With school wrapped up and graduation done with (geez, he was going to be a graduate student, how weird was that), Silas finally found himself with some time to spare to do more consistent Knight duties. He knew he had kept Cornelius waiting for a good while, and he really wanted to find out what was in the courthouse’s basement. Furthermore, there was another issue that had been sitting in the back of his mind for a while: the strange blueprint that had appeared after he had transformed for the second time. It seemed to have something to do with his ring, but the other parts were something of a mystery. Perhaps Cornelius could help him parse it out.

After finding a good corner to transform in, he reached for his scales to become Glitnir and uttered the usual worldhopping words. “I pledge my life and loyalty to Mars, and to Glitnir. I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.” The world blurred around him, and soon he found himself in front of the tarnished courthouse that shared his name.

When he entered, Cornelius was sitting on top of the reception counter. “I’ve been waiting for you, boy. What’s your excuse this time?” He tilted his head to get a better look at something on Glitnir’s person. “You’re wounded,” he said, some of the sharpness going out of his voice.

Glitnir sighed. “End of the semester. All the papers and tests were around the same time. Also, graduation. I’m going to be a graduate student next year. And yes, I am wounded. A huge monster attacked a concert venue, and then I had to dive into a rescue mission practically the day after.”

Cornelius nodded, apparently somewhat impressed. “Well, congratulations on your academic achievements, then. Did you have success fighting off the monster and completing the rescue mission, too?” At Glitnir’s nodding, he added, “Good job on that, too. The wound on your arm is an honorable one.” He got off the counter and started walking towards the hallway. “Are you ready to see what lurks beneath the courthouse?”

“That sure sounds ominous,” Glitnir said. “But yes, I’m ready. I’ve set this whole day aside.”

“Good. Follow me.”

Glitnir followed his ancestor down the hall into the courtroom where he had shaken hands with Lady Justice before. The wall behind her had slid away, revealing a secret passage. As they stepped into the passage, the hallway lit up, just as the archives had done when Glitnir first visited. The passage sloped downward for a while, then emerged into what appeared to be a foyer with several hallways branching off of it.

Cornelius went down the closest one to the left, and after some more walking, he opened a door. “Welcome to the workshop,” he announced, gesturing to the room beyond the door. “It’s time you learned what else goes on in this courthouse aside from trials.”

Glitnir stepped into the room and saw the numerous workbenches placed around the room, along with the large table in the center. There were mysterious machine parts scattered all over, and on the table in the center was a boxy device with a heap of mystery parts next to it. “A workshop? What are you making down here?”

“In this dark underbelly of the courthouse, we built devices for testing people. We tested not just their bodies, but their minds, hearts, and wills, too. Most of the devices have gone defunct, but now that you’re here, I think we can fix some of them.” Cornelius went over to the central table, pulled the box-device closer to him, and rearranged some of the parts. “This particular device allowed for visualization and confrontation of a person’s ‘true self,’ the aspects they keep hidden from the world.”

“Wow, really?” Glitnir said, genuinely impressed. “That’s more high-tech than I was expecting. More magical, too.”

“We did have some help,” Cornelius said. “We had ambassadors from Mercury and some other places assist us with the technology. I’m afraid I can’t remember them all.” He gestured to the spot next to him. “Come on over. I think living hands may make for more precision on the repairs.”

“Actually, while I’m here, I have something I want to show you.” As he approached Cornelius at the table, he called the strange blueprint to hand. “This thing appeared when I transformed for the second time. It’s some sort of blueprint to something involving my ring, I think.”

Cornelius took the blueprint and looked it over. “What have we got here?” He paused contemplatively, then added, “This is really something. This part here is a sort of recorder, while this one transmits. Holograms, yes, I’m familiar with them.”

“So… it sends holograms?” Glitnir asked.

“Yes, that should be the case, and it should be able to receive holograms from similar devices as well. In fact, I think I have some leftover transmitters around here somewhere.” Cornelius began digging around in a different pile of parts. “There should be recorders as well, especially since we needed them for the Shadow Box here. Check over there; they look like mirrored pieces.”

The pun was not lost on Glitnir. “Shadow Box… good name.”

It took a good deal of picking through piles of parts, but soon the proper pieces were assembled. Cornelius slid Glitnir’s signet ring off his finger and began sliding parts into place with rhythmic clicks. Soon, it was finished, and Cornelius slid the ring back on Glitnir’s finger. “And we’re done.”

Glitnir eyed the ring’s modification, a simple metallic ring around the signet portion of the ring with the techy bits under it. “Thanks for helping me with this. It’s one mystery solved, at least.”

“Do you want to test it out?” Cornelius asked.

“I think I should do it with someone else later,” Glitnir said. “I don’t want someone’s ring activating with my hologram at an inconvenient time.”

“I suppose that’s a reasonable concern, though I do wonder if there are safeguards in place against that,” Cornelius said. “Now that we’re done with that, I’m going to start training you in how to repair the basic parts for the devices. First, I’m going to teach you what these parts are all around the room. That alone will be a lot to cover, so I will let you go after the introduction to the repairs.”

Glitnir spent the rest of the day paying careful attention to Cornelius’s instructions and assembling various subcomponents. By the end, it was decided that he had a new quest: restore the devices in the courthouse’s basement to working order, starting with the Shadow Box. Though he was tired at the end, he was also satisfied with the time spent with his ancestor learning ways that were effectively now his. He was excited at the prospect of rebuilding pieces of his Wonder with his ancestor, and he looked forward to seeing the devices in action.

Glitnir visited his Wonder on June 1st. He can visit again on June 15th.