The last instruction ran through the punch tape inside the battle-engine’s chest. It clanked back into its cast-iron vault and docked to a programming niche to await further instruction.

Unbeknownst to it, the crystal chamber imprisoning the angel Malgor on its back had sustained a tiny, but fatal crack. Malgor came to, noticed the flaw in the energy cage and overloaded it with a thought. The crystal shimmered into sand as Malgor haltingly emerged.

Once free of the evil entrapment, energy flooded into his being and his many injuries disappeared almost instantly. He could feel the agony of one of his own nearby, and ran towards it. Running into a room where a difference engine was spectacularly disintegrating, he could feel that this small event was having a catastrophic effect on the entire station.

Two meat-creatures standing in the room emitted high-pitched squeals and ran off when they saw him. It amused him to free two others as he ran through in search of the other.

Someone was going to pay dearly…