Galaxy of Horrors by Various Authors

Author:Various Authors
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science fiction: space opera
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

A SMALL COG

MITCHEL SCANLON

‘Men are weak. Their bodies will fail and crumble to dust. Only the Machine endures.’

– Magos Axos Zarin, 948.M41

Darkness. Black on black. A spark. Pain.

A spark…

Deep in the hollowed dark, they had taken everything from him.

…pain.

‘How long will this take?’

A voice. His captor.

‘Not long. Less time if he cooperates.’

A second voice. Sly. Spiteful. Something in it filled him with loathing.

A spark. Pain. He screamed, begging for mercy.

‘You will not damage him.’

It was a command.

‘Tsk. Blame his masters. So many technical missteps. Bad wiring. But no, I will not damage him. I know his value.’

A high-pitched whine. A drill bit whirring near his head. The smell of burning.

A spark. Pain. He could not move.

‘There. We are getting somewhere. A few more adjustments and I can access his cortex. Then, the hippocampus.’

‘And then?’

‘Between them, we will shake loose his memories. I imagine there will be more screams. Entreaties. Pleading. It is the way of these things.’

‘You have done it before?’

‘Twice. In each case, the subjects died before giving up their secrets. But I have refined my methods. You will have what you want from him.’

‘It had better be so. Remember our agreement.’

‘I remember everything. As will he.’

A spark. Pain. A sense of falling.

‘Given time.’

Falling…

The gun towers had fallen, and the city was burning. Running, ducking through the darkened streets at the head of a ragtag group of followers, Enginseer Vornis-489 did his best to avoid the broken bodies and pieces of rubble strewn underfoot. No small task, given the violence already inflicted on the city.

‘The enemy has taken the gates!’ Ardet yelled, near breathless, by his side.

A local man who worked for Vornis as a lay menial, Ardet kept a handheld vox-unit pressed to his ear, delivering a series of anxious updates as they ran.

‘Our people have pulled back to the Western Market! They’re going to barricade the square to hold them off! Elder Karth has given orders to arm the incendiator!’

From a distance, in the vicinity of the gates, there came an enormous explosion. A momentary fireball lifted above the roofs of the houses blocking their line of sight, lighting the night.

The olfactory filters in the tech-priest’s auto-senses registered the by-products of the admixture of burning bio-fuel and human flesh. It made an unpleasant aroma. Vornis reduced the sensitivity of the filters to prevent the odour from distracting him.

‘They’re still coming.’ Ardet’s voice was crestfallen, despairing.

The tech-priest had told him such updates were unnecessary. It seemed the stress of battle had led to the admonition being forgotten.

The machine-parts of the enginseer’s own body included a much more sophisticated vox-system than anything the local Hakkanite culture could manufacture. With it, he could eavesdrop not only on the comms of the defenders, but on the enemy as well.

The latter encrypted their communications, but the tech-priest’s machine-augmented brain had allowed him to break one of their ciphers, giving access to some of their messages. Not that he had learned much for all his industry. The instructions relayed from the enemy commander to his troops had been simple and brutal.

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