Technomancer: Birth of a Goddess

“Hey, Emily!” Podrick calls out, knocking his fist against the wall above the crawlspace she’s tucked into to grab her attention. “Ash says they think we’re done and wants you to come check.”

“Okay,” Emily calls back, her steady hand carving a rune into a structural beam of metal without pause. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

I’ve finished forty per cent of the runes needed now. It’s a shame I can’t finish it before we set off, but the modified engine will be enough to compensate for the armour's added weight for now.

She finishes cutting the shape into the metal beam, taking a tiny pinch of powdered lesser wind crystal and smearing it across the rune before shimmying out of the confined space and standing up beside Podrick. As she glances at him, Emily notices his skin is a touch too pale, and there are obvious dark bags beneath his eyes.

“You haven’t slept?” she asks as they walk through the ship towards the exit.

“No,” Podrick says, stifling a yawn. “I’ve been helping Ash. Whatever’s needed to get us in the air sooner, right?”

Emily raises a brow and gives a small, impressed nod at his work ethic.

“Have you spoken to your mum yet?”

Podrick noticeably shivers at the question and slowly nods his head.

“Yeah. She was expectedly unhappy about me going overseas, but she was thanking the Goddess that I’ve made friends while she complained about it.”

“Ha,” Emily scoffs. “She isn’t trying to stop you leaving?”

“Surprisingly, no. Though she’s certainly worried for my safety,” he responds, flushing with embarrassment as they walk out onto the steps to descend from the ship.

Emily immediately realises why when she looks to the front of the warehouse and sees a tall woman with flowing blonde hair standing with her back to the ship, talking to Anton in a stern tone. Anton looks resigned, but his eyes seem to light up when he spots Emily. The moment she sees that, a foreboding feeling forms in her gut.

He wouldn’t.

“Mrs Rockworth, I understand your concerns, but I assure you the safety of my crew is my top priority,” Anton says in a placating tone. “If you still feel concerned though, I can introduce you to the head of our ship’s security.”

He would.

Emily freezes at the base of the ship’s steps as Anton turns Mrs Rockworth around and guides her over. She turns her head to look at the boy cowering and shame-faced beside her.

“Is the armour swap actually finished,” Emily asks with an icy whisper. “Or was I just brought out here to placate your mother?”

“It is,” Podrick rushes to explain. “But Mum came to help us as well, and going to get you was a good excuse to run from her nagging.”

Emily sighs and glances around the room, spotting Ash and several tired-looking workers gathered together on a few seats off to the side, sipping from steaming mugs while watching Mrs Rockworth from afar.

Is everyone here scared of her?

Emily’s irritation fades quickly, and she looks back to the woman as she arrives before her. They both silently take each other in.

Mrs Rockworth is taller than her husband, standing between Podrick and Emily in height. She wears a set of worn overalls with several neat patches sewn on and dozens of stained grease smears marking the faded fabric. Her sleeves are rolled up to her biceps, showing off her muscular arms and calloused hands. Her pretty face is set in a stern glare as her piercing blue eyes take Emily in, and the crow's feet beside them only add to the streaks of grey that she wears proudly in her hair to complete her fierce look. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

After a few tense moments of silence, with Anton and Podrick both holding their breaths in anticipation, Mrs Rockworth finally speaks.

“Gilly Rockworth,” she says, offering her hand. “I take it you’re the Emily my Pod told me about.”

“That would be me,” Emily replies, taking her hand and firmly shaking it. “Emily Coldstone, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Gilly nods as their hands separate, her eyes narrowing further as she asks a question.

“So, what did you do to require being smuggled out of this blessed country?”

“I wiped out a noble family,” Emily responds with a chilling smile that elicits a flinch from Anton despite being used to her.

“I see,” Gilly says, as unphased as her son. “I take it you aren’t a believer then?”

“No, I’m not. Though, nor were the family I killed. I doubt you’ll find many faithful among the nobility.”

Gilly quietly nods, gazing into Emily’s eyes as if searching for the truth.

“You’ll keep my Pod safe?”

“No one on this crew will die while I’m with them.”

“Good,” Gilly says, her glare finally relaxing as a satisfied smile stretches her lips. “I’ll leave his safety to you.”

She turns on her heel and walks away after saying her piece, and both Anton and Podrick let out relieved sighs while looking between the two women in confusion.

I like her.

“What the hell was that?” Anton asks as Gilly marches out of the warehouse.

“A conversation, what else?” Emily says, tilting her head with a blank look.

“You barely said anything and she just accepted it!” Anton cries. “She’s been questioning me for the past half hour and still wasn’t happy.”

“We came to an understanding, that’s all.”

Emily shrugs, ignoring the rest of his grumbled complaints as Ash approaches.

“Now that that’s dealt with, we’ve finished out here,” they say, taking a sip from their mug and rubbing at the large bags beneath their eyes. “Would you like to give it a final check to make sure we didn’t mess up your magic stuff?”

“Sure.”

Emily turns around and places her foot back on the bottom step of the ship, pouring machina through it to scan Calypso. She shuts her eyes and runs her focus over the outer plating, comparing each panel to her blueprint. It takes a few moments before she opens her eyes again and looks to the back end of the ship.

“It’s all correct except two of the panels at the back are flipped,” she says, gesturing for Ash to follow as she walks under the ship.

They move to the rear of the ship where Emily points out two small, curved panels that meet in the centre of the ship, a few metres in from the end.

“Ah, sorry, that’s my fault,” Ash says. “This area’s what we were working on this morning before Mrs Rockworth took over command. I got careless because of my exhaustion.”

“It’s fine,” Emily says with a shrug, casting air walk and stepping up on nothing to reach the panels. “I can fix it pretty quickly. You guys should go gather the others and let them know we can leave soon.”

“I’ll go wake Angela and Tony,” Anton says with a nod, turning to leave with Ash.

As they’re dealing with getting the crew ready for an early-morning departure, Emily takes off all the bolts holding the problem panels in place and swaps them, securing them into the correct places within thirty minutes. By the time she makes her way back to the ship’s entrance, the extra workers have cleared out of the warehouse, and Gilly and Rodrick have both returned to say farewell to their son.

“Stay safe,” Rodrick says, hugging his son before pulling back and firmly patting the boy on the shoulder. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

Gilly pulls Podrick from his father’s grasp and squeezes him in an even tighter hug. Emily can hear the poor boy’s back cracking as she walks past them to enter the ship.

“We love you, Pod. Make sure you’re careful, and if Emily tells you to do something, listen to her, okay?”

Emily has to stifle a laugh as she walks up the steps slowly, hearing Podrick whine in complaint at his mother’s command.

“Mum!” he cries in embarrassment as she pulls away and holds his face firmly. “I’m not a child!”

“Yes, you are,” she insists, squeezing his cheeks. “You’re my child and a child of Goddess, and you’ll do as you’re told. Understood?”

“Yes, Mum,” Podrick grumbles in response.

Emily can’t hold in the laugh that tumbles from her mouth at his scolding, and she turns around at the top of the steps to face the family, meeting Gilly’s eyes.

“Good luck on your journey. Keep my son safe, and may Goddess’ light shine upon you.”

“You have my word,” Emily responds with a nod. “Thanks for your help. May Goddess’ light shine upon you.”

Gilly’s eyes light up as her blessing is returned, and she finally releases her son, ruffling his hair and pushing him towards the ship. He races up quickly to join Emily at the top, pausing to turn and wave goodbye to his parents with tears in his eyes.

“I love you guys. When I return, I’ll be a better mechanic than both of you. Just you wait!”

He turns and enters the ship while wiping his eyes, leaving Emily to shut the hatch behind them. As the hatch clicks shut, Emily turns to head to the next crawlspace on her list. Podrick walks silently beside her for a few minutes, regaining his composure before he asks a question.

“What was that about? I thought you said you aren’t a believer.”

“I’m not anymore,” Emily confirms with a nod. “But it’s not like I’m against respecting other’s faith. I just lost mine a long time ago.”

Podrick nods silently, not pushing further.

“Are you going to continue working?” he asks instead.

“Yeah. You should go get some sleep though,” Emily responds.

“I will. Is your ability to go without sleep something I’ll get eventually?”

“As long as you reach a higher level, yes.”

Podrick yawns in response and separates from Emily at the next junction to head towards his quarters, leaving her to continue her work enchanting the ship alone.

***

Two days of uneventful flying later, Calypso approaches the bastion city of Erenmoor, a city owned by the Hibiscus family at the very edge of the continent, next to the narrowest crossing to Dennari.

Emily hears a loud creaking as the engine room door is pushed open and opens her eyes, pulling her mind from the Spellweave as she looks up at the new entrant.

“Hey, Emily,” Podrick says as he walks in, noticing her sitting cross-legged on the floor. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Only a little,” Emily says with a shrug, pushing herself off the floor and noticing the boy’s gaze drifting up to admire the pulsing engine behind her. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Podrick nods with awe.

“You should try meditating in here,” Emily says, gesturing for him to approach the engine beside her. “Good meditation is the best way to increase your machina stores, and I’ve found this room a wonderful environment for it. Look, place your hand beside mine.”

She raises her hand and places it against the cold metal of the engine on a smooth, unmoving section. Podrick does as she says and copies her.

“Now shut your eyes. Feel inside yourself for your machina, like when I got you to draw it within your cortex when I was scanning you before, and this time slowly push a small stream of it into your hand.”

Podrick follows her instructions, reaching into himself and trying to pull out the energy within. After a few minutes of nothing happening, Emily continues to guide him.

“Breathe steadily. Take a long, deep breath in through your nose and hold it,” she says. “One, two, three. Breathe out through your mouth and hold. One, Two. In through your nose. Good, now repeat that and focus.”

After a few cycles of breathing, a tiny spark of machina pushes its way out of Podrick’s palm and into the engine. The moment it does, the boy opens his eyes in shock and breaks his breathing pattern, dispersing the gathered machina.

“Whoa, that was weird!” he exclaims, looking down at his hand in wonder. “It’s like I could see the engine moving without looking!”

“Well done,” Emily says, patting him on the shoulder. “That’s the basics of a machina scan right there. That breathing pattern is my old meditation technique, so use that to practice gathering and controlling your machina from now on. Now, I assume you came here because Anton wanted to see me, correct?”

“Yes.” Podrick nods. “He asked for you on the bridge to discuss what to do next since you asked to stop near Erenmoor.”

Emily nods before leaving the engine room and making her way to the bridge with Podrick hot on her heels. As she enters the ship’s command centre, Anton turns his chair to face her.

“Hey, Emily. We’re approaching Erenmoor, but since it’s on a flatland this is as close as we can get without being spotted. Do you want us to set her down here?” he asks, gesturing over his shoulder to the window behind him where an open expanse of sand is visible.

“Yes,” Emily confirms before she proceeds to explain her reasoning. “I want to activate the enchantment I placed on the hull when we’re grounded to make sure it works and the change in weight doesn’t upset the ship’s balance too much, and I think it best we pass Erenmoor and make a break for the border under the cover of night, so all of you should get some rest now.”

“I see,” Anton says with a thoughtful nod as Angela and Tony begin bringing the ship down. “Don’t you plan on resting too? I don’t think I’ve seen you sleep since Ashdon.”

“Maybe once I’m back,” Emily says with a shrug. “I plan on making a quick trip to Erenmoor to confirm something first. Speaking of, is there anything we need to stock up on before we make our crossing?”

“No, we’re fully stocked,” Anton says with a shake of his head and a satisfied tap against the spatial pouch hanging at his waist. “Mrs Rockworth helped us offload all the product we were carrying and fully stock up on food and fuel. I’m even carrying a fair amount extra in here to save on weight. We should easily be able to make it half-way across Dennari before we run out.”

“Understood. I’ll be back in a bit then.”

Emily turns and walks out of the bridge, heading straight for the drone hatch, her favourite way to leave the ship.

“Are you sneaking into a city again?” Podrick asks, still following her.

“Yes, but I’m going alone this time,” Emily says to his disappointment, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “I’m paying a friend’s family a visit.”