THE SECOND CRADLE CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Fire and Ice
The two kobolds stared back at us. The thick, leather-bound robes they wore seemed a little over the top, but overall they almost looked like a blend of the same type of cloak and armor our rogues wore mixed with the bronze chain mail some of our Praetorians used.
Neither of them said a word.
I stepped up and knelt in front of both of them, taking ARi’s hand as she stood next to me.
“Can you understand me?” I asked.
They looked at each other again and then nodded.
“Good.”
I was about to start the same orientation I’d done so many times before when Red and Charlie came up and stood next to me.
“Architect, perhaps this would go better if we did this part.”
I glanced up at ARi, and she nodded with a half smile, giggling softly.
“What?” I asked, not understanding what was so funny.
“With respect, Architect,” Charlie said, “you always come across a little preachy when you do it.”
I looked around at the others, who were all nodding in agreement.
“You guys are just telling me this now?”
ARi pulled me up, and we took a couple of steps back while Red and Charlie approached the newest cohorts.
Speaking to them in their native language, all four of them talked for what seemed like an eternity.
Eventually, Charlie and Red both tapped their chests, and the two mages saluted back by doing the same.
Both of the mages walked up in front of ARi and knelt.
“You don’t have to do that,” ARi said. “Why do they always do that?” she asked Charlie as he snickered.
A new voice, gravelly and low, answered before Charlie could.
“Ward, we were told that it was required to kneel in your presence. That we should show reverence to our Ward.”
ARi glared at Charlie and Red, who were now in tears and unable to hold back their laughter.
The two mages glanced at each other and then slowly raised their heads.
Jokes aside, I was surprised that the new kobolds I’d just spawned could already speak. I wasn’t sure if it was because of their higher intelligence levels, their status as mages, or the fact that I’d brought them in at level three.
It was an odd feeling to only spawn two cohorts and have it drain me like it did, especially since at this point I’d been able to easily spawn whole squads of other classes at a time.
Realizing they’d been duped, one of the mages’ eyes began to glow blue while the other’s burned a fiery orange. Charlie and Red suddenly yelped as the stone floor beneath them began to glow hot and the helmets they carried in their arms started frosting over.
Both of them gathered themselves quickly.
Unhurt, but wary.
Charlie grinned back at the two mages.
“Lesson learned,” he said, tapping his chest before reaching down to pick his helmet up off the floor. He grabbed Red’s and handed it back to him as well.
“Well, I guess that answers what kind of mages you actually spawned in there, Gav,” Kyle said with a huge shitty grin.
He’d been sitting off to the side with Tim, watching the entire encounter.
ARi knelt in front of the mages. As she touched each of them on the shoulder, the inner lining of their cloaks changed to orange on one and blue on the other.
“I think we’re going to have to find names for you two.”
One of the mages looked down, worried he’d gotten in trouble for lashing out at the other kobolds.
“Our apologies, Ward. We felt the misinformation about how to address you to be inappropriate.”
“It’s okay,” ARi said softly. “Honestly, I’m getting used to it. Kyle over here is going to take you guys aside and go over your responsibilities and try to figure out what your capabilities are. Is that okay?”
“As you wish,” the other kobold said.
Both of them tapped their chests and moved over toward Kyle, who was ushering them to come sit down at the table with him and Tim.
I helped ARi back up.
“ARi, that was amazing. Could you imagine how powerful they could be as they level up? This could be a real game changer.”
“I agree, Gav, but the control point cost and expense is definitely the system balancing them out.”
I looked over at the table when I heard Kyle and Tim gasp.
One of the mages had held his hand out and formed a ball of fire inches above his palm. It wasn’t very big, maybe the size of a softball, but when he closed his fist, the fire disappeared.
Kyle was just grinning back at ARi and me.
“ARi, I know you have a subclass choice and some skills to figure out as well. Maybe we should wait for the others before we dive into that.”
I couldn’t help but notice the hesitation and worry on ARi’s face when I brought it up.
“You’ve always been excited about your level-ups, and you worked really hard for that subclass. What’s up?”
“Gavin, it’s just that…” She hesitated. “I don’t know how it’s going to affect Roslyn when I make these choices now. Will she receive the upgrades? Is it going to split the potential bonuses between both of us? Even if it doesn’t do it in real time, what will happen when we go back?”
She looked down at the floor for a moment before continuing.
“Gavin, when we go back to Earth, there’s going to be a lot more of these AIs than just Roslyn. And I don’t understand how all of this is going to affect them or how they’re going to affect me. I really hope I haven’t made a mistake.”
“Hey,” I said, taking her hand. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll do it together, okay?”
She looked over and saw Hannah sitting by the hearth by herself.
“I think she’s still trying to find her bearings in all of this,” ARi said.
“Well, on that note, I have an idea if you’re willing to give me a hand.”
We walked over, and ARi placed her hand on Hannah’s shoulder.
“This is all a lot, isn’t it?” ARi asked softly.
“It is,” Hannah admitted. “I just don’t know how I’m going to be useful. I want to help, but I’m so far behind. And the stupid armor is so restrictive.”
“Well then, let’s do something about it,” I said. “ARi, can you give us a projection of her powered armor?”
ARi threw her hand up over the fire, and a projection of Hannah’s armor formed in a wireframe.
I reached up and pushed it off to the side, giving it a light tap so it slowly rotated.
“ARi, can you throw up a projection of one of those bipedal constructs we fought back on Earth?”
ARi tilted her head in my direction, curious where I was going with all of this.
“I mean, yeah, I can. We’re not going to be able to reproduce that beam weapon if that’s what you were thinking, Gavin.”
“Not at all. It’s more about the overall design. Did you see how quickly they were able to move?”
A wireframe of the bipedal construct formed next to Hannah’s armor.
I grabbed the first projection and pulled it over, layering it on top of the second while adjusting the size and dimensions.
“The biggest problem is that the legs articulate in the wrong direction,” I said, pointing at the knees that bent backward instead of forward. “We’re going to have to adjust it so that you sit comfortably in the upper portion of the armor.”
Hannah watched, stunned, her eyes as big as saucers.
“Gavin, if you do that, we can increase the protection around the armor’s core,” ARi said. “It’ll make the limbs a little more vulnerable, but overall I think we can find a decent balance.”
“The armor would sit tall and narrow,” I continued, rotating the projection again. “More like a predatory walker than the bulky powered armor you’re using now. You’d sit right here in the center of it, sealed inside the armor’s core almost like a cockpit.”
I thickened the projection around the torso.
“We’d focus most of the protection around the center mass. Heavy plating around where you’re sitting and lighter armor around the limbs so the whole thing can still move properly.”
“It has to stay within the limits of her current skills, Gavin,” ARi said as she adjusted part of the projection. “I don’t think Hannah’s going to be able to spawn something any heavier than her current armor.”
She reached up, and sections of the wireframe shifted and reformed beneath her fingers.
“But…” She tilted her head slightly while studying the projection. “I could probably replace the bronze plating with composite materials instead. Something lighter and stronger.”
The outer plates of the projection thinned slightly as layered internal structures formed beneath them.
“It’d have less overall mass,” ARi continued, “but woven composites should still make it extremely strong. Strong enough that we could reinforce the core without making the armor too heavy.”
I studied the projection for a moment.
“It’s too bad we don’t have access to bulletproof glass yet,” I said. “But we could create an adjustable slit across the front so she’s more easily able to see what’s going on around her. In fact, we could make it so she can adjust the slit up or down based on the situation. Kind of like closing the front of a knight’s helmet.”
I stepped back and rotated the projection one more time as the changes took effect.
The armor was covered in white composite panels. It looked futuristic and out of place compared to everything around us.
“That should work,” ARi said, “but it’s not going to fit into this environment very well. Let me make a quick adjustment.”
She reached up again, changing the colors and spreading a muted camouflage pattern across the armor. Then she added the familiar standard to the shoulder, marked with the little golden water drake.
Hannah stared at the projection in complete shock.
“I could actually summon that? How would I be able to move in it if I’m not actually moving like I do in my current armor?”
“That’s research and technology we’ve already developed,” ARi said. “Thanks to Bishop.”
Bishop raised his head from where he was lying next to the hearth by Lily.
“Go ahead,” I said to Hannah. “Try it out.”
Hannah looked at both of us like we were crazy.
“Okay,” she said, stepping into the middle of the room.
She activated the ability.
The legs began to form in front of her first.
Instinctively, she watched and somehow knew exactly where to place her feet as she stepped up and into the core while it formed around her.
She stood there completely still for over a minute, fully enclosed in the armor as the entire den went quiet. Everybody just stared at it in shock.
I felt ARi flinch when suddenly the front of the core collapsed downward, exposing Hannah sitting comfortably inside with a huge grin on her face.
The arms of the armor began to move and articulate in different directions, swinging around almost like they were alive.
She knelt down and stood back up.
Twisted back and forth at the hips.
Then stretched upward, her fingertips almost touching the ceiling.
“ARi, this is amazing,” Hannah said. “It did cost a little more to spawn than my old armor, but it’s so worth it.”
Bishop and Lily had both gotten up from the hearth and were now circling Hannah.
Lily was far more cautious than Bishop, still obviously sore over Hannah accidentally stepping on her tail before.
After seeming satisfied, both of them made their way to the front door and headed out into the courtyard.
Hannah looked back toward ARi and me. “Do they just come and go when they want?”
Yumi laughed from the other side of the room as she came out of the hall.
“You’ve seen how big she gets. My girl’s scary when she’s upset. I’m not telling her she can’t leave.”
“It’s probably for the best,” ARi said. “She wasn’t happy when you guys all marched off to Mayloon last time and left her here.”
“Thank you both so much,” Hannah said.
She stepped forward, placing one foot onto the articulated squatting knee before hopping back down to the ground. The armor collapsed into panels, plates, and gears behind her before disappearing across the floor.
“I can’t wait to try it in an actual fight.”
ARi felt a light tug on her shirt and looked down to find Red staring up at her with huge pleading eyes.
“Let me guess,” ARi said, looking down at the captain. “You want smaller ones for your troops.”
He nodded enthusiastically.
“I’m afraid we’re still a ways off from being able to support that,” ARi said. “But now that we’ve figured it out, it’s probably something we can do in the future.”
She glanced over toward me and smiled.
“For now, we’re going to have to work within the limitations Gavin and I have as far as control points go.”
