The lift stopped on one of the lowest storeys of the fortress, and the metal grate slid open with a rasp. Two Celestians walked along the low and wide corridor cut in the brownish rock. Mounted under the ceiling, the provisional lamps shed a weak but dazzling light, and thick pillars propped up the ceiling every few metres. The long tunnel ended with armoured gates in the shape of a trapezoid.


    “I’ll repeat once more, that what you’ll see here might be quite… shocking,” warned Azhi.


    Seth nodded. He’d read earlier that if he wanted to take up a job there, he would have to be ready for, as his employer had termed it, quite some unusual situations. Piercing chilliness began troubling him, same as the claustrophobic tunnels and white light. Trembling with cold and nerves, he zipped his jacket up and hid his hands in its pockets, glancing around with insecurity.


    They stopped in front of a gate which was two storeys high. Azhi typed the code on his LiqWatch, and then on the control panel beside the door. Lighting up, the red check lamp changed its colour to green. A second later, the muffled sound of scraping metal reverberated, and the heavy gates began to lift up. It stopped three meters above ground with a deep hiss.


    “That’s how,” spoke Azhi, spreading his arms, “a technology for the year 1643 looks like.”


    Seth wanted to say something, but a constriction in his throat made him speechless. He could not believe what he was seeing was really happening. The thought that something was wrong with Azhi’s drink crossed his mind.


    Almost five hundred exoskeletons stood in even rows. The hangar, as enormous as an ancient cathedral, was. Thick armour in shiny, pewter colour with blue edges protected the four-metre-high machines. Wires connecting to the two supercomputers as big as an isolated house, protruded out of the exoskeletons, fastened to their brackets. Workers bustled around the mighty metal silhouettes, mounting parts and checking the working systems, and drones hovered over their heads, carrying or giving them the tools.


    “You’re incredibly lucky,” shouted Azhi, covering his ears as the drone of a drill driving through the coruscium filled the entire chamber. “You’ll be working on a revolutionary project that may turn the fate of the universe!”


    Seth smiled and nodded, although he did not hear the scientist’s sentence. He passed another row of machines, observing with attention and admiration the precision with which they were built. Pride began filling him at the thought that those majestic constructions would partly be his creation.


    At the end of the hangar, Azhi opened the door leading to the lower level. He crossed the narrow corridor, where a few lamps cast a pale afterglow, and ran down the metal stairs. Touching his LiqWatch to the reader, he turned on the keyboard and only after he typed three long passwords, the blockade to the other entrance was deactivated.


    “Welcome,” said a horned reptile, standing in front of the door. His olive green boiler suit shone like new. He held a rectangular device emitting blue light, at which he glanced constantly.


    “Hello, Inann.” Azhi raised the corner of his lips and pointed at Seth. “I suppose you haven’t met my new co-worker yet.”


    “Inann Ishme, the supervisor of the SynthBreed Project,” said the Ifrit. He narrowed his eyes, sizing the strange Celestian, and bared his short, sharp teeth in too mild a smile. “Ah, this is the young talent you’ve been telling me about so many times?”


    “Yeah, this one.” Azhi looked at Seth as if he wanted to give his new co-worker more courage.


    “Seth Felvennis,” said the young man haltingly. Feeling the stare of the two key figures on him, he hid his hands behind his back. He sensed the contempt in the reptile’s tone and although he did not want to get into a conflict on the first day of his job, he attempted to distance himself and let Inann know that he was not a stupid kid who could be easily manipulated.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    “Let me present to you our creation.” The reptile swung his hand, and the lamps went out. Only his vivid celadon green eyes glowed in the darkness.


    “I’ve been waiting for this moment for twenty years,” whispered Azhi and smiled in awe, gazing ahead.


    Inann approached the large, cylindrical chamber in the middle of the room. He tapped a few buttons on the control panel and typed a code on his device. A hydraulic mechanism hissed, and the metal cover lifted up, exposing a glass enclosure with an immobile exoskeleton inside, and standing next to it was a new, tightly-closed dangerous waste barrel.


    Seth approached the glass, leaving a white circle of steam with his every breath. The exoskeleton’s visor was raised, so the Celestian could see the face of the quiescent Kehrian behind the respirator. The subject had his eyes shut, and a part of the implant, connected with the helmet, protruded out of his shaved head.


    Inann moved his finger on the screen. The Kehrian opened his eyes wide and peered at each of the scientists one by one. He flexed his muscles, attempting to move, but the locked servomotors just let him breathe rapidly.


    “No!” he cried out. His voice sounded mechanical as if it came out of a synthesiser. “You won’t… you won’t dig through my brain!”


    Seth shuddered and fell back as his eyes met the Kehrian’s stare. Dismay, pain and animal fright that the Kehrian had to feel froze the blood in Seth''s veins as if somebody had injected him with liquid nitrogen.


    He knew it was necessary. The brain was the most powerful computer. Other machines could not control exoskeletons like that. Only the sturdy, complicated mind enabled connection of natural reflexes, awareness and instincts with the computing power and the strength of the servomotors. Due to this, the brain could pilot the machine as if it were its own body of flesh and blood.


    “Easy, there’s nothing to fear,” assured Inann and knocked on the glass, “he can’t hurt you.”


    Until I make him, he added in his mind.


    He switched something on the device again. The Kehrian screamed once more, then stopped struggling and froze. He wanted to move, but his muscles did not respond to the commands of his brain. Extraneous, computer-generated impulses ran through his nerves.


    He raised his armoured hand involuntarily. As he strove to lower it, he completely lost control over his own body. Instinct dictated him to fight for his survival with all his strength, although he had no chance against the machine that inhibited all his reactions. He moved his eyes in all directions, looking for help, but he saw only the faint, red light and three silhouettes deep within the chamber.


    He stomped closer to the barrel. He leaned back, and with a single shooting punch, he drove through the cover. The subject tore his fist out of the metal sheet and drew back into the middle of the enclosure.


    He knew he was losing. Despite the panic, he slowed his every breath and heartbeat to the rhythm ordered by the machine as the artificial impulses pierced his brain with double strength. The Kehrian closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles. He stopped struggling against his own body, letting the computer dominate his reflexes.


    “Now you’ll see how the SynthBreed proves itself from a distance,” informed Inann.


    Controlling the Kehrian’s brain via the computer made him lift up the multi-calibre rifle, lying on the floor, and turn towards the coruscuim shield.


    Seth held his breath when the hydraulic servomotors raised the weapon, almost as heavy as him, without any effort.


    “It’s all under control,” mumbled the Inann and raised the corner of his lips in a smirk. The caution and distance with which his new team member reacted to every action of the subject made him laugh.


    The machine pulled the trigger, flooding the shield with a hail of bullets. Three seconds passed and glossy shell-cases covered the entire floor. A coiled trickle of smoke plumed out of the rifle barrel, fading away in the thick air. The exoskeleton placed the weapon on the ground and froze, resembling a quiet metal statue again.


    “Now you see why it’s good to be on our side, right?” asked Azhi, smiling at the machine, then at Seth. “We have the technology that can crush all rebellions.”


    Seth did not pay attention to his words. He stood in front of the glass, staring at the devastation that the subject had wrought, with a blend of fright and pride. The cover of the tank, which could survive thousands of years in extreme conditions, had been ripped apart like a piece of paper. Large holes with scraggy edges darkened the shield which was made of the same material as the tanks, and scraps of silver metal lay on the floor among hundreds of golden shell-cases.


    He gulped, imagining an unarmed person in the line of fire. He did not hear anything through the glass, but he felt the strong vibrations under his feet while the subject was shattering the shield.


    Even bones would turn into bloody mash...


    “The activities of the radical rebels demand radical eradicating,” stated Azhi, leaning against the glass.


    Inann nodded and spoke, “SynthBreed can do much more. Let’s get to…”


    Before he finished, a deafening alarm roared out of the speaker above the door. The reptile squinted, baring his teeth.


    “What’s going on?” shouted Seth, looking up at the dust falling from the ceiling.


    “Air attack,” answered Azhi with an unreasonable calm, “we’re staying here.”