Ambitions of The Stained Glass Knight

The camera wildly lept up and down, shaking violently with each footstep. It was exactly like watching a movie. Calloway wasn't sure how this was even possible, but he was watching The Architect vicariously in this recorder.

"HELLO?!" The Architect called out. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"

The Architect ran through the rain-slick streets of some extremely futuristic city. "HELLO?!" He called out again. His armor was white, with blue veins all over it that pulsed in cyan color, seemingly on sync with his heartbeat. He also wore a helmet, which was also white, with a cyan visor that covered all of his face. It distorted his voice, making it sound as if it were coming through a rebreather or radio.

Two soldiers, dressed in armor identical to The Architect, ran around the corner in front of him. Their armor was black, however, and had red veins and red visors. They shouted in some foreign language, and held their weapons up at The Architect.

"Shit." He muttered, throwing himself behind what appeared to be a car. He drew his rifle up immediately, and fired several shots.

This rifle was like none Calloway had ever seen.

The Architect grabbed what looked to be a metal bar magnetized to this back, and Calloway watched as the metal grew, flipped, and turned into an elegant rifle. It seemingly responded to his touch, sending blue veins of cyan pumping through it. The rifles muzzle flash was a bright purple, and it sounded just as strange. One of the black-armored soldiers ran forward, only to have a blood splatter violently explode from his chest. The moment he hit the ground, the other soldier's head jerked back violently, hitting the wall behind him.

More soldiers came around the wall, at least 9 or 10. As they checked the bodies of their fallen comrades, one pointed and shouted in his strange language.

"Inveniebam! Inveniebam!" He beckoned. The Architect lept to his feet, and immediately darted down the alleyway at incredible speed. He held his wrist up to his mouth, and shouted at it. Bullets flew past him, shattering windows and ricocheting off of walls.

"ARTIFICER, CARPENTER, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" He yelled.

"STAND BY..." A deep, metallic voice said back. After a couple more moments of running, the voice came back. "WE ARE IN POSITION. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE US DO?" It boomed over his wrist.

With bullets and purple muzzle flashes chasing after him, The Architect was justified in his anger and fear.

"START WITH GETTING ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He shouted back.

Just as those words left his mouth, the wall beside him exploded. The Architect took cover near the rubble, and looked on at figure coming out.

Emerging from this new hole, was a man that disturbed Calloway. He was extremely tall and muscular, but that wasn't what bothered him.

This man was seemingly half machine. Maybe even more than half.

The only skin that was visible was around his right eye, and even then, both of his eyes were glowing cyan. He wore a hood and cloak, but his metal appendages were extremely apparent. Transparent tubes traveled through his arms, pumping a cyan liquid through his body.

The golem of flesh and metal stepped forward towards the advancing black-armored soldiers, and snatched one off of the ground. He gingerly had grabbed him by his neck, and with a disturbing gentleness, seemingly broke his neck with a squeeze. He then launched the body an insane amount away from him.

"Proditor!" One of the soldiers called out, firing at this new creature.

"YOU ARE THE TRAITORS." It's voice boomed. It held both of it's hands out, pointing at the group with open palms. This machine then revealed it had another trick up it's sleeve.

As the soldiers fired at it, the cyan liquid pumping through it started to increase in frequency and intensity. After a few seconds, a blue, sticky fire erupted from it's hands, latching to the group of soldiers. The blue liquid clung to them, melting through their armor. They cried out in pain and terror, throwing themselves against walls and thrashing about the ground, hoping to end their agony.

The Architect poked his head around the wall, and shouted to the monster.

"Artificer, I've got the vaccine! I've got to get it back to Celestia, it's the only way!" The Architect called. He had a hand over his stomach, which was now bleeding freely. He had been shot. "You're coming with me, let's go!"

"NO." The golem known as The Artificer boomed. "YOU MUST GO ALONE. THE MISSION MUST NOT BE JEOPARDIZED."

"But what about you? You know as well as I what will happen!"

"LEAVE ME."

"And leave you to die? Bullshit! You may be a God damned robot, but you're still my brother! Don't pretend like you're void of emotion because you're covered in metal!"

The Artificer stalled for a moment.

"ONE LIFE DOES NOT BALANCE BILLIONS." It responded.

.....

The recording flashes back over to The Architect, now back in his seat, staring at the camera. His wound had bandages over it.

"I never told Celestia I went back for the cure. I never told her that I regularly went back and forth between worlds. In this box, is a vial. I will spare you the details, but I found out that I was far too late to cure the Earth. My only hope was to begin vaccinations.  It's important that you actually SEE what happened in these recordings, so that you can grasp the reality of our situation. As I said previously, I know this is extremely sudden, but I need you to bare with me."

The Architect shifts back in his chair, and takes his knife out, flipping it around casually. It's becoming apparent that this is his way to relieve anxiety, like biting fingernails.

"So. Let's get down to it. Something happened. Something weird. I had been travelling freely back forth from my Universe to this one, and, one time, when I went, I was 10 years in the future there. It was the exact same Universe, just the future. That is what you just saw. Once again, I will spare you the details, those can come later. Remember that vial?"

The Architect points at the exact box that Calloway is holding in his hands now.

"Uncork it, and drink it. I will not tell you what it does just yet. Also, it's probably going to taste really bad. Especially if it's been sitting for awhile. Put some sugar in it or something."

The Architect chuckles nervously. It's obvious that whatever he is having Calloway do, it's important.

"Lastly, I've hid a bunch of these recordings throughout Equestria. Ones that Celestia CAN, NOT, SEE. Please. For both of our sakes, hide them, destroy them, do what you must to make sure she doesn't view them. The ones she already has in her possession are your official instruction, while the ones I've hidden are the reasonings behind them. The hidden ones also have a few goodies to help you on your way, so, yeah. You're welcome."

"Anyways. I don't want to say too much more. The next hidden recorder will be easy for you. It's inside of a statue at the Marestrom. Don't go for it until you've received the next 'official' one from Celestia. Get moving. You've got lives to save."

The Architect chuckles again nervously, catching his knife midair, and stopping his juggling of it.

"Then again, who doesn't these days, huh? Architect, out."

=============================================================================

Calloway stood in the dark field, leaning on the shovel he had brought, next to the freshly dug hole. The light from the recorder bathed him in a light blue glow, making his eyes glisten in the night, just like the stars that seemed to have no end in Equestria.

Calloway simply chewed his tongue in thought, and gazed at the ground, not blinking.

He had gotten used to the idea of some greater forces at work here. He knew that if he were to actually say these things out loud that he would be ashamed of himself, but in his mind, they made sense.

In his mind, he still felt sane.

The idea of The Architect accidently leaping through time was boggling, but, in some way Calloway couldn't explain, did make sense.

"Wait." Calloway said to himself, coming to a realization.

What if he's still alive? What if jumping ten years became jumping one hundred? A thousand?

Calloway tightened his grip up on the box, and closed his eyes in thought. Just as Calloway was going to remove the shovel from the ground, a small voice spoke up from behind him.

"Excuse me? Mr. Alien?" It said.

"HOLY SH-" Calloway yelped, stopping himself mid-curse. He swung around quickly, startled. Three fillies, who were now cowering in front of him, were the source of the voice. "Oh." Calloway said, chuckling and breathing heavily. "You scared me. I'm sorry."

The three fillies, one orange, one white, and one a pale yellow stopped their cowering. The white one spoke up.

"W-We saw the light coming from out here, and, and..." She started. She was talking about the light coming from the recorder. "...and we thought we would investigate. We are master detectives, after all..."

Calloway smiles. One of his first legitimate smiles since his arrival. The innocence of children seemed to shine across all existing Universes. Keeping his calm, and attempting to seem friendly, he dropped down to one knee, slowly.

"It's quite late, young ones. Perhaps you should investigate closer to home?" Calloway said. The orange one scoffed, showing a playful arrogance.

"We can do it! It's no fun close to home! We've already solved all of the mysteries that exist there."

The white filly staggered forward, yawning.

"Actually, I'm kinda...kinda sleepy. Let's head back."

With minor protests coming from the orange filly, the trio soon left the field Calloway was in. He felt kind of bad about making them leave. He was more concerned with them seeing or hearing the recorder than for their actual safety walking the streets of Ponyville at night.

Removing the shovel from the ground, and filling the hole he dug, Calloway also left the field. It was a little past midnight. He walked home, sticking to the shadows the way there. There weren't many ponies out at this time of night, but, those that were didn't see him.

Except for one.

As Calloway was entering the town, he heard a voice whisper to him. He had no choice but to freeze in his tracks, and leave the shadows that hugged him tight.

"Psst...hey pal. Hungry?" The voice said. It was coming from the shadows across from Calloway. He was not amused.

"I have no time for games. Show yourself." He said. The voice chuckled, and left the shadows, revealing a Gryphon. "What is your name, Gryphon?"

Was there no end to the variation of creatures that lived here?

"They call me The Butcher." It responded, grinning. Calloway still wasn't entertained. "Not for murder or anything, don't get that idea."

"Explain yourself. Before I give you leave to your shadows."

The Butcher grinned.

"You're painfully straight to the point. I like you. Simply put, I can sale you some meat. Not every creature here in Equestria is an herbivore. I know you aren't. I can tell. Interested?"

Calloway brought his left fist up to his face in thought, almost leaning his head on it. "Well, what if I give you a free sample? I can give you a pound of ground beef. Free."

Calloway sighed.

"Alright. I'll take your free sample. But if I find out that this is either illegal, or one of the ponies I've met recently, I'll kill you myself."

"I bet you will. I will add to what I said earlier: not every creature is sentient in Equestria, either. If you decide you like it, come back to this spot at this exact time. I sale to my customers here."

"But why hide it? This really had better not be illegal."

"Oh, it's not. It's simply taboo."

Taking the meat and wishing The Butcher a good evening, he returned home.

Calloway wasn't exactly sure where to store the meat he had been given. He discovered that he had an icebox in his kitchen, filled with soda, wine, and other perishables. He dug to the bottom of the box, and snugly placed the paper-wrapped meat there, putting the ice and other things back over it.

He had slept well that night.

And the next couple of nights, for that matter.

Calloway still chose to seclude himself inside of his house for the next few days. Rarity would come every single day with lunch, and talk to him, which was nice, in theory.

He was really pushing the limits of his comfort letting her stay longer and longer each day, but this was something he had to do. If he kept himself secluded, he wouldn't be doing anything but delaying the inevitable: adaptation.

Better now than later.

One particular afternoon, Rarity forced him even further from his comfort zone.

There was the usual knock at the door, as had been Rarity's habit.

"It's unlocked." Calloway called. His daily ritual remained the same as it had back home. He was currently cleaning and wiping his prosthetic hand and it's appendages. This time was a little unique, however. He noticed a button that was exposed under the plates that connect his thumb to his hand, and, when he pressed it, the mechanical hand burst open, revealing all of the intricate pieces.

It looked almost like someone had opened a hand held fan that was made of metal. There were wires that ran all about his hand, along with his transparent plastic veins that pumped blood even into his prosthetic.

"That's new..." He said to himself as Rarity and her guest walked in. Normally, he would look up and greet Rarity as he had become accustomed to doing, but this new discovery had him entranced. He smiled, and chuckled a little, not taking his eyes off of his hand. "You'll never believe this, Rares."

Rarity blushed, and put a hoof to her cheek.

"He, uh...I might allow him to call me that." She said. "What did you discover, darling?"

Calloway smiled largely, still looking at his hand. Rarity had quickly become one of his good friends in Equestria. He was convinced that she was faking it in the beginning, but it's now completely apparent that they had grown closer, and actually had come to enjoy each other's presence. They had their first dinner together the day prior. She had brought him a large salad with another baked potato, and a flavor of soda that he didn't have stocked in his home. He really enjoyed it.

"There was this little button hidden under the plates that connect my thumb to my palm, and, when I pressed it," Calloway held his stretched and expanded hand out to Rarity, still smiling. He then noticed her guest, the pony known as Twilight Sparkle. He kept his smile on.

Any friend of Rarity's couldn't be that bad of a pony.

Rarity stepped forward, placing the bag of food on the table. She walked over to Calloway, and closely examined his hand.

"Curious." She said, closing her left eye and using her right to examine it. "I wonder what it's for..." She thought outloud. "Perhaps to better clean it? Or to perform maintenance?"

"Makes enough sense, huh?" Calloway smiled. He pressed the button, and watched as his hand jumped back together in a blink of an eye. Twilight Sparkle flinched at this action, but Rarity simply went about it as if it were normal. It comforted Calloway to see her act so calm around him, and even take an interest in him. "So, you must be Twilight Sparkle. Quite the student, from what I hear."

The purple pony stepped forward, smiling uneasily.

"Well, uh, I'm just a curious pony, is all." She muttered. Calloway kicked his feet back up on the table, and began rolling his fingers back into his palm, screwing them tightly in place.

"Just as modest as you are intelligent. What brings you here today?" He asked. Each time he would screw a finger into his hand, he would flex it about, to make sure he had it correctly attached.

"Rarity invited me. I hope it's okay. I had a few questions for you." She said timidly. Calloway shook his head while digging in the bag for his container of food. Rarity noticed he had trouble doing it with one hand, so she dug it out, and handed it to him. He patted her on the head to thank her, and continued screwing his fingers in.

"Sure. I've got nothing to hide."

Twilight Sparkle asked questions that he had already explained to Rarity, so recalling his answers wasn't very hard. Twilight was being visibly uncertain and anxious around him, so he would smile or try to laugh where appropriate to calm her down. Calloway was very far away from being what he would call comfortable in Equestria, but, he wasn't exactly panic stricken, either. He was growing more and more content with each passing day. Her last question threw him off, a bit.

"I've brought you another recorder. May I watch it with you?" She asked. This was the first time Calloway stuttered and hesitated during his little interview. The Architect DID state that these recorders were ones that Celestia kept, so she had definitely watched them. He also said that he didn't leave her any with violence or anything that would lower her opinion of him, so, Calloway came to the conclusion that it would be okay for her to watch them, as well.

"Sure." He smiled. He grabbed the recorder off of the table she had placed down, and pointed at Rarity, signalling her to come to him. "You too. I know you wanna see this." Rarity hopped down from her chair, and walked over to Calloway's side. With Rarity on his right, and Twilight on his left, He pressed the button on the tablet to begin the recording.

=============================================================================

The recorder started off in the exact same room the other ones had been in, with the chair empty. Then, all of the sudden, The Architect burst into the room, and threw his hands on the table, looking terrified.

"QUICKLY! GET TO THE TELEPORTER, YOU MUST HELP COMBAT THE ANGELS OF DEATH!" He shouted. After a few seconds, his grave expression quickly flipped to a sly smile and a laugh. "Actually, I'm just messing with you. This job's no fun if you take it seriously all of the time. Anyways..."

The Architect sat down in his chair, kicked his feet up,  cracked his knuckles, unsheathed his knife, and began tossing it gingerly, as he always did in these recordings. He seemed to be in high spirits in this recording, as his knife flipping was fast, and he was tossing it very high compared to the other recorders.

"I may have accidentally made your job easier today, so, ya know. You're welcome. Anyways, that vial I left for you? You're probably going to want to drink that soon. You'll need it."

The knife he was flipping flew too high, and struck the roof, sticking inside of it with a loud clang.

"What the Hell was that?" Called a voice down the hallway.

"Nothing!" The Architect called back, using his hands to create a makeshift megaphone. He then laughed. "In all seriousness, I'm very happy with this change of events. Very happy. This doesn't change the seriousness of your mission, but it certainly makes it a little less dire."

"Seriously, what the Hell did you do? Did you break something?" The voice called again. The Architect chuckled again.

"Better wrap this up. Big dinner tonight with the councilmen. Drink the vial. That's what this recorder was for."

=============================================================================

"Certainly a lighthearted being, don't you think?" Rarity asked, smiling. Calloway remembered The Architect running down the alleyway, getting shot at and shouting obscenities. He remembers the look on his face when he had to leave The Artificer behind. When he had to admit that no cure was possible. Calloway feigned a smile.

"Yep. He seems very nice. It's a shame I couldn't meet him."

Twilight Sparkle was wide eyed, and taking notes on a pen and pad that Calloway didn't notice her bring in. She appeared deep in thought.

"Calloway, I'm gonna go home. I've got a lot to study. A lot." Twilight said, still scribbling. "If I have any questions, may I come back here?"

"Absolutely."

Twilight collected her things, including her untouched lunch, using magic, and left the house. Calloway noticed Rarity was resting her head on his shoulder, looking intently at the image left on the recorder at it's conclusion: The Architect smiling like a fool, his white teeth contrasting his tan complexion. He appeared to be wearing some kind of skin tight suit under his armor, as a black, rubbery-type of material covered his neck from the chin down. It was like a super long collar.

Rarity was still resting her head on his shoulder. Calloway smiled, enjoying this physical contact. It was similar to a hug, in this aspect.

Everyone, no matter who they may be, rich or poor, powerful or weak, intelligent or ignorant, needs a hug every once in awhile.

Calloway was about due.

Rarity noticed her actions, and quickly jerked her head up, blushing.

"Sorry, darling."

"Not a problem. My shoulder was cold, anyways."

Rarity and Calloway both finished their lunch just as they had the previous days, with playful banter and gossip. It was a conversation always filled with laughter and smiles.

Calloway had an interesting attachment to Rarity. She was essentially his only friend in this land. She treated him not like the alien he was, and like a pony. A pony that she respected and considered a close friend. It was his primary comfort in Equestria.

He respected her. For this reason, he listened to her wishes of him.

"Calloway, darling..." She started.

"I already know what you're gonna ask. And I just don-"

"Please darling, hear me out." She interrupted. "You're a great human. You're very nice, very interesting, and you have a strong sense of morality. You have the makings of a good pony. While Ponyville will indeed stare at you for awhile, They'll come to love your presence. Just as I have. Please?"

Calloway rested his prosthetic thumb on the bottom of his chin and the knuckle of his prosthetic index finger on top of it, obviously considering the options.

"Please?" Rarity repeated. "Pleeeeeeeeease?"

Calloway cocked his head back with a sigh, and then settled his head back down with a smile.

"Fiiiine." He said. Rarity leapt from her chair, and rushed to him, giving him a quick hug by leaning against him and wrapping her forehooves around him. "Yeah, yeah. Happiness and stuff." She released him just as quickly, and began throwing away the trash from lunch.

Rarity left soon after that, saying that she had preparations to make.

Calloway also was making preparations.

That night, he snuck out once again, out of Ponyville, and through The Everfree. He heard it was dangerous at night, so he had brought his handgun and his sword, but he had no trouble making it back to The Marestrom. The correct statue was a little tricky to find. While it certainly would have been easy to just smash all of them and find the recorder, he decided against it. It seemed rude and brutish.

After about an hour of searching, he found a statue that had the same symbol he had on his prosthetic. The hammer and anvil. Calloway brought his prosthetic hand up to the statue, and waved it across the emblem. He was familiar with doors that opened this way back home.

The mouth of the statue slowly opened, revealing a box similar to the one he dug up in the fields outside of The Everfree forest. This box was incredibly heavy. Deciding against opening it in the corpse of The Marestrom, Calloway returned home.

He locked his door, and closed his curtains, ensuring no interruption. Although it was late at night, one could never be too careful.

Opening the box revealed two metal bars. One was larger than the other, easily three times as large as the other. They were both silver, and they shined brightly in the light of Calloway's kitchen. He picked them up, feeling how dense they were. It didn't make much sense for these bars to be so heavy, but, he ignored logic for the time being. Nothing about this made sense, anyway, so why would it start now?

Calloway picked the recorder up, and pressed the button to begin playing it.

=============================================================================

The Architect sat in his chair, a stern expression on his face. He was smoking, too.

"Look," He said, removing the cigarette from his mouth. "I don't mean to keep flipping emotions every time I record a new message for you, but it's happening. You need to know something important. This base right here? Empty. Completely empty."

Upon closer examination of the room, Calloway could see holes in the roof and in the walls. It had been abandoned for some time.

"I don't understand what's happening. I think my device is malfunctioning. I keep leaping through time every time I return here. I go back to Equestria, and I was only missing for minutes or hours. I come here, and it's been years. What's even more odd, is it seems as if there is no pattern. I keep popping up whenever HE makes a move. I don't believe in anything divine, but, there has to be something more powerful forcing these things to occur. I can swear I heard whispering when I came back here..."

The Architect stared blankly, in thought.

"Whoever is listening to this...I am currently 500 years into the future here. That's what my device says. And I haven't aged a day quicker. This entire city is empty. I don't think any friendly forces exist anymore. I don't think humanity exists anymore. At least not here in Tokyo. We administered the vaccination to as many civilians as we could. This was one of the three cities that still stood..."

The Architect wasn't flipping his knife. He was obviously very upset.

"I'm going to search the other two. I know HE has to be around here somewhere. There was an incident in Equestria that prompted me to come back here. Long story short, drink that God damned vial I gave you, then pick up one of the things I left you. I'm sure if you ask Celestia, she'll tell you what happened. Anyways..."

The Architect didn't smile like he normally did. He only looked gravely at the camera, putting the cigarette between his lips once more.

"If I keep this up, I might actually be meeting you here soon." He said, half mumbling because of the cigarette.

He looked down at his feet, reaching his hand up to end the recording.

"I pray it doesn't come to that."

=============================================================================

Calloway went to the box he had dug up, which he kept upstairs in his room, and removed the vial. It was about as long as his index finger, and was filled with a cyan liquid.

It was glowing.

When he uncorked the vial, the liquid inside seemed to be humming. That made Calloway even more hesitant to actually drink it's contents.

With a deep breath and a prayer to any listening deity, Calloway threw his head back, and quickly swallowed all of the liquid in one swig.

"Gah!" He shouted. His throat immediately began to burn. His mouth burned. His entire body started to burn. His vision was growing extremely blurry, and he began stumbling about his house. Calloway looked at his arms, and to his horror, discovered that his blood veins, even in his prosthetic hand, were all glowing an extremely bright cyan. His hands began convulsing and twitching violently. It was as if his fingers were trying to break themselves.

Calloway ripped the shirt off of his body, and stumbled over to the mirror.

Every artery in his body, every blood vein, was now pulsing from his skin in it's new cyan glow.

Calloway then watched as the tiny veins in is eyes started to glow. His mint green irises bled over with the cyan glow, like a cyan fire to a mint green field.

He balled his fists up, and slammed them both into the nightstand which supported the mirror. When he tried to stumble backward, he tripped over a chair, and slammed his head against the floor, losing consciousness.

...

When he came to, Calloway immediately jumped to his feet, and rushed to the mirror once more.

He looked fine.

Calloway fixed the things he had thrown about the house in his reverie, and threw away the things he had broken.

He rushed downstairs to the previous box, the one with the metal bars, and prepared himself. He picked up the small bar, and watched what happened intently.

His veins in his right hand, the one he picked the bar up with, started to glow cyan. The bar responded by also glowing cyan. When he picked it up, it began to shift and change rapidly. Within moments, the bar had become an elegant, sleek handgun that Calloway had seen The Architect wield.

"This makes absolutely no sense..." Calloway muttered, closely examining his new gun. He put it down, and watched as it flipped and folded back into it's complex, heavy bar that was no longer than the distance between the tip of his index finger to the base of his palm. He then picked up the larger bar, the one that was about the size of his forearm. Metal sheets burst from it's sides, and completely enveloped his right arm.

His right arm soon became a wicked-looking curved blade, like the tip of a long scythe. His veins were glowing cyan again, and this new arm was no exception. The arm had several transparent tubes running through it, with glowing cyan liquid pumping through it. The sharp end of the blade was dripping with this blue liquid, and when the drops hit the ground, they would immediately melt through the wood.

"Gettin' real sick and tired of cyan..." Calloway muttered. He walked over to the mirror again, examining is figure. All of his veins were glowing once again, and his eyes had also traded their light emerald color for a neon blue, once again. "Hmm..."

Calloway grabbed the other bar, the handgun, in his left hand. It transformed, and when it did, both of the weapons seemed to glow slightly brighter. Synergy between the two, perhaps?

Examining his new figure, Calloway scoffed.

"Am I even human anymore?"

He released the gun, and pressed the only button on the blade, which made it release his arm. He then picked up both of the bars, and carried them back to the case. It appeared as if the bars recognized when they were wanted to be weapons, or bars.

Why would The Architect leave these for him?

What the Hell was in that vial he consumed? What did it do to him?

What happened that made him decide this was appropriate?

Calloway noticed a sheet of paper in the box as he was returning the bars. He unfolded it, and read it's contents.

ARCHITECT - A - A - AL

CARPENTER - A - A - ?

MASON - A - A - ?

EZEKIEL - void - void - AL

ARTIFICER - A - KIA - void

POTTER - A - KIA - void

FOREMAN - A - A - MIA

ENGINEER - A - A - MIA

SURVEYOR - A - A - MIA

LAZARUS - EXEMPT

ISAAC - A - MIA - void

SEAMSTRESS - A - KIA - void

There were more names, but all of the others immediately said "KIA", or, they were made illegible from time and decay. This must have been an impromptu dossier thrown together by The Architect for some purpose in the near future.

Then there were four names, written in red ink, all with big X's over them:

IRAM - KIA - 2985

MOEROR - KIA - 2985

LUX - KIA - 2997

PUTRESCET - KIA- 2998

And finally, there was one name, written larger than the others, still in red ink, with many circles drawn around it. It read:

EXTIUS - AL

"Exitus?" Calloway muttered to himself. Deciding that he had enough of the recorders and all of the new information that was being fed to him, he put the box with the weapons up next to his old gun, and changed clothes. Rarity was kind enough to supply him with simple pairs of blue jeans and white t-shirts.

Calloway made the decision there and then that he really needed a break. He actually began to look forward to his coming excursion with Rarity. Granted, he'll be uncomfortable for a little while, but, all of this talk of disease and war was tiring him.

Still, the thought of The Architect, wandering through time and space itself, intrigued him. Maybe The Architect lived on the same Earth he did, just hidden away in the wastelands surrounding the cities. Perhaps there was more to this mystery he had yet to uncover.

=============================================================================

"Preliminary systems coming online now..." A feminine voice said.

"Luxury systems online. At full operational capacity." She continued.

"Regime forces detected. I don't think they see us." Another voice called out. It sounded like a deeper feminine voice.

Times were extremely rough. You either died in the Insurgency, were brainwashed in what little of civilization was left, or served the Regime.

The Insurgency was only about 15,000 men and women strong.

The Regime was still several million strong after several thousand years.

"Are we set?" A male voice asked.

"Yep yep!" She responded enthusiastically. "You'll be going through any moment now!"

"Thank you, Ezekiel. I may not be back for some time." The male responded.

"Sorry boss, but, how long will it take you to arrive, ya know...there?" She asked.

"For me, it will be in the blink of an eye. In real time, I will arrive in several months. I am unsure of how many years it will be before I come back. Perhaps thousands.

"So, what, do we just hold the fort down for a few months, then resume as planned?"

"You always were a smart one. I trust you. Best of luck to you all."

Ezekiel flipped switches on a large holographic circuit board, and pressed a red button on the side of the terminal. The chamber at the center of the room exploded with a flash of light, and the figure, the male, was gone.

Ezekiel held her wrist up to her mouth, and pressed a button on it with her tongue, in a playful manner.

"Carpenter, it's Zeke. He's on his way back to retrieve the key."

After a few moments of silence, a voice came back over her wrist.

"God help us."

=============================================================================

Changed into his fresh clothes, and with a quick check in the mirror to confirm his eye color had returned to normal, Calloway hurried down the staircase to his house. The moment his foot hit the final step, he heard the knock of a hoof on the door,

"Darling? It's me! I do hope you're ready!" Rarity's muffled voice called,

"Coming!" He called back. He ran over to the sack of money in his kitchen, and grabbed several handfuls of the little gold colored coins. As he was grabbing the coins, Calloway stopped and stared at the bag.

"Why do I keep this out in the open?" He thought outloud.

Leaving the coins where they sat, he dashed over to the door, and opened it.

"Darling! I do hope you're hungry. We're going to visit some friends of mine today." Rarity exclaimed. She seemed excited.

"Friends, huh?" Calloway responded while closing and locking his door behind him. "What're they like?"

"Well, the first one you'll meet is certainly an EXCITED individual..."

"Huh?"

"You'll see soon enough, darling. Shall we head out?"  Rarity asked, tilting her head to the street. Calloway sighed, but maintained a smile.

"Guess so. Let's roll."