Page 13 of Sy

“Status check on sector four,” she called out, watching the closest driver’s hardened titanium shaft stab down into the soil. The vibrations traveled up through her boots, rattling her teeth even though she was well outside the red zone. Anything within it was in danger of being crushed.

“All readings nominal,” Michelle Trevor, her second in command, called out from her monitoring station. “Dead on the depths the scans predicted.”

Thank god for small mercies. The tightness across Ashley’s shoulders eased a little. At least the Hell-Vs were behaving today. They were temperamental at the best of times, but thesemiautomated systems took most of the backbreaking labor out of foundation laying. Not like the horror stories from early colonization efforts. She shivered at the thought. The poor bastards back then probably broke their backs—and spirits—trying to build anything substantial.

“Christ, can you imagine trying to build something like this with ancient equipment?” The words slipped out before she could stop them.

“What’s that, boss?” James, one of the junior engineers, looked up, squinting in the bright sunlight.

“The old days.” She shook her head. “No automated drivers, no quantum scanners. Probably lucky if they had a working laser level. Just manual equipment and prayer, hoping they didn’t hit bedrock at the wrong angle and snap their equipment in half.”

The nearest pile driver paused its rhythmic pounding, running through its preprogrammed checks before shifting position. It looked for all the world like a massive beetle stamping the ground before it settled down again to resume its work.

“Ashley?” Michelle’s voice carried a note any project manager had learned to dread. “Getting some unusual density readings from the next coordinate.”

She headed over, picking her way to avoid getting stuck in the thick mud. Leaning in, she looked at the screen. “Show me.”

The scanner display cleared, and she frowned. From these readouts, harder material lay about thirty meters down, just on the edge of their target depth. Nothing their equipment couldn’t handle, but it would require finesse.

“Good catch.” She tapped commands into her datapad, double-checking the calculations. “Adjust impact force twelve percent and recalibrate the resonance dampeners. Let’s not burn out the driver head on whatever’s down there.”

As Michelle made the adjustments, she swept a look across the site. The cool of early morning was beginning to burn off, and by the feel of it, it was going to be a hot one. That’s why she was insisting on early starts. It was easier when they weren’t working in oven conditions.

“Okay, people, let’s keep it moving,” she called out to the team around her. “I want these foundation points completed before midday. The concrete teams are prepping their equipment, and I don’t want them standing around with their thumbs up their asses waiting on us.”

She turned away from Michelle’s monitoring station, carefully stepping down from the raised platform. A smile tugged at her lips as she spotted Lila crossing the construction site, her daughter’s bright red hair a beacon in the morning sun. Pride swelled in her chest as she watched Lila following the marked safety corridors perfectly, staying within the high-visibility tape boundaries they’d discussed at length.

“Morning, Mom.” Lila’s cheeks were flushed from the walk, her tablet clutched to her chest like always. “The view from that watchtower would be amazing for sketching. Could I go up there for a while?”

Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Have you finished your learning modules for today?”

Lila’s gaze slid away, focusing on something in the distance as she wrinkled her nose. “Could I just do them later? The light’s really good right now.”

The excuse was delivered with practiced earnestness, but Ashley knew that look. She’d used the same one on her own mother countless times. She was about to agree on conditions—maybe an hour of drawing if Lila promised to complete two modules afterward—when movement at the tree line caught her attention.

Her heart stuttered as three shapes emerged from the forest. Ferals—the same ones from yesterday. They were unmistakable, even at this distance. Massive, armored, deadly. The wordnowas already forming on her lips when a shadow fell across them.

“They won’t come any closer.” Sy’s deep voice came from behind her, and she turned. He gestured toward the watch tower where Kal and Tor had already taken up positions, their faces serious as they scanned the area. “Your daughter will be safe.”

She lowered her voice and stepped closer to him. “Are you insane? I won’t put those boys in danger just so Lila can draw.”

A smile ghosted across his face.

“Those ‘boys’ have been training as warriors since they could walk.” His red eyes tracked the ferals’ movements with casual confidence. “And Tor… well, let’s just say he’s one of the most dangerous ferals here. Even Kraath and Banic keep a close eye on him.”

She glanced back at the teenager and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that your daughter couldn’t be safer.” His expression dropped serious. “Those three won’t dare come closer with Tor here. He’d tear them apart, and they know it.”

“Okay then.” She nodded to her daughter. “But make sure you stay with them. Okay?”

“Sure, Mom. Love you, bye!”

She smiled as Lila darted away across the safety zone toward the tower before she could change her mind. Lila slowed as she approached Kal and Tor, and both boys straightened, their attention laser-focused on her daughter as she approached them.

“So the ferals… They really won’t come closer?” Ashley kept her voice casual as she turned toward the next Hell-V, datapad in hand. She needed to check whether this pile driver would hit the same dense material they’d come across earlier.

“No.” Sy fell into step beside her, his massive frame casting a shadow that made checking readings easier in the bright sunlight. “The northern continent has always been their territory… well, their prison, if we’re being honest. But they’re not stupid.

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