The first Nexus-6 units leave Everett

This morning the first twelve Nexus-6 units left the Works at Everett for Calder Yard, an orbital construction yard and the first of five licensed off-world settings to receive them. Each carries a certificate of provenance, entered in the Register yesterday, and five hallmarks on the left wrist plate.

No two are alike. The yard’s operators asked for units that would not make a crew feel it was working beside a row of identical things, and the Atelier has made each to its own height, face and gait. The tallest of the twelve is 1.91 meters and the shortest 1.62. Each was commissioned in the long room at the north end of the Works, where it was asked to lift, carry, sort and wait, and did all four.

The units will work twelve-hour rotations in the yard’s assembly bays under the yard’s own supervisors, within the single condition of their license: general labor only, in licensed off-world settings. The house will service them at the yard, and every fourth year at Everett.

The Master of the Atelier, who checked the last of the twelve herself on Saturday night, saw them off from the loading dock. Asked by a member of the Works staff how she felt, she said that she felt as she always did when a piece left the House, and went back inside before the trucks had gone.