The Path of Steam - Part IV [Eitan]

[Stefan Dornkirk]

75th Searing, 124

The conversations hadn't gone as badly as the First Minister had feared they might. Despite the lateness of his return, or perhaps specifically because of it, it had been noticed. Though neither his wife nor Deinerin had spoken to him about it, they had conspired to let him sleep in. They had planned such before but it rarely worked because Stefan's body rarely let him rest past sunrise. While he had never been an idle man, before the disaster his body had known how to rest. Since the day his world had come apart it felt like there was never a moment he might not be needed. Half the time, when he closed his eyes, however exhausted he was, he saw the maelstrom rotating over the Presidium, or the waves of mist twisted creatures rising up in waves, or Eitan laying corpse-still as he teetered between life and death after warding the Windworks. Even when the memories of what had been lost didn't interfere, did not invade his dreams, his body wouldn't stay under for more than a few hours at a time.

So when he woke, the morning igniting a spark of life into his brother's remains, and the early afternoon sun was pouring in through tall windows of his bedroom, in which he was very much alone, it was a shock. He lay still, waiting to hear screaming or shattering glass or the howls of inhuman creatures. None of these came, the only sounds were the tick of the mantle clock and the footsteps and voices of two maidservants going about their work. Until the door thrust itself open, causing Stefan to jump half out of his own skin.

Deinerin stood in the doorway, tray in hand, looking as immaculate as ever in his precise suit. Stefan sat up straighter in bed, clutching slightly at the sheet in an attempt to pretend, to himself, that he hadn't been startled by the timely entrance of his own body man. He had long ago stopped questioning Deinerin's ability to always be where he was needed when he was. If he hadn't had absolute faith in the man he might have suspected magic was involved. Without any acknowledgement of the fact that he had just watched his master jump like a spooked kitten Dienerin swooped over and laid the tray over Stefan's lap. Tea and toast with jam and two eggs in their cups.

While he used the minuscule spoon to crack the eggs open and dip the toast into them Deinerin began heating water at the fireplace and whipping together a bowl of shaving cream. It was so normal, so old-world normal; feeling rested, eating food without worrying that Zaichaeri were hungry, without the guilt of worrying that he was needed elsewhere. His mind wandered back to crawling into bed in the wee hours and falling into exhausted sleep curled around his wife's warmth. The only thing he remembered of falling or dreaming was the image of the red-eyed gaze of the activated remains. Instead of instilling fear, even then, awake in the sunshine, it brought a sense of calm.

Once he had been shaved, dressed, and been informed that his appointments had been rescheduled for later in the week, Stefan had used the unexpected freedom to return to his laboratory, but only briefly. Collecting his notes from the night before, and the weeks before that, he had returned to his own office in the Windworks. Showing his face felt important, it let everyone know that, despite missing the morning, he was in good health and fully in control of government. No rumors would be started about a missing First Minister.

The afternoon was spent gathering himself and his notes into a cohesive explanation of his research and the results. Only after he and his notes were logical and collected did he go to Eitan, in his Order office to present his findings. He presented each of the experiments in order, along with his reasoning, up to the last. Eitan had known that he was experimenting with the remains, but little about the nature of those experiments until then. Stefan remained calm, up until the end, when some of his excitement came through. It had been years since Eitan had seen this type of excitement on his brother in law, the kind that had used to come over him when he revealed a new ship design or invention. Even when he had introduced the powered armor, it had been in sorrow because they had been designed for Brenner and Eitan.

When the information was laid out, including that he had not returned to check on the experiment because he wanted Eitan there for both safety and confirmation, then waited for whatever response might be coming.

[Eitan Angevin]

It was, of course, a lot.

Eitan had supped with his wife and Stefan's, played briefly with both their young children, and even carried Amalia, the eldest and most self-aware, to her bed so she could hold forth in what everyone told him was quite advanced speech for a girl so young. He had kissed her once as her uncle and once for her father, who he had assured her was hard at work keeping the magnificent clockwork of their fair city working—both figurative and literal.

He had given his half-sister a kiss on the cheek, then gone to his own bed to find his wife requiring more than a mere kiss.

In the morning, all had been well, but Stefan was sleeping. He didn't require further explanation from Delia, but he did pop his head in to see that Stefan was resting soundly, only snoring a little for the depth of his slumber. Then, he had gone about his day.

Now, he was forcing his mind to its discipline, cogitating on what had been said even as he read and re-read the notes before him to give his mind time to catch up.

Stefan hadn't taken a seat in his excitement, and perhaps that was why Eitan thought to question him as if he were one of the Minders come to report on some experiment that needed his oversight even if he didn't understand the depth and breadth of what was going on. He needed to.

He had a thousand questions, but instead, he cracked a smile, closed the notes, and stood. With the notes in one hand, he gave Stefan a hard, one-handed hug, slapping him on the back.

"Good man. Progress, eh? Let's go see how his bones have spent the night, then."

Eitan took Stefan's arm to keep them in lockstep, but also to keep him close. Once outside his office door, he nodded to Lessnau who fell in with them. A bubble of silence surrounded them.

"We can speak plainly now. Lessnau, there has been a breakthrough with the bones of Brenner Dornkirk. Please scan the First Minister's aura to ensure nothing has affected him." Of course, Lessnau did so. To Stefan, "Lessnau has clearance. At least, he knows you have been conducting experiments if not the details. Not only is he an excellent Watcher, but I trust him as a man. Nobody can hear us speak now except the three of us."

And then, as they walked, he peppered Stefan with questions. They were largely cogent, only requiring some clarification where his education failed him. The interrogation continued until they were let into the room where the bones were kept. The bubble of silence was gone, replaced with heavy protective warding for each of them, courtesy of the High Sentinel.

Lessnau had assured him that Stefan's aura bore no traces of magical corruption, which set Eitan's mind at ease.

"Let us proceed, then, brother. Perhaps Lessnau's sembling might offer you some insight as well."

[Stefan Dornkirk]

Stefan had not sat down and it was only once he had finished speaking and was awaiting Eitan's judgement that he realized that the High Sentinel's judgement was exactly what he was waiting for. The man was his friend, his brother, his partner in more things that he could have easily named, but in this moment he was in a position over Stefan. Or, if not over Stefan himself, at least in a position of authority over the type of work that he had been doing. There was a Sentinel of Ingenuity who was probably the person that Stefan should have brought his experiments to, but in terms of Hierarchy, the woman in that position would not have been able to censure him and would have been extremely unlikely to even offer honest commentary. Her job was still tenuous, as were many of the newly created government positions. Only Eitan was stable enough to really offer him push back if it was needed, so it was to Eitan he came.

It was also because Eitan was the only one who had known Brenner, loved Brenner, as Stefan himself did. He was the only one left alive who would understand why Stefan had been so drawn to this experiment.

"I thought it would be wisest not to return until a member of the Order could accompany me, in case this has had any effect on your wards." He had already said something to that effect, and he knew that anyone would need time to parse his notes, but standing in silence made him feel half like a nervous school boy and half like an excited young under-engineer showing off a labor-of-love project to the one who would decide if it became reality or remained on paper only.

[Eitan Angevin]

"That was wise," he acknowledged. "And I have kept this project largely separate from the rest of the Order. I go over your reports with Beeman, and accept her oversight as she knows more about experimental magic than I do."

"Except when it comes to warding, sir," Lessnau interjected. It would have been sycophantic if not for the clear sincerity in his admiration, and so Eitan had learned to let it slide. In any event, having the Order's premier Sembler and Mesmer as a personal and personally loyal assistant had its perks.

"Yes, thank you, Lessnau," he said, not frustrated, but moving things right along to what was truly important: Brenner. Or his magically metallic bones, anyway. "In any event, my wards ought to keep us safe. Lessnau will semble any strange aetheric patterns and pass them on to me so I can more effectively ward us in future. It would make sense if this were merely a strange version of electromagnetic fields... I have often thought of wards in terms of fields, and that has helped me create... hm... no-zones where certain things are impossible."

Lessnau was nodding as if this proved his point, but he knew the First Minister had the good sense to appreciate his brother-in-law.

Eitan pulled a pair of aura glass goggles on so he could see a shadow of what Lessnau could just sense. It would help, both his intuitive understanding of what he would need to block as well as his learned understanding of what had befallen their friend and brother and how he might be brought back.

Come back to me, a part of him begged those bones. Of course, even his bones would be exemplary.

He peered at where his friend's eyes had been, then glanced at Stefan

"What is next?"

[Stefan Dornkirk]

Stefan hardly noticed Lessnau joining them in his hurry to lead Eitan down through his laboratories. When the man spoke, to reinforce Eitan's affirmation, he nearly jumped, and then nearly became embarrassed. Thankfully, that emotion had been soundly beaten out of him as a child, it was impossibly for him to react thus while in the company of anyone other than family and while he liked the young Order officer, he was not family.

Clearing his throat the First Minister calmed his excited hurry and adjusted himself to a nearly military stance. Actions were wiser than words in many cases and this proved one of them. If Eitan trusted the young man, and her seemed to do so fully, then Stefan would trust him also, even if a part of him curled in defensively at the idea of anyone doing more runic magic on Brenner.

Once they were in, well, once Eitan and Lessnau were in and Stefan right outside because the room really was quite small, he was back to waiting as the two other men examined. His own aura goggles were retrieved and worn, to see if anything had changed since the night before. Thankfully, nothing had. The 'eyes' were still alight, the patterns of moving energy were still processing through their multiple incarnations.

When the scans had been performed and no harm was declared Eitan turned back to Stefan with his all important question. Clearing his throat Stefan considered this. He had been considering it all afternoon while also trying not to let his hopes get away from him. They might had returned to find the energy dissipated and the bones returned to nothing but dormant metal.

"Well..." He started, glancing at Lessnau briefly before returning to look only at Eitan. "I thought I recognized the patterns of energy that are moving through the active area when I was in here last night but I couldn't quite put my finger on where I had seen them. This morni... afternoon I was looking through some of my airship schematics and I realized what I was seeing. I believe it is a relay, like in a dragonshard network, it allows for energy to be delivered in specific patterns that allow for... Well, all sorts of things. In the case of airships, precisely controlled flight. In the case of the powered armor, it allows for our control of all the limbs and vision."

Perhaps this was enough information, but in case it wasn't he continued after a brief pause for processing.

"I would like to connect the remains to a network similar to the one in the armor."

If he did this, it would give any consciousness that existed within the bones the ability to move and, with the communication devices in the armor, to speak. Eitan would know that, he was the only one who knew the armor operation as well as Stefan did, he knew that the armor allowed one to see, hear, move and speak as if it were your own body.

[Eitan Angevin]

Taking all of this in, Eitan made some lightning-quick cost-benefit analyses and, finally, nodded.

"The laboratory is already warded—by me, in fact. I will restore them all to peak efficiency, and maintain our personal protections. Lessnau will witness with his heightened senses. You, First Minister, will continue the experiment." He didn't add that he himself would be the fail safe. If something went horribly wrong, he would squeeze the ward down to a pin point within but unattached to the bones and it would have no access to aether other than that ambient stuff in the air.

That too could be denied it.

He wanted Brenner back more than anyone except, perhaps, Stefan, but he was the Warden of Zaichaer. He could not let a well-meaning experiment doom the nation-state. He had already dealt with Brenner's sacrifice once. What were his frayed feelings?

"I can just as easily scan from the outer room," Lessnau said. Eitan smiled and nodded. That meant it was only Stefan and him in the room where everything was happening, where they might bring Brenner back with love and science.

"Thank you, Lessnau. I will endeavor to keep the First Minister safe."

With Lessnau in the outer room and Eitan with his back to the wall so as not to get in Stefan's way, the High Sentinel poured his power and his keen knowledge into the wards that locked this laboratory down, as well as those that protected the men here present. When his preparations were complete, he nodded to Stefan.

"At your leisure, First Minister."

And then there was no emotion, only him and the wards that were extensions of his will. People thought he just built shields like steel turning an arrow, but in fact he was understanding concepts and creating membranes or even fields where he said no to those concepts and those concepts could not pass, could not be. He would abort a newborn Brenner if that Brenner were some monster, even if that vivisected whatever his own soul even was.

For Zaichaer.

Come back to me.

[Stefan Dornkirk]

The tension, both positive and negative that had been bouncing around inside Stefan's head, his chest, his limbs, stopped as soon as Eitan made his proclamation. It narrowed to a laser focus, to a set of pin-point goals, like lights at the end of very long tunnels. He would not run headlong into this thoughtlessly, but he might run into it.

Over the next weeks he worked, first alone, analyzing the network patterns that he was seeing, trying to figure out if they were intended for a specific purpose or if they were only rerunning what they had been set to do at the time of death. That thought process was a difficult one in itself because he still did not know why or how Brenner's insides had become thus. His initial belief had been that it was simply another twisting of the mists, a changing of that which was natural into something other. But then he recalled the way that Brenner had behaved in the months leading up to his death.

Eitan had noticed the oddities also, how he hardly seemed to eat, hardly to sleep, yet his energy was, if anything, more intense than ever. His focus was not dulled, and he had endured those unexplainable headaches. When it had been suggested that he see a medical professional, he had declined. At the time Stefan had believed this was his natural bravado but, was it possible that Brenner had sensed that something was happening that a doctor shouldn't know about?

Stefan would never believe that Brenner might have known what was happening to him without confiding in those closest to him, but maybe he had sensed changes and, considering all the other things that were turning their lives upside down, chosen to suck it up and wait to burden his loved ones with his problems. Brenner had also been extremely busy as First Minister, a job that Stefan now knew the hardships of first hand.

While he had worked to fully map all the energy patterns he had also set to work creating a much smaller version of the powered armor suits. It would be, when finished, the size of a normal person. The size of a specific person. Stefan did not have a thought so question his choice in making the suit to Brenner's exact physical specification and would have justified it to himself if he had by saying that it would fit the bones. There were complications though, as he grew close to completing the suit. The suit was powered but still needed the input of limbs to respond to. The skeleton, while capable of some very weak, spasmodic movement when overloaded with aetheric energy did not have any structures for intentional movement. It was wildly optimistic to plan for intention, to plan for thought at all, but, for once, Stefan was willing to allow for bounding optimism.

At first he went to Beeman with this problem but was quickly directed to Stechpalme for diagrams of muscle structure. Stefan quickly saw the wisdom in this, if there was anything left of the human mind that had existed, it would except to move in human ways. Building muscles, and tendons that could be powered by a combination of renewing dragonshards used to heat water into steam and flexible tubes through which said steam would pass was a challenge but it was the sort that Stefan loved.

It was months before the structure was complete, and all that time the energy in the brain-space of the skull continued to cycle and renew. It was a hopeful sign, this life energy recreating and generating itself even when left alone for such a length of time. At different points Stefan would attach the 'muscle' structures to an arm or a leg and add aetheric energy to the system, allowing the skull to connect to them. Each of these experiments had strengthened his belief in the chance that there was something of Brenner, or at least something of consciousness remaining. He never even had to perform the tests himself, only attach the structures and watch as the skeleton moved that limb on it's own, reaching out with an arm, moving fingers to clasp and unclasp, or moving a leg and foot in an imitation of walking.

At last, the whole structure was complete. Stefan considered adding it into the also complete mini-armored suit but decided against full integration to start for, if there was a problem it would be much easier to solve if he had full access to the uncovered muscular structure. He did attach the helmet to the system, however, for, if whatever remained wished to become active, it would need the senses that were only available within. The jaw would never move again, at least, not unless he was willing to cut through it, but he had added a system to allow for the dot-and-dash military code to be used by such a network as seemed present and had been able to move the limbs. This was already present in the large armor suits, for times in which he or Eitan, or the dozens of officers that were now training with the suits, might not be able to speak, or needed to send messages that couldn't just be heard by anyone nearby, so it hadn't been hard to copy over.

When the day came, he had asked Eitan to be there, and Lessnau had inevitably accompanied him. The skeleton, now with all the mechanical muscles attached but currently cut off, aetherically speaking, from the 'brain', had been significantly restrained. There was no knowing what might happen, but at the very least, it would likely fall down when suddenly able to control a whole body. Stefan stood to one side of the tiny room, Eitan the other, with Lessnau scanning the whole scene from just outside.

Stefan had a reader setup attached to the helmet that would be able to express any attempts at communication that came through and he, like all Zaichaeri military officers, had the codes for the letters of their alphabet memorized.

He looked to Eitan for confirmation, waited for it, then flipped the switch that allowed full aetheric movement through the whole skeleton and all that was attached. For a moment, little happened, a few twitches, then the head turned, the lights in the front that showed that the visual relays were working lit up. Stefan's stomach dropped as he realized that this might be Brenner, looking at him. Then the little relay box began jumping with a repeating pattern that it took the shocked Stefan a long moment to interpret. It was just a single letter, a capitalized letter A, over and over again. While the scientific part of his mind tried to reassure him that it was probably just repeating the single letter by accidental firing of the network, Stefan went pale as the human part of his brain forcefully filled with the notion that the remains were screaming.

[Eitan Angevin]

Eitan had expected the next step to be precedent from his approval, and yet Stefan wasn't prepared to proceed for weeks yet.

Ash now, he hoped Brenner hadn't suffered, though he didn't bring it up with Stefan. His internal calculus could only calculate known factors and Brenner's skeleton didn't fall under that umbrella; he couldn't truly calculate Stefan's very real suffering against the possible suffering of what might be a fragment of Brenner.

But he had laid out his requirements and Stefan had met them and so he was there and so was Lessnau. Eyes and shields were present to ensure everything went well and, one way or another, information was gathered from the proceedings.

When the day arrived, they had already spoken at length on more than one occasion. Lessnau was prepared and so was Eitan. He waved away the minutiae, though, ready to see what all this meant, whether there was more to this skeleton than met the eyes.

Everything was in place now and all Eitan could do was project calm confidence and hope the Mists wouldn't creep in to fuck everything up despite all the best laid plans.

[Stefan Dornkirk]

Through the auraglass goggles Stefan could see that the additional power from the mechanized muscle structure, from the helmet moving up through the whole, mixing with that which was in the skull and... changing color? That didn't make sense but Stefan knew that it was his mind's attempt to interpret information that was coming through the googles. He was no Sembler, and the goggles could only represent aetheric signals in the form of what his eyes could interpret. The change in 'color' meant a change of energy. The simple life force energy that had existed inside the skull, which his mind saw as a sort of green, and the red and blue energy of the steam power and the shards used to create it shifted, mixing like liquid chemicals in a beaker, swirling together to create a sort of metallic orange. It wasn't a color Stefan had ever seen before through auraglass but it looked remarkably like the color that his normal eyes saw when he looked at Brenner's skeletal remains. Not quite bronze, not quite brass, too red for either, but with that sort of shine to them.

Bloodmetal. His mind supplied without his prompting and he nodded, slightly, even though he hadn't said it aloud.

The not-quite silent scream continued for some time, but then cut off abruptly. The whole form convulsed and Stefan drew back, as much as was possible, from what looked like nothing so much as a death throe. The whole thing went still, but the energy didn't stop moving, if anything, the movement picked up, the patterns inside the skull expanding, growing more rapid by the second and changing the movement off the energy fueling the structure, stating from the skull and flowing down. It looked like water rushing in to fill a dry riverbank, flooding through tributaries. When this conversation reaches the feet it began it's way back up, filling in every little space, even within the skeletal structure, until the whole form was ablaze with aetheric light. When it reached the head once again, the light that showed that the visual network was active changed from the soft yellow that Stefan had designed to the same orange-red that could be seen only through the auraglass. Except, even when Stefan lifted off the goggles, the color now remained.

The head turned in tiny shifts, like a person waking, lifting from hanging limply to being upright. The 'eyes' moved, stopping when they reached Stefan's feet and then continuing, very slowly, until he was looking the helmet in the eyes. The metal-man regarded the flesh one for long moments, tilting its head a little in motions too animal to be mistaken for anything other than an examination. When the gaze finally turned to Eitan, Stefan said, in as normal a tone as he could manage,

"Lessnau, what are you seeing?"

For a long moment there was no reply and then there was a sound like a whimper that someone caught before it could make it out of their throat, then,

"I... I don't know. It's, there is a mind in there."

Stefan cut off the beginning of a cascade of thoughts that would have derailed him. As uncanny as everything that was happening felt, feelings were not what was needed in this situation. This was science, aether manipulation was just a form of science. What was needed was clear questions and answers, so he tried.

"Is this a living being? The aether looks different from the life energy I have observed in the past."

Lessnau seemed to have taken ahold of himself and his next answer was steadier,

"The aether movement is consistent with lifeforms but I haven't ever seen this type of aether before. I would say... yes. But it may be something intended to mimic life. The patterns of re-circulation are, as you originally suggest, similar to a dragonshard network. Its like... a living machine?"

The remains had continued to examine at Eitan during this exchange but now shifted, not quickly, back to Stefan briefly, and then around the room. Stefan picked up his clipboard and began making notes on as much as he could. Aether patterns, on the new type of aether (to him and Lessnau at least), the observable 'behavior' of the remains. Over the next few minutes it began attempting to move it's limbs, which it could do, but not very much due to the restraints. The muscles were actually several times as strong as the human equivalent would have been but Stefan had been very careful in limiting the amount of energy they were able to pull for this first test. The remains seemed to realize that they were trapped and, just as Stefan looked up from his notes, they gave a little frustrated fidget, something done with the arms and shoulders a certain movement and tilt of the head. The gesture was so viscerally familiar to Stefan that the clipboard slipped from his fingers to the floor and he took a step toward the remains.

"Brenner?" He choked, all attempts at professional indifference stripped away like flesh by lightning.

Eitan made a sound behind him but he couldn't turn to see his friend, he couldn't see anything but the red-orange 'eyes' that could maybe, see him back. The telegraph receiver on the tiny table jumped back to life, slowly spelling out letters.

"S...T...E...F..."

The loud shorting out of the whole system he had rigged to feed limited power to the remains covered the awful sound that Stefan tried to make, blocking it out from at least Lessnau's hearing as all three men lifted their hands hurriedly to cover their ears and eyes. Sparks flew, but the safety system kicked in immediately to shut down all additional power and the room dimmed.

Stefan's hand moved from his eyes to his mouth, covering the anguished gape that he could not close. The remains had returned to their limp, hanging posture, through the aura-goggles Stefan could still see the tiny aether patterns inside the skull, but the rest had gone dark.

"Send the boy away." He told Eitan, not sure if it came out as a gasp or a scream. Because this wasn't science anymore, this was family, and it was private. Moving over to the door he slammed it closed. This was no longer for the eyes or any other senses of anyone who wasn't blood. It was for Stefan, and Eitan, and Brenner, and that was all.