The construct gave Asriel a puzzled look. "Huh? What're ya ..." A small muffled chime shot through the air. The figure pulled a watch out of his pocket and looked at it with his blue eye for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"Sorry, kid." He said, his voice identical to that of the pun-loving skeleton from the Underground. "Shift change."
He left the workbench and headed for the stairs at a leisurely pace. Asriel stared after him until Shye grabbed his arm.
"Asriel, look!" She said, pointing to the workbench. "It's one of the ferrets!"
Sure enough, one of the ferrous ferrets was on the workbench, one of its legs partially assembled.
"What do you think he was doing with it?" Shye asked. "And what was it you called him?"
"Sans." Asriel said, "But it can't be."
Before Shye could ask anymore questions, Asriel ran for the stairwell. It continued to the next floor; while functionally identical to the floor below, the higher floor was completely in order. Parts were kept in cabinets across the floor, workbenches were carefully arranged and tidy, and tools were kept in immaculate condition. Aside from cleanliness, the only major difference were the two chairs in the center of the room, one smaller than the other and raised so that the holes in the back of both chairs were perfectly aligned. . They resembled dentist chairs, each supported by a single metal post bolted to the floor and secured together via two long armrests that ran alongside both chairs.
One of the chairs was currently occupied by another artificial being, this one taller and lankier. As soon as the construct resembling Sans settled in the smaller chair and closed his eyes, something small and bright slowly floated through the hole in the back of the chair ... something that made the Everstar on Asriel's chest light up. It was a shard!
The shard passed into the taller construct, who immediately stood up and opened his eyes.
"Ahh!" The figure said, stretching. "What a good rest! Well, it's back to work for me!"
"Excuse me, mister ..." Asriel stopped. The fact that the second construct looked like Papyrus shouldn't have shocked him, but it did.
"Oh, hello there!" said the tall construct with Papyrus's massive-toothed smile. "My brother told me about you!"
"He did?" Asriel said, surprised.
"Well, he said you said, 'Excuse me, mister ...'. Seems like a habit of yours. Is that why you're here? We usually only fix physical problems, but I might be able to alter some of your wiring to-"
"Wait just a minute!" Asriel said, holding up a hand. "Papyrus and Sans went to the surface!"
Papyrus raised a metal eyebrow at Asriel. "I see. Well, I'm not certain of who you speak, but I wish them the best!"
Asriel rubbed his forehead. This was weird; really weird.
"Hi!" Shye said, making him look up. "I'm Shye, and this is my friend Asriel. We saw your tower and were curious."
"Curious? About our great work? Splendid! Simply splendid! There is so much to talk about, I scarcely know where to begin! Ah, but where are my manners?" The construct drew himself up and said, "I am the Great Archie Tect, and this lump of metal is my brother, Beget."
"I see." Shye said as Asriel struggled to keep up. "And what is this great work?"
"Why, the Precious Meadows, of course!" Archie snapped his fingers. The outer wall of the chamber slid down, revealing an awe-inspiring view of the Precious Meadows as far as Asriel could see.
Asriel and Shye approached the nearest opening and stared out at the field below them. It stretched to the horizon, the Brass woods only faintly visible at the far end. They were moving further away from the Brass Woods.
"Oh, wow!" Shye said, her eyes shining. "You really made all this?"
"Yes, I did." Archie paused before adding, "With some help from my brother. A little."
"It's amazing." Asriel said.
"Indeed!" Archie replied, clearly pleased with the praise. "All carefully constructed here, in the safety of Serenity Spire."
"Wow." Shye said, tail wagging slightly. "I wish I lived in a big pretty tower?"
Archie's smile faded. "Well ... you get used to it. But enough about me ... for the moment, anyway. What brings you two here?"
"Um ... well," Asriel mumbled, only for Shye to shove him aside.
"Your crab robots are eating my father's trees!" She said, her earlier wonder now replaced with indignance.
"Crab robots? Oh, Crittaceans? I've already fixed that!" Sighing, Archie said, "I designed them to build homes out of scrap. Unfortunately, when some of them got lost in your Brass Woods, they misidentified it all as being scrap."
"Scrap?!" Shye said indignantly.
"Well, you can hardly blame them. I mean, if you lived in the Precious Meadow and found yourself in the Brass Woods, wouldn't you think it was a bunch of scrap?"
"Hey!" Shye said, crossing her arms. "I happen to like the Brass Woods! I've lived there all my life!"
"And yet now you're here." Archie said, a smug look on his face.
Shye looked like she wanted to respond to that, but ended up just looking sulky.
"Besides," Archie continued, "I've already fixed it. I try not to bog our creations down with too many imperatives; life should make its own way. Still, we are trying to create an ecosystem here with focuses on working together, not tearing each other apart, so I gave them a direct imperative not to interfere with the Brass Woods unless someone was in need of assistance."
"Oh yeah?" Shye said, standing on the tips of her paws to try and look Archie in the eyes. "And what about Glencove? They completely trashed the place!"
"Completely trashed? Young lady, are you insinuating that I deliberately created machines to hurt people!" Archie grew more incensed with every word, to the point where his eyes were glowing.
Asriel quickly stepped between the two. "Mister Archie, do you know what happened in Glencove?"
"Glencove would be the city nearest the border?" Archie scratched his metal chin when Asriel nodded in reply. "Well, tell you what; why don't we ask them?"
"Ask ... what, you have the survivors here?"
"Indeed! The Crittaceans brought them here after the incident. While we are not responsible, I hate to see people lose their homes, and have offered to help them rebuild their city here in the Precious Meadows."
"You ... you'd do that?" Shye said, sounding surprised. "Let them build here, in your creation?"
"Of course! The Great Archie loves to help people! We've helped dozens of wanderers settle around here, and Glencove will hardly be the last."
No one returned from beyond the Brass Woods. That's what Mayor Mayor said; at the time it seemed ominous; now, however, it was clear the reason wasn't from violence; they simply chose to stay.
"Mister Tect." Asriel began, only for Archie to say, "Please, young goat-boy, feel free to call me Archie."
"Archie, one of the crittaceans grabbed my friend's hat. We lost him when he chased after it; could you help us find him?"
"Your friend," Archie said, eyes narrowing. "Would he happen to be a big stone person?"
Asriel's eyes widened. "Yeah! That's him! We call him Golemite!"
"Yes, we have picked ... him ... up. He did quite a number on that crittacean."
"Oh ... I'm sorry." Asriel said.
"No need to apologize, young Asriel. You did nothing wrong. Your friend, however, was most unrepentant." Crossing his arms, Archie sniffed. "I almost didn't assist him."
"Assist?" Asriel said, exchanging a worried look with Skye. "What happened?"
"Well, when he damaged the first crittacean unit, the others swarmed him. They use a fairly ingenious combination of scent detection, stream-flux scanners, and thaumic variance analyzers to determine threats to the-"
"Archie, he's my friend! Please, tell me what happened?"
Looking a little embarrassed, Archie said, "Well ... they kind of swarmed him. By the time I got there, he was in a bad way ... but don't worry! The Great Archie Tect is both kind and forgiving, and I have successfully repaired your friend to an even better state than he was originally!"
Asriel breathed a sigh of relief, but Shye put her hand on his shoulder, as though to signify that trouble still lay ahead. "You improved him?"
"Oh, yes." Archie motioned for them to follow. "Improved range of movement, more efficient power usage, even improved strength. I'd say it's an overall improvement. mind you, I've nothing but respect for whoever created him."
"But ... but how can you fix him?" Asriel asked. "Normally when he gets chipped, he has to call a stoneworker."
"Allow me to show you."
Asriel hoped that they were going to wherever Golemite was, but Archie simply led them to one of the workbenches.
"You see," He said, tapping a long pneumatic delivery tube. "While we're hoping to make this place self-sustaining, at the moment our creations do have a tendency to break down over time. Sometimes it's simply early models, sometimes there's an accident ... sometimes it's an eight-ton golem slamming a massive foot into their thorax."
A small capsule shot from the tube. Archie caught it with ease and upended it on the table to reveal another ferrous ferret.
His hand worked so fast they were almost a blur; removing metal fur-covered panels, replacing broken parts, soldering connections, and tightening miniscule screws. "Fortunately, we've put an imperative into every creature to save their damaged brethern and bring them to Serenity Spire when it lands nearby. That way, we can repair, replace, or rebuild as necessary. It's delicate work; by comparison, repairing you friend was quite simple."
Archie lifted his hands moments before the ferrous ferret returned to life. It sniffed around at them for a moment before letting out a curious chittering noise.
Archie caught the ferret easily and slipped him back in the capsule. "Once fixed, we simply set them loose again the next time we set down.
"Aww ... poor thing!" Shye said.
"Not to worry." Archie said. "It's a stasis capsule; it will simply sleep until released. The Great Archie Tect could not bear to cause emotional harm to any of my creations, after all."
"Your friend, while certainly an unusual construct, was built much the same principles. Mind you, he's lucky that Beget is a creative genius; he had to improvise quite a few parts, especially since we could only recover about sixty percent of Golemite's original mass-"
"What?!" Asriel clamped his paws over his mouth as Archie gave him a stern look. "Sorry; I just ... they hurt him that much?"
"Actually, most of the damage came from a high-velocity impact with one of the trees. The problem ... well, it's the crabs again. They use whatever materials are lying around, and frankly quite a bit of your friend was all over the place. They had almost half of him in the canyon before we got to him. Fortunately, whoever constructed Golemite made him quite hardy, he'll be fine, though I have to warn you, there are a few differences."
"Differences?" Asriel asked, frowning.
Archie sighed again and rubbed his metal temples. "My brother has an ... odd sense of humor, and I'm afraid he likes nothing more than to inflict it on people he views as bullying his creations. I'm afraid your friend has fallen victim to that attitude."
"What did he do?" Asriel asked, eyeing the tin man warily.
Archie rose to his feet and motioned for Asriel and Shye to follow him. He led them down into the next floor up, this one filled with large pill-shaped pods.
"These are for the larger of our constructs." Archie said, gazing around the room fondly.
Sure enough, Asriel peeked through the pods as they passed and saw giant bears of bronze, tigers with ebony stripes, gilded deer with crystalline antlers. There were more, however; giant ladybugs with translucent red shells, bunnies as big as beach balls with ears so large they probably allowed it to glide in the air, goggle-eyed creatures with shaggy coats and legs that looked like giant springs, and even a great silvery dolphin with large colorful fins.
"Ah, my dreas." Archie said, putting a hand on the pod with the dolphin-like creature. "Amazing, isn't she? Smart, too. She's a flyer, and a fixer ... at least, she will be if I ever get the time to finish her. Imagine it; these beauties flying through the Precious Meadows on the breeze like tropical fish no longer constrained by the ocean."
"I wanna ride!" Shye said, eyes alight with delight.
"Ride? Ride?!" Archie looked as though his feeling offended was intercepted by contemplation of the idea. "Hmm. they are quite strong and undoubtedly fast. Perhaps, if they were willing ... yes, it could be quite amusing to fly with a dreas."
Shaking his head, Archie continued through the pods until he came to one with its viewing window closed.
"Ah, here he is." Archie said after peeking through the door. "Well, in a matter of speaking."
Asriel's jaw dropped as Archie opened the door. His mind had already concocted several ideas of what might have become of his friend, but what floated in the amber liquid of the pod was not one of them
Shye started giggling. Asriel glared at her, but she apparently couldn't stop.
"Golemite." She said between giggles. "More like Golemette."
Shye's observation was accurate; gone were the squared off blocks of stone, the brick-like feet, the crude cylinder of a head with two glowing eyes. The once blocky and massive body was now tall, slim, muscular, and very female. His ... or rather, her eyes were open just enough to let a small mount of yellow light out, the only part of Golemite that was still familiar.
The stone had been expertly sculpted and reinforced with silver and gold etchings that looked like tattoos against Golemite's pale gray 'skin'. She had golden hair, clearly made of using the same process as that which created the realistic metal fur of the ferrous ferrets. The long mane issuing from her head floated around her, bits of it moving along with currents of the amber liquid.
Her face showed the most work, however; gold eyebrows and eyelashes, a clearly defined and stunningly beautiful face, and the ability to physically emote. Asriel learned that last one when Golemite's eyes flashed open a moment later, her mouth opened immediately in a yell, her stone fast twisting with anger.
"Right, right." Archie said, putting his hand on the side of the pod. The Amber liquid drained in moments. Golemite raised one hand to smash through the glass, but the pod was already pulling away from her.
"Hmpf." She said in a slightly high-pitched voice, her stunning face looking annoyed. "Good riddance. Don't know how I ended up in there anyway."
"Um ... are you okay?' Asriel asked, pointedly looking at Golemite's face. While her body lacked the exact anatomical details that would require clothing, it was nevertheless female enough to make him feel embarrassed.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, still shaking off the amber liquid. "Just a bit gooey at the moment. You?"
"Huh? Oh, we're fine." Asriel said, trying to ignore Shye's continued giggling. "Um, Archie? Do you have a towel or something?"
"Certainly." Archie scowled. "Unless that lazy-bolts forgot to put them in the wash again. I will return directly."
"Some clothes might be a good idea too." Shye said, still grinning.
"Yeah." Golemite said, rubbing her shoulder. "My old rags are probably ripped to shreds. Damn crab-bots; bastards ambushed me, took me by surprise. Before I knew it, dey had me surrounded, and ... and ..."
Asriel waited patiently, deciding to purposely forget that according to Archie, Golemite had run into a tree.
Golemite sighed and shook her head. "And I can't remember. Next thing, I know, I was here. Where are we anyway?"
"Serenity Spire." Asriel told him. "Archie ... that metal guy, he and his brother built this area. They made all the creatures too."
"Ah, and dey fixed me up, huh? Dat was nice of them." Snorting, Golemite added, "Mind, their crab-bots were da ones who got me injured in da first place. What is so funny?"
That last question was directed to Shye, who was giggling again. She shook her head. "Nothing!"
"I got somethin' on my face, or what?"
"No, nothing."
"Good."
"Lookin' pretty good actually."
Golemite's eyes narrowed, her new face showing a look of suspicion. Before she could ask anything, however, Archie appeared in the stairwell with a towel and a bundle of clothes.
"Here you go, friend." Archie said. "And my I say, I'm positively ecstatic to see you fully recovered."
"Thanks you, I hear." Golemite said, giving the metal man a nod as she took the towel.
Archie waved it off. "The Great Archie is glad to assist! Though, to be perfectly honest, you should really thank my brother, Beget. He's the one who fixed you up."
"Yeah, about dat." Golemite said, "I gotta say, I feel great. Haven't felt this good since I was in da Underground. You even fixed my sticky knee."
She lifted a shapely muscular leg and flexed it a few times to demonstrate.
"Well, we aim to please." Archie said. "Though, I must confess, I was a little worried. From your friend's reaction, I thought you might be a bit ... unhappy."
"Unhappy? Me?" Golemite chuckled as she stepped into her overalls. "Nah, I'm great. Heck, these even feel like they fit better. You do a lot of sewin', yeah?"
"Something like that." Archie said.
Golemite lifted up a black shirt. "Hey, dis ain't mine."
"Ah, that's a gift." Archie said, "Special nanofiber fabric. Should stand up to a lot of abuse."
"I dunno." Golemite said, giving it an odd look. "I never really messed with shirts before. Don't really need one."
"Didn't have cleavage before." Shye said with another giggle.
Golemite frowned at her. "I'll have you know I can cleave through a steel girder wit one hand. What's dat got to do wit shirts?"
Shye burst into giggles again. Rolling her eyes, Golemite said, "Still, it's a nice shirt; you musta went to some trouble to make it, so what the hey."
"Well," Archie said, clapping his metal hands together as Golemite slipped the shirt over her head. "My brother and I have been all sorts of helpful today. First with Glencove and again with you delightful people! I must ask, though, what is it that has brought you this far?"
Looking at his friends, Asriel said, "You mind if we have a seat? This might take awhile."
