The City under the Sky of Stone Part Seven

by Michael Warner Molema

The steam that filled the work space obscured just about everything. I could feel the people around me, the walkway beneath my feet, and the prickling of hostile eyes upon me. Yusuf and I and searched the copy of the file I had taken from Venessa’s desk, and we had found plans to create an army.

The file had revealed that the Methonauts would be the army, even though they had never shown any sign of hostility; The file described their viciousness in battle, and their calculated form in battle when working together. At the centre of it all was the Suggestion Stone, an artifact from ancient Egypt.

Two months ago, I had tried to prevent the theft of the Stone, but I had failed. The Council had forbidden that I leave England to retrieve the Stone, to which I obviously disobeyed. In all probability, I would have left this operation up to the Council’s agents, but I heard Venessa was her in Illumination, so I slipped across the Atlantic to now find myself infiltrating Mire Sciences.

The only disguise Yusuf could find for me was that of a Steam Engineer, a skill I used regularly at home, and one of the few jobs that was not as highly surveyed as the others within the Mire Sciences compound.
The steam clouds parted and I found myself within the Boiler Chamber, the power house of the entire compound. Seeing a checkpoint ahead I stood

to one side and ducked into the waist-high steam cloud. Whilst the other Engineers walked past, ignoring the fact that I just disappeared, I transformed into a rat. Using the information Yusuf had gathered from an inside source, I made my way to the Methonaut Training Facility.

After an hour of navigating the ducts, traps, and poor ventilation design, I dropped out of a vent and dashed behind a large steel container. I transformed, picked up my box of tools, and began to stealthily explore the training facility.
Mentally marking the location of the steel container I transformed by, I noticed that I was in a section that contained thirty-or-so similar containers all pained different colours. The steel coloured one was “mine”, and thus I chose to remember it more. I left the storage area and was immediately confronted by two security officers.

“You, Steam Engineer!” cried one wearing a thick bottle brush on his top lip. I stopped and waited for the men to come over, I did not want to give myself away before I had gathered any intelligence.

“Ye’sir,” I said, standing to attention.

“I did not see you enter the section when your shift begun this morning.”

“I am from the last shift sir, the Foreman said I have to work overtime due to the fact I took two weeks off for illness.”

“That explains why I haven’t seen you before Engineer Bentlee,” Bentlee was the nametag on my uniform, completing my disguise as a Steam Engineer.

“I was assigned to this section last week. I am escorting Trainee Stevenson here about the facility, showing him what he will be keeping secure.”

The obviously younger man in a too large uniform blushed, I recognised him from the elevator ride down to the city from three weeks ago; He wouldn’t recognise me as I now wore my own face.

“Thank you for keeping us and the assets safe Officer,” I said.

“Thank you Engineer for keeping this place from exploding, steam tech keeps me on edge. Good if you’re in my line of work. Good morning Engineer.”

“Good morning Officers.”

The two men left, my presence remained undetected, and my exploration of the Methonaut Training Facility begun.