The halls felt spacious. He had expected dimly lit, narrow tunnels, like his car earlier, cramped with only inches of space on either side. But no, the tunnels were wide, allowing multiple people to walk in different directions as they made their way through the base. The only difficult part was visibility: the halls were barely lit, with a dim lamp every few meters hanging just a head above them.

  Walking through the personnel barracks, Leon made a sudden stop, turned, and pointed to a door.

  "This is you. Take a look inside. You’re still welcome to return home, but only for a day at most. You need to be on call at all times." After explaining, Leon stood outside and waited, clearly expecting Reed to only glance at the room, not settle in. Reed did as asked. He went inside the closet-esque room, his hands nearly touched both walls from the doorway to the ladder wall, and the other pair of walls were only just far enough apart for a bed. After stepping in, he might as well have stepped right out. He had seen all there was to see. The silence grew between them. Reed had grown frustrated, placed in a closet, and for a sacrifice he felt was forced upon him.

  "I understand what you're thinking. If it helps, we’re mostly all sleeping in similar conditions. Plus, they’re expanding accommodations, any day now you’ll have a king-sized room. Or so they’ve told us for the last year." The last sentence deflated Leon slightly.

  Reed could imagine who had larger rooms. Commander Kara came to mind. As Leon led him to their next location, Reed began to wonder what Kara’s title really meant. The first half he understood, but she was the chief of research for inkwell engines, war-boilers, and fuel-priest class engines. His curiosity boiled over, and he decided to ask.

  "Leon, I’ve heard of micro-class engines and civilian class, but what are war-boilers and fuel-priest engines?"

  "I’m honestly not the person to tell you. You’ll be learning all of that starting today. But just so you know, my engine’s class is twin-injector combat class, and my rank around here is hemo-knight."

  That left Reed with more to think about. He knew what a twin-injection engine was, and it seemed similar principles were applied to life engines. But “hemo-knight” sounded like something out of a book. A knight _was_ an appropriate title for Leon, considering how he had protected the civilian personnel in the bunker.

  Arriving at their second location, it resembled the earlier yard of machines, but much more organized. The parts and pieces were sorted in labeled boxes, each with a small description and binder attached containing all relevant information. To the other side of the room were engines, though far fewer than in the yard. But that was just the outer wall. The center held hundreds of tables, with people running around in a frantic rush. It seemed everyone had a purpose and knew it, carrying pieces, white coats flapping behind them, some simply in t-shirts.

  One person, in a plain white shirt and pants, approached them.

  "What can I do you for, Sir-Knight-Sir!" He was mid-salute, but seeing Leon give him a simple wave, he stiffened up. Leon turned and whispered to Reed,

  "Researchers love using our Iron-Heart titles, makes this operation feel even more impressive."

  "Researchers?" Reed asked, not bothering to whisper, he _was_ here to learn.

  "Yes! Welcome to the Center for Research and Repairs." The man who greeted them waved his arms in a slightly-too-theatrical motion. "My name is John, or Johnson, or — some around here pronounce it Yohn-sun. But just call me John."

  It clicked for Reed. This was where he would be working during his free time. It made sense, learning and working on repairs outside of battle to better prepare himself.

  Seeing the look on Reed’s face, John continued, "Yes, you’ll be working down here after you’re given all the necessary information. Actually, from what I’ve been told, you’re starting here today, before your first lesson. That’s been delayed until tomorrow due to… complications. But that’s okay. We’ll have you working on a dummy civilian-class engine. Tomorrow, you’ll get to touch your first combat-class engine, a spare war-boiler."

  This caught Leon’s attention. "A spare? What do you mean spare… oh. Continue."

  John didn’t miss a beat. "Follow me. I’ll give you the quick tour." He walked down the staircase from the platform that overlooked the area they had been standing on.

  Walking through the repair center, Reed could see a clear distinction in parts. Each piece either shined under the fluorescent overhead lights or bore the marks of wear. Reed wasn’t sure how he could tell, but he understood. Those parts had seen combat. They lacked the polish of new parts. Some had screws sticking out, others with small fragments hanging loose. Knowing the cost of a broken engine, it felt like he could _feel_ the weight behind each damaged piece.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Waking Reed from his thoughts, John began his tour. "Now, most of this facility isn’t actually a repair center. It’s the research facility. Most of the repair personnel are stationed in the top left corner, or just left of us currently." He waved at some of them. "I’m what they call the life of this place. Without me, they’d all be muuuucch more dreary. Right, Sir Leon?"

  Leon just laughed and didn’t answer.

  It all seemed fine to Reed, but one aspect didn’t make sense. "Why so little space dedicated to repairs? I understand research is a prime objective here, but considering we’re at war, I’d assume a place fixing our primary weaponry would be important."

  Both John and Leon looked away at the mention of this. John spoke first. "Well… the issue with repairs is that we don’t really understand life engines. Many have ascribed the field of studying them to fiction. It’s almost like they don’t follow our laws of physics."

  This sentence alone caught Reed’s attention. His voice rose. "How so? I did some repairs on Leon’s engine earlier, and it made sense to me."

  "The reason for that is twofold," John said. "One, from the report I got, his preliminary repairs were just sunder igniters that needed replacing." Reed made a mental note, that sounded like the spark plug equivalent. "And some other small things. But those are easy. If the engine is _here_, that means the easy stuff’s already been tried. These engines… they need knowledge, some _arcane_ knowledge, to truly repair. Well, not arcane _truly_, but may as well be if you're not familiar. The folks who do this work are called Hemostat Engineers. To even get that certification, you’ve got to be just a little crazy." John looked Reed straight in the eyes. "Some say they lose their mind when they get deeper into the system. The engines can _feel_ your mental state. Some rumors even say they steal your time, sap your power, leave you a husk of a man."

  Reed waited for someone to say _“Bah, just rumors”_, but the silence that followed was deafening.

  "Am I supposed to become a Hemostat Engineer?"

  "Ideally, yes," Leon responded. "You have sundered blood, and that’s the main requirement."

  Reed pondered this. The transformation his blood underwent after the Sundering… it was a requirement. Now he could feel the weight they were placing on him. That little demonstration, fixing Leon’s machine and fueling it, had really marked him as an ideal candidate.

  When they arrived at the end of the research and repair center, John stopped. "Besides the classroom, which will most likely be one of the side rooms since you’re the only Hemostat Engineer in training, that’s the entire area you’ll have access to. This doesn't include the combat sections. Even without an engine, you’ll need to get acquainted."

  Reed took it all in. This was, so to speak, _his_ place now. Not knowing what the future held, he simply breathed it in and prayed he’d come out of this a sane man. After a few moments, a question popped into his head.

  "If engines are so complicated, how are there so many researchers? Surely it would require an engineer to work on them."

  John looked a little hurt. "Those people down there, including me, are _all_ engineers. We’ve gathered people from all kinds of professions, and I can assure you, we’re all very smart. But most of us don’t have sundered blood. That means we can’t access the _internals_ of an engine. But for most combat engines, what really matters is the micro-class engine attachments, and the add-ons powered by the extreme force they generate. Whether it’s boiler force or the thrust of an inkwell engine, we can at least calculate and work with that."

  Reed understood. These weapons were too valuable to limit to a rare few. They needed more. And they needed them _now_. A truly saddening truth, considering all they’d been through.

  With the repair side of his role covered, Leon took him to the combat wing of the mountain base. Another dimly lit path, but the halls were even wider here. Reed didn’t understand the need for such spacious hallways… until he saw the man.

  A man with an enormous sphere attached to his back, directly plugged into his engine. The sphere was more egg-shaped, but it didn’t seem to bother him, he walked in a hurry, papers in hand seemingly running to a room on there left. Now the hallways made sense. Some engines were massive, and the halls had to accommodate rapid mobilization.

  "What is _that_?" Reed asked, his head following the man as he passed.

  Leon stared with him. "That’s a war-boiler, only half equipped for combat. Funnily enough, his engine is also a twin-injector combat class."

  Leon’s tone implied that the _other_ classes would truly shock Reed. But Reed couldn’t imagine a larger engine being fit for combat. That man already looked like he was carrying too much.

  "We’ve arrived at the final location of your tour."

  Reed took in the view. The room was smaller than the research center, but what lay in front of him was stunning. Rows upon rows of people lined up. More war-boilers. Massive tanks, now accompanied by enormous suits of armor. Those suits were balloon-like. The war-boilers had no visible weaponry, but Reed had no doubt they were dangerous.

  But he also saw others, smaller boilers, lighter suits of armor, and some that _towered_ over the rest. And beyond that: hundreds more. Hundreds of combat-ready men and women.

  He turned to ask Leon about the rest, but Leon was gone.

  "Why are we in combat protocol!?" Leon yelled, running up to another man. This man wore an extremely sleek suit of armor — if it could even be called that. His engine glowed faint yellow, and he wore large black gloves. The man's mouth moved, but he was too far for Reed to hear.

  All he heard was Leon yelling back: "Give me 30 seconds to get my gear on — I’m coming!" Then he looked at Reed. "So are you." Then turned back. "Actually, give me two minutes instead," he added with a grin.