The API of the Gods Read Online Free Page A

was almost overwhelmed again. If the other golems
hadn't arrived, I wouldn't have made it. One of the golems didn't; its pieces
were scattered all over the hallways. Another two had broken hands, one had a
broken sword, and the last three were fine.
    "Mike! Mike!" Then more
muffled, "By the Gods, hold that left corridor; stop them!" And
again, "Mike! Status!"
    "Made it," I said, between
panting. "Two servitors came out of nowhere. You?" nearby =
GetCloseGolems(); nearby.reassemble() . My newly-formed golem squad began to
take parts off the ground and replace their own.
    "Barely keeping it together. Most
of us are in a room close to the main entrance. We got a bunch of your guys
just standing here."
    "Because they've regrouped with you
and are awaiting orders, but no one’s giving them." I said. A logical
error: I hadn't imagined that could ever happen. Some weird corner of my brain
wanted to file a bug report right then, but I improvised. golems.follow(ANY_FRIENDLY,
fight=true) . Follow anyone you can and fight. But
then they would stop regrouping—I couldn't think of the syntax for that, and I
didn’t have time for trial and error. Screw it. The fallback was to defend
themselves, which would have to do. I had to move on. "They should follow
you now."
    "Thanks. Ashley's missing."
    "I'm with Andy; we're moving,"
her voice came on the farspeaker.
    "Something going on the third
floor," said the Eater of Dreams. "I sense a large deal of
thought—two thoughts?"
    "Drop everything. Move downstairs now!" the Head Supervisor shouted.
    "Yes, sir," I said. Instantly
I thought of how to command the golems. I took a big breath and said golems.clear().regroup().follow(ANY_FRIENDLY).downwards().fight() . That would give them a reasonable strategy to obey on their
own.
    I looked at my map again. The nearest
stairs down were towards the center.
     
    >>>  
     
    But what could I do? I wondered, all
that night. The geas was unbreakable. Which left what? File a complaint with
those surveys they always wanted us to fill out?
    Of course, maybe I was just going
insane. Breaking up with your girlfriend was not a reason to began doubting
your choices in life... unless it was.
    My mind felt coldly clear.
     
    >>>  
     
    I'd seen other commanders of golems or
the like wear special armor like an officer among soldiers. I'd seen them, past
tense, because they tended to be the first target against anything intelligent.
I had my golems made to my exact measurements and wore the same armor, and
stood a little away from the center for good measure. It saved my life as
several arrows and a bolt of frozen fire pierced the center golem within the
first few seconds of the ambush.
    For the next few seconds there was too
much chaos to think or understand. In a brief moment of clarity I recognized
the jerky motions of the armored skeletons, and without thinking I charged
through a lull to the man in a black cloak. A blade cut my arm, but I stabbed
my target through before his icefire hit me. The skeletons fled down the
hallway, and something with moth wings hopped off the dead man's face and flew
with them.
    My golems surrounded me. repair.fix(me.arms[1]) . A faint warmth began working in my arm. The pain started
to dull immediately. "We've got warlocks!" I shouted over the
farspeaker.
     
    >>>  
     
    I bought another house, and a third,
just to be sure. I set up a system—I won't bore you with its elegance—that
would, across my personal networks in a mix of encryptions, one time pads,
stenography, and at one point ROT-13, hide an extremely large and extensive
porn collection. The mechanical typewriter was just lying in a closet.
    I had no problem working with code I
couldn't run to test. After all, Ichor was so carefully measured that most
testing with the API was either simulation or actual deployment. The lack of a
backspace was more an issue, but I had patience. Patience, willpower, and a
plan.
     
    >>>  
     
    I ordered my golems to bring me