81
“I can kill her if you like,” Tania offered.
Her fingers traced little designs on Milo’s bare chest as they lay in his bed together. It was a tight fit. The bed was barely more than a cot and was designed for one person.
Which left him angling a little and making his lower back twinge.
But he didn’t want to move.
One arm was under her head, his hand cupping her shoulder.
It felt comfortable.
She felt comfortable. And soft.
As he stroked her golemskin and felt the little goosepimples rise, he smiled and thought of the recordings of dwarves ranting about the quality of golemskin. How they were obsessed with making sure it felt perfect.
They’d done an amazing job.
He hadn’t had the chance to touch a real girl, but he doubted there was much difference. If there was, he was sure Tania felt softer. Smoother.
Nicer.
Smiling, he stroked her shoulder. “Not yet,” he said. “Let’s see if we can wait it out.”
“I don’t think she’s gonna let it go, Milo.”
“Maybe not. But we don’t know what the Paddstones are planning. Fergus’ brother will be arriving soon. I’d rather we fight one war at a time.”
“Hmph.” She grunted, shifting her leg across his thigh.
It amazed him that she was so light.
The dwarves had designed their golems with ruthless efficiency.
He wondered what had really driven them. The more recordings he watched, the less outwardly perverted they seemed. Mostly, they were obsessed with the mechanics and seeking perfection.
He recalled trying to listen to one dwarf who was angry because his golem said her skin felt itchy when she used some soap with a specific herb in it.
He cared, Milo realized.
“It’s my fault,” he said softly. “Everything I knew about mages says they’re mostly selfish and fight among themselves for resources all the time.
I thought if Fergus died fighting over the Prime, his family might think it was a failed plan of his.
I didn’t expect them to come after me specifically. I thought they’d blame the Academy.”
“He was writing to his father,” Tania reminded him. “They knew your name. The fact it was you who killed him would’ve made them suspicious.”
“Yeah.” He regretted pulling the trigger now. “But it seemed the best idea at the time. We couldn’t risk them taking him alive.”
“I didn’t say it was wrong.”
“I know. Maybe I keep guessing if I did the right thing.”
“You did.” She said it with such a hard tone of finality that he smiled again.
“Alright. I won’t mention it again.”
She cuddled up a little closer. “Do you think they’ll hand you over to them?”
“The Court?” He shook his head. “I can’t see why. If anyone found out, it’d cause a lot of trouble.”
“If they disappear you, it won’t.”
“True.”
“You gotta be careful.”
“I will.”
“And don’t go out on your own.”
“I won’t.”
“Always take someone with you.”
“I will.”
“Even if it’s just Selma.”
“What do you mean just Selma?”
“I love her, Milo, but her model’s made for blunt tasks. She finds it hard to focus on little things. And when she’s with you, she turns into a ditz.”
“She’s not a ditz…”
“You know what I mean.” Tania curled her lips upward. “She turns into an airhead for ya. So, she doesn’t notice when she’s being followed.”
He thought about the mage Mila had killed.
Gav, his name had been. At least, that’s what Vesna had told him. He still wasn’t sure if she was playing some kind of game by making him feel guilty about the murder.
And maybe he should feel guilty.
He regretted Fergus’ murder, but didn’t feel guilty about it. He didn’t get bad dreams or anything.
He just wished he could have done it in a way that didn’t involve himself.
He should have treated their plan more like a clock. Start the gears ticking. Let the hands move. And, when it hit a specific time, it’d sound an alarm.
“Mila shouldn’t have killed him,” he said. “It’s made Vesna more certain we’re hiding something. We should’ve let him keep following us. We would’ve lost him in the halls of the fortress.”
“What if ya hadn’t? He might’ve found the Workshop.”
“And how would he get in? Fed would’ve cut him up.”
“Fed’s asleep, Milo.”
“Yeah, but the defenses…?” Milo paused. “They’re still working, right?”
“Only the more basic ones. Fed had active defenses, too.”
“Huh.” He realized there was still a lot he didn’t know. He needed to know more.
He stretched out his free arm and scooped up the pad from his side table.
It flared to life at his touch, and he stared at it.
The Prime had said he’d unlocked a lot of options, but not so many new options had appeared. There was clearly a lot left to unlock.
The Prime had hinted that more would unlock when he’d built Fed’s new body.
Until then, he was running on temporary service.
“Milo.” Tania sighed, plucking the pad from his hand and dropping it onto the floor. Luckily, it was dwarven glass. “Ya need to rest. Leave it for now.”
“But, I need to-”
“Leave it,” she repeated.
“Alright.”
“Jassie paid for her mod, by the way. Mila had a list. Are ya sure you’ll have time to finish them all?
He showed her a grin. “I thought you just said I have to rest?”
“I meant stop thinking about the Workshop,” she said, slapping his chest. “Ya knew that.”
“It’ll be fine. I’ll spend the next few days doing the mods.
” He put his free hand under his head, staring up at the ceiling.
“I also want to work on some other things. Fed’s a priority, but I’m still waiting on Spragg to give me everything I need.
We’ve got one batch coming, but it’ll be a while until I get everything.
Speaking of which, I need to sort out how to get it into the fortress without anyone seeing. ”
“I gave that job to Selma.”
“Even though she’s a ditz?”
“She’s not that much of a ditz when you’re not in the room,” Tania said. “She can handle carrying things. She’ll work with Stonks.”
“Stonks is helping?”
“He thinks he owes ya.”
“That’s nice of him.”
“He’s a nice guy.”
“I wish I could talk to him, too.”
Tania patted his chest., “You’ll think of something.”
“Will I?”
“Sure. You’re a smart bean, Milo.”
“I dunno. Mostly I’m just assembling from the dwarven blueprints. I don’t feel like any of this is mine.”
“That ain’t what they’d say. They’d be proud of ya, Milo. I mean, look at the mods on the rifles? Ya took pieces of their rifles and adapted them. That’s pretty neat if ya think about it.”
“Hmm.”
“Give it time. I bet you’ll be drawing up your own plans sooner or later.”
“If I get time.”
“We’ll give ya time.” She snuggled into the crook of his arm.
“Thanks.” He sighed, feeling comfortable despite the feeling just above his hip which felt like a dagger was sticking into him. The bed was too small. Maybe he should put a big one in the Workshop somewhere.
Couldn’t he move rooms?
Why not make a new one just for himself?
He could decorate it himself. Maybe give himself a bigger window with a nice view of the city. Was that how it worked? Actually, how did it work? He couldn’t find any options in his pad for moving rooms around.
He suddenly wanted to move rooms around.
If he could move this room around, he wouldn’t even need to take the stairs!
“Huh.”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said. “I was just thinking of how the rooms move.”
“Turn off your brain for a few minutes.”
“I wish I could,” he said with a rueful grin. “But that’s not how human brains work.”
Tania rubbed his chest. “You don’t have to do everything yourself, you know. We’re here for you. And we’re happy to be busy.”
“I don’t want to pass everything off to you.”
“We know ya don’t. But Mila needs more to do. Selma does, too. Selma sits around bored a lot. It ain’t good for her. Give her something to do.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“We’re your family, see? That’s what we’re for.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” he said. “I was just trying not to use you, you know?”
“You’re a good egg, Milo. Maybe too good sometimes. Maybe don’t think about it as using us. Think of it as working with us. Of us all working together. Ain’t none of us thinks you ain’t busy. Trust me, if we thought ya were being lazy, we’d tell ya.”
“Alright,” he said.
“Besides, we’re golems. We need to be busy. So, you wanna take care of us? Then ya gotta take care of our needs, Milo. All our needs, ya hear?”
She was talking about Selma.
And Mila.
He wasn’t stupid.
“Why?” He looked down at her, showing a puzzled look. “Is there something wrong with Click and Clack?”
“Ya know what I mean, ya daft kluck,” she growled, slapping his chest again.
He smiled.
She sighed, then lifted her head and kissed him again.
He kissed her back.
This was nice.