by Stone, J.
Rowland simply nodded to the young chromesmith.
“All these years they’ve been saying it’s our duty to help them find the cure by giving ourselves up, and they’ve been sitting on the cure the whole damn time?” she asked again.
“Why bother curing the plague when you can sell a treatment instead,” Vincent explained. “There’s no money in it.”
“He’s right,” Hirim agreed. “Cultwick has grown rich from the suffering and death of its people. There’s nothing they won’t do to advance their causes. Even if that means lying through their teeth for more than a decade. They controlled who lived or died. I wouldn’t be surprised if they infected people who spoke out against them.”
“It would have been easy enough to do,” the professor commented, still studying the formula.
“I take it from you saying it’s a ‘simple’ formula, that you could make this stuff, doc?” Vincent asked. “Cause I sure would like to not have to inject myself with your concoctions every few days. Even better would be if you’d stop randomly injecting me.”
Rowland looked up from the formula and said, “Yes, it’s easy enough to make. There is a problem though.”
“Of course there is,” Vincent said.
“The formula would be easy for me to create, but it requires some rare items,” he explained. “Things that I do not have and do not have any way of getting now that I am a fugitive.”
“You could make it if you had the supplies though?” Hirim inquired.
“Absolutely. I am a genius after all,” the professor reminded him.
Hirim slightly rolled his eyes and then asked, “Would it be an injection then?”
“Not actually,” Rowland answered. “This particular formula is for an inhalant. All you would have to do is breathe in the mixed tonic to be cured.”
“So what would you need to do this, Dr. Rowland?” Hirim asked.
“Gecyth Plasma, Eresaka Absorbers, Ionic Gamma Purifiers, a few other easier to find items, and a small laboratory setting to mix everything in the right proportions,” Rowland explained. “Oh! And maybe a bit of ether to help me relax.”
“Well, there is a medical supply train that runs every few weeks from Willow Switch back to Cultwick City,” Hirim suggested. “Whatever the western towns manage to harvest, ends up going back to the city to be used in their experiments. We’d just need to know when the next train is scheduled to go through.”
“It looks like this ledger might tell us that,” Pearl said. “I think it’s a copy of the shippin’ schedule fer Willow Switch and Ash Cloud.” She flipped forward through the ledger several pages before stopping and dragging a finger across the paper. “It looks like there’s one scheduled fer one week from yesterday,” she told him.
“So, what?” Erynn began. “Hijack the train and have Max create the cure? But how do we disperse it?”
“A skyship,” Hirim said. “We go to Pendulum Falls and steal a skyship. I’ve heard the empire’s Dreadnought Prime is currently being repaired there.”
“I hereby volunteer for the train,” Erynn said. “Heights and I don’t get along real well.”
“How many fake id’s did we get from the postmaster’s box?” Hirim asked Pearl.
“Hmm,” she said, as she sorted through the papers. “Looks like three separate ones. I’d go with Ryn to the train if that’s alright.”
“Vincent,” Hirim said. “I want you to go with the girls.”
“So you’re just volunteering me now?” Vincent asked.
“We’ll need someone on the train used to stealing,” Hirim began. “Besides, that train will be carrying your cure. That should give you the proper motivation. Meanwhile, Rowland, Germ, and I will head to Pendulum Falls to retrieve a skyship. I’ve got a few contacts there that might could help us.”
“I have always wanted to ride in a skyship,” Rowland said.
The professor placed the medical formula down on the table, when his gauntlet began to sputter sparks once again. “If we’re to part ways, Ryn, perhaps you could fix this contraption first,” he suggested.
Erynn looked over the gauntlet and then asked Hirim, “Where’s this Emma woman?”
“Emma? Couple doors down,” he said pointing in the direction.
“Does she stock general chromesmithing parts or just weapon components?” she asked.
“She has a variety, but you’ll have to go find out for yourself if she has what you need,” he said.
“Come on, Max,” Erynn said, walking to the door.
Rowland followed along behind her, as they exited the Arcadia. The streets outside were fairly barren, while they trudged through the muddy road toward Emma’s building. Two buildings down they saw a rickety building holding up a banner that stated ‘Em’s Spare Parts.’ Erynn and Rowland went inside where Everett and Emma discussed the schematic they had found.
The building smelled of oils, grease, smoke, and gunpowder. His mind was instantly transported back to the lab he and Erynn shared. He thought of the day she had received the letter from the Lottery Office. She had been working in her corner of the room, spreading the same scents throughout the lab. He missed those days, but his life had become much more interesting.
Emma, the owner, had on a pair of worn jean suspenders over a dirty white shirt. Her blonde hair was tied back behind her head similarly to how Erynn wore hers when she worked. Hanging around her waist was a leather tool belt with a variety of metallic instruments.
“Can I help y’all?” she asked looking up from the schematic.
“They’re the ones that found this, Emma,” Everett explained.
“That right?” she inquired.
“Yeah,” Erynn began. “I need some parts to fix his gauntlet.” She indicated back to Rowland and the device on his hand.
“That looks like a pretty complex device,” Emma said.
“Yeah, fairly,” Erynn agreed. “Built it for him a few years back, but the parts eventually wear out, and I have to occasionally fix it.”
“Well, look around and take what you need,” she said. “I’ll get Hirim to cover the cost, so feel free to splurge.”
Emma and Everett went back to discussing the schematics, while Erynn looked through the supplies available. Rowland followed along aimlessly behind her, as he had never accrued much knowledge or understanding for chromesmithing of any kind. That had always been Erynn’s world.
One of the few times their two fields had intersected had been the creation of the gauntlet he wore on his hand. The need had arisen after Rowland had created a specific biological augmentation. He developed a method by which he could harness elemental properties - electricity, fire, ice, and wind, and exude them from his palm.
When he released the energy, however, it caused him physical duress and took a great deal of energy from him. Erynn had come up with a device that allowed his augmentation to harness the power stored inside the contraption rather than him. It had been an incredible success, but he was unable to take off the device. It had become a part of him after he had used it so extensively.
Erynn seemed to have acquired everything she needed, so she turned to him and said, “Take a seat.”
Rowland sat at a nearby table in Emma’s shop, laying his gauntlet hand on the table. Erynn sat opposite him and laid out the various pieces she had found. She took her tools and the components and began to repair the gauntlet.
She had also constructed his spectacles and respirator after the success of the gauntlet. He was her first client as a chromesmith, and over the years, he had given her constant accolades for her creations.
“Would you stop shifting so much,” Erynn said.
“It tickles,” he explained.
“Well, we’re almost done,” she replied. “Hey, got a question for you, Max.”
“Oh?” he asked.
“What is Amizance?” she timidly inquired.
“You mean the drug?” Rowland confirmed.
“You tell me,” she answer
ed. “You’re the doc, doc.”
“It is a bit of a mystery pill, really,” he began. “It has been vaguely linked to a plethora of different uses.”
“Like what?” she asked.
Rowland took a deep breath and released it loudly through his respirator. “Well, it has been studied in relation to attention span, depression, memory, substance abuse – I tried it once, but it just did not have that kick I was looking for.”
“What about the memory study?” Erynn asked looking up from the gauntlet.
“Frankly that was the least interesting one,” he said. “The scientists involved suggested it might improve both long-term and short-term memory retention, but their findings were somewhat ambiguous.”
“Are you saying it doesn’t work?” she asked.
“Mmm, I would not say that, my dear,” he replied. “I just do not think it will become the miracle drug they wish it to be.”
“Oh, I see,” she said dolefully, as she returned to work.
He shifted his head to the side and thought for a moment before saying, “Though I imagine with the right mixture, something could be created to do just that.”
“Really?” Erynn asked, as she again looked up from the gauntlet.
“Anything is possible, my dear,” he assured her. “If you want I can look into it.”
“That’d be great, Max,” she said.
A few more minutes passed, while Erynn pieced components together in the contraption. She had taken out several blackened and worn cogs, replacing them with shiny, new pieces. Once she finished, Rowland rolled his fingers back and forth across his hand, ensuring he still had full functionality.
“Good as new?” she asked him.
“As always,” he told her.
“You head on back to the Arcadia,” she instructed. “I want to pick out a few more things, so I can repair Tern.”
Rowland acknowledged her, nodding his head. He continued to play with his gauntlet, moving his fingers around and squeezing his hand into a fist. He exited the shop, intending to go back to the saloon, but he felt coldness in his arm where the gauntlet began. He concluded that it was time to counteract the sensation with the biojunk he always kept on his person.
Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a syringe of the solution and jammed it into his arm. Creeping warmth spread throughout his arm and into the rest of his body, as he walked back to the saloon. By the time he arrived there, the cold was gone, and the professor was feeling fantastic.
Chapter 21. Ryn the Abducted
Erynn was seated at a table in the corner of the hotel room that they purchased for the week. Strewn out on the table were the various pieces of Tern in disarray. His head was mostly intact, but the framework that made up his chest was nearly in complete disrepair.
Next door in the adjoining room, Pearl and Vincent were passing the time by playing dice. The night before Vincent got the idea in his head that Pearl wouldn’t be a very good bluffer. It turned out he had been wrong. Ever since then, he had been trying to win his money back. Based on the periodic curses Erynn heard, it couldn’t be described as going well for him.
The three of them had made their way to Willow Switch and spent most of their time there in the hotel rooms. Willow Switch’s point of notoriety was that it was the primary hub for the railway system. This connected them directly to Cultwick City, which meant there was a higher level of empire presence throughout the town. They planned to wait, out of sight, in the hotel room until the following day, when the train with the medical supplies would be coming through town.
With so much time spent in the room, Erynn had focused it on creating and augmenting her chromesmith wares. Her first task was to create a powerful shotgun from pieces she had acquired from Emma in Chrome City. It had turned out quite well, because the original parts were mostly in working order. After the bank robbery, Erynn worried for Pearl’s safety, so the shotgun was intended to alleviate some of those concerns.
Following the shotgun came several ideas to help with the train heist. She made a contraption that would handle any sealed train car doors by bypassing the locking mechanisms. It was roughly the size of a coin, but its inner workings were quite complicated, and she was quite impressed with the elegance of her design.
Erynn’s third creation was a large, bronze, pyramid-shaped device. The weapon design was based partially on the technology she had built in Rowland’s gauntlet. The intention was that it would explode in a burst of electricity similar to the kind the gauntlet was capable of discharging. She only had enough components to build the one device and couldn’t test it beyond the theoretical application.
One of her more cunning creations was a modified child’s toy. She had found several spherical, bomb-shaped, wind-up walking toys in Emma’s shop and combined them with a smoke version of Vincent’s knockout poison. She wasn’t sure how they would use such a device, but she decided to construct half a dozen of the walking paralyzers.
On that day, however, she was focusing her efforts on repairing her automaton, Tern. Erynn had managed to get one of his arms back into working order, yet she knew she was going to have to acquire some new parts if she wanted to get him back into a functioning state. She wasn’t very familiar with the town, but the chromesmith was hopeful they might have some of the parts she needed.
Erynn made her way next door where Pearl was wearing Vincent’s hat and had acquired several pieces of his gear. The bounty hunter looked to have lost all of his money and was bartering with anything of value he still had.
“Hey there, kitten,” Pearl greeted Erynn as she walked into the room.
“Pearl,” she nodded and smiled, “I see you’re still taking advantage of Vincent here.”
“I’m just tryin’ to let him make his money back,” she explained slyly.
“Cheating me is what she’s doing, Clover,” Vincent said.
“It’s not my fault yer an awful gambler,” Pearl suggested. “And I have, after all, spent a lot of time in saloons, Mr. Rourke. I’ve picked a few things up over the years.”
“Well, try to get his duster if you can, Pearl,” Erynn said. “I think you’d look good in that.”
Pearl smiled, while Vincent grimaced at that comment.
“Anyway,” she continued. “I need some parts for Tern. You know this town fairly well, Vincent, right? Know where I might pick some things up?”
“Uh, yeah,” he answered, rolling his dice again and evoking a miserable expression. “There’s a smith shop on the western edge of town. Might find something there.”
“I’ll give that a try.” Erynn began, “I’d wish you good luck with your game, but I have a feeling it won’t help.”
“Be careful out there,” Pearl said, as she walked to the door.
Erynn left Pearl and Vincent gambling in the hotel room and headed out to find the shop. Roaming around Willow Switch were a plethora of citizens that appeared to have close ties to the empire, so she was forced to stay off the main roads lest she be seen by a corpsman.
Ducking through a narrow alleyway, she found a stray black cat roaming toward the opposite end of the walkway. When it saw her, it stopped and sat down, staring at her intently. She was slightly unnerved by the intensity of the creature and decided to veer off through another alleyway to get to the store.
She left the side streets and soon arrived at the shop Vincent had indicated to her. There were several bins of assorted mechanical parts and equipment pinned to the walls. A man sat behind the counter, flipping through a newspaper, ignorant to the goings on of his shop. In the corner, a woman worked her way through the parts of one of the bins, trying to match up specific parts.
Erynn began looking for a new input screen, keyboard interface, and a punch card slot. Those were the major components of Tern that had been destroyed in the bank vault.
Before she was able to find what she needed, however, the woman approached Erynn and asked, “Do you know anything about rebuilding a pistol?”
&
nbsp; In a way, the woman reminded her of Vincent. She wore mostly tan and brown leathers with a bandanna hanging around her neck. Her tan shirt was hidden beneath a brown jacket and her pants were very tight and consisted of vertical black and brown stripes.
Her hair was dusty brown and hung down to her shoulders underneath a short, musty, old top hat. She had a gunslinger belt slung low around her waist with one pistol on her right and an empty holster on her left. The woman held a broken gun in her hand, and overall, Erynn thought, she looked to be quite used to life in the west.
“Hi, I’m Lucy,” she said. “I’m decent with a gun, but I’ve never been one for putting ‘em back together for shit.”
“Um, Ryn, and yeah,” the chromesmith began. “I can put a gun back together. What’s the problem with it?”
“I managed to rupture the damn cylinder,” she explained. “Luckily it happened only after I’d fired the last shot of the day.” Lucy held out the revolver for Erynn to examine.
“Yeah, that’s pretty well destroyed,” she noted looking at the firearm. “You probably just need a better quality of metal. Surely there’s something in here to replace it.”
Erynn started digging through one of the bins until she found a cylindrical tube of metal. She then proceeded to tap the metal tube against the metal of the bin and listen to the sound.
“Mmm, not great,” she said and threw the tube back into the mix of parts.
She again started digging through the bin and eventually found a longer and thicker piece of metal. Again, she tapped the metal against the bin and listened to the sound it made.
“This oughta do,” Erynn said, handing the piece to Lucy.
“I don’t suppose I could get you to put this fucking thing back together for me?” Lucy asked. “I’d be willing to pay you for your services.”
“Yeah, if you’d like, I can do that,” Erynn answered.
“I’ll go pay for the part, if you could get started,” Lucy said handing the gun to Erynn before walking over to the counter with the replacement part.
