Chapter 7 #2
“Why not use the same method with this one, then? Why do you need me?”
“Because this one is different. Our Astraeus can’t see it. Now, are you going to stop whining and arguing and help me?”
She stared long and hard at him. “You’d be a lot easier to take seriously without that hideous fuzz on your face.”
“My beard?” He grabbed it. “What’s wrong with it? It took me months to grow.”
“It’s frizzy and hideous. Like seriously, have you ever even combed it?”
“Who combs a beard?”
She huffed. “That explains a lot about that scratchy mess.”
He almost asked how she knew it scratched, only to remember the kiss, which reminded him of what Zora said about beard burn.
“If you don’t like it, then shave it,” he tossed as a dare.
“I would if I had a razor.”
Before either of them could blink, lo and behold, on the table beside a chair appeared a shaving set.
Her lips curved. “All right, big guy, you asked for it.”
“Wait, you’re seriously going to shave it off?”
“You said if I didn’t like it I could.”
“But…”
“I can’t work with a man carrying around a bird’s nest on his face.”
“Are you saying you’ll help if it’s gone?”
“Might as well. It’s that or get drunk and wait for the world to end. I’ve never liked drinking, so…”
Hence why Taurus found himself in her bathroom, sitting on the toilet while she lathered his face.
He held still as she applied the blade to his flesh, rinsing between swipes.
When she finished and patted his face with a damp towel, she murmured, “Well, well. Seems there was a handsome man hiding behind all that hideous hair.”
Her mention of handsome did much to restore his mood. Sure, he’d liked the beard, but her admiration? He liked that a whole lot better. Plus, next time he kissed her, she’d have nothing to complain about.
Wait, when had he decided to do that again?
“So what’s our first move, oh mighty savior of the world?” she quipped as they exited the bathroom.
“We need to find the lost Labyrinth in Greek legends.”
“It actually exists?” She sounded skeptical.
“Yes. It’s where we’ll find the original plans for the device.”
“I am pretty sure the Labyrinth predates the mechanism by several thousand years.”
“And? If the creator needed a good hiding spot, what better than a place people can’t find or don’t believe exists?”
“You know, Alice at least got some drugs to drink before she went down the rabbit hole of madness,” Circe muttered as they exited her room.
“Drugs are for those who can’t handle reality. You’re stronger than that.” A compliment that brought pink to her cheeks.
“Guess we’ll see.”
Circe handled the stairs on her own. Pity. He’d enjoyed carrying her the last time. She entered the library and planted her hands on her hips. “Where do we start looking? Do you have a searchable database for the books? Or are you still on a Dewey decimal system?”
“None of that. We rely on a librarian, not that you’ll meet him. He’s kind of shy. But if you speak aloud what you need, or even think it really hard, if it exists, he’ll find it.”
“You’re kidding? I just have to say, ‘Do you have anything on the Labyrinth’ and, poof, it will appear?”
“Yes. We also want anything about the Antikythera mechanism, too.”
“Okay, so how long...” She stopped talking because the table suddenly held a stack of old tomes, perfectly preserved. “Well, damn.”
“Told you he was good.”
“And fast.” She snared the first book and flipped it open. “I can’t read it.” She held it out, and Taurus shook his head.
“Me neither, hence why we’re going to bring this load up to Aquarius for scanning.”
“More stairs already?” she grumbled, even as she snared two of the books while he grabbed the other five.
Circe huffed and puffed by the time they’d climbed the flights to the office level but didn’t complain.
He led her to Aquarius’ domain, one of the only floors where actual technology existed.
Computers and monitors circled the room and hummed with heat and electricity.
While Tower couldn’t create such complex machines, it did have ways of bringing the things it couldn’t fabricate.
“That’s the modeling from the observatory,” Circe exclaimed, staring at a screen that held mumbo jumbo. “How did you get that?”
Aquarius spun on his chair. “Because I’m good at what I do.”
“Hacking?”
“Yes.” He didn’t deny it and grinned. “I’m tapped into every database there is. The world is literally at my fingertips.”
“Do you understand all of it, though?”
“No, but that’s what my new AI is for. I call it Little Star, and according to it, the asteroid isn’t a danger. But when it reran the asteroid path, using your data—”
“Mine?” she squeaked. “You stole my notes? I had them encrypted.”
“Again, I’m good at my job, and you should thank me because, not even five minutes after I downloaded it, someone wiped it from the cloud you had it saved in.”
Her eyes widened. “Someone erased my discovery!”
“Because you were on to something.” Aquarius swung around and tapped his keyboard. “I’ve had Little Star hypothesize what’s happened based on your findings, and it came to the same conclusion, that the Ophiuchus constellation has affected the Milky Way—”
“You don’t need to repeat what I already know. Does your AI have anything to say about the grand plan to build a new Antikythera mechanism and how using it can somehow divert the asteroid?”
“My AI can’t predict how magical artifacts will work, unfortunately.”
“Of course not,” she grumbled.
“Don’t worry. If the seers told us it’s needed, then you can trust them.”
“Trust the fate of the world to a rock and a box of gears?”
Taurus snickered. “Circe’s still coming to grips with the fact you don’t always need a giant nuke like in Armageddon.”
She glared at him. “In my world, we rely on facts and science, not imaginary powers. But at least seeing this”—she waved her hand—“I have a little more faith we can actually build the device. I thought the tower was stuck in the Middle Ages, technology-wise.”
“Tower might struggle with some complex machines, but don’t you worry. You find those plans, and we’ll get it done,” Aquarius promised. “I’m going to guess by the load of books you’re carrying you need a translation?”
“Yeah, with mentions of the device and Labyrinth highlighted, please.”
“On it, but it will take a bit of time, as each page has to be scanned individually.”
“How long then?” Taurus asked.
“Should have the first one in a few hours. All of them done by morning. Lunchtime, at the latest.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Circe glanced at Taurus.
“Want to check out the most incredible view of the stars?” he offered.
Probably the cheesiest line he’d ever uttered, and yet her smile… hot damn. In that moment, he would have given her the galaxy.