Chapter 110: Cog-Heads and the Omnissiah
Omega, once again "shocked" by an unexpected scene, felt the world kick him in an unexpected place again.
The reality of tomb-raiding and assembly lines coming together had once again "broadened" his horizons, giving him a new understanding of the 42k's "tomb raiders."
Although it was completely different from what he had imagined, he still approached with a full heart of curiosity. The apprentices and priests on the assembly line, seeing their great leader arrive, quickly put down their work and bowed. Omega just waved his hand, telling them to continue, his capitalist manner in full display.
He carefully examined the "antiques" on the conveyor belt. After a while, the things on it disappointed him a little. They were all scattered parts, with some merits in their materials, after all, they had survived the erosion of time for so long. But that was all. As long as they were properly maintained, any product of the Adeptus Mechanicus could be used for tens of thousands of years.
Noticing the disappointment on Omega's face, Rhea, who was beside him, said, "At first, I also thought that a few casual digs would yield technological relics, and a few more would yield lost technology. But this is the reality. Most of what we can find are these things."
"Alright, Rhea. You're a mature archeologist now," Omega teased.
"Haha, I think so too. Let's go. This is just to make sure we don't miss anything. The real good stuff is in the intact buildings."
"Let's go! Let's go and see!"
Rhea's words rekindled Omega's enthusiasm for treasure hunting. The two of them boarded a specially constructed rail car and headed for the depths of the excavated underground space.
Along the way, Omega saw many exposed ruins. In front of some buildings, he could see Tech-Priests busy at work, while others were deserted. So he asked, "Rhea, what's going on?"
"The design philosophy of these ancient ruins is different from the present. They lived in the Golden Age of humanity. No race in the galaxy was a match for humanity, and they didn't have as many enemies as we do now. So their city layouts are all on a similar level. The comfort of living was their first consideration. Defense was not an option in their design. So we just have to dig horizontally at the level where the ruins are most concentrated, break through the exposed outer walls of these buildings to get inside. The deserted ones are the ones that have been explored. The ones with people are new discoveries, or have not yet been fully explored. The more intact a building is, the more precious the things inside. These buildings, which can resist the power of world-destroying weapons to a certain extent, were built with such sturdy materials because they had important functions. The place we are going now is the most intact ruin we have found so far. According to our analysis, it might have been the data center of Korsa at that time. Omega, do you know what that means?"
Looking at Rhea, whose eyes were starting to sparkle, Omega, of course, knew what might be inside. It might be the "ONE PIECE" of the cog-heads—a complete STC. But Omega didn't hold out much hope. If a "great treasure" really did appear, he wouldn't even look at it. He would stuff a high-yield nuclear bomb in there. Whether it was a plot of Tzeentch or not, a high-temperature disinfection was always a good idea.
"Ahem, Rhea, don't get your hopes up. The security measures there have been taken, right? I'm not talking about the external ones, but the ones inside the building."
"..." The cog-girl's eyes were no longer sparkling. They were now filled with resentment. She had been happily sharing the "joy of the cog-head" with Omega, but he didn't understand the "romance of the cog-head" at all.
Seeing that Rhea was not answering, Omega asked again, anxiously, "Have you done it or not? This is not a small matter. Don't be blinded by the invisible, untouchable technology."
"We've done it! We've done it!" the cog-girl said, annoyed.
Seeing Rhea like this, Omega decided to take back his words about her being a mature tomb-raiding expert. She was clearly a little thief who had been blinded by "treasure," unaware of the great mummy standing behind her.
Just then, they arrived at their destination. Omega followed behind the sulking cog-girl and found Magos Laust and a group of cog-heads struggling with a "security door."
The style of Laust and Rhea was the work of the same artist. The other Tech-Priests on the scene were also the same. Omega, clean and fair-skinned, looked very out of place here. Omega also saw figures in the crowd who looked like Aedus and Paul, but like Rhea, they were too different from his impression of them, so he wasn't sure.
Everyone was engrossed in helping Laust decipher the "security door's" password. No one noticed that the fleet leader was standing behind them. After leading Omega to the destination, the cog-girl had left him and had naturally returned to her original position, furiously operating the control panel. She was probably trying to crack something. The others were also the same.
Omega didn't go up to them immediately. Instead, he began to look at the building before him. It was massive. Only a part of it was exposed. From the part that had been excavated, it was very well-preserved. The outer walls only had the marks of time and some not-so-serious damage.
Laust and the others had guessed right. This was the original data center of Korsa. He had confirmed it with his talent. Just as he was about to learn more, he was interrupted by the sighing cog-heads. Seeing them all come down from their control panels, Omega, not knowing what had happened, quickly walked over.
"What's going on?"
"Oh, Magos Omega, you're here."
"Hmm. Why are you all so down?"
"Let me explain."
Turning to the voice, he saw that it was Laust. The respectful little cog-head quickly greeted him. "Magos Laust, you've worked hard."
"This is nothing. In my younger days, using a shovel, that was hard work." Laust's tone was filled with a lightness and freedom that he had not had before. Such a Magos reminded Omega of the scene when he had first met him, of the Magos turning into a motorcycle and carrying him across the wilderness. Perhaps this was the most real, the most genuine Laust. Omega thought so, but he also complained in his heart, "He's dug so many graves that he's revealed his true form."
"Magos, what's going on? Why are you all sighing?"
"Even after so long, the power inside has not been exhausted. This also makes us dare not to forcibly destroy the outer wall, for fear of triggering a self-destruct program. We can only decipher the security system set by the builders, bit by bit. But this security system resets itself every so often, changing the password and command. We've tried many times, but we haven't been able to crack the first password in time. Now we have to start all over again!" Laust said, his tone filled with resentment.
Heh heh, it's finally my turn to show off, to show these tomb raiders what technology is! Thinking this, Omega said, "Magos, take me to see it."
"Good. Come with me. Let me see your skills too," Laust said with a certainty, as if Omega would surely be able to crack the security password that they couldn't solve.
The others, seeing that Omega was going to act personally, also followed. A sense of being bullied, and now their big boss was coming to get revenge for them, rose in the hearts of these frustrated cog-heads.
Laust led Omega to a very futuristic-looking door. The outer shell of the door had already been cut open. Data cables of various thicknesses were connected to the inside of the door through the cut, extending outwards to a Cogitator. This Cogitator was in turn connected to each Tech-Priest's control panel.
"This is the entrance. We've only found this one so far," Laust said, and then quietly looked at Omega.
The others also looked at him silently. They wanted to learn from Omega. But Omega was also very quiet. He made no move. He did not approach the door, did not take out various instruments to knock and tap at it. He just stared at the door.
At first, everyone thought that Omega was trying to deduce the internal structure and design philosophy by observing the door's appearance. But they didn't expect him to look for so long. Just as Laust was starting to wonder if he should give Omega the data they had collected, Omega finally moved.
The moment the main character moved, everyone's attention was drawn to him. Just as they were still guessing what wonderful technology Omega would use, they saw him, in front of the door's panel, tap in a long string of passwords. And then the door opened.
Did I lose a part of my memory? The process is not right. How did he just input the password? I don't understand. Is it a hallucination or is there poison gas in the air?
Except for Omega, everyone else's brain was in a state of chaos. Because something completely illogical had just happened before their eyes. But thinking that this had happened to the Omnissiah cub, it seemed so... so very reasonable. For the manager of the machines, for him to not have the door open automatically was a blasphemy.
"Omnissiah! Omnissiah! Omnissiah!"
"My lord, my god, you have finally descended upon the mortal world again! Praise be to you, great Omnissiah!"
"He's grown again! Father, see, I was right! The Omnissiah is slowly recovering his divine power!"
"Praise the Omnissiah—"
Seeing that half the cog-heads had already knelt down, and the other half were about to, Omega knew it was bad. He had overdone it. He quickly shouted, "Stop! All of you, get up! I am not the Omnissiah! This is an order!"
But the kneeling cog-heads didn't care what he said. They just knelt, and they just kowtowed, as if to say, You show us the proof that you're not.
"Get up! I'm really not! Magos Laust, help me explain!" The flustered Omega had to turn to the person he trusted most for help.
How do I explain? Does it even need an explanation? This was what Laust thought after hearing Omega's plea. He was now full of a sense of mission. If anyone dared to say "no," Laust would now dare to kill them. Except for the Omnissiah, of course.
Fortunately, Laust had been prepared for this scene when he had boarded the Cogboy. Although he was eagerly awaiting this moment, he also understood that the Omnissiah cub had not yet fully grown. It was not yet time for him to reveal his identity to the world.
"Ahem! Magos Omega has already said, this is a misunderstanding! He just used a technology that we cannot understand! Hurry up and get up! If you keep this up, Magos Omega will get angry!"