79
The Manufacturing Wing was mostly silent. Stations which should have been crashing and hissing actively were quiet.
And the reason soon became clear.
“Out of materials,” Milo grumbled, trying to make sense of everything.
Every Station had its own little screen of dwarven glass with a display of glowing green light, similar to his pad, which was flashing with the dwarven words for low quantity and out of resources.
Tania and Selma worked with him to try and get a list of everything they were low on. And to try and figure out what each station did.
Fed was still not responding, so Milo couldn’t ask anything from the Workshop itself.
This was why he was here. The only way to get a response from Fed was to complete the golem build.
And the only way to complete that was with the right components.
Some of which were now depleted from the Workshop’s inventory.
One of the more critical components was golemskin.
He’d found the station responsible for creating it, but it was currently inactive due to lack of materials. He suspected those materials would be exotic and challenging to get.
Also, as soon as he started looking at quantities needed, it was also clear he would need to buy those materials on large industrial scales.
He still had a decent amount of money remaining from his sale of the fully-charged core, but he was afraid it wouldn’t be enough to get every station working again.
He’d need to sell more cores.
Maybe even risk Vesna’s attention with one or two fully-charged ones.
Tania stepped up to him as he stood scratching his head while listing everything he needed into his journal.
“I don’t want to scrounge all over the city.” He sighed. “I might go see Spragg and see what he can get for us. I think I can trust him to be discreet at least.”
“He won’t run his mouth,” Tania agreed, handing him her list. “Ya want me to go see him for ya?”
“No.” Milo shook his head. One of the nearby stations let out a loud burst of steam as it started pouring glowing metal into a mold. Thankfully, they seemed to have large quantities of some raw metals left. He gave her a tired smile. “I should get out of the Workshop for a bit. Get some fresh air.”
Tania put her arm around him and nodded. “Good idea. You’re beginning to look like a vampire.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” She giggled, pinching his cheek. “Take Selma with ya, too.”
“Selma?” He glanced to where the tall golem suddenly tripped over one of the stations with a loud squeak. Her journal skittered across the floor one way and her pen the other. She couldn’t decide which to chase first. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“I’m busy,” Tania said. “And Selma loves ya, Milo. Take her to a nosebaggery or something. Tell her she’s pretty, too. Buy her an ice cream. Neck her in an alley or something.”
“Like a date?” He squinted up at Tania suspiciously.
It was weird, he thought. Shouldn’t Tania be jealous if he spent time with Selma?
“Exactly like that.” Tania reached out and grabbed his collar to adjust it smoothly. “You’re our engineer, Milo. We’ve noticed most of you humans are just klucks and meatballs, but you’re different. You’re no oil can. So, take her out with ya.”
He hesitated.
Maybe Tania was hiding her jealousy under self sacrifice?
“Tania.” He sighed. “I don’t know what-”
“Milo, ya goof,” she said sweetly. “It’s just like a clock, see? Ya gotta align all your gears first. Then ya screw them in place. Maybe along the way, ya make a little mistake and gotta change things around. Only when it’s done do ya look at it and know what it is.”
He stared at her. “Is this a game to you?”
“It ain’t a game,” she said, patting his chest. “You’ll see it’s serious for all of us. But that don’t mean it can’t be fun, too, see?”
“It’s weird,” he said softly. “Humans don’t do this sort of thing.”
“That might explain why ya spend so much time killing each other,” she said with a big grin.
“The dwarves didn’t war with each other?”
“What for?”
“Resources?” He pointed at the manufacturing stations. “All this must’ve been expensive.”
“They didn’t have money, Milo. They had work. It’s a bit more complicated than that.” She put a finger to her lips as she thought. “Ain’t no wars I can think of. Except the War of the Engineers.
“What was that about?”
“Oh, it wasn’t about anything. They just always used to fight about whose golems were best. That’s what the Games were made for.”
“The Dungeons?”
“Yeah. They’re to test us golems to see who’s got the best dukes.”
“Dukes?”
She held up her fists. “These, Milo.”
“Oh.”
“Now, take Selma out. Be nice.”
“I am nice,” he said nervously. No matter what Tania said, he was still not sure this was right. Wasn’t it technically cheating to date someone while dating someone else? And, if he was getting her hints right, then Mila would be next. What a mess! “It’s just weird.”
“So? You’re weird, Milo.” Tania stuck out her tongue. “Deal with it.”
Then she shoved her list into his hand and flounced away with a cute bounce of her backside to show she wasn’t mad.
Leaving him sighing in the middle of the Manufacturing Wing.
Behind him, Selma tripped over another station. “Owwie!”
* * *
At Spragg’s, Milo stood in front of the counter while Selma waited as patiently as she could behind him. She seemed excited, though.
And it was a bit distracting.
“I can get most of these fairly easy,” Spragg said slowly, going through the list. “A few may be expensive in the quantities you ask for. I’ll need a day or two to give you a quote.”
“That’s fine,” Milo said. “Can you break it down to per unit, too? Just in case I need to get stingy.”
“Of course, sir,” Spragg said with a slow smile. “Some of these are very unusual. I don’t get asked for them very often.”
He was fishing for something, Milo realized.
The shopkeeper’s unblinking stare was on the list, but he could tell the man’s attention was focused on him.
“I’m thinking of making more mods for mana rifles,” Milo offered. The excuse seemed reasonably plausible. He’d thought of it on the way to the store.
Spragg knew Milo was modifying weapons.
The excuse made Spragg’s eyebrow raise as he studied the required quantities. “That’s a lot of rifles.”
“I expect to fail a lot.”
“Does sir have an urgent need for them?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will make immediate enquiries.” Spragg paused, then looked up finally. “Of course, it could be cheaper to go directly to the source yourself.”
“Maybe. But I like your discretion. I don’t want people asking why every time I want things.”
“Ah.” Spragg gave a slow nod. “That is understandable. My apologies, sir. I shall restrict my curiosity in future.”
“That’s fine,” Milo said. “I was happy you didn’t tell Miss Farringham anything.”
“The privacy of all my customers is important to me.”
Milo nodded. That was the answer he’d been hoping for.
He started to turn away, then stopped as he remembered what else he’d come for.
“I was hoping to get some more depleted cores,” he said. “And I’ll have a few more to sell soon.”
“Ah.” Mister Spragg winced. “I’m afraid I have no more depleted cores, sir. They were purchased by another customer.”
“Vesna.” Milo growled the woman’s name, causing Spragg to blink.
“I apologize, sir,” the shopkeeper said slowly. “I can’t divulge identities of my customers.”
“It’s alright,” Milo said, almost grinding his teeth.
Without the cores, he couldn’t recharge them to make the gold he needed.
His heart started bouncing around as he tried to think of something else he could do to lift his savings.
“It’s not your fault. Do you get more often? Can I order some in advance?”
“I’m afraid the market has dropped, sir,” the shopkeeper said. “Another party has made it known they will pay twice the rate for every depleted core. Even were I to make an offer, that party would always double it.”
“Blast,” Milo grunted, earning another blink and a wince from Spragg.
Leaving the nervous shopkeeper, Milo and Selma stepped out into the late afternoon light. A slight golden glow was touching the rooftops. The breeze was clean and there were less clouds in the sky than there had been recently.
“I guess we can get something to eat,” he said, trying not to sound sour.
Vesna had ruined his mood.
And now he felt bad for Selma. She deserved better.
“I’m sorry,” he said immediately. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t worry about it, Milo,” Selma said brightly. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Just do what I do when I have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell Tania about it. She’ll fix everything.”
He choked a laugh and shook his head. “You’re right.”
“I know. She’s amazing.”
“Yeah.” He fumbled to take her hand, remembering what Tania had told him about turning it into a date. He felt Selma freeze, but then her hand eagerly entwined with his. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
“What? Really?”
“Really.” He felt the irritation bleed out as her excitement lifted his spirits. “And then ice cream.”
Selma grinned childishly all the way.
Behind them, a mage in black slowly detached from the shadows to stride almost unseen through the crowd. His intense gaze fixed on Milo’s back.
And, behind him, the air rippled as though something invisible was only a few steps behind.
He glanced back.
Saw nothing.
Frowned.
Turned back to Milo and had time to take a deep breath before something punched into his kidneys and a hand wrapped around his mouth. His vision swam as he was dragged into a nearby alley.
He couldn’t breathe.
Pain charged up his back as a young woman appeared out of nowhere to stare down into his dying face.
“Tsk,” she said with a wag of her finger. “It ain’t nice to spy on people. Especially when they’re courting.”