Metamor Keep -- Snips and Snails
By Christian O'kane

Part 2

Misha was late, when he arrived back at his room Jon and a goat morph were waiting at the door their arms filled with bundles and baskets.

"Sorry I'm late but my meeting took longer than I thought. The boss had lots of questions." He opened the door and ushered them both into his apartment.

Stopping at his desk the fox opened a drawer and dropped some papers into it. Then he closed and locked the drawer with a key. "Ok, I'm officially off duty for the next few days," he announced.

"Misha, I don't think you've ever met my mentor, Smithson," Jon said. "Smithy, I'd like you to meet Misha, head scout here at the Keep."

The fox and the goat shook hands in greeting.

"Where's the artifact you found?" the goat asked excitedly.

Misha laughed, "You sound as excited about it as I am. It's in my workshop, through here," he said and escorted them into the next room.

The goat immediately started examining the object lying on the floor. "Fascinating! Intriguing, definitely a most unusual object you have here."

"Any idea what it is," Misha asked quietly.

"No," the goat replied.

"It's some sort of mechanical device, isn't it?" the scout pressed.

"It might be, but we won't know till it's cleaned up," came the reply.

The two historians immediately started to unpack their tools. From the bundles and baskets they had brought Jon and Smithson took out all manner of equipment. There were a surprising number of brushes of all shapes and sizes, the smallest was no more a few hairs wide. The largest was wider than a splayed out hand. These were carefully laid on the floor along with various spoons, hand trowels, rags and several bottles of chemicals.

"You two certainly come equipped," Misha commented dryly.

"I believe in the right tool for the right job," Jon said.

Misha nodded in agreement. Leaving the two herbivores to their unpacking Misha went back into the other room. From the chest under the window he removed a bottle of wine and a glass. He poured himself a glass of wine and returned to the workshop.

Smithson looked up at the fox and scowled, but didn't say anything.

"Don't get in a huff Smithson, I don't intend to get drunk. After two months in the field I think I deserve a glass of wine or two," Misha said in an angry tone.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to judge you. Sometimes I forget how hard life can be for you scouts," the goat answered.

Misha finished the drink in one gulp and put bottle and glass on a shelf. "No problem Smithy. I'm still a little on edge from the patrol. You two ready to get down to business?"

"Do you know how to do this Misha?" the goat asked.

Misha nodded, "Yes, I've done some small pieces with Jon, but nothing this big."

"I trust him to do things right, he has a good eye for this work," Jon said in support.

"All right then, let's get to work," Smithson answered.

Cleaning the artifact was no easy matter, it weighed over four hundred pounds. A quarter of that was just dirt and debris.

At first they talked as they cleaned, but after a while the conversation faded and the trio worked in silence. It was slow, tedious work, but long hours of brushing, washing, and scraping brought results. Slowly a figure began to emerge from the mass.

They started with the leg and shoulder revealed earlier. As the dirt was removed the shape of the leg revealed it to be a foreleg. Carefully the shoulder was cleaned and then the other foreleg, now just a bent and twisted mess. As the dirt came off it a thick round neck appeared, a bent and twisted gear sticking through the metal skin.

As Jon and Smithy cleaned the torso, Misha worked on the head. It was just a twisted black lump when he started. With a small trowel he carefully removed the worst of the dirt. Then he switched to smaller trowel one no bigger than a teaspoon, and a brush.

A long black mass sticking out of the front slowly became a muzzle without a jaw attached. He found the jaw completely twisted and broken into three pieces lying between the front legs. After cleaning them Misha placed the fragments on a shelf for safety.

The fox slowly worked his way up the muzzle to the cheeks and up to the top of the head. Where the ears should have been were two ragged holes. Around the edge of the right hole he found tiny flecks of gold. Using tweezers he removed the flecks and placed them in an envelope. On the outside of the envelope he wrote, "Right ear hole," and put it on the shelf next to the jaw.

He left the eyes for last. They would be delicate and the most difficult to clean. For them he used a tooth brush, and worked with even greater care than before. It took an hour of delicate brushing and wiping before he finished.

Misha sat back and looked at the face he had just revealed. Laughing out he broke silence that had lasted for over an hour. Startled, Jon and Smithson looked at their compatriot in bewilderment.

"Well, hello little brother," Misha said to the metal face. He had a right to laugh in surprise, as the face that looked back at him, although battered, twisted, and corroded was a fox's.

"Well Misha, It seems you've found a long lost relative," Jon said laughing.

"It does indeed," Misha replied.

The scout stood up and stretched, his whole body was stiff and sore. He examined the figure for the first time as a whole rather than as bits and pieces to be cleaned.

The metal animal was about twice the size of its flesh and blood counterpart. It was lying on its left side with three of its legs bent and twisted. The tail had completely broken off and it's head was bent at an un-natural angle. That meant the rods supporting the neck were broken.

The whole body was the reddish brown color of corrosion. Only in one or two places did a dark gray color of the original metal show through. That metal skin was torn, punctured and corroded in thousands of places. Large parts of the skin were missing completely, torn or corroded away. Looking inside through one of these holes Misha saw a twisted jumble of rods, wheels, gears and other unrecognizable bits and pieces.

"No doubt about, it was some sort of mechanical figure once. A quite lovely one," Jon commented.

"Shame, it was a beautiful work of art at one time," Smithson added.

"True, it must have been magnificent when it worked," Misha said in a distracted voice. In his mind he was already planning something more for the figure.

"Misha, you have any more of that wine?" Smithson asked.

"Sure, I'll go get it," came the answer.

Misha quickly retrieved the bottle and two more glasses. He quickly filled all three glasses with wine.

"Do you realize we've been working for twelve hours straight?" Smithson commented as he sipped the wine.

The fox sipped some wine and pointed to the figure, "How long do you think it will take to clean out the insides of my metal pet?"

"Clean the insides? That's impossible to gauge, until we get a proper inspection of the interior," the goat morph guessed.

"What are you thinking about Misha?" Jon asked.

"I can fix him," the fox said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"You mean fully restore it back to working condition. I think the wine has gone to your head dear fox," the stag replied.

Smithson shook his head, "No, he's serious."

"I can do it. It'll take a long time, but I can do it," the scout countered.

"It'll mean a lot of work, at least a year or more," Smithson said.

"Probably longer than that, seeing as I'll have to work on it in my spare time," Misha said.

"You really intend to restore it," Jon said.

"Yes I do. You two care to help?" the fox asked teasingly.

Smithson laughed out loud, "You already know the answer to that."

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