Uh…

I stared blankly at the contents of the chest. Stacked neatly in piles filling up the massive chest which the assistants had nearly dropped on the balcony floor were thick white cards with holes unevenly poked through across them.

I couldn’t make heads or tails of the “humble gift” these guys were giving me, and simply stared at the stacks of paper strips.

Court Wizard Abraham Alden Atkins gestured to the chest with his cane, the diamond spinning slowly atop it.

“Don’t be buffoons!” he shouted at the assistants behind him. “Take the cards to the Giant! It’s extremely difficult for them to handle these themselves.”

The assistants didn’t argue. One of them grasped a lever and cranked it back, causing a platform to extend outward from the balcony towards my head, and the railing to lower to allow them to cross it. One assistant led the way while the other two followed behind, carrying the chest between them.

If it were me crossing that thin walkway with a heavy box swinging between me and the guy behind me, I’m sure I would’ve either dropped the box in fear of falling off, or I just wouldn’t have been able to get across in the first place.

Heights aren’t cool if you don’t have a parachute.

The platform stopped when it had reached my face, and the airship turned slightly to rest the walkway atop my shoulder. I turned my head to watch the men climb onto my shoulder, and Atkins yelled.

“Stop, Giant!”

I looked back at him.

“You mustn’t move,” he stated, tapping his staff against the airship’s floor. “They will insert the cards for you.”

I was already lost. The things in the chest were going to be inserted into me? Wasn’t that… kind of a violation? Then again, I guess it made sense. After all, I’m a giant machine now, right?

Sure, I thought, remaining still (which is far easier when you’re an automaton of sorts). It’s probably better to be compliant with these guys for now. At least until I learn more about this new world…

The assistants set the chest down atop my shoulder, clipping cords around their belts and hooking them on some handles that stuck out of my metal skin. Then, two of them swung out across my chest, vanishing out of my sight. The image of them hanging on very thin cords simply strapped to my shoulder sent a feeling of vertigo washing over me.

No way could I have done that so confidently.

The third assistant remained with the chest on my shoulder, and began to remove packets of the paper strips. He tossed them down to the men hanging in front of me.

Steam hissed into the air and a loud grinding noise accompanied the feeling of my chest… opening.

Program entry in progress.

Her voice again…

Parsing. Please wait...

Uh, yeah. Sure.

I tilted my head down now to see the men feeding the paper strips into a slot behind the armor of my chest.

“Is it defective?” I heard Admiral Grant ask. “It shouldn’t have disobeyed a direct order like that, right?”

Whoops… I’d forgotten the Court Wizard had told me not to move.

“Hmm,” Atkins hummed, stroking his beard. “Perhaps my order wasn’t phrased correctly. Was I not direct enough?” He pointed his cane at me, shouting, “Giant! Do not move!”

I obeyed. After a moment, the admiral nodded appreciatively.

“So directness is key when controlling one. Good that we discovered that quickly.”

“Indeed,” mused the Wizard, once more stroking his beard.

Phew. That could’ve been close.

I nearly jumped when the lady spoke again, catching me off-guard, but managed to control myself.

New Program accepted!

Oh yeah? Tell me about it, then.

New Program: Steam Efficiency. qAeiYCvO1T OO7frQLhOf yGVgYNqupf seKM5Xejac mQgQXcAaIf MuSyYa4sx0 qbPZ0lthzh s2VCkjErlI YqRIqa2nQh RokFJ1nDPr kUJNM4OQZy--

STOP! I shouted in my mind, interrupting the woman. English, please.

I couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like her response carried a bit of a sassy undertone.

New Program: Steam Efficiency. Jealous exact urge creed embrace coal profession--

For the love of-- Would you just put it into an understandable format, please?!

This time, her voice seemed bored, as though I’d taken the fun out of whatever game we were playing.

New Program: Steam Efficiency.

For those Giants that just cannot seem to control themselves, Steam Efficiency greatly reduces the amount of Steam Power expended for simple tasks.

WARNING: Alchemizing Aether to cast magic is still unregulated.

You know what? You’re so much like Micah. Ugh. You’re Mikayla now. I would’ve shaken my head, but this time, I remembered the order Atkins had given me. Wait, did you say magic?

A hissing sound followed by a crunch signaled my chest had closed back up. While I waited for the assistants to get off my body, I asked her about it.

Hey Mikayla, what do you mean by “Alchemizing Aether”?

Alchemization is the process of Alchemizing Aether in order to cast magic.

Very helpful, I said wrily. You want to tell me what Aether is?

Aether is a substance that is Alchemized in order to cast magic.

Damnit, Mikayla! You’re talking in circles! I sighed, a bit of steam escaping my mechanical mouth. I swore that this lady was just doing this intentionally, though I had no evidence. Perhaps she was just a really poorly designed artificial intelligence. The assistants were now crossing back over the bridge, so I tried one more time to get an explanation from my personal A.I.

Alright. Let’s try it this way… Mikayla, what magic can I cast?

This time, instead of receiving an answer from my frenemy, a couple of icons appeared in my vision, just above the Steam Power meter, which had dipped slightly.

Steam Power: 88/100

When I glanced at each icon, I somehow knew their names. Fireball, Flame Torrent, and Hot Hands. I didn’t know yet what each of them did, though I had my suspicions given the obvious names and icons.

Damn. Not only am I a badass Steam Mech, but I can cast magic, too? That’s pretty dope, not gonna lie. Thanks, Mikayla!

She didn’t respond, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because Atkins called out to me.

“Giant!” he said, turning to walk into the dirigible. “Follow behind the airship. We are going to see King Edward the Second, long be his reign.”

“Sure thing,” I responded, my body translating my speech into clanks and grinding sounds once more.

None of the men said anything as they reentered their ship, and in a few moments, it was flying towards the beach and away over the forest. I swiftly moved to follow, stomping over trees and small rivers with my giant metal boots, noting that my Steam Power didn’t even falter now.

Guess there’s some benefit to hanging with these guys, after all. Just… as long as they don’t try to override my personality again.