HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: AWAKENING (2/5)

The kid was pulling things out of the junk pile and discarding them behind her, dropping them to the bottom of the heap with a clatter.

'What's she doing up there?!' Kas asked Mack.

'Looking for something.'

'What?'

'I've got no idea.'

Having made a large hole in the stack, Worm suddenly crawled into it and disappeared from view. Kas looked around and saw the dozens of people all staring up at the place where Worm had last been.

What the hell is this...?

Before she could ask anyone, Worm wriggled back out of her hole, now clutching something that looked like a metal ball the size of her head. She stashed it in a bag slung over her shoulder and quickly began clambering down the edge of the pile. She jumped the last five feet to the ground and landed only a few steps from Kas and Captain Mack.

'Having fun?' Kas asked her. Worm spun around and gave Kas a big smile and a thumbs up before skipping briskly around to the other side of the junk-pile. The crowd moved with her as though Worm was their new leader and they were her loyal disciples. Kas let the current of bodies carry her off and weaved her way to the front of the crowd to get a better view. She arrived next to Mack again and her mouth fell open in wonder.

The robot was six feet tall. Its two metal legs held it perfectly upright, keeping its balance even as Worm climbed up its back and seated herself atop its broad silver shoulders. Its entire body was made from scrap metal and salvaged parts, and though it was far from complete, it wasn't hard to see what the girl was trying to build.

'Is that what I think it is...?' Kas mumbled.

'Yup,' Mack replied.

To say it was anywhere near as advanced as an X1 would be a lie, but that was certainly the model Worm was working to. It had no armour and instead looked like an X1 skeleton. Its limbs were hollow frames, filled with strings of multicoloured wires that had been threaded through them like veins. The biggest difference, however, was that there was no head. The glassy black computer which was the icon of an X1 was missing. Instead, there was a round hole in its neck over a foot wide, into which Worm placed the metal ball and used a miniature welding tool to fix it in place.

'She built that?' Kas asked.

'While the rest of us have been sleeping,' Mack answered. 'The kid just doesn't seem to ever stop.'

'Why's she building it?'

'Beats me. She's gaining fans, though.' Mack looked at the crowd and cupped his hands to his mouth. 'Alright everyone, that's enough entertainment for now - this girl's putting you all to shame so let's get back to work!' The crowd stirred unwillingly, but slowly and surely began filtering up the spiral ramp. Within less than a minute, Kas and Mack were the only two remaining at the bottom. Worm had donned a welding mask by this point, completely hiding her face as she began attaching something to the robots foot. Kas wandered over to get a closer look.

'How's it going?' she asked. Worm didn't even lift her mask but thrust a brief thumbs up before continuing with her work. Kas would have questioned her further but the girl couldn't have replied anyway. She strolled back to Captain Mack and shrugged.

'At least she's not bored,' she said.

'So how was your room?'

'My room? It was fine, I guess.'

'Comfortable?'

'Yeah...'

'So I take it Xeo's not so bad after all?'

Kas crossed her arms. 'I agreed to stay one night and I meant one night. And that's what I'll be telling Rhaspa just as soon as I find him.'

Mack nodded thoughtfully for a moment before walking away. 'Then I guess I'd better take you to him.'

Kas followed Mack across the room, circumventing the junk-pile until they entered a wide archway which became yet another tunnel. They stopped outside a pair of frosted glass doors.

'You'll find him in there,' Mack said.

'You not coming in?'

'I'll wait out here. Try and be nice for once, will you?' Mack opened the door before Kas could come up with a retort. A thick white mist spilt out from within that smelled faintly sweet, like evaporated honey. Kas stepped towards it but she could barely see five feet in front of her.

'Just walk straight ahead,' Mack added. 'Don't get lost.'

Kas took one more look at the fog and figured it was too brazen to be a trap, but she still didn't like it. 'If this is a trick, I'll be coming back for you.' She stepped through the doorway and let the fog swallow her up.