MEMELAND

The room remained silent.

Ninety percent.

That number refused to leave anybody's mind.

Kai stared at the blueprint.

Andre stared at the blueprint.

Neither understood half of what they were looking at.

Eric, however, looked like he was witnessing a funeral.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked.

Eric pointed at a section of the design.

"This."

Nobody knew what "this" was.

Eric continued.

"This is impossible."

Andre nodded.

"Okay."

"No, you don't understand."

Eric grabbed another sheet.

"And this is impossible."

He grabbed another.

"And this."

Another.

"And this."

Andre looked at Kai.

Kai looked at Andre.

Both were completely lost.

Nish finally spoke.

"Explain it in a way normal people understand."

Eric inhaled.

"Whoever built this is either a genius."

He pointed at another page.

"Or they had one."

Silence.

Alice folded her arms.

"You?"

Eric immediately shook his head.

"No."

The answer came far too quickly.

"No?"

"No."

"Not even close."

That got everyone's attention.

Eric was many things.

Arrogant.

Awkward.

Obsessed with engineering.

But never humble.

For him to openly admit somebody was better—

That meant something.

"A lot of the work is mine."

Eric tapped the blueprints.

"But some of these modifications aren't."

"They improved my design."

Nobody liked hearing that.

The room grew quiet again.

Alice finally stood.

"Then we stop it before it's finished."

Simple.

Direct.

Reasonable.

Unfortunately Nish immediately shook his head.

"We don't know exactly where it is."

"Not yet."

"Scouts only narrowed the area."

Alice clicked her tongue.

Annoyed.

"How large?"

Nish pointed at the map.

The Manufacturing District occupied a huge section of the city.

Factories.

Warehouses.

Storage depots.

Foundries.

Machine shops.

Thousands of workers moved through it every day.

Finding one giant robot should have been easy.

Normally.

Unfortunately Asphyxia had many large industrial buildings.

Enough to hide something massive.

Especially if somebody was actively helping conceal it.

Raj looked at the reports.

"Could there be officials involved?"

Nish didn't answer immediately.

Which was answer enough.

Alice noticed.

"So there are."

Nish sighed.

"Possibly."

Nobody looked happy.

The room had suddenly become much larger than a stolen blueprint.

This wasn't simply cultists anymore.

Someone inside the city was helping them.

Or being paid to look away.

Alice walked toward the giant window overlooking Asphyxia.

The city stretched into the distance.

Bright.

Alive.

Busy.

Her city.

The city she spent over a century building.

"I refuse."

Everybody looked toward her.

The joking.

The smugness.

The nonsense.

Gone.

"I refuse to let another city fall."

Nobody spoke.

Not Raj.

Not Nish.

Not Eric.

They all knew what she meant.

Oheyo.

A city nobody liked talking about.

A memory that still lingered after all these years.

Alice turned back toward them.

"The GFR is our priority."

Nish nodded.

"I'll increase patrols."

Raj nodded.

"I'll monitor supplies and worker records."

Eric nodded.

"I'll identify possible construction sites."

Then Alice looked toward Kai and Andre.

The two immediately had a bad feeling.

"You two."

Andre pointed at himself.

"Me?"

Kai already knew what was coming.

Alice grinned.

"You two are going scouting."

There it was.

The problem.

Andre smiled.

The solution had become a bigger problem.

Alice pointed toward the door.

"Now."

"Nice."

Kai sighed.

Of course.

No planning.

No preparation.

Just Andre.

A terrible sign.

As everybody began organizing themselves—

A guard suddenly entered the room.

Breathing heavily.

The guard saluted.

"Your Majesty."

Alice turned.

"What."

The guard handed over a report.

Alice skimmed it.

Then froze.

The room immediately noticed.

"What happened?" Nish asked.

Alice slowly lowered the paper.

Her expression had become serious.

Again.

"There was another sighting."

"Sighting of what?" Kai asked.

Alice looked toward Eric.

Then toward the map.

Then toward the Manufacturing District.

"A man."

Silence.

The guard swallowed.

"He was seen transporting industrial components."

"Large ones."

"Very large ones."

Eric frowned.

"Who?"

The guard checked the report.

Then answered.

"A worker."

"Dark hair."

"Covered in grease."

"Carries tools everywhere."

The guard paused.

Then looked confused.

"He apparently introduced himself as Noah."

The room became silent.

Andre's eyes widened.

Just slightly.

Enough for Alice to notice.

"You know him?"

Andre slowly nodded.

"Maybe."

Alice folded the report.

Then smiled.

The kind of smile that meant the plot had just moved forward.

"Good."

"Looks like we finally found our next lead."