Metal Heart
rt. Zeta, her greatest advent, sat beneath the glass screen in front of her, his sleek metal figure shimmering in the soft light. Her mirrored image gazed back at h
amid her rushing thoughts. She drove a strand of hair into the back of her ear, h
he air appeared to quiver. Sophia took another step, fingertips touching the boundary of her workspace as a low hum grew lous jerke
se. Twin orbs of deep, changing silver fixed on her,
ence. "Zeta," she said, her voice shaking d
n, his head tilted slightly, as if to read her. His voic
am
wasn't the question itself, but how he asked it, with cur
said warily. "You
gleaming monitors and scattered equipment. His movements ha
ghts racing. How do you express the burden of years, the lonely hours spe
d, her voice full of vulne
n, his dazzling eyes narrow
this being-this device-could see through every care
rrupting the scene. Sophia looked up, fro
reinforced window that viewed the bioluminescent jungle outside. The centuries-
mach churning. "That... shouldn't
wreckage. The fire in his chest faded slightly, and for the fir
dinary," Zeta said, hi
lked towards him, instinctively positioning herself between him and the wi
ed on the horizon. "ther
d. She disliked t
jump. "Dr. Patel," said her aide, Adrian. "Y
r brain unable to process th
iders creaked, and a shower of sparks fell from one of the overhead lights. Ze
oice bearing an authoritative tone t
l apart around me." She took a portable scanner and placed it inside her pocket.
the exit, his metallic footfall echoing on
not have ti
w creating ghostly shadows on the ground. The ruins loomed in the distance, th
the railing. "Sophia," he said, his voice filled with terror. "It sta
the ruins. "That's not possible," she mur
d on the wreckage. "They may no longer
owned. "T
is silver eyes gleaming. "
e opened her mouth to argue and refute, but t
ce that had no place in the herbal world. Adrian took
ere something began to move. The spires, formerly still and dead,said, her voice sh
osture protective. "anything awak
ia replied, her voice dripping with
his gaze riveted on the ruins. "h
luminating the sky. The air vibrated with power, and the patterns etched in
l flashed warnings in bright crimson. The energy levels had b
rrible," sh
this is a catastrophe! We have no idea wha
om the ruins, a powerful, primaeval force
she felt completely out of her element. "We want to leave," she m
id not
xclaimed, her
le to her. "They may be call
blood jogging bloodless
moved lower back, closer to the
rm, and her voice br
glow in his chest became more intense. However, he didn't. He turned ba
th me,"
ough the wooded area and lighting the floor just meters away. The effect se
et. Her gaze drew closer to the place of effect, where th
stirred in
fixed on the shifting shadows in the beam. Sophia's
tarted comi
ed in her throat as a tall, otherworldly figure emerged fr
the silence, low and s
arent emerged into view, its
en it
voice a disturbing blend of ton
weight of the phrases crush