The goliath loomed out of the exhaust veil as the Artificers descended. Kin didn’t appreciate how colossal the machine was until they were within fifty yards. The giant towered over everything, the army of ten-foot-high shreddermen at its feet looking like children’s toys. Kin banked around the crescent-shaped forearms, edged with chainsaw-blades large enough to decapitate buildings. This close, the engine’s rumble was a suffocating pressure against his ribs.
The team landed on the machine’s right spaulder, and a metal hatch in the Earthcrusher’s neck creaked open, red eyes glowing at them from the dark. A Lotusman ushered them into a cramped corridor lined with thick iron piping, moist with steam. Looking down through the mesh gantry, Kin could see power cables and pressure gauges and combustion chambers, interlocking gears smeared with inch-thick layers of grease. There was a kind of poetry to it all, the motion of machines and men, the hiss of smoke and steam. He found himself smiling behind his mask.
“Welcome to the Earthcrusher, brothers,” said the Lotusman.
Kin looked him up and down—barely more than an initiate judging from his voice, his skin still new and relatively clean.
“I am Shatei Bo, aide to Commander Rei. Our Kyodai requests you report to your assigned stations. We march within moments.”
“Our thanks, brother,” Kin said.
“You are Fifth Bloom Kin?” The aide’s eyes glittered in the dark.
“I am.”
“Commander Rei requests your presence on the bridge.”
Kin nodded. “Lead on, brother Bo.”
A cramped elevator carried them up through the goliath’s neck, the engine song so amplified in the narrow space Kin had to adjust his aural dampeners. The lift doors hissed open into a wide, circular chamber within the Earthcrusher’s skull. Two enormous glass portals stared out over the surrounding wastelands. The walls were lined with instrumentation; gauges and dials, punch-card interfaces. The air left a greasy film over Kin’s glass eye.
In the room’s heart sat the pilot’s station: a harness of iron and pistons and leather buckles, connected via segmented umbilicals to the instrumentation around it. Kin finally understood Kensai’s frustration at being denied his place here—the thought of sitting at those controls sent a thrill of excitement skittering through his flesh.
But not to be. Commander Rei was ensconced on the throne, buckled in place. He was outfitted in a regular atmos-suit, eyes covered with telescoping goggles. Artificers were concluding the final stages of pre-walk check. Rei glanced over his shoulder, flicking a switch to close his comms channel.
“Kyodai Kin, I am pleased you saw fit to finally join us.”
“Commander Rei.” Kin covered his fist, bowed deeply. “Second Bloom Kensai sends regrets that he could not be here on this momentous day.”
The commander turned to his aide as if Kin had not spoken. “Brother Bo, oil pressure is still fluctuating on leg seven.”
The young Lotusman took his seat at the comms station and nodded. “Technician already dispatched. A seal ruptured during engine ignition. Repairs are under way.”
“… I should see to the Artificer crews,” Kin said. “There is much I need to catch up on.”
“No,” Rei said. “You should bear witness. Your father assisted in designing this machine. It is only fitting you should stand on the bridge as it takes its first steps.”
Kin stood beside the control rig, watching Rei from the corner of his eyes. The harness was suspended from the roof, able to swivel with the pilot’s hips. The motion of his legs, arms and head would be transferred via relays to the Earthcrusher itself—the machine mimicking his movements. Control of the chainblades and air defense systems could be wielded via the control gloves, or ceded to secondary stations. The bridge was staffed with half a dozen, the Earthcrusher itself with over sixty, and there were a thousand ways things could go wrong. But presuming all systems were in working order, ultimate control was in the hands of one man.
That man nodded to himself, scanning his consoles. Seemingly pleased, he cleared his throat and opened his all-channels comms frequency.
“This is Commander Rei. Pre-walk check complete. Notify ground crew to stand clear.”
Brother Bo began a countdown over the open frequency.
“Earthcrusher ambulation will commence in ten, nine…”
Rei turned to Kin, looked the Fifth Bloom up and down.
“You had best hold on to something…”
*
Daichi stood at the railing, feeling the volume rise, watching the ground crews and shreddermen suits back away from the Earthcrusher. Thunderous plumes of exhaust rose into the sky, an enormous burst of steam spewing from the machine’s bowels. The old man spat black onto the deck, heart pounding in his chest.
The behemoth moved—trembling at first, a new foal trying to stand in a puddle of afterbirth. Its legs unfurled, one after the other, cacophony rising. And then, like some grotesque from a Docktown sideshow, some hideous collision between insect and machine, it thrust its legs up to the first knuckle into the ruined earth. And it stood.
The island shook, one impact after another as the beast began walking, four legs shifting forward and slamming into the ground in quick succession.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM
The remaining four stepping forward now.
DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM