Zeth looked up from her work, her expression unreadable behind her studded mask. 'Voice-stress analysis leads me to believe you are concerned for this individual's wellbeing. Am I correct?'

'Yes,' said Dalia. 'I don't like to think that people are going to suffer for what we're doing here.'

'No? It is somewhat late in the process to be thinking of such things,' said Zeth.

'I know,' said Dalia. 'And I wish I'd thought more about it sooner, but I didn't.'

'Then the matter is closed,' said Zeth. 'But this will kill him, won't it?'

'Not if your design works as I believe it will,' said Zeth. 'The theta-wave enhancer should expand the empath's capacity for learning at an exponentially greater rate than he will be receiving information.'

Zeth gestured to the myriad of bulky vox-thieves and data carriers arranged around the dais. 'In theory, the empath will simply be a conduit for information to pass from the aether to these recording devices.'

'Good,' said Dalia. 'I don't like the idea of him suffering.'

'Nor I,' said Mellicin in a rare show of emotion.

'Your compassion is laudable, if misplaced,' said Zeth, as a stream of flickering data arrived in her noosphere. 'Now finish the empath's revival process. Adept Maximal has arrived to observe and verify our results.'

Zeth straightened and descended to the chamber's floor, leaving Dalia and Mellicin alone with the empath on the dais.

'Well, you heard what she said,' nodded Mellicin. 'Let's get finished up here, eh?'

'Aren't you concerned at all?' asked Dalia. 'Do you care that he might suffer?'

'Of course I care, but that doesn't change anything does it? As the adept said, it is a little late to be having second thoughts. You designed this device after all.'

'I know that, but when it was just theoretical it didn't seem so… I don't know… real!'

'Well I assure you, this is very real, Dalia,' said Mellicin. 'We have built it and we can't ignore the fact that this is potentially a very dangerous device. And not just to these poor unfortunates.'

'Who else is it dangerous to?' asked Dalia, puzzled.

Mellicin smiled indulgently, the human half of her features softening in a way Dalia had never seen before. 'Ah, Dalia, you are so clever in many ways, yet so innocent in others. Think of what we will learn from the Akashic reader. With access to the secrets of the aether we will be able to lift humanity to a new level of understanding of the universe.'

'And that's a bad thing?'

'Of course not, but it is an inevitable fact that much of the information Zeth will glean from this device will be used to create weapons of war more powerful than anything we can imagine.'

Dalia felt her entire body go cold, as though the temperature of the chamber had dropped to that of a glacial plain.

'I see you begin to understand,' continued Mellicin. 'It is the ethical question all devotees of science must face. We research in service of the furtherance of knowledge, but we cannot ignore the uses to which our findings are put in the real world.'

'But—'

'But nothing, Dalia,' interrupted Mellicin, taking her hand. 'Adept Zeth is going ahead with this test whether you like it or not. So we'll do all we can to make sure our empath comes through it alive and well, yes?'

'I suppose so,' agreed Dalia, bending to increase the flow of stimms to the empath's brain. 'But promise me that we'll only use the Akashic reader to learn things that will benefit the Imperium.'

'I can't make that promise,' said Mellicin. 'No one can, but I have to believe that one day we will create a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying in its consequence, that even mankind, a race that was once hell-bent on its own destruction, will be so appalled that it will abandon war forever. What our minds can create, I hope our character can control.'

'I hope you're right,' said Dalia.

'Am… am I… dead?' groaned the empath.

Both women jumped, hands flying to their mouths and hearts as the empath's eyes fluttered open and he looked up from his restraints.

Mellicin recovered her wits first and bent down towards the empath. 'No, you're not dead, you've just come out of a state of drug-induced neural stasis. Stimulants are washing away the last residues of pentobarbital now, so your higher brain functions should be restored soon.'

Dalia gave Mellicin an exasperated look and bent down over the empath.

'She means you'll be fine. You've been asleep, but you're awake now. Do you know where you are?'

The man blinked in the harsh brightness of the forge, and Dalia saw that his pupils were still massively dilated. She shielded his eyes from the light with her hand and he smiled in gratitude.

'Sorry, the light in here's a bit bright,' she said.

'Bright, yes,' said the empath, his eyes flicking from side to side as they lost the glassy texture of the recently woken. 'This is the Akashic reader, isn't it?'

'Yes. You know what it does?'

'I do,' said the man as Mellicin lowered the cranial assembly over his head. 'Adept Zeth explained it to me when she chose me to be the conduit.'

'My name's Dalia, what's yours?'

'Jonas. Jonas Milus,' said the man with a smile, and Dalia saw that Severine was right. He was handsome. 'I'd shake your hand, but…'

Dalia smiled. The humour was forced, but she appreciated the effort, though it struck her as perverse that Jonas was giving her reassurance while strapped into a device that had never been fully tested on a human being.

'Are we about to begin?' asked Jonas. 'I assume you must be, what with me being awake.'

'Adept Zeth is about to begin the first live test of the new device, yes,' said Mellicin, fixing the last of the restraints in place.

'Excellent,' said Jonas, and Dalia was surprised at the relish she heard in his voice.

'You're not worried?' she asked, ignoring the irritated look Mellicin flashed her.

'No, should I be?'

'No, no, of course not,' said Dalia hurriedly. 'I mean, I don't think so. The machine's passed every test and all our simulated results suggest that it should work perfectly.'

'Did you have anything to do with it?' asked Jonas.

'Well, yes, I kind of helped design the throne you're in.'

'Then I'm not worried,' said Jonas.

'You're not?'

'No,' said Jonas, 'because I can feel your compassion and your concern for me. I know you're worried for my life, but I can sense that you've done everything you can to make sure this machine works safely.'

'How do you know all that?'

'He's an empath, Dalia,' said Mellicin. 'It's what they do.'

'Oh, of course,' said Dalia, feeling foolish.

'I'm looking forward to this, really,' said Jonas. 'To use my gift for the betterment of the Imperium? What better way is there for someone blessed with my talent to serve the Emperor? I'll know everything soon, and I'll be part of something that helps humanity achieve its destiny. I know that sounds a bit grand, but it's what we're doing here, isn't it?'

Dalia smiled, relieved beyond words that they were not pressing some unwilling victim into the service of Adept Zeth's grand dream. 'Yes, Jonas,' she said. 'That's exactly what we're doing here.'

'All engines form on Victorix Magna,' ordered Princeps Indias Cavalerio, nodding towards his steersman. 'Keep us level, Lacus.'

'Yes, my princeps,' said Lacus, expertly walking the god-machine through the treacherous straits surrounding the heavily cratered northern reaches of the Ulysses Patera.

'And keep the auspex returns frequent, Palus, the ground here is weak.'

'Yes, my princeps,' came the response from the sensori blister atop the Warlord's crew compartment. The tone of his sensori's voice did not escape Cavalerio, and he knew he was being overcautious, needlessly telling the crew their jobs.