30
“Are you sure ya know what you’re doing, Milo?”
Milo grunted.
He was trying to assemble the Tank’s frame. But each part was larger than Tania’s had been. It wasn’t that they were heavier. Dwarven bronze was surprisingly light. But they were more cumbersome to hold in place.
When he asked for her help, she always seemed critical of him.
Like she thought there was a better way to do things.
“Just hold it steady, please,” he replied.
Tania held the long thigh strut while he worked, fixing the joint and aligning some additional cables which he figured was to help reinforce it against stress.
It was a big golem.
Just over seven feet high. It would stand taller than Jin or Belt. And would be broader at the shoulder, too.
Around him, the workshop whirred and clanked as parts were delivered and others created to refill the stores. Click raced underfoot, chasing Clack who was trying to deliver another crystal.
Milo had made them start removing and replacing the crystals themselves, but Click seemed more intent on thwacking the other spider golem on the head than retrieving the memory crystal.
“Will you two please stop?” He huffed. “This isn’t easy.”
The two spider golems kept racing around.
Until Tania kicked a heel out to boot one across the room. Clack was sent rolling until he crashed into the wall and scrambled onto his legs with a confused whir of gears.
“Cut it out, ya little creeps,” Tania growled at them. “Or I’ll pull off your spindly little legs and chuck the rest of ya into the grinder.”
The golems froze.
Twitched.
Then Click trotted over and calmly retrieved the crystal from Clack’s back before slotting in a spare.
Then he thwacked the other spider golem and they both marched out as though nothing had happened.
“Thanks,” Milo grumbled.
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Tania giggled.
“Sweetie?”
“What else does a gal call her engineer when he’s been poking about her bits and pieces?”
He glanced up at her through his goggles. “Really? Didn’t I ask you to stop saying things like that? People get the wrong idea.”
“Why? What idea do they get?”
“You know what idea they get. They think we’re… you know…” He floundered. “Doing stuff.”
“Like sex, you mean?”
“Tania,” he groaned.
“That’s my name, sweetie. Don’t wear it out.”
Since he’d helped clean her, she’d been like this. Pushing more and more. Her robe got shorter. How that was possible, he didn’t know.
Flashing him every chance she could get, she had even started pressing herself against him on the pretext of squeezing past.
Rubbing her butt against—
He put the iron down and snatched up a spanner. Started spinning a nut in place. Trying to force his mind into that calm space he normally felt when building something.
His clocker space.
A soft gentle space.
Where noise was a background hum.
And thoughts were fluid.
Focused.
On the nut in front of him. The bolt and the screw. The weave of wiring.
Slowly, he felt the calm descend. His pulse slowed. The world around him dulled. He worked mechanically. Like a machine himself. Reaching for parts. Reaching for tools.
Slotting and sliding.
When he finally finished the frame, he blinked in surprise as Tania gently took his arm and led him to his stool. He felt exhausted. Sweat was pouring down his cheeks.
“Here,” she said, handing him a mug.
He took a drink. Coughed. “What is this?”
“Ale?”
“Ale?” He worked his tongue around his mouth. “Do I drink ale?”
“I read that men like an ale after they work hard.” She slid a plate into his other hand, her eyes round like a kitten’s. “And sandwiches. I made two. They have ham in them. Men like meat, right?”
He looked down at the sandwiches piled on the plate.
At the ale in his hand.
At the female golem staring at him.
“What do you want?”
“Umm. Some gold to go shopping with?”
He rolled his eyes. “Just take it. You know where I keep it.”
“Well, it’s polite to ask first.”
“Most of it’s from the dungeon stones,” he said. “You earned more of them than I did. Take as much as you want. Just leave some for… sandwiches.”
“I can do that,” she said. “But I don’t want you to think I’m a leech, Milo. I ain’t the kinda gal who’s just after your money, see? I’m a good girl. I’m committed, right?”
He waved a hand at her. “Just take it and go.”
“No can do, sweetie.” Tania shook her head. “I gotta get you to bed, first.”
After eating, he let her lead him back to his cubicle. Ket was in the common room when they crawled in. Milo nodded at her. She nodded back.
Tania ignored the little blue-haired lady.
The little blue-haired lady ignored Tania.
“What’s with you two?” Milo asked as Tania hurried him to his room.
“It ain’t nothing,” Tania sniffed. “I just don’t think that biddy’s on the up and up.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t like her. And she don’t like me.” Tania shrugged. “It’s a girl thing, Milo. Don’t sweat on it.”
“Alright.” He sighed, letting himself be dropped onto the bed.
He needed a bath.
But Tania was tugging off his boots.
And he closed his eyes for a moment.
Just a moment.
When he woke, she was gone and he was sprawled naked on his bed.
Naked?
That meant…
“Blast,” he growled. Not that it was the first time she’d managed to get him naked in front of her. But it was becoming a habit more than a rare accident.
Sitting up, he reached for his pants and pulled them on.
His mind slowly woke up and started running through what he wanted to do today. He still had a lot to do on the Tank golem and not much time to do it.
The next dungeon was opening in a few days.
The Undead Horde.
By all accounts it was going to be worse than the Nursery for numbers.
It was a dungeon perfect for pyromancers whose fire spells would simply blow everything away.
Fergus, a cryomancer, had been loud in his disgust, already making excuses for why it would be hard. Ice mages were at a disadvantage against undead who pretty much ignored it.
That means he’d be relying more on Jin’s brute strength.
They’d found a third team member. A newly-arrived mage called Fulka Fenricksurge. Rumours said she was one of Master Haddrow’s favorite students for her stealth abilities alone.
She was rumored to also be talented with daggers. And, while not as low as Milo’s, her mana was low so she also preferred to use a rifle from distance when possible.
To Milo, she looked meek and cowed by Fergus and he often felt a flash of pity for the girl.
The fact Milo hadn’t revealed his third member yet was something which delighted Fergus, who reveled in the idea that Milo wouldn’t be able to fill a team before the dungeon opened.
Cerena had offered Tania a spot on their team. She hadn’t been offended when Tania said no.
A few other teams had also tried convincing his golem to step away from him. Her loyalty had sparked a number of rumors, most of which were offensive.
Everything from her being bound by a slave contract, to Milo controlling her with poison which she had to take an antidote of every day.
Each rumor was more stupid than the last.
As he headed back down to the workshop, he mulled over his options. If he couldn’t get the Tank ready, he’d be in trouble. That meant he needed to work hard today.
Inside the workshop, he was met by Click and Clack, who danced around him before skittering away again.
Welcome, Milo.
“Hey, Fed. How are you today?”
I am content.
“Understated as usual, I see. Is Tania here?”
Negative, Milo.
“Alright.” he took a deep breath and eyed the frame. Time to start on the Drive Train. This was going to be rough. Tania was made for agility.
This thing was made for strength.
The cables were thicker.
Heavier.
Harder to thread and harder to iron.
Letting his breath out, he got to work. There was no point delaying it.
It took another two and a half days to build the golem. By the end of it, he was a zombie himself. He thought if they tossed him into the Undead Horde dungeon now, they might not even bother attacking him.
Tania stood beside him as the golem twitched on the table.
This time, he’d finished the assembly properly. The skin of the Tank was thicker than Tania’s. There was a lot more cushioning, too. And Milo wasn’t convinced that some of it was exactly needed.
But Tania was adamant it was.
“She’s a big girl, Milo,” she said. “She needs big parts.”
“Right.” He sighed as he leaned against his workbench. “I still don’t see why she has to be a she. Isn’t one girl enough?”
“Don’t be silly, Milo.” Tania looked at him and giggled. “Dwarves didn’t make any boy golems.”
“Why not?”
“What do you mean, why not?”
“Well, exactly that.”
“Because, sweetie, there were no such thing as girl dwarves.” She gave him a sad look. “Why do you think they died out in the first place?”