Lucien left Shadow with Rurik.
The two men began speaking with the alarming intensity of craftsmen who had accidentally discovered a kindred obsession.
The Bio-metal Automaton project had already entered its final phase. The skeletal framework was complete, the adaptive channels had been tested, and the first successful responses from the embedded alloy tissues had exceeded even Rurik's original projections.
Lucien had thought that letting Shadow see it might inspire one final leap in refinement.
He had underestimated the result.
Shadow stood before the suspended construct in silence for several breaths. His usual composure thinned.
Then he stepped closer.
Then closer still.
Then he asked the first question.
And after that, the two of them did not stop.
Rurik explained the living metal lattice, the layered growth logic, and the way the special materials had been forced into a structure that could adapt rather than merely endure.
