Fifth Interlude - Life and Death

Jacob Kilburn walked slowly down the dark, rainy street. If he hadn't had an appointment to keep, he would have gone straight home.

Earlier that day, he'd lost his future. The Savant had made an announcement to all of Chimaera's personnel about his current status. He planned to retain control of Chimaera from now on. With a boss who would never die off, Kilburn realized he had lost his status as Helmsman's heir-apparent. He seriously wondered what he was going to do with his life--apparently, the last fifteen years had been for nothing.

By the time he pushed open the door to the Golden Drum Saloon, his hair and clothing were soaked. He made his way to the agreed upon booth in the back.

"You're late." said Edwin Rass.

"It's been a trying day." said Kilburn, sitting down. Only then did he notice the third man in the booth. He had a long, shaggy beard and a face full of lines. He didn't look old, but rather like he had many years of hard labor behind him. His teeth were so white that they sparkled, even in the Drum's dim light. He wore a dark, heavily embroidered coat that Kilburn recognised as being from the Worldspawn Mountains in the North. Kilburn guessed the man to be about forty years old. "Rass, who's our friend?"

"This is the gentleman I told you about. Jacob Kilburn, meet Doctor Viashislov Shuisky." said Rass.

The two men shook hands, and Shuisky spoke with his mountain accent. "Mister Kilburn it is a playsure to meet you. Mister Rass has told me much about you."

"I haven't much about your skills, Doctor. All I know is that you're a biomancer with some unorthodox ideas."

Shuisky laughed. It was the thick, loud laugh of a bearded, heavyset extrovert. "I suppose 'unorthodox' is a very polit-ical way of putting it, Mister Kilburn. To put things simply, most biomancers only heal. They restore what nature has built. I, on the other hand, am willing to improve upon the first draft provided at birth."

Kilburn looked sidelong at Rass. "Is he for real?"

"You'd better believe it. He rode here on a six-legged horse that's as smart as a man. It's not tied up outside; it's gone for shelter and will be here at midnight." said Rass, smiling.

"Well, how will it know when it's midnight?" asked Kilburn.

"Why, he will use his pocketwatch, of course." said Shuisky, not even a glimmer of sarcasm in his voice. "If I am going to make an intelligent steed, I will make one that is punctual, of course."

"So...why are we here, Rass?" said Kilburn. "What do the number two man in the premiere facility for mechanical innovation and a miracle-working biomancer have in common?"

Rass rubbed his moustache. "I believe that we may be able to create a partnership between the three of us, to defeat an opponent no man has ever stood against."

Shuisky and Kilburn looked on expectantly.

"It is my belief," continued Rass, "that, between magic and machine, it may be possible for us to defeat death itself. I have been able to secure a grant from the Sons of Thunder to found a facility dedicated to the integration of man and machine. I believe that Mister Kilburn's gadgetry can be installed in the human body, with Doctor Shuisky's skills keeping the patient from rejecting those devices.

"All that I need is your participation, gentlemen. So tell me, are you ready to change history? Are you in?"

Thunder rolled outside. History was born.