The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 28. Chapter 28 - Olona, Kosephaji, & Relliduna

It was early in the morning when the knock Olona was expecting came from the front door of her shop, First Organic Mechanic of Teshon City. She opened it and said, “Welcome, Relliduna and Kosephaji.” She had written down her address on a napkin for them before leaving Red Raven’s the day before.

“Thank you for letting us come see you,” Kosephaji replied.

“And you can call me Duna,” Relliduna added.

Olona closed the door behind them. “Come into my workroom.” She led them to a space with a couple of tables with quite a lot of equipment on top of them.

“What is all this?” Kosephaji asked. He did not recognize much of what he saw.

“I got kicked out of the organic mechanic apprenticeship for performing those sacred corruptions I showed you,” Olona said the words thick with sarcasm.

“Can I see again?”

She smiled at Kosephaji, lit a joint, and rolled up her sleeves. Only small portions of her machines were visible, and even though Kosephaji was not permitted by the guild to work as an organic mechanic, he immediately understood the complexity of her devices. She removed the false panel of skin that covered the machine hidden in her forearm.

Kosephaji gasped in awe and gawked at her. “You did all this to yourself? No one helped you?”

Relliduna looked at Kosephaji. “What’s so different about what she has done to herself compared to what you did for me?”

Kosephaji looked appalled that his shoddy healing methods were being compared to the avant-garde creativity he was witnessing in Olona’s machines.

She smiled, replaced the panel in her forearm, and began looking over Relliduna’s healed injuries. “I can see what you were trying to do,” she said to Kosephaji in a kind voice. “You kept Duna alive, and I think that’s incredible. Don’t sell yourself short. There’s just more that can be done for each of these various healing modalities you’ve applied.” She turned to Relliduna and said, “The one on your elbow is not even working anymore.”

“Once I had recovered a bit and started moving more, it kept popping out,” he informed her.

“We’ll replace it with a machine that will last longer.” She looked over at Kosephaji. “Would you like me to show you how to do it? There are a few additional steps, and they’re a little complicated, but you had the basic idea. And hey,” she added, “organic mechanic stuff just makes sense to me; I get it.” Olona shrugged, and recommended of Relliduna, “Why don’t you sit down? None of this should hurt, but some of it might take a while.” She waved toward a cushioned chair.

On one of the tables, Olona assembled an exact replica of the machine Kosephaji had made for Relliduna’s elbow. It took her less than 90 seconds.

“How did you…” Kosephaji was dumbfounded. “I worked on him for hours.”

“Please, don’t compare yourself to me,” Olona said in a tone that was almost apologetic. “I’m the type of person who can sit down for hours and read technical manuals about organowire gauges and external structural components for machines. This stuff all just clicks in my brain.” She held up the device. “Now look, these two pieces can’t sustain the extended wear and tear of an elbow, so in this replacement machine, why don’t you reinforce the smaller part there,” and she pointed, “with a little of this organowire, and do the same thing to the other with this thicker gauged wire.”

“What if I mess it up?” Kosephaji asked, looking over at Relliduna.

Olona smiled. “You’re not going to mess it up. There are just a few extra steps that I’ll show you. They will make this replacement more durable and more supportive to Duna’s arm.”

“Why didn’t I know how to do this?” Kosephaji asked.

Olona sighed. “A lot of practices have been restricted by the guild. Take this,” she said, handing him a small tool. “Coil the organowire around the first support.” She observed his nervous application of the material. “That was good,” Olona encouraged. “Now, use this thicker gauged wire for the second. I know that the smaller wire is a little easier to deal with, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble.” As he completed the task she said, “Good, that looks great.”

Kosephaji handed her back the tool and said “But there’s a pointy end of the thicker organowire sticking out.” He sounded disappointed with himself.

“Let me just remove a tiny piece,” Olona replied. He handed the device to her and she folded the wire over on itself, clipping off the excess. “See how it’s smooth against the hinge now? That’s what you want. You did a great job. Now, let’s add a few drops of pringomite to the diziniler.”

Kosephaji looked blank. “I don’t know what those are.”

“Pringomite is a compound the Oselian organic mechanics developed,” Olona explained, “but in Tuilii la Ru, the masters of the apprenticeship only ever kept a very small stash of it, and it was always under lock and key. I don’t know why they banned and restricted so many of the early OM practices.”

Relliduna spoke up. “Maybe the Demifae who run much of Ruburge had something to do with the restrictions. Maybe they viewed organic mechanics as competition, and they’ve somehow limited what they could do.”

Olona raised her eyebrows and considered his idea. “That’s not a bad theory.”

Kosephaji then asked, “What’s the other thing you mentioned?”

“The diziniler?” She pointed at the device. “The energy center in this machine is connected directly to the supports and adjusters. The diziniler is the connection between the two. It needs to be coated in pringomite.” She handed him a small container. “Drip a few drops along this,” and she indicated the connector. “You can use one of these tiny brushes to smooth it out and make sure the whole thing is properly coated.”

“Oh, I see,” Kosephaji exclaimed as he applied the pringomite. “Does it need to…” He paused.

“Dry?” Olona said with a laugh. “Yeah, as you can see, it dries almost instantly.” She stepped up to Relliduna, knelt beside where he was seated, and gently took his arm. “May I?” He nodded to her. “This shouldn’t hurt,” Olona commented as she began to remove the worn-out device, but Relliduna groaned and tried not to pull away.

“Sorry,” Olona and Kosephaji said to him in unison.

A tiny jet of yellow steam hissed as the organic machine detached from Relliduna’s elbow. Olona placed it onto one of the tables and stepped back. “Go ahead,” she said to Kosephaji.

“Don’t you think you ought to install the new one?” he replied, extending it toward her.

“No, you do and see how it works,” Olona answered with an encouraging nod.

Kosephaji leaned over Relliduna’s arm. “Sorry,” he mumbled again, but Olona’s device perfectly replaced the original.

“Oh!” Relliduna said in surprise.

“I’m sorry!” Kosephaji blurted out.

“No, no, it doesn’t hurt,” Relliduna explained. “It doesn’t hurt at all! Even the dull ache that I’d kind of gotten used to is gone!”

Olona smiled at the two young men.

Kosephaji looked like he was about to cry.

For the rest of the morning, he helped Olona repair or replace each of Relliduna’s organic machines that needed upgrading, and noon was approaching when they finished their final adjustment. At that point, Olona recommended the three of them head out and grab some lunch from one of the countless street food vendors.

Relliduna still walked with the phallic fish cane, but he strode with more vigor than since the attack. His vast improvement overjoyed Kosephaji.

The trio stopped at a pod of food carts. “Can I buy your lunches?” Olona offered.

“What? Certainly not!” Relliduna replied. “After everything you did for me, we need to get your lunch for you!”

“I don’t mind, and the shop is doing really well,” Olona explained. “It’d be my pleasure.” She handed them each a few coins. “Get whatever you want,” and she waved at the row of food carts. “I’m having a noodle bowl!” She lit a joint and stepped up to the vendor.

Kosephaji and Relliduna left Olona to place her order, and they wandered by quite a few carts. Relliduna stopped at one to order kabobs, and Kosephaji walked two booths farther and ordered dumplings stuffed with roast wild boar.

The three of them reconvened at an empty table and dug into their meals, but almost immediately, Tisa came rushing up to them. “Olona!”

“What’s wrong?” Olona asked out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to dribble.

“There was an attack!”

Olona furrowed her brow. “Does someone need healing?”

“No, you don’t understand! Something ate a Shift’s mantis gland.”

“Gunge?” Olona said, pausing between bites.

“Yes,” Tisa responded, “I think so. There are two separate accounts. One is from a few days ago down in Hazel Cove. There was a witness who claims there were two monsters.” She paused. “The other happened at Ilin.”

Olona furrowed her brow. “Those ruins to the north of the city?”

“Yes, a mangled and headless body was found on the path leading up to them. Some travelers were talking about seeing several human-like monsters.”

“Headless?” Kosephaji asked with his mouth full.

“Monsters?” Relliduna added.

Tisa and Olona looked at them.

“Let me explain,” Olona said. “I know that the people where we’re from down in Xin don’t talk about Shifts, but whether by Demifae or Messiahs or monsters, Shifts are often murdered for their mantis glands.”

Kosephaji and Relliduna made eye contact, and Kosephaji asked, “Do you think that’s why you were attacked in Ruburge, for your mantis gland?”

Relliduna did not reply.

Olona continued. “Most people in Xin have at least heard of Gunge and the monsters, but Tisa here was from Kestapoli, the monster’s nearest hunting grounds. She had a few run-ins with them while living there, but we’ve never heard of them coming up here.” She turned to Tisa. “How reliable is this information?”

“Like I said, in Hazel Cove, someone actually saw two monsters. At Ilin, the accounts were more vague, but the descriptions were reminiscent of what we know about the inhabitants of Gunge.”

Olona finished her lunch, and she set her spoon and pair of chopsticks onto the table beside her empty bowl. “Why would they come up here? The monsters have never hunted in Teshon City before.”

“We changed their status quo,” Tisa said matter of factly. “Who knows what they’ll do now?”

“And we obviously didn’t get them all,” Olona added.

Kosephaji and Relliduna also finished eating, and Olona collected their dirty dishes to deposit them in one of several bins filled with soapy water. After an excessive show of appreciation from Kosephaji and Relliduna for everything Olona had done, the boys headed back to where they were staying with the giant and his crew, and Tisa and Olona made their way home✪