When the iron gate of Saint Bernard Abbey slid open automatically, Leo barely stifled a laugh.
"Motion sensors?" He ran a finger over the "holy" carvings, feeling the metal beneath. "Call this 'divine guidance'?"
The young monk guiding him paled. Leo strode down the corridor, his boots crunching on mosaic tiles hiding circuit boards.
In the chapel, plague victims knelt before a floating silver feather.
"The relic of Archangel Remiel!" The cardinal proclaimed. "Touch it, and be healed!"
Leo snatched an old woman's cane and stabbed toward the feather.
The cane stopped three inches short, as if hitting an invisible wall. As the cardinal smirked, Leo pulled a horseshoe magnet from his pocket.
"Observe: magnetic shielding—"
The magnet clanged onto the feather. The glow died instantly, revealing wires and a tiny hydraulic pump inside.
"Nitinol shape-memory alloy—deforms at body temperature." Leo tossed the feather to a coughing woman. "Your miracle is a party trick."
Silence. Then the feather twitched in her hand, oozing black sludge.
"As for this 'holy medicine'…" Leo ground the ooze underfoot. "I'd test the abbey's wastewater pipes."
When Leo pried open the basement door with his magnet, twelve axe-wielding monks blocked the stairs. Their blades gleamed with unnatural blue venom.
"Heretic!" their leader roared. "You defile—"
Leo yanked a steam pipe from the wall. Superheated gas neutralized the toxin into harmless glitter. Monks collapsed, gagging.
"Try lead poisoning next time. More period-appropriate."
The basement froze Leo mid-step: an entire wall carved with constellations connected by copper wires—a warp navigation chart. At the center floated a mechanical heart in a jar, etched with his dream-runes.
The attack came from behind as Leo reached for the heart.
A greasy rag clamped over his mouth. His vision blurred. The last thing he saw was the robed figure wiping the monks' foreheads—their eyes went blank.
"Memory purge complete," the Cleaner spoke into his sleeve. "Upgrade 'angel feathers' to Version 2.0."
Before blacking out, Leo hurled his magnet at the jar. The heart's pulsing synced with his own as the star map projected holograms:
[Course calibrated. Captain's authority pending.]
(End of Chapter 3)