no matter how hard you try to teach them they will never understand that"

"One tries to do his best" Engineer Sanchez remembered his little chat with Brother Nellus. "One tries indeed..." And a sigh.

"Speaking of best. I have news for you my good pupil"

"Oh?" The Master Engineer took out a wrapped brown package from a plastic bin sitting on a table with all kind of tools and papers and gave it to the Engineer. "What is this?"

"It comes from the State Council of Technology, that is as much as I can tell you" Engineer Sanchez opened the package revealing a new purple robe with golden sewn edges and a note with a plastic card. "A Master Engineer robe?"

The Master Engineer took the plastic card and the note which he read it out loud.

"Third Level Engineer Solomon Sanchez of the 7th English Office. The State Council has reviewed your file and has approved your raise from Third Level Engineer to First Level Master Engineer with Master Knowledge in Legacy Archaeology and Computer Repairs"

"Oh my... and... I..." The new Master Engineer was speechless. He received a fond hug from his former master and a couple of pats in the back. "I never..."

"It is a well deserved raise Solomon, you've earned it, and I couldn't be anymore proud of you" Solomon changed his robe for the new one. He passed his hands over the material, silk, pure silk that must have cost a fortune but with a beautiful dark padding that would keep him warm when necessary. Master Engineer Johansen on the other hand continued to read from the the note.

"As an additional note due to your knowledge on the fields we are assigning you a pupil, First Class Technician Daniel Baldwin, for training under your wing until his third year"

"A pupil so soon... well that doesn't sound too bad, when is he arriving?"

"Excuse me sir" Both Master Engineers turned around to see a panting young man in a fadded purple robe. "I am looking for..."

The man looked for something in his bag but he seemed not to be able to find whatever he was going for. He sighed as he looked back at both men.

"Master Engineer Sanchez" Solomon walked toward him making the young man bow three times in a row.

"Yes! I am looking for him" Solomon walked toward him.

"You must be Technician Daniel Baldwin" Baldwin immediately bowed at him again.

"At your service Master Engineer. Who is..."

"That is me, I am your new master"

"Ahh... I apologize sir but I seem to have misplaced my instructions"

"Do not worry it happens to us all. You will find out that misplacing is a common word here in this shop, in fact it is our favorite word"

"I believe fellow brother, that you should teach your pupil around"

"Quite true. I will take my leave now Master... Engineer" He hesitated for a second there because he forgot he wasn't his pupil anymore. Odd how things can change in one minute.

THE CREW OF THE 7TH OFFICE

"Come on damn you! Work!" Second Level Engineer Luis Tavera fought with a computer that kept giving him a blue screen mentioning some indecipherable blocks of information. "Oh why do you curse me so Blue Screen of Death, why?"

"Engineer" Tavera turned around to see a figure dressed in Master Engineer clothing. At first he thought it was Johansen but then saw Solomon face.

"Master Engineer... what a surprise indeed" He went towards him and gave him a pat on the back. "About time"

"Aghh you know the drill"

"Politics. Misplacing. My Ass" Both man said then laughed jovially.

"What?" The young pupil seemed to be not confused but rather scared a bit by what they had said.

"It is our motto in this shop young pupil. Politics are always holding work and the few bits of knowledge on our possession down, misplacing is our best friend here and my ass because everyone can kiss it in the end"

"Ahh..." A bit of confusion and disgust was the new expression of the pupils face.

"A pupil" Engineer Tavera nod at the pupil. "Well the council loves you all of sudden"

"Pupil, this is Second Class Engineer Luis Tavera, or resident software and programmer" The Engineer slightly bowed at the mention of his name.

"An honor sir, I am Technician First Class Daniel Baldwin" The pupil bowed but his was a little irregular, probably because he wasn't that familiar yet with ethics and traditions or maybe because he was tired from his trip.

"What are field are you specializing in Technician?"

"Programming sir"

"Ahh, anything in particular?"

"Nothing yet sir, but ASM does look particularly interesting"

"Oh by Torvald don't be daft son. ASM was obsolete even in the times were technology reigned, ignore it and learn something that was a little more wide-spread... like C or Visual Basic"

"Let me remind you sir that ASM, no matter how obsolete and no matter how many languages came afterward, is still the center of everything"

"Touche, but I am not a machine myself nor could I ever remember all the sacred mnemonics for every machine. That would be impossible"

"One tries"

"Right" Solomon made a funny face while rolling his eyes. "Now that I remember, do you know where Clark is?"

"Oh the wanker went to fix a machine down in the industrial sector"

"Curses of the Infinite Loop, I needed to verify our current inventory"

"Tell me what you need and I'll check it up"

"Verify the serial code of this pieces" Solomon placed the book on the table where the vile computer was resisting to be put back in working condition and pointed at the information. "We are estimating this was built in 96 or 97"

"Oww... I'm not even sure if we have anything left from that specific time"

"Well then I will have to perform a..." He thought about it for a second but then he just shook his head. "Oh forget it"

"Master?" The pupil seemed to be curious on what his Master wanted to do.

"I planned to do a cable select on the old hard drive and then just transfer it to another of the three servers but that means taking them offline and see if I can mark it on the BIOS so the original hard drive is the one that boots and not the other one, then I have to subtract the information from the old hard drive and rearrange it inside the other hard drive... and if that sounds scary, complicated or simply FUBAR'd then just wait until I find out what program they use to read the information from the servers and verify if it reads the old hard drive dump"

"I can do that for you Master"

"What? Fix the computer?"

"The information dump. I can do that for you"

"How?"

"I would have to see it myself Master but I know I can handle it"

"What makes you so sure?"

"I was trained by Master Engineer Hector Bilbao-Marquez"

"You what? How old are you?"

"Twenty two Master"

"If you were trained by him then why were you sent with me?"

"I have the knowledge of how to work inside on a computer, how it runs and processes, but I don't know how to repair it or anything about the parts. My Master thought it would be good that I learned from someone with ample knowledge on the field and selected you"

"It IS an honor that a Master Engineer from Spain has selected me from all the Master Engineers of this continent but you might rust in those fields if you stay with me too long"

"Or you could die" Engineer Tavera was never subtle with the subject.

"Die? Why, because of the Norwich incident? People are ignorant, that's all"

"No good God no, you don't tell people that, the whole reason why I got into that problem was because of that"

"You told them they were ignorant?"

"No, I told them the truth and that almost got me killed had it not been for a group of Law Men patrolling the area"

"But that was one incident"

"One of many. It is the only documented incident of that kind but it is not unique and certainly it won't be the last at any rate"

"You might not know it kid, or it might be different in Spain, but here in good ol' England they don't like us"

"That is enough Engineer Tavera. Continue to look for what I asked"

"Yes Master Engineer"

"Does that mean we could be walking on a street and next thing we know is we are dead?"

"It is a probability pupil, yes, and that is why we only perform our work and proceed with our lives quietly" Solomon turned to Engineer Tavera who was still checking on a small sized computer for his request. "Engineer Tavera will take some time, thus let us proceed to meet the final member of our office"