Book 5. Chapter 42: Last chance
A little nostalgic to hear that enigmatic voice of his. To think this was the very first machine that turned against Relinquished. I was talking to a living fossil.
“You dragged yourself up here fast, old geezer.” I said, watching the ceiling from my bed. “How?”
“Lower strata.” The crackling voice came back. “All teleportation network. Many nodes. Easy to hide. Easy to travel. Mite made.”
“I think I heard of it, on the seventh strata?” There’d been floating mentions from Atius about it. Something Deathless used, mostly because they’re the only ones that could go that deep.
“You will see. We will take. Division stone many land away. Too far land.”
“I imagined a mythical stone wouldn’t be conveniently right under our feet. Might be safer to just ride an airspeeder on the surface and then dive down?”
Static filled the air. “Dumb human. Surface. Will not step on surface. And. Too many land travel. Too much time. Stop being dumb.”
“Look, just because I exhorted you a few times already doesn't mean you should take it out on me like this. Rude and my feelings are hurt.”
Static. Then, very slowly, and with great care, Abraxas spoke again making sure every word was well chosen: “I will drop you off a cliff someday.”