Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

[TerraBull]

Ah well, thank you for your efforts to entertain. I am curious on how it will play out.

 

[Magpy]

Looking forward to it! I didn't realise the Europa side story even existed, so getting notified of it and that there's going to be a new chapter for it as well is great.

 

[lawfromchaos]

Tarantino after the innevitable pic leak: ...Do you think Survey have an agent?



Hmmm, there is a point where SoL stops being SoL and becomes drama. The first two examples don't count, while there ARE workplace SoL, it don't focus as much in the work itself, but on the people who work there. There need to be a balance weighted harder on the daily life aspect rather than on the work itself, you feel me?

Take Spy Family for example, the actual plot is the whole spy half sure, but the show focuses more on the family aspect, right? The spionage is the road, but the vehicule and destination is family.

Dunno much about Dresden to know, so I won't comment on it.

Click to shrink...

I would say the the Dresden files explicitly do NOT count. There are a few slice of life moments, but we are generally not seeing the minor bits of wizardry and detective work, etc... that he does. We are instead focused on the very big moments with lots of magic and tension. It's not uncommon to start some of the novels with slice of life, but often the events turn out to be much more impactful than anticipated.

 

[Eman Resu]

It's not uncommon to start some of the novels with slice of life, but often the events turn out to be much more impactful than anticipated.

Click to shrink...

I read somewhere that your beginning and end should be a day in the life of, so you can establish what is normal and then compare it to the new normal after the hero's journey.

 

[Whamodyne]

Today is the Fifth Anniversary of Brockton's Celestial Forge.

Five years ago yesterday there was no such thing as a Celestial story. This is the first one, the story that created from whole cloth an entirely new genre of fanfiction which has grown from the Forge to Menagerie, Grimoire and other flavors. Started by LordRoustabout as something to keep him busy during COVID lockdown, it is a writing experiment that has gone horribly right. First chapter posted May 1st, 2020.

There is a lot of different things to love about this story but for myself it's Joe as someone who cares and is trying to do his best after falling backwards into ultimate power. This is one of the best "MC is OP" stories I've ever seen and the quality has kept up for the over 2 million words of story.

 

[Anaja]

It's not uncommon to start some of the novels with slice of life, but often the events turn out to be much more impactful than anticipated.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, there's a short story or two that count, but the series as a whole definitely does not.

 

[LordRoustabout]

Preamble Andrei

Andrei stumbled out of the tavern, conscious of the movement of his cast and the unfamiliar crutch. His leg still throbbed, which HAD seemed like a good justification for the fourth pint of ale. The first round had been a good will gesture from his supervisor, the second from his coworkers, while the rest had just seemed like a good idea at the time, though it was going to cause him problems going forward, no mistake. When he'd left home he'd promised his mother he wouldn't go drinking away his pay every night, and he hadn't, even if he dearly wanted to right now.

In all honesty, he was probably lucky to still have a leg after that crate came down on it. Seriously, who shipped ferrets by the gross? Maybe his mother was right, maybe city people were crazy. He should have stayed home and… Well, maybe still have broken his leg, though in a less embarrassing way.

Of course, back home they didn't have fancy hospitals that didn't even charge him for putting his leg back together. Something like this back in the sticks, and he'd have been looking at rusty bone saws. There were better doctors out here, meaning there were actual doctors, not trumped-up barbers or people trying to apply livestock medicine to humans.

Even so, it was still a serious break. The doctor had said six weeks before the cast could come off, and to take it 'easy' for a few weeks after that. He didn't know how he was supposed to take it easy at the warehouse. There was nothing easy about loading and unloading carts. The pay was good, better than he'd hoped to find when he showed up, but the bosses definitely got their money's worth.

Of course, that was worrying about things after the damn cast came off. He still had to last that long. They'd promised the job would be waiting for him once he recovered, which was better than he'd been told to expect from city people, but he still needed to last until then. He hadn't been in Beetleburg long enough to really start saving money. He'd have to count things out, see if he could squeak by somehow. Maybe he could get a deal at the boarding house, a break on rent if he could help out… somehow. He wished he was better at reading or math, something he could do while sitting down, but he doubted that he would be any help.

But those were all problems for later. For now, he had the issue of attending to the matter he had left the tavern to deal with. Normally a simple matter for the alley behind the building, but one he'd never had to attend to when dealing with a full leg cast while managing a crutch. It was something he really wished he'd considered before that last pint, and was likely to be a fairly messy process.

Andrei's attention was drawn away from the problem that wasn't quite at hand yet by a sound from the end of the alley. He turned to see a shadowy figure drop down from the roof of the adjacent building with unnatural smoothness. Very unnatural. That was something he'd also been on edge about. The pay was better in the city, but you were living right next to every kind of construct. They said the ones in Beetleburg were tame, but you could never be sure.

He tensed, gripping the crutch and weighing his options. At worst it could be some kind of mad experiment run amok. At best… well, he might just get mugged for his last few coins while unable to defend himself or run away, and leaving his bad situation so much worse. And that was assuming he wouldn't be picking up any more injuries.

He wanted to believe he was being paranoid, that he was buying into all the stories he'd grown up with about the cities, but seeing the figure stand up with impossible grace, those stories were seeming more and more likely. The figure was wearing a dark colored long-sleeved tunic of some thick fabric with a hood pulled tight around his head. Andrei caught a gleam from his eyes and nearly took his chances seeing how fast his crutch could get him out of there. Fortunately a second look revealed that what he'd taken for insectoid eyes were instead some kind of dark lenses.

Not a construct. Just an unusually tall man wearing very dark glasses while keeping his head and most of his face covered. Someone who had been able to drop twenty feet from the room to the ground without any effort while barely making a sound. Panic was beginning to cut through the beer as he desperately wrestled with the situation and what he could possibly do against the man who was silently approaching him.

"Good evening." The man said in a congenial tone. There was a slight smile on his face as he looked down at Andrei. "Would you be interested in participating in a clinical trial of a new medical procedure?"

Andrei froze, looking up at the smiling man. "What?" He managed to stammer.

"Given your apparent injury, I wanted to offer you the chance to participate in a trial for a procedure that had the potential to facilitate immediate and complete recovery." The man explained. "If you would be interested."

Andrei felt his pulse begin to quicken again as he realized what the man was saying. No, not the man. He wasn't dealing with a rogue construct or monster or some human mugger. He was facing down a Madboy. A Madboy looking for people to experiment on, who had spotted him as a likely and helpless target.

"What do you want?" He stammered.

The man continued to smile. "I'd like you to consent to a medical trial, which should immediately heal the damage to your leg. And then complete a brief questionnaire for research purposes."

Andrei paused. The man was less… manic than he expected, at least from the stories he had heard and the occasional plays that he saw when a troop or circus passed through the town he grew up in. His movements were still impossibly smooth, there was no question that something sparky was happening, but it didn't seem to be the kind of nightmare he'd been expecting. He swallowed a lump in his throat and decided to test that.

"Consent." He said. "So if I say no, I can go?" He asked, eyeing the mouth of the alley.

"Of course." The man said. "It's not like I could trust the data from unwilling subjects."

Andrei nodded. That sounded about right for a spark.

"Plus, you know, ethical concerns." The man added. Andrei nodded a little more stiffly, recognizing the afterthought for what it was.

He glanced towards the mouth of the alley again. If he refused, the man would probably let him go, if only to not compromise his research. That would be the smart thing to do. He could leave, hobble back to the boarding house, sleep off the beer, and then try to figure out how he would keep a roof over his head until he could work again.

That would be the smart thing to do. The safe thing to do. Magical spark remedies didn't happen, not outside of Heterodyne stories. Even entertaining something like this was more likely to land him in a terrible state, some kind of warped mutant or wreck who could barely function, assuming it didn't just kill him on the spot.

But there was something different about this, and not just because the spark seemed completely willing to let him walk away. Well, limp away. He remembered the hospital, the doctors who knew more than he'd ever imagined, sparklingly clean and filled with machines he'd only heard about in stories. And they had the university here as well. The people there had to know what they were doing, right? This was research, research from a proper spark, not one of the country Madboys who you heard about making monsters out of pig parts and raiding villages on moonlit nights.

Or maybe he was trying to convince himself. Maybe he didn't want to be hobbling around, begging for help and living off charity until he could stand on his own again. He'd written his mother, told her about the job he found, what they were paying him just to move crates. He'd been so proud of being able to stand on his own, of being able to prove everyone wrong when they said the city would chew him up and spit him out.

This was a risk. An insane risk, but it was one he wanted to take. He wanted this impossible idea to be real.

"Um, is this dangerous?" He asked nervously. "I mean, are there any risks?" It was s stupid question. He was talking to a spark. Of course there would be risks.

"Well, there's a chance you'll end up in the control group, in which case I'll just throw sugar water at you, but otherwise it should be a fast and painless process."

Andrei looked at the Madboy who honestly seemed to believe what he was saying, which was probably a bad sign. The bones in his leg throbbed, reminding him of the long healing process he had ahead of him, and everything else that entailed. Maybe Andrei would have made a better decision if he had been fully sober, but with only four pints he couldn't completely blame the beer. This was his decision. Coming to the city had been a gamble, what was another roll of the dice?

"Alright." He said to the spark, leaning on his crutch to hold himself a little higher, though nowhere near the man's eye level. "I agree."

"Excellent." The spark said. He reached into a pocket of his tunic and drew out some small items that Andrei couldn't make out in the darkness of the alley. He did… something to them, and Andrei caught a whiff of vinegar and something else. And then the alley wasn't dark anymore.

The items in the spark's hands had begun to glow with a brilliant blue light. Andrei tensed as the Madboy threw the mass of light into the air. It hung there for an instant, then shot forward and washed over him. Andrei gasped as he felt his body surge with energy. The pain in his leg disappeared and he swore he could feel the bones shift back into place. Even the haze of alcohol and the painkillers the doctors had given him vanished, leaving him clear headed.

Clear headed enough to understand exactly how stupid that decision had been.

"Now." The spark said, taking out a notebook. "How would you rate the nature of your recovery?"

*

"And then he asked about pain levels and how it felt when I was healed, and a few questions about my history, then he just left." Andrei explained. The doctor nodded, writing his own notes.

"He left through the alley?" The stern-faced older man asked. Andrei shook his head.

"No, he climbed back onto the roof. Went up the wall as easily as walking." He explained.

"Of course he did." The doctor said in a tired voice. "We'll have to have a word with the Roof Runner's Club. Their members should know better than to deviate from approved routes."

"So it was someone from the university?" Andrei asked hopefully. The remnants of his plaster cast sat in the corner of the room, and from what he could tell the doctors hadn't found anything concerning about his recovery.

"It's quite likely." The doctor said, "We've had more than a dozen reports of encounters with the man in question, and that's just from the people who had come forward. Most likely we're looking at someone working on a project and trying to skimp on research expenses." He looked down at Andrei's leg. "Clearly promising work, but no doubt they'll be in for a stern lecture about the importance of experimental procedure when they finally submit their project."

"So I'll be alright?" He asked hopefully.

"That appears to be the case, though we'll be keeping you for a few days of observation to be sure." The doctor explained.

"What, to make sure the leg doesn't start to grow tentacles or something?" He joked. There wasn't a hint of amusement on the doctor's face. "Um, doctor?"

"The chance of complications are remote, particularly given what we've seen so far, but I'm not prepared to rule anything out just yet."

Andrei nodded glumly. Then he flexed his leg slightly, feeling the ease of movement and lack of pain. A few days and he could get back to work. No hobbling around or begging for help. And from the sound of things, plenty of other people had made the same decision he had.

The idea of a noble spark running around healing the injured out of nothing but the goodness of his heart and the pursuit of science, well, that was right out of a Heterodyne Boys story. The doctor was probably right about it being someone trying to save money on research subjects, and there was still the possibility that something would go wrong, but at least for the moment, Andrei was grateful. Maybe it had been entirely selfish, but it had still given him his life back, and for the moment, that was more than enough.

Europa's Celestial Forge 3 Entanglements

I slipped back into the reserve garage of 'Turnips R Us' as the sky was beginning to shift from black to grey. An entire night of roof running and guerrilla healing might not have been the best idea, particularly since I was still severely time lagged from whatever brought me to this universe. Still, just the fact that I could do that, could use my powers to make a difference, to help people without worrying about bringing the entire world down on my head, it was exhilarating enough to make up for the exhaustion.

Well, maybe not, or at least not completely. I had pushed myself hard. Without the benefit of Efficiency I wouldn't still be on my feet. Of course, without Efficiency I never would have been able to pull off something like that in the first place. Even with a general lack of skill and middling athleticism, the fact that every single action was now perfectly optimized in terms of energy, effort, and superfluous movements was a massive boost. It didn't suddenly turn me into an acrobat, but anything that I could manage could be performed to perfect efficiency.

Plus the whole 'rooftop running' thing was such a classic cape cliché that there was no way I could resist trying it out. And it turned out perfectly efficient running was a lot quieter, meaning I'd been able to ghost across the city. Yeah, it was kind of aimless running around looking for anyone who needed healing, and the amount of difference I'd made on the larger scale probably wasn't significant, but I bet it had been to the people I'd been able to help.

And my guess about framing things in local terms had definitely helped, though the reaction to a presumed spark was also about what I had expected. Framing things in scientific terms and focusing on the integrity of the experiment had definitely come across as more believable than the idea that one of the local tinker-equivalents would be restrained by morals or ethical standards.

Unfortunately, I'd probably have to hold off from another excursion like this. I doubted that the stories of a mad scientists running around testing a new miracle treatment would be connected back to me. I might have pushed things a bit in terms of mechanical knowledge, but that would be like mixing up Squealer and Bonesaw, both in specialization and in power level. The mysterious rogue healer could vanish for a while, or at least until I'd had a chance to gauge how the city reacted and work around any response.

In the tiny apartment next to my workspace I stripped off my hoodie and put away the cheap sunglasses I'd used to conceal my identity. Well, most of that had been from sticking to the shadows, but the clothes that I'd recovered from my Workshop were different enough from local styles that it should provide another layer of concealment.

I weighed whether I should open my Workshop again and sleep in there, but decided against it. I was pretty sure that Frau Gruber was serious about me having this space, and from what I'd seen it was unlikely any of her family would openly defy her, but it was still a point of vulnerability. I'd already taken a big risk by running out to offer healing to anyone I could find with visible injuries. It felt good to be able to make a difference like that, but even if this world didn't have the kind of overarching threats and all-consuming presences that Earth Bet did, that didn't mean it was safe. Just because it was likely that people would accept that the kind of healing I'd been giving out could exist didn't mean they would ignore it. There would be a response, and even if I could avoid getting caught up in it, I'd still need to be more careful going forward.

The apartment next to the spare garage was cramped and the cot was a bit small for me, but as I settled in to sleep decided I would still rate it above my place back in Brockton Bay. Or maybe that was just the exhaustion talking. I'd been into the morning hours when I was transported here, then I'd seen a full day, complete with engine rebuild, followed by a second night of heroism, though from a different angle. For the amount of time I'd been up I was well past three a.m. thinking, which might have been a factor in my decision to go on a healing blitz rather than laying low until I got a better sense of this world.

Efficiency had been carrying me. It was a powerful ability, one of the two strongest ones I'd received so far, and considering what Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench was capable of, having an equal strength power devoted to nothing but efficiency explained why it was so powerful. I still wasn't sure how far I could push that ability. If you were operating at perfect efficiency, not wasting any energy or taking any unnecessary actions, how long could you keep going? How long could you last on a single meal, or without sleep? How fast could you move? How hard could you fight?

I'd seen some of that already. The ease at which I could run, climb, or traverse obstacles. It was still within human limits, but refined to an almost impossible degree. Possibly an actually impossible degree, since that kind of efficiency couldn't really be achieved without some external effect helping things along.

It was the kind of thing that made me wonder what would be the next ability I'd see, but there hadn't been any connections over the past night. It wasn't that my power had stopped, more like there was a hill that it was working to climb. Some kind of shift in function that had followed my arrival in this world, but hadn't settled in until now. It was like making a connection induced a delay that took a while to clear.

That kind of change was frightening, to be honest. I had barely adjusted to how my power functioned, and suddenly there was a fundamental shift in the mechanics. It had pretty clearly been a result of my arrival in this world, and I wasn't getting any sense of further concern from my somewhat muted connection to my passenger, so it seemed things had stabilized into whatever this new form was.

The presence of a delay following larger powers meant I wouldn't be likely to see the kind of rapid-fire connections that had happened on the previous day, which was good and bad. Well, mostly bad. This was a dangerous world and I definitely needed all the power I could get to survive it. At the same time, this meant there was time to understand and utilize my powers before the next one showed up. I actually had a chance to understand what was possible with Efficiency or Bandit Gunsmith or Mechanic or Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench.

Honestly, without powers on the level of Efficiency or Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench I probably would have been frustrated by this shift. In the first days after my trigger I had been so desperate for any power, anything I could work with or plan around. I'd been sitting in the face of infinite potential with no idea where the winds would take me. The first few powers had provided a hint to where things were going, but I'd had to string them together into something approaching a functional whole.

Major powers weren't like that. There was no question about how Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench was going to be useful, only what I was going to use it for. And in my case, that would probably be severely dumbed down mechanicals work, with more serious impossibilities kept for myself. At least until I had enough resources, connections, and understanding for this world to be comfortable acting openly.

But that was a problem for later. For now I badly needed sleep, and was happy to know that perfect efficiency also covered that task. I mean, as tired as I was I probably could have drifted off while collapsed on the floor, but it was still nice to enjoy the sense of falling asleep with no stress or anxiety, just perfectly efficient rest.

At least until the noise started. Because I was in a city, and city's started work early. What's more, I was attached to a produce company, which meant that deliveries and other business began as soon as there was enough light. Deliveries that were both coming in and going out, carried by loud and stompy animals and motor vehicles with rather poorly muffled engines. The fact that I could remotely diagnose every mechanical issue in the company's delivery vehicle didn't help when it came to trying to sleep through that kind of noise.

I considered the matter for about two seconds before deciding that potential abstract security threats weren't a more pressing concern than the idea of following nearly forty hours of wakefulness with two hours of sleep, no matter how efficient that sleep happened to be.

I immediately opened my Workshop, dropped the door jam in place, then collapsed onto my mattress. Enjoying the muted sounds of the early morning work. And also understanding precisely why no one happened to be using that particular apartment.

It occurred to me that I was also sleeping one room away from the sealed vault I had built for the Bakuda grenade I'd recovered from Oni Lee. That was… less than ideal, but I weighed my options and remembered the way the wooden walls of the garage had shook with every passing cart. Yeah, probably not the best state to be performing a risk/reward evaluation, but at the moment I was willing to take that chance.

Fortunately, nothing happened while I was sleeping. Either my containment was up to snuff, or Bakuda was less aggressive with her security measures than I'd feared. I mean, I still kept my bracer on through the night, just in case, but it hadn't been necessary.

I'd also been undisturbed from the other side of things. If anyone had knocked at the door to the spare garage, they'd at least taken my silence as a desire to be left alone, at least for the moment. Considering the agreement for my stay was somewhat informal and probably very short term, I didn't want to press them on their hospitality, for however long it would last.

I ended up sleeping a lot less than I normally would after the kind of day I'd previously had. Well, day, then night, then day, then night again. So yeah, I was prepared to be out for most of the day, but I guess super-efficient sleep was different, as I was awake and functional by mid-morning.

I got myself cleaned up before I headed out, including dressing in parts of my costume. It was oddly more appropriate for the local aesthetic than anything else I had, but was also in rough shape. The work I'd done putting it together, or at least adding the ornamental pieces, had happened in my workshop, so it was set for a full repair in forty-eight hours.

Timing that to when I had fought Oni Lee, adjusted to the current timescale, it should be fine by tomorrow morning. Until then I did what I could to patch up the worst of the tears. Since I was approaching things from the perspective of a mechanic rather than a tailor, I was mostly working with staples and small rivets. Overall the design was kind of Frankensteinian, but that was oddly appropriate for this world. Plus, Bling of War helped me ensure that it had at least some cohesion to the overall look.

I emerged from the company's spare garage to find Petru Gruber overseeing things in the main yard. The balding man had an aura of command that had been completely absent in the presence of his mother. A quick inquiry with one of the other workers confirmed that Frau Gruber was already out on deliveries.

"Ah, Mr. Ďuriš." Petru said, turning towards me. The man I'd been talking with quickly scurried off, making a show of looking busy. "I have a pay packet for you from Clay Mechanical." He made a gesture and a younger man with a slight family resemblance ran up with a small pouch and an envelope. Petru accepted them without comment, then handed them to me.

"Thank you." I said, checking over the contents. The time I'd spent working the Clay's workshop was accounted for, and rather generously considering it was only an assistant role. It was apparently the best I could get without guild approval, and was drastically more money than I'd had to my name previously.

That 'previously' had been the three coins of minimal denomination I received when I was mistaken for a vagrant, so it wasn't really a good benchmark in this case. The point was I had enough to actually function, at least to a limited degree, rather than just hunting for whatever resources I could get for free or on charity.

And speaking of which, I turned back to Petru Gruber.

"Thank you for this." I said. "And thank you for letting me stay here. It was much more than I was expecting, and I know it must have been a surprise for you as well."

The man's expression softened at my words. As uninvited houseguests went, I was endeavoring to be as unobtrusive as possible, and I think he had picked up on that.

"My mother has always been a surprising woman." He said with a nod. "But generally a good judge of character. I… appreciate what you did for her." He continued in a strained voice.

"It started as a bit of a patch job." I said. "I didn't expect it to expand into a full rebuild."

"Yes." He continued. "On that point, are you certain that cart is as roadworthy as you initially thought?" He asked in a leading tone. There was a quick glance around to confirm that there was no one close enough to overhear. "After that amount of work, there must be the possibility that some faults could have developed." He gave me a conspiratorial look. "I'd happily pay a substantial premium for a follow up inspection that would find something that would take that thing out of service for good."

I might not be the most socially savvy person in the world, but I could pick up on this level of subtest, and given how the woman drove I could understand him wanting her off the roads, for her safety and everyone else's.

"I'm sorry, but even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to get that past Mr. Clay." I said, turning down a bribe that would probably have gone a long way to getting me started in this world.

The man's face fell. "Please. With the way she was talking about things, even if everything is working perfectly… Actually, that's probably worse." He swallowed and looked at me. "Is there anything you could do?"

As if on cue, the roar of a familiar engine echoed from the city outside, along with the sound of wheels sparking on cobblestones and the faint echo of a woman's laughter. And the screech of several brakes that definitely belonged to other vehicles.

"Um, I might be able to install a few safety features." There was another sound that I really hoped wasn't a crash, followed by the sound of the cart's distinct motor speeding away. "As a preventative measure."

"Get me a quote." He said seriously.

I nodded. Normally trying to install modern safety features into an open topped mechanical cart that didn't even have seatbelts would be borderline impossible, but with the Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench I could go fully into the impossible. It would be a bit of a stretch, but I was fairly certain I could install systems that would ensure that any accidents were survivable for both Frau Gruber and anyone with the misfortune of coming across her. The fact that it would take a literally impossible feat of engineering to make that possible said a lot about the state of the vehicle and Frau Gruber's driving.

Despite my late start, breakfast had been set aside for me, though I suspected that would have been at Frau Gruber's insistence. I appreciated the support, given my situation, but felt a little awkward about the level of disruption that my presence was causing. Then again, based on the way the rest of the family reacted I suspected this wasn't the first flight of fancy that they'd needed to work around, so my presence was mostly born with good humor.

After a breakfast of bread, cheese, and cold sausages, that were substantially better than any breakfast sausage I'd had back on Earth Bet, I once again headed out into the city. Unlike the previous day I had a rough sense of what I was dealing with and was comparatively flush with cash. Even with the generous accounting that Mr. Clay had used, a day's pay for a mechanic's assistant wasn't going to have me living the high life, but at least I had enough coin on hand that I could actually consider making some purchases, rather than sticking exclusively to public services and open exhibits.

I also had a rough idea of the city's layout and some experience finding my way around the city. My previous night's excursion had taken me over a fairly wide range, and efficiency apparently applied to things like mapping out routes and studying building layouts. I had identified a few locations and businesses that I wanted to investigate further, and now that I had a sense of how things worked I could actually risk a bit more in terms of interactions.

Speaking of risk, there wasn't any kind of manhunt for a rogue medical spark, or at least no evidence of one on the streets or in the newspaper. It seemed my guess about people fitting things into the local perspective was right. There might be a few pointed questions at whatever passes for the university's medical school, but there were no wanted posters or people scouring the streets to find the person who had run around the previous night providing free medical services.

As odd as it was to think, that probably wasn't the strangest thing this city had seen. That was something I was still adjusting to. This was a new world, a world that was simultaneously more and less fantastic than Earth Bet. You had the kinds of things that would only be seen in the highest levels of cape society integrated into people's daily lives, cybernetics, robots, engineered creatures, and all kinds of isolated pieces of fantastic technology, and yet somehow the society itself felt more grounded, at least on the local level.

Yes, you had a city run by a tyrant tinker who operated out of a university. You had the aftermath of an incredibly destructive war and the rise of an authoritarian empire in the aftermath, but looking around at the people who were just living their lives, arguing over the prices of produce, or sharing gossip about current events, it somehow seemed less extreme than the world I had left behind. Maybe that was a lack of the Endbringers, with no Simurgh looming over any hope for the future.

Or maybe that was because I was comparing things to Brockton Bay rather than one of the less active cape cities of Earth Bet, or even non-cape cities. It was important to remember that there were places that weren't locked into a decade long stalemate between rival gangs, where you didn't have regular cape battles in the streets and a concentration of parahumans that rivaled some HOSV locations.

Yeah, as a native Brocktonite, my perception of things might be a bit skewed, even if I was from far enough outside the city proper that I'd probably not be considered such by anyone who lived south of the Market. Then again, when you grew up in a city where they had to regularly clear the damage from cape fights and there was a floating superhero headquarters in the middle of the bay, it probably made it easier to adjust to this kind of steampunk insanity.

I paused in my walk through the city as I felt another connection form to the Vehicles constellation. That seemed to be something of a theme so far. This was the fourth connection to that constellation, twice as many as any of the other constellations. It was kind of funny that random chance had effectively given me a specialization, and one that happened to line up with the place and role I'd found myself in.

The power was called Aerospace Engineering Makes Things Go Fast. It granted me an intuitive grasp on the mechanics of wind-flow, material sciences, atmospheric drag, tensile strengths, rocketry, and other fields associated with aerospace engineering. It also extended that intuitive understanding to how those fields applied to designing air vehicles and spacecraft. What was interesting was how the power granted me an intuitive grasp of the concepts, rather than direct knowledge. It was fundamentally different from the other engineering and mechanical powers I'd received, but because of that it built upon them to a tremendous degree.

Between Black Thumb, Scientist: Machinery, Mechanic, and Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench I had a tremendous amount of both practical and theoretical knowledge when it came to mechanics, but my latest power let me understand those concepts on an intuitive level. Well, the concepts that applied to aerospace. It was less the skills of an expert mechanic and more the experience and understanding of a seasoned NASA engineer. The power was definitely specialized, but still readily applicable to my other projects.

Particularly since the Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench made the incorporation of rocket engines into civilian vehicles an utterly trivial matter. I was pretty sure I could launch a car into space with nothing but that power. Actually having the engineering knowledge and understanding needed for that kind of project helped me meet things half way. It was definitely easier when you weren't entirely relying on the impossibility of a power to facilitate a project.

After all, the further I could go with conventional technology, the further I could push things with the more fantastic elements of my abilities. Which, on reflection, was probably the kind of thinking that got this world into its current state. Well, at least I was fitting in. I just had to make sure I didn't fit in too well. I might not be a 'real' tinker or spark, but I could make literally impossible vehicles. That meant I was operating in the same space, and needed to be aware of that.

Fortunately, it would be easy enough to stick to conventional technology, or at least what counted as conventional for this world. As long as I didn't openly reveal the fact that I could work like a one-man chop shop, it would probably be okay.

Though that was just for outward facing projects. The kind of thing I'd need to fit in and build a foundation for myself. For my own projects, I now had rocketry, aeronautics, and spaceflight on tap, in addition to all the mechanical insanity I was already capable of. With the right parts and materials that one-man chop shop power could let me speed up a space program from a national project to something I could complete in my Workshop.

Space really wasn't something I had considered, probably because of the feel of this world. Things here were more in line with what you'd see in "From the Earth to the Moon" than any part of the space race, but I hadn't seen any reference to space travel, or even anything like it. I mean, the technology clearly existed, and there was a surplus of airships, but heavier than air flight seemed incredibly rare.

I mean, I could handle a space program. My latest power had the as yet unique effect of coming with a bonus ability attached to it. The additional mote was called 'This Is, Actually, Rocket Science', and it gave me an instinctive understanding of Delta V and orbital mechanics. Enough that I could probably eyeball a moon flight if I really had to, but that just brought back the question of why there didn't seem to be anything happening in that field.

Granted, my knowledge wasn't exactly comprehensive, but given the focus on science in this world, you'd figure that if anyone had even attempted that kind of thing it would be big news. I had to wonder if there was some effect stopping that kind of progress. Given the kind of things that Sparks had unleashed on the world, there could very well be ship-eating void squids dwelling in low Earth orbit.

Or it could be something as simple as the Kessler syndrome. If sparks had been around for hundreds or thousands of years and it was well within their capabilities to reach orbit, then they might have done it before, but that doesn't mean they would have done it well, or safely. Scratch that, they definitely wouldn't have done it safely. A few hundred years of sparks launching everything they could into orbit and you could end up with a density of space junk where the debris would collide with other debris, creating even more debris until you had a field of space pollution that would render orbital regions uninhabitable. After a certain point everything you launched into space would be torn to shreds, or at least critically damaged. And that would only add more debris to the orbital killing field.

It was only a theory, but a depressingly plausible one. It meant that any attempt I made at space flight would probably need to be in an excessively robust vessel, and only after an extensive study and unmanned exploratory flights. The 'robust vessel' would also help if the danger turned out to be giant space squids, or something like that.

Still, that was all theory and conjecture. I'd need access to a proper research library to even begin to answer those kinds of questions, and I wasn't at the point where I could just wander into any of the city libraries, much less intrude on the university. I had more immediate concerns to attend to at the moment.

If I was back home I'd be worried about how to leverage my new powers and knowledge towards my career as a hero, but that was the problem. Capes weren't a thing here. Well, they kind of were, but they were just part of society. An important and potentially dangerous part of society, but still part of society. Being a tinker or having some extra capabilities didn't mean you put on a costume and ran around fighting villains.

Well, not exactly. There were definitely stories of high adventure from what I'd seen in the museum, but they were more along the lines of old movie serials than superhero conflicts. If I wanted to be a hero in this world, that meant a very different thing from what it did back home, and I was still figuring out exactly what that meant here.

I mean, I had already tried my hand at heroics. I'm certain that those healing formulas I'd used had improved some people's lives. Even if they reported the event, they weren't likely to be quarantined or locked away, and the fact that most people had taken me up on the offer… well, that was probably due to the assumed association with the university, rather than any faith in heroism, but it was a kind of good sign, right?

Honestly, I didn't know. I was in a much better position than I'd been when I arrived, but a better position compared to being collapsed in an alley with no idea what was happening wasn't that big a step up.

Maybe, just maybe, I didn't need to immediately throw myself into frantic cape preparation work. It was kind of a crazy thought, but despite how insane this world was, it seemed to be at least somewhat stable, particularly in major cities like Beetleburg. It wasn't like the city was going to face an invasion, or a coup, or an outbreak from something like the Other. I could actually take some time and build a life here, let my power build up, and get a solid sense of what I was dealing with before I jumped into things, rather than scrounging every resource I could in order to build some kind of rocket powered flying cape motorcycle.

Actually, that did sound kind of awesome. And really wasn't that hard, when you got down to it. I mean, it didn't have to be a priority, but maybe as a longer-term project, mostly supported by what I could source from my Workshop? I did have the small problem of not actually knowing how to ride a motorcycle, and my knowledge of flight was a bit theoretical, at least on the sub-orbital side of things. Well, more long-term projects. Which I could actually afford now.

Because I wasn't under a ticking clock. There was still the risk that I might reveal too much and make someone suspicious, but it would be regular suspicion, put together from clues and evidence, not some crazy thinker clairvoyance telling them all my secrets the second I raised my head.

Because there wasn't a Simurgh in this world. That was still hard to come to terms with, but it changed so much. It meant I had a chance. I might be on the back foot, trying to find my way in a new world with terrifying powers of its own, massive threats lurking in the wilds, and more unknowns and mysteries than I could even guess, but those were challenges I could actually fight. It wasn't the hopeless case that was represented by an Endbringer who could strangle the future and warp good people into monsters at the drop of a hat. There were bad things in this world, but nothing on that kind of absolute level.

That, that was a lot to deal with. It had really hit me the previous day, and it was still sinking in. How did you go from that kind of overarching presence to… nothing? Well, not nothing, but nothing even close to as bad. If I ended up in a conflict with the Baron's empire that would be terrible, but it was something I could fight, or run from, or negotiate with. None of those options had existed before. None of those possibilities. I didn't even know how to process something that huge.

So maybe I wouldn't. Not that I'd be ignoring it, I don't think I could, but I had other things to deal with than wrestling with the massive shift in the fundamental nature of my relationship with the world. Maybe for the moment I could focus on something a bit more manageable, like shopping.

As I worked my way through the districts, I felt my power miss a connection to a constellation I didn't recognize. The last ability had been too small to introduce any delay or cooldown from the new mechanics of my power, so the Forge happily kept on spinning, with reach continuing to build as I explored the city's retail offerings.

I didn't have much cash on hand to work with, despite Mr. Clay taking a quite generous approach in terms of overtime and rush charges. I'm pretty sure that was the most an assistant could be paid without being a member of the Guild, but it wasn't quite enough for a shopping spree, or at least not a conventional one.

The side effect of everything in this world having significantly more robust construction than back on Earth Bet was that second hand items stayed in circulation for much longer, meaning the second hand market was quite robust. Actually, at the shops I was looking at, hoping for something that was merely 'second hand' was overly optimistic. I was looking at goods that probably predated most of the components of Frau Gruber's wagon, items in varying levels of functionality, but available at prices I could actually afford.

It helped that, at least for anything mechanical, I was confident I could handle a full restoration of whatever near junk item I came across. There were actually a staggering number of junk and curio shops, and they were probably a trove of all kinds of esoteric technology from this world.

But technology wasn't what I was looking for. I needed to pick up personal items that would blend in with the local aesthetic, ones that I couldn't just manufacture myself. And I needed information.

For that, used book stores proved to be a treasure. Well, probably too much like a treasure, in the sense that any actual treasure was well and truly buried in the mess of obscure volumes and degraded novels that spilled out from the shelves to create secondary walls and in at least one case what looked like a load bearing support structure for the roof. I had the feeling that some of the stores I found might not have actually been stores. It was more like a book hoarder ended up buried in an avalanche of reading material at some point and whoever inherited the property just decided to put a cash register by the entrance and call it a day.

At least that would explain the pair of boots sticking out from the bottom of a sizable pile of romance novels in the back of one shop. The other patrons were deliberately averting their eyes from the scene. A concerned look towards one of the shop workers just earned me a quick shake of their head before they hurried back to work.

Potential crime scenes aside, I did have a fairly successful afternoon. Early on I found a battered but functional leather satchel that would definitely attract less attention than the nylon and zipper backpack that I'd left back in my workshop. It provided a handy shopping bag for the other items I'd picked up, including a small selection of well-worn history and reference books. Not comprehensive by any means, but a good deal better than trying to discern world history from children's museum exhibits.

There were probably better sources of information out there, but none of them were currently accessible or within my budget. I wasn't sure how much I would be able to actually learn from a twenty-year-old copy of 'Great Houses of Europa', but the more context I could get for this world, the better.

Outside of pure research, I'd also picked up a few trinkets and gadgets, all completely non-functional but interesting nonetheless. Plenty of the stores had the equivalent of a discount bin, effectively a crate of nick knacks that were unlikely to sell as anything but paperweights or spare parts. I'm pretty sure most of them were one step away from a dumpster, but there was definitely some potential there. The collection of trinkets were the best of what I'd been able to find, and demonstrated rather advanced engineering principles, or at least they probably had when they were working. Probably not spark level technology, but I'd bet some of them were at least adjacent, and I was interested to learn what kind of technology could be salvaged from them.

I mean, in most cases it was probably going to be advanced clockwork and maybe a few interesting magnetic principles, but from what I could tell, clockwork in this world could handle tasks that would normally require fairly advanced computing. I probably wasn't going to see anything on that level from the collection of broken devices I'd picked up, but even something operating on the same principles would be interesting.

I could also fix them, either through conventional work or by leaning into the more outlandish aspects of my power. And unlike back on Earth Bet, I probably didn't need to worry about being outed as a tinker from collecting broken devices and fixing them for resale. Hell, I had passed at least a half dozen businesses specializing in that kind of work. Plus, that kind of low-level repair work could probably squeak by whatever guild restriction existed in the city.

Probably. One of the books I'd picked up was a not too outdated copy of the city's guild charters. It was a thick tome full of legalese that precisely divided the allocation of certain trades, based on charter's personally granted by Dr. Beetle. I'd only thumbed through it, but there was an entire section on the division between cheesemakers and dairy producers on the subject of which grades of yogurt fell into which section.

It also highlighted a problem that I hadn't seen coming. The main language of the land was a kind of Romanian, which I was now fluent in for some reason, probably connected to whatever brought me to this world. While that was in common use, English was widely spoken as a trade language, apparently due to England, or what was left of England, being a major economic power. General conversation was often conducted in the local language, but people shifted to English when dealing with commercial matters.

That was fine for me, but the linguistic variation didn't stop there. It seemed a certain level of polylingualism was expected for this society. For instance, sections of the guild charter shifted into French and even Latin at some points. There were math and science books written in Greek or Arabic mixed in with copies in the languages I could actually speak, with no effort made to actually sort of label them as such.

Well, that was mostly down to the nature of the bookstores in question, which seemed to focus more on maximizing the number of books they could fit into the space provided rather than imposing any sense or order or organization on them. That was probably all well and good if you were set to enjoy a literary treasure hunt, but was fairly frustrating when it looked like you'd found a fairly promising technical volume, only to find half of it written in hieroglyphics and half in Cyrillic characters.

It looked like I was going to have to study several languages if I wanted to be able to function in this society at more than a basic level, which was something I wasn't particularly looking forward to. I'd happily forgotten most of my high school French immediately after my last exam and, based on my experience with that class, had never really considered language studies. I guess I could hold out hope that something from my power might help with this problem, but it wasn't like there was some tinker power that was going to also grant me the ability to speak fluent Greek.

Another problem for later. Lots of problems for later, but fortunately there was a good chance that there was actually going to be a later. It was still weird to think that I might actually be able to build a life in this city, in this world. It was kind of a crazy world, but also endearing. Dangerous without being completely oppressive. Frantic, but not overwhelming. Maybe it was too early to be thinking about that kind of thing, but it was nice to have thoughts about the future that were more than just plans for desperate buildup and training in an attempt to stay ahead of any of the nightmare powers of Earth Bet that would come after me at the first opportunity.

As such I had a smile on my face as I made my way back to Turnips R Us. I'd had a successful shopping trip while still holding plenty of pay in reserve in case there were any issues with finding proper work in the city. I shifted the weight of the overstuffed satchel as I spotted Frau Gruber parked outside of the front entrance of the store, issuing orders while holding her cane like a marshal's baton. Most of the group of scurrying employees she was terrorizing held at least some family resemblance to the woman in question.

"Hurry up! The Mason Lodge wants two more orders of albino rutabaga for tonight. No, albino, not white. Honestly child, look at the stems! Now switch these out, and make sure you get them back into the cellar. You know what happens if they get too much sunlight before they're properly cooked." She ordered, and two of the workers quickly reversed course and wrestled the oversized crate they were carrying back into the store.

"Good afternoon, Frau Gruber." I called up to her position on the cart. The woman's demeanor instantly softened as she turned towards me, and the workers she'd been commanding quickly moved to take advantage of her diverted attention.

"Ah, Józef." She said, looking down at my satchel. "It looks like you've had a productive day."

I shifted my satchel, pushing one of the larger books back under the flap. "Just a bit of shopping." I said. "Thank you for taking care of that pay packet. I'm sorry I wasn't up in time to see you off this morning."

"Oh, tosh. After everything yesterday there's no harm in sleeping in." She said. One of the workers nearly dropped a crate of onions and the rest looked at her as if she had started speaking in tongues. A slight glance from the corner of her eyes set them all into action again, with the sense that they were deliberately ignoring the rest of the conversation.

"Is everything working out with the cart?" I asked. I was fairly confident it was just from a cursory examination and the sound of the idling engine, but I didn't need to advertise supernatural mechanical expertise. At least not more than I already had.

"It's wonderful!" The woman said, her face lighting up. "Why, I never thought I'd be able to get the old girl to move like this again. Honestly, after everything Adam said, it was clear he just needed a fresh perspective."

"Um, yes, well, I'm glad I could help." I said, hoping I hadn't ended up casting Mr. Clay in a bad light. "Oh, your son talked to me about adding some safety features." I added. "Since the cart is going to be seeing heavier use."

"Humph. Petru never stops worrying. Just like his father." Her expression turned soft. "That man… he was as stalwart as they come, but get a bit of air time after a bad bump and he'd cling to you like his life depended on it."

That… probably explained more about Frau Gruber's courtships than I'd ever care to ask. I cleared my throat and she quickly refocused on me.

"I suppose there's no harm, if it will put that boy's mind at ease. You're not going to do anything silly that will end up bogging down the acceleration, are you?" She asked sternly.

"Nothing like that." I assured her. Normally there would be tradeoffs, but, well, when it came to vehicles I had a certain degree of leeway. Which was a nice way of saying that literally impossible modifications were possible. "But some better brakes and handling?" And maybe a roll cage, air bags, and something at least resembling a seatbelt, but it was probably better to open with the more showy features.

"That sounds lovely. We can talk about that- No, no, no! Albino, not silver! Don't you dare bring those into direct sunlight." The worker at the entrance froze in place as Frau Gruber climbed down. "We'll have to pick this up later. I swear, this place would fall apart without someone looking after it. Why back in my father's day…"

The woman's admonishments faded as she tottered into the shop, the employees parting before her like the Red Sea. I had to shake my head at the display and turned to circle back around to the garage when I spotted Agatha making her way down the street in what I now recognized as her university hat and coat.

"Oh, hello, Miss Clay." I said. She glanced up at me, then over the idling cart.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Duris." Agatha said with a slight smile. I think she was amused by the excessive formality, though I was definitely erring on the side of caution there. Particularly with her father working in the open workshop across the street and very pointedly keeping an eye on me. "Is there a problem with Frau Gruber's cart?"

I began to respond, then paused as the Forge missed a connection to yet another unknown constellation. My reach was building to a level that matched what I had when I secured Efficiency and Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench. Whatever the next power was going to be, there was a decent chance it would be a significant one.

I quickly turned back to Agatha. "No, everything seems to be running fine." I said. "Though we were talking about improving the brakes and handling, since it will be seeing more… aggressive use."

Agatha nodded, though there was a hint of concern, probably meaning I hadn't concealed my earlier reaction as well as I would have hoped. "Yes, I can see how that would be a good idea." She said, "Are there any problems with you taking that kind of work on yourself? I mean, with the guild?"

"Frau Gruber said there was a bylaw for contract mechanics that should exempt me, but…" From Agatha's expression I could tell that wouldn't have been the first time Frau Gruber might have taken a creative reading of a particular regulation. "I picked up a copy of the guild charters to be sure, but it's a little out of date." I explained, digging out the hefty volume. "And honestly a bit beyond me."

Agatha took the aged book from my hands and began thumbing through it. "Ah, this is probably more technical than what you were looking for. It's most about the founding agreements and division of industries." She snapped the book shut. "Adam should have a spare copy of the guild bylaws that we could lend you."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that." I said. Meanwhile Agatha was shamelessly peering into my satchel, scanning across the spines of the other books I had picked up.

"Were you book shopping?" She asked with interest. It was too late to hide my purchase, so I did my best to play things off casually.

"Not exclusively." I said, accepting the guild book back from Agatha and pulling out a few of the others. Local histories and guides to the city would make more sense for someone who just arrived, and hopefully she wouldn't give too much weight to the more general titles I had left in the bag. "But I found some used book stores and these seemed like they might be helpful."

Agatha nodded. "I know these. This one is fairly out of date, but if you stick with the first two sections it's still a good reference. This has been waiting on a new edition, but it's been held up in committee forever. Oh, this was actually pulled from the University Library after Professor Breck…" Agatha paused and cleared her throat. "Well, that wasn't publicized, but he's been on indefinite academic leave ever since."

I blinked. "Right…" I said, looking down at what appeared to be a fairly tame guide to the various districts of Beetleburg. I had to wonder what kind of major controversy could come from how the parts of a city were divided.

Then I remembered the various opinions on exactly where Captain's Hill ended and where Brockton Bay 'proper' began. Or whether the South Docks should really be considered a separate area from the main Docks. Or how the Beaches were subdivided, or even if they should be subdivided. Those debates got messy enough in a world without super science impossibilities around every corner. I could only imagine how bad entrenched opinions could get in this world, particularly if someone published a book that claimed to be the final word on the matter.

"I really just wanted some starting reference, particularly while I'm getting set up." I explained as I accepted the books and packed them away.

"How are things going on that front?" She asked cheerfully.

"Well, Frau Gruber's given me the spare garage for the moment, but I'd rather not impose on her too long. I guess anything permanent will depend on how things go with the Mechanics Guild." I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

"I'm sure you won't have any problems there." She said looking over to the cart again. There was a flicker of an expression on her face, maybe envious, maybe sad, I wasn't sure. Her cheerful demeanor was back in a flash, but I had to wonder if it was as sincere as it seemed.

"Hopefully." I replied, then shifted as someone in brightly colored clothing pushed past me on the street. He didn't give me a second glance as he plastered a playbill on a nearby lamppost, then continued on.

The playbill announced that 'The Galvanic Players' would be performing 'The Heterodyne Boys and the Clockwork Sundial' in Commodore Square. The center of the playbill was a stylized print of what I imagined were the characters from the performance, with the rest of the notice filled with showtimes, actor credits, business sponsors, and a civic seal announcing sanction from the Tyrant.

"Oh." Agatha said, leaning around me to read the notice. "I didn't realize the season had started already."

"Are they a well-known group?" I asked.

"Definitely." She said with a nod. "I mean, it's not the kind of troop you'd see in the playhouse, but they do public performances through the summer, and Dr. Beetle gave them an official commission ages ago. That's more than enough to keep any group going."

I nodded, looking at the playbill again. I could recognize some of the business names from my wandering around the city. It was a decent bet that the 'sponsorship' included business rights as vendors for whatever kind of public performance they put on. Based on the number of businesses, it could be closer to a fair or carnival than just a play. That would certainly fit with the aesthetic of the man who had been canvassing for the show.

"And they're doing the Clockwork Sundial again." Agatha said. "I wonder how they'll handle the giant goldfinch this time." She turned to me. "Though I suppose they could skip to the castle of light. That's always the best part."

I could only give her a blank expression. "Um, sorry, I don't know the story."

"Really?" Agatha asked. "It's always been one of the most popular Heterodyne Shows."

I just shrugged. "I've actually never been to a Heterodyne Show."

From Agatha's expression I could tell I had made something of a misstep there. "Really?" She asked, looking at the playbill again. "I mean, for the big show, sure, but not even one of the traveling troops, festival plays?"

"Um, sorry?" I said a bit awkwardly.

Agatha just looked at me in surprise. I glanced away, wondering how I could downplay this when I heard a scoff from the doorway behind us.

"Good Lord, that has to be the worst pickup line I've heard in my life." Frau Gruber said as she pushed her way out of the shopfront.

"Frau Gruber?" I asked.

"Oh no, I've NEVER been to a Heterodyne Show before. If only there was some lovely young lady who would be willing to accompany me on what is definitely a new experience." She said in a mocking tone then shook her head and turned to look up at me. "If you want to ask the girl to the show, just ask her."

"That's not… I mean, I wasn't… I assure you…" I stammered, then turned back to Agatha, unsure if I should deny or apologize. Then I saw the conspiratorial smile on her face as she glanced down at Frau Gruber, then looked up at me over the rims of her glasses.

"Did you want to ask me to the Heterodyne Show?" She asked in an overly sweet voice, clearly playing up the situation for Frau Gruber who was enjoying this far too much. Meanwhile, Efficiency was helping me panic and stammer in the most efficient way possible. I felt like the most graceful flopping fish to ever find himself out of water.

"Um, yes? I mean, no. I mean, I wouldn't want to presume…" I tried desperately as I was effectively trapped between Agatha and Frau Gruber. In that moment I desperately prayed for any way out of the situation.

"What's this about a Heterodyne Show?" I turned to see Mrs. Clay walking towards us with a folder under her arm with a few pages of sheet music sticking out of it, and a very stern expression on her face. I amended my earlier prayer to 'any way but this'.

"It looks like the Galvanic Players are starting the season early." Frau Gruber said with a sly smile. "Sounds like the perfect afternoon outing." The woman was able to communicate a frightening amount through nothing but a few eyebrow motions, with the implications doing nothing to help with my near panic that was quickly becoming more than just NEAR panic.

"Mrs. Clay, I assure you, I didn't mean to… This is…" I stammered.

Stammered with an efficiency of movement that probably came across as quite striking, but all I could focus on was the fact that I had somehow managed to come up with the optimal level of panic. Perfect efficiency meant nothing if you had no idea what you were supposed to do. It was probably the most elegant near breakdown in history. I was a finely tuned sports car of indecision, stuck in neutral with a brick on the accelerator.

Fortunately, my reaction seemed to be enough to clue Mrs. Clay into the source of the current predicament. Between my current state and Frau Gruber's shameless grin, there was actually a hint of sympathy from Mrs. Clay before she schooled her expression.

"And this was your suggestion." She said, looking at Frau Gruber. The tiny woman just smiled with palpable smugness. Mrs. Clay let out a sigh. "I understand you are excited to have your cart working again, but high spirits are no excuse for trying to drag Agatha off to some half-baked performance."

"Oh come now, there's no harm. After all, it's the Clockwork Sundial, not the Socket Wrench of Prague or the Trial of the Mechanical Dessert." Frau Gruber said confidently.

Agatha's face scrunched in confusion. "Do you mean the Mechanical Desert?" Agatha asked.

Frau Gruber opened her mouth to reply, but Mrs. Clay quickly cut her off. "No, she doesn't." She said firmly.

I looked at Agatha in confusion, but she just shrugged. "I've never heard of those stories." She admitted.

"And you shouldn't have." Mrs. Clay said sternly, shooting Frau Gruber an irritated look. "They are not to be discussed casually."

"Quite right." Frau Gruber said. "Unlike, say, the Clockwork Sundial?"

Mrs. Clay let out a breath. She looked from my still desperate expression to Agatha's possibly hopeful face. Or maybe she was just amused by the back and forth.

"Come now, what reason could you have for passing on an innocent performance?" Frau Gruber said, turning to Agatha. "I know spending time with Tarsus must be enchanting, but you really need to get out more."

Now it was Agatha's turn to be thrown off balance. "That's not… I mean, I would never, Dr. Beetle is a great man." She said defensively.

"You'll hear no argument from me, but there are also plenty of perfectly adequate men, some of whom even have good character, as rare as that seems to be in the current age."

"Frau Gruber, please stop teasing the children." Mrs. Clay said with a sigh. Behind her Mr. Clay had crossed the street and made a series of gestures that just elicited more sighs from his wife.

"Very well, but you have to admit, it's not healthy to be cooped up all the time." She said, "A bit of light entertainment and a constitutional never hurt anyone."

Mrs. Clay looked from me to Frau Gruber to Agatha and then to her husband. She let out another breath before nodding once. "I suppose we could spare the time."

We. Right, because chaperoning was a thing in this time period, or culture, or world, however it should be referred to. Mr. Clay's expression made it clear what he thought of the idea, but somehow the fact that Agath's parents were going to be hovering around and staring murder at me actually made the situation seem more manageable. This wasn't a date, no matter what Frau Gruber was insinuating. I was accompanying Agatha on a family outing. The additional structure and reframing was enough for me to wrestle my panic back under control, at least to a degree.

Mr. Clay's frown deepened and he made some gestures towards his wife. She just shook her head.

"There's three days of work on Herr Ketter's tractor. We can spare the rest of the afternoon. Frau Gruber's right." She said, giving the woman a sideways glare. "There's no good reason not to."

I could pick up on the code perfectly well. They would very much have liked to say no, but parents who were probably already overprotective, which was understandable given Agatha's condition, didn't want to seem excessively or unreasonably so. And given how comparably harmless this kind of show seemed to be, it was probably an acceptable outing, even with someone like me involved.

It probably helped that her parents would be barely beyond arm's reach the entire time and her father looked like he could squash most people with a single hand.

Attention had shifted towards me, and while I wasn't quite as panicked as I had been before, I was still thoroughly off balance. I swallowed and turned to Agatha.

"Miss Clay, would you like to go to the Heterodyne Show?" I asked.

I had meant it as 'do you actually want to go to this show beyond whatever prodding and teasing Frau Gruber had indulged in, but I realized too late that it came across as a sincere invitation. I'm going to blame Efficiency for that and not focus on the surprised look on Agatha's face before she responded.

"Yes, Mr. Ďuriš, I would like that." She said sincerely. In the corner of my eye I saw a hint of a frown from Mrs. Clay. And a much less subtle tightening of fists from Mr. Clay.

"You can call on us at four o'clock." Mrs. Clay said, glancing at the poster. "Come along Agatha, we have some things to put in order before the show."

"Yes, Lilith." Agatha said, hurrying after her mother. She did give me a final glance, which caused her father's frown to deepen. The look he gave me was significantly more serious, and I made a point to nod in understanding. That seemed to be enough to placate him, at least for the moment, but I doubted things would be much better during the show.

"Oh, don't let Adam try to intimidate you." Frau Gruber said as she scoffed at the exchange. "The man's as soft as pudding once you get to know him."

"Of course." I said dryly. "I just hope I last long enough to 'get to know him'."

"You'll be fine." Frau Gruber said with the confidence that I had come to expect from her. "And it will be good for both of you. That girl needs to get out more, and for you…"

"Me?" I asked.

"Yes, you. I know the type. You'd have held yourself up in that workshop for the next three days, only coming out for materials and maybe food, if we were lucky." She said knowingly.

"Um…" I murmured. I probably wouldn't have been that bad, but that was mostly because I still needed to get my bearings and was hoping for some progress finding more work. If I had access to the supplies and material I needed, would I have held up in my Workshop? Probably, and it sounded a lot worse to hear someone else say it.

"Now go on. Make sure you have a good time while you're still young enough to enjoy it." She said, seeing me off.

I ended up walking back to the reserve garage in something of a daze. Out of all the ways I had imagined this world blindsiding me or throwing some impossible scenario in my face, this hadn't even been on the map. What did it say when I had given more thought to having to face down continental superpowers than I had to the possibility of having to escort a girl to a play? That wouldn't have happened back on Earth Bet, but as was becoming more and more clear, this was not Earth Bet.

As I locked the doors to the garage and opened my workshop I felt another shift from the Forge as its connection to a small mote from the Toolkits constellation. And just like how my metal shop had come from that source, this mote provided another facility for my workshop. The only difference was that this time I was inside to see it happen.

The power was called Laboratorium. It was a kind of technology research lab containing analysis computers and scanning systems that could break down the function and mechanics of nearly any piece of technology. I knew what the power did, but I didn't expect it to manifest as an arched gothic doorway opposite the entrance to my metal shop. The door looked like it would be more at home on some ancient cathedral, not a technology lab. As the shaking settled I carefully approached the heavy door and slowly pushed it open.

I was met with a cloud of incense and smoke from the darkened space within. It took me a moment to adjust to the lower light levels, but when I did I was stunned by just how expansive the space actually was. Tall arched ceilings and a cavernous hall that led into the distance, with every surface excessively decorated with sculptures, icons, statues, and skulls. So many carved skulls. Which, I quickly realized, were not all 'carved skulls'. In fact, I would go so far as to say most of them were not carved skulls. No, they were very, very real. And… friendly?

That might be a generous way of describing the behavior of the human skulls that had been integrated into the systems of the Laboratorium. They were suspended on cables that snaked out of walls, with cybernetic optics embedded in their eye sockets and machinery penetrating into where their brain would be. It was disturbingly thorough and deliberate, and I had a feeling the use of skulls wasn't just an aesthetic choice.

Not JUST an aesthetic choice, though as far as aesthetics were concerned the Laboratorium went beyond over the top. It was a technologically integrated church, with every computer and scanning bed having more in common with an altar than any kind of device I had seen before. What's more, there was a reverence to the place. It might have been the way the acoustics held on to each sound and made you excessively aware of your own movements, but it made me want to move carefully, to speak softly and to try not to disturbed… whatever this was.

What it was, ultimately, was a very advanced scanning and analysis laboratory with an excessive commitment to theme. As far as I could tell, nothing about the excessive stylization actually impeded the facility in its function. If anything, there seemed to be layers of streamlining built into the grandeur, and literally hundreds of assistants of dubious sapience who seemed beyond eager to get to work.

In terms of work, I was at something of a disadvantage. Most of the workstations and command chairs were equipped with dedicated ports, and I was guessing they weren't for USB peripherals. The manual controls for the systems were clunky and deliberately limited and really only my understanding of the power carried me through. I could make use of this place, but only at the most basic level.

Still, that should be enough. Particularly since the Laboratorium had containment and security systems that were beyond what I needed at the moment. With excessive care, I moved the containment vault I had built for Bakuda's grenade over from my metal shop to the Laboratorium.

Every skull in the room perked up the instant the box was moved inside, practically swarming around it and eagerly directing me to one of the larger scanning bays. There some kind of levitation field activated while probes began mapping out both my rough construction of the containment measures, and the device inside. At the lab's prompting I approved destructive extraction and was able to watch as the previous night's work was sliced open and the tiny tinkertech explosive removed.

The Laboratorium's systems wanted to launch into an immediate examination, but this had already taken more time than I could really spare. Fortunately, the containment systems included a stasis field that could keep the bomb in suspended animation, ensuring that there would be no mishaps while I was out.

I watched as the tiny silver sphere froze in place and felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders. One of my biggest mistakes and oversights was now contained. More than contained, it was secure and would potentially allow me to figure out exactly what had nearly been deployed against me. There was a distant possibility that I could learn enough to replicate it or reverse engineer some principles, but I could acknowledge that was beyond my current abilities.

The impossible feats of engineering I could accomplish with Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench were actually impossible feats of engineering. The ability to build a bicycle that could use NOS injectors didn't give me an understanding of how to use nitrous oxide for the purposes of human biological enhancement, it just allowed the bicycle to get the same kind of boosts in performance and speed that a car would be able to. It was fantastic, but it was a type of fantastic that stayed in its own lane, no pun intended.

Really, all I could do was hope that some future power would give me enough understanding or technical skills to be able to figure out Bakuda's technology. And if not, well, at least it was well contained. Not having to worry about it was a relief, particularly when I had an entire not-date to worry about.

I got cleaned up as well as I could with the toiletries that made the trip from Brockton Bay on account of being stored in my Workshop entryway, as well as some of the pseudo-Victorian equivalents I had picked up during my shopping trip. I also gave my coat another once over and changed into fresh clothes for what pieces I could switch out. My costume passed for the local style better than anything else I owned, but I had a few items that would pass, providing they weren't examined too closely. My coat obscuring most of the details helped with that, and it was better than working with clothing that had seen the wrong side of a fight with Oni Lee.

I really needed to figure out laundry, or just see what I could manage with the sink in the spare garage.

Ultimately, I managed to get to a point that was reasonably well put together, once again with Efficiency mostly carrying the day, both in terms of managing everything in the time allotted and not looking like a complete wreck. For about the hundredth time I wondered how I had gotten myself into this. Ultimately the answer came down to Frau Gruber's apparent desire to wring as much entertainment out of her remaining years, and me being too off balance and intimidated to take a stand.

That was something I'd need to be careful about. Getting maneuvered into seeing a play with a girl like Agatha, well, that wasn't exactly bad, but there were going to be a lot more conflicts in this world. As much as I might want to just avoid them, I could recognize that wasn't going to be an option. If I didn't learn how to take a stand then next time it could be a lot worse than a little bit of embarrassment.

More problems for later, and unlike technical problems I couldn't rely on my power to just magic up some ability that would let me work through my issues. The best I could do was try to stay aware of them and mitigate them as much as I could.

On that happy thought I pushed my way out of the garage door and made my way across to the Clays workshop. There was definitely a change in tone from the other employees, so it was a safe bet that news of what happened had already spread. Weirdly, I was getting a sense of sympathy and relief. I'm guessing that if Frau Gruber was focused on meddling in my life, then the rest of her family had at least a temporary reprieve.

The main doors to the Clay workshop had been closed off. I met the family outside the front doors of their house. My guess about the tone of the performance had been right, with the Clays dressed maybe one step above their work clothes. Given my own limited options, if this was some kind of dress up occasion I would have had to bow out from the start.

"Good afternoon." I offered, still palpably nervous, but at least my power was turning that into a kind of directed energy.

"Mr. Ďuriš." Mrs. Clay said politely. Her husband just glowered at me, giving the sense that even if he could talk he wouldn't have anything to say. Agatha just smiled at the display and stepped forward.

"Are you ready for your 'first' Heterodyne Show?" She said in amusement. I cringed slightly, but nodded.

"Definitely." I said. I stepped back to fall in beside the group as they led the way to Commodore Square, then paused as I felt another shift from the Forge.

It wasn't anything unusual. The Laboratorium had been a minor power, without any delay that needed to be cleared. The Forge had moved again, and missed a connection to another new constellation.

What was unusual was the size of the mote that had just been overlooked. It was beyond massive, absolutely dwarfing tiny powers like Aerospace Engineering and the Laboratorium. It was bigger than any other power I had seen before, twice the size of Efficiency and Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench, and I knew how strong those powers were.

I didn't even realize the scale went that high. I couldn't even imagine what a power like that might represent. All I could do was watch that miniature sun spin away and try to cover my reaction to the event.

I mostly managed that, in that I don't think either of Agatha's parents noticed, or if they did they didn't seem to recognize it as anything of concern. Agatha, on the other hand, was giving me a worried look. I gave her a quick smile, then focused back on the road ahead of us. Those shifts in focus from when my power activated, they weren't bad. They weren't even that debilitating, but Agatha had seen one before and knew to look for them. It made me feel kind of exposed, even if she was treating them with concern and discretion.

On reflection, that was probably how she felt about her own attacks. I hadn't seen one, but from what she described and how she reacted I could imagine what it must be like. Even having the people around you being sensitive to the situation, it was hard to deal with.

That line of thinking was a bit glum for the current occasion. Fortunately, things picked up as we began to approach Commodore Square. There was a large stage already set up at the end of the square. It looked like it would be standing room for the show and based on the roped off areas near the stage, charged for priority 'standing', though apparently anyone could watch if they were willing to do so from the equivalent of the nosebleed seats.

That would also put them closer to the booths that had lined the edge of the square. Some were selling snacks, carnival food, trinkets, or souvenirs, others were hosting simple carnival games or offering things like fortune telling or psychic readings, though I did notice everything seemed to have an overtly scientific bent. There were diagrams of the physics interactions set up on the carnival games, the fortune telling was either numeracy based or claiming to examine probabilistic fields, and a good portion of the items for sale looked like the kind of stuff you'd find in the gift shop of a science museum.

I didn't know if that was the influence of the university or if it was just a characteristic of this world. Or maybe it was specific to the Heterodyne shows. If you were telling the story of a pair of science heroes, then it made sense that kind of thing would be aggrandized, at least to some extent.

We still had a fair bit of time before the show started, and fortunately Agatha's parents didn't maintain a close orbit the entire time. They ran into acquaintances, exchanged greetings, or became briefly distracted by some of the various items that were for sale. They were never that far from us, but at least it felt like they were just keeping an eye on the situation rather than conducting a prisoner escort.

It also gave me a chance to take a look at what was on offer. The food was the kind of sugary or fried stuff you'd expect from these kinds of events, though I wasn't quite brave enough to try the 'Mimmoth on a Stick'. The fact that it had a profile quite similar to the chocolate mimmoths did not make me feel much better about either 'food'.

The other stalls were more interesting, though it was the collection of curios that would normally be picked up as impulse purchases. Still, there were some interesting items, and it was a couple of steps about the fifth-hand stores I had been scrounging through. Of course, it only took a few exchanges with the people running the stalls for me to encounter another problem.

"I'm sorry." Agatha said, trying to cover her giggles. "I shouldn't laugh, it's just…"

"No, it's fine." I said, trying to bear her amusement with good humor.

"I mean, how do you even end up with an accent like that?" She continued. She cleared her throat to cover another giggle. "Sorry again. I really shouldn't be laughing."

There would probably have been less comedic effect if I hadn't been so confident in my English, only to run into someone who apparently was completely incapable of parsing an American accent. The actual moment of comedy came from that confident delivery completely crashing out, while also putting me in the position of having to explain my American accent, which apparently did not exist in this world.

"Brockton was founded by sailors. They probably picked up a lot of influences from that." I explained.

I had also defaulted to telling lies that were as close to the truth as possible, both because I did not trust my ability to deceive anyone over an extended period of time, and because from what I'd read, lost or forgotten cities were a dime a dozen in this world.

That was barely an exaggeration. Any atlas I had come across had included notes that the settlement names, details, and even landforms were likely outdated or incorrect by the time the maps were published. Aside from the major cities, settlements sprang up and disappeared all the time, either wiped out by invading forces, rampaging monsters, scientific disasters, or the work of their own Sparks. This was doubly true for coastal cities, which had a tendency to be founded whenever a ship washed ashore and wiped out whenever there was a particularly large storm, powerful wave, or angry sea monster.

It was enough to remind me of Leviathan, only these attacks seemed mostly random, and there was actually a hope of fighting off the sea monster in question. So once again, a tremendously dangerous world, but somehow still a step up from Earth Bet.

"If it was sailors you'd expect it to be closer to modern English, but it's like something hundreds of years out of date that was mixed from various subdialects, then blended with German, Dutch, and… I'm not sure. Maybe Swedish?" Agatha mused.

I didn't actually know how the modern American accent had developed, but that sounded reasonably plausible. "Did you study linguistics at the university?" I asked.

"Well, not officially, but I've done secretarial work for Dr. Beetle, so I've had to stay on top of my languages." She explained. "What about you?"

"Romanian, English, and some very bad French." I quipped.

"Worse than your English?" She shot back.

"My English isn't bad, it's just… distinct." I said with fake pomposity. That, plus the expression I gave her, was enough to send Agatha back into a fit of giggles.

And enough to cause Mr. Clay to look up from the tradesman who was talking to him, just enough to make sure I knew he was watching. And in case that wasn't enough, his wife quickly swept in from the wings.

"You two seem to be having a good time." She said in a level voice.

"We were just discussing linguistics." Agatha said.

"Linguistics?" Mrs. Clay asked. "What aspect of linguistics was so entertaining?"

"The part where my English apparently wasn't as strong as I was led to believe." I said quietly. Mrs. Clay raised an eyebrow, but seemed to accept the explanation. "We were actually just checking over the stalls to see if there was anything before the show that…" I trailed off as our circuit of the square took us to a small stall that was being run out of the back of a very familiar cart.

"Well, hello Frau Gruber." Mrs. Clay said. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Lilith." The old woman replied. "And of course, have to teach the next generation how to handle these kinds of things." She gestured to a tiny girl next to with a shock of bright orange hair. She was wearing a freshly pressed blue dress and didn't look to be much older than eight years old. "Have you had a chance to meet Gretta? Nicoli's oldest."

"I haven't had the oppertunity." Mrs. Clay said, leaning down to the small girl. "Are you having a good time with your great grandma?" She asked.

"Yep!" She said excitedly. "Would you like some sliced sugar beets? We have both candied and fried!"

I raised an eyebrow, but both the girl and Frau Gruber seemed quite proud of the little bags of what I'm guessing counted as confections in this world, and they seemed to be doing a brisk business as well.

"Maybe later." Mrs. Clay said, apparently not willing to admonish Frau Gruber's obvious snooping in front of the girl. Which was probably the main reason she had been brought along. "You be sure to help Frau Gruber, and learn everything she teaches you."

"I will!" Gretta said, practically vibrating with excitement. "Nana said she's going to teach me how to drive the cart!"

The three of us froze, then in unison turned to Frau Gruber.

"Well of course." The woman said. "After all your husband's warnings I was actually starting to think the old girl wouldn't last, but now that everything's been set right I need to make sure someone is ready to handle it after I'm gone."

"Isn't she a little young for that?" Agatha asked.

"Of course not." Frau Gruber insisted. "I was driving on my own when I was younger than her. I would even sneak out at night to make jumps over the south canal." She said with a smile on her face.

"Are you going to teach me how to do that, Nana?" Gretta asked, her eyes full of wonder.

"Maybe." Frau Gruber said, patting the girl on the head. "Providing the Rusu family have properly reinforced that roof of theirs." She shook her head. "It used to be you could get a decent launch from any roof in the city. Why, half my shortcuts relied on it, but these days the building standards are so lax you can't even brush against a house without a dozen lost shingles and a small claims court case."

She tutted, continuing to shake her head while her great-granddaughter looked at her with wide eyes. I could only watch the interaction in concern while mentally expanding the list of safety features I would have to add to the cart, including possible contingencies for a water landing.

We left the stall after being guilted into buying three bags of candied sugar beet slices, which were actually not that bad. I mean, the primary flavor was molasses, but the texture wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, and I had actually been able to cover the cost on my own, which was enough for me to feel like I had fulfilled whatever obligation this outing involved. Well, maybe not, but I was still kind of at a loss for what something like this actually counted as, so covering the snacks for the play was better than nothing.

Mrs. Clay craned her head over the crowd and pursed her lips. "It looks like your father has been pinned down by Mikel Graysmith." She let out a sigh. "I'll go get him and meet you two at the show."

I nodded as she hurried off. I imagine this was probably a show of trust, or at least a belief that it was unlikely anything untoward would happen in the next five minutes. I smiled and turned to Agatha.

"How do these things work, anyway?" I asked. "Do people just press in, or is it more organized?"

"It's not really that formal." She explained. "They ticket the area next to the stage, but beyond that it's more of a group event."

"That sounds nice." I said. I had limited experiences with public performances, mostly the occasional concert at college, and those tended to swing between being completely regimented or total anarchy.

Agatha gave me a serious look. "You really haven't been to a Heterodyne Show before?"

"Sorry." I said with a shrug. "Something of a sheltered childhood, I guess."

"But not even when you were at your university?" She asked.

"That was… shows weren't really the kind of thing I was focusing on there, and it didn't…" I trailed off, not sure how to continue and definitely not wanting to. Agatha winced at my reaction.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up." She said.

"No, it's fine. It's just…" Before I could finish that thought I felt a shift from the Forge. A major shift, to a mote as powerful as Efficiency, and from a new constellation. The Size constellation.

The power was called Hybridization Theory. It let me combine two machines into one. Not as a rough mash up of parts, but as a perfect union of form and function with every feature and advantage preserved in the resulting hybridization, with unified machines having literally twice the power they individually had.

It was an incredible power, but it wasn't infinite. Unlike Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench there were actual scientific principles at work in the resulting hybrid, but they were incredibly advanced. Technically it was possible to hybridize something multiple times, but my power would only provide the training wheels for the first expression. The only way to apply it again would be to deconstruct exactly how the hybridized technology functioned and recreate it without the help of the power.

Technically any two technological items could be combined, but if they worked on vastly different scales there would be issues with power distribution. Issues that could be addressed, but still concerns that would stop me from attempting some of the more extreme combinations, even if they were technically possible.

Beyond that, it was a perfect combination. There were no concerns about size, weight, processing speed, or mobility for the combined technologies. I didn't have to leverage the Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench if I wanted a rocket powered motorcycle, I could just hybridize a rocket and a motorcycle and call it a day. Or I could take the insanity that the Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench was capable of and double it up with Hybridization Theory, either adding twice as many impossible features, or doubling the power of whatever was chosen. Hell, if I didn't want to hybridize additional features I could just merge something with a copy of itself and enjoy twice the power in the same package.

And, incredibly, this wasn't even the most significant part of the power. Because like with Aerospace Engineering, this had come with additional abilities, and they were anything but minor. Another limitation of the power was the fact that combining two devices with independent A.I.s was likely to result in conflict. And that was relevant because A.I. was something I now needed to account for.

Well, at least as much as Zoids counted as having A.I.

It seemed like just as Scientist: Machinery had connected me to this world, Hybridization Theory was connected to a world of its own. A world where robot animals and robot dinosaurs and even stranger robot creatures were a thing. Somewhere between vehicles and independent robots, Zoids were both powered and driven by a kind of technorganic core that provided their energy and central processing. These were massive machines of incredible power posing unfathomably advanced technology.

And I had one. I had a 'medium' sized Zoid, and plans for a massive array of 'small' sized Zoids. And in this case, 'small' meant somewhere in the order of fifteen to twenty-five tons. The Zoid that I had received was called a Wild Liger. It was an open cockpit Zoid vaguely in the shape of a lion and was considered small for a medium sized Zoid at 'only' forty-eight tons. Only fifteen feet tall and twenty-seven feet long.

And it had a completely functional A.I.. Something had appeared in my Workshop, completely sentient and completely isolated. Yes, it was a robot but it was also sort of alive and very much self-aware. The creation of an independent creature by my power. This was one thing I had been entirely focused on avoiding, or at least treating with the seriousness it deserved.

And I didn't just have one sentient robot animal. I had plans for dozens more. Dozens of independent, self-aware, conscious creatures. Creatures that would never advance beyond an animal mindset, but that didn't diminish what they were or what they represented.

This was something I'd probably been overly aware of since I arrived in this world. You couldn't walk down a street without seeing constructs, or discrimination against constructs. Usually both. I promised myself I would never disregard something I created, or something created by my power. The easiest way to accomplish that was to avoid any careless acts of creation, but it seemed that was out of my hands. Even if I didn't build any more Zoids, the Wild Liger was still waiting in my Workshop.

Waiting. That was true. It was waiting, in standby. I didn't have an active and confused A.I. who would be thrashing against its confinement. I had a Zoid that was effectively in sleep mode, and would presumably be content to remain there indefinitely.

If I really wanted to avoid this problem, I could just leave things like that. Ignore the design plans and leave the Zoid in standby, but I couldn't do that. Ignoring something that was capable of thought, even if that thought was only on an animal level, was cruel. I didn't know if I was ready to deal with a fifty ton robot lion, but I wasn't going to let it rot in a hangar because of my own issues.

At the same time, I didn't need to abandon things and sprint home to deal with the situation immediately. I was still intending to be a responsible… pet owner, I guess? I just didn't need to drop everything to jump into it now.

I shook my head, feeling the slow movement of the forge. A power of this level was introducing another delay, but I could deal with that. After something like this, I could use a bit of time to come to terms with the situation before the next big event.

I turned and saw Agatha staring at me. She had also shifted her position to block me from most of the crowd. It seemed like she was trying to cover for my momentary distraction without making it obvious. It was endearing, but also more than a little embarrassing.

"Sorry." I said with a shrug.

"It's fine." She said as we continued towards the stage. "That looked like a bad one." She said in a level voice.

I let out a breath. "It's not that bad." I assured her. "Just embarrassing. The whole situation, it looks worse than it is, and probably gets blown out of proportion. You don't need to look out for me like that."

Agatha smiled back. "I've felt the same way. About my headaches." She said, "I guess I never considered what it's like from the outside."

"I'm sure I'm not dealing with anything like… like your condition." I said carefully.

"Maybe." She said, "I really wasn't expecting that kind of topic to come up at a place like this."

I shrugged. "A lot of this stuff is outside of anyone's control. The best you can do is work around it and make the most of the situation."

Agatha smiled at me. "Like your first Heterodyne Show?" She asked.

"I suppose that counts." I said, looking at the stage. I covered the admission for the better 'seats' for both me and Agatha, with her parents joining us shortly after.

The crowd around the stage was an unusual mix. You had hordes of children, some with families, some effectively unaccompanied and pressing as close to the stage as they could get. But there were also adults, both couples and individuals, or small groups, and apparently from every walk of life. There were people who looked like they had just rolled out of a factory shift and people in pressed suits and embroidered dresses. There were even a few constructs in the crowd, but only a few and they carefully stuck to the edges of the square.

Suddenly, a fanfare began playing from somewhere under the stage. The crowd began to shift eagerly with anticipation and murmurs of excitement spread through the group. A drumroll began, leading down to a sharp crack as small cannons on either side of the stage shot confetti over the crowd. The curtains parted and two of the actors stepped out to the cheers of the crowd.

"Well, look at this group." The taller of the two men projected. "And good thing there here, since it's a glorious day-"

"FOR SCIENCE!" The crowd bellowed back, with everyone from the children by the stage to the best dressed patrons to Agatha and her parents joining in. I smiled at that as the two men, proudly declared as Bill and Barry Heterodyne, began bantering with each other about the adventure they had found themselves in, with a regular back and forth with the crowd.

So more of a holiday pantomime than the Royal Shakespeare Company, but honestly that worked. I couldn't help but smile along as the rest of the actors were introduced to rounds of cheers, laughs, boos, or applause.

This might be a crazy world, but so was Earth Bet, and honestly, given the choice, I'd take this type of crazy any day of the week.

(Author's Note: I had intended to continue this story more frequently than once a year, but between my schedule and the demands of the main story I haven't been able to spare the time. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get another chapter out before the next anniversary, but as usual I can't make any promises. As was noted in this story, I'm using a modified point system based on some later changes to Brockton's Celestial Forge, only a little more aggressive. Any power that costs more than 100 points inflicts a 'point shadow' equal to half the cost of the power that must be cleared before points are gained again. This is different from the main story where only the most expensive perks induce a delay. I feel the slower point gain will be good for this work, as it prevents the cascade of powers where one power is earned after another. I am also using an updated perk list with some changes to the nature of abilities and the use of free perks. This can be seen in Size M Zoid and Zoid Data being paired with Hybridization Theory, unlike in the original story. These changes will be fairly minor in most cases, with the change to the Zoids perk being one of the more significant alterations.
More specifically, I want to thank everyone for all of their support over the last five years. When I started writing Brockton's Celestial Forge I never imagined that it would last this long or grow into a work of this size and complexity. That wouldn't have been possible without the incredible community that grew around the story, and I am extremely grateful to everyone who had offered their support and encouragement over the last five years.)

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Aerospace Engineering Makes Things Go Fast (Kerbal Space Program) 100:
You have an intuitive grasp on the mechanics of wind-flow, material sciences, atmospheric drag, tensile strengths, rocketry, so on and so forth, and how it applies to the art of designing vehicles that traverse the sky and space.

This Is, Actually, Rocket Science (Kerbal Space Program) Free:
You gain an instinctive grasp and understanding of Delta V and orbital mechanics.

Laboratorium (Light of Terra DLC 3 - A Grand Day Out) 100:
Ancient cogitators, arrays of auspex systems, and volume upon volume of documentation supply an Adept with the tools and information necessary to capably analyse a recovered technological artefact.

Hybridization Theory (Zoids: Legacy) 400:
So one day you had a bit of spare time after your daily Zoid admiration hour. After taking a close look at your favorite Gojulas and your favorite Mad Thunder, you decided that if the Gojulas could wield the Mad Thunder's Magnesser Drills like an arm weapon, you could probably reenact that scene from the show you watched two days back on the professor's hi-def television.
Those mechanics can slap on parts and scavenge however they like. You can literally merge two machines together into one, with twice the processing power as before. Mind you, Zoids typically won't respond well to suddenly sharing a body with another core and another mind, but you'll have ethical uses for this...right?
For most mundane machinery, you don't need any power source besides your own, but be careful that should you make your machine too big, the internal power supply might not be enough to feed it.

Size M Zoid [Wild Liger] (Zoids: Legacy) Free:
You say you've got friends do you? Alright, alright, let's see who've you got here… Well, it looks like I'm going to have to outfit you with a Zoid anyhow! We can't have you running around the wilderness without a form of protection, now can we? Well, you could opt out if you want…But assuming you don't, I'm gonna need to explain some things to you! See this fellah up here? This is a Zoid. Aye, and I'm giving you one. A Medium sized one for free, and a core to go with it. See, the Zoid itself is a skeleton, whereas the Core is like the brain. One won't work without the other. Let's start with sizes shall we? Sizes run from Small (S) to XL (Ultra Large) with M, L, and LL in between. The smaller the Zoid, the faster and more nimble it is and less likely to get detected. The larger the Zoid, the more armaments and equipment you can place, and the Core also supplies more energy as well. The amount of customization points is tied to the Zoid you choose – but the technicians will explain more about that in a jiffy!

Zoid Data (Zoids: Legacy) Free:
With the data samples of a Zoid, you could theoretically mass produce them, granted that you had the proper facilities as well as the necessary resources. With this, you can get the data sample of any Zoid within that specific size class for production purposes. Zoid Data for all Small (Size S) Zoids.

 

[Xalimur Spud]

First woooo
Time to read

 

[Dracovictorious]

Time to read the whole sidestory again, Woo!

 

[JoeStratnoff]

The feels of Agatha x Joe is very strong, heheh.

 

[Dragna]

I ship it. I will die on this hill of mine.

 

[verycoolname]

I like Frau Gruber. I definitely wouldn't want to live in the same city as her, but she's fun to read about.

 

[Image]

THE OMNISIAH DEMANDS ADEPT DURIS TO GET BACK TO WORK!

That is wild it got rolled that early. It also really looks like Jozef has his own 'Spark' Legacy to compare with Agatha. How cute.

 

[Tiz Goldeneye]

Happy five years everyone!

Crazy to read about pre-character development Joe who doesn't have mental fortress.

 

[Kaine198]

Man passed by so quick can barely believe it was 19k words. Now got the urge to do another full reread of the main story.

 

[Image]

I am now imagining Der Kastle flirting with the Labratroum. She is an amazing well preserved engine of Intellect and Destruction.

 

[Michael7050]

Man, I really do love this side-story.

The world of Girl Genius is just so good yet there are very, very few well written stories that use it.
anyone have any suggestions?

The timing of this works quite well too, seeing as how we finally got The Spark! back in Brockton.

 

[Daecl]

Ah, the return of Joe in Girl Genius. Look at him, already doing vigilante healing! Truly, the Simurgh robbed us of so many shenanigans.

 

[Kai Merah]

Rereading the side story, I can't help but think that this,

"With those kinds of things, sometimes all you can do is try to work around them as well as you can." She turned to me and I shrugged. "At least that's my experience."

Some problems were too big to deal with, at least all at once. You could bash your head against them, but that wouldn't get you anywhere. It sucked to have to find ways to cope with things that weren't even seen as problems by most people, but it was better than getting stuck where you were.

Click to shrink...

Has the same vibe as...

Joe: Here Taylor, have something to keep you safe.
Taylor: Wow, thanks Joe! *proceeds to minmax the shit outta the thing to be way more 'useful' than intended*

Joe: Hey Agatha, here's some helpful advice.
Agatha: Wow, thanks Joe! *proceeds to apply advice to working around her headaches*

Joe:... What have I done?

 

[Phyrexia Unbound]

I was pretty sure I could launch a car into space with nothing but that power.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, lets see how invincible a Jaeger is after being shot into space.

 

[BlackCoat13]

though the reaction to a presumed spark was also about what I had expected.

Click to shrink...

That sounded about right for a spark.

Click to shrink...

Magical spark remedies didn't happen,

Click to shrink...

and not just because the spark seemed completely willing to let him walk away.

Click to shrink...

Probably not spark level technology,

Click to shrink...

Since this is Girl Genius, every instance of 'spark' should be capitalized, as it is in-setting.

 

[TerraBull]

Duris has a Liger in his Workshop. The IDEAS it will Spark in her..

 

[KSn5Ynoh]

Here's hoping this will socialize Joe more, especially in the more romantic variety. And Agatha get to have a friend, without having to fight for her life (yet).

Also, nice to see the deathworld is more hopeful than Earth Bet. You can just help people anonymously without worrying about the long-term impact such (relatively) basic actions make.

 

[Kris-71854]

The healing bit seemed a tad odd. Mainly, as he was rather out of sorts still, he had been coasting through the repair job with Mr. Clay. He didn't have to think about things. He had a project to fix.

When I read the doctor's comments, it felt more like a few days had passed. Then we had Joe say that all that was over that very night?

Seems a bit odd/fast. Joe wanted to heal random folks. The locals thought he was experimenting. I'm less concerned about the healing and more with the difficulty of replacing all that. O.k. back home he knew where to pick up his potions supplies and was a fairly forgettable guy.

I don't recall if he has the ability to easily restock here. That's my only complaint.

I enjoyed the date and everything surrounding it. Agatha is rather good for him. She's a font of information and sympathy. This is actually about the right sort of speed that he could handle with courting. It is cute.

I can see Joe needing to improve the safety systems of that cart ASAP. Maybe he could make a zoid and combine it with the cart?

Fleet is going to be born into that world to teach that girl how to properly drive and sadly be influenced by Frau Gruber. Hmm, I could see Fleet being something like Cart Safety Systems here. Assisted driving is needed. Dr Bettle would approve of anything that would get Frau Gruber driving safely. (For others and the surroundings.)

I'm wondering who would end up touring his workshop first. Would it be Agatha or one of the many curious grandchildren running about?

I sort of want to see Agatha converting and Enginseer Agatha? That's a religion that really fits into GG. This is a cult/church built around worshipping machinery and keeping it maintained/running.

 

[Waffelmeister]

Well, having a full on Zoid invalidates pretty much any street level problem. But Girl Genius scales up wonderfully quick. If you whip out a giant robot, that just means all the Sparks around you will whip THEIRS out. And the government will pull Clanks out of the closet to assist. I mean, hell, it's even aesthetically close to the Castle's Steam Cats... I mean The Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers.

Frau Gruber said as she scoffed at the exchange. "The man's as soft as pudding once you get to know him."

Click to shrink...

And he could punch someone INTO pudding if they mess with his adopted daughter.