...tipped this way, then that way, in the half-light of a hangar too large to actually illuminate without a fortune spent on bulbs. Glasses were touched with a clink, then drained. The last weld on the prototype had been made minutes ago, the computer booting up- with a rosary under their breaths, beaded with sweat -and proclaimed all systems operational. A 'mech of their own. The two of them looked over the beast where it stood. A half-decade in the making; billions, now that it was finished. But they were artisans: billions were nice, but just to have made this thing, this working object, was best.

"Needs a name."

"We got a name."

"C'mon. That's a placeholder. We've got the drinks, we've finished the work, we need to really name it."

A long moment of silence was broken by the bottle tipping one way again, and a contemplative sip.

"Dad passed. Last week, I told you. Went Neohellenic before he did. Coins on the eyes and all. If you'd let me, I'd want to name it that type."

"Zeus is taken."

"So's Hermes."

"Apollo. Artemis."

"Hades. Demeter. Hephaestus?"

Click of keys on a noteputer; a disappointed exhale.

"Taken. Clanner tank. Hold on, there's got to be a list on here."

"Tell me if you find one that's not taken already."

The bottle tipped the other way. There was the sound of someone breathing while they held their tongue between their teeth in focus.

"Man. Poseidon, taken."

"Anyone got Aphrodite?"

"Yeah. Config for the Ares."

"Hah. Good match."

The bottle tipped again.

"A-ha. Here's one."

"Yeah?"

The two huddled over the screen as the words scrolled down, down. The Encyclopedia Sarna digital module really was a comprehensive source; plug it into a noteputer and you could look up anything. There were satisfied grins, there was an agreement. What the bottle had tipped into the glass spilled out of it with a flick of the wrist, spattering the concrete floor at the 'mech's feet in libation. The engineer spoke, voice quavering with the feeling of a final touch on a house of cards, looking up at the silent 'mech; light gleamed on the metal.

Characters' info under the cut