Ikanuy sat across from me in the ship’s mess, papers spread in front of her, an abacus to her right, and a steaming mug between her hands. She’d come to the harbor to wrap up a few last items before I left. “Your father was quite prolific,” she said, studying the figures she’d just finished calculating. “If we remove the constructs here in the palace, according to Mauga’s notes, that leaves approximately eight thousand war constructs, three thousand trade constructs and five thousand bureaucratic constructs unaccounted for throughout the Empire. I cannot find an accounting of how many spy constructs there are.”

And how many failed experiments? How many people’s corpses had he dismantled and formed into constructs? Ikanuy wouldn’t find the answers in Mauga’s notes. “That’s more than I expected,” I said.

She shuffled some papers. “Yes, well, some he inherited from his father, or his father’s mother. There was time before they died to make that transition in their commands – a task that was mostly left to the bureaucratic constructs. The constructs have until recently been under continuous repair. He didn’t create all of them.”

I picked up a piece of fish from one of the plates and gave it to Thrana, who was sitting next to me at the table’s end. She accepted it graciously. “What I meant is that it’s too many, no matter how they were acquired. Our army is several thousand strong at most. We need to recruit and train soldiers, and quickly. I know the constructs may not all band together, but even bureaucratic and trade constructs can fight.”

She took a sip of tea, grimaced and set the cup down. “It’s not as dire as it sounds. Some constructs have fallen into disrepair since your father died. Some have been killed by soldiers and villagers. And some killed one another. I just don’t have specific numbers on that.”

Guards moved past us, carrying several ornate chests to the hold. Bone shards I intended to gift back to the islands as a gesture of good faith. I lifted my tea. “But it is dire.”

“If even a fraction of the remaining constructs organize, they can usurp a lot more territory and terrorize your citizens.”