Oss smirked. “I’m sure that was on his mind when he started flirting with a street rat.”
I nodded. “Definitely a man who plans for the future.”
A loud bark of laughter burst from Oss. I grinned in response, pleased at amusing my taciturn friend.
“Could you do a thorough examination of me before you go? Despite my long life, I’m not an expert at mechanical design, and there might be more wrong with me than I am aware.”
“Of course.” I had been so busy dreaming of Torren’s workshop that I forgot the reason I would be going there in the first place. “I need to make proper measurements anyway.” I pulled out the small tool kit I had stashed earlier in my bag. Oss had given it to me when we were both much younger. He claimed to have found it. In my greed, I purposely overlooked the elegant, monogrammed cover that definitely didn’t have my initials on the front. It had been my first gift, and they would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. “Ready?”
“What do you need me to do?” There was a fine edge of worry in Buster’s voice.
He watched me carefully as I untied the leather straps holding my kit closed, rolled it open, and then pulled out a screwdriver.
“Just lie still and relax. I won’t do anything to intentionally harm you. Let me know if you experience any pain. Can you feel pain yet?”
“Yes, I have gained the ability to feel pain, but it isn’t a highly tuned sense. From what I can understand after talking with the flesh-bound, I have a muted pain and touch tolerance.”
“Good to know.” I took his words to mean that it wouldn’t hurt him as much as it would a regular human if I slipped up, but he would feel something. “What about when I need to take out your gear? I don’t want to be responsible for killing you.” Taking a living being apart scared me to death. “Maybe we should have Dr. Ballinger oversee this?”
“And what would you tell him?” Oss asked. “Hey, doc, do you mind helping me cut open a possibly alive mechanical, that I might be making even more human?”
I opened my mouth to retort, then snapped it closed again. What would my story be if I had to ask the doctor for help? “How about we get him if flesh parts become involved?”
“That sounds like a good compromise,” Oss agreed.
I would never forgive myself if I accidentally ended a life, even a mechanical one. By my criteria, Buster was a living being. Something more than nuts and bolts had to be involved to give him a spark of awareness. There was no guarantee that even with my powers I could bring him back to whatever he considered life if I messed things up too badly.
“To answer your question about whether you would kill me during an operation, Master Torren created a key to my system. If you put your hand on the middle of my chest and tell me to disconnect while funneling your magic, I will fall into hibernation while you do what you need to. However, if you don’t reactivate me within twenty-four hours, I will no longer be able to awaken. The magic that gives me life fades after that time.”
“Nice to have a time frame,” I muttered. I was so far out of my expertise I might as well be decoding cyphers. I shook off my apprehension and focused on Buster’s chest cavity. “I can see that some of your gears appear to be slightly bent probably from the impact. How did they hurt you anyway?”
“Pipes. They had metal pipes.”
“How did you get away?” Oss asked.
“Two men ran the others off. I escaped from them when it seemed as if they had only saved me to use me for themselves.”
People were opportunists. I didn’t know how it is in other cities, but I was pretty certain it was a survival thing not a City of Keys issue. We could spend all day complaining about the degradation of mankind or I could go straight to measuring Buster’s gears. “I hope I can find replacement parts for all of these.” There was more damage than I initially spied.
“I’m certain Master Torren will have the right ones. His workshop was fully stocked, and no one has been allowed inside since his death.”
That Buster was comforting me when he was the one about to become a flesh pile made me feel even worse.
I spotted a tiny screw poking out from Buster’s chest. Absently, I grabbed my smallest screwdriver to tighten it. Torren had been a true genius. How much knowledge had been lost over the years between private libraries and separated cities? Justin and I might be on the outs, but maybe he’d still let me pillage his library for old times’ sake. I could’ve kicked myself for not taking advantage of my access to his limited editions earlier. It only proved how infatuated I had been with the man not to have grabbed up all his rare tomes and made a run for it.
“How did you heal before this?” Oss asked. “This can’t be the first time you’ve had problems.”
“I used to automatically heal. Maybe my mechanics are failing now that they are no longer needed, or the transformation is preventing my metal parts from fixing.” Buster’s tone was more musing than concerned.
“Do you think that’s possible? Aren’t you still needed on some level to stop people from causing problems below? Oss hasn’t exactly taken charge yet.” Opening the barrier would’ve added to issues rather than ending them.
“Maybe, but I’ve been feeling weak since the gate opened.”
“Hmm. How do you get more energy? Do you consume food?” I refused to commit to any answers until I finished my examination. I pressed my right index finger to his sternum and pushed a bit of magic into the metal. A small blue spark flared between us.
Buster jerked.
“Sorry, did that hurt?” I yanked my hand back. I’ve never worked on a semi-sentient mechanical person before.
