met free Chapter 21 Entering the Hub
Chapter 21 Entering the Hub
On the third day after the Black Pearl docked, before dawn, Liu En was already standing in front of the porthole of the Black Pearl.
The lights outside the harbor blended together in the darkness. In the distance, the railroad dock was assembling the skeleton of a battleship, the sparks from welding flashing like miniature stars in the gloom. He watched for a moment, then turned and walked toward the hatch.
Five hundred machine guns operated silently aboard the Black Pearl. The Thinker array on the bridge glowed with a dim, standby light.
He had filled out the missing documents last night and sealed them in a military-grade data crystal, which he kept close to his body—the Black Pearl's ownership certificate, commissioning registration confirmation receipt, technical data archiving commitment letter, and a copy of the commissioning agreement. He tucked the cool crystal into a compartment in his inner bag and zipped it shut with the anti-magnetic seal.
Liu En stepped out of the airlock and onto the metal platform of the berth.
The dawn had not yet broken in the spaceport; only the pale fluorescent lights overhead hummed in the corridors. He walked west along the passageway of Dock-12, past several transport ships resupplying, and entered the main hall of the port authority. There weren't many people in the hall; a few port officers on the night shift were dozing behind their counters.
The Forging Temple complex of Fel Maxim sits atop the Hive City and is one of the tallest structures in Fel Maxim. To reach it from Dock-12, one must first take a space elevator to the Upper Hive District, and then transfer to a ground-based railcar.
Liu En swiped his identity card at the entrance of the space elevator. The badge of a third-tier trainee technical priest flashed on the sensor, and the gate opened. He was the only one in the elevator car. Through the transparent armored glass, he could see the nests below gradually awakening in the morning light—the smog in the lower nest had not yet dissipated, but the lights in the middle and upper nests were already mostly on.
The space elevator journey was short; the hatch opened with a beeping sound, and they had arrived at the upper hive area. Liu En followed the flow of people out of the elevator, through a spacious transfer hall, and found the orbital station platform leading towards the temple.
The railcar was already waiting on the platform, its deep red body painted with a gear and skull emblem. The doors were open, and a few technical priests, also dressed in red robes, sat sparsely inside. Liu En found an empty seat and sat down, cradling the metal mailbox on his lap. Outside the window, the streetscape of Shangchao rushed past in the morning light.
The first stop for the railcar was the "Temple Outer Auxiliary Area." Liu En stepped off the carriage and walked nearly a hundred meters along a wide passageway. The walls on both sides of the passageway were inlaid with plaques of sages from past dynasties, the bronze and fine gold materials gleaming dimly under the lights. Above, a huge mural depicted the God of Machines forging the first Thinker from the furnace of stars.
At the end of the passage lay the core area of the temple complex. Dark gray, adamantine walls soared into the sky, their surfaces inlaid with the Mechanicus's gear and skull emblem and the Emperor's double-headed eagle icon. Heavy armored warriors of the Guardian Army stood on either side of the main entrance. Their optical lenses scanned Liu En, emitting a soft buzzing sound before falling silent. His implanted mechanical devices had automatically responded in the scanning array, eliciting an identity signal matching the Order's cult's detection threshold. Without these, he wouldn't have reached this point.
Liu En walked steadily through the ranks of the guards.
After entering the portico, a wide corridor leads to the temple, lined with statues of saints from the past generations of the Mechanicus. At the end of the corridor is the main hall of the temple, an enormous space with a giant chandelier composed of hundreds of gears and drive shafts slowly rotating from its dome. In the center of the main hall stands a colossal statue of Om Messiah, below which is a long, adamantite altar with incense burners and data crystals.
Liu En found the entrance to the corridor leading to the administration building in the main hall. The administration building was located to the north of the main hall, and the sign in front of the building read "Casting Temple - Field Ship Management Office".
The corridors inside the administration building were narrow and the lighting was a stark white. Every office door looked exactly the same, with only a small number plaque on the gray metal panel. Liu En walked nearly two hundred meters before finding the door to the archives department—a bronze plaque engraved with a few worn High Gothic characters. He pushed open the heavy metal door and stepped into the room.
The room's four walls were lined with metal drawers. Near the window stood a large workbench, on which a low-ranking butler in a grey robe was hunched. Liu En pulled a data crystal from his pocket and handed it to him with both hands.
"Recorder, this registration requires confirmation. I am Cohen Severus, a Tier 3 Apprentice Technical Priest, belonging to the Lucis Forging World. The Black Pearl's registration receipt is here; may the Machine Soul verify its accuracy."
The steward took the crystal, inserted it into the card reader, and stared at the screen for several seconds. "Data complete, format compliant. Entry registration confirmation receipt has been entered."
Liu En nodded slightly and turned to leave. Just as he reached the door, the communicator on the worktable suddenly beeped briefly. The steward picked up the receiver, whispered a few words, and then looked up.
"Please wait. Sage Aurelius Cornelius summons you. West Wing, seventh floor, room forty-two. Proceed immediately."
Liu En didn't ask any further questions and nodded. "Okay."
The deacon sat back down. Liu En walked out of the archives and turned into the passageway leading to the west wing.
The west wing corridors were much brighter than the administration building, with higher ceilings and wider passageways. The floor was paved with dark red synthetic stone inlaid with gold gear emblems. Next to the doors on both sides were plaques and decorative carvings—gears, skulls, double-headed eagles, and binary prayers.
Room 42 was at the far end of the corridor. Liu En placed his ID card on the card reader by the door. The door opened.
A massive black workbench occupied the center of the room, its surface piled high with data crystals, parts, and partially disassembled mechanical devices. Dozens of sealed glass containers, each containing samples of various organic tissues and mechanical components, sat on shelves against the wall. To the right of the door was a huge, transparent, armored glass window, offering a panoramic view of the entire hive.
Aurelius Cornelius sat behind the worktable.
He wore the deep red robes characteristic of sages, the hem of which was trimmed with gold gear patterns. About seventy percent of his body was replaced by machinery—his arms were intricate metal structures, the left side of his face was entirely mechanical, and an optical lens embedded in his eye socket was slowly extending and retracting to focus. His head was bald, replaced by a dozen or so data cables as thin as hair.
"Cohen Severus," Aurelius's voice was calm, "Third-order Apprentice Technical Priest. Sit."
Liu En sat down in the chair opposite the worktable.
"I've seen the registration confirmation slip." The old sage cut straight to the point. "Your ship is in good condition."
He asked a few simple questions about the ship's model and crew configuration. Liu En answered them one by one.
"The Black Pearl can be assigned to the Fifth Field Fleet as an auxiliary ship." Aurelius pushed a data panel in front of Liu En, which contained a summary of the standard commissioning terms. Liu En confirmed that everything was correct and signed it.
Aurelius retrieved the data tablet, then took another one from the drawer and pushed it towards him. "There's one more task; you can make a choice."
Mission Briefing: LXS-4742-T001. Destination: Sintira System. Rendezvous with two other subordinate ships to form a temporary escort fleet to Wandering Harbor, providing armed support and patrol escort for the Mechanicus Temple there for three months.
"Roaming Port?" Liu En asked.
"One of the portals to the Eye of Fear." Aurelius's optical lens zoomed in and out. "The Temple is short-staffed lately. You'll fill in for three months. Not to send you to your death."
"What about the reward for the mission?"
"Upon completion, two years' worth of taxes will be deducted in one lump sum. During the mission, berthing fees and supplies will be calculated at 70% of the original price, and 30% of the round-trip fuel will be reimbursed."
Liu En remained silent for a few seconds.
The first thing that came to his mind was that he couldn't refuse.
The moment he signed the commissioning agreement, he had already bound himself to this chariot. The Sage wasn't seeking consent; he was announcing a decision. A third-tier trainee technical priest, a newly commissioned field support ship—the Forging World giving you this mission was a sign of respect. Refuse? That would be tantamount to telling the Temple: this ship is disobedient, this person is unusable. The consequences would be the berth being reclaimed, supplies being blocked, and even Garros's development application potentially being "shelved for review."
This was a trap built layer upon layer. From the very beginning of the induction agreement, every step was meticulously calculated. Overseas assignments, two years of tax exemption, and the right to roam freely—these seemed like rewards, but were in reality a noose. On the empire's chessboard, he was merely a pawn being moved around.
But he quickly suppressed that thought. Complaining without resources is pointless. Freedom isn't a gift; it's bought—with strength, resources, and a planet no one else can touch. The world creates you with tasks because you're useful. The day you're no longer useful, you won't even have the right to be tied down. Being needed is always better than being forgotten.
Garros. A desolate star system on the Empire's borders, a planet explored, abandoned, and forgotten 3,700 years ago. There are no Imperial bureaucrats there, no layers of approval from the Mechanicus. It can become his—an industrial world, a place where he can settle down. The Empire needs him to pay taxes, but it doesn't care who's in charge. As long as the taxes are paid, as long as there's no rebellion, no one will give you a second glance. That is freedom.
On the bright side: the Throne Coins saved from two years of tax exemption can be invested in the development of Garros, and the intelligence from the Wandering Port and the black market channels are useful for the construction of the Industrial World. Things you can't refuse, overthinking only creates unnecessary trouble.
"That's all?" he asked.
"You think that's not enough?" The old sage's eyebrows twitched slightly.
"It's not that it's not enough. It's that I want to be sure."
Aurelius turned a page on the data panel. "The security rating for the route from Sintira to Wandering Port is consistently stable. After your three-month duty period, you can rest and resupply at Wandering Port, and then decide for yourself whether to return. The Temple will not interfere with your subsequent journey."
Liu En was silent for two seconds. "I accept."
Orelius aimed his optical lens at him. "Are you sure?"
"Sure."
The old sage nodded and made a few scribbles on the worktable. "The administration will send the official agreement to your terminal as soon as possible. After signing, go to the logistics department to collect the flight data recorder and mission identification beacon. Once everything is ready, the Black Pearl will proceed to the Sintira Spaceport to report for duty."
He took a piece of stationery with a gear and skull emblem printed on it from the drawer. "This is the confirmation of my registration."
Liu En stood up, accepted the gift with both hands, and placed it in the inner pocket of his robe. "Thank you, Sage. May the Machine Spirit witness your decision."
Aurelius waved his hand, aiming the optical lens at the silhouette of the Black Pearl outside the window. "No need to thank me. Building one more usable ship benefits everyone."
When Liu En walked out of the office, there was a thin layer of cold sweat on his back.
He stood in the corridor, sunlight streaming through the high glass windows, casting long, slanted shadows on the deep red stone floor. When he climbed up from the bottom nest, he thought that once he had a ship and an identity, he would be free. Now he knew that freedom was a foreign concept in the Empire. The higher you climb, the tighter you are bound. Helplessness? Of course. But this mission wasn't for nothing—two years of tax exemption and a 30% discount on supplies were all paving the way for Garros. Every penny saved, every connection built, would be a brick in the foundation of that planet in the future.
He pulled the confirmation document out of the inner pocket and glanced at it. Below the gear and skull emblem was the Black Pearl's registration information. Below that was an additional line of handwritten binary code: LXS-4742-T001, confirmed.
He took a deep breath, folded the letter back up, put it close to his chest into his inner pocket, and turned to walk towards the elevator.
The corridor stretched endlessly behind him. The Guards of the Church stood silently at the corner, their heavy armor gleaming a dark red light under the lamplight.