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The door whirred and clicked as the unseen machinery began to work.
Adam hurried to join the others as the floor came alive.
Squares rose and fell, shifting around them. Pylons rose.
They braced for their patch to become unstable but it did not. Instead it descended and turned, moving slowly enough that they had no trouble keeping their balance.
“That’s more like it,” Jack said.
Adam shared his grin as the room settled and they reached the bottom.
Stacks and shelves reached to the ceiling, several stories above them. Along them, running on vertical and horizontal tracks, were multi-armed machines. Each had a pulsing orange core in its belly, encased in glass. They slid along like an army of happy little robots powered by fire.
“It’s beautiful,” Daff gasped.
Jack squeezed her hand.
“I wonder if there’s any chance I can get my book back . . .” Adam wondered.
Something raced toward them at high speed.
Adam stepped in front of Jack and Daff as it came to an abrupt halt.
It had a similar look to the others, but a humanoid face like a mask of carefully pierced, filigree brass. It had arms, but a system of wheels rather than legs or feet.
It uttered something like a series of clicks and whistles.
Adam didn’t recognize the language, if it even was one, and risked a look at Jack.
The technopath had his head turned to better listen.
“Can you understand it?”
“Maybe. It’s binary code, but the base isn’t English.”
Jack tried a few experimental-sounding clicks.
The machine responded.
The orange fire lit its features from within as they went back and forth. Adam tried to read intent in the pulses but got nothing from the sounds. It was all flat.
“It’s Hindi . . . no, Sanskrit,” Jack said. “I don’t really speak it but I’m translating it to binary. I don’t know how well I’m doing.”
The machine man paused.
Several more appendages unfurled, each holding a long blade.
The machine clicked a few more times.
Adam wanted to call the sword, but it might prompt an attack, and well, if the thing fought at the same speed it moved then he wouldn’t stand a chance.
Jack spoke a few more syllables.
“What are you telling it?” Adam asked.
“I’m trying to get it to set its language to English.”
The mechanical being didn’t attack, but nor did it put away its blades.
