Castings in Bronze and Platinum
Chapter 5 of Children of Luzistor
Dan and Picard had been briefed near dawn by Cambris on her nocturnal findings. She had indeed bitten a roaming guard and extracted information, specifically on where the shamans were being kept. The news was depressing. Even a Red Claw squadron couldn't pry them out of the dragon lord barracks, a fortified compound protected by steel hatches overhead. Yet they had to try. It was decided that Team Dan, along with Platina, would ascend to a remote machinery complex rarely frequented by anyone but maintenance crew. Picard's group would risk going higher up, to a level called the lower castellum. There they were certain to encounter high level resistance.
In a dripping access corridor, Dan paused to consult the one indispensable item he'd brought from Earth: his cell phone. It didn't communicate, of course, but it did hold pictures. He'd put the whole Luzistor map in it. In the wan glow of sconce lights along the wall, he pushed his finger to their present location. "This is beneath the pump room where we rescued Team Catullus. It's called the Dragon Hatch Servo Ejector, whatever that is."
"Over here, homey." Pete squatted before a round hatch that had corroded bolts. "We can sneak in the back door, if we had a humongous bad boy wrench."
"Or a burning torch," Ed chipped in.
Platina decided the matter by turning one of her hands into a wrench. Her great strength succeeded in twisting the rusted metal until it broke off. The others nuts groaned with equal complaint, but allowed themselves to be spun off. She set the hatch aside. Oily-smelling air wafted out, along with the muffled whoosh of liquid through pipes.
"Wow," Zena opined. "It sounds like the world's biggest toilet flush." That view held until a hammering sound increased in frequency until it stopped with a metallic snap. "Well, let's go see what's making all that noise."
Dan led the way in, coming out on a grating above a flooded bilge of greasy water. Insulated tanks sprouted pipes toward a spaghetti collection of them high above. The only light came from indicator panels. Giant hand wheels identified various sizes of valves.
"Creepy," Bonnie said, hefting her Mace of Medusa. "These weird sounds make it like being inside a giant robot's heart.
"Let's spread out," Dan said, seeing how the grating allowed access everywhere. He kept a wary eye on the entrance door above, which had a viewing glass inset. "We need to find out if they have a scry screen somewhere, and are watching us right now." He raised his right hand, which bore his fairy ring. "Chianna!" A palm-sized fairy spun into view, resolving into a sprite with a brownie hat that spilled blonde hair. She wore a white sleeveless top, and green dress. One of three, her specialty was identifying unknown tongues, healing, and detecting magic. She buzzed around the space, returned to hover above the group. Between her outspread hands appeared the words Scry Magic.
"Nice going, Annie." Dan dispelled the fairy. "We can expect visitors soon."
Pete swung long legs over a squat tank. "Man, how we gonna rescue those dudes if they know we're comin'?"
That question had been bothering Dan as well. He adjusted the heavy broadsword on his belt. "Part of it is finding out what we're up against. For one thing—are their androids as good as the Platina class? We'll find out, I'm pretty sure, because the station masters will want to evaluate them."
No sooner had he spoken than the access door slid open. Bending low to enter his great height was an armored knight who'd be a formidable opponent even without shape-altering ability. Unexpectedly, he stretched an armored arm to smash Ed's shield. Ed rolled expertly with the blow, but was still hurled over a low tank to crash into a forest of cables. He seemed to be all right, though.
"Bronze," said Platina, the expert on all things metal. She formed an augur on an arm and launched it into the giant's chest, where it bored through. With a snarl, the knight grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
Dan used the distraction to come around and deliver a roundhouse blow that took off an arm at the shoulder. It splashed into the contaminated bilge water, then began worming its way back to the source.
"Pete! Grab that arm before it rejoins!" While Pete rushed to throw the arm out the small access hatch, the knight reformed another one, though at cost of being slightly smaller overall. Platina levered his arms apart and used her feet on his chest to spring clear.
Back in action, Ed rolled in to slash at the ankles. Ignoring him, the knight formed itself into a broad sheet and tried to envelop the girls in a huge can. Zena blasted a cold storm at the face, but was forced to duck out of its reach. Bonnie conjured darkness about its head, but its red eyes burned through. Next she used the mace to slam its barbed ball into the chest, which briefly staggered it with a spray of sparks. With legs suddenly turned to coils, the knight reached out with enlarged hands toward Bonnie. She summoned a shield that briefly held it off, but its great power was pushing her back, until she fell into the bilge.
An enraged Pete came from the side to bury his Soul Drinker sword in its thigh. The giant merely swatted him aside, and the slash began to reform itself.
As Dan helped Bonnie out of the bilge, Platina used her own coiled legs to tower over the foe. She lifted him up, head over heels, to dash his head into a reactor. The knight tried to wrap rubbery arms about her, but Platina became a snake that looped around, crushing him. Her hands emerged to twist off his head. The knight expired with a howl of demonic rage.
The group had taken quite a beating. Ed picked up the big helm. "Check it out, Pete. The head's as empty as yours."
"Say what?" Pete snatched it to verify the subject for himself.
The team clustered around the wreckage. Dan kicked at it. "Empty. It's like haunted armor."
Platina flowed back together to regard the foe. "Not so, and that is the weakness of these constructs. They lack an AI. The tlingit inside obeys a spirit being, whose intellect is no greater than the average human. Their only advantage will be in numbers."
"Like, is the tlingit still in there?" Zena asked, replacing her sword in its back sheath.
"No," Platina said. "It has perished with the departure of its controller."
Dan sat on one of the low tanks. "This is hopeless. How can we face a whole platoon of these things?"
Bonnie massaged his back. "And don't forget—they know what our abilities are now. The next ones to come along will alter their strategy."
Pete rested hands on either end of his sword, letting it ride across his shoulders. "I didn't steal an ounce of energy from that thing. I might as well not be usin' an energy-stealer sword, but a lady sword like Zena's."
"Heyyyy," the sorceress griped. She was helping Bonnie pull flotsam off her drenched outfit.
"At least we came through," Ed said. He gave Zena a shoulder pat. "And the little bambina is safe."
Zena smiled. "It might be a bambino."
"Okay, people." Dan stood. "Let's get back to base. I wonder how Captain Picard's group is making out."
"Better than us." Bonnie waited for Zena to climb out the small round hatch. "They've got a lot more firepower."
"OOH!" Zena came back in. "Firepower. Why didn't we use a hybrid?"
Dan nodded ruefully. "In an enclosed space? We'd end up doing the enemy's job for them." The team wearily began the trek back to the underground enclave.
Bonnie decided Ed had some bruised ribs, and applied a healing spell. "Dan, I'm sure glad your magic bottle has a shower. I can feel that hot water now."
"You and me both," Zena said. "I know one thing—if Picard's group doesn't have any better luck, we might as well consider the nuclear option." That involved trying to destroy a floating city by wrecking its internal workings, but no one had ever been able to access the innermost area where the arcane power source resided. The Teknikers evidently had some form of teleportation for getting in and out. "Teleportation," she mused. "You know how Valkris is the world's best practitioner." She referred to a fabled Viking sorceress. "Maybe she could get in there."
They began the descent along an outer shell pockmarked with open spaces, where ice crystals blew in on a frigid breeze. "Too risky," Dan said. "Could she get back out? It might be a trap set by the Teknikers."
"Teknikers," Ed spat. "Why'd they have to split into good and evil factions and wipe each other out?"
They had forgotten about Platina, bringing up the rear. "Because, Edward, it's your way to destroy yourselves."