BA-19 activated on schedule and proceeded down into the examination room in the depths of the automaton compound. As one of the original BA’s in the hierarchy of Kharon’s automaton workforce, it was equipped with some additional Engravings that provided it with insight into the actions of human-units. Which meant that all complex situations passed through BA-19’s observation.

When it arrived at its work station, it looked at the items gathered by the primary shift and prepared to measure their human-unit value. It used an arm implement to adjust a knob on the wall which increased the ambient illumination in the work station. Although BA-19 could sense more fine details with its fingers, human-units were visual creatures. It had quickly learned that simulating their perspective made the estimations come much more naturally.

BA-19 reverently removed the plastic covering and revealed today’s task. During this cycle, three items had been flagged by the triple-digit BA workers as possibly being accidentally thrown away. One was a journal, another was a golden locket, and the third was a napkin that periodically pulsed with light.

BA-19 started with the journal. After reading a few pages of the messy text, it re-evaluated its initial assessment. Although its understanding of the human-unit personal recording techniques was rather shallow, it was clear the author wrote these passages with the intent to flirt and then subsequently beg a certain councilman to return her affections.

BA-19 wasn’t instructed to speculate more than that, which was a relief; the details were likely quite sticky with the erraticism of human-units.

This was clearly a ‘private’ item. Without reading further, BA-19 set the item aside to be brought before the prime human unit in Kharon. It was known that she possessed a certain curiosity for private items that were discarded within the ‘public’ space of City Hall.

BA-19 then picked up the locket and weighed the metal adornment with its hands. The item was made with gold, but BA-19 had memorized the price of all goods within Kharon and identified that the amount of money spent on such an item would be trivial to the typical human-unit working within the confines of Kharon. Then the automaton opened the locket and looked inside.

A chubby, larva human-unit rapped in a blanket looked up at it from a small photo in the locket.

BA-19 categorized this item as ‘personal’ and set it aside to be given to the human unit in charge of the area where the item was found; that individual would have more information about the situation.

Finally, BA-19 looked at the glowing napkin. It immediately identified the source of the light as an Engraving of sufficient power and flavor to maintain its existence. This item was inherently valuable, both due to its rarity and the skill of the original maker. However, BA-19 was at an impasse: depending on how valuable it was, the item went to different individuals for a proper return.

After calculating for several seconds, BA-19 flagged the item and set it aside for a review by BA-Beta during its active hours. The secondary of the automatons had designed all BA training methods to understand human-units and could make the appropriate decision.

BA-19 felt a deep sense of loss, having failed to accomplish its mission. It maintained this state for ten minutes, then proceeded with the rest of its work schedule for this cycle.

*****

Tatiana looked at the message from Randidly and couldn’t help but smile at how even she could sometimes be surprised by his thoughts. It was not that his requests were impossible, but… it seemed that he had learned about, and planned on attending, the under-Auction rather than the Kharon Academy Auction. Well, considering his attitude, that was probably for the best.

You’ll be willing to foot the bill for these, I take it? Tatiana replied to him after she did some mental calculations. Already she began working on the initial paperwork.

Randidly’s reply was immediate. Sure.

Tatiana smiled at the message for a while. It was really just a side-effect of how much effort Randidly focused himself toward training, but it was nice to be working for someone who was so generous with his money. It might have been five years since they had really interacted, but that Skill in Tatiana’s chest kept her abreast of the developments in Randidly’s life. He genuinely was doing this because he believed this was the best use of his resources.

Not that something like this put a dent in his holdings… but his casual treatment of money is so refreshing after bickering with Kharon’s Council for months and months...

With her authority and Randidly’s money, making the arrangements was quite simple. Tatiana remained at her desk and rapidly sketched out the proposals and sent ambiguous warnings to certain contractors, so Randidly’s offerings could rapidly be brought to fruition.

Then Tatiana leaned back in her chair and sighed. She checked her watch; it was almost time for her briefing. The fact that she hadn’t been contacted about any developments before the appointed time meant that they hadn’t discovered anything new.

That wasn’t a good sign.

She pushed herself back from her desk and walked out into the hallway, her heels clicking perfectly with each step. She descended through the wide marble passages of city hall, politely greeting some other workers that were still in the building this late at night. Then she typed a passcode into a heavy iron door in a back corner of the ground floor and stepped into a cramped lift. After pressing the down button, the lift quickly slid down into the depths of Kharon.

Tatiana stepped out into a completely different type of facility. Brass automatons scanned her and then returned to their stiff posture next to the entrance. The squat hallways were filled with automatons, pushing various raw materials into the variance storage spaces. Tatiana turned and walked East, passing several dimly lit rooms that were filled with weapons in stacked boxes.

Eventually, the industrial mesh walkway beneath her feet shifted into normal tile and Tatiana walked into a room that quite resembled a typical office conference room. Inside, Naffur Suite, Hydie Mordath, and Commissioner Arrietti were waiting.

Tatiana nodded to each of them in turn. Arrietti nodded back, Hydie grinned and waved, but it was Naffur’s shift into a standing, knuckles on the table lean that gave her pause.

“Is it bad?” Tatiana asked.

Naffur shrugged, but his brows were furrowed. “Hard to say. We’ve sent our best to investigate the warehouse where the children discovered the intruder… but aside from confirming that someone else was present in the room with them, we know very little. The Skill the intruder used to burn away their traces is definitely relatively well Leveled.

“The bigger problem is the remaining items themselves,” Naffur continued. “They’ve been thoroughly inspected; there was no tampering either with the materials or the runes. Honestly, it seems like the intruder was just going through a stroll in the warehouse… which is why our current theory has shifted. The intruder wasn’t trying to tamper with an item, but rather retrieve something that had been smuggled into the city with the cover of the Auction.”

Tatiana looked at the three of them. The more Naffur spoke, the paler Commissioner Arrietti was becoming. “And what do you think that item is?”

“A Darksteel Bomb, disguised as an image-killer suit,” Hydie Mordath, the Hexwitch, tapped her long nails on the wooden table. “I’ve been laying out an aura of bad-luck keyed toward our perpetrator that’s thick enough to scoop off every street in Kharon, but no one has spontaneously combusted yet. The Darksteel probably shredded my image before it can do any harm.”

Tatiana frowned. That actually was quite a problem. Of all of the established political powers in the modern world, Kharon was particularly vulnerable to Darksteel. Rather than numbers, Kharon relied on its elites and influential images to protect themselves. No one could completely rely on Darksteel for its military forces; the metal would gradually erode the wearer’s image. But just for a surprise attack…?

Too much of the modern Kharon was tied up in the running of Kharon Academy; teachers outnumbered both soldiers and police five to one. Kharon had the Order Ducis, but they were mostly free to pursue their own investigations. Considering all the dormitories and industrial districts floating above the city… manually searching with the number of men they had was impossible.

Plus, it makes a certain dark political sense… Tatiana thought. Zone 1 has been pushing for Expira to rely on the ‘nuclear’ option to subdue the upcoming First Calamity. If Kharon, the most vocal critic of that plan, were to suffer monstrously under the influence of a Darksteel bomb… but there is no way that Zone 1 would do this willingly. Especially now, with so many other factions present for the Auction…

Tatiana’s gaze darkened. But that is a large downside of the System. A single, determined malcontent can wield a fatal amount of power.

“How large is the bomb?” Tatiana asked.

Naffur spoke again. “Darksteel will quickly destabilize interspatial storage devices, so it can’t be any larger than an image-killer suit would be. Based on our projections… about the size of a person. And if detonated, a bomb of that size would irreparably damage about half of the main city of Kharon, with significant damage to half of the surrounding sky-islands.”

Tatiana bared her teeth. “And who do we have to thank for this unexpected gift?”

Commissioner Arrietti spoke this time. “The Hemlock Corporation supplied the image-killer suit for auction.”

“Ah, the financiers of Councilman Whittaker.” Tatiana snorted. “But I suppose this is a good excuse to finally meet them. Alright, you know your jobs better than I. If anything changes, report it immediately. Dismissed.”

*****

As the sun sank below the horizon and the grand festival of the Auction in two days seized the city, no one would notice a particular fist-sized clump of moss spirits. That clump floated back from one of Kharon Academy’s dormitories and rejoined the river of energy that flowed from skyisland to skyisland. Nor did these celebrating individuals pay much attention as that clump went against the current, floating steadily down toward the core of Kharon.

There, it joined the central region where all of the truly ancient moss spirits resided, sharing its newfound understand.

These actions remained unobserved even when, in the dark alleys and deserted industrial shafts of Kharon, some moss spirits began to break away and form small bodies to practice Scrawl. The early attempts were ineffective, but soon the collective hivemind of emerald moss spirits corrected and gradually began to lift discarded scrap metal and pieces of wood off the ground, without having to rely on people to first provide them Engravings.

The moss spirits of Kharon were slightly disappointed their progress was so slow, but at the same time, they flushed at the thought of Randidly Ghosthound being proud of them.