A stone skull peeked from the underbrush.
“This is as far as I go.”
Guide, you are a cowardly fool. How am I to find your fabber now? Ruqaya could feel her locality lens fill in the forgotten name of the guide, twisting her words as they left her lips.
“Noloi, I appreciate your bravery in coming this far. But how am I to find the old god without your help?”
“When you see a skull, walk to face it. They all face away from the demon, to deny it their eyes.” Noloi tried to find Ruqaya's face somewhere behind her smooth, white mask, but there was nothing. “Tell me once more that you bring no sacrifice to the demon.”
Why are you always so suspicious? My lens gave you no hints. Go back to your stinking village.
“I swear to you, upon my honor, that I will sacrifice nothing to the demon. I only go to see it. Goodbye, and may your return to your blessed town be uneventful.”
It took Ruqaya several hours to make her way to the fabber and its temple. No one had prayed here in nearly a century. The temple was so overgrown with trees that it looked like nothing more than a hill.
Finally. There are some things better built by a fabber without identification. One that cannot call the police if something inappropriate is requested.
Ruqaya could see the metallic outline of the old machinery, stretching deep under the earth. She studied its magnetics, and eventually found what she was looking for. The power node, built into an alter.
Stupid guide. I never needed to bring a sacrifice. I can do much better than that.
Ruqaya smiled, and aimed her hand at the node. An invisible beam struck out, slicing through trees and stone with equal ease. The node came alive.
The ground thrummed with a mad rhythm. As Ruqaya stepped closer, she heard a hurried chittering, mirroring her motions.
The network must be out. Parts of the fabber are communicating with each other audibly. Well, that makes some things easier.
Ruqaya made the gesture of activation, and the chittering grew louder. Her hands swept through the air, describing what she wanted built. The vibrations became more insistent, and more confused. Permissions were needed to build this, and the ancient fabber did not know where to ask for them.
Ruqaya began to speak, in the fast gibbering language of the machine. First she pretended to be a lowly cognition unit, then a memory core, and finally she spoofed the primary node itself. The machine had its permission. Deep underground, it began to build the first parts to a weapon that even the power mad clans of old could never have imagined.
“Is it true?”
“Yes, elder. I felt the ground shake. The traveler is beseeching the demon even as we speak. I have seen her confidence. She is too strong for us to stop.”
The village elder scowled. “We will call the Tao. They have the strength to uncloud the sky and return the trees. They will stop her.” The elder stood and walked into her tent. When she returned, she held a metal plaque. The instant it touched the ground, a ghostly figure appeared, wearing a loose overcoat and a top hat.
“Hello! My name is William. What may I do for you?”
“A masked outsider is communing with the demon Ragash. Stop her.”
“Oh! Yes, I will send envoys at once. I assume we have permission to enter your territory?”
“Of course. Also, tell your envoys that when they speak flattery, they should use their own mind to do the talking.”
