Inspection

The Priests, Sages, and other personnel of the Adeptus Mechanicus had their own dedicated communication channels. Senior personnel exchanged binary code rapidly over the Shortwave Band. Their Electronic Cortexes allowed them to exchange vast amounts of information in a short time.

Although the two Sages were merely looking at each other without speaking, Iax could read the torrent of information surging between them through his sensors.

Clearly, the two were locked in a heated argument.

But Iax had no interest in reading their conversation. Instead, he turned to Farrion, who stood nearby holding the Bionic Limb.

"Farrion, what do the connectors for the Bionic Limbs you usually use look like? Give me a sample, and I'll modify the limbs."

At Iax's words, Farrion hurriedly nodded and disappeared through the hatch again.

Less than two minutes later, he reappeared in the Medical Bay.

This time, he carried several mechanical structures resembling metal plates, with several protrusions and automatic bolts on their outer surfaces.

Farrion handed them to Iax while explaining them carefully.

"These are Embedded Fixation Structures. They connect to the body's skeleton. The Bionic Interface is just this disc on top. The protrusions use a form of Neural Synapse Integration Technology. All you need to do is make the Bionic Body compatible with it."

Iax was not adept at dealing with biological bodies, but once he scanned a mechanical object, it was immediately broken down into individual technological modules. The scan data was then analyzed and deconstructed, allowing him to reconstruct it virtually within his Computational Core.

After barely two glances, Iax already knew how to modify the limbs.

When he returned to the Maintenance Center with the Bionic Body, however, the sight left him somewhat stunned.

"Where are the metal materials I brought over? Do they clean this workbench that often? They even took the metal powder?"

Looking at the spotless workbench, with not even a single metal shaving left behind, Iax did not know what to say.

Fortunately, Iax still remembered the can of metal powder he had thrown into the waste chute earlier. Reconstituting that material would give him enough to work with.

His figure vanished into thin air, and he instantly arrived at a Waste Processing Center several decks below. Waste from the surrounding decks was sent here through chutes.

The instant Iax appeared, he lashed out with a punch.

Bang! Crack!

A Servo-skull shattered in midair.

Fragments clattered down from above.

Iax reached out and neatly caught the can of metal powder he had discarded earlier.

Before jumping back to the Maintenance Center, Iax glanced at the fragments on the floor.

The insignia of the Adeptus Mechanicus was clearly visible on them.

Its decorations were also more elaborate, making it plainly different from the Servo-skulls aboard the Imperial Battleship Entropy.

A quick comparison against Iax's database immediately turned up a match in his memory.

This Servo-skull was one of the two brought aboard by the two Sages of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

He did not know why a Servo-skull accompanying the Sages had come to the Waste Processing Center to retrieve his discarded can, but its purpose was clearly nothing like that of the slave laborers working around it.

This looked more like deliberate theft.

Still, Iax had no desire to find out why an Adeptus Mechanicus Servo-skull was stealing trash aboard an Imperial ship.

With the powder recovered, Iax simply melted it down again using an Eddy-Current Heater, then fashioned an adapter from a few ordinary metals.

After recasting it, he fitted the new adapter onto the Bionic Body.

Seeing that the Bionic Body had become slightly longer, he had no choice but to adjust it again.

When Iax reappeared in the Medical Bay, everyone was still waiting where they had been, except for the two Dark Angels Astartes, who had left.

"Here. They're modified."

Sien had abandoned the idea of having his hands and feet reattached and decided to have a Bionic Body installed instead. Apothecary Osen found a Stasis Box and tossed his severed extremities inside.

If Sien changed his mind someday, those limbs might still be reattached.

Meanwhile, Techmarine Farrion kept busy beside the treatment bed.

With their current technology, fitting Bionic Body to an Astartes was a rather complicated undertaking.

These Bionic Body had tremendous power output, so sufficiently sturdy mounting bases had to be built into the body.

The receptors in an Astartes's brain had been modified, allowing him to block his perception of pain at will.

That was exactly what Sien was doing now.

To implant the Bionic Body mounting bases, Farrion had to enlarge Sien's wounds again, then implant some connectors in advance.

Many more steps would follow.

Bone reinforcement, neural signal routing, metal base implantation, and several specialized reinforcement procedures—the entire preparation process would take at least four standard days.

Once the Bionic Body were connected, Sien would also need adaptation training.

It would be at least a week before Sien could rejoin his squad.

Throughout that period, Farrion would have to keep checking the implants and bodily reinforcements to ensure that the Bionic Body mounting bases integrated properly with the body, that there were no discrepancies in the neural signals, and that no unexpected problems arose after the Bionic Body were finally connected.

After handing the Bionic Body to Farrion, Iax stood silently to one side. He wanted nothing to do with anything else.

The two Sages hurried over and crowded around Farrion.

"These two Bionic Limbs must undergo our inspection and testing before they can be installed. Besides, the preparatory work is not yet complete. You can finish the preliminary procedures first, then come to us to collect the limbs."

As a Techmarine, Farrion knew that the Adeptus Mechanicus was intensely curious about the technology contained in these objects.

But he had his concerns as well. If he handed over the Bionic Body for testing and inspection, he did not know whether they would be willing to return them afterward.

After all, the technology within this Bionic Body was extremely complex.

And they had been made by an Ancient Construct.

In a Chapter with a less substantial technological legacy, calling these relics built with ancient technology would be no exaggeration.

"Sages, the Bionic Limbs cannot..."

Just as Farrion began to speak, the Inquisitor, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly stepped forward.

"I can commission the two Sages to inspect these Bionic Limbs and determine whether that Ancient Construct poses a threat to the Imperium. If the limbs pass inspection, I believe we can consider the inspection complete."

I'm an Inquisitor, not someone looking to get himself killed. Never mind whether I can even understand Iax's technology—if we tried to use force, the people here couldn't pull it off anyway.

Besides, this is a self-aware Man of Iron. Would he really let you examine his body at your leisure?

Don't be ridiculous.

People would die.

Limbs he manufactured are his limbs, aren't they? And if we've inspected his limbs, that means we've inspected him, doesn't it?

Afterward, it would be best to have the Sages take this Man of Iron away. Then it would be the Department of Internal Affairs' problem. If the Adeptus Mechanicus achieves something later and starts misusing the technology, that would be an Inquisitor Lord's problem. It would have nothing to do with me.