Discipline and Determination, the Mechanical Calamity Plan

By the time John returned to Faoken, the uprising aboard the Rusted One had been completely quelled.

When he learned what had happened—that Fanny had been reckless enough to challenge the Construct technology of the entire Third Era with nothing but her human body—John was shocked and angry. The Rusted One was a powerful Ancient Construct, certainly, but compared with Fanny, a technical genius who could mass-produce mechanical armies later in the story, it was nowhere near as valuable.

Fortunately, Fanny's gamble had succeeded. Otherwise, John could scarcely imagine how they would survive the world-ending catastrophe of Interdimensional Corrosion without the mech master whose help would be essential to overcoming it.

"Thank goodness she's all right."

Inside the Governor's Office, John read the account of the battle Sis had brought him. His heart pounded as he rubbed his aching brow and let out a long sigh. He was wondering whether to draw up a safety code for Faoken's personnel overnight, to stop these young geniuses from doing anything this insane out of his sight again, when a knock sounded at the door.

Knock, knock!

"Come in!"

Creak!

The door opened, and there stood Fanny herself.

She seemed not to have recovered from exhausting her magic that afternoon. Faoken's chief designer looked pale, but her eyes shone brightly.

"Good evening, Governor John!"

"No. Right now, I don't think it's a good evening at all!"

At Fanny's startled expression, an anger John could not name rose within him. His face turned frighteningly cold. "Well, look who's here. Isn't this the illustrious Vitas Westrang, who displayed such magnificent power at the Weapons Testing Base by challenging the finest creation of the Third Era all by herself? Why, your visit is an honor. No, I'm positively awestruck!"

"What brings someone so important to see