“Yes.” said one of the scientists who had been chosen to brief Prentice.
“The computational engine is embedded successfully?”
“All ready to use and the provided access codes have been entered.”
“Excellent.” said Prentice, standing back upright from the coffin. “Commence her awakening on Monday. I need her operational within a week.”
“Sir!” Said the scientist, “A week is out of the question! It just cannot be done!”
“A week is all you have.” said Prentice quietly, the scientist not missing the threat in his voice at all. “The Saxony, Austrian situation commands our haste!”
He walked across the laboratory and pressed a brass button to open the door.
“A week. No more than that please.” The door swung open and Prentice left them to it, the scientists shaking their heads and staring down glumly at the freezer coffin, muttering darkly between themselves.
***
Pain. It was the first thing she registered. White, screaming pain from everywhere. She gasped and tasted blood in her mouth, smelt gunpowder in the air. Then nothing. No blood. No smell. Just the pain and the bright white light.
She tried to scream but nothing came out of her mouth. She blinked, but the bright white light did not change. She attempted to move but she could not feel her body. It was as if she was floating on air, all of her no longer hers to control. Or simply not there. She tried to scream again but there was nothing but silence.
“Romney.” she said in her mind.
Silence.
Impossible silence.
“Romney.”
Still nothing.
She began to panic, for that was not possible. Romney was a third circle demon blood bound to her. Whilst she was alive the demon was bound to her. The only way the tie could be severed would be if she died, for then the demon would return to the third circle, and after that? She did not know.
One more time.
“Romney.”
Still nothing.
The white light changed in front of her eyes. She could not distinguish any shapes at all still, but it felt as if someone had drawn closer to her. It was as if everything was out of focus, and every sound, if indeed there were any sounds, were muffled. Then the shape in front of her moved again, drawing closer.
“COMMAND: Sleep.” said a voice, and Victoria fell to sleep instantly.
Sometime later the pain was back. It seemed to be the only way that she had of knowing whether she was awake or not.
“Romney.” she said in her mind, but still there was no reply.
“Bebrox.” said a voice near to her. It sounded muffled, distorted. “Duntin.” continued the voice, and then a single note as of that of a tuning fork that decreased in volume slightly.
“Down two more.” said the voice and Victoria felt herself gasp at the unfamiliar voice. She tried to speak but she could not. The howling pain refused to leave her alone. Everything was out of focus and she could feel nothing of herself; as if she was entirely absent, the only constant being the agony continually coursing through her.
“Temperature can come up ten degrees.” said the same voice, and though she did not recognise it, at least she could understand it. “Still having issues with the optics. Ask Carrington to come down and have a look. It will be bloody Tuesday at this rate and she is still dead to the world.”
“We need to remove the optical device so we can check the wiring.” said a different voice. Victoria tried to move to focus on the new voice but she could not even blink.
“Very well.” said the same voice. “COMMAND: Sleep.” said the man, for she knew it was a male voice. She slept.
The next feeling was cold. Like ice she felt. She did not have any comprehension of how long it had been since she had heard the two voices, but this time she could hear people moving about around her, and the steps of people in the room. Her vision was still impaired though, bright white light filling her eyes, but as she squinted at it it seemed to recede, the light drawing away and everything suddenly swum into focus as she saw a large silver light being pulled up from her face further into the air. It looked like a surgical lantern that she knew hung over many operating tables, but now it was not blinding her and she tried to move her head to look around, but once again she could not do so.
“COMMAND: Rise.” said a voice and she felt dizzy and nauseous as the room tilted. She seemed to be sitting upright now, watching several old looking men standing watching her across a brightly lit white walled room, some smiling, some scowling.
“COMMAND: Release.” said another voice and she found she could turn her head, and she staggered slightly, finding herself sitting upright on a small hospital bed, her eyes swimming, trying to focus.
“Where am I? She asked, her voice loud in her head. “How long have I been here?”
“Just keep still.” said a small, round bellied man standing in front of her, nodding nervously. Victoria recognised his voice as being the first person she had heard upon waking.
“Have I been ill?” she said. “Where is Romney?”
“Who is Romney?” asked a voice behind her and startled, she turned, the rotation making her dizzy and uneasy. But it felt like a fast movement too; impossibly fast; fluid almost.
“My demon.” she said. “I will need his necklace back.”
“Ah.” laughed another voice and the chubby man walked towards her and the direction in which she was now facing.
“COMMAND: Sleep.” He said, and Victoria saw the floor rushing towards her, but she was already asleep before she hit it.
***
Victoria flinched and looked wildly about the small office she appeared to be sitting in. She was wearing a long yellow gown that she had never seen before, and was staring at a small desk, behind which sat Alberney Prentice, pouring tea from a large pot.
“Sugar?” he asked and Victoria shook her head, wondering how she had fallen asleep in this office, and where she actually was. She stood and then abruptly sat down again, not sure exactly what to do.
“I believe some disorientation is perfectly normal.” smiled Prentice, “If “normal” is a word we can apply to your current situation that is.” He gave her a second tight smile that was more of a wince than a sign of amusement.
“Where am I?” she asked as having placed the cup and saucer in front of her he returned to his desk.
“Whitehall.” he said simply.
“I don’t remember coming here.” she said, trying to drink the tea but finding that her hand was trembling too much as she tried to pick up the cup. “How did I get here?”
“You walked.” smiled Prentice, “We promenaded along the banks of the Thames for a while and then caught a flyer to the office. We cut quite a dashing sight I must say, what with you and your parasol and all.”
“I don’t recall that.” she said.
“Because I commanded you to forget it.” he said, smiling awkwardly, “I am afraid I was just a little bit indiscreet with regards to this and that. I thought it best just to wipe the whole afternoon really.”
“What have you done to me?” she said, and concentrating, stopped the trembling in her hand and took up the cup, not spilling a drop as she raised it to her mouth.
‘Well now.” he said, tapping his fingers on his desk, “Where do I begin?”
“You have made an automata of me.” she said and he nodded. “Be precise.” she said and he pulled a piece of paper from a drawer below his desk and placed it on the top of it.
“Essentially we have upgraded you. You have a new skeleton around your arms and legs, making you faster; stronger. Your eyes have now access to several spectrums of light that the human eye cannot see, and at the heart of this sits the latest Babbage computational engine, its cogs genetically affixed to your body so it functions like any other major organ you posess. You will never have children, sadly, but you will be very, very good indeed at mathematical conundrums.”
“You have cha
nged me.” she said, “And Romney?”
“Romney?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“My third circle demon.”
“Ah yes. Well now. We couldn’t let him hang around the place now, could we? Might interfere with all kinds of things. So we destroyed him.”
“He is a demon. You can’t destroy him.” snarled Victoria, putting the cup back on the table.
“Technically speaking yes.” smiled Prentice, “He is blood bound.”
“Yes. So where is he?”
“Well it was actually quite easy really.” said Prentice, looking carefully at the note on his desk.
“He was bound to your blood. So we replaced it.”
“My blood?”
“Yes. Quite crafty really. We had to change your blood group of course, and that was quite difficult the boffins tell me. Nevertheless, they seem to have pulled it off.”
“Romney is gone.” she said sadly.
“Poof!” laughed Prentice, “Back to the third circle with his tail between his legs.” He consulted the note on his desk, flicking it as he worked his way down whatever was written on it.
“Your left hand looks perfectly normal but I think you will find that one of your fingers contains a concealed knife blade, and your others other various devices. The one we are really all most pleased with is a small lense concentrated beam from your index finger. I don’t really understand the science per se, but they tell me that it can cut through iron to the thickness of three inches. You really are quite a little collection of toys my dear. More Victoriana than Victoria in fact.”
“I could kill you right now.” smiled Victoria, “for what you have done to me.”
“Try it.” he smiled, raising his teacup to his lips, “If you think hard you will find a file in your memory detailing how to access your computational engine and weapons systems.”
Victoria concentrated hard, and finding a memory she flexed her left hand and a knife blade extended from a finger on her left hand. She stood suddenly, moving so quickly that she surprised even herself, and lunging forward made to cut Prentice’s throat from ear to ear with the blade. As she shot towards his throat however, her hand came to a sudden abrupt halt and she found herself lowering the blade and taking a step backwards. Prentice smiled, sipping his tea, completely unperturbed,
She flexed her hand again and a bright blue sparkling beam of light shot from her index finger. She aimed it at the portrait of the Queen on the wall and it caught fire instantly, melting where the beam cut into it. She moved the beam towards Prentice again, but as before as it approached him she found the beam suddenly extinguishing itself and she stepped back once again.
“Oh dear.” said Prentice, standing from his desk and throwing his tea over the portrait of the Queen to extinguish it. “In certain circles you would be hanged for such a grievous insult to her majesty. I would suggest a little more decorum Victoria.”
“I cannot hurt you, can I?”
“No.” He smiled. “You cannot in fact hurt anyone unless you have been told that they are a target. Prentice leaned forward and pressed something on the the desk and a small bell chimed from the doorway. There was a slight pause and then the door opened and in strode a large, dirty looking man who looked around the office nervously, shuffling inside.
“I’ve been told I would get a few bob if I made myself free and available to be here like’ said the man, doffing his dirty looking cap as he crossed the room.
“Kill him.’ said Prentice, and Victoria lunged at him, the knife erupting from her finger again, but as she approached she stopped and moved backwards.
“Try the beam” smiled Prentice, and she did so, with the same results.
“Happy now?” smiled Prentice and Victoria stood watching the newcomer who was looking at both of them as if they were demons of some sort.
“I can see the computational engine in my mind.” she said, staring into space. “There are some parts of it that are blocked from me.”
“That will be the command functions and inhibitors.” smiled Prentice. “It allows us to override some of your more basic functions.”
“Such as?” said Victoria as the dirty looking man watched both of them carefully, as if afraid almost.
“Well it is voice locked. I only have access to those commands presently, though I can of course transfer them to another if I had to.”
“How do they work?” she asked tentatively.
“You have certain parameters that the computational engine ensures that you adhere to.”
“Like killing you.”
“Or anyone.” said Prentice. “They can be overridden.”
“How?’ she smiled, Prentice grinning back at her.
“I thought you would never ask.” he almost whispered, and then pointing at the man in the centre of the room said, “COMMAND: Kill him.”
Victoria flinched as the beam of blue light shot from her hand and slashed across the man's head, never even giving him time to scream. The beam was so effective the man's head was severed instantly from his body, and blood fountained across the room from his shoulders as the corpse fell to the floor, the head rolling off across the now crimson stained carpet.
“Like that.” said Prentice, looking about the office and the growing puddle of blood on the floor.
“Ah well. It was time for a new office anyway.” He walked carefully around the corpse and took her by the arm, leading her towards the door as he did so. “Saves the bother of re-decorating I am happy to say. I never was one for choosing matching colour schemes sadly.”
***
She was lying down in a small punt, watching the white fluffy clouds moving across the deep blue sky. She could hear the river flowing around the punt, and raising her head slightly she saw she was wearing a long white dress, frills at it was well below her knee, and as she leaned back she saw she was wearing a bonnet, or at least the semblance of one, as it was knotted loosely under her chin.
“Darling you feel asleep.” said a voice from behind her, and craning her neck backwards she saw a tall, impossibly good looking man in a red striped blazer and boater hat, punting the boat from the stern of the small punt. He smiled at her brightly, his pearly white teeth seeming to catch the sun that was at his side, making them sparkle. he looked like a cross between a Cambridge boating candidate and a gondolier.
“Did I?” she said, flexing her fingers and finding a long white cloth parasol by her side.
“Yes darling. Still. Never mind. Soon we will be there. Do you have a penny?”
“A penny?” she asked, not sure she had heard him right.”
“Yes. to pay the ferryman.” he said, smiling that smile again.
***
“Are you paying attention Victoria?” asked Prentice, holding her arm a little tighter as he sat her at a large desk and then pulled up a chair from the wall and sat facing her, almost knee to knee.
“Of course.” she said. “Just wool gathering really.”
“COMMAND: Status.” said Prentice.
“All systems completely functional and within suggested parameters. Slightly elevated adrenaline levels. Correcting now.” she said, the computational engine speaking for her.
“Excellent.” smiled Prentice, clasping his hands together on his knees.
“So what do you want with me?” asked Victoria, “I am yours to command am I not?”
“Not I as such.” he said, “You are at the bhest of our majesty’s government is a much more accurate description.”
“So I am your slave to undertake certain “tasks” on behalf of the government? Given my already considerable talents, the improvements you have made make me almost without equal. Well done.”
“Not precisely.” smiled Prentice. “It is tempting for certain. Yet I cannot help but feel that you in particular are nothing but trouble. Just a gut feeling as such. Nothing personal.”
“Glad to hear it.” smiled Victoria.
“Indeed. In fact, your uses are manif
old. First of course you had seen the symbol inside the box that you retrieved for the steel worker's. That was unfortunate.”
“There was a marking of the same symbol on the bench inside the laboratory where the scientist disappeared from.”
“Randolph.”
“The same, yes.”
“Yes. The connection between the two is unfortunate. The symbol is the same as it is a road map of a new field of science her majesty’s government is working on.”
“Sounds exciting.” said Victoria, “It may perhaps distract them from shooting innocent lady thieves and turning them into some form of automata nightmare perhaps?” Prentice grinned widely.
“You were never innocent Victoria.” he smiled, “and besides. You had seen too much. No. We wanted to see if the science worked of course. You are a much more advanced form of automata than the Empire has ever seen before. The blueprint if you like. Now we know that it is possible to create many of you. Imagine that. An army of unstoppable automata. Very useful, I would imagine. We never had any intention of using you in that role though. Oh no. You are just the prototype. The first of those who will follow.”
“So what exactly are you going to do with me then?” she asked,
“Oh my dear Victoria.” said Prentice almost reverentially, “We have such plans for you…”
***
The music was loud, deafening almost and people were pressed all around her as she was dragged across what looked like a small room towards what could only be a kitchen. She looked up and saw the handsome man from the punt was dragging her to a corner. He smiled and pulled her faster as he saw her looking at him. She smiled back, looking down at the floor to avoid treading on someone who seemed to be lying there. She saw her skirt was different now. It was a lot higher than her knee this time, and she reached up to her head. No bonnet either.
“We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…” sang someone from nearby, though she could not see the orchestra who was playing it, nor recognise the strange instruments they were playing.
“Beer?” asked the man, flashing his gleaming smile again. From a table he pulled two glasses and then hefted up from the floor a huge metal canister and began to pour beer all over the table, a little of it splashing almost by accident into the glasses. On the side of the canister she could just see the words, “Party Seven”.
The Complete Adventures of Victoria Neaves & Romney Page 4
