"This is the memory of the bio-sage named Fisher-20-β-Aquarius before eighteen Terra hours before he fled to the surface with his entire net worth."

After the contents of the memory cell in the data cartridge were read, a stereotyped commentary with a humming multiple mechanical echoes came from a seat in the Tower of the Mechanical Council, the largest foundry in Bela Karn.

"How many are these?" A shadow mounted on the back of a massive hunchback with multiple eerily boiling pots of medicine asked, in a deliberately crafted electronic tone.

"Twentieth," replied another strange and towering figure, this one looking like some mistaken mixture of flesh and machine, and a sinister part of its construction that only those who have a heart can glimpse in the deepest nightmares, "the twenty-first biological sage Fisher-21-β-Aquarius, who is responsible for maintaining Lord Daedus, will be able to leave the tank in 16 standard minutes and add the necessary equipment to begin his daily work. ”

"Very good, I hope this one can last a little longer, the uncontrollability of the product of multiple copies has become higher recently."

"How many more 'those' are there?" Suddenly, someone asked abruptly from the data stream in his link loop, and all the council members fell silent for a microsecond.

"What is this for, you ask? His Excellency Daedus releases new production quotas every day to all the factories and networks in the Foundry world, as we have done for five hundred years, Breck Sage. ”

The sound of some gears rattling for a while, "Our planet's food and freshwater reserves are currently reduced to a dangerous level. ”

"Have the overseers continue to cut the daily sleep time of indentured mining slaves to four hours, and increase the amount of water ice collected in permafrost and craters."

"Against. After calculation, this would allow us to determine the loss of more than 45% of indentured mining slave labor in 2 weeks. ”

"Isn't that what we're for? When the grain reserves are restored, there will never be a shortage of indentured slave ships and losers in the Kalysis Star Sector. ”

The smell of oil, promethium, steel, and a faint smell of corruption reverberated through the council's chambers, and it would be difficult for a sensual-enhanced Space Marine to tell who was coming from the scent of a dead corpse if he walked in at this moment.

"But." A metallic female voice coldly pointed out, "According to calculations, our 'production' has dropped to a dangerous level and will not be able to maintain a normal break-even." ”

"What about our other arms exports, Sage Nelanvilla, you are an expert in weapons, and we have no shortage of trade orders in this regard."

"That's right," replied the sage covered in a mask cast into a stern-looking human feminine face, and the part below her neck, even under the cover of mechanical robes, appeared as an artificiality with no regularity at all, possibly with a hundred tentacle claws at the same time and a melting-gel appendage that was even less friendly to organic life.

"May I point out that although the quality of our ship's Void Shield, large defensive force field, and large defensive weapon array is indeed very good, these are non-irreplaceable products, and there are at least a hundred casting worlds that can manufacture them, and we do not have much advantage in terms of price and transportation costs. More than eighty-five percent of the cases are signed as collateral orders for stasis position products. ”

"We have the most complete maintenance platform for near-planet orbiting spacecraft in the entire sub-satellite region, and what is its recent benefit?"

"Long-term and short-term yields have been steadily declining as our stagnant stance product export quotas have tightened." Relentless, mechanically textured synthesized sounds emanate from electronic speakers.

"What's causing the problem? What about the results? ”

"The influence of our Foundry World in the Sector and throughout the Empire has been declining, and the unfavorable rumors have been intensifying, coupled with the fact that we have been slowly reducing the cap on export orders, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of trade routes that have been deliberately detoured for us, a consequent decline in the flow of Void ships, and a decrease in orders for repairs and installation of new weapons and defensive arrays."

"So."

The oldest of them, the least organic flesh part, and the closest to the ideal state of the Servant of the Messiah of Ohm, uttered what they had known many times.

"As Omni Seia's loyal servants need, let's discuss how to politely and kindly get the mortals on this newly arrived trade ship to agree to unload their cargo first and return to their place of departure to transport more cargo to us again, subject to the issuance of orders but delayed delivery."

"Agreed. Since the family looks to be in considerable decline or lacking in shelter, I think it would be acceptable to detain them in port and transform them into our cathars and send them back to their home planet for food production if negotiations fail. ”

"The cathars, as always, have no objections." The Dominating Sage said in his low, cannon-rumbling electronic voice.

"The Lightbringer Legion has no objections, but our drivers and newborns need to be prioritized for quality food."

"An explanatory document to the Imperial Ministry of the Interior and the Governor of the Star Sector will be drafted and submitted after convincing Captain Kalosini." The first female voice to speak rang out again.

"Well, inform the orbital platform that they are ready to do a complete overhaul of their ship."

The gel appendage of the Sage of Nelanvera slowly crawled across the metal surface of the conference table, the corrosive sizzle subtle and light, "The exterior design of that ship is quite special," she said slowly, "I'm going to go up and see it myself when it's overhauled." ”

The metal mask, made of a female human, reflected the glow of the electronic prosthetic eyes, sensors, and servo skulls of the people around the table, more or less high.

"I have reason to think that some accident may happen on this ship, and as host, I am glad to help these poor and helpless mortal merchants understand the generosity and hospitality of Bela Karn."

She, or TA, emitted an electronic sound from a vocalization unit mounted on her neck that resembled a monotonous repetitive laugh, and the other sages of the Machine Council also expressed some kind of smile in their own way.

——————————

The 100th second after the Destiny Steel entered the port.

Even the least aware of the meaning of beauty, as long as his brain is still human, will instinctively yearn for beauty and shout his praises to the name of the Ohm Messiah to the newly entered ship.

The elegant silver-white hull of the ship was already very conspicuous against this dark velvety cosmic background, and sometimes the gold that shone through the cracks added a sense of luxury to him, even if the connection work after entering the port was disastrous for about 900 seconds for unknown reasons—the Bela Karn Harbor Control Center received a report that a few unlucky eggs may have been sucked directly into the cosmic vacuum without a sealed valve—and it was not able to stop more engineers, The junior technical priest flocked to him with his servants or slaves with all sorts of thoughts.

Of course, all this chaos came to an abrupt end with the announcement of a visit from a high-ranking sage of the Machine Council.

Lamizan and Ma'atra, who were enjoying their daily afternoon tea in their office (this time with Brother Sade), received the request for a visit.

The Clan Leader looked distressed: the race had just begun, and it was not appropriate to create superfluous variables at this time.

"So we'll have to take this visitor for the time being to keep them steady." The body of the Fourth Primordial spoke.

The Border Collie didn't even lift his eyelids, and his speed without relying on relay lines and bio-cables no longer allowed him to distract from chatting.

"Oh, if I had to say," the intrepid power claw gracefully lowered his life-sustaining straw and wiped the interface with a napkin. "I'm personally happy to help with the reception, but I think a high-ranking sage of the Mechanic Sect with a working sensor can see that I'm a dreadnought now."

"And it's a little too suspicious to have a contempt dreadnought on our merchant ronin ships anyway, isn't it?"

"I'm glad you understood my words, my dear brother ......" (the dog suddenly coughed loudly)"...... Ramizane. ”

"So......" Lamizane's face showed a "chance to do this, I've wanted to do this for a long time!" Expression.

"Before they take this place, we're going to play the Ronin Trader, right?"

For some reason, Magnus—the Wizard Star and the Destiny Steel—suddenly felt a chill.

Wail.

Second, there are more in the code

(End of chapter)