I was finally able to get a salvage permit, I bought one that would let me bring four friends into the city. Last month I found a room full of frames that hadn't looked like they had aged.

I didn't tell the gate about it, but I knew it would be a huge find. Salvage permits are always for one day, so I didn't worry about food, or my normal pack.

Brian, Charlie, Doug and Mike were being their normal selves when we got to the door I had found. This area had been picked clean by the gnomes during the second cycle, so few people ever came to this area. How the Gnomes missed this, I'll never know.

"Jenn, I thought you said we are salvaging?" Doug asked, knowing where we were.

"We are, and we're here." I opened the door, and went down the ladder. Brian, and Mike followed me down. The look on their faces when they turned around must have been the same as mine when I realized we were in a warehouse, of complete Andronis.

"Pick one, Mike. That's the one we will present to the gate."

He walked over to a blue one, it had a four inch wide diagonal red slash painted on its chest. It must have been planned as a dignitary of some sort.

"I like the blue one." He said. I glanced around the room an noticed that half of the frames in here were painted the same way. Only one was different from the rest in color. It was pristine white, it seemed like the dust in the room refused to tarnish the gloss paint. All the rest were a pale grey with a purple slash in the same spot, just like the princess on the news the other day.

The boys pulled up the frame, and I slid my salvage cart the gate gave us, under it. Now to go speak to the Human Ambassador about removing this one. Maybe I can convince him to buy it from me without having to reveal the rest of them, the value will drop if I show him the room.

The gate guard's eyes nearly bulged out of his narrow elvish skull. He flashed a hand sign, and a few seconds later the purple winged fairy that I always spoke to appeared. I'm a commoner, so it would be rude of me to ask his name, so I never did.

He saw what we had, floated around it twice, looked at the long-ear and nodded. The elf nodded back, and took off at a solid run into the building. Guards were the only ones allowed to run inside the gate structures, not even the Fair, who had been caretakers, were allowed to move faster than a human could walk. Some thought there was Fair Spirit Magic at work to force them like that.

Ambassador green arrived, saw what we had, he and the Fair talked for a few minutes, dull policy crap, then the Fair flew backwards a few feet; a universal sign that he was agitated, and about to use his magic aggressively.

"You have to speak to the Keyholder. And yes, I may be entrusted with the key, but Princess Andronis is the Keyholder. It's her decision. Wait in the holding room."

Not even the usually boisterous 'Ambassador Gilbert Green' was arguing, he looked afraid. He walked inside, and Mr. Purple wings dissappeared.

Three minutes later, I met the Andronic Princess, Ayla. I did my best to not show my fear, as she inspected the frame we had brought up.

"I'm sorry." I heard the true disappointment in her voice, she was being honest, "I can't let you remove this body." I was devistated.

"Bilby is there a neutral place to put him?" She asked, Mr. Purple nodded. Who was this Princess to be able to publicly use their first names like that? I mean a human princess once did that to a Fair and she got electrocuted by it. She lived, but everyone learned quickly that Fair don't play about names.

I was stunned to hear the reason for us not being able to sell the frame. I had found the Royal Tomb. Here I thought I had found Andronis in finished states; instead, I had found their kings and queens.

And for this one to have stopped functioning a century after the bomb, impressive indeed. I didn't know at the time, but this one was built after the fall.

Princess Andronis requested to know where I had found it, but I was still stunned. Charlie slapping me with one hand, and pushing me out with the other finally got my attention back to the real world.

I led the princess, and Two fair to the door. The girl Fair seemed to be sunbathing on her shoulder. Different indeed. At the door, Doug opened it for her, but the girl went down, came up, and said she needed to go down alone for a second.

We went down a few minutes later, it was this visit down here that I saw this room for what it truely was: a morgue. It's just the bodies halve t been buried yet.

Doug and Charlie helped with the white frame, I watched as she took a few pieces off, the. Put all but the last one back. We all went back up, and the little fair had said this little piece was the Princess's Crown, and that seeing it unworn was the highest honor we could get, but I didn't see how.

"Jennifer," Mr. Purple said to me. "Do you understand why an unworn crown is a big deal to the Andronis?" I shook my head no. "It's an admission to their weaknesses. They don't like being reminded they are machines. To them, they are no different than us. Ayla is like that. I never thought I would meet a creature as facinating as she is."

"We just don know enough about her yet." I said.

He nodded and fluttered off. He came back with a credit Chit for half a million credits, and handed it to me. Enough for a woman like me to fall into troule.