Techmarine Farrion

When Sien brought Iax to the Maintenance Center filled with workbenches, another Space Marine of the Black Templars was at a massive multipurpose fabrication bench, repairing the Power Sword Iax had shattered earlier.

"Farrion, Iax says he needs to build a few things. Perhaps you could help."

At the call, the towering figure dismissed the Servitors assisting him, then turned to look at Sien and Iax.

The markings on his pauldron identified his rank.

"Yes, sir. I'll have your sword repaired shortly, then I'll come and assist."

Though Farrion had turned to speak, his hands never stopped working.

A Power Sword looked simple, but it still contained a certain amount of technical machinery. Energy had to flow through the blade and surge out in a specific pattern to form a stable Disruption Force Field.

Without a Disruption Force Field, a Power Sword was merely a relatively sharp metal weapon. Against heavy armor and Xenos bone plating, it was practically useless without that field.

Iax said nothing, instead studying the nearby Servitors closely.

All the Servitors were flesh and blood, with their heads subjected to varying degrees of mechanical modification. They looked frail and grotesque.

"An unbelievable age. What has happened to this world? Why do these so-called Servitors all appear to be flesh and blood? Their bodies seem to contain some human genes, yet they appear to have no independent consciousness. The modifications to their heads are crude and brutal."

Compared with the records in Iax's archives, these Servitors looked like the work of devils. He even suspected they might have been made by modifying ordinary people.

Even across the more than ten thousand years of history recorded in his database, no such cruelty had ever appeared.

"Unacceptable. Tell me how these Servitors are made."

Sien had never paid attention to such things and knew nothing of their history. They were not his concern.

As a Techmarine, however, Farrion naturally knew how Servitors were manufactured.

Only after seeing Sien nod his permission did Farrion speak.

"Imperial Servitors use biological bodies constructed through biochemical technology. After cranial modification, control and response units are implanted to operate them. Certain criminals are also converted into Servitors this way, allowing them to continue serving the Imperium and atone for their crimes."

Iax silently watched the Servitors, whose intelligence extended only to simple responses and who required constant commands to coordinate and act, then asked a question.

"If all they do is simple work, and physical strength is required, why not use mechanical bodies? Biotechnology seems to offer no advantage. I can even see signs of aging in these biological Servitors' bodies. Their service lives don't seem particularly long."

Even Farrion was taken aback by the question.

Then he raised his hands and shrugged.

"I don't know. Imperial decrees strictly forbid the use of machinery possessing any form of intelligence, as well as the development of such technology. Even the Adeptus Mechanicus Conclave where I studied taught us the same thing. Some of the Imperium's critical machinery uses wetware computers."

"Wetware?"

It was the first time Iax had heard the term.

With the hand holding his tool, Farrion pointed toward a corner nearby.

Following the direction of his gesture, Iax walked over.

A peculiar device embedded in the wall came into view.

At its center was a half-human form. Numerous tubes and cables connected to its skull, its body was stretched rigid, and its mouth gaped wide around a strange mechanical assembly.

Iax's biological scanner swept over the bizarre, profoundly sanity-eroding machine. Every piece of data it returned indicated that the thing at its center had a living brain. In essence, it seemed no different from the simply modified Servitors, except that its modifications went much deeper.

Farrion's voice came from nearby.

"This is a Cogitator terminal. The biological component probably came from a criminal. Of course, some also use mechanical computing modules or electronic modules. Wetware computers are generally installed only in critical machinery or devices. Their machine spirits are more active, and they respond better to control."

Iax shook his head, finding it difficult to accept.

"Wetware. Biological computers. I can understand all of that. But building them out of your own kind? That's utterly deranged."

As the noise at the workbench subsided, Farrion picked up the newly repaired Power Sword, gave it a swing, and reactivated its Disruption Force Field.

After watching the arcing Force Field activate normally, he switched it off, left the workbench with the Longsword in hand, and passed it to Sien, who stood nearby.

"Thank you, my brother."

Sien took his sword and thanked Farrion.

"Think nothing of it." Farrion waved a hand, then addressed Iax, who was still staring at the Cogitator nearby, his thoughts unreadable.

"Legacy of antiquity, Iax, what do you need to build? I'd be happy to help if I can."

Iax strode forward, his metal feet and immense weight striking the metal compartment floor more loudly than Astartes ceramite armor.

The approaching, heavy thuds carried an inexplicable sense of pressure, and Farrion found himself growing nervous.

Sensing the strange atmosphere, Sien frowned as well. Though he knew his Power Sword might be of little use against Iax, he instinctively raised the Longsword before him and stepped forward, placing himself between Iax and Farrion.

Once activated, the Disruption Force Field continually broke down the surrounding air, producing distinct crackles around the blade.

"Perhaps my kind abandoned this world because they could not tolerate certain acts."

Iax stopped in front of them and said something neither Sien nor Farrion could understand.

Then he walked around them toward the workbench without another word.

A scanning beam swept over the entire workbench and its equipment, and Iax shook off his tangled thoughts.

"This workbench has no data-access control interface at all? And all this equipment has such poor precision?"

Somewhat incredulous, he looked around. His scanning beam swept across the hall, and he instantly analyzed the general structure of every piece of equipment.

But their abysmal efficiency and primitive operation were truly beyond anything he had imagined.

"More than ten thousand years have passed, yet technology has become inferior to what it was ten thousand years ago."

After making that remark, Iax turned to Farrion.

"Can you build an energy Conversion Core?"

Looking at the inferior equipment, Iax had even lost the desire to make his own charging device.

But Farrion's shake of the head left him at a loss.