Chapter 2: A Machine Beyond Repair

The workshop smelled like machine oil, burnt circuits, and poor decisions.

To Shreyas, it smelled like home.

The moment he entered Workshop 7 carrying the crate, several students looked up from their projects.

Most of them immediately noticed the battered Core Frame sticking out from beneath the pile of salvaged parts.

One of them laughed.

"What happened this time?"

Another student leaned over.

"Did he adopt another broken machine?"

"Looks like it."

"At this point, I'm convinced Shreyas feels sorry for scrap metal."

The workshop erupted in laughter.

Shreyas ignored them.

He had heard worse.

Much worse.

Carefully placing the crate on an empty workbench, he finally got a proper look at DOT AETHER under the workshop lights.

The damage was worse than he remembered.

Cracks covered the armor.

The left arm was completely missing.

Several internal components had rusted.

The power routing systems were barely recognizable.

Even the Core housing looked damaged.

Ananya stared at the machine.

Then at Shreyas.

Then back at the machine.

"You know this thing is dead, right?"

"It flickered."

"One light."

"It still flickered."

"One."

"Light."

Ananya sighed.

There was no saving him.

An hour later, the workshop had become surprisingly quiet.

Most students had returned to their own projects.

Only the occasional sound of tools and machinery filled the room.

Shreyas carefully removed DOT AETHER's chest armor.

Immediately, he frowned.

"That's weird."

Ananya looked up from her laptop.

"What?"

"The internal structure."

He pointed toward the exposed frame.

"Look at this."

Ananya leaned closer.

To her, it looked like a bunch of metal components.

To Shreyas, it was a language.

And something about this language didn't make sense.

Modern Core Frames were built according to strict engineering standards.

Every manufacturer followed similar layouts.

Every machine had recognizable design principles.

DOT AETHER didn't.

Its components were arranged differently.

The energy channels were unfamiliar.

Even the frame structure looked unusual.

Almost experimental.

Almost unfinished.

Yet somehow intentional.

As if the engineer who built it had ignored every established rule.

"What does it mean?" Ananya asked.

Shreyas shook his head.

"I don't know."

And that bothered him.

Because normally, he always knew.

The following week passed in a blur.

Classes...

Assignments...

Workshop sessions...

Repairs...

Repeat....

Every spare moment found Shreyas sitting in front of DOT AETHER.

Slowly.

Patiently.

Bringing the forgotten machine back to life.

One component at a time.

The missing arm was still gone.

Most of the armor remained damaged.

But progress was progress.

Unfortunately, the more he repaired DOT AETHER...

The stranger it became.

One evening, after the workshop had emptied, Ananya found Shreyas staring at the exposed frame.

Again.

"You've been doing that for ten minutes."

"I'm thinking."

"Dangerous."

"Very funny."

She walked over.

"What now?"

Shreyas didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he grabbed a marker and approached the whiteboard.

"You know what's bothering me?"

"Everything?"

"Besides that."

He started drawing.

A rough humanoid machine appeared on the board.

"This is an Assault Frame."

He added oversized weapons to its shoulders.

"High firepower."

"Long-range combat."

"Heavy energy consumption."

"Basically the type that solves every problem by shooting at it."

Ananya nodded.

"Sounds effective."

"It usually is."

Beside it, he drew another Frame.

This one was much slimmer.

"Blade Frames."

"Fast."

"Agile."

"Close-range specialists."

"Most competitive duelists use these."

A third drawing appeared.

Larger.

Bulkier.

Covered in armor.

"Heavy Frames."

"Walking tanks."

"Slow."

"Ridiculously durable."

"Nobody enjoys fighting them."

A fourth drawing.

Smaller.

Simpler.

"Support Frames."

"Repair units."

"Shield specialists."

"Analysis systems."

"Rare but useful."

Ananya crossed her arms.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"So which category is DOT?"

Shreyas looked toward the workbench.

Toward the damaged machine.

Toward the mysterious name engraved across its chest.

DOT AETHER.

Silence....

Then he sighed.

"That's the problem."

"What problem?"

"I don't think it belongs to any category."

Ananya blinked.

"What do you mean?"

Shreyas pointed toward the machine.

"The arm structure resembles a Blade Frame."

"The armor density is closer to a Heavy Frame."

"The energy routing systems look like something from an Assault Frame."

"And some of these support systems shouldn't even be installed on a combat machine."

He shook his head.

"It doesn't make sense."

Ananya looked at DOT AETHER.

Then back at him.

"So whoever built it..."

"...wasn't following the rules."

Shreyas nodded.

Slowly.

Thoughtfully.

"It's like they weren't trying to create the best Blade Frame."

His eyes narrowed.

"Or the best Heavy Frame."

He walked over to the workbench.

Resting a hand on DOT AETHER's damaged shoulder.

"It's like they were trying to create something that could become anything."

For a moment, neither spoke.

The workshop was silent.

The evening sun filtered through the windows.

Dust floated lazily through the air.

Then suddenly—

A faint blue light flickered deep within DOT AETHER's Core.

Once.

Twice.

Gone.

Both froze.

"..."

"..."

Ananya slowly looked at Shreyas.

"You saw that."

"Yeah."

"Tell me you finally connected a battery."

"I didn't."

The workshop fell silent once more.

Neither of them spoke.

Neither of them moved.

Because for the first time...

The light had flickered twice.

And neither knew why.

End of Chapter 2

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