The Colossus started with a scream.
Its drill turned faster as twelve boilers climbed past their rated pressure. The cutter struck Sunset Peak’s eastern flank, and rock dust rolled over the trees.
Inside, a safety gauge cracked. Senior Forge-Hand Zhao reached for the relief wheel.
Tie Kuang kicked it out of his hand.
“Keep pressure. If the shaft wobbles, add torque.”
Zhao looked at the shaking deck. “The seals will fail.”
“Then hold them with your hands if you must.”
Kang pulled the man back from a burst steam line. “You heard him. He means it.”
On Floor 1, Austin and Xiaoyao felt the wall shake. Dust fell onto the conveyor. The pangolins hid beneath a workbench.
Xiaoyao watched a crack cross the upper arch. “They are cutting toward the return main.”
If the drill broke that pipe, the workshop would flood and the restored water route would fail again.
Austin checked the emergency map. There was one safe exit behind the machine and one engine hatch above the cutter. He marked both.
“Its main bearing is off by fourteen point two millimeters. When it comes through, do not stand in front of the cone. We stop rotation, then open the hatches.”
The wall broke with a roar.
This was the first machine to enter the workshop by force. The Colossus pushed through in a shower of stone and sparks. Its spinning teeth pointed toward the waterwheel.
Tie’s voice boomed from the cabin. “Advance! The mountain and everything in it belong to the Pavilion!”
Austin walked to a work cart and picked up an eighty-pound Stellar-Steel billet.
Xiaoyao lifted the grease gun. “Should I oil something?”
“No. Bring the hatch bar.”
Austin waited for a gap between the cutter teeth and the fixed housing. Then he pushed the billet into the channel.
The first impact made a small ringing note. The teeth shattered against the stronger alloy. The rotating cone stopped, but the engines kept driving.
The force ran backward through the worn drive train.
The main pinion snapped. Shafts twisted. Steam pipes burst at their joints. The whole machine bucked against the broken wall and fell silent.
Austin retrieved the unmarked billet.
“Told him the drive would fail. Seal rings made of boiled cabbage, I bet.”
Inside the Colossus, hot steam filled the lower deck. Workers coughed behind their collars. One escape ladder had bent when the frame shifted.
Kang forced open the upper hatch with his steel arm.
“Out through the top! Leave the boilers!”
Tie climbed out on the other side and saw his ruined drill. Rage burned away his last interest in the crew.
“Cowards! Return to your posts!”
A boiler seam split behind him.
Kang did not argue. He pulled two stunned technicians away from the scalding leak and shouted for the rest to follow.
Austin and Xiaoyao reached the hatch with the bar. Between them, they wrenched it fully open.
“Workers first,” Austin said. “Grand Elders can wait.”