Mechanicum:The Horus Heresy Book 9 Part 5/7

AUDIOLIBRARY

Transcript

00:00:00It's going to take us two days to reach the point nearest the Noctis Labyrinthas, an outlying

00:00:06hub of Mondus Gamma in the northern Syrian sub-fabrics."

00:00:09"'Two days! Why so long?'

00:00:13"'This is a supply train,' explains Zeus. We're going to pass through a lot of the borderland

00:00:18townships on the edge of the Pallidus. According to the on-board timetable we're about to reach

00:00:24Ash Border. Then we'll pass through Dunetown, Crater Edge, and Red Gorge, before we begin

00:00:30the descent to the Syria Plainum and Mondus Gamma."

00:00:33"'Not big on originality when it comes to their settlement names, are they?' observed

00:00:37Dahlia.

00:00:38"'Not really.'

00:00:39"'I suppose they just name it as they see it,' said Zeus. When you live out on the edge

00:00:45of civilization there's a virtue in simplicity.'

00:00:47"'I think there's a virtue in that, wherever you are,' said Dahlia."

00:00:52The Hab was warm, but then it was always warm. Hot air rising from the magma lagoon rolled

00:01:00up the flanks of the volcano in dry, parching waves to leech the moisture from the air like

00:01:05a giant dehumidifier. Melusine lay on her bed, with one hand thrown over her forehead.

00:01:13Sweat gathered in the spoons of her collarbones, and she felt uncomfortably sticky and hot.

00:01:18The atomiser was turned on, but might as well have been switched off for all the difference

00:01:22it was making. She rolled on to her side, unable to sleep and unable to stop thinking

00:01:27of what might be happening to Dahlia and the others. She told herself it wasn't guilt,

00:01:33but only half believed it. Zeth had placed her with Dahlia with the express purpose of

00:01:37passing on her impressions and insights into the young transcriber's mind, and that was

00:01:42exactly what she had done. There had been no betrayal, no breach of trust, and certainly

00:01:48no disloyalty. The only betrayal would have been if she had failed in her duty to her

00:01:52mistress. Why, then, did she feel so bad about telling

00:01:57Adept Zeth of Dahlia's plans? Melusine knew exactly why she felt bad.

00:02:04In the weeks she had worked with Dahlia Sithera, Melusine had rediscovered the joy of working

00:02:08on the frontiers of technology. Together they had discovered new and wondrous things, devices

00:02:13and theoretical science that they had gone on to prove valid. How long had it been since

00:02:19she or indeed anyone in the Mechanicum had done that? True, Adept Zeth was for ever pushing

00:02:25the boundaries of what was known and accepted, but she was a tiny cog in a larger machine

00:02:30and there was only so much she dared risk. The Mechanicum was old and unforgiving with

00:02:36those who disobeyed its strictures. They had been gone less than a day, and already

00:02:41she missed them. She wished she knew where they were, so she could have tapped into the

00:02:45Martian networks to follow their progress, but she had wiped Dahlia's destination from

00:02:50her memory coils. Right now they could be anywhere, en route to the far side of the

00:02:55planet, for all she knew. Melusine had got used to their foibles, strengths

00:03:00and blind spots. She had nurtured them, blended them together until they were a team, working

00:03:05more efficiently and more enthusiastically than any of them had ever worked before. Now

00:03:10they were off making good use of that mentoring, and she was left behind. She swung her legs

00:03:16out of bed and ran a hand through her hair. It was matted and sweaty, and no amount of

00:03:21time in the sonic shower would make it feel clean. She padded softly from the bed alcove

00:03:27and made her way to the kitchenette to fix a pot of caffeine. If she wasn't going to

00:03:31get any sleep, she might as well use the time productively. She yawned as the heating ring

00:03:37fired the pot, wiping sweat from her brow as the pot bubbled and hissed. She poured

00:03:42a cup and sat in the dining nook within the polarised glass bay that looked out over the

00:03:47surface of the red planet. This high up, Melusine was above the distorting fumes that filmed

00:03:53the lower-level windows with grime and pyroclastic deposits. Far below her the magma city blazed

00:03:59with light, an ocean of glowing industry and a desert of industrial wasteland. Silver trails

00:04:05of maglevs spun out from the city, travelling to all parts of Mars, but beyond them the

00:04:11planet was shrouded in banks of dust and polluted fogs. Melusine put down her cup and leaned

00:04:16her forehead on the hot glass. Lights moved in the city, and glittering transits ferried

00:04:22cargo and supplies to the port facilities.

00:04:25Wherever you are, Dahlia, I wish you well, she whispered, feeling very alone. She frowned

00:04:33as she realised she wasn't alone. Her biometric surveyors were reading another lifeform in

00:04:39her hab.

00:04:40I was wondering when you would notice me, said a voice from the shadows.

00:04:46Melusine jumped at the sound, looking up in frozen surprise as a lithe, sensual woman

00:04:51glided from the darkness. She was clad in a skin-tight red body-glove, and a pair of

00:04:56finely wrought pistols were sheathed at her hips. Melusine covered her surprise and said,

00:05:02I knew you were there. I was just waiting to see when you would announce yourself.

00:05:06I lie, but one necessary for you to feel you are still in control, said the woman.

00:05:12Who are you, and what are you doing in my hab? asked Melusine, still too surprised to

00:05:17feel anything but annoyance.

00:05:20My name is irrelevant, because soon you won't remember it, said the woman, and as she moved

00:05:25into the light Melusine saw the golden death-mask she wore. But, for the record, it is Remiari.

00:05:35Melusine's annoyance turned to fear as she realised what this woman was.

00:05:38That's half my question answered.

00:05:42Remiari cocked her head to one side and said, You still think you have a measure of control,

00:05:47don't you?

00:05:48What do you want? asked Melusine, pushing herself further into the dining-nook.

00:05:53You know what I want.

00:05:55No, actually, said Melusine.

00:05:57I don't.

00:05:58Then I shall tell you, said Remiari. I want you to tell me the whereabouts and destination

00:06:05of Dahlia Sithra.

00:06:08Melusine furrowed her brow as if in thought, and activated her silent alarm. Adept Zeth

00:06:13would now be aware of her plight, and a squad of mechanic and protectors would soon be dispatched

00:06:18to her rescue. All she had to do was stall.

00:06:22Dahlia, she said at last.

00:06:24Why do you want to know about her?

00:06:26No more questions, said Remiari. Tell me what I want to know, and I promise you won't suffer.

00:06:33I can't, said Melusine, even if I wanted to. I might have known what you want, but I don't

00:06:39remember any more.

00:06:40You're lying.

00:06:41I'm not. Adept Zeth had me erase any knowledge of where Dahlia was going from my memory-coils.

00:06:47She regretted her smug tone instantly as Remiari ghosted closer and Melusine saw the red light

00:06:53of the magma lagoon reflected on her death-mask. Her face was the visage of something vile

00:06:58and terrible, a leering monster from her darkest nightmares. Even amid her fear she recognised

00:07:05the exquisite work of the assassin's gravitic thrusters, the sinuous form of a killer bred

00:07:10and trained from birth.

00:07:12Then that's very bad news for you.

00:07:15And why's that? asked Melusine, trying to muster some bravado.

00:07:19Because nothing is ever really erased, Melusine, said Remiari, as a silver spike extended from

00:07:25her forefinger. Despite the heat in the small dwelling-hab, Melusine suddenly felt very

00:07:30cold indeed as she recognised it as a data-spike.

00:07:34Why do you want to find Dahlia? asked Melusine, the words coming out in a fear-induced rush.

00:07:40I mean, she's nothing, just a transcriber from Terra. All she did was take notes of

00:07:45our work. Really. Why do you want her?

00:07:49Remiari's head darted forward like a feeding bird's and she laughed, the sound soulless

00:07:54and dead.

00:07:55You are trying to keep me talking because you believe help is on its way. But it isn't.

00:08:02No one is coming, Melusine. I am the only one hearing that insultingly simple silent

00:08:08alarm your implants are broadcasting. I'm telling you, I erased the things you're looking

00:08:14for.

00:08:15You may have erased your memory coils, but the soft meat beneath remembers, said Remiari,

00:08:22while softly wagging her finger. The Mechanicum never deletes anything.

00:08:28Melusine glanced down at her cup of caffeine and wondered if she would be quick enough

00:08:31to throw it in the assassin's face. That question was answered a moment later. One second, the

00:08:37red-clad woman was standing before her. The next, she was seated next to her, pressing

00:08:41her against the warm glass of her hab. A hand with fingers like steel rods shot out and

00:08:47gripped her throat, tilting her head back.

00:08:49I don't know what you want, screamed Melusine as the assassin's data spike pressed against

00:08:54the augmented orb that replaced her right eye.

00:08:57I'll find what I want, promised Remiari. All I have to do is dig deep enough.

00:09:082.06

00:09:10He had always dreaded this, but now that it was his life he knew there had been nothing

00:09:16to fear. In the world of flesh his body had been ageing and weakening, but here, in this

00:09:22world of amniotic suspension, he was all-powerful and all-conquering. In a simulated engine

00:09:30war, Princeps Cavallerio fought and killed like a living metal god, bestriding the virtual

00:09:35arena like a colossus of battle. His enemies died, Scitari crushed underfoot, reavers torn

00:09:43to pieces in the terrible, smashing hell of engine combat, and warlords blasted apart

00:09:48with weapons fire in murderous killing salvos. The world of flesh was over for Cavallerio.

00:09:55The world of metal was now his domain.

00:09:59Liquid data spiralled around him, fed to him through receptors implanted beneath his skin,

00:10:05filling his sensory apparatus with information that would overwhelm the brains of those less

00:10:09augmented than he. Darts of light, each one carrying a welter of data, swirled around

00:10:16him like shoals of glowing fish as he ended yet another simulation as the victor.

00:10:22Cavallerio was unrecognisable as the spare, limping mortal that had walked the surface

00:10:26of Mars. A man he had been, but a creation of the Mechanicum he was now. His pallid flesh

00:10:34floated in nutrient-rich jelly, hung from a multitude of cables that connected him to

00:10:39the world around him in ways too numerous to count. Each day since his incarceration

00:10:44within the casket brought new attachments, new augmentics, and new sensations. Only now

00:10:50did he realise how imperfect had his existence been as a mere mortal, confined to a mere

00:10:56five senses. A thick, inflexible cable pierced his spine between the lumbar vertebrae, while

00:11:02other, more delicate wires were plugged into his eye-sockets. A forest of cables extruded

00:11:08from the rear of his cranial cavity that would link to the manifold when he once again took

00:11:12charge of an engine. Both arms were encased in metal to his elbows, and both his feet

00:11:18had been amputated and replaced with haptic sheaths. The transition had been difficult

00:11:24and not without setbacks, but his Famulus, Agathy, had been with him every step of the

00:11:29way, soothing him, cajoling him, and encouraging him to overcome every problem. Though initially

00:11:35hostile to the idea of a Famulus, Cavallerio now appreciated how vital such a person was

00:11:40when you were confined to an amniotic tank. The terrible, aching loss of Victorix Magna

00:11:47still haunted his nightmares, as he knew it would for the rest of his days. No princep

00:11:52survived the death of his engine without psychological scarring, but with every simulated engagement

00:11:57his warlike confidence grew stronger. Soon his ability to command an engine became faster

00:12:03and more efficient, until he knew he was better than he ever had been in his previous life.

00:12:10As this latest simulation came to an end, the fury of battle and the exhilaration of

00:12:14connection faded from his consciousness with a sharp pang of regret. It wasn't the same

00:12:19as physically disengaging from an engine, but it was close, and he could already feel

00:12:23the hunger to go back in, creeping at the edge of his psyche.

00:12:27How did I ever exist before this? he canted in a soft sigh of binary.

00:12:34His awareness of the world around him swam into focus as the images of battle faded like

00:12:38banished phantoms. Slowly the world of reality began to impose itself on his perception.

00:12:45Though Cavallerio no longer saw the world as he once had, the sensorium installed as

00:12:49part of his casket allowed him even greater acuity than ever before. He identified the

00:12:55biometrics of the two people standing in his casket chamber before any visual recognition

00:12:59was made. He could see Agathe's physical form, which was short and slightly rounded, as well

00:13:06as reading her biometrics and the electrical field densities of her subtle augmetics. Her

00:13:11noospheric modifications flickered, and tiny geezers of data light streamed above her head.

00:13:17The second figure was Princeps Charak.

00:13:19"'My Princeps,' said Agathe, startled by his sudden vocalization.

00:13:24"'Do you require anything? Hm?'

00:13:27"'No, Agathe. I was just thinking aloud.'

00:13:30"'Congratulations on another successful engagement, Indias,' said Charak.

00:13:36"'Thank you, Kel,' said Cavallerio.

00:13:39"'Did you see how I took down the second warlord?'

00:13:43Charak smiled, and Cavallerio read the genuine pleasure his friend took in the accomplishment.

00:13:47"'I saw it, my Princeps. Masterful.'

00:13:50"'I know,' said Cavallerio, without arrogance.

00:13:54"'I am faster and more cohesive in my command than ever before. I merely think in order,

00:14:00and the engine responds. Data streams into me straight from the manifold, which increases

00:14:05my reaction and response times by an average of 9.7 percent. That's more than the difference

00:14:11between life and death in an engine fight.'

00:14:13"'That's good to hear,' said Charak.

00:14:16"'You're adjusting well, then?'

00:14:18"'I am, Kel. I am. My days are full. I fight simulated engagements every day, though only

00:14:26Agathe watches me now. Between my battles and surgery, Princeps Kasim comes to check

00:14:31on my progress, and we share stories of our glorious legio's history.'

00:14:35"'And the casket?' asked Charak.

00:14:38"'You don't miss—well—flesh?' Cavallerio hesitated before answering. It was difficult,'

00:14:46he admitted at last. "'For the longest time I thought I would go mad in here. But Agathe

00:14:51has helped many a Princeps adjust to his new life. And, as time went on, I began to understand

00:14:58that this was what I was destined for.'

00:15:01"'Destined?'

00:15:02"'Yes, Kel. Destined. I don't know why I resisted immersion for all those years. I link with

00:15:09the manifold, and it's so much closer than it was before. When I commanded Victorix Magna,

00:15:15I could feel what she felt, but it was borrowed sensation. Now I am the engine. This shouldn't

00:15:23be the last resort of an aging or injured Princeps. This should be the standard method

00:15:28of command for all the bigger engines.'

00:15:31"'I think you might have a hard time convincing some of the die-hards of that.'

00:15:35"'Not if they knew what I know,' said Cavallerio. But what say we dispense with this small talk,

00:15:42and discuss the real reason for your visit?'

00:15:45Charak nodded, circling the tank with the awe of one in the presence of greatness, and

00:15:50Cavallerio read his unease in his increased heart-rate and spiking alpha waves.

00:15:54"'It's all right, Kel,' said Cavallerio. "'You don't need to feel guilty. You did what you

00:16:01had to do, and I would have been disappointed if you hadn't.'

00:16:05Charak stopped his circling, and knelt before the casket, placing his hand on the warm glass

00:16:09of the tank. Cavallerio floated to the front, his flesh marbled and glossy, his features

00:16:15all but obscured by the complex bionics that grafted him to the machinery of his life-support.

00:16:21Only an inch of toughened glass separated the two men, but an anatomy's worth of augmentics

00:16:26created a gulf between their humanity.

00:16:28"'I don't feel guilty,' said Charak. "'I know I did the right thing. You weren't fit to command

00:16:35the Legio then, and despite your progress, I still don't think you're ready. Soon, but

00:16:40not yet.'

00:16:41"'Then why are you here?'

00:16:43"'I need your help, Storm-Lord,' said Charak. "'And I need your experience. I fear I am not

00:16:50cut from the same cloth as you. Leadership is in your blood, but not in mine.'

00:16:55"'Then speak,' ordered Cavallerio. "'I may not be Princeps Signoris, but I am still your friend.'

00:17:04The words were meant to comfort Charak, but only seemed to wound him.

00:17:08He looked over at Agathe and said, "'Perhaps we might speak privately, my Princeps?'

00:17:14Agathe is my Famulus, and anything you have to say to me can be said in front of her.

00:17:20"'Very well, Storm-Lord,' said Charak. "'You won't have failed to notice that you haven't been

00:17:26linked to any ports with outside access during your recovery. The Medicae felt it would hinder

00:17:31your adjustment for you to be inloaded with an excess of data.'

00:17:35"'A decision that, with hindsight, I applaud,' said Cavallerio.

00:17:40"'So tell me, what's been happening beyond our fortress?

00:17:43Have Mortis been taken to task for their violation of our territory?'

00:17:47Charak shook his head. "'No, my lord,' he said,

00:17:52"'they have not. The Princeps Conciliatus have been appraised of the facts,

00:17:57and they have issued a summons. But both the Fabricator General and Princeps Camulus

00:18:02ignore it.' "'A Conciliatus summons,

00:18:06and a rift between the Legios? Ignored? Madness!'

00:18:10"'All of Mars may well have gone mad, my Princeps,' agreed Charak.

00:18:15"'What do you mean?' Charak shared a look with Agathe, and said,

00:18:20"'The situation on Mars has deteriorated almost to the point of open warfare. Disaster strikes at

00:18:26the Mechanicum from all sides, and we are petitioned daily for our engines to walk.'

00:18:31"'Petitioned by whom?' "'I have received missives

00:18:35from no less than seventeen forges, all begging us to initiate an execution.

00:18:40With your permission, my Princeps, I should like to inload your casket with the latest

00:18:44updates on the current tactical situation.' "'Of course, Kel,' said Cavallerio.

00:18:50"'Immediately.' Charak said nothing, and didn't appear to move, but Cavallerio felt a rush of

00:18:55data as his fellow Princeps newsferrically unlocked the feeds that were part of the

00:18:59Martian network, and which fed directly into the smart liquid of his casket.

00:19:04"'Blood of the Omnisire!' hissed Cavallerio, as the data permeated his mind via informational

00:19:10osmosis. In an instant he drank in the terrible events of the death of innocents, caused by the

00:19:16hateful scrap-code, the spate of catastrophic machine failures, and the rising tide of

00:19:21violence erupting all across the surface of Mars. He saw bloodshed as forges went to war,

00:19:27and old feuds were reignited. He saw opportunistic territorial grabs, spiteful acts of vengeance,

00:19:33and hungry snatches for a rival's knowledge. The drums of battle were beating all over Mars,

00:19:39stirring the bellicose hearts of man, and spurring the looming presence of civil war

00:19:44ever closer. It saddened him to realise that, a race apart though they might be,

00:19:50the Mechanicum were just as prone to human foibles as their unmodified brethren.

00:19:55"'And this scrap-code attack came just as Mortis walked on Ascreus Mons.

00:20:01"'We caught the first spurts of it, I think,' said Sharack. "'It was fragmentary and dispersed,

00:20:06and Zeth's noosferic upgrades saved us from getting hit as hard as some others.

00:20:11But Legio Fortidus and Legio Agravides are gone. Their reactors went critical,

00:20:16and took their entire fortress and a good chunk of the Erebus Montes with them.'

00:20:22Cavallerio digested the information without comment, though it grieved him to think of

00:20:26two Allied Legios lost to so ignominious a fate. He reviewed the data he'd been fed impassively,

00:20:33sifting through the morass of contradictory communiques, orders, requests, petitions,

00:20:38demands and propaganda flying between the forges. Factions were already forming,

00:20:43fragile alliances drawn along the lines of the tired old Omnissiah schism.

00:20:48Blurts of cant circled the planet, some demanding an end to the union of Mars and Terra,

00:20:54while others urged all Mars to cleave more tightly to the bosom of humanity's birth-rock.

00:20:59Worse, much of it had gone off-world, spreading like a plague on departing ships,

00:21:03or, within astropathic visions, cast across the void to the Mechanicum contingents

00:21:08accompanying the expedition fleets throughout the galaxy.

00:21:12"'What's all this talk of Horus Lupercal?' asked Cavallerio, reading the binary version of the

00:21:17first Primarch's name time and time again. "'What does the Warmaster have to do with any of this?'

00:21:23"'We're not sure, my princeps,' said Sharag.

00:21:26"'The factions advocating the split from Terra seem to be championing the Warmaster as their

00:21:30deliverer from the Emperor. It's hard to make much sense of it. Their code is so corrupt it's

00:21:36little more than binary screams of the Warmaster's name.' As word of this reached Terra, the inter-

00:21:42system vox is erratic, but Adept Maximal has apparently made intermittent contact with the

00:21:47Council of Terra. And what do they make of all this?'

00:21:51"'It sounds like they're as confused as us, my princeps,' said Sharag,

00:21:55taking a deep breath before continuing. "'Something bad has happened in the Istvan

00:22:00system. Something to do with the Astartes. But we can't get any hard facts.'

00:22:05"'But what of Mars?' pressed Cavallerio. "'What do they say about Mars?'

00:22:10"'The Mechanicum is told to quell the unrest, or the Legions will do it for them.'

00:22:15"'The Maglev made good time through the southern reaches of the Tharsis uplands,

00:22:21skirting the edge of the Palladus and passing through a number of storms of wind-blown

00:22:25particulate on its journey eastwards. Dahlia found the sight of the billowing ash strangely

00:22:30uplifting and spent hours watching the spiralling vortices streaming down the length of the

00:22:35carriages. She watched the dust rolling on and on throughout the landscape and envied its freedom

00:22:40to roam, blown hither and thither without direction by the winds. Increasingly she felt

00:22:46as though her life was just like the Maglev, travelling upon a fixed track, guided inexorably

00:22:52forward to an inevitable destination. The notion of free will and choice seemed alien and strange

00:22:58to her, as though her brain was merely responding to external stimuli and she had no choice but to

00:23:04obey. They saw little of their fellow passengers during the journey, save the occasional awkward

00:23:10passing in the corridors to and from the ablutions' cubicles or food-dispensers. Dahlia

00:23:16recognised most of them as low-level adepts on errands for their masters, servitors on automatic

00:23:21reassignment, or migrant labourers moving to another forge in the hope of securing work.

00:23:26Perhaps three hundred souls travelled with them, but no one paid them any mind,

00:23:31a fact for which Dahlia was absurdly grateful. The thrill of venturing beyond the boundaries

00:23:36of the forge had worn thin for their little group after a few hours, and they had fallen

00:23:41into the strange silence of travellers on a long journey, with nothing to help pass the time.

00:23:46The prospect of seeing one of the otherworldly pallidus border-towns had excited them,

00:23:51but even that had proven something of a letdown. As the Maglev had approached Ash Border,

00:23:57they all roused themselves to see what one of these frontier towns looked like,

00:24:01for none of them had ventured beyond the hives of Mars' more populated regions.

00:24:06Dahlia read his threat auspecs switch to active as they came within range of the

00:24:10settlement's network antenna. She didn't mention that fact to the others.

00:24:16Ash Border had proved to be both exotic and slightly dull at the same time,

00:24:20with dusty ore silos, rusted salvage barns, and tall drilling machinery dominating the skyline.

00:24:27But with the memory of a Mechanicum forge still bright in their minds,

00:24:30the minor industrial complex of Ash Border seemed small and underwhelming.

00:24:36The inhabitants were sullen-faced men and women, with weather-beaten faces and clothes

00:24:40scoured identical by coarse ash. They offered no welcome, and disappeared back to their

00:24:46ramshackle dwellings as soon as their cargo was unloaded by a handful of archaic lifter-servitors.

00:24:52Dunetown lived up to its name, and proved to be no less prosaic, with even more outmoded

00:24:57servitors unloading the allocated inventory before the Maglev set off towards Crater Edge.

00:25:03By now they had been travelling for a day and a half. Tiredness was beginning to tell,

00:25:08and sleep was hard to come by. Though the ride was smooth, the compartment's seats had been

00:25:13designed with functional practicality in mind, rather than comfort. None of them had been able

00:25:19to muster much enthusiasm to watch Zeus's projection of the view from the driver's

00:25:22compartment as they approached Crater Edge, but when the Maglev halted at the raised dock,

00:25:29it was quickly evident that something was different. The place was abandoned, the dwellings

00:25:34were empty, and the streets deserted, but it was impossible to tell whether the inhabitants had

00:25:39been driven away or left of their own volition. The Maglev was on an automated schedule, so the

00:25:46mystery went unexplained, and the mining supplies allocated for the township remained in the

00:25:51snaking transport's holds as it pulled away. No sooner had Crater Edge vanished into the dust

00:25:57and haze than Dahlia felt a weight she hadn't even been aware of lift from her shoulders,

00:26:02as though some creeping sickness lingered around the township. The place had just felt wrong.

00:26:09Not the wrongness of disease or death, but a gurgling hiss of wet code laughter she caught

00:26:14drifting on the airwaves. Red Gorge was similarly deserted, the strange whispering code ghosting

00:26:20around it as well. Dahlia caught Rho-Mu-31 twitching as he heard it too, an insistent

00:26:27scratching that irritated the corners of the mind like an embedded flea. She caught his eye as the

00:26:32Maglev pulled away, and they saw each other's awareness of the bad code on the air. Rho-Mu-31

00:26:39shook his head, and she took his meaning clearly enough. Say nothing.

00:26:45At last the Maglev began the approach to the jagged line of peaks that separated the Tharsis

00:26:50Uplands from the magnificent expanse of the Syria Planum. After a long looping journey southwards,

00:26:56the Maglev turned north to begin the slow climb over the upthrust spires of rock pushed up and

00:27:02over one another in an ongoing geological collision. The skies beyond the escarpment

00:27:07were dark and shot through with scarlet lightning, as though a great firestorm was brewing.

00:27:13It had been a long journey, and the sight of the two deserted townships had unsettled everyone.

00:27:18They had all heard tales of settlements abandoned when the ore or whatever had originally drawn the

00:27:23settlers there had dried up, but Red Gorge and Crater Edge hadn't felt abandoned. They had felt

00:27:29empty, as though the people there had just vanished—gone in a heartbeat.

00:27:35Perhaps they were press-ganged, suggested Severine. I've heard of that. A forge-master

00:27:40isn't going to meet his quota and send his protectors out into the wastelands to capture

00:27:44more people to work in their forges. Don't be ridiculous, said Caxton. Let's just scare stories.

00:27:51Is it? challenged Severine. How do you know? I just do. All right?

00:27:57Oh, well, I feel better already. What do you say, Ro-mu-thirty-one? asked

00:28:03Zush in a tone of doom-laden theatrics. Has Adept Zeth ever sent you off to procure slaves

00:28:09to toil in her volcanic forge? From time to time, admitted the protector. That shut them all up.

00:28:18You're joking, right? said Caxton. Tell me you're joking.

00:28:23I am Mechanicum, said Ro-mu-thirty-one. We never joke.

00:28:29Dahlia looked into the green orbs of Ro-mu-thirty-one's eyes, and though they were

00:28:33devoid of anything resembling humanity, she saw the wry amusement written in his electrical field.

00:28:39She smiled at the horrified expressions on her friend's faces, and turned away,

00:28:43so as not to spoil Ro-mu-thirty-one's fun. That's—that's terrible, said Severine.

00:28:50The Mechanicum uses slaves, was Caxton's disgusted comment.

00:28:55I thought more of you, Ro-mu-thirty-one, said Zush. I thought more of Adept Zeth.

00:29:02When he judged the silence had gone on long enough, Ro-mu-thirty-one leaned menacingly

00:29:06towards them and said, Got you. A moment's stunned silence followed Ro-mu-thirty-one's

00:29:13words, and then the tension in the compartment was suddenly, explosively relieved by hysterical

00:29:19laughter. That wasn't funny, said Caxton, between laughing and wiping tears from his eyes.

00:29:25No, agreed Severine. You shouldn't say things like that.

00:29:28Why? Can't I make a joke? asked Ro-mu-thirty-one.

00:29:33I think they're just surprised that you made one at all, put in Dahlia, looking back into

00:29:38the compartment. I don't think they're used to the Mechanicum trying to be funny.

00:29:43Ro-mu-thirty-one nodded and said, I may be Mechanicum, but I am still human.

00:29:49With that, the strange unease that had settled on them at the sight of the deserted townships

00:29:53was dispelled, and they began chatting as animatedly as when they had built the first

00:29:57version of the Akashic Reader. The excitement of the journey into the unknown was rekindled,

00:30:03and as the Maglev made its way uphill, Zouche extended a discreet dendrite and plugged into

00:30:08the compartment's dataport, projecting the view from the hull-mounted Pictor onto the

00:30:13glass of the window. They eagerly watched the feed as Zouche panned the image around.

00:30:18They saw the desolate plains stretching away to the south, and the black smudge on the horizon

00:30:22above the magma city nearly two thousand kilometres away. At Caxton's request, Zouche

00:30:28returned the view to front-on, and the image shimmered as it displayed the silver Mag-line

00:30:33carrying them up into the mountains. Dahlia let out a tiny gasp of fear as she saw the

00:30:39Mag-line vanish into a gaping steel-lined cavern-mouth that pierced the flanks of the

00:30:43cliffs and led through the rock towards Mondus Gamma. She took Caxton's hand and gripped it

00:30:49tightly as the tunnel drew nearer, the yawning blackness of it suddenly terrifying.

00:30:55"'What's the matter?' he asked.

00:30:57"'I didn't realise we'd need to go through the darkness,' she said.

00:31:00"'It's just a tunnel,' said Caxton.

00:31:03"'There's nothing to worry about.'"

00:31:06The forces of the Fabricator General came for Adept Zeth several hours before Dahlia's

00:31:11Maglev approached the tunnel connecting the Tharsis uplands with the Cyria Planum.

00:31:16A Mechanicum Heavy Flyer cruised in from the north-west and sat down on the statue-lined

00:31:21Typhon Causeway before the Magma City, scorching a score of the marble worthies black with the

00:31:26heat of its enormous jets. The underside of the craft shone with golden light from the

00:31:31bubbling steaming lava to either side of the wide causeway. The ungainly aircraft was unarmed,

00:31:39but, as it settled on its landing-skids, a continuous loop of code streamed from its

00:31:43augmentors on a repeating cycle, demanding that Adept Coriel Zeth present herself by the

00:31:49order of the Fabricator General. The summons was broadcast on the highest and most authoritative

00:31:55code tense, and as such could not be ignored. The flanks of the flyer gusted steam and folded

00:32:02outwards, providing debarkation ramps for the warriors carried within. Three hundred

00:32:08modified skitarii and protectors marched from the flyer's hold onto the basalt causeway.

00:32:14Wretched by-blows of the Fabricator General's union with the power unlocked in the depths of

00:32:18the Forgotten Vaults beneath Olympus Mons—these were twisted perversions of their original martial

00:32:24glory. Hunched carapaces, spiked armour, and horned helmets clad them, and their limb-weapons

00:32:31seethed with unnatural power. The protectors were no less modified, their bodies swollen

00:32:37and grotesque, their weapons blackened and reforged in new and hateful shapes,

00:32:42designed for pain as much as killing. Under the watchful gaze of armoured turrets and missile

00:32:48emplacements cunningly worked into the walls of ceramited adamantium of Zeth's forge,

00:32:53these abominable killers formed up in three separate cohorts and marched on the Vulcan Gate.

00:33:00Behind them came a shield palanquin borne by towering brutish skitarii with grey skin and

00:33:06barbed armour. These monstrous, ogre-like warriors had been raised to such stature by

00:33:11more than simple gene-bulking and augmentics. Their bodies glistened and their veins pulsed

00:33:17with ruddy light, as though with an internal electricity. Ambassador Melgator and Adept

00:33:23Regulus stood proudly atop the palanquin, clad in robes of midnight black, with their hoods

00:33:28drawn up over their skulls. Melgator carried a staff of ebony, topped with a snarling wolf's

00:33:34head, and Regulus a staff of ivory, topped with a skull of black obsidian.

00:33:40The host of horrifically altered warriors parted to let them through, and Regulus halted the

00:33:45palanquin a hundred metres before the gate. The soaring adamantine glory of the Magma City's

00:33:50Great Portal was worked with silver cogs, golden eagles, and lightning bolts, and it was opening.

00:33:58As a widening bar of light split the two halves of the gate and the skitarii bustled with

00:34:03belligerent scrap code, Regulus raised his arms and a streaming hash of lingua technis

00:34:09irregular and arrhythmic blurted from his internal augmentors. His skull-topped staff

00:34:14crackled with corpuscent in time with his utterances, and, one by one, the turrets and

00:34:19weapons platforms on the wall shut down. The light of the city spilled outwards in a growing

00:34:26fan of orange light, throwing the shadow of the slender figure that walked from the city

00:34:30out before her in a thin line of black. Adept Coriel Zeth swept her gaze over the assembled

00:34:36cohorts before fixing a distasteful stare on the two figures borne upon the palanquin,

00:34:42as though they were pestilential plague-carriers, begging entry.

00:34:46"'By what authority do you dare come to my city and demand my presence?' she said.

00:34:51Belgator wrapped his staff on the shield palanquin, and its monstrous bearers carried

00:34:56it forward until it was less than twenty metres from Zeth.

00:35:00"'By the authority of the Fabricator General, to whom all Mars owes allegiance,'

00:35:05canted Regulus, in an all-channel squirt of binary.

00:35:09Zeth winced.

00:35:11"'That's dirty code you're using, Regulus,' she answered, reading his identity from his

00:35:16fizzing electric field.

00:35:18"'On the contrary,' replied Regulus,

00:35:20"'it is pure code, as it was meant to exist before it was tamed and shackled to the will

00:35:25of flesh.'

00:35:27"'If you can't see the flaw in that line of reasoning, then you are beyond the reach

00:35:30of my logic,' said Zeth.

00:35:33"'Now speak your piece and be gone.

00:35:36I have work to do.'

00:35:38"'That will not be possible, Zeth,' said Belgator.

00:35:41"'We are here to escort you to Olympus Mons, where you will submit to the judgment

00:35:46of the Fabricator General.'

00:35:48"'My title is Adept, Zeth.

00:35:50I believe I have earned it,' snapped the mistress of the Magma City.

00:35:54"'And on what grounds do you dare arrest me?'

00:35:57"'On the grounds of your continued heresies,'

00:36:01canted Belgator.

00:36:02"'To wit, your continued refutation of the Machine-God, your refusal to support the

00:36:07policies and regime of the Fabricator General, and, lastly, for allowing non-cult mechanic

00:36:12and personnel to work on divine machinery.

00:36:15For these charges you will be placed in our custody and returned to Olympus Mons to await

00:36:21trial for tech heresy.'

00:36:23Zeth said nothing for a moment, letting the weight of the accusations settle on her.

00:36:28Then she laughed.

00:36:30The sound echoing from the mountainside carried far and wide across the length and breadth

00:36:34of the causeway.

00:36:36"'You mock these accusations,' snapped Regulus.

00:36:40"'Is there no end to your wickedness?'

00:36:43"'Oh, I absolutely mock them,' sneered Zeth.

00:36:47"'They are laughable, and if you weren't so blinded by what Kelbor Hall has turned

00:36:52you into you would see that.'

00:36:55She swept an arm out, her gesture encompassing the gathered Scutarian protectors.

00:37:00"'These monstrous things you bring to my forge, they are abominations of flesh and

00:37:04machine, freakish hybrids worse than the feral scrap-shunt rejects that wander the

00:37:10pallidus.

00:37:11You have turned all that is beautiful of the Mechanicum into something dark, and it

00:37:15horrifies me that you cannot see it.

00:37:18So, yes, I mock your accusations, and more.

00:37:21I refuse to recognize your right to accuse me.'

00:37:25"'Then you refuse the summons of the Fabricator General?' asked Regulus, his code

00:37:30laced with eagerness to unleash the Scutari.

00:37:32"'You understand the severity of this action?'

00:37:36"'I do,' confirmed Zeth.

00:37:38"'Then we will take you by force,' said Malgotor.

00:37:42"'You can try,' said Zeth.

00:37:45Malgotor aimed his staff at the walls and said,

00:37:48"'You will either come with us or you will be destroyed, Zeth.

00:37:52Link with your wall defences and you will see they are shut down.

00:37:56We control the code now.'

00:37:59The three cohorts of Scutari began to march forward, flame-lances, energy-halberds, and

00:38:04limb-weapons arming in a flurry of crackling activations and clattering autoloaders.

00:38:09"'Not all of it, you don't,' said Zeth, as a pair of enormous mechanical forms marched

00:38:14into the gateway behind her.

00:38:17Nine metres tall, the two knights dwarfed the slight form of Adept Zeth, and the deep

00:38:22blue of their armoured plates shimmered with the reflected glow of the magma lake.

00:38:27The proud heraldry of a wheel encircling a lightning-bolt was emblazoned on their shoulder-guards,

00:38:32and they rode from the gateway to stand behind Adept Zeth with their energy-lances and gatling

00:38:37cannons trained on the approaching Scutari.

00:38:40Behind them a dozen more knights took position in line abreast to block entry to the magma

00:38:46city with their majestic forms.

00:38:49The march of the altered Scutari faltered, and they milled in confusion in the face of

00:38:53the war-machines, their pack-masters squalling for orders.

00:38:58Regulus admitted a panicked burst of code, the same mutant algorithms he had used to

00:39:02shut down the war-guns, but the knights ignored him, their systems shut off to incoming code.

00:39:09"'This is Lord Catarix of the Order of Taranis,' said Zeth, indicating the knight

00:39:14on her left, its aggressive posture making no secret of its desire to wreak harm.

00:39:19"'And this is Preceptor Stator.

00:39:22Their order is an ally of this forge, and if that flier is not off my causeway in five

00:39:27minutes they are going to ride out with their warriors and destroy you.

00:39:32Do you understand the severity of this action?'

00:39:36"'You dare threaten an emissary of the Fabricator General!' cried Melgator.

00:39:41"'You are a disgrace to the Mechanicum, Zeth!'

00:39:43"'Your assassin destroys the mind of my apprentice, and then murders one of my

00:39:48acolytes, and you dare call me a disgrace to the Mechanicum!' snarled Zeth.

00:39:53She consulted her internal chronometer and said,

00:39:56"'Four minutes and forty seconds, Melgator.

00:39:59I suggest you get moving.'

00:40:02"'You will regret this,' promised Regulus.

00:40:05"'We will see your city in ruins and your legacy expunged from all records.'

00:40:10The knights took a step forwards, the hiss and clank of their metal limbs

00:40:15sounding dreadfully loud.

00:40:17Melgator wrapped his staff on the shield palanquin, and, without another word,

00:40:22he and Regulus withdrew.

00:40:24A hurried code-squeal recalled the Skitarii, and they marched with bitter

00:40:28disappointment back onto the heavy flier.

00:40:31As its flanks folded up and it took to the air, the lead knight turned its

00:40:35cockpit towards Zeth, and a new spheric link opened between them.

00:40:39"'You should have let me kill them,' said Lord Catoryx.

00:40:42"'Maybe,' agreed Zeth.

00:40:44"'But I have a feeling you'll get another chance.'

00:40:47"'You think they'll be back?'

00:40:49"'I know they will, Lord Catoryx.

00:40:51"'But next time they won't be so arrogant,' said Zeth.

00:40:55"'I have to send word of this to Maximal and Cain.

00:40:58"'Kelbor Hal might come for them next, and I need to petition Legio Tempestus once more.

00:41:04"'I have a feeling we'll be needing some larger engines to defend the

00:41:07Magma City in the days ahead.'

00:41:10"'The support of Tempestus would be most welcome,' agreed Catoryx.

00:41:14"'In the meantime, we will continue to stand with you.

00:41:17"'What would you have us do?'

00:41:19Zeth watched the blue-hot glow of the departing flier's engines.

00:41:23"'Prepare for battle,' she said.

00:41:292.07

00:41:33The maglev speared into the tunnel, and Dahlia cried out in terror as the blackness

00:41:37swallowed them. She clung close to Caxton as the compartment lights flickered on,

00:41:42and he put his arms around her, shrugging impuzzlement at her fright.

00:41:47Sickly fluorescence bathed the compartment, but the glass window was an unchanging black mirror.

00:41:53Dahlia recoiled from its impenetrable depths, pushing away in terror from the wall with

00:41:58her sandalled feet. Her breaths came in short, panicked hikes, and her muscles cramped painfully.

00:42:04She felt her flesh become cold and clammy as sweat filmed her skin. She could hear

00:42:10her heart beat like the thunder of an industrial hammer, and tears pricked at the corners of her

00:42:14eyes. "'Dahlia!' asked Caxton.

00:42:18"'Dahlia, what's the matter?'

00:42:20"'It's the darkness,' she gasped, burying her face in his shoulder.

00:42:24"'It's all around me!'

00:42:25"'Dahlia, what? I don't understand—'

00:42:29"'What's the matter with her?' cried Severine.

00:42:31"'I don't know,' said Caxton. Helpless as Dahlia sobbed into his robes,

00:42:36her struggles becoming more and more hysterical.

00:42:39"'She's having a panic attack,' said Rho-Mu-31,

00:42:42moving from the door of their compartment to stand in front of Dahlia.

00:42:46"'I've seen it before, in new arrivals to Mars. The Red Planet is so different,

00:42:51it sparks all kinds of reactions.'

00:42:54"'So what do we do?'

00:42:56"'There's nothing you can do,' replied Rho-Mu-31.

00:43:00"'But I've dealt with this before.'

00:43:03The Protector knelt on the floor between the seats and placed a hand on Dahlia's shoulder,

00:43:07prising her away from Caxton and holding her twitching limbs.

00:43:11Her face was pale and streaked with tears.

00:43:13"'The Darkness!' wept Dahlia.

00:43:15"'I don't want to go into the Darkness again—not again!'

00:43:19"'What's she talking about?' said Severine.

00:43:21"'Make her stop!'

00:43:23"'Shut up!' hissed Zeus.

00:43:25"'Let the man work!'

00:43:27"'Dahlia,' said Rho-Mu-31, looking directly into her eyes,

00:43:31"'you are having a panic attack, but there's nothing to worry about.

00:43:35We are perfectly safe. I know you don't feel like that right now,

00:43:40but trust me, it's true.'

00:43:42Dahlia looked up at him and shook her head.

00:43:45"'No, no, we're not. I can't face it anymore.

00:43:48Please don't make me go back in there!'

00:43:51"'We'll be out of the tunnel soon enough, Dahlia,' said Rho-Mu-31,

00:43:54keeping his voice even and steady.

00:43:57She could feel his biometrics linking with hers,

00:43:59using his rigidly controlled metabolic mechanisms to try and stabilise hers.

00:44:04"'Breathe slowly,' advised Rho-Mu-31.

00:44:07"'You're taking in too much oxygen, and you don't want to do that, do you?'

00:44:12She shook her head and forced herself to take longer, slower breaths.

00:44:16With the help of Rho-Mu-31's bodily control,

00:44:19she felt her heart begin to slow and the flow of blood to her muscles lessen.

00:44:24Rho-Mu-31 read her calming internal functions and nodded.

00:44:28"'Very good,' he said.

00:44:31"'These are all just physical symptoms of anxiety.

00:44:34They're not dangerous.

00:44:36It's an evolutionary reaction from ancient times,

00:44:38when humans needed all their wits about them for a fight-or-flight reaction.

00:44:43Your body has tripped that reaction, but it's a false alarm, Dahlia.

00:44:48Do you understand that?'

00:44:50"'Of course I do,' said Dahlia, between breaths and tears.

00:44:53"'I'm not stupid, but I can't help it!'

00:44:56"'Yes, you can,' promised Rho-Mu-31.

00:44:59And he knelt with her until the panic had passed,

00:45:02holding her hands and talking in low, soothing tones.

00:45:05He reminded her that she was travelling on a Mechanicum Maglev,

00:45:09one of the safest means of transport on Mars,

00:45:11and that she was surrounded by her friends.

00:45:14Eventually his words and his gentle easing down of her metabolism

00:45:18calmed her to the point where her breathing rate was normalised

00:45:20and her heart rate, while still elevated,

00:45:23was less like the rattle of an automated nail gun.

00:45:26"'Thank you,' said Dahlia, wiping her eyes on the sleeves of her robe.

00:45:30"'I feel so stupid.

00:45:32I mean, we're only going through a tunnel.

00:45:34I've never felt claustrophobic or scared of the dark before.'

00:45:38"'Only since the accident in Zeth's Inner Forge,' said Zouch.

00:45:42"'Yes, I suppose since then,' agreed Dahlia.

00:45:47"'Maybe you're feeling its fear,' said Severine, and they all turned towards her.

00:45:52"'Feeling whose fear?' asked Caxton.

00:45:56"'Whatever it is that's buried beneath the Noctis Labyrinthus,'

00:45:59said Severine, suddenly awkward with the attention.

00:46:02"'Look, she said she felt she linked with its mind, didn't she?'

00:46:06"'I don't know about you, but if I'd been buried underground for that length of time

00:46:10and I got a brief glimpse of the world above,

00:46:13I wouldn't want to go back into the darkness either.'

00:46:16"'You may have something there, Severine,' said Caxton.

00:46:19"'What do you think, Dahlia?'

00:46:21Dahlia nodded, unwilling to confront such thoughts head on after her panic attack.

00:46:25"'Maybe.'

00:46:27"'No, no, I really think Severine's onto something here,' said Caxton.

00:46:31"'I mean if—'

00:46:31"'Enough,' said Romu 31.

00:46:34"'Save it until we're out of the tunnel.

00:46:36Zouch, how long until we reach the other side?'

00:46:40Zouch hurriedly reconnected with the Maglev's on-board cogitator,

00:46:43and streams of data-light cascaded behind his eyes.

00:46:47Romu 31 turned his attention back to Dahlia, and she smiled at him.

00:46:51"'Thank you,' she said.

00:46:53He bowed his head, and though she couldn't see his face,

00:46:55she knew he was smiling back at her.

00:46:58"'Well?' asked Dahlia, in as relaxed a manner as she could muster.

00:47:02"'How long until we're clear of the tunnel, Zouch?'

00:47:05Zouch frowned and moved his hands in the air,

00:47:07haptically shifting through holographic data-plates only he could see.

00:47:12"'I'm not sure,' he said.

00:47:14"'According to the on-board driver servitor, we're slowing down.'

00:47:17"'Slowing down? Why?' demanded Romu 31,

00:47:22and Dahlia felt his threat-auspecs light up.

00:47:25"'Here, look for yourself,' replied Zouch,

00:47:28projecting the view of the tunnel from the hull-mounted Pictor onto the window once more.

00:47:33"'There's something ahead of us.'

00:47:35They looked, and there was.

00:47:37Rumbling along the floor of the tunnel towards the decelerating Maglev

00:47:41was what looked like a tall robot of roughly spherical proportions

00:47:45mounted on a heavy-gauge track unit.

00:47:48A pair of heavy arms were held vertically at its sides,

00:47:51and a set of malleable weapon-dendrites flexed in the air above its shoulder-guards.

00:47:56Three glowing yellow orbs shone like baleful eyes in the centre of its mass,

00:48:01and, as they watched, its main arms locked into the upright position.

00:48:06As the Maglev stopped, no one in the compartment

00:48:09failed to notice that each arm was equipped with an enormous weapon.

00:48:13Even through the poor quality of the Pictor's image,

00:48:16Dahlia could feel the strangeness and uniqueness of this machine's electrical field.

00:48:21Opening herself to the part of her mind that Zeth had called her

00:48:24innate connection to the aether, she reached out towards the machine,

00:48:28reading the heat of its internal reactor

00:48:30and the sticky web of dark, malicious sentience at its core.

00:48:34"'Kaban.' That was its name.

00:48:37In the fleeting moment of connection,

00:48:39she read the memory of its creation and the killing of its former friend,

00:48:43an adept named Pallas Ravachol.

00:48:46With that death, the machine's murderous nature had been unleashed,

00:48:50and the primordial evil with which its masters had tainted its artificial intelligence

00:48:54now consumed it with dreadful, killing lust.

00:48:58"'Is that the battle-robot?' asked Caxton.

00:49:02"'It's much more than a robot,' said Dahlia, her eyes snapping open.

00:49:06"'It's something far worse.'

00:49:08"'What?'

00:49:09"'A sentient machine,' gasped Dahlia, still reeling from the moment of connection

00:49:13to its grossly warped consciousness and the awful clarity of its purpose.

00:49:18"'It's an artificial intelligence,

00:49:20and it's been corrupted with something vile, something... evil.'

00:49:24"'Evil? That's nonsense,' said Zouch.

00:49:28"'What do machines know of evil?'

00:49:30"'What does it want?' asked Severine.

00:49:33Dahlia looked over at Rho-Mu-31 in uncomprehending terror.

00:49:38"'It's here to kill me!'

00:49:41The cabin machine opened fire, and the driver-servitor's compartment

00:49:45disintegrated in a blitzing storm of lasfire and plasma bolts.

00:49:49Flames boomed from the ruptured energy cells,

00:49:52and the darkness of the tunnel was suddenly dispelled.

00:49:55Rho-Mu-31 grabbed Dahlia and hauled her from her seat

00:49:58as the machine rumbled down the tunnel,

00:50:00its weapon arms wreathed in halos of white fire

00:50:03as it systematically obliterated carriage after carriage.

00:50:07Designed to penetrate the hulls of battle-tanks

00:50:09and overload the void-shields of Titans,

00:50:11its sustained fire easily sliced through the sheet metal of the maglev sides.

00:50:17Caxton, Severine and Zouch needed no encouragement to follow Rho-Mu-31

00:50:21and blundered into the corridor beyond their compartment in terror.

00:50:25The noise from outside the maglev was deafening,

00:50:28thudding pressure waves of explosions,

00:50:30laced with the squeal and hiss of impacting lasers.

00:50:33The bark of solid rounds and the whine of ricochets echoed from the tunnel walls.

00:50:38The maglev shuddered like a wounded beast,

00:50:40flames and smoke erupting along its length

00:50:43as it was systematically riddled with gunfire.

00:50:46Dahlia heard screams from further along the maglev

00:50:49as passengers were chewed up in the fuselage.

00:50:52The corridor was a mass of terrified people,

00:50:54its length choked with panicked bodies.

00:50:57Men and women screamed and clawed at one another

00:50:59as they fought to escape the approaching slaughter.

00:51:02Rho-Mu-31 gathered Dahlia into his arms

00:51:05and forced a path through the heaving, jammed mass of people,

00:51:08fleeing towards the rear of the maglev.

00:51:11"'Get out of the way!' bellowed Rho-Mu-31 in the most belligerent form of cant,

00:51:15and such was the ingrained reverence for a Mechanicum Protector

00:51:18that the majority of people did exactly that.

00:51:21With his weapon stave extended before him,

00:51:23he pushed along the corridor towards an emergency exit.

00:51:27Dahlia looked over Rho-Mu-31's shoulder,

00:51:29seeing terrified faces pressing against the wall of the corridor

00:51:32as they slammed fists, fire extinguishers,

00:51:35or anything else they could get their hands on to smash the glass.

00:51:38Through the window on the door at the end of the corridor,

00:51:41Dahlia could see bright flames and black smoke.

00:51:44"'Hurry!' shouted Severine.

00:51:46"'For the love of the Omnissiah, hurry up!'

00:51:49A searing white lance of plasma cut into the carriage,

00:51:52sawing through the metal and glass like a laser saw.

00:51:55The beam instantly sliced two dozen people in half,

00:51:58and Dahlia wept as she smelled boiled blood and scorched meat.

00:52:02"'Down!' shouted Rho-Mu-31,

00:52:05bearing Dahlia and Caxton to the floor of the corridor.

00:52:08Severine was quick to follow,

00:52:10and Zeus had already been borne to his knees by the stampede.

00:52:13The incandescent beam zipped along the corridor,

00:52:16killing as it went,

00:52:17and Dahlia watched in mute horror as severed limbs,

00:52:20cleaved bodies, and disembodied heads fell to the floor.

00:52:25She rolled onto her side as the deadly beam passed overhead,

00:52:28and droplets of molten metal splashed the floor beside her.

00:52:31She cried out as one scorched a thin line down her arm.

00:52:35"'Sacred Fathers!' hissed Zeus,

00:52:38rolling onto his front as an explosion further back

00:52:40whipped the maglev like a sine wave.

00:52:43Everyone screamed as it was lifted from the rails,

00:52:45with a screech of torn metal

00:52:46and a crackling burst of arcing electrics.

00:52:50Dahlia scrambled on her knees towards Rho-Mu-31

00:52:52as the carriage tipped from the track,

00:52:54and her world spun crazily.

00:52:56It crashed to the tunnel floor,

00:52:58and the windows blew out with the force of the impact.

00:53:01A blizzard of crystalline fragments rained down.

00:53:05The breath was knocked from her,

00:53:06and Dahlia felt blood dripping into her eyes.

00:53:09A heavy weight pinned her,

00:53:11and she blinked away red tears

00:53:12as she heard more deafening blasts of gunfire.

00:53:16She couldn't tell how close it was,

00:53:17but the stuttering, strobing flash of weapons fire

00:53:20felt as though it were coming

00:53:21from right outside their carriage.

00:53:24Dahlia fought to free herself

00:53:25from the weight pinning her to the ceiling.

00:53:28Which way was up, and which was down?

00:53:30She couldn't hear any screams.

00:53:32Had the cabin machine killed everyone?

00:53:35A man's body lay sprawled across her,

00:53:38or at least half of him,

00:53:40and she cried as she pushed his bifurcated body from her.

00:53:43The metal beneath her, the ceiling,

00:53:45she was sure of it now,

00:53:47was sticky with warm blood,

00:53:49and she whimpered in terror

00:53:50at the sight of heaped mounds of corpses

00:53:52filling the corridor.

00:53:54The iron stink of blood was thick in her nostrils,

00:53:56and Dahlia couldn't remember a more awful smell.

00:54:00She retched dryly at the sight of so many dead,

00:54:03terrified and numbed by the horror

00:54:05of how quickly their grand adventure

00:54:07had come to such a bloody end.

00:54:10Despite the stink of death,

00:54:11she took a deep breath

00:54:12and looked for her friends

00:54:14amid the wreckage and carnage.

00:54:16Dahlia saw Romu 31 lying further

00:54:18along the buckled corridor

00:54:19with a jagged spar of metal

00:54:21impaling his shoulder.

00:54:23The protector's biometrics were fluctuating,

00:54:25but he was alive.

00:54:28Zush lay in a heap of bodies,

00:54:30his face a mask of blood,

00:54:31but she couldn't tell whether it was his

00:54:33or belonged to someone else.

00:54:36Caxton was just behind her,

00:54:37pinned to the floor by a metal door

00:54:39in the midst of a spray of glass fragments.

00:54:42His eyes were open and pleading,

00:54:44a low moaning issuing

00:54:45from between bloodied lips.

00:54:47Severine lay beneath

00:54:48a nutrient dispensing machine

00:54:50that had torn loose from the wall,

00:54:52her arm thrown out before her

00:54:54and twisted at an unnatural angle.

00:54:56Her eyes were closed,

00:54:58but her pained expression

00:54:59and rapid shallow breaths

00:55:01told Dahlia she was alive.

00:55:03The carriage was still,

00:55:05no straining bodies or panicked shoving,

00:55:07and the only light came

00:55:08from smashed lumen globes

00:55:10that sparked and stuttered

00:55:11in the half-light.

00:55:12After such a tremendous cacophony

00:55:14of violence and noise,

00:55:15the silence that enveloped her

00:55:17was as welcome as it was terrifying.

00:55:21Dahlia began to crawl towards row Mu 31.

00:55:24He saw her coming and shook his head,

00:55:26placing a finger to the grilled mouthpiece

00:55:28of his helmet.

00:55:29At first Dahlia didn't understand,

00:55:33then she heard it.

00:55:35Over the creaking wreckage

00:55:36and tinkle of falling glass,

00:55:38she felt the vibration of the heavy machine

00:55:40through the ground.

00:55:42As it crushed metal

00:55:43and ruptured bodies beneath its tracks.

00:55:46Dahlia craned her neck

00:55:48to look through the shattered window

00:55:49into the sputtering darkness of the tunnel

00:55:52and fought down the urge to cry out

00:55:54as she saw the monstrous form

00:55:55of the sentient machine

00:55:57rumbling towards where they lay.

00:55:59She felt the crawling pressure

00:56:01of its corrupted mind

00:56:02as it swept the carriage for life signs

00:56:04and heard the rattle of its autoloaders

00:56:06feeding its weapons fresh ammunition.

00:56:09It drew nearer with every breath

00:56:11and in moments its auspecs

00:56:13would register their presence.

00:56:15Then it would kill them.

00:56:19Princeps Cavallerio

00:56:20finished processing the feeds

00:56:21in loading into his casket

00:56:23at a rate of over 6,000 data packets per second.

00:56:27The Martian networks

00:56:28had slowly returned to normal

00:56:29after the scrap code plague.

00:56:31The diligence of the code scrubbers

00:56:32Magos Probandy

00:56:34all across the red planet

00:56:35finally re-establishing communications

00:56:37and information exchanges.

00:56:39Fresh reports, petitions

00:56:41and pleas for aid

00:56:42from forges far and wide

00:56:44were streaming into Ascraeus Mons

00:56:45through the vox

00:56:46across the noosphere

00:56:48and via optic feeds.

00:56:50It was a bleak picture

00:56:51they painted of the Mechanicum's future.

00:56:54Cavallerio let his mind swim up

00:56:55through the reams of liquid information

00:56:57that flowed around and through him.

00:57:00He saw Agathe's face before him

00:57:02and set the biometrics of his casket

00:57:04from processing to consciousness.

00:57:07His Famulus nodded as she read

00:57:09the information on the slate

00:57:10fixed to the side of the casket

00:57:12and retreated to a subordinate position

00:57:13behind him.

00:57:15Cavallerio's manifold senses

00:57:17processed his surroundings.

00:57:19His casket sat in the position of honour

00:57:21in the Chamber of the First

00:57:22raised on a plinth

00:57:23before the mighty, towering form

00:57:25of Deus Tempestus

00:57:27the first god-machine of the Legio.

00:57:30Princeps Charak stood before him

00:57:32waiting to hear whether he would

00:57:33give an order of execution.

00:57:35Though Charak had correctly appointed himself

00:57:37the acting Princeps Senioris

00:57:38of the Tempestus forces on Mars

00:57:40he knew and welcomed the fact

00:57:42that any order to walk

00:57:43should come from the Stormlord.

00:57:45Behind Charak were his Legio brothers

00:57:48each awaiting the Stormlord's decision.

00:57:51Princeps Suzak

00:57:52the grim-faced hunter

00:57:53who commanded the warlord Tharsis Hastatus

00:57:56watched with an impassive eye

00:57:57while Princeps Mordant

00:57:59of the reaver Arcadius Fortis

00:58:01strained like an attack dog on a leash.

00:58:03The warhound drivers

00:58:05Bazek of Vulpus Rex

00:58:06Kassim of Raptoria

00:58:08and Lamnos of Astrus Lux

00:58:10paced like caged wolves

00:58:12and Cavallerio rejoiced

00:58:13in the fearful power he saw before him.

00:58:16Stormlord, said Charak

00:58:18the Princeps are gathered as you ordered.

00:58:21Thank you, Kel, said Cavallerio

00:58:23before enhancing his augmitters

00:58:25to address the Princeps of his Legio.

00:58:28I know you're all waiting to see

00:58:29whether I give an order of execution

00:58:31but before I tell you my decision

00:58:34we need to understand

00:58:35what might happen as a result.

00:58:37I've given great thought to this

00:58:40because a wrong choice

00:58:41will have consequences

00:58:42none of us can imagine.

00:58:45The forges of Mars

00:58:46burn in the fires of schism

00:58:48and factional violence

00:58:49is reaching epidemic proportions

00:58:51all across our home world.

00:58:53So far that violence

00:58:55has been restricted to the Mechanicum.

00:58:58None of the Titan legions

00:58:59have yet initiated any hostilities

00:59:01but it's surely only a matter of time

00:59:04until that happens.

00:59:06He could see their hunger to be unleashed

00:59:08proud of their courage

00:59:09yet saddened by their eagerness

00:59:11to fight their erstwhile brothers.

00:59:14Before you all rush to your engines

00:59:16gentlemen

00:59:17let's be clear on one thing.

00:59:19If the Titan legions march to war

00:59:22there will be no coming back from it.

00:59:24We will have unleashed

00:59:25the fire of a civil war

00:59:27that will only be extinguished

00:59:28by the utter destruction

00:59:29of one side or the other.

00:59:32I have always sought

00:59:33to keep our Legio free

00:59:34from the insidious poison of politicking.

00:59:38I believe that the Titan legions

00:59:39should remain true to their warrior ideals

00:59:42and not be instruments of political will

00:59:44save that of the Imperium itself.

00:59:48Mars faces the gravest crisis

00:59:49in its long and glorious history

00:59:51and warriors of honor and courage

00:59:54do not stand idly by in such times.

00:59:56They act.

00:59:58They stand firm in the face of aggression

01:00:00and in the defense of their allies.

01:00:03Cavallerio paused

01:00:04allowing his words to hit home

01:00:06before continuing.

01:00:08The idea that one Legio would fight another

01:00:11is anathema to me

01:00:12but I am not fool enough to believe

01:00:15that such a time is not coming.

01:00:18It has already arrived

01:00:20said Princeps Mordent.

01:00:22Mortis is spoiling for battle.

01:00:25Indeed said Cavallerio.

01:00:27The blatantly provocative walk

01:00:29on Ascreus Mons by the Mortis engines

01:00:32was little more than an attempt

01:00:33to bait us into a shooting war

01:00:35we could not win.

01:00:37He stifled their denials

01:00:39with a harsh blurt of impatient code.

01:00:41I admire your bravery

01:00:43and faith in one another

01:00:44but had we fought

01:00:45we would have died.

01:00:48So what do we do, Stone Lord?

01:00:50Demanded Princeps Susack.

01:00:52Do we swallow our pride

01:00:53and do nothing as Mars tears itself apart?

01:00:56We are a force for stability.

01:00:58Use us!

01:01:00No, Vlad.

01:01:01We do not swallow our pride

01:01:03said Cavallerio.

01:01:05I will unleash the power of the Legio

01:01:07and we will rise to the defense

01:01:08of the ideals for which our world stands.

01:01:11The fury of Tempestus

01:01:12will fall upon the enemies of Mars

01:01:14and together we will scour them

01:01:16from the face of the Red Planet

01:01:17in a tide of fire and blood.

01:01:20You walk with us?

01:01:22Asked Princeps Cassim.

01:01:24How?

01:01:24The Techpriests say

01:01:25Victorix Magna is beyond

01:01:27their ability to restore.

01:01:29I know that, Zaphir.

01:01:31But still, I will walk with you.

01:01:33Declared Cavallerio.

01:01:35I will walk alongside you

01:01:36as I have always dreamed

01:01:37I would make my last walk.

01:01:39With the first god machine of our Legio

01:01:43I will become one with Deus Tempestus.

01:01:47Princeps Sharrock stepped forward.

01:01:50Then, is the word given?

01:01:52The word is given, said Cavallerio.

01:01:56Tempestus goes to war!

01:02:00The machine paused in its advance.

01:02:03Dahlia could hear the throaty growl

01:02:04of its power plant

01:02:06and the hiss of its hydraulics

01:02:07and could feel the fizzing heat

01:02:09of its electrical field.

01:02:11She could smell the smoky residue

01:02:12of hard round's fire

01:02:14and taste the ozone

01:02:15from the plasma discharges.

01:02:17Her every sense was magnified

01:02:19and she fought the urge to cry

01:02:21as she saw the ground-up flesh

01:02:23worked into the grooves of its tracks.

01:02:25Rho-Mu-31 slid his hand

01:02:27towards his weapon stave

01:02:29but Dahlia knew it would be no protection

01:02:31against such a destructive machine.

01:02:34Caxton, Severine and Zeus trembled in fear,

01:02:37too hurt to move,

01:02:38too afraid to breathe.

01:02:41Blood dripped from Dahlia's brow

01:02:43onto her arm

01:02:44and she blinked away another drop

01:02:45as it formed on her eyelid.

01:02:48Shards of glass wobbled

01:02:49in the window frame before her

01:02:51and splinters fell like diamonds

01:02:52spilled from a pouch,

01:02:54landing with a tink, tink, tink.

01:02:57Dahlia held her breath

01:02:59as her fear rendered her immobile.

01:03:02Her limbs were frozen,

01:03:04she couldn't think properly,

01:03:05and the idea that she was going to die here

01:03:07was as ridiculous as it was horrifying.

01:03:11She didn't want to die.

01:03:13Oh, throne, she didn't want to die.

01:03:16She looked over at Caxton and the others,

01:03:18feeling a terrible guilt

01:03:20that she had brought them to this.

01:03:22And for what?

01:03:23Some half-baked theory

01:03:25that an ancient creature

01:03:27was buried beneath the surface of Mars.

01:03:30Dahlia wanted to laugh at her foolishness,

01:03:32thinking back to all the things

01:03:33she had read and transcribed,

01:03:35what seemed,

01:03:36and might as well have been,

01:03:37a lifetime ago,

01:03:39that she'd never now have a chance to see.

01:03:42The oceans of Laron,

01:03:43the great cliffs of Sharo,

01:03:45the planet forests of A.

01:03:48A million wonders and miracles

01:03:50yet to be known,

01:03:51wonders the expedition fleets

01:03:53were seeing on a daily basis.

01:03:55Neither would she ever learn more

01:03:56of the Carnival of Light on Saros,

01:03:59or vicariously lived tales of battle,

01:04:01like the victory on Myrda,

01:04:02or the vanquishing of the Hexen Guild.

01:04:05Likewise,

01:04:06the future paintings of Leland Roger,

01:04:08the compositions of Jeke and Powell,

01:04:10and the sculptures of Delafour

01:04:12were all lost to her.

01:04:14Nor would she read any more of the poems

01:04:16by Ignace Carcassy

01:04:17that she had grown fond of,

01:04:19despite their slightly pompous tone.

01:04:22This was no way to die,

01:04:24and the injustice and unfairness of it

01:04:26railed against the cruel fate

01:04:27that had brought her to this moment.

01:04:29She closed her eyes,

01:04:30her fear of the dark vanishing instantly

01:04:32in the face of this new, immediate threat.

01:04:36In the face of death,

01:04:37her desire to live surged,

01:04:39and her connection to the Aether

01:04:41pushed aside conscious thought.

01:04:43Dahlia felt her mind reaching out

01:04:44beyond her body,

01:04:45as it had when she had seen

01:04:46how to construct the throne

01:04:48of the Akashic Reader,

01:04:49but this time it saw further

01:04:51and deeper than ever before.

01:04:54This time she saw into the heart

01:04:55of the cabin machine.

01:04:58The connection lasted

01:04:59the merest fraction of a moment,

01:05:00but in that moment she saw

01:05:02the very essence of its existence.

01:05:04She saw golden lines,

01:05:06bound together in a glowing web,

01:05:08each strand an answer to a question

01:05:10she hadn't yet asked.

01:05:12In this realm of the senses,

01:05:14she saw the light that was the mind

01:05:15of the cabin machine,

01:05:16a filthy, corrupted world

01:05:18of artificially created

01:05:19synapses and neurons.

01:05:21Its auspecs crawled over

01:05:23the wreckage like an invisible host

01:05:24of hungry spiders,

01:05:26and her flesh crawled with goosebumps

01:05:28as she felt the tread

01:05:29of a million legs across her skin.

01:05:31The machine's senses sniffed

01:05:33like a scavenger,

01:05:34hunting out juicy morsels to devour.

01:05:37Dahlia's inner vision

01:05:38bored into the burning heart

01:05:40of the machine's consciousness,

01:05:41marvelling at the intricacy

01:05:43of the design,

01:05:44the complexity and magnificence

01:05:45of the work,

01:05:46and the infinite patience

01:05:48that had gone into crafting

01:05:49such a miraculous engine.

01:05:51A perfect meld of organics

01:05:52and artificial components

01:05:54had been used to fashion

01:05:55the cabin machine,

01:05:56and the genius of Lucas Crom,

01:05:58the adept whose name and skills

01:06:00she could read in every aspect

01:06:01of the design,

01:06:02was a thing of beauty.

01:06:05She saw the wonder

01:06:06of what Crom had created,

01:06:07and felt the horror

01:06:08of what it had been made to do,

01:06:10what its builders had done to it.

01:06:12They had made it kill a man

01:06:13it had called friend,

01:06:15and then exposed it

01:06:16to something so dark

01:06:17and so terrible

01:06:18that Dahlia's floating consciousness

01:06:20recoiled from its warped malignancy.

01:06:23Its memories were of feelings

01:06:24and emotions,

01:06:25the memories of a newly created

01:06:26intelligence too inexperienced

01:06:28to realise how such things

01:06:30could be manipulated

01:06:31by the unscrupulous.

01:06:33Corruption lay in the heart

01:06:34of its consciousness,

01:06:36like a bloated spider

01:06:37sitting at the centre of a web

01:06:38that spread its blood-hungry canker

01:06:40to everything it touched.

01:06:43The folly of creating

01:06:44an artificial sentience,

01:06:45a forbidden science

01:06:46since a forgotten age of war,

01:06:48only to pervert it

01:06:49to the cause of murder,

01:06:51struck Dahlia as typical

01:06:52of mankind's skewed brilliance.

01:06:55It was a machine

01:06:56that could think for itself,

01:06:58and its first autonomous act

01:07:00was to kill.

01:07:02Just what did that say

01:07:03about its makers?

01:07:05For all its brilliance, however,

01:07:06it was still a machine,

01:07:07and bound by the fundamental principles

01:07:09of machines.

01:07:11It still gathered information

01:07:12the way any other sentient being did,

01:07:14and such things could be fooled.

01:07:17Though the infinitely dense

01:07:18strands of light

01:07:19that were its warped consciousness

01:07:21were corrupt beyond imagining,

01:07:23Dahlia sought out

01:07:24the neural pathways

01:07:25and areas of the machine's brain

01:07:27that controlled its perceptions

01:07:28of the outside world.

01:07:30With a natural sense

01:07:31for such things,

01:07:32Dahlia blocked the machine's ability

01:07:34to process the inputs

01:07:35coming from its auspecs,

01:07:36and though she felt

01:07:37its sensory apparatus

01:07:39sweep over her body

01:07:40and those of her friends,

01:07:42the signals never reached

01:07:43the action centres

01:07:44of its consciousness.

01:07:45As though sensing

01:07:46that something was wrong,

01:07:47the machine swept its auspecs

01:07:49over the ruins of the corridor

01:07:50once more.

01:07:52She sensed its confusion.

01:07:54It knows we're here, she thought,

01:07:57and it's going to keep looking

01:07:58until it finds us.

01:08:00With another twist of its mind,

01:08:02Dahlia created a tremor of life signs

01:08:04further down the maglev,

01:08:05and sensed its savage joy

01:08:07as its targeting systems

01:08:08acquired the false readings.

01:08:10Thunderous, roaring,

01:08:11crashing gunfire

01:08:13erupted from its weapons,

01:08:14and Dahlia felt the maglev shudder

01:08:16with the impacts.

01:08:18Las-fire and heavy explosive rounds

01:08:20tore into the distant wreckage

01:08:22and obliterated the dead bodies within.

01:08:25Its guns ceased fire,

01:08:27and Dahlia allowed the counterfeit

01:08:28life signs to blink out,

01:08:30feeling its feral glee

01:08:31as it revelled in the slaughter.

01:08:34The image of blood

01:08:35dripping from a brass throne

01:08:36onto a mountain of skulls

01:08:38filled its thoughts.

01:08:40Again, its auspecs

01:08:42swept over the maglev.

01:08:44Dahlia felt the machine's disappointment

01:08:45as she blocked

01:08:46its perceptions of them,

01:08:48and it concluded

01:08:49that it had killed everyone aboard.

01:08:51Its task complete,

01:08:53the machine turned smoothly

01:08:54on its axis,

01:08:55and moved off down the tunnel.

01:08:58As it went,

01:08:59Dahlia read an encrypted data squirt

01:09:01confirming the killing's

01:09:02travel through the airwaves

01:09:03to its masters in Mondus Gamma

01:09:05and Olympus Mons.

01:09:08Dahlia kept her grip

01:09:09on its perception sensors

01:09:10until it had travelled

01:09:11beyond the range

01:09:11of its targeting auspecs,

01:09:13before letting out a breath

01:09:14and opening her eyes.

01:09:16The smashed interior

01:09:17of the maglev corridor

01:09:18came back into sickening focus,

01:09:20and Dahlia's stomach lurched

01:09:22as her brain struggled to adjust

01:09:24to the sudden transition

01:09:25from the domain of the mind

01:09:26to that of the physical.

01:09:28The aftermath of the machine's attack

01:09:31blood, burned plastic,

01:09:33seared flesh,

01:09:34and the sight of so many corpses

01:09:36was overwhelming,

01:09:37and she vomited copiously.

01:09:40Dahlia coughed,

01:09:41retching and heaving,

01:09:42until she felt her grip on reality

01:09:45solidifying.

01:09:47She heard voices speaking

01:09:48in hushed and amazed tones

01:09:50that they were still alive,

01:09:52and she smiled,

01:09:53even though searing pain

01:09:54pounded inside her head.

01:09:56It's gone, said a voice

01:09:58that Dahlia recognised as Zusha's.

01:10:00I don't believe it, said Caxton,

01:10:03his voice on the edge of hysteria.

01:10:06Thank Ares, breathed Severin tearfully.

01:10:09Please, can anyone help me?

01:10:12I think my arm's broken.

01:10:14Dahlia, said Rho-Mu-31,

01:10:16are you all right?

01:10:18Not especially, she replied,

01:10:20with forced levity,

01:10:21but I'll live,

01:10:23which is more than I thought

01:10:24I'd be able to say

01:10:24a few minutes ago.

01:10:26Can you move?

01:10:27Yes, but give me a minute.

01:10:30We don't have a minute,

01:10:32said Rho-Mu-31.

01:10:33We have to move

01:10:34in case it comes back.

01:10:36It won't come back, said Dahlia.

01:10:38It thinks we're dead,

01:10:39or at least it will for a while.

01:10:41Then let's get out of here

01:10:43before it realises its mistake,

01:10:45said Rho-Mu-31.

01:10:49In the upper reaches

01:10:50of Olympus Mons,

01:10:51Kalbor Hal inloaded

01:10:52the encrypted data blurt

01:10:54from the cabin machine.

01:10:55Looking out over the surface of Mars,

01:10:57it took a moment

01:10:58to survey the landscape,

01:11:00knowing that soon

01:11:00it would be transformed

01:11:01into something wondrous and new.

01:11:05The power that boiled

01:11:06from the depths

01:11:06of the vaults of Moravec

01:11:08was intoxicating,

01:11:09and every day brought fresh miracles

01:11:11as he and his fellow Dark Mechanicum,

01:11:14a term Melgator had coined,

01:11:15found new ways to bind it

01:11:17to the metal and gristle

01:11:18of their creations.

01:11:20Weapons, servitors, Praetorians,

01:11:22and fighting vehicles

01:11:24were imbued with power,

01:11:26twisting them into new

01:11:27and terrifying forms

01:11:28that were divinely primordial

01:11:30in their savage beauty.

01:11:32Monstrous engines of destruction

01:11:34that would be the heralds

01:11:35of the new power

01:11:36rising in the galaxy

01:11:38were taking shape

01:11:38in Olympus Mons,

01:11:40and the forges of those

01:11:41Adepts and Magi

01:11:42that had bound themselves

01:11:43to the cause of Horus Lupercal.

01:11:47Billions toiled

01:11:48in the weapons shops

01:11:49and Manufactorum

01:11:50to realize this grand dream

01:11:52of Mars' resurgent,

01:11:53and none who touched

01:11:54the powers unleashed

01:11:55to roam throughout his forge

01:11:57remained unchanged.

01:11:59Chants echoed

01:12:00from the dark and thoroughfares

01:12:01of Olympus Mons,

01:12:03mobs of hooded worshippers

01:12:04hunting down those

01:12:05who did not embrace the new way,

01:12:07and feeding their blood

01:12:08to the hungry machines.

01:12:10Brazen bells tolled constantly,

01:12:13and howling klaxons shrieked

01:12:14with the godlike power

01:12:16of the Scrapcode.

01:12:18The transformation of his forge

01:12:19was a magnificent thing,

01:12:21and Kelbor Howe knew

01:12:22that what they did here

01:12:24would echo through the ages

01:12:25as the moment the Mechanicum

01:12:27was reborn.

01:12:29He turned from the armored glass

01:12:30of the viewing bay

01:12:31to face his followers.

01:12:33Regulus,

01:12:34Melgator,

01:12:35Urzi Malevolus,

01:12:36together with holographic images

01:12:37of Lucas Crom

01:12:38and Princeps Camulos

01:12:40stood attentively before him.

01:12:43He could see the chittering lines

01:12:44of Scrapcode infesting

01:12:45their Orgmetics.

01:12:47He nodded towards Lucas Crom.

01:12:50Dahlia Sithra is dead.

01:12:52Once again your assassin

01:12:53and thinking machine

01:12:54prove their worth.

01:12:57Crom accepted the compliment

01:12:58with a short bow.

01:13:00Then it is time,

01:13:02said Princeps Camulos.

01:13:04My engines long to make ruin

01:13:05of the Magma City.

01:13:07The bear-like Princeps Signoris

01:13:09of Legio Mortis

01:13:10was clad in beetle-black armor,

01:13:12and Kelbor Howe

01:13:13read the warp-enhanced aggression

01:13:14flaring from him in waves.

01:13:17Yes, he said,

01:13:18it is time.

01:13:20Send word to the commanders

01:13:21of your allied Legios, Camulos.

01:13:24Tell their engines to walk

01:13:25and to crush our enemies

01:13:27beneath their mighty treads.

01:13:29It shall be done,

01:13:30promised Camulos.

01:13:33Kelbor Howe then addressed

01:13:34his fellow adepts

01:13:35of the Dark Mechanicum.

01:13:38This is a great day,

01:13:39my acolytes.

01:13:40Remember it always,

01:13:42said the Fabricator General.

01:13:44This is the day Mars

01:13:45and her forge worlds

01:13:46cast off the yoke

01:13:47of the Emperor's tyranny.

01:13:49Unleash your armies

01:13:50and stain the sands

01:13:51of our planet red with blood.

01:13:54ORIGENS MECHANICUS

01:14:163.01

01:14:24Later histories would record

01:14:26that the first blow

01:14:27of the Martian civil war

01:14:29was struck against Magos Matia Kefra,

01:14:32whose forge in the

01:14:33Sinus Sebaeus region

01:14:34was housed within the Mardla Crater.

01:14:37Titans of the Magna Legion

01:14:39marched from the

01:14:39southern Noachis region

01:14:41and within minutes

01:14:42had smashed down

01:14:42the gates of his forge.

01:14:45Howling engines

01:14:46daubed in red, orange,

01:14:47yellow and black

01:14:48and decorated with

01:14:49flaming horned skull devices

01:14:51ran amok within the

01:14:52high walls of the crater,

01:14:54crushing everything

01:14:55living beneath them

01:14:56and destroying thousands of years

01:14:58of accumulated wisdom

01:14:59in a fury of fire.

01:15:02Vast libraries burned

01:15:03and weapon shops

01:15:04that served the solar guard

01:15:06were reduced to molten slag

01:15:07as the indiscriminate slaughter

01:15:09continued long into the night,

01:15:11the Magna Legion's

01:15:12trumpeting warhorns

01:15:13sounding like the atavistic screams

01:15:15of primitive savages.

01:15:17Further north in the

01:15:18Arabian region,

01:15:19the great engine yards

01:15:20of High Magos Ahotep

01:15:22in the Cassini Crater

01:15:24were struck by a hundred missiles

01:15:25launched from the atomic silos

01:15:27secreted within the

01:15:28isolated peaks and messes

01:15:30of Nilo-Certis.

01:15:32The explosions of the

01:15:33forbidden weapons

01:15:34filled the 415 km diameter

01:15:37of the crater

01:15:37with seething nuclear fire

01:15:39and sent conjoined

01:15:40magma-streaked mushroom clouds

01:15:42soaring nearly 70 km

01:15:44into the sky.

01:15:46Along the borders of

01:15:47the Lunai Palace

01:15:48and Arcadia regions,

01:15:50what had previously been confined

01:15:51to heated debate

01:15:53erupted into outright warfare

01:15:55as Princeps Ulrike

01:15:56of the Deathstalkers

01:15:57unleashed his engines

01:15:59upon the fortress

01:16:00of Max and Vledig's

01:16:01Deathbolts.

01:16:03Caught by surprise,

01:16:04the Deathbolts lost

01:16:05nineteen engines

01:16:06in the first hour of battle

01:16:08before withdrawing

01:16:09into the frozen wastes

01:16:10of the Mare Boreum

01:16:11and seeking refuge

01:16:12in the dune fields

01:16:13of Olympia Undi.

01:16:15Their calls for reinforcement

01:16:17went unanswered,

01:16:18for all of Mars

01:16:19was tearing itself apart

01:16:20as the plague of war

01:16:22spread across the planet

01:16:23in a raging firestorm.

01:16:26Amid the Athabasca Valors,

01:16:28war machines of

01:16:29Legio Ignatum

01:16:30and the Burning Stars

01:16:31fought in bloody close quarters

01:16:33through the teardrop landforms

01:16:35caused by catastrophic flooding

01:16:36in an earlier ancient age

01:16:38of the Red Planet.

01:16:40Neither force

01:16:40could gain the advantage

01:16:42nor could either claim victory,

01:16:43so, after a night's

01:16:45undignified scrapping,

01:16:47both withdrew

01:16:47to lick their wounds.

01:16:49A snapping,

01:16:50howling host

01:16:51of twisted skitarii

01:16:52and hideously altered

01:16:53weaponized servitors

01:16:55surged from the

01:16:55gigas-sultry sub-hives

01:16:57of Olympus Mons

01:16:58to attack the crater-forges

01:16:59of Epluvium Maximal.

01:17:02Alert to the danger of attack,

01:17:04Maximal's forces repelled

01:17:05the first waves of attackers,

01:17:07but within hours

01:17:08his forge was surrounded

01:17:09and under siege

01:17:10by unholy Ordinatus engines

01:17:12and warped machines

01:17:13given hideous life

01:17:14in the depths

01:17:15of the Fabricator General's

01:17:16darkest and bloodiest

01:17:17weapon shops.

01:17:19The greatest single

01:17:20loss of life

01:17:21took place in the

01:17:21Asmeneus Laicus

01:17:22region of Mars,

01:17:24where the glacial forges

01:17:25of Adept Ruion Vilnarus

01:17:27were attacked

01:17:27by air-bursting rockets

01:17:29carrying a mutated

01:17:30strain of the Life Eater.

01:17:32The rapacious,

01:17:33viral organism

01:17:34leapt from victim to victim

01:17:35with malicious glee,

01:17:36seeming to travel

01:17:37via every possible vector.

01:17:40Via direct contact

01:17:41it killed the tens of thousands

01:17:42directly exposed

01:17:43to the detonation

01:17:44in minutes.

01:17:46Airborne,

01:17:46it depopulated

01:17:48the millions-strong

01:17:48worker habs

01:17:49of Deuteronulus Mensae

01:17:50within three hours,

01:17:52and through some

01:17:53diabolical warp mutation

01:17:54it spread through

01:17:55the haptic networks

01:17:56to infect even those

01:17:57who thought themselves safe

01:17:59behind vac-sealed barriers.

01:18:01When the gleeful virus

01:18:02finally burnt itself out,

01:18:04some seven hours later,

01:18:06every living soul

01:18:07within Asmeneus Laicus

01:18:08was dead,

01:18:09the remains of

01:18:10fourteen million

01:18:11liquefied corpses

01:18:12freezing solid

01:18:13where they lay.

01:18:15Within the Herschel

01:18:16impact basin

01:18:17of the Mare Tyrennum,

01:18:18nine hundred thousand

01:18:19Scutarii and protectors

01:18:20clashed in a swirling

01:18:22bloody melee

01:18:23that continued

01:18:23unabated until

01:18:24almost all were dead.

01:18:27No victor emerged

01:18:28from the senseless slaughter,

01:18:30and no purpose

01:18:30was served by the destruction.

01:18:32Yet still,

01:18:33both factions

01:18:34poured their forces

01:18:35into the meat grinder,

01:18:36for fear of

01:18:37what might be lost

01:18:38should they withdraw.

01:18:40Nor was the fighting

01:18:41merely confined

01:18:42to the surface of Mars.

01:18:44The Ring of Iron,

01:18:45that great halo shipyard

01:18:47that surrounded the Red Planet

01:18:48like a glittering silver belt,

01:18:50shuddered as explosions

01:18:52and conflict

01:18:52spread along its length.

01:18:55Factions loyal to the throne,

01:18:57and those sworn

01:18:58to Olympus Mons

01:18:59and Horus Lupercal,

01:19:00clashed with the fury

01:19:01of fanatics.

01:19:03The vessels of

01:19:04Battlefleet Solar

01:19:05pulled away from the fighting

01:19:06as Mechanicum ships

01:19:08duelled in the shadow

01:19:09of the Ring of Iron,

01:19:10pounding one another

01:19:11with devastating broadsides,

01:19:12and no thought of strategy

01:19:14or survival.

01:19:16Venting gases and bodies

01:19:17spilled from ruptured hulls,

01:19:19and thousands died

01:19:20every second

01:19:21as wounded ships

01:19:22fell from low orbit

01:19:24and streaked down

01:19:25through the atmosphere

01:19:26to their destruction.

01:19:27The flaming wreckage

01:19:29of Mechanicum Gloriam,

01:19:31its engines destroyed

01:19:32as it sought to evade

01:19:33a hunting pack of frigates

01:19:35in low orbit,

01:19:36plunged through the lightning-racked

01:19:37skies of Mars

01:19:38towards the planet's surface.

01:19:41The technotheologians,

01:19:42watching its fall

01:19:43from the basilica

01:19:44of the Blessed Algorithm

01:19:45in the Cydonia Mensae region,

01:19:47proclaimed it a sign

01:19:48of the machine gods' wrath,

01:19:50raising their manip arms

01:19:51and mechadendrites

01:19:52in praise of this

01:19:53wondrous sign

01:19:54of divine displeasure.

01:19:56Calls for peace

01:19:57and a cease of hostilities

01:19:58were carried far and wide

01:19:59across Mars,

01:20:00broadcast on every channel

01:20:02by every means

01:20:03available to them.

01:20:05That signal was abruptly

01:20:06cut short

01:20:07as Mechanicum Gloriam

01:20:08slammed into the basilica

01:20:09and obliterated

01:20:10the vast complex

01:20:11of temples,

01:20:12shrines and reliquaries

01:20:13in a heartbeat.

01:20:15Millions of square kilometres

01:20:17and billions of faithful priests

01:20:19were consumed

01:20:20in the explosive impact,

01:20:22and any last call to reason

01:20:23vanished with them

01:20:24in the newest

01:20:25and deepest impact crater

01:20:26to disfigure the Martian soil.

01:20:30All across Mars,

01:20:31in every region

01:20:32where the Mechanicum

01:20:32had built its holdings,

01:20:34the ancient order

01:20:35tore at itself

01:20:36in a frenzy of bloodletting

01:20:38more savage than any alien race

01:20:40had dared inflict on humanity.

01:20:43Libraries of priceless knowledge

01:20:44burned.

01:20:45Adepts whose expertise

01:20:47had helped free the human race

01:20:48from confinement

01:20:49to its birth planet

01:20:50were torn limb from limb

01:20:52by screaming mobs,

01:20:53and forges that had previously

01:20:55sworn undying packs of allegiance

01:20:57turned on one another

01:20:58like lifelong foes.

01:21:00Burning debris from orbit

01:21:02fell to the planet's surface,

01:21:03and though it was said

01:21:04that it never rained on Mars,

01:21:06a rain of fire

01:21:07now filled the heavens

01:21:08as though the sky

01:21:09wept comet tears

01:21:11that it should bear witness

01:21:12to such destruction.

01:21:15Sitting next to Caxton

01:21:17in the bucket seats

01:21:18fitted in the cramped

01:21:18rear compartment

01:21:19of their salvaged Cargo 5,

01:21:22Dahlia fought to stay awake

01:21:23as the rugged, dusty vista

01:21:25of the Siria Planum sped past,

01:21:27rendered grainy and blurred

01:21:29through the scratched glass

01:21:30of the compartment's windows.

01:21:32The ground was uneven,

01:21:34but Romu 31 guided them

01:21:35expertly across the rocky plains.

01:21:38Severine sat on the other side

01:21:40of Caxton,

01:21:40her broken arm

01:21:41bound close to her chest,

01:21:43while Zoosh sat up front

01:21:45in the driver's cabin

01:21:46next to Romu 31.

01:21:48In the aftermath

01:21:49of the cabin machine's attack,

01:21:51her protector had pulled himself

01:21:52from the metal

01:21:53that impaled his shoulder

01:21:54and quickly dragged them

01:21:56from the wreckage of the maglev.

01:21:58Working with practised urgency,

01:21:59he had ascertained

01:22:00the extent of their injuries

01:22:02and moved them to a hidden culvert

01:22:03in the tunnel walls.

01:22:05As Romu 31 and Zoosh

01:22:07searched the rear cargo holds

01:22:08of the maglev

01:22:09for anything useful in the wreckage,

01:22:11Severine had stared at Dahlia

01:22:13with an expression of awe,

01:22:14and what Dahlia would later realise

01:22:16was fear.

01:22:17How did you do that?

01:22:19asked Severine.

01:22:20Send that machine away, I mean.

01:22:22I thought we were all dead.

01:22:25We should have been,

01:22:26agreed Caxton.

01:22:28Maybe it missed us,

01:22:29or there was some kind

01:22:30of interference.

01:22:30I don't know.

01:22:32Severine shook her head,

01:22:33biting her lip

01:22:34as the pain of her broken arm flared.

01:22:37No, it was something Dahlia did.

01:22:40I know it.

01:22:41What did you do?

01:22:43I don't understand it myself,

01:22:44to be honest, said Dahlia,

01:22:46leaning her head back

01:22:46on the cold stone

01:22:47of the tunnel wall.

01:22:49It was as if I could see

01:22:50the mechanisms of its mind,

01:22:52and I just knew how it worked.

01:22:55I saw what Krom had done to it,

01:22:56and I kind of blinded it

01:22:59to the fact

01:22:59we were right in front of it.

01:23:01Krom, said Severine.

01:23:03Lukas Krom?

01:23:05He built that machine?

01:23:07A thinking machine?

01:23:09Yes, said Dahlia.

01:23:11I could see his handiwork

01:23:12all over its mind.

01:23:14Why would an adept like Krom

01:23:16want to kill us?

01:23:18Not us, said Caxton.

01:23:20Dahlia.

01:23:22Severine looked at Dahlia

01:23:23as though she had

01:23:24personally broken her arm.

01:23:26Why haven't you told us, Dahlia?

01:23:29Why does Lukas Krom want you dead?

01:23:32Dahlia knew nothing,

01:23:33she said, would convince Severine

01:23:34that she didn't know for sure,

01:23:36but she shrugged and said,

01:23:37I'm guessing here,

01:23:39but I think maybe

01:23:39it's something to do

01:23:40with Adept Zess, Akashic Reader.

01:23:43Some people don't want it built,

01:23:45and I think they're afraid

01:23:46of what's going to happen

01:23:46when we know everything

01:23:47it can show us.

01:23:49Think about it.

01:23:50If everyone can know everything,

01:23:51then what happens

01:23:52to the keepers of knowledge?

01:23:54Knowledge is power, right?

01:23:56So what happens

01:23:56when everyone can access

01:23:58that knowledge?

01:23:59They'd lose their power,

01:24:01said Caxton.

01:24:02Exactly, said Dahlia.

01:24:04And I'm sure than ever

01:24:05that whatever the creature

01:24:06beneath the Noctis Labyrinthus is,

01:24:08it's the key to making

01:24:09the Akashic Reader work.

01:24:11People are frightened

01:24:11of what we'll be able to achieve

01:24:13when we unlock its potential,

01:24:14and they're desperate to hang on

01:24:15to what they've got.

01:24:18So what's all that got to do

01:24:19with what's happening

01:24:20all over Mars?

01:24:21I don't know, said Dahlia.

01:24:23I really don't.

01:24:24But whatever it is,

01:24:25it's bigger than all of us.

01:24:28At that moment,

01:24:28Rho Mu 31 and Zush

01:24:30had returned laden

01:24:31with a veritable treasure trove

01:24:32of useful items,

01:24:34recovered from the unclaimed supplies,

01:24:36earmarked for Crater Edge

01:24:37and Red Gorge.

01:24:39Medi-K packs, ration cartons,

01:24:41water recyclers,

01:24:42and breathing apparatus.

01:24:44The Medi-K packs were opened

01:24:45and wounds cleaned and treated

01:24:47with counter-septic

01:24:48before being bound

01:24:49with gauze and bandages.

01:24:52Best of all,

01:24:52Zush had discovered

01:24:53an overturned Cargo 5

01:24:55all-terrain hauler,

01:24:56an unreliable and cantankerous vehicle

01:24:59common in the frontier towns

01:25:00and less affluent forges,

01:25:02but one which offered them

01:25:03a chance of survival.

01:25:05Rho Mu 31 easily righted the vehicle,

01:25:08but upon doing so,

01:25:09they discovered that

01:25:10the indiscriminate fire of their attacker

01:25:12had severed the track unit

01:25:13and hauled the mechanics

01:25:14of the driver's controls.

01:25:16Undaunted,

01:25:17Zush set to work

01:25:18repairing the damaged track unit

01:25:20with Rho Mu 31's help,

01:25:22while Caxton dismantled

01:25:23the control panel

01:25:24and set to work with Dahlia,

01:25:25trying to jury-rig

01:25:26the controls back to life.

01:25:28Using spars of metal

01:25:30from the wrecked maglev,

01:25:31Rho Mu 31 groaned with effort

01:25:33as he lifted the Cargo 5 enough

01:25:35for the others to pull

01:25:36the repaired track links through,

01:25:38and they had cheered and embraced

01:25:40when Caxton finally ignited

01:25:41the drive plant

01:25:42and the engine turned over

01:25:43with a belligerent growl.

01:25:46Stocking up the rear compartments

01:25:47of the Cargo 5 with their supplies,

01:25:49they had driven along

01:25:50the darkness of the tunnel

01:25:51and emerged into a freshly broken morning.

01:25:54Dahlia had never been happier

01:25:56to see open sky,

01:25:57though the scarlet hue of the dawn

01:25:59and the cascades of fire

01:26:00she saw in the distance

01:26:01spoke of deeper troubles to come.

01:26:04As Rho Mu 31 negotiated

01:26:06the Cargo 5 down the rugged slope

01:26:08leading to the Syria Plenum,

01:26:10Dahlia and the others

01:26:11had their first glimpse

01:26:12of Mondus' gamma forge complex.

01:26:15Like a dark slick,

01:26:16it spread south and east

01:26:18across the landscape

01:26:19in a vast swathe of smoking,

01:26:20flaming industry.

01:26:22Hive manufactories,

01:26:24vast weapon hangers,

01:26:25and blazing foundries

01:26:26pounded and throbbed

01:26:27with the labour of production.

01:26:30One of the largest forges on Mars,

01:26:32its furthest extremities

01:26:33were beyond sight,

01:26:34a black pall of shrouding smoke

01:26:36clinging to the fabrication plants

01:26:38and sub-hives,

01:26:39as though unwilling

01:26:40to let outsiders view

01:26:41what lay beneath.

01:26:43The sight was profoundly disturbing,

01:26:46for Dahlia knew

01:26:46this was the domain

01:26:47of Adept Lucas Crom,

01:26:49the builder of the machine

01:26:51that had just tried to kill them.

01:26:53Despite that,

01:26:54a newfound vigour filled Dahlia,

01:26:56though whether this was

01:26:57in response to their brush with death

01:26:59or some other reason,

01:27:00she couldn't tell.

01:27:02All she knew was that she was alive

01:27:04and all the things

01:27:04she had feared losing

01:27:06were still there,

01:27:06just waiting to be experienced.

01:27:09The same mood

01:27:10seemed to suffuse them all,

01:27:11and over the next few hours

01:27:12of their journey,

01:27:13as the ground levelled out

01:27:14and they made good time

01:27:15across the plain,

01:27:16each of her fellow companions

01:27:18relaxed into this new stage

01:27:20of their journey.

01:27:21Even Severine,

01:27:22whose arm was still painful,

01:27:23despite Romeo 31's ministrations

01:27:25and the effects

01:27:26of a couple of painkillers,

01:27:27seemed in better spirits.

01:27:30The air in the vehicle was clammy,

01:27:32yet it was better

01:27:33than the hot dust

01:27:34that billowed around them outside.

01:27:36This far from the pallidus,

01:27:37the atmosphere outside

01:27:38wasn't actually poisonous,

01:27:40but it wasn't exactly pleasant.

01:27:42Dahlia felt a growing sense of optimism

01:27:44that they were going to reach

01:27:45their goal after all,

01:27:47as the hours blurred into days

01:27:49and the unending dust clouds

01:27:51enveloped them.

01:27:53The days passed mostly in silence,

01:27:55though occasionally

01:27:56one of them would point out

01:27:57a particularly interesting formation

01:27:59or unusual sight,

01:28:00and they would talk about it

01:28:02until it was obscured

01:28:03in the dust of their wake.

01:28:05Romeo 31 kept one eye

01:28:06on the distant forge,

01:28:07and Dahlia felt a growing excitement

01:28:09as the ground became rockier.

01:28:12At length,

01:28:12Romeo 31 slowed the Cargo 5

01:28:15and pointed to a dark scar

01:28:16in the earth

01:28:17that dropped sharply

01:28:18into the ground

01:28:18between two descending cliffs of rock.

01:28:21The western entrance

01:28:22to the Noctis Labyrinthus,

01:28:24said Romeo 31.

01:28:26Well, we made it here,

01:28:28said Severine.

01:28:30What now?

01:28:31Dahlia looked at the tense faces

01:28:33of her friends.

01:28:34They had come this far,

01:28:36but looking into the tomb-like darkness

01:28:38of the Noctis Labyrinthus,

01:28:39she could see their fear

01:28:40and hesitation at war

01:28:41with their desire to stand by her.

01:28:44We go in.

01:28:45What else is there to do?

01:28:47asked Caxton.

01:28:49We've come all this way,

01:28:50and we can't turn back.

01:28:52Right, Dahlia?

01:28:53Right, said Dahlia,

01:28:55grateful for his support.

01:28:57Fine by me, said Zouche.

01:28:59Pointless journey

01:29:00if we don't go in.

01:29:02Severine nodded slowly,

01:29:03and Romeo 31 guided their vehicle

01:29:05down the sloping entrance

01:29:06to the canyon system.

01:29:09The ground dropped away sharply,

01:29:10swallowing them whole

01:29:11as the light faded

01:29:13and left them travelling

01:29:14in a twilight wilderness of shadows

01:29:15and thin bars of diffuse light

01:29:17that filtered down from high above.

01:29:20Sheer cliffs of layered rock

01:29:22soared above them,

01:29:23and Dahlia felt like

01:29:24they were plunging deeper and deeper

01:29:26into the heart of the planet

01:29:27through some dreadful, unhealed wound.

01:29:30MAVEN

01:29:32Maven could barely contain his anger

01:29:34at the sight of so many bodies.

01:29:36The tunnel was choked with them,

01:29:38lying scattered in pieces

01:29:39or crushed amid the twisted wreckage

01:29:41of a maglev

01:29:42that had been blasted from the track.

01:29:45He rode Equitas Bellum

01:29:46through the darkness,

01:29:47his twin stablights illuminating the tunnel

01:29:50in the dusty armoured carapace

01:29:51of Pax Mortis.

01:29:53You still think we're following dead spore?

01:29:55he voxed to Cronus.

01:29:57His battle brother didn't answer

01:29:59for a moment,

01:29:59and Maven sensed his friend's fury

01:30:01at what he was seeing.

01:30:03The maglev hadn't just been attacked,

01:30:05it had been obliterated.

01:30:07Weapons of tremendous power

01:30:08had torn it open from end to end

01:30:10and slaughtered every living soul within.

01:30:14With all that's happening across Mars

01:30:15and even after what we found

01:30:17in the Pallidus,

01:30:18I'll admit I was beginning to regret

01:30:20my decision to follow you,

01:30:21said Cronus.

01:30:22But no more, brother.

01:30:24Whatever that machine is,

01:30:25it has to be destroyed.

01:30:27This will not stand.

01:30:30Maven nodded in agreement,

01:30:31though, truth to tell,

01:30:33even he had begun to doubt

01:30:34the instincts of his mount

01:30:35as it led them deeper and deeper

01:30:37into the Pallidus.

01:30:38Then, after days of fruitless searching,

01:30:41his auspex had fizzed and hissed

01:30:42with the familiar spider-like pattern

01:30:44of electromagnetic energy

01:30:46that was their praise signature.

01:30:48The buried wreck of a prospector's hauler

01:30:50had been almost completely obscured

01:30:52by the dust storms,

01:30:53but Equitas Bellum had scented

01:30:55the handiwork of its nemesis

01:30:57in its destruction.

01:30:58No sooner had the knight's auspex

01:31:00sniffed at the residue of reactor,

01:31:02shield and weapons,

01:31:03than Maven felt its gnawing desire

01:31:05to travel eastwards

01:31:06over the mountainous ridge

01:31:07between Tharsis and the Syria Planum

01:31:09in an aching pull of the manifold.

01:31:12Now they had found

01:31:13this corpse-filled tunnel,

01:31:15a charnel house of senseless slaughter,

01:31:17and still the manifold

01:31:18pulled them onwards.

01:31:21Why hasn't anyone come to help?

01:31:23wondered Maven.

01:31:24Why have they just left them?

01:31:26Mars has bigger problems,

01:31:27replied Cronus.

01:31:28You've heard the feeds.

01:31:30It's civil war.

01:31:32Maven heard the warring desires

01:31:34in his friend's voice

01:31:35and felt the same turmoil

01:31:37within his own heart.

01:31:38The inload feeds had been jammed

01:31:40with a million clamoring voices,

01:31:42declarations of war,

01:31:43pleas for aid,

01:31:44and feral screams of hatred.

01:31:47The Martian forges,

01:31:48which had stood shoulder to shoulder

01:31:50through uncounted epochs of darkness

01:31:52and weathered those storms intact,

01:31:55were now doing to one another

01:31:56what old night could not.

01:31:59Duty to their order told Maven

01:32:01they should abandon their quest

01:32:02and ride west with all speed

01:32:04to join their fellow knights

01:32:05in defense of the magma city.

01:32:07But honor told him that once begun,

01:32:09a quest could never be abandoned,

01:32:11only completed.

01:32:14Maven felt the angry pull

01:32:15of Equitas Bellum

01:32:16and knew which imperative

01:32:17he must obey.

01:32:20It's closer, he said.

01:32:22I can feel it.

01:32:23Then let's get after it,

01:32:24said Cronus,

01:32:26riding towards the Syria Planum.

01:32:27The sooner we kill it,

01:32:28the sooner we can rejoin our brothers.

01:32:32The Cargo 5 rolled onwards

01:32:34through the soaring canyons

01:32:35of the Noctis Labyrinthus,

01:32:37the darkness always seeming

01:32:38to draw it further and further in,

01:32:41as an ambush predator lures its prey.

01:32:44The darkness was cold

01:32:45and the cabin's tiny heater

01:32:47did little to take the edge off the chill.

01:32:49But after the dusty, clammy journey

01:32:51across the Syria Planum,

01:32:52no one was complaining yet.

01:32:55The deeper they went,

01:32:56the colder it became,

01:32:58and white webs of hoarfrost

01:32:59formed on the windows,

01:33:01a phenomenon none of them

01:33:02had ever seen before.

01:33:05Romeo 31 was forced

01:33:06to divert valuable battery power

01:33:07to the heater

01:33:08to keep the glass clear

01:33:10and see where he was going.

01:33:12The headlights of the Cargo 5 stuttered,

01:33:14barely piercing the gloom,

01:33:16and the atmosphere within the cabin

01:33:18grew stuffy and unpleasant

01:33:19as the air recycler failed.

01:33:22Hour after hour passed,

01:33:23and though there was nothing

01:33:24resembling a roadway,

01:33:26the base of the Graben

01:33:27was relatively flat

01:33:28and the Cargo 5 devoured the kilometres.

01:33:32Whenever they came

01:33:32to a branching canyon,

01:33:34Dahlia would direct Romeo 31

01:33:36with a nod of the head,

01:33:37as though afraid to disturb

01:33:38the sepulchral silence

01:33:40that filled the Noctis Labyrinthus.

01:33:43No one questioned how she knew

01:33:44where she was going.

01:33:46Grating static hissed

01:33:47from the oil-stained vox,

01:33:49and Zoosh reached down

01:33:50to turn it off,

01:33:51before looking over his shoulder

01:33:52with a puzzled expression.

01:33:54Strange.

01:33:55It's not even on.

01:33:58Melissin did say

01:33:59the adepts in this region

01:34:00left because of technical problems,

01:34:02said Caxton.

01:34:04His words were said lightly,

01:34:06but served only to heighten

01:34:07their unease.

01:34:09More mechanical glitches

01:34:10plagued them as the journey continued,

01:34:12though the passage of time

01:34:13after the first two days

01:34:14in the darkness

01:34:15was hard to judge

01:34:16after everyone's chronometers

01:34:18failed at exactly the same moment.

01:34:20Several hours later,

01:34:21the cabin's internal lights

01:34:22sputtered and died,

01:34:24as they made a treacherous descent

01:34:25into an even deeper,

01:34:27shadow-thickened canyon,

01:34:28unleavened by sunlight.

01:34:31The darkness closed in on them utterly,

01:34:33and Dahlia felt as though

01:34:34a cloak was being drawn around them,

01:34:36while a host of black ghosts

01:34:38followed and watched

01:34:39from the shadows.

01:34:41Each of them felt

01:34:41a thousand eyes upon them,

01:34:43the hairs on the backs

01:34:44of their necks erect

01:34:45and screaming danger,

01:34:47though nothing threatening

01:34:48was visible.

01:34:50Several times along the way,

01:34:51the engine coughed and died,

01:34:53and each time

01:34:53it had to be coaxed back to life

01:34:55by an increasingly frustrated

01:34:57and nervous Caxton.

01:34:59Despite the mechanical problems

01:35:01and the sullen, apprehensive mood

01:35:03that settled upon everyone

01:35:04in the gloom,

01:35:05Dahlia felt a mounting sense

01:35:07of excitement

01:35:07with each kilometre that passed.

01:35:10They had seen no daylight

01:35:11and no hint of anything

01:35:12resembling their final objective,

01:35:14but with the certainty of a zealot,

01:35:16Dahlia knew they were close.

01:35:17She had no idea

01:35:18how deep they had penetrated

01:35:19into the Noctis Labyrinthus.

01:35:21The odometer had failed

01:35:22the previous day,

01:35:24or where they were

01:35:25in relation to any other

01:35:26living thing on Mars,

01:35:27but a growing ache

01:35:28in the back of her mind

01:35:29told her they were close.

01:35:33The rumble of the engine

01:35:34cut out again,

01:35:35and Dahlia heard Caxton groan

01:35:36as he prepared to venture out

01:35:38into the cold and the dark

01:35:39to get it restarted.

01:35:41Romeo 31 shook his head.

01:35:43No need.

01:35:44We're not going any further.

01:35:46The battery's dead.

01:35:47So what do we do now?

01:35:49asked Severine,

01:35:50a shrill edge to her voice.

01:35:52It's all right, said Dahlia,

01:35:54leaning forward

01:35:55and wiping her hand

01:35:56across the cold glass

01:35:57of the driver's cabin.

01:35:58Look!

01:36:00Ahead of the lifeless Cargo 5,

01:36:02a sheer cliff towered over them,

01:36:04its walls sparkling

01:36:06as though studded

01:36:07with nuggets of quartz.

01:36:09But this was no ordinary

01:36:10wall of rock,

01:36:11Dahlia realised.

01:36:13Its surface was smooth,

01:36:14like fused glass,

01:36:15and it shone with a faint

01:36:17internal light.

01:36:19Sections of the cliff

01:36:20had fallen away over the aeons,

01:36:22exposing a darkened passage

01:36:23that cleft the rock,

01:36:25and from which a strange mist

01:36:26sighed like steam

01:36:28from a geothermal vent.

01:36:30The breath of the dragon,

01:36:32said Dahlia.

01:36:33We've arrived.

01:36:36The Himadri precinct

01:36:37encircled the great hollow mountain

01:36:39of the Himalaysia

01:36:40at the Crown of Terror,

01:36:42a mighty colossus

01:36:43a mighty concourse

01:36:44of black, glassy marble

01:36:46lined with busts and statues

01:36:48of cowled figures.

01:36:50Veins of gold and red and blue

01:36:52threaded the marble,

01:36:53and a thousand honour banners

01:36:54hung from the kilometre-high roof

01:36:56of shadowed arches

01:36:57and iron vaults.

01:36:59Cold light spilled

01:37:00into the vast chamber

01:37:02through tall windows,

01:37:03twice as large

01:37:04as a warlord titan,

01:37:06throwing out great spars

01:37:07of brightness

01:37:08across the tiled floor

01:37:09of black-and-white terrazzo.

01:37:11The light fell

01:37:12on the towering warrior in gold,

01:37:13who marched along its length

01:37:15in the company

01:37:15of a smaller, white-haired man,

01:37:17who wore the simple robes

01:37:19of a palace administrator.

01:37:21The giant wore a magnificent suit

01:37:22of golden armour,

01:37:24wrought by the finest craftsmen,

01:37:26and embellished with finery

01:37:27scrimshawed by the greatest artisans

01:37:29of the imperial fists.

01:37:31A mantle of red velvet,

01:37:32edged with bronze weave,

01:37:34hung around his shoulders,

01:37:35and his silver hair

01:37:37gleamed in contrast

01:37:38to the luster of his armour.

01:37:40The warrior's face

01:37:41was craggy and tanned,

01:37:42browned by the light

01:37:43of unnumbered suns,

01:37:45and carved in an expression

01:37:46of stoic determination.

01:37:49His companion

01:37:50was as unremarkable

01:37:51as the warrior was exceptional.

01:37:53His white hair

01:37:54worn long like a mane,

01:37:56and his shoulders stooped

01:37:57with the weight of the world.

01:37:59Behind this unlikely pair

01:38:01marched a detachment

01:38:02of ten custodians

01:38:03in bronze armour

01:38:05and scarlet-plumed helms,

01:38:06who carried

01:38:07long-bladed pole-arms.

01:38:09Their presence was a formality,

01:38:11for Rogol Dorn,

01:38:12Primarch of the Imperial Fists,

01:38:14needed no protection.

01:38:17Of all the great precincts

01:38:18of the Emperor's Palace,

01:38:20the Hemadri was one of the few

01:38:22not to have been turned

01:38:23into a fortress

01:38:23by the Golden Warrior,

01:38:25though that fact

01:38:26was scant comfort to him,

01:38:27saw his companion,

01:38:28Malkador the Sigillite,

01:38:30Regent of Terror.

01:38:32Malkador saw the wonder

01:38:33in Dorn's eyes

01:38:34as they passed beneath

01:38:35the chivalric arch,

01:38:36and the ten thousand names

01:38:38of its builders,

01:38:39inlaid with gold

01:38:40onto the marble.

01:38:41Behind that wonder

01:38:42he also saw sadness.

01:38:45The glory of the Emperor's fastness

01:38:47will rise from the ashes

01:38:48of this war like a phoenix,

01:38:50said Malkador,

01:38:51guessing his friend's thoughts.

01:38:53Dorn looked down at him

01:38:54and smiled wearily.

01:38:56Sorry, I was just calculating

01:38:58how long it would take

01:38:59to dismantle the great archway

01:39:00and replace it

01:39:01with the Bastion gateway.

01:39:03I know you were,

01:39:05nodded Malkador,

01:39:06lacing his hands

01:39:07behind his back,

01:39:08as they passed beneath the arch.

01:39:10So how long would it take?

01:39:13If my fists did the work,

01:39:15perhaps two days,

01:39:16said Dorn.

01:39:18But let's hope

01:39:18it doesn't come to that.

01:39:20If the Traitor's forces

01:39:21reach this far,

01:39:22then we have already lost.

01:39:23The Emperor trusts you

01:39:25not to let that happen.

01:39:27I will not,

01:39:28agreed Dorn.

01:39:30They walked in silence

01:39:31for some time,

01:39:32content to enjoy

01:39:33the view of the mountains

01:39:34against the rare sight

01:39:35of a blue sky,

01:39:36and the many wonders

01:39:37contained within

01:39:37the Hemadri Precinct.

01:39:39The throne globe

01:39:40of Mad King Peshkin of Tali,

01:39:42the colonnade of heroes,

01:39:44the last flying machine

01:39:45of the Roma,

01:39:46preserved in the

01:39:46shimmering stasis field,

01:39:48and a hundred other

01:39:50wonders and trophies

01:39:51taken in the Wars of Unity.

01:39:53The Emperor still

01:39:54does not join us,

01:39:55asked Dorn,

01:39:56as they passed the

01:39:57blood-stained armour of pearl

01:39:59that had been torn

01:39:59from the body of the

01:40:00Warlord Calagan.

01:40:03Malkador sighed.

01:40:04He had been waiting

01:40:05for this question.

01:40:06No, my friend,

01:40:07he does not.

01:40:09Tell me why,

01:40:10Sigillite,

01:40:11demanded Dorn.

01:40:12His empire is crumbling,

01:40:14and his brightest bastard son

01:40:15is dragging half the

01:40:16galaxy into war.

01:40:18What could possibly

01:40:19be more important?

01:40:21I have no answer for you,

01:40:23said Malkador,

01:40:24save the Emperor's word

01:40:25that nothing is more

01:40:26important than his labours

01:40:28in the palace vaults.

01:40:29Not Horus,

01:40:30not you,

01:40:32and certainly

01:40:33not I.

01:40:34Then we are alone.

01:40:35No,

01:40:36said Malkador,

01:40:37not alone,

01:40:39never alone.

01:40:41The Emperor may not

01:40:42stand beside us,

01:40:43but he has given us

01:40:44the means to fight

01:40:45this war and win it.

01:40:47Horus has three of his

01:40:48brother legions with him.

01:40:50You have your fists,

01:40:51and thirteen others.

01:40:54Would that it were fifteen,

01:40:56mused Dorn.

01:40:57Do not even think it,

01:40:58my friend,

01:40:59warned Malkador.

01:41:01They are lost to us

01:41:03forever.

01:41:05I know,

01:41:05said Dorn,

01:41:07and you are right.

01:41:08By any simple

01:41:09reckoning of numbers,

01:41:10the traitor stands

01:41:11little chance of victory,

01:41:13but he was always

01:41:13the most cunning,

01:41:15the one most likely

01:41:16to find a way

01:41:17where no others could.

01:41:19Is that what you're

01:41:20really afraid of?

01:41:22Perhaps,

01:41:23whispered Dorn.

01:41:25I do not yet know

01:41:26what I am afraid of,

01:41:28and that worries me.

01:41:30Malkador waved a hand

01:41:31along the length

01:41:32of the Himadri precinct,

01:41:33towards the grim

01:41:35black portal at its end,

01:41:36their ultimate destination.

01:41:39Mayhap the master

01:41:40of the astro-telepathica

01:41:41will have more news

01:41:42of the legions.

01:41:44He'd better,

01:41:45said Dorn.

01:41:46After the sacrifices

01:41:47we've made to pierce

01:41:48the storms in the warp,

01:41:50there had better be

01:41:51some news of Sanguinius

01:41:52and the lion.

01:41:54And Giliman,

01:41:55and Ras,

01:41:57added Malkador.

01:41:58I'm not worried about them.

01:42:00They can look after

01:42:01themselves.

01:42:02Said Dorn.

01:42:03But the others

01:42:03were heading into danger

01:42:05when last I knew

01:42:05of their plans,

01:42:07and it grieves me

01:42:07that I cannot reach them.

01:42:09I need to gather

01:42:10the legions to strike

01:42:11at the heart of the traitor.

01:42:13You still plan

01:42:14to take the fight

01:42:15to Horus-Lupacal?

01:42:17After what he did

01:42:17to Istvan III,

01:42:19it is the only way.

01:42:20Said Dorn,

01:42:21almost flinching

01:42:22at the sound

01:42:23of his former brother's name.

01:42:25Kill their head,

01:42:26and the body will die.

01:42:28Maybe so.

01:42:29But we have problems

01:42:30closer to home.

01:42:32To deal with first.

01:42:34You speak of the uprisings

01:42:35on Mars?

01:42:36I do.

01:42:38Confirmed Malkador.

01:42:39High Adept Epluvium Maximal

01:42:41contacts me daily

01:42:43with word of further atrocities

01:42:44and loss of knowledge.

01:42:46War has come

01:42:47to the Red Planet.

01:42:49There is no word

01:42:50from the Fabricator General?

01:42:52None that makes

01:42:53any kind of sense.

01:42:55I fear he is against us now.

01:42:58This Maximal.

01:43:00How reliable is he?

01:43:02Malkador shrugged.

01:43:04How reliable is anything

01:43:05these days?

01:43:07I know Maximal of old,

01:43:08and though he is prone

01:43:09to exaggeration,

01:43:11he is a staunch Emperor's man,

01:43:13and I believe

01:43:14he speaks the truth.

01:43:16Mars burns with rebellion.

01:43:19Then we need to secure

01:43:20the solar system

01:43:20before looking to make war

01:43:22in a far-off system.

01:43:24What do you propose?

01:43:25Asked Malkador.

01:43:27I shall send Sigismund

01:43:28and my four companies

01:43:29of the Imperial Fists

01:43:31to secure the forges of Mars.

01:43:33Mondus Oculum

01:43:34and Mondus Gamma

01:43:35produce the bulk

01:43:36of the armour and weapons

01:43:37of the Astartes.

01:43:38We will strike there

01:43:39to capture those forges,

01:43:40and when they are ours,

01:43:42we will push onwards

01:43:43and secure the others.

01:43:45Sigismund?

01:43:47A trifle volatile,

01:43:49is he not?

01:43:50Asked Malkador.

01:43:52Might not admission to Mars

01:43:53benefit from a cooler head

01:43:55than his?

01:43:56Dorne smiled.

01:43:57A rare sight

01:43:58in these bleak times.

01:44:00My first captain

01:44:01is prone to bellicose talk,

01:44:03aye,

01:44:04but I will send

01:44:05Camber Dias with him.

01:44:07He will provide

01:44:07a steadying influence

01:44:08on Sigismund.

01:44:10Will that suffice

01:44:11to allay your concerns?

01:44:13Malkador nodded.

01:44:14Of course.

01:44:15You are the commander

01:44:16of the Imperium's armed forces,

01:44:18and you have my full confidence.

01:44:20But even a humble administrator

01:44:22such as I

01:44:23knows that you will need

01:44:25more warriors

01:44:26than four companies

01:44:27of Imperial Fists

01:44:28to pacify Mars.

01:44:31We can bulk out the force

01:44:32with regiments

01:44:33of Imperial Army

01:44:34and auxiliary units

01:44:35stationed on Terra

01:44:36and the moons

01:44:37of Saturn and Jupiter.

01:44:39And perhaps

01:44:40saw Talgron's word-bearers?

01:44:43No, said Dorne.

01:44:45I need his warriors

01:44:46for the assault

01:44:46on Istvan V.

01:44:48Malkador paused

01:44:49and looked through

01:44:50one of the soaring windows

01:44:51as the sun began to set

01:44:53behind the tallest peak

01:44:54of the world.

01:44:56Who could have believed

01:44:57it would come to this?

01:44:59he asked.

01:45:00No one could have

01:45:01foreseen this, said Dorne.

01:45:03Not even the Emperor?

01:45:05If we cannot stop

01:45:06the Warmaster,

01:45:07then everything we have built

01:45:08over the last three centuries

01:45:10will be lost, my friend.

01:45:12All our grand achievements

01:45:14and the great dream of unity

01:45:15will turn to ash if we fail.

01:45:18We will perish

01:45:19by our own hands

01:45:20or else be devoured

01:45:21by a tide of alien insurgents

01:45:24unable to mount

01:45:25more than a token resistance

01:45:27against the ghoulish hordes.

01:45:30Then we cannot afford to fail,

01:45:31said Dorne.

01:45:33Malkador turned to face Dorne

01:45:34and looked up

01:45:35into his handsome,

01:45:36weathered features.

01:45:38Send your warriors

01:45:39to Mars, Rogaldorne.

01:45:41Secure the Martian forges

01:45:43and then crash their life

01:45:44from Horus Lupercal

01:45:46on Istvan V.

01:45:48Dorne bowed towards him.

01:45:50It shall be done,

01:45:52he promised.

01:45:533.02

01:45:56As Adept Zeth had predicted,

01:45:59the forces of the Fabricator General

01:46:01did indeed return to the Magma City.

01:46:04The sun rose above the calderas

01:46:05of the Tharsis Montes

01:46:07on yet another day

01:46:07of bloodshed and chaos,

01:46:09and Orspec's lookouts

01:46:10raised the alarm

01:46:11that the inhabitants

01:46:12of her forge had feared.

01:46:14Lygio Mortis was on the march.

01:46:17Southwards from Pavonis Martis

01:46:19was a large army

01:46:20of the Tharsis Montes.

01:46:21Southwards from Pavonis Montes,

01:46:23the engines of Mortis

01:46:24came around the western flanks

01:46:26of Assiamontes,

01:46:27easily demolishing the high walls

01:46:29surrounding the container yards

01:46:30and runways

01:46:31that fed on the materiel

01:46:32produced by the Magma City.

01:46:35Led by the towering Imperator

01:46:36Aquila Ignis,

01:46:37a total of thirteen war engines

01:46:39strode through the great breach

01:46:41torn by the guns of the Imperator.

01:46:43The Imperator's pack

01:46:45moved slowly and ponderously,

01:46:47a mix of warlords and reavers,

01:46:48with four warhounds

01:46:49leading the way like snarling wolves

01:46:51to flush out their prey.

01:46:54Armour of red and silver and black

01:46:56gleamed in the growing light,

01:46:58their hulls freshly daubed

01:46:59with the eye of Horus.

01:47:01Thundering warhorns

01:47:03blared their warlike intentions,

01:47:05and hideous blurts of scrap-coat

01:47:06screamed their corrupted names

01:47:08across the airwaves.

01:47:10From a distance,

01:47:11they looked like hunched old men,

01:47:12moving with wheezing,

01:47:14stiff-legged gaits.

01:47:15But there was nothing infirm

01:47:16about these terrible war engines.

01:47:19These machines had been designed

01:47:20with the express purpose

01:47:21of destroying the enemies of humanity,

01:47:24but were now perverted

01:47:25to serve a darker purpose

01:47:27and far darker masters.

01:47:30They paid the vast stacks

01:47:31of containers no-mind,

01:47:33intent on pressing onwards

01:47:34to their goal of destruction.

01:47:36The container port was huge,

01:47:38but looming in the distance

01:47:39was the industrial sprawl

01:47:40of the Arsia Mons sub-hives,

01:47:43worker habs,

01:47:43and outlying production hubs.

01:47:46It was to this tangled mass

01:47:47of structures that Mortis walked,

01:47:49the only route,

01:47:51other than the heavily defended

01:47:52Typhon Causeway,

01:47:53by which their engines could cross

01:47:55the vast Magma Lagoon,

01:47:57upon which Adept-Zeth's city stood.

01:48:00No route wide enough for the Titans

01:48:02existed through the sub-hives,

01:48:03but Princeps Camulos

01:48:05had no need for one.

01:48:07The guns of his Titans

01:48:08could easily blast a path,

01:48:10or simply crush a way through

01:48:11with the weight of his engines.

01:48:13Mortis cared nothing for the millions

01:48:15that dwelled within the sub-hives,

01:48:17only that the Magma City

01:48:18was brought to ruin,

01:48:19and Adept-Zeth humbled

01:48:20before the new masters of Mars.

01:48:23Thousands of workers fled

01:48:25before the advancing Titans,

01:48:27ants before a herd

01:48:28of charging bull-grocs,

01:48:29but like the containers around them,

01:48:31the Mortis engines ignored them,

01:48:33safe in the knowledge

01:48:34that the forces following behind them

01:48:36would mop up any lingering threats.

01:48:39Flowing like a black-armoured tide

01:48:41of spiked nightmares made real,

01:48:43the warped cohorts of Skitari

01:48:45and horrifically altered

01:48:46battle servitors poured

01:48:47into the container port,

01:48:48their lustful war shouts

01:48:50echoing weirdly from the metal skins

01:48:52of the stacked containers.

01:48:55Explosions dotted the landing fields

01:48:57as fuel lines were crushed

01:48:59under the colossal feet

01:49:00of the Titans,

01:49:01and flames followed in their wake.

01:49:04Black smoke boiled upwards

01:49:05like dark scratches

01:49:06etched on the sky.

01:49:09Artillery pieces fired

01:49:10from redoubts and fortifications

01:49:12around the base of the sub-hives,

01:49:13and the ground before the Titans

01:49:15erupted in corrosive flames

01:49:17and deadly clouds

01:49:18of wickering shrapnel.

01:49:20Hundreds of enemy soldiers

01:49:21were cut down in the first instant,

01:49:23but it was nothing

01:49:24compared to the host

01:49:25pressing at their backs.

01:49:28Voids flared and shimmered

01:49:29under the bombardment,

01:49:30but without the concentration

01:49:32of fire necessary

01:49:33to overload an engine's shields,

01:49:34the defensive fire

01:49:35was largely wasted.

01:49:37The four warhounds bounded forward,

01:49:40low to the ground,

01:49:41weaving between the incoming fire

01:49:43as they opened up

01:49:44with their megabolters.

01:49:45One warhound staggered

01:49:47as a particularly well-aimed salvo

01:49:49caught it full on,

01:49:50and it shed its voids

01:49:51in a coruscating detonation.

01:49:54The explosion blew off

01:49:55one of its legs,

01:49:56and it smashed,

01:49:57nose first,

01:49:58into the ground,

01:49:59plowing a 30-meter furrow

01:50:00before finally coming to a halt.

01:50:03A cheer of elation

01:50:04erupted from the defenders,

01:50:05but observers further back

01:50:07in the magma city

01:50:08knew the loss of a single warhound

01:50:09would not slow the attackers.

01:50:12The remaining warhounds

01:50:13increased their speed,

01:50:14using their agility

01:50:15to better evade,

01:50:16and each engine's princeps

01:50:18displayed a healthy respect

01:50:19for the accuracy

01:50:20of the magma city's gunners.

01:50:23Blizzards of weapons fire

01:50:24strafed the defenders,

01:50:25a furious storm

01:50:27of high-explosive shells

01:50:28that tore through

01:50:29all but the heaviest fortifications,

01:50:31wreaking unimaginable havoc

01:50:33within the packed knots

01:50:34of Zeth's protectors,

01:50:35Skitarii and Techguard.

01:50:38Artillery pieces exploded

01:50:39and ammo packs detonated

01:50:41as the warhounds' fire

01:50:43tore through them.

01:50:45The elation that had gripped

01:50:47the defenders upon seeing

01:50:48a warhound brought down

01:50:49evaporated instantly

01:50:50in the face of the destruction

01:50:52unleashed by its brothers.

01:50:54Terrified,

01:50:55insensate survivors

01:50:56staggered away

01:50:57from the shrieking,

01:50:57smoking, flaming hell

01:50:59of explosions,

01:51:00some clutching severed limbs,

01:51:02others holding in

01:51:02spilling intestines,

01:51:04or dragging the shredded carcasses

01:51:05of their comrades

01:51:06away from the firestorm.

01:51:09As a flood of panicked men

01:51:10and women fled

01:51:11the fortification lines,

01:51:12the adamantium blast doors

01:51:13of a hardened bunker

01:51:14slid aside

01:51:15and an Ordinatus machine

01:51:17rolled forwards

01:51:18on heavy gauge rails.

01:51:20A gargantuan artillery piece,

01:51:22so large it needed

01:51:23a strengthened chassis,

01:51:25a crew of hundreds

01:51:26and specialized generators

01:51:27just to power its enormous gun,

01:51:29the Ordinatus was a weapon

01:51:30of such power

01:51:31that an adept counted himself lucky

01:51:33if he had even one such weapon

01:51:35in his arsenal.

01:51:37Its crew locked in

01:51:38the targeting Auspex,

01:51:39working on a firing solution

01:51:41on one of the larger war engines,

01:51:43an impetuous reaver

01:51:44that had broken from the pack

01:51:45of marauding titans.

01:51:47A searing beam of blinding,

01:51:49unwavering energy

01:51:51erupted from the Ordinatus

01:51:52and struck the careless reaver

01:51:54square in the face.

01:51:56Instantly its shields screamed

01:51:58and blew out

01:51:58in a froth of sparks

01:52:00and whipping arcs

01:52:00of discharged energies

01:52:02that vaporized

01:52:03hundreds of mutant skitarii

01:52:04advancing in its shadow.

01:52:06The Ordinatus beam

01:52:07continued to play

01:52:08over the reaver's body,

01:52:10obliterating armor plates

01:52:11and body shielding

01:52:12in a flurry of actinic explosions.

01:52:15Flames bloomed

01:52:16from inside the enemy machine

01:52:18as the reactor core was breached.

01:52:19The reaver vanished

01:52:21as a newborn son flared into life.

01:52:24Voids scraped and howled

01:52:25as the reaver's accomplices

01:52:27felt the violence of its death,

01:52:29but none were damaged

01:52:29beyond shrapnel scars.

01:52:32Its work done,

01:52:33the Ordinatus machine

01:52:34began to roll back

01:52:35into its protective bunker

01:52:36to recharge its main gun.

01:52:39It never got the chance.

01:52:41The towering, dreadful form

01:52:43of Aquila Ignis

01:52:44opened fire

01:52:44with its monstrous

01:52:45annihilator cannon

01:52:46and the giant Ordinatus

01:52:48vanished in an expanding

01:52:49mushroom cloud

01:52:50of nuclear plasma.

01:52:52Shock at the death

01:52:53of such a magnificent machine

01:52:55rendered the defenders

01:52:56immobile for a heartbeat,

01:52:57but that was all

01:52:58the Mortis engines needed.

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