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 lou

s 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