For a moment, Gawain did not know what expression he should make.
He stood quietly before the incubation device, watching the hatchling inside the transparent sac. He watched the little creature, plain and even somewhat ugly in his eyes, as it began to flap its immature wings and attempted to observe its surroundings after only just arriving in this world—dragons truly were creatures of immense physical strength. Their young could walk under their own power as soon as they hatched, open their eyes to observe the world, and perhaps even... already possess some form of magical ability.
Gawain saw faint streams of light, like runes, emerging along the edges of the hatchling's wings.
But such exceptional gifts held little meaning in Tarlonnd.
"Is it observing us?" Amber asked curiously from beside him. "Hey, it wouldn't mistake us for its parents, would it? I heard that..."
"It won't," Noreta said, shaking her head. "The incubation sac is made of special materials. The view from inside is filtered and processed, ensuring that hatchlings do not mistake the mechanical devices moving around here, or anything else, for their parents."
"We should leave," Melita said, taking half a step back. "This little one's parents may already be waiting at the landing platform and will come to claim it soon. This is an important occasion. We should not disturb them."
The group soon left the "incubation corridor" and entered a softly lit passageway. Yet even in this exceptionally broad corridor, there were still no people or dragons to be seen. Only the occasional mechanical devices racing along rails set into the walls or floor broke the surrounding silence. Everything was just as Melita had said: this was a highly automated factory. Nearly everything here had been handed over to machines under Omega's control, and these