Chapter 26

When Maximus got up the next morning he thought he was still dreaming. The room he was in was so big he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed any of this yesterday. It was as if he was in a luxury hotel, and it had everything: a television, a fridge, air-conditioning and a huge bathroom. He decided to hit the showers first and once he had freshened up he went outside. He was standing in a corridor with rooms similar to his all around them. He was wondering where the others were when a small robot with four wheels, two hands and a monitor for a head just rode up to him. It had steam coming from its back like the other robots. The monitor said 'Welcome' and the robot handed him a cup of coffee. Once Maximus had accepted this the robot said in a metallic voice "Please follow me to the dining room sir, breakfast has been prepared." The robot started moving again and Maximus followed it. About three rooms across, they stopped at a set of large wooden doors. A skinny, skeletal looking robot was waiting there for them, and as Maximus approached it the robot opened the doors for him. The robot he had followed till then showed 'good day' on its monitor and left. He stepped into the room to see that it was a huge dining room, and most of the guys were already there.

The room was huge and there was a long table in the middle surrounded by at least twenty four chairs. They were made from some really strong looking wood and were decorated by bronze lining. Maximus was starting to see a pattern here, almost everything in the country had some bronze in it. On one of the chairs Rex was already seated munching on some toast and jam. Opposite him were Ajax and Achilles, they seemed to be catching up while they ate. It was the first time Achilles had taken off his armour since they met. Now he was wearing a normal grey T-shirt instead. But he still had his sword with him though. But what really surprised him was when Daedalus came up to him and said, "Max my boy. Hope you had a splendid night's sleep." Maximus nodded to him and said good morning. "Well you're in luck. I would have gone back to my other self in another five minutes and fifty three seconds. Do take a seat," Daedalus said with a smile.

Maximus joined him at the table and placed his coffee cup on it. He greeted the others as well and checked what was there to eat. There was a lot of food on the table. Toast, butter and jam were sitting right in front of him. Next to that was a steaming pile of bacon. There were also at least three types of cereals and bowls of freshly cut fruits. There was also orange juice, milk and water for drinking. There was also a machine moving along the table refilling cups of coffee. Another robot came into the room on wheels. It was similar to the one that had bought him to the dining room except it had eight arms. It came in and placed a plate and a glass in front of him. It also served him a spoon, a fork and a knife. Then it asked "Good morning sir. What would you like to eat today?" in the same metallic voice as the other robot.

"Bacons and toast please," Maximus said. The robot instantly served him what he had asked for.

"And would you like eggs with that?" it asked.

"Okay," Maximus said.

"What type of eggs sir? Scrambled, salted, poached, boiled, bulls-eye?" "Eh...bulls-eye?" Maximus said, not really sure. Another machine popped up from the table and it clanked for a while. Then it served out a plate of eggs. Next the machine that was serving coffee came up to him. It had four buttons on it labelled coffee, milk, juice and water. Maximus pressed the one that said juice and the machine went ahead to grab the orange juice and pour it into his glass. "Quite fancy eh Max. We don't gotta lift a finger," Rex said.

He was right, in the trenches they barely got enough food to get through the day, and now it was like they were kings. "I don't think I have ever eaten like this since... well, ever" Maximus replied.

He looked around to see more robots moving around doing chores. "Is the entire city filled with robots?" he asked.

Ajax chuckled and said, "Nah, we got people too. But most of the workers at the castle are though. Ol' Hephaestus trusts machines more than living things." "These robots are called Automatons. And Hephaestus invented them himself. All of the ones you see here are of his design. He really is one of the most talented mechanical engineers I have ever had the pleasure of meeting," Daedalus added.

"So will he be joining us?" Achilles asked, taking a bite out of the bacon sandwich he was eating.

"Not now no. He's busy with one of his projects again. And he could be shut in his workshop for days now. But he'll probably join us for dinner tonight when Daedalus here awakens again," Ajax said.

Daedalus chuckled and said, "Well, we inventors are like that sometimes. Once we find something of interest we might become a bit obsessed. I'm afraid I am no better at that." He then went on to finish his cornflakes and said, "Well I'm afraid my mind will wander again in a few more seconds, when it does please have someone escort me back to the room. And Achilles, please do buy me a watch from the city when you get the time. It would be very helpful to keep track of my mood timings." And just like he said, within a few seconds Daedalus began mumbling again, his face went blank. Ajax had a robot escort him back to his room.

Maximus was somewhat sad that Daedalus couldn't properly enjoy his stay here. So he asked, "Couldn't he make another batch of antidote from here, I mean this place will certainly have the equipment." Achilles shook his head, and said, "I'm afraid not Max, I already asked him. You see it's not that simple, a few of the materials required for the potion are extremely rare and some herbs that are needed for it grow nowhere near here. And even if we managed to get all those, making the antidote requires a lot of accuracy and time, not to mention knowledge in the field."

Ajax was eating a bowl of cereal and a very colourful one at that. It was almost funny to watch such a big man eat with such a small spoon some very colourful brand of breakfast cereal. He said "donf whrhi tu muck," which nobody understood of course. Then he swallowed his mouthful of cereal and tried again, "Don't worry too much Max. We are gonna take excellent care of him. Besides he has already been here a few times, he's seen it all before. But it's the first time for you guys right, so I'm taking you all sightseeing." He looked at Achilles to see if he would refuse, but he nodded his approval and said, "That's fine. I can get Daedalus a watch when we go out as well."

The doors opened again and Hedger glided in lazily. It was easy to see he had just gotten up. "Good morning all. And does sleeping in not exist in the dictionary of you people?" he said as he took a seat. Once he got a good look at the breakfast spread he was excited again. Maximus could tell he was really enjoying being treated by robotic butlers as well.

"Ok, so maybe sleeping in was not a great idea. Man, this is the life," Hedger said.

"Glad you guys like it. But finish up fast, there are a lot of things to see in Vulcan city" Ajax said. Once they had all finished Ajax said again, "You guys might want to change before we head out. No offence but you all look like you guys just came out of the sewers. Sort of smells like that too."

Maximus had to agree. Even though he washed up in the morning he still wore the same clothes he had been wearing for the last three days. And sweating in the desert heat hadn't left them smelling like flowers either, they reeked. The same could be said for Hedger and Rex. None of them had another pair of clothes with them either. Only Achilles seemed to have had a change in apparels.

"I agree with you but this is all we got," Rex said. Ajax thought for a second and said "Hmm...I think we might have some clothes that would fit you guys." He then turned to Hedger and asked, "A dwarf's cloths should fit you, right? I mean we don't have many sprites here but we got plenty of dwarves." Hedger nodded and Ajax said, "Great. Just go wait in your rooms and I'll have some butler-bots send them up to you. Rex why don't you come with me, I think one of my old pants will fit you nicely." With that Rex left with Ajax and the other three left for their rooms.

The three of them reached the corridor where their rooms were. All five of their rooms were right next to each other. Maximus went into his room. He had never had such a comfy place to stay ever in his life. His first memory of a home was the orphanage and all the boys shared a single huge dormitory there. While in the army he had to share a room with a roommate. He had quite a few roommates too. This was because they kept dying in war. From there, at the age of seventeen, he started living in the trenches; the first few days were brutal and he had spent those nights on the street. Then he met up with Rex whom he already knew from the army. His place was cramped, but he still let him stay and that's when he started out as a scavenger, since that was what Rex did and he didn't have a partner. He met Hedger, Kyla and Roderick within the next week along with many others. It was Hedger who found him his home in his abandoned attic, and that was the first place he had to call his own. Compared to all that, it was like he was in a five star hotel now. He went out into the room's balcony to see the view of the city.

The first word that came into his mind was Steampunk. It was the best way to describe the city structure. All the buildings had a lot of metal on them and most of it was bronze. Everywhere he looked there were bronze covered structures which were spewing out smoke and steam. The chimneys that rose from the ground were everywhere too. He made a mental note to ask Ajax what they were used for. Maximus already knew that Vulcan was famous for mining and industries. And he spotted a few of the mines along the now inactive volcano Mount Etna. Besides the mines he spotted the huge structure which he had seen the night before. Standing at the base of Mount Etna was a huge bronze statue. The statue didn't seem to depict anyone in particular as it had a huge ancient looking helmet on it. It seemed like the standard helmet worn by ancient Greek soldiers. Similarly, it also had ancient Greek armour on it. In its hands was a huge sledgehammer. The head of the hammer touched the ground between the statue's feet. The giant Greek soldier held the handle with both its arms. Its head was lowered so it looked like it was looking at the city. The statue was at least fifty feet tall. Maximus knew what the statue was. It was called 'The Colossus' and it was quite a popular tourist attraction.

Despite all this, Maximus felt that the city was too small, there were just about twenty to thirty buildings in total. And he felt it odd that he couldn't spot any factories in the industrial capital of the world. Just then his doorbell rang. Maximus didn't get it at first as he had never had a doorbell before. But when he finally figured it out he went out to check. It was another robot on wheels, or butler-bots, as Ajax had called them. The butler-bot handed him some clothes and a pair of shoes and left. Maximus went inside to change and was glad to find that at least there was no bronze on the clothes. They were just a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt with the symbol of Hephaestus on the left side of the chest, a bronze coloured hammer covered in flames. He tried on his new clothes and shoes, and they fitted him nicely. He then grabbed his sword and went over toHedger's room.

When he went into his friend's room Hedger was already dressed too. He was wearing a thick brown coloured jacket with matching pants. They were definitely dwarf clothes. When Maximus entered he turned to him and said "Hey you look nice. I don't think I have seen you out of your scavenger's special leather, ever. But this is good, you actually look like a teenager. Who knew you could pull off something other than dusty brown leather?".

Maximus scowled and threw a pillow at him, then he said "Wish I could say the same about you. It looks like you're wearing a large sack." Hedger looked at himself in the mirror, "Yeah, leave it to the dwarves to make their clothes so bulky. But hey at least I got my stunning good looks," he said with a grin. Maximus wished he had another pillow to throw now. There was a knock on the door and Achilles came in. He was back in his black 'armour of Styx' now and his blade was on his belt again. And he seemed to have cleaned his bionic leg too. It was a bit shiny. But still he seemed as though he was going for a war rather than sightseeing. He also seemed to have got himself a new cloak to cover up his armour, and he was holding it in his hand.

"Are you guys ready? I just got word that both Ajax and Rex are waiting near the elevator." Achilles nodded. They nodded and together all of them stepped outside the room. A butler-bot was waiting for them and it led them to the elevator. Ajax and Rex were already there. Rex was wearing a pair of blue overalls. Maximus thought he looked like a farmer. Hedger seemed to be thinking the same thing as well because he said, "Great, you're a farmer and a cow, that sure is interesting."

"Shut up you stupid green pigeon," Rex said, and Maximus knew these guys would never change no matter where they were. And he was kind of happy about that.