“Uploading…”
“Goodbye Aaron!” Frost yelled as he raised his rifle again. Aftershock saw him and sent a hail of bullets his way, puncturing the rifle’s body.
Out of ammo, Aftershock shed his revolvers and slipped the rifle off the back.
“Eye for an eye,” he said, pulling the trigger. The round blasted from the end of his rifle and finished the job the revolver bullets had begun.
Frost could hear the pistol whining and feel the tingle of unstable energy building through holes now in his suit. Tossing the rifle away, it exploded in midair, sending a shower of shrapnel and hot steam around the room.
“Sequencing…”
The room settled, Frost emerging from the swirl of fog to find Jenny and Jesse both with their pistols pointed in his direction.
Aftershock had rushed to Aero’s side, his expression one of dread and grief as he found him lying face first next to the keyboard.
“So here we are again,” Frost said smugly. “Two of the most powerful men in the world at odds and gunpoint instead of combining our efforts to –”
“You’re not going to schmooze your way out of this one, Lucas. Besides, seems to me you’re the one at gunpoint.”
“A shame,” Lucas replied. “You’re sounding just like your father and his putrid ideas on how harmonious the world could be if only given the chance.”
“Don’t you dare speak of him and taint his memory!”
“Taint it?” Frost laughed. “Jesse, I MADE him the memory!”
A sudden chill blew over Jesse, becoming a fever moments later.
“Oh? Was it something I said?” Frost said, watching Jesse sweat. “You see Jesse, both of us are still armed with hurtful things.”
As if possessed, Jesse’s face became inhuman he pulled the trigger. A bullet ripped through Frost’s right leg and he cried out in pain, stifled by his own pride.
“One good turn deserves another, isn’t that right?” Frost spat, sinking to one knee.
“Did you pay the raiders that shot him down?” Jesse asked mechanically.
Frost was silent.
“DID YOU?”
Frost’s pained wince suddenly became a crooked smile, until Jesse sent another bullet into his left arm.
“There is more to this,” Frost warned, laughing maniacally. “So much more that you do not understand.”
Jesse fired a shot at the back wall, causing Jenny to flinch.
Frost was unfazed.
“That one was meant for your head. I won’t miss again. I’m not interested in any of the others right now,” Jesse said, the tip of his pistol smoking. “Only with you.”
Aftershock pulled Aero back from the terminal, his body slumping into a cradle formed by Aftershock’s elbow.
“You did it Aero,” he said. “The information is about to be sent to the whole city.”
“S-succc- -ce-ssss?” Aero replied, his voice stuttering and failing.
“Yeah, buddy,” Aftershock said sadly, watching Aero’s eyes struggling to stay lit.
“F-factooo-ry,” Aero said, repeating the word three more times before his systems were finally overcome and his eyes faded.
Aftershock dipped his head, Aero still in his arms as the terminal said the words they had all been waiting for.
“Broadcasting…”
Jesse sighed upon hearing those word, knowing that people were seeing and hearing the truth about what happened to the former mayor.
“What are you going to do with him Jesse?” Jenny asked, unsure herself. “The authorities are probably on their way here now. They’ll likely take him away to face those hearings and trials you talked to me about.
Jesse stood with his pistol aimed right at Frost’s head; he was still smiling that wretched smile.
“I don’t think so, Jenny,” he replied as Aftershock slinked up between them. “Lucas has way too much money shoved in far too many cracks, keeping them just wide enough to slither away.”
“You’re going to kill him then?” she asked apprehensively.
“I don’t see any other options,” Jesse said sadly.
Jenny sighed, knowing what had to be done but wishing there was another way to go about it.
“He won’t do it,” Frost goaded. “He doesn’t have the balls to do anything other than dream the dreams of little boys.”
“You’re right, Lucas,” Jesse said, lowering his gun. “I’m nothing like you. Though we may share a lot of common traits we each take on vastly different forms like steam versus ice… so similar yet so different.”
Frost chuckled at his apparent success.
“I knew that he…”
“I might have some hiccups. But my friend here,” Jesse said, handing his pistol off to Aftershock. “He’s like a totally different element, so doesn’t have those same issues…”
Wide-eyed, Frost began to shiver as Jesse walked away, Aftershock filling his view while considering the pistol in his grip.
Extending an arm, Jenny walked up to Jesse and gave him a kiss, holding each other as they walked over to Aero to pay their final respects.
WITH THE SUN rising over the plains, a new day was beginning in Diablo.
Word had spread to the four corners of the world about the events that transpired, which were unlike anything that had happened in a long time. The whole city had been turned right on its edge by malevolent forces, then slammed back again when they were repelled. As wonderful as the victory seemed on the surface, a great shift like that made sure things could not return fully to normal, while causing others that were long forgotten to rise to the surface anew.
It had been a week and day since Frost’s mundane demise and the clearing of Winthrope’s name. Frost’s deeds had been heard and seen across the entire city many times, the shock and outrage of it no less potent. Holotube rebroadcasts had even made it as far as Angelus, where President Archer followed statements made by Lylan Laguna of Lagos and Prefect DuBois of Barro denying any knowledge or involvement with Frost’s misdeeds.
“It is my hope that we can put an end to this heinous breach of public trust and confidence,” Archer said in a greasy fashion that nearly matched his slicked back hair, Jenny and Jesse watching the transmission on a holotube in Frost’s office. “I hereby pledge any resources from our great city in support of the honorable Mayor Webber and his ongoing investigations in the gre… desert city of Diablo, to uncover who else was involved in this conspiracy. I –”
Jesse turned the unit off, combing fingers through his hair as if to make sure none of the oil from Archer’s had transmitted through the screen.
“Did you hear him get ‘great city’ in there?” he asked Jenny, wiping his fingers together in front of him as a final check.
Jenny nodded reluctantly.
“And that was how many times?”
“Four,” she said glumly, holding up as many fingers.
“I believe that means I won the bet!” Jesse said, his eyebrows bouncing up and down. “My four to your vastly miscalculated one. You, my dear, owe me a home cooked meal tonight.”
“I’ll be glad to do it,” she said, “but I’m pretty sure that it’s not much of a prize for you. Grandfather absolutely loathed my cooking and Evelyn, well, she thought I could help out with dinner at her place, but soon found out she was sorely wrong about my culinary skills.”
“I already know all about that,” Jesse said as he grabbed Jenny’s hand and gave it a quick kiss. “Evelyn told me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the thought behind it. Feel free to give your list of ingredients to Logan later. He can collect them from Grayson Market for you.”
“How did I end up this lucky?” she asked with an appreciative smile, “and thank you for sending Logan to fetch the ingredients. I still get anxious from all the stares out there. It was bad enough when I was just a ‘wasteland girl’ and now that I’m formally known as ‘Mr. Winthrope’s wasteland girl’ everyone wants to be my friend or in my business.”
<
br /> “Quite honestly, they’re probably doing both at the same time, looking for a scandalous bit of gossip to spread,” he said. “It’s all right to feel that way – it comes with the territory. No matter what or where, those types will always be there, more as you gain popularity, or finances, or anything covetable. Over time you’ll learn to be less nervous about it. I bet within another month it won’t even bother you. Besides, above all that you have me, remember? I’ll always be by your side and easy to take the blows… whether they’re dished from them or given by you…”
“Speaking of remembering,” she said, trying not to blush too badly at what he’d just said, “I’d almost forgotten why we’re here.”
She looked around the office and shuddered. It was like Jesse’s, yet with a veneer of gloom that seemed to pervade the whole space, seeping into every leather surface, wooden panel, and metal flourish. Even the portraits were gloomy, unknown people staring down at them and unknown places that, despite being painted sunny, were washed out and gray.
“Mayor Webber granted us an hour to look for anything the recovery officials hadn’t already returned to Winthrope Limited. I wanted to check for any special documents that Frost might have liberated but kept closer to the cuff. I can’t help but think there’s more, especially since he mentioned my father and his plans.”
“Okay,” she replied, looking around the room at the multitude of places documents could be hidden, from desk drawers to bookshelves to furniture, those just being the obvious locations where they could be laid out. “An hour…” she continued, sputtering, “yeah let’s hope we’re lucky.”
AFTERSHOCK STOOD ALONE on the roof of Winthrope Limited, staring out at the strange, new vista. It was wonderful sight, which happened to be frightening at the same time.
“There you are,” said a voice as someone walked up beside him.
Very much alive, it was Aero, his body repaired with lighter alloys courtesy of the production work Frost had started, though there were still panels missing along both arms and his chest.
“Yeah, just needed a minute to decompress. There have been so many damn meetings; is that all you city dwellers do? Have meetings to discuss plans for more meetings?”
“Yes,” Aero replied. “I think I heard one of the officials call it job security.”
“He should be killed… or fired, however you all do that in here.” Aftershock sighed. “How’s anything get done? We’d have been finished days ago had this been out there in the wastes…”
“You really aren’t liking it in here, are you?”
“That obvious?” Aftershock asked sarcastically.
“Only a little bit,” Aero replied equally so.
Aftershock looked back at the city but his hand was thrumming restlessly on his pistol.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said, guilt creeping in, “I appreciate everything Jesse’s done to get the officials to let me stay, even with opportunities for the future. But, I don’t know, something…”
“It’s not who you are and despite it being something that you wanted, there’s more to you than you first expected,” Aero replied with understanding. He looked across to Aftershock, who felt his gaze and returned it. “Seems like you and I have a lot of self-discovery ahead of us.”
“I could appreciate the company,” Aftershock replied, pointing at Aero’s missing chest plate. “What’s all this about?”
“Oh,” Aero said with surprise, lifting his arms as he considered the missing pieces. “I was planning to head over to the laboratory at Frost Enterprises later and retrieve some of my spare exo-plates.”
“They not have any at the place you got the rest of your repairs done?”
“Oh, they did,” he said while nodding nimbly. “I just didn’t want those… cheaper things making up my entire body. I thought it would be a good idea to keep a few components from my original model integrated, if nothing other than to remind myself that I’m still the original A3R0 unit.”
Aftershock, lifted his arm, where a grouping of bracelets adorned with accessories jangled.
“Sort of like these trinkets remind me of places I’ve been; I add one every time I learn a valuable life lesson. Last one was from Pitchfork; casing of one of the bullets that killed ol’ Dante. Have it to remind me not to be arrogant during battle and, of course, help is always nearby.”
“Fascinating,” Aero replied while admiring the different items. There were other casings, vehicle parts, and clock hands all affixed to his wrist.
“So, you need any help with those ecso-plates?”
“EXO-plates,” Aero corrected, “and what you meant to ask was would I like your company?”
“Well… yeah,” Aftershock shrugged.
“I’d like that,” he replied, though his face became serious as he looked him over. “However, I am going to need you to trim your beard up to be more presentable.”
“Excuse me?” Aftershock asked, almost offended. “You want me to trim all of this manliness off my face to better fit in?”
“Yes.”
“With those people down there?” asked Aftershock, looking bewildered.
“Indeed,” Aero said, holding a pretty stern look, broken at the end with the slightest upturn of his lips.
“Think again, bot boy,” Aftershock scoffed loudly. “So, full of jokes now, are we? Well, I’m going as is. Are you ready to go now?”
“We can’t,” Aero replied. “Which is why I suggested later.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because, I came up here to bring you to another meeting.”
Aftershock’s jaw fell sort of half open and he glanced toward the edge of the roof, never readier to leap toward meeting-free salvation than at that moment.
APPROACHING A GOOD three-quarters of an hour of searching, Jesse and Jenny were still empty handed, unable to find any documents or other items of interest in Frost’s office.
“Maybe there isn’t anything else?” Jenny said as she started rifling through the papers in and on the large desk one more time.
Jesse was over by the bookshelves, having rifled through nearly all the books that were there in his search for any loose-leafed notes or plans. There was nothing.
“Maybe you’re right,” Jesse said discouragingly, holding a book titled Beyond Steam: Alternative Power Explained in both hands as he tapped himself on the forehead with it. “I’m not even sure what we are looking for is here.”
“I’ll admit, that would be helpful to know,” Jenny said lightheartedly. “Nothing that a bit of divine intervention wouldn’t solve, right?”
Jesse laughed saying, “That could have helped us from the very begin…”
He trailed off, noticing one of the larger portraits on the wall was that of an old clergyman, dressed in a black cassock trimmed in gold.
“Divine intervention… I wonder,” Jesse mumbled as he made his way for the painting. Lifting it slightly at the edge, he peered behind to look at the wall and noticed a series of faint of lines. “Jenny, I’m not sure but I think I found something. Can you help me with this?”
Jenny dashed over and grabbed the other side of the frame and gently, the two lifted the heavy thing off its hanger and set it leaning against a sofa. Sure enough, there was a rectangular outline on the wall that had been hidden by the portrait.
Walking up to it, Jesse gave it a quick knock and the resulting sound was somewhat hollow. Applying pressure to the area, he felt it give and when released, the rectangle popped off and fell to the carpet. Inside was a dank niche and a small lock box sitting in it. Decorated with fluted silver edges, the safe was secured by a sliding, four-digit numerical lock.
“It certainly looks like we are on the right track,” Jesse said confidently.
“But do you know the combination?” Jenny asked, totally blank herself other than the current year.
Jesse gave it a try, sliding each of the numbers into position to match the year. Attempting to open the box, nothing happened oth
er than sounding a loud clang.
“Would have been amazing to get it on the first try,” he said, tongue peeking out from his mouth as he mulled over other possibilities.
“Nothing’s ever that easy,” Jenny replied, noting the time. “Hey, Jess, security will be by soon to collect us; our time’s nearly up.”
“Okay let me give these a try,” he replied.
Sliding the lock to 1687 (the founding year of Winthrope Limited) …
Clang!
Sliding the lock to 1777 (the founding year of Frost Enterprises) …
Clang!
“Argh!” Jesse shouted. “If Aero were here I would have him rip this damn thing out of the wall.”
“Well, we don’t have that option and we are out of time…”
The clock chimed and Jesse had a sudden chill, a flash of his father leaving through the secret passage all those years ago.
“Surely not,” he whispered, trying one final combination before giving up.
1785… the year his father was taken from him.
Trying to open the door and expecting another unfeeling clang, the safe yielded instead, light from the room shining on a set of cream parchment sheets that had been tucked away inside. Quickly Jesse snatched them all and slammed the safe shut.
“Jenny! We have them!” he exclaimed, flipping through them.
Jesse saw plans for Aero’s so called ‘battery’ but there were indications a lot more was going on. The plans showed the energy cells screwing into other units, creating longer tubes.
“Do you have any idea what they’re for?” Jenny asked inquisitively, looking at each page trying to figure out how it all fit together.
Jesse continued to study them as well, but grew more puzzled the more he looked.
“I’m pretty sure there are some pieces missing,” he said, pointing toward several arrows that shot off the edges of the page, yet didn’t reconnect on any of the others.
“Great,” Jenny said with spurious excitement. “I sense more searching in our future.”
The Steam Tycoon Page 25
