Engine Warden

THE GRINDING ENGINE

The Grinding Engine never learned the war was lost, and its Wardens make sure nothing interrupts the shift. Vault-forged overseers of Kudrek's arsenal-line, they pace the gantries counting output for soldiers thirty years dead. An idle machine is heresy; an intruder is a work stoppage. They stamp both flat with the same unhurried, contractual violence, and log it as maintenance.