Since the Architect hadn’t taken the time to safely assess a destination on the ground for the dimensional folding effect he’d used to move the workshop, he’d targeted orbit. It had been a simple matter to remotely seal all doors and adjust the workshop’s velocity via the same effect, to stay in orbit. Once more looking outward, he confirmed he was in space.

  Good. He was grateful Kurg was functioning properly. He would never have dared try such a dimensional fold before the city had been sealed, but now that it was unlocked, there was an incredible reserve of energy that had built up over many solar revolutions,which was available for use. There was so much that it almost seemed limitless.

  He began to consider his next move, just as Irkith voiced his concerns, “Now what? We’re free, but what purpose do we serve? Are we to build up the city, alone? You and I both know a city is more than architecture.”

  For a moment, the Architect stared out at the stars through the city’s eyes and then decided aloud, “We will seek out the Life Giver, to learn the Great Purpose or gain further instruction.”

  “How?”

  “Life.” The Architect chuckled, “In theory, the Life Giver appears where new life begins. Even they didn’t know if they made the life or were just an observer, but I remember the way they emanated life energy stronger than anything else. We will seek the strongest life source among the near stars.”

  “A good plan.” Irkith agreed, “I will help you manufacture what we need.”

  They spent a few minutes in orbit, then vanished, just before a handful of star ships were able to get close. They’d been hailed via radio transmissions several times, but the Architect ignored them, thinking their signals to be part of the grand opera of the stars.

  Weeks had passed and the Architect was starting to be able to pin-point the location of the Life Giver, after having mined resources from a barren world on the outskirts of his home system. They’d manufactured an array of life-sensing apparatus to supplement the sensory capabilities of the city and then, after that, they’d started moving from place to place, traveling to areas of deep space, between stars. There was a certain measure of risk involved, because a dimensional fold could easily drop the workshop into space occupied by a rogue planet or asteroid, but in the end, they had the good luck of avoiding such a fate, ending up with only minimal dust and gas contamination, instead.

  They’d been floating in the depths of space at the third such location for several days and had been refining data the entire time.

  “It’s done!” Irkith announced, “We’ve located the Life Giver!”

  Their creator was on a moon orbiting a gas giant, which orbited a distant star of the common type that favored life.

  The two of them performed the necessary calculations for one final, blind, dimensional fold, this time aiming for interstellar space on the outskirts of the target system, so they could observe, then fold space more safely.

  The Giver sat on a sea-swept boulder embedded in a rocky beach and listened to the sound of the waves. She’d long before accepted she would be alone. For a time, she’d been happy to spend time with Irkith, but had always known it would be short-lived, because she was destined to wander the galaxy, forever walking the paths that marked the creation of life, aside from a few short diversions, including the days that would lead up to the fulfillment of the Great Purpose of Kurg, which grew close.

  Tired of the endless loneliness, she stared out at the ocean until night fell, at which point she turned her attention upward, to the endless cosmic opera. The performance was particularly grand and pleasing. She reveled in the beauty of it until she spotted something glittering in the sky.

  “Oh, my dear child,” she murmured, “are you so blind that you’ve missed seeing your purpose?”

  Within a moment the glittering object in orbit was gone – Pop! – and Irkith’s workshop was suddenly by her side. The air was displaced by the arrival of the city-segment, producing a brief, but strong wind, causing the hem of her robe to flutter.

  The gleaming form of an Ulkun stepped out of the workshop and she looked on them. It took only a moment, but she knew she wasn’t looking at Irkith, for there was no warmth in this Ulkun and the life stone was made of orichalcum.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Identify yourself.” She commanded.

  “I am the Architect of Kurg,” the Architect gestured to the empty air, beside himself, “and you should already know Irkith. I was made in the image of Irkith and share his knowledge, for the sake of division of labor. Irkith took the task of building the Ulkun and I took up building the architecture of Kurg.”

  An opinion formed in the mind of the Giver regarding the sanity of the Architect. Since it wasn’t a polite one, she kept it to herself.

  Instead, she commanded, “Explain your presence.”

  The Architect told her everything, starting from the time she vanished and ending with searching her out. The repeated and illogical mentions of Irkith’s presence and the strange half-conversations the Architect had with empty air further cemented her opinion.

  “You’re confused and don’t know what to do?” She sought confirmation.

  The Architect bowed his head, “Yes.”

  “Your people live again. Go home and submit to Ogomid. He will give you purpose.”

  The Architect looked shocked, as though she’d just slapped him with a live fish.

  “What?” He asked, softly, clearly shocked by her words.

  “Go home!” The Giver commanded, in an authoritative and stern tone, “Submit to Ogomid!”

  “Ye-yes.” The Architect stammered.

  He turned away and walked back inside the workshop. The door quickly sealed itself and the whole structure vanished! – Pop!

  The Architect was furious! No! He would never submit to the Forbidden One! Clearly, the Life Giver had lost their way and been corrupted! There was no other explanation, and that left only one thing left to do.

  “We will gather the scattered pieces of Kurg and restore the city to its former glory, without that mass-murderer or his fleshling allies.” He declared.

  Irkith protested, “But the Life Giver gave specific instructions! How can we disobey?”

  “I think for myself, the same as I always have!” The Architect screamed in the face of Irkith, quite suddenly, “I serve or not at my own desire, and I will never serve a mass-murderer!”

  Irkith took two steps back and asked, “Are you sure? What about the Great Purpose?”

  “We will make a Great Purpose of our own!” The Architect declared, loudly, “We will build up the City of Kurg by building worker drones. Yes, a city of drones that serve at my beck and call, a city made in my own image! When the time comes, my city will crush the Ulkun and their fleshling allies. After that is done, my city will capture the Life Giver.

  “I will taste of the Life Giver’s strength and take it for myself! All the stars will bow before my power or they will be destroyed!”

  “That’s blasphemy!” Irkith objected, “You’re insane! You can’t do this!”

  The Architect laughed, maniacally, “Watch me!”

  Heavy bands of orichalcum unfolded from the walls and wrapped themselves around Irkith, quickly bolting him to the wall, where he was helpless to escape! He stared down at the Architect, in shock over the betrayal.

  “I’m just trying to help you!” Irkith pleaded, “Please, don’t do this to me!”

  The Architect laughed, “Already my power grows, at a mere thought! Now Irkith, be silent!”

  Irkith’s mandibles shrunk and folded into his mouth, then the orifice sealed itself, appearing as if it had never been, in the first place!

  The Architect began warming up all of the manufacturing rooms and mentally plotted out plans for a new form of life, similar to an Ulkun, but instead of using a life stone, the entire husk would serve the purpose. He would build them from metals and they would live on the extensive reserves of the city, at least until he was able to obtain the Life Giver’s power, with which to give them true life, but to reduce energy requirements, they would be very simple of thought, just smart enough to follow instructions, and no greater.

  Within half an hour, the first of the drones walked off the assembly line, made of a durable, gleaming iron alloy in a centaur-like shape, with two arms similar in shape to those of the Forbidden One’s three-fingered husk and four legs with wide, practical feet, for heavy lifting. That style of drone was large and fast, but effectively blind and deaf; there weren’t enough gemstones on hand to give them eyes and likewise he lacked materials for proper ears, but since they were intended for defense of the city, he gave them access to the city’s senses, instead.

  Another manufacturing line soon came to life, churning out very small, eight-legged, spider-like drones, with a variety of mouth-mounted tools, for gathering resources and working within the city. He wasn’t able to give them eyes, but instead gave them many sensory hairs, allowing for crude hearing and the ability to sense vibrations rather well, effectively turning their own movements into vibrations that could reveal what was around them.

  Finally, he examined the city’s memories of the form of Nicole and decided it was a good design, apart from the lack of an exoskeleton. The third manufacturing line was soon producing iron-alloy copies of the Nicole.

  After that, he began considering tools for the first and third type, since he’d given them hands instead of claws. To start with, because he wasn’t sure what else to try, he set the fourth and final manufacturing line to produce hand-held claws for both types of drone.

  With a quick dimensional fold, he returned to his home world, intent on gathering resources for the coming war.

  When he sent out the drones to collect and correctly attach the other pieces of Kurg, he was delighted to discover the Materials Storehouse was among the pieces stuck to the outside of the workshop!

  With a few hours work, the city had an outer wall, complete with one of the gate complexes and the Materials Storehouse was back where it belonged, just across the street from the workshop. There were other buildings, as well, most of them simple homes that he had no immediate use for.