The Thirteen Knight

Chapter 8- The Site

The service elevator rattled as it went down into the dark. It sounded like a tin can being kicked down a long flight of stairs and every time the gears grinded Sylvia flinched. She was standing in the corner of the small metal box holding her laundry basket like a shield against the heat that was already seeping through the walls.

The air inside the elevator was getting hotter by the second. We passed the basement levels and the sub-basement levels and now we were in the deep infrastructure where the walls of the shaft were just bare rock and reinforced concrete.

"It's deep," Sylvia whispered looking at the floor indicator which was just a flickering red light. "I didn't know the Academy went down this far."

"Most people don't," I said checking the straps on my tool bag. "This is where the mistakes go. The failed potions and the broken golems. And the trash."

I pulled two filtration masks out of my bag. They were heavy industrial masks with thick rubber seals that I stole from the chemistry lab three months ago because I knew I would need them eventually.

"Put this on," I said handing one to her. "The air down there isn't just hot it's full of mana fumes. If you breathe it too long your lungs will start to crystallize."

Sylvia took the mask and looked at it with disgust but she put it on anyway. It covered the lower half of her face making her look like a sci-fi soldier instead of a mage.

"Does it work?" she asked her voice muffled by the filter.

"Better than dying," I said pulling my own mask on.

The elevator shuddered and came to a halt. The doors hissed open and the heat hit us like a physical punch. It wasn't just warm it was an inferno waiting to happen. The Incinerator Level was a massive cavern carved out of the bedrock where the ceiling was lost in smoke and shadow. The floor was a maze of conveyor belts and metal walkways suspended over a pit that glowed angry orange.

In the distance I could hear the roar of the main furnaces. They weren't firing yet but they were idling ready to burn whatever came down the line.

"Stay on the walkway," I shouted over the noise. "The floor is magnetized to move the scrap metal. If you step on it your belt buckle will stick and you'll get dragged into the fire."

Sylvia nodded with her eyes wide and gripped my sleeve with her good hand. We walked out onto the metal grating. Below us mountains of trash were moving slowly. I saw broken desks shattered glass and piles of twisted metal that used to be training droids.

And then I saw it.

About fifty yards away on a secondary conveyor belt was a heap of black sludge and armor. The remains of the Shadow Wasp. And right next to it was the twisted remains of my gauntlet. The prototype.

My heart beat faster. The Wasp's body was damaged but the chest plates and the leg segments were still intact. That was the prize. The chitin that could withstand the heat of a star.

But I couldn't just walk over there and start ripping pieces off not with Sylvia watching.

"Where did the debris from the loading bay go?" Sylvia asked looking around frantically. "The chute... where does it empty?"

"Over there," I pointed to a massive metal tube hanging from the ceiling. It was right above the belt where the Wasp was. "Sector 4. That's where the heavy waste goes."

"My ring must be there," she said and started walking fast toward the chute ignoring the heat.

"Wait," I yelled. "Don't run. The walkways are slippery."

But she didn't listen because she was desperate. That ring was important to her. We reached the platform overlooking Sector 4 where the conveyor belt was stopped waiting for the incinerator cycle to begin. The pile of debris was huge.

Sylvia leaned over the railing scanning the trash. "I don't see it," she said her voice rising in panic. "It's too much stuff. How am I going to find a ring in all this?"

"We have to go down," I said. "But be careful. Don't touch the black slime. That's demon ichor and it's acidic."

We climbed down the maintenance ladder onto the belt. The metal plates were hot under my boots.

"You look on the left side," I said pointing to the pile of broken furniture. "I'll check the right side near the... larger debris."

"Okay," she said dropping to her knees to sift through the trash.

I turned and walked toward the Wasp carcass. Up close it looked even worse. The explosion had turned the inside of the demon into soup but the outer shell the carapace was perfect. It was a matte black material that absorbed the light.

I looked at the remains of my first gauntlet. It was fused to the demon's chest plate a lump of melted slag. It served its purpose but it was gone now.

I pulled a heavy cutter tool from my bag. It wasn't a weapon it was a hydraulic shear I used for cutting pipes. I looked back at Sylvia who was busy moving a broken table leg.

I worked fast. I jammed the jaws of the cutter into the joint of the Wasp's leg. I pumped the handle and the hydraulic hissed.

Snap.

A large section of the chitin plating popped loose. It was light as a feather but hard as diamond. I shoved it into my bag. I moved to the chest plate which was the biggest piece shielding the demon's core.

Clang.

A sound echoed through the cavern. It wasn't the incinerator. It was metallic and rhythmic.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

I froze and looked up. Crawling down the walls of the cavern were shapes that looked like giant metal crabs with glowing red eyes.

Scavenger Drones.

"Chase!" Sylvia screamed.

I turned around. One of the drones had dropped onto the belt right in front of her. It was about the size of a dog but it had four pincer arms and a buzzsaw mounted on its back.

"Intruder detected," the drone's speaker buzzed. "Biological contaminant. Initiate purge."

It raised a pincer.

Sylvia scrambled back but she tripped over a pile of books. She tried to cast a spell raising her good hand. A blue shield flickered into existence but it was weak because her injury was messing with her focus. The drone slammed its pincer into the shield and the magic shattered like glass.

"Hey!" I yelled.

I didn't have my suit. I didn't have the crystal. I just had a bag of trash and a pipe cutter. But I was an engineer and these drones were machines.

I ran toward them. The drone turned its red eye toward me. "Secondary contaminant," it droned.

I didn't stop. I slid across the metal belt going under its pincer arm. I knew these models. They were the MK-4 Disposal Units and they had a blind spot right under the chassis where the battery hatch was. The drone tried to track me but I was too close. I jammed the hydraulic cutter into the gap between its legs.