Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Chapter 74— Book 2: —Advanced Technology

In retrospect, a quick discussion with Tarin about information security would probably have been a good idea, although I understand that he trusts Miktik implicitly. My understanding doesn't stop me from putting a hand to my face, nor does it stop Ahkelios' own incredulous groan.

"Tarin," I say. "You can't just tell people that."

"Why not?" Tarin asks. "Miktik friend!"

"He's right though!" There's entirely too much cheer in Miktik's voice, for all that she's agreeing with me but I suspect that's just how she is. "I'm happy you trust me! But you should be careful. The Great Cities have a lot of people listening." She pauses. "Less here, though! I paid a lot of chips. Got this place chock-full of privacy-enhancing Firmament."

She wriggles so that her shell taps the wall, as if for emphasis. Now that she mentions it, I do feel a subtle current of Firmament circulating all throughout the building. It's weaker than most imbuements I've seen, but it also does something I've never seen any other imbuement do. Any Firmament that comes into contact with it, as long as it's weak enough, gets swept up into the current and added into it.

"Bah!" Tarin grumbles, but he doesn't have an argument for her, evidently. Instead, he changes the subject. "What you want me to fix?"

"Ah! Yes!" Miktik suddenly looks excited. She scampers over to a nearby shelf and begins digging through a box, and I watch as she uses a mixture of limbs and Firmament to drag out an assortment of different items, muttering to herself as she does so. I notice a mirror, an orb of glass inscribed with strange symbols, a... I'm not describing that one, two mechanical boxes that whir and hum ominously with every movement, one of which begins to glow red before she sets it down...

I take a surreptitious step away.

"No idea what that one does!" Miktik laughs. "But I think it's fun."

"That's a bomb, right?" Ahkelios whispers to me. "That's very obviously a bomb."

"I've never seen anything look more obviously like a bomb in my life," I deadpan. "All it needs is some wires and a timer and it would complete the look."

"Oh, don't be silly, it's probably not a bomb," Miktik says, because I didn't bother whispering and because if it is a bomb then I figure she needs to be warned about it. The 'probably' in her sentence isn't encouraging, though. "Uh... Hm. Actually, you might have a point! I'm going to put a sticker on that one."

"How haven't you blown yourself up yet?" Ahkelios asks, apparently deciding to just talk directly to Miktik. She spins around, her gaze zeroing in on Ahkelios and making him shift about uncomfortably on my head.

"You're alive!" she exclaims. "I thought you were decoration."

"You what."

"Some silverwisps use little pieces of animated Firmament as jewelry," Miktik says, turning back to her box and once more digging through it. I'm pretty sure the next item she removes is just a stick, but considering what the crows have been able to do with just sticks and stones, it's a stick I decide to be suspicious of. "I thought you were that, you know? What's your name?"

"It's Ahkelios," the mantis tries to reply to no avail, because at that exact moment Miktik pulls out what looks like a small, metallic pyramid with a chitter of triumph. She slams it uncomfortably hard on her desk and then looks at us expectantly. Ahkelios sighs. "It's Ahkelios," he says, repeating himself.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ethan and Ahkelios!" Miktik does a little bow, still balanced on her desk switching to customer service mode, if the tone of her voice is anything to go by. "I am Miktik, inventor, salvager, and tracker. If you find anything strange that you have no use for, bring it to me! I'm sure I can find some use for it."

"I'll be sure to do that," I say, thinking back to some of the shards I've found. I wonder what she'd make of them. "For now, you said you were going to help us find Rotar?"

"Your crow friend, yes?" Miktik smiles. "I will! But I'll do that after you help me fix this. Miktik always takes payment upfront."

"Should be easy!" Tarin proclaims. He stalks up to the pyramid-thing she's put on her desk, stares at it, and then pokes it awkwardly with a wing. "What this?"

"It's a regulator," Miktik explains. She points over at one of the broken machines in her workshop. "I need it so that thing doesn't blow up when I turn it on."

She hasn't even finished her sentence by the time Tarin starts fiddling with it. I sigh I really hope he knows what he's doing. It sounds like it's usually been Mari handling the imbuements for Miktik, and while I know a little bit of imbuement thanks to both Mari and Virin's lessons, I probably still know less than Tarin himself does. I've only had access to Firmament for, what, a week?

I need to be better at keeping track of time.

"I hope Tarin knows what he's doing," Ahkelios whispers to me, echoing my thoughts, and I stifle a small laugh. Instead, I head over to the furnace that Miktik claims is broken, and glance over it with my Firmament sense.

If Miktik finds what I'm doing strange, she doesn't say anything about it. The imbuement on this thing is complex and from what I can tell, it's broken in a half dozen places. I can see a pyramid-shaped spot that's presumably supposed to hold the regulator, but it doesn't look like it's meant to be part of the design. Presumably, whoever fixed this thing added in the regulator as a sort of stopgap measure.

I can't make heads or tails of it, though. I can feel the way Firmament enters the mechanism, and I can feel the way it twists and turns. I can tell that there's a knot inside the machine that's supposed to do something Firmament enters it, even passively, and it emerges changed in some ephemeral way that I can't describe. I try to peer deeper down into the layers of Firmament, to see what's changing even if I can't tell how it's being changed

"Ethan?" Tarin calls, and I straighten. Miktik is looking at me curiously, but I studiously ignore her gaze in favor of finding out what Tarin wants. "Need help," he says, almost begrudgingly. "I not sure where fix needed. Cannot sense."

Tarin looks so put out by this that I almost laugh, though I manage to hold myself back. It's mostly how annoyed he looks with himself for having to ask for help. I take a moment to scan through the pyramid-thing with my Firmament sense and whistle.

It's not nearly as complicated as the furnace-thing, fortunatelyit's still within my abilities to understand. There are four knots of Firmament, one for each side of the pyramid, and a fifth, more complicated knot at the base; I can almost recognize this thing as having been imbued by Mari, considering I've seen her imbuements all over the crow village.

One of the knots, however, has come partially undone. It's not immediately obviousI have to wait for a moment to pass and watch as the regulator takes in some ambient Firmament. From three sides of the pyramid, the Firmament is passed on to the base and then filtered in some strange way I can't describe; from the fourth side, about half the Firmament makes it through. The rest leaks out through gaps in the imbuement, subtle as it is.

"This one," I say, pointing it out. "It just needs to be tightened a bit."

Tarin brightens. "Oh!" he says. "Easy!"

I feel a quick flash of Firmament and just like that, he's done. I try to get a feel for how he does it, given this part of imbuement has always given me trouble the 'anchor', as Virin calls it but Tarin's touch is so quick I barely have the time to blink before he's done. Tightening a knot is probably easier than making one from scratch, but...

I wouldn't dare do it myself, I think. Pull on the wrong part of the thread and the whole knot unravels, and I wouldn't be able to put it together again.

"All done!" Tarin says.

Miktik brightens, hopping down and poking at the regulator. "Great!" she cheers. "Let's test it!"

It only takes her a moment to stuff it into the furnace-thing there's a panel on the back that she can slot it into. I watch as she does it, and then take a step back when the machine whirs to life.

It's gathering Firmament. It's gathering an immense amount of Firmament, even I can see why the regulator is needed but more than that, the way it's gathering Firmament is reminiscent of...

It's reminiscent of the Void. And while there wasn't any Void Firmament before, I can sense that it's generating it, somehow, converting ambient Firmament into something adjacent to Void. Close enough that it can pull in more and more, and start powering the mechanism within.

This is remarkably close to the technology that was used in the Voidsuits. The thing that was used to control K'hkeri. Ahkelios said he's never run into the people that were sending those out. It's not that I think Miktik is involved, necessarily and even if she were, now would be a bad time to press her on it, since we still need her help to find Rotar but this might be a chance to get a little closer to the source.

"Seems to work!" Miktik says cheerfully, oblivious to what I'm sensing. I frown, a little worried that my next question will cause problems, but I feel compelled to ask it anyway.

"Miktik," I say. "Is this Integrator technology?"

Miktik freezes. Tarin looks startled. The workshop is briefly completely silent, save for the humming of machinery.

"Well," Miktik says, trying to recover. "Miktik can guarantee that it is not not Integrator technology! But you're a Trialgoer, so Miktik has to be careful. Because the Integrators might be watching you and all."

Does she slip into third person when she's nervous? I think she does. Tarin, for his part, covers his face with a wing

"Miktik good friend," he says. "Bad liar."

"You're one to talk. You kind of immediately told her I'm a Trialgoer," I jab back. "But... Miktik, if you have Integrator contacts or a way to get access to their technology, it could help me a lot. I'm willing to help repair whatever you need."

There. That should both put me closer to finding whoever's behind the Voidsuits or, failing that, a way to get to Gheraa. Repairing things would be a good chance to really dive into learning about imbuement and enhancement, too.

For her part, Miktik relaxes a little bit when I make my offer, then takes a moment to seriously consider it. She's clearly still hesitant to speak; her antennae wave about above her head uncertainly.

"Miktik doesn't have an Integrator contact," she says after a moment. "Miktik does have access to a scrapyard that is used by Integrators. But the scrapyard's pretty dangerous. I can hide pretty well, but I can't hide other people."

I can't tell if she's telling the truth this is one area the Interface's automatic translation doesn't exactly help me in. She gives me a significant glance. "Let's focus on one problem at a time," she says. "We'll find your friend first, and then we'll worry about the scrapyard and your payment for information on it. Sound good?"

"Yes!" Tarin says firmly, before I can say anything. I glare at him. I mean, I was about to say the same thing anyway, but it's the principle of the matter.

On my head, Ahkelios gives a tiny cheer.

Miktik pulls out what looks like... a slightly different version of Rotar's pocket oracle. It still looks a little like a compass, but where Rotar's is a flat disc, Miktik's version is a full-on glass orb or it's made out of some sort of clear stone, anyway. It doesn't look entirely like glass.

"Alright," she says. "Let's get started."

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