The psi-stag was young, with only two small spikes of hardened wood floating above its head, but Stahl knew better than to underestimate them. He still remembered finding the giant bear carcass in carriage 205, its hunched bulk riddled with holes. He also remembered when the corpse had shifted as he hacked off the largest patch of complete fur with his knife, and the steel bulkhead revealed it had matching holes going through it too.

  Only after creeping though two more rooms did Stahl find the dozen wooden spikes, impaled a fingers length into the dark metal wall. Pulling them out was a chore but the clan was always happy for more stagwood spikes, especially from what must have been a particularly ancient stag.

  Unwilling to be made into a less complete bag of meat, Stahl backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on the psi-stag’s legs as he avoided making direct eye contact. He frantically waved his hands behind his back to Eisen, warning him of the threat.

  After a few tense seconds, the stag stomped once, then turned away, uninterested in them any longer. Stahl let out his breath and turned to his brother, who was crouched behind a fallen log.

  “Let’s keep moving. We’ve got one more night before the Colossus has gone too far for us to make it back, and I want to reach these ruins.”

  Eisen nodded but looked back at the stag’s retreating form his crossbow still poised “Are you sure we can’t take it? Stagwood stakes would get us some good parts and a meal or two from Mel, compared to the risk of this ruin you aren’t even sure exists…”

  But Stahl was already pushing through the undergrowth, following the subtle signs of the conduit buried beneath them in the ground as he talked over his shoulder to his brother. “I know you want to bind your crossbow, but it isn’t worth being able to see through you to the other side. Why don’t you pick something easier for now? I’m sure you could take that fern.” Stahl teased, gesturing to a particularly sorry-looking fern.

  Eisen glowered and grumbled back, “Just because you’re trying to bind to the world’s most boring Tool doesn’t mean you need to take it out on the rest of us.”

  Stahl reached up for his Prototype, a pendant on a chain around his neck that seemed to move slightly at odds with his gait. The subtle thrumming told Stahl it was still spinning inside, as it had for the last nine years.

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  Looking back at his brother, he smiled. “If it can keep going, so can we. Come on, let’s bake a cake and hustle.”

  The flashes of metal in the undergrowth and the occasional rise where a tree had grown off centre on top of the conduit cable kept them on track as they trudged through the forest. Though both were familiar with the dangers these forests posed, the brothers didn’t relax. In a particularly thick part of the first Eisen had to let loose a bolt from his Prototype crossbow to scare off a treelynx that had been trying to approach them from behind.

  It was near dusk when Eisen excitedly grabbed Stahl’s shoulder and gestured at a new flash of metal off to the side. Another conduit—a good sign, and when the two met, there was bound to be something. Stahl prayed it was a full ruin.

  The brothers excitedly pushed forward, but the flashes of metal and off-kilter trees that gave away the conduits positions were growing closer at a glacial pace, and soon they had to break camp. Hooking up their hammocks above the forest floor but far enough below the canopy to avoid bats, they lay down for the night. The small brass alarm bots hanging below each of them would wake them if they spotted anything.

  Both brothers struggled to sleep, not disturbed by the noises of the forest but instead mulling over what would become of their clan. The signs were getting harder to ignore. They needed a win to change their trajectory or the clan would die, slowly but surely.

  Eventually falling asleep and getting a night of undisturbed sleep, they quickly pressed onward. Each step brought them closer to the conduits, and their excitement grew. Finally, the brothers were almost jogging as they broke through the underbrush and out into a clearing, spotted it, and froze—shock on their faces.

  The conduits fully broke out of the soil here, plugging seamlessly into a squat, copper-colored structure. But what shocked the brothers was the scale. Joining their two conduits were many more, all snaking out from the forest and plugging in to the gargantuan building, making it resemble a giant alien jellyfish, stretching its tendrils out through the forest to reach for some unknown prey.

  Eisen backed up slightly into the cover of the trees, speaking in a low voice to his brother. “Maybe this is too much for us.” He looked around at the clearing and all the cables. “We should go and get the clan.”

  Stahl knew this was too big for them, but they couldn’t turn back now. “The clan is too far. You know the Colossus will be too far if we try to bring them here. We’ll have to do this ourselves.”

  He turned to his brother, a steady resolve shining in his eyes. “The clan needs this. We need this.” Looking out at the ruin they had spent the last four days tracking down, he spotted a gap between two of the cables.

  “Let’s go.”