I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

Harven finished his call and lowered the terminal.

Graveshare was still warm.

The six Mourning Marks remained dark.

"Don’t open your Circuit."

Nate looked at his arm.

"I haven’t."

"Keep it that way."

Below the platform, Varen was already moving again.

The sirens had stopped, but several roads leading east were closed. Armoured vehicles crossed toward the extraction district while workers disappeared behind reinforced gates.

The light inside the Colossus had faded.

Nate could still see where it had travelled.

Harven checked another message.

"We’re going down."

"I thought you were taking me to housing."

"Changed."

"Because of this?"

Nate raised his arm slightly.

Harven was already heading for the lift.

"Because someone wants to look at it before it stops doing whatever it’s doing."

That was the most Harven had said to him at once.

Nate followed.

The eastern districts were louder.

Heavy vehicles moved between low concrete buildings. Pipes wider than Nate’s body ran beneath some of the roads before disappearing toward the Colossus.

The nearest rib was visible between the buildings.

From the ground, it barely looked real.

Nate had to tilt his head back to find the top.

Harven led him through a security gate.

COLOSSUS FIELD COMMAND - WESTERN ACCESS

People were coming out as they entered.

Their suits were pale and thin, closer to medical equipment than armour.

One man sat beside the wall while a medic cut open his sleeve.

There was no wound beneath it.

His hand still shook so badly that the medic had to hold his wrist.

Harven kept going.

Sel Varo was waiting in the medical section.

"I thought you worked at intake."

"I worked at intake this morning."

Varo examined Graveshare without touching it.

"Still warm?"

"Yes."

"Reserve?"

Nate focused on the armament.

STORED ENERGY: 8%

"Still eight."

"No increase during the Pulse?"

"No."

"Good."

Nate frowned.

"Why good?"

"Because your Circuit was closed."

That didn’t answer much.

Varo turned.

A man near the equipment lockers stepped forward.

Broad shoulders. Short hair. Pale scars crossed the inside of his left wrist.

Second Circuit.

Nate felt it when the man came closer.

"Ren Darek."

"Nate."

Darek nodded once.

Varo handed him Nate’s file.

"He needs exposure. Nothing active."

Darek looked over the first page.

"How nothing?"

"Closed Circuit."

Darek looked at Nate.

"You heard him."

"Yes."

"All right."

That was it.

Harven passed Nate’s papers to Varo.

"He’s staying here?"

"For a while."

Harven looked at Nate.

"I’ll send the housing location."

Then he left.

Darek had already started walking.

"Equipment."

Nate followed.

The suit took longer to put on than it looked.

Darek checked the seal around Nate’s throat, then pulled hard on the fastening below his left arm.

"Again."

Nate resealed it.

Darek checked a second time.

A younger man came through the opposite door carrying a square equipment case.

"Olan."

Darek pointed toward Nate.

"New attachment."

Olan looked at Graveshare, then at Nate’s mask.

He pressed a thumb beneath the edge.

"Loose here."

Nate adjusted it.

"You all check masks for each other?"

"People miss things."

Olan picked up his case.

Darek opened the inner gate.

Cold air came through first.

Nate stepped beyond it.

The gate closed behind them.

The sound of Varen disappeared.

The inside of the Colossus was nothing like Nate had imagined.

He had expected something soft.

The walls were hard enough to hold drilled metal supports. Pale layers curved over one another with dark channels buried beneath the surface.

Some were as thin as veins.

Others were wider than Nate’s arm.

Faint light moved through one above them.

Olan saw him watching.

"Stay off the walls."

Nate moved toward the centre of the passage.

"What happens?"

"Usually nothing."

Darek looked back.

"Keep walking."

Nate decided that was enough.

The first few minutes were uneventful.

Then he noticed his ribs no longer hurt.

He took a deeper breath.

Still nothing.

The stiffness left over from Malvern had faded too.

He hadn’t used Body Memory.

His Circuit remained closed.

Darek slowed until Nate caught up.

"You feel it?"

"What?"

"You tell me."

Nate moved one shoulder.

"I feel better."

Darek nodded.

"Say something if that changes."

"Why do I feel better?"

"Later."

He moved ahead again.

Nate watched him.

Darek hadn’t opened his Circuit once.

Not even when the passage became steep.

A Second Circuit veteran was walking through the Colossus like an ordinary man.

Nate remembered that.

The tunnel opened onto a much larger cavity.

A shaft dropped beneath them.

Metal walkways crossed the space at different levels, bolted into pale material on both sides.

Dark channels converged somewhere far below.

Nate couldn’t see the bottom.

Olan pointed across the nearest walkway.

"Recorder’s there."

A small Imperial unit had been fixed into the opposite wall.

Its casing was split.

"The Pulse broke it?"

"Relay."

"We want the recording core," Darek said.

Olan started across.

The walkway shifted slightly beneath their weight.

Halfway over, a deep sound travelled through the chamber.

The walls moved.

Only several centimetres.

One of the bolts beside Nate creaked.

Olan looked back.

"Keep moving."

They reached the recorder.

Olan put his case down and removed two tools.

Darek stayed near the walkway.

Nate stood behind Olan.

Graveshare was warm again.

He checked.

STORED ENERGY: 8%

Unchanged.

The pressure around his Circuit had returned.

Very faint.

Varo wanted to know how Graveshare behaved here.

Nate did too.

He glanced toward Darek.

The man was watching the route behind them.

The gate was close.

Nothing dangerous had appeared.

The Pulse had already passed.

If Nate opened his Circuit for one second, he could close it before anything serious happened.

Probably.

Darek had told him not to.

That was the only reason Nate waited as long as he did.

Olan removed part of the recorder casing.

"Almost got it."

Nate looked at the dark channel behind the machine.

Then he loosened his Circuit.

Barely.

The change was immediate.

His breath caught.

Energy entered.

His Core hadn’t produced it.

The current touched his normal route first, cold and strangely clean.

The tiredness in his legs disappeared.

His chest felt lighter.

Then Graveshare reacted.

The plates tightened.

Part of the incoming energy diverted through the interface at his arm.

STORED ENERGY: 8%

Then:

9%

The pressure against his pathway increased sharply.

Nate held it for another second.

11%

He closed his Circuit.

The intake stopped.

Graveshare remained at eleven.

Three points.

That was all.

His shoulder already felt wrong.

Darek turned.

"What did you just do?"

Nate didn’t answer quickly enough.

Darek walked toward him.

"You opened it."

"For a second."

Darek stared at him.

Then Olan’s equipment made a sharp sound.

Everyone looked over.

A small light had appeared on the recorder.

Olan pulled one tool free.

"Wait."

Darek moved toward him.

"What?"

The faint light inside the channel was growing.

"Back."

The entire wall flashed.

Olan jerked.

His arm was still inside the housing.

Darek grabbed his shoulder.

Nate caught the back of his suit.

The recorder casing had gone almost white around Olan’s hand.

They pulled.

Olan came free and hit the floor.

His right arm stayed curled against his chest.

Darek dropped beside him.

"Olan."

"I’m awake."

"Hand."

Olan tried to open it.

Nothing happened.

He stared at his fingers and tried again.

The smallest one moved.

"Shit."

Darek looked at the recorder.

The core was visible.

Olan had nearly removed it.

"I can finish it."

"No."

"It’s loose."

Darek started to reach toward the housing.

Then he looked at Nate.

"Come here."

"I’m fine."

"Come here."

Nate stepped toward him.

His right foot caught the floor.

He recovered.

Darek’s eyes dropped to the leg.

Nate looked down too.

He hadn’t felt it happen.

"Again."

Nate took another step.

The foot dragged.

Darek stood.

"Fingers."

Nate flexed them.

His right hand felt distant.

Darek moved a finger in front of his eyes.

"Follow."

Nate did.

"Anything in your mouth?"

"What?"

"Metal."

Nate swallowed.

There was a faint taste at the back of his tongue.

"Yeah."

Darek looked toward the recorder.

Olan had pushed himself onto one knee.

"The core is right there."

Darek grabbed his equipment case.

"We’re out."

Nobody touched the recorder.

Nate followed them onto the walkway.

He looked back once.

The core remained inside the open housing.

The walk back wasn’t painful.

That was the strange part.

His shoulder ached where the foreign energy had entered, but the rest of him still felt better than before.

His foot dragged twice more.

Darek noticed both.

After the second, he stopped.

"Don’t hide it."

"I’m not."

"You didn’t say anything."

"I didn’t feel it."

Darek looked at him for a moment.

That seemed to concern him more.

"Stay behind Olan."

Nate did.

Nobody talked for the rest of the walk.

Medical staff were waiting when the inner gate opened.

Two took Olan immediately.

One started cutting away his glove.

Darek removed his mask.

"Recorder’s still inside."

Varo looked from him to Olan.

"Why?"

Darek pointed at Nate.

"Him too."

Varo’s attention shifted.

"He circulated."

Nate expected anger.

Varo simply pointed toward the scanner.

"Get in."

The first pass took less than a minute.

Varo ran another.

Darek stood behind him.

Neither spoke.

Through the glass, Nate watched a medic test Olan’s fingers.

The first two didn’t move.

Varo enlarged part of Nate’s scan.

"How long?"

"Maybe two seconds."

"Maybe?"

"Three."

Darek made a noise behind him.

Nate looked over.

"What?"

"You cost us the core for three seconds."

Nate didn’t answer.

Darek wasn’t shouting.

That made it worse.

Varo touched the display.

"Shoulder pathway is irritated. Return route too."

"Damaged?"

"Yes."

"Bad?"

"You’ll live."

Varo switched to the intake scan.

Nate couldn’t read half of it.

He could read Graveshare.

Before entry:

STORED ENERGY: 8%

Now:

STORED ENERGY: 11%

Varo stared at the difference.

"Three seconds?"

"About that."

"And your Core contributed none of it."

"No."

Darek stepped closer.

"What?"

"The armament accepted Colossus energy."

Nate looked at Graveshare.

"Some of it."

Varo tapped the scan.

"And his Circuit took the rest."

The pathway beneath Nate’s shoulder showed an irregular line that hadn’t been there before.

"Why didn’t Graveshare take all of it?"

"Because you aren’t a pipe attached to a tank."

Varo enlarged the interface at Nate’s arm.

"The energy entered through you. Graveshare diverted part of it. The rest crossed your pathways."

Nate understood.

Opening wider might charge Graveshare faster.

His body would pay for the same increase.

Three points had already damaged two pathways.

That made the calculation much less attractive.

Varo entered something into the medical system.

Nate’s terminal vibrated.

ACTIVE CIRCULATION RESTRICTED

MEDICAL REVIEW REQUIRED

Darek was still looking through the glass.

"The surge hit Olan," Nate said.

"Yes."

Nate looked toward the treatment room.

Darek finally turned.

"I would’ve taken the core."

Nate said nothing.

"I had time."

Darek pointed toward Nate’s leg.

"Then you started dragging that."

The recorder had been less than a metre away.

Nate remembered seeing the exposed core.

Darek picked up his gloves.

"I wasn’t staying in there with two people I might have to carry."

He left.

Varo removed the scanner contacts.

"Sit down."

Nate sat on the edge of the table.

His body still felt strangely light.

He hated that now.

Varo noticed him moving his shoulder.

"You still feel better than when you went in?"

"Mostly."

"Despite the pathway damage."

"Apparently."

Varo checked his pupils.

"Headache?"

"No."

"Nausea?"

"No."

"Still taste metal?"

"A little."

Nate looked at Graveshare.

"Am I done for today?"

"Yes."

"And tomorrow?"

Varo took longer to answer.

"You’ll come back."

Nate looked at him.

"After this?"

"You keep the Circuit closed."

"Why send me back?"

Varo turned the two scans toward him.

Same Core.

Same Nodes.

Same pathways.

Except for the damage where foreign energy had entered.

Graveshare was the other difference.

Eight percent before.

Eleven after.

"You were inside for less than an hour," Varo said.

"You ignored the first restriction I gave you. Your leg started failing before you noticed. Your pathways took foreign energy they weren’t prepared for."

Nate waited.

Varo looked at him.

"And you still feel better than when you entered."

Nate didn’t have an answer.

Neither did Varo.

That was why he was going back.

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