Chapter 76: Ten Years
Sarkozy held his frail mother, using what little strength he had to make her more comfortable. His mother just gazed at him, her pale, weak hands stroking his face, as if to imprint his image into her very soul.
The moment they had become part of the "Blood Tithe," their family had fallen into hell. His father had died from a disease contracted in the squalid conditions of the transport hold. His body had been dragged away, his fate unknown. Now, his mother was also leaving him. But even as his heart ached, Sarkozy was relieved that she could finally be free. At least the suffering of reality could end, and her soul could find rest at the Golden Throne.
From the transport hold's broadcast, Sarkozy knew they had arrived at their destination, another hell called "Teyedan." In this hell, he would be a slave until his death. He had heard from an old man that people on Forge Worlds didn't live long. How lucky, he thought. Praise the Emperor.
With a shudder of the ship, the transport hold's door opened. He carried his mother on his back and followed the others forward, into this hell called Teyedan. But what happened next made Sarkozy wonder if he had already died, if this was a hallucination before his death.
His mother was treated. They were not separated but were housed together. The food was not terrible; they even got a can of meat every week. Because his mother was sick, they could get an extra can until she recovered.
Since coming to Teyedan, Sarkozy's daily routine had become saying goodbye to his mother in the morning, then going to school for training, learning simple mechanical theory and other basic knowledge. He would also intern at a factory, learning from the old masters how to apply what he had learned on the production line.
Sometimes he would see a Tech-Priest. They would come to the factory periodically to inspect the production line and check for any mistakes the old masters might have missed. Each time, Sarkozy would be called to stand by and watch. This was a sign of the masters' approval. They believed that Sarkozy could become a priest, and so he should have more contact with them.
Sarkozy, who had originally lived in a mid-hive and came from a well-to-do family, was only fifteen or sixteen, but his good upbringing had given him the opportunity to interact with Tech-Priests before. But after speaking with the priests of Teyedan, he found that they were different. The priests of Teyedan were easier to understand and more approachable. They did not hesitate to explain to the masters and to Sarkozy why a problem had occurred and how to avoid it. Some priests would even chat with the masters about things unrelated to work.
The name they mentioned most often was "Magos Omega" or "Young Master Omega." Sarkozy had asked the people who had lived on Teyedan for years about this "Omega."
A worker would point to his bionic limb and his scars and say that these were the wounds he had received when he had fought alongside Young Master Omega. They had defeated the invaders, they had defeated the heretics. It was Young Master Omega who had led them to save this world.
The teachers at the school, without a shred of reservation, would praise Magos Omega for not only saving this world but also changing it. He had liberated the workers from dangerous and heavy labor. He had given those who had lost the chance to become a Tech-Priest the opportunity to walk the path of knowledge again. He had allowed the Tech-Priests to go further on the path guided by the Omnissiah.
Sarkozy understood. It wasn't that he hadn't come to a hell, but that "Magos Omega" had changed what this world was.
Ten years. It had taken Omega ten years to make Teyedan new again, better than before. The automated factories that now dotted the planet produced all kinds of weapons and ammunition for the Imperium day and night. The phrase "to use a person like a machine is the greatest waste" had been accepted by all the Tech-Priests. They had all seen the leap in productivity and efficiency that came with the improvement of the workers' quality. This world was the best proof. He had made Teyedan no longer pursue the exploitation of the workers' labor to its limit, but to instead pursue the improvement of the workers' quality.
In these ten years, he had changed many people and many things. But there was one thing he had not been able to change: his height.
Omega (╥_╥)
So what was Magos Omega doing now? He was playing with his new "toy." Under the watchful eyes of Louis, Aedus, and the others, Omega clapped his hands together and shouted, "Transmute!" A metal spear grew from the ground and shot towards the target in front of him. Thwack! The spear hit the bullseye, then melted into a pool of silvery-grey liquid.
This scene made Louis and the others' faces twitch. Aedus couldn't help but complain, "Omega, you called us all over here just to watch you use nanites to do such a stupid thing?"
"What do you mean, stupid? You cog-heads have no romance," Omega said unhappily. It was so cool...
The "nanites" Aedus mentioned were something Omega had recently excavated from the ruins under the original settlement. Since the Archmagos had sealed it, for ten years, all of Teyedan's efforts had been focused on restoring production, with no spare energy to excavate it. It was only recently, after completing the task of transforming Teyedan, that the idle Omega had suddenly remembered that there was a treasure waiting for him underground. He had immediately gone to the Archmagos and submitted a report to restart the "Ruins Development Project."
Veyl had not refused. He didn't want Omega to be idle either. He was worried... but more on that later. Back to Omega's "archeological research."
With the Archmagos's permission, Omega had immediately begun to organize a team. The Magi had all signed up, but the project leader had started to be picky. He had asked the Magi to state their advantages, and he would choose the best. The lure of the ruins had driven the Magi mad. To secure a spot, they had begun to compile their tomb-raiding experience into a book and had given it to Omega.
After reading it, Omega had said to Jacob in private, "Any one of these is enough for the Imperium to burn them ten times over." His understanding of the low moral floor of these senior cog-heads had been deepened once again. Beating up xenos and heretics was one thing, but beating up allies? The underhanded methods, the insidious actions, were staggering. "Looting" and running was the kindest of them. There were not a few who had thrown Greenskins onto other people's turf to create chaos and fish in troubled waters.
Omega had carefully memorized this masterpiece of cog-head literature and then burned it to prevent others with less self-control from learning the wrong things. After selecting a few Magi with whom he had a better relationship, Omega's "Ruins Development Project" was officially launched.
With the efforts of the previous team, they had opened the "main chamber" without much difficulty. The result was a disappointment for Omega. The good news was that the ruins had been left by humans. The bad news was that it was an early human exploration ruin, a far cry from the technology of the colonization era. They didn't even have a warp drive. How they had gotten from the Terra system to the Eastern Fringe was an unsolved mystery. The records were too old, and the navigation data could not be repaired. Most of the technological artifacts had been destroyed by the passage of time. They were in a state where you could look but not touch; if you dared to touch, they would dare to crumble.
The only thing still functioning was an environmental modification system. Perhaps the pioneers of human exploration had already prepared for the possibility of their ship malfunctioning, forcing them to make an emergency landing on a planet and to settle there. So this system was designed to be exceptionally stable and durable. Even after tens of thousands of years, upon detecting a life sign, it could still activate and function on its own. This was one of the reasons why there was so much life in this underground space.
Omega had originally thought he could find "artificial intelligence" in this system, but he had been overthinking it. The system was designed for "idiot-proof operation." Perhaps the designers had not believed that the users of this system would be able to understand its principles. You just had to input the environmental parameters, and the system would automatically match a suitable plan from its internal storage and start running. The whole process left no room for human intervention.
"It feels like the Age of Discovery. Give a brave fool a ship and let him go out and explore, to see who can find a new continent. Is this the galactic Age of Discovery in a new bottle?" This was Omega's thought after he had figured out the system.
The Magi had come with high hopes and had left in disappointment. They had gained nothing. The Grand Manufactorum's relic hall had gained a host of "can't be profaned" artifacts, and the normal cog-heads had gained more objects to kowtow to. The only one who had gained anything was Omega.
Among the many artifacts, he had found the weakest link in Teyedan's entire knowledge system—nanotechnology. Among the excavated artifacts was a nano-medical device whose parts had aged and whose functions were completely lost. From this device, Omega had learned the relevant technology.
Nanotechnology was not only Teyedan's weak point, but also the weak point of most Forge Worlds. In the entire Adeptus Mechanicus, only a very small number of Tech-Priests had mastered it, and they mostly belonged to the "Micro-Omnissiah Sect." This sect was extremely secretive about its technology. And if it weren't for their close ties with the Imperial Navy and the Officio Assassinorum, they would have likely been branded as heretics by Mars long ago. The main reason was that their doctrine was contrary to the mainstream view. Most cog-heads believed that "bigger is better, thicker is stronger." The cog-heads of the Micro-Omnissiah Sect believed that "small" was closer to the Omnissiah. The smaller, the closer. So they were ostracized by the other factions.
Omega, the heretical Micro-Omnissiah, after learning the relevant technology from the medical device, had quickly recreated it. The others were no longer surprised by his performance. This was not the first time he had done this. The "Son of the Omnissiah" had to have some divinity to be worthy of the name.
The design of this medical device also followed the "idiot-proof operation" philosophy. It integrated the production, detection, and treatment of nanites into one. The patient just had to lie down in the medical bay, and the nanites would perform surgery, repair wounds, or eliminate lesions.
After finding a few patients and giving them free treatment, Omega felt that if the function of producing nanites was removed from this medical device, it could become another of Teyedan's flagship products. He could sell it to the rich planetary nobles and Rogue Traders, and in the future, he could just sell the "consumables"—the nanites. This was a revenue stream he could live off for a lifetime.