There was no sunlight in the mornings on Fertility II.
Thick acidic clouds obscured the star's radiance, painting the sky a sickly leaden gray.
Rovi straightened his collar. His gray Rank 4 Scribe uniform was made of coarse fabric, and its collar had worn fuzzy at the edges.
An iron badge bearing the Ministry of the Interior's Aquila Symbol was pinned to his chest.
He was heading to the Adeptus Mechanicus's Agricultural Sanctuary.
The truck rattled along the uneven road, its tires splashing murky mud from water-filled potholes.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Rovi had managed a rare nap.
But the truck was nowhere near as stable as Chimera 1, and the jolting left him a little dizzy.
There was nothing he could do about that. Priest Alpha's deep maintenance still had not finished.
When the truck began to slow noticeably, Rovi opened his eyes.
Through the oil-stained window, he studied the enormous structure gradually coming into focus ahead.
The Adeptus Mechanicus's Agricultural Sanctuary.
An industrial fortress built from black iron, brass, and poured concrete.
It stood at the heart of the Seventh Agricultural War Zone.
Countless exhaust pipes thrust into the clouds, spewing black smoke and waste gases into the atmosphere.
It reminded Rovi of the Northern Granary, Butcher Bill's territory.
The pollution here was clearly less severe than in Bill's domain, though.
This was the heart of Fertility II.
It was also the planet's other great center of power, second only to the Governor's Spire.
"Advisor, we're here."
Buck, who was driving, stepped on the brakes and stopped before the checkpoint outside the sanctuary.
Rovi pushed open the door and jumped down.
Metal grating covered the ground beneath his feet, with unidentified green effluent flowing through the gaps.
Two Faith Militant Servitors, each three meters tall, stood on