Chapter 254: The Three-Rune Limit

Noah watched the scientists at Eldrath’s central research institute prepare another experiment. They had placed a test sample containing an engraved Mindmark Rune inside a modified transfer machine. The institute had already established a reliable procedure for engraving one rune into a goblin’s mind. Its researchers now hoped to determine whether a second pattern could be added without damaging the first.

The initial test failed. When an engineer removed the sample, several lines of the new pattern had crossed the original Mindmark. Both designs were incomplete. She put the sample beneath a measuring instrument and called a colleague over.

"Look where the second rune landed," she said, enlarging the image. "Some of its lines overlap the Mindmark. Neither pattern is complete."

He examined the transfer diagram. "The machine positions each engraving as though it’s working on a blank sample. We need to move the second pattern away from the first."

"I’ll adjust the placement controls. Let’s check the samples again before we change anything else."

The engineers tested the revised arrangement, then adjusted it several more times. Eventually, one sample retained two complete rune patterns after the machine was disconnected. They repeated the procedure until the result was consistent and submitted the findings to the research director. The director obtained approval for confidential experiments involving goblins who already possessed stable Mindmarks. Public hospitals continued offering only the original implantation procedure.

The first living subject was a young goblin whose Mindmark had remained stable since his original treatment. Before the experiment, a physician examined him and recorded the rune’s normal readings. The engineers then prepared a familiar industrial rune used to regulate mana flow in machinery and began the second engraving.

Partway through the transfer, the existing Mindmark’s readings changed sharply. The subject gripped the examination chair and complained of a headache. The physician told the engineer to stop the machine, and the medical team monitored the subject until the original rune returned to its previous condition. No second pattern remained.

At the review, the engineer compared the live recording with the successful tests on prepared materials. "Moving the second pattern solved the overlap on the samples. But the subject’s Mindmark became unstable before the new engraving finished."

"How far had the transfer progressed?" the director asked.

"Less than halfway. The Mindmark’s reading changed as soon as the next section began forming. I’ll slow that stage and monitor the existing rune separately."

"Test the revised sequence on prepared samples first. The physician has advised against putting this subject through another procedure."

The subject remained in the medical wing for several days. At each examination, he could still perceive his original Mindmark, but the headache returned whenever he tried to concentrate for too long. The physician delayed his discharge until the symptoms had ended. Meanwhile, the engineers replayed the failed transfer and noted that the Mindmark’s reading had been steady during the first section of the new engraving. It changed only after the transfer reached the next set of lines. They adjusted that stage of the procedure and submitted the revised settings for another review.

Over the following months, the team refined the controls and repeated its preliminary tests. Early living trials still produced incomplete engravings or temporary instability, but the interruptions became less frequent. During a later experiment, the second pattern formed completely while the original Mindmark remained stable. Once the equipment was removed, a physician asked the subject to describe what he could perceive.

"I can still see my Mindmark," the goblin said. "There’s another pattern beside it."

"Describe the new one first. Don’t look at the display."

The subject described its lines and their arrangement. The researcher compared his account with the rune loaded into the apparatus, then asked for a description of the original Mindmark. Both matched. Subsequent examinations confirmed that neither pattern had deteriorated. Additional subjects later received stable second engravings, allowing the institute to confirm that two runes could coexist within a goblin’s mind.

The scientists did not extend the experimental procedure to public hospitals. Some second-rune trials still failed, and the medical team continued treating subjects whose original Mindmarks had become unstable. Instead, the institute began testing whether a third pattern could be added to a mind that already held two.

The next experiments used prepared materials containing two engraved patterns. The first attempts damaged the existing designs. During one inspection, an engineer pointed to the section where the third pattern crossed a line from the second.

"We shifted the third pattern away from the Mindmark, but it now overlaps the other rune," she said. "We have to leave room for both existing designs."

Her colleague enlarged the transfer layout. "The machine only checks the position of the first rune. I’ll change the controls so it reads both patterns before placing the third."

That adjustment helped with placement, but several transfers still caused unstable readings. The researchers discovered that their instruments recorded the total response from all three patterns without identifying which one had changed first. The director approved additional measuring equipment so the engineers could track each pattern separately during a transfer.

Several months passed before the revised apparatus could consistently preserve three patterns on prepared materials. The institute then began live trials with goblins who already possessed two stable engravings. The first subject developed instability in one of his existing runes, and the physician stopped the transfer. Others retained incomplete third patterns that faded after the equipment was removed. The scientists compared these failures and revised the transfer sequence again.

A second subject retained the new pattern overnight, but one of his earlier runes became difficult to perceive by morning. The physician stopped further examinations involving the machine until the engineer had reviewed that trial. A third subject kept both original runes intact, although the new pattern never formed completely. Comparing the recordings, the researchers found that the two failures occurred at different stages of the transfer. They revised the controls to monitor all three patterns throughout the procedure, rather than relying only on the reading from the rune being engraved.

As planetary years passed, the team gradually improved the procedure. A subject finally received a complete third engraving without disrupting either of his existing runes. After the machine was disconnected, he was able to describe all three patterns individually. His medical examinations showed no unusual symptoms, and the engravings remained stable throughout the observation period.

When the director reviewed the result, he asked the physician whether the latest pattern had changed since the initial examination.

"No. The subject described it the same way at every appointment," she answered. "The instruments also show all three rune readings within their previous ranges."

"Keep the examinations going. We need more than one successful patient before confirming triple implantation."

Further trials succeeded, and some recipients retained three stable patterns for years. The scientists also confirmed that the original Mindmark continued producing the cellular changes associated with slower aging. None of the added industrial runes had yet been shown to perform its intended function inside a goblin’s mind, but their presence and stability were established.

The institute next investigated a fourth engraving. Engineers modified the apparatus to monitor three existing patterns during the transfer and tested the arrangement on nonliving samples. They eventually produced materials containing four complete designs. After the government approved a restricted living trial, the researchers selected a goblin who had retained three stable runes without complications.

His preliminary examinations showed no irregular readings. The physician confirmed that the chamber’s emergency shutdown was functioning, and the engineer began transferring the fourth pattern. At first, the three existing engravings remained stable. Near the end of the procedure, however, all three readings began rising together.

"The original runes are changing," the physician warned. "Stop the transfer now."

The engineer shut down the machine. The readings continued climbing even after its mana supply was disconnected. Before the staff could reach the subject, his body collapsed inward in a violent implosion. The discharge killed him immediately and damaged the examination chair and nearby instruments. The chamber’s reinforced walls prevented damage from spreading through the laboratory.

The research director halted further trials and ordered an inspection of the equipment. At the following meeting, the lead engineer displayed the recording of the final seconds.

"The machine stopped supplying mana when we pressed shutdown," he said. "But the readings from the three existing runes kept rising. The implosion happened several seconds later."

"Did the transfer controls exceed their programmed output before shutdown?" the director asked.

"No. We checked the machine’s record and inspected the components. Nothing indicates an output fault. The instability began as the fourth engraving approached completion."

The scientists considered whether the particular rune selected for the fourth transfer had caused the reaction. They rebuilt the experimental assembly and tested a different industrial pattern on prepared materials. When the next living trial was approved, the new subject had three stable runes and passed the medical examinations. He nevertheless suffered the same fatal implosion as the fourth pattern formed.

The director brought both death reports to the government’s confidential review. The ruler examined the recorded readings and questioned whether the second machine had repeated the first one’s malfunction.

"We rebuilt the transfer assembly and used a different fourth rune," the director answered. "Both subjects died when the new pattern interacted with their existing engravings. We still don’t know whether the problem lies in the transfer method or the number of runes in the mind."

The ruler permitted further investigation under the classified program. During the following years, scientists tested different rune combinations, rearranged the order of engraving, and adjusted the transfer sequence. Prepared samples could retain four patterns, but every living goblin subjected to a fourth engraving imploded. Some died while the fourth pattern was incomplete; others died just after the instruments indicated that the transfer had finished.

The failures forced the engineers to question whether their successful tests on prepared materials were useful for predicting what happened inside a living mind. During one meeting, an engineer showed a sample containing four intact patterns beside a recording of the latest fatal trial.

"This sample held four designs after the transfer ended," he said. "The subject’s three existing runes became unstable before we could finish engraving the fourth. The samples aren’t reproducing that reaction."

"Then the next tests should focus on what the instruments recorded in living subjects," the director replied. "We’ve already proved that the machine can place four patterns on prepared material. Repeating that result won’t explain the deaths."

The medical department documented each death. Although the subjects came from different age groups and had received different rune combinations, the outcome never changed. The scientists could maintain three stable engravings for years, yet no fourth-rune recipient survived. As fatalities mounted, the senior physician demanded that the institute stop the living trials.

"The last three subjects all passed their medical examinations," she told the director. "Each had stable runes before the procedure. Every one of them died when the fourth engraving began to take hold."

An engineer opened the most recent recording. "We tried a different placement and reduced the transfer output. The three existing patterns still became unstable. I can’t identify another adjustment that would make a new trial safer."

The director looked through the casualty register. "Then there won’t be another living trial. Keep examining the recordings and use the prepared samples for any further equipment tests."

More planetary years passed. The institute improved its machines for engraving second and third runes and continued reviewing the fatal fourth-rune experiments, but its investigations produced no surviving fourth-rune subject. Eventually, the research director called a meeting of the senior scientists to review the program’s findings.

"We can confirm stable engravings of one, two, and three runes," he said, displaying the medical records. "Some triple-rune subjects have kept all three patterns for years. Every fourth-rune attempt ended in a fatal implosion, regardless of the pattern or transfer settings."

One scientist examined the recordings. "The failure always begins when the fourth pattern interacts with the three existing engravings. The goblin mind may not be able to retain more than three."

"We haven’t proved that it’s an absolute limit," another replied. "We only know the machines we’ve built cannot add a fourth without causing the existing patterns to become unstable."

The director agreed to record three runes as the established limit under current technology. He sent the findings to the government, which suspended further living fourth-rune experiments. Work on the problem could continue using prepared materials and the existing recordings. The report included the successful triple-rune examinations, the deaths associated with every fourth-rune attempt, and the restrictions now placed on the program. The ruler accepted the suspension and retained the existing arrangements for classified research. No public institution received approval to offer second- or third-rune engraving. The multiple-rune program and its fatalities remained classified, while ordinary goblins continued receiving single Mindmark implants through public medical facilities.

Noah observed a triple-rune recipient undergoing an examination at the institute. The subject described each pattern separately, and the physician confirmed that all three remained stable. In another room, engineers compared the final recordings from the fourth-rune trials, searching for a way to prevent the readings from rising together. They had successfully engraved three runes into one goblin’s mind, but their research still contained no instance of a fourth engraving that the subject had survived.