by Robert Brown
“Oh, man, look at this!” Daniel pointed to a picture of a familiar craft. “That’s the Ophelia!” He was pointing to a news clipping that had been framed, that told of our exploits in the 1920s over the jungles of the Amazon Delta.
“Oh, what the hell!” Tanner said.
“Shush!” Daniel interrupted. “Keep your voice down.” He had moved onto the next framed news article. “If I’m understanding this correctly, it looks like we have not exactly been going our about missions undetected! We’d jump to the next destination, while people were writing articles about us! These guys see us as Santa Claus, or some team of super-heroes or something! Popping up through time to solve some world problem.”
Awesome, I thought. We’re superheroes!
Kristina rolled her eyes. “Thank god we didn’t stop to sign autographs! We’re lucky they don’t have pictures of us any closer then this,” she said, pointing to a distant shot of the Ophelia over a mosque in Istanbul. “If they did, I don’t think we’d have been able to get through the crowds at the docks!”
“Yeah, and I’ll bet they’re not happy with us.” Tanner said. “We’ve been missing for two hundred years, and the world has gotten pretty messed up.”
“It’s gotten pretty damn cool, too,” I said.
At this point a short, stout man in a silk coat and paisley top hat drew everyone’s attention toward the center of the room. “Ladies and Gentleman.” And then he laughed. “Who am I kidding, we got neither here.” The room chuckled and he began again, “Scoundrels and pirates, turn your attention to the stage!”
The man made a exaggerated gesture to a small platform in the center of the room, little bigger then a coffee table, with a small round lump in the middle of it, “I present to you a delicate treat of petite proportions!” At this the lump unwound itself, and stood up. A delicate ballerina of eighteen, gracefully lifted her arms over her head in an arch. She wore a translucent tutu, and point shoes, but it was clear that no other clothing was visible in the under light from the windows below.
“This finely crafted treasure. Nay, this Porcelain goddess of tender age and beauty, has been built purely for your pleasure!” Somewhere in the room a steam-powered calliope started puffing out a gentle waltz, in tones that reminded me of circus music.
The girl lifted herself to her toes, then slowly and without falter, lifted one leg up into the air and she hugged it. With a small twist she began to spin slowly on the other toe, as the narrator said, “She was crafted deep inside the cages of Desolation, from which her maker will never emerge! Yes, his cunning skill is obviously a genius the cities can’t endure, just as her skin has a smoothness that even silk can’t rival!”
As she spun, she extended one delicate arm, and when her back was turned towards us a large copper winding key could be seen extending from it. Her skin was a bit translucent on her back, and intricate gears could be seen spinning beneath as the key slowly turned.
Daniel gazed absentmindedly from a bar stool, and Tanner sat backward on a chair. Neither took their eyes off the doll for a moment. She stopped her slow spin, and stepped off the platform delicately en pointe, arms lifted above her head.
“Now gentlemen, or ladies, if the mood so strikes you,” the man in the paisley hat continued. “This fine delicacy is not here merely for you to gawk at from a distance! Oh no, this is a dish you may enjoy alone, for a time…” He paused, and then added with a lecherous tone “…And for a significant price! Imagine if you will, while she gracefully floats across the floor now, imagine how she can slither and grind in your bed!”
“Oh, we need to get her alone!” It was Kristina who had spoken. If it was possible, Daniel and Tanner’s jaws gaped a bit wider than they already where as they turned to face her.
“Um, we do?” I asked my wife with apprehension. I didn’t know where she was going with this.
“Yes, we do!” she was whispering excitedly now. “Look at her, she’s beautiful. She’s graceful, she’s amazing!”
I blushed. “Um, yes,” I said, feeling like I was being lured into a trap, and but still willing to take the bait.
Kristina turned towards me, and her look changed to one of a patronizing big sister. “She is amazingly well made. Who ever made her obviously is a very skilled engineer and scientist. Who ever he is, he could possibly fix the Chrononautilus on the Ophelia! We need to get her alone to find out where her maker is!” Daniel and Tanner looked suddenly disappointed.
“Let’s start the bidding at thirty-five!” said the small announcer, and a dozen hands went into the air. Kristina lifted her hand to bid, and the announcer chuckled. “Now that’s a sight I’d like to see! Okay, boys, don’t let this pretty lady bidder intimidate you! This is a dish you need to taste!”
In a few moments the auction was over. Kristina had won, and the small announcer put the ballerina’s hand in hers. “Take your time, girls, but get her back to me before sun-up.” And with this he gestured towards stairs that led to obviously seedy apartments. Kristina and the doll walked towards the steps, the doll gracefully on the tips of her toes the whole time. Just before she disappeared up the stairs, Kristina nodded for me to follow. I did, but I have to admit I felt a little tingly inside.
I walked inconspicuously as I could up the stairs a few yards behind the girls, and as I reached the top I saw them disappear into a room together. I knocked at the door, and Kristina opened it abruptly and pulled me in.
The doll was in the center of the bed kneeling, her transparent pink tutu flared around her small legs, and as her eyes flicked off Kristina’s to me, she said “Oh!” with surprise. Then she added, “Two is fine, but you have to be genlte with me. I break.”
“Actually,” Kristina said, “We have a question for you.”
The doll looked suspicious, and her little hands balled up into fists. “Yes?”
Seeing the doll’s apprehension, Kristina sat on the bed next to her. Speaking in a gentle tone she asked, “Do you mind terribly if we ask who made you?”
The doll did mind! She leaped to her feet, and grabbed a propeller shaped chandelier above us, and swung over Kristina. She would have swung right over me, and gone out the door, but mid swing the chandelier broke free, and crashed to the ground with her under it. She lay angrily pinned under it, her leg jutted out from under her body at an unnatural looking angle.
“Whoa, whoa!” I said, and I stooped to help lift the chandelier off her, “What was that? Are we not allowed to ask you that?”
She tried to stand, but her broken leg would not support her. She started to cry tiny golden tears that flowed slowly down her porcelain-like cheeks. “What will you do with me?”
“What? Nothing!” I said. “What do you mean?”
“You are not peelers? You don’t fill the Change Cage?” she asked, now looking as confused as I was.
“No, we don’t! We don’t even know what that is!” I said desperately.
“Look, we are not from around here, and we don’t really know the rules,” Kristina said. “We really don’t wish to harm you at all, its just that we are in big trouble and we need someone who’s good at building and fixing. I saw the gears through your back, and assumed whoever made you could help us.” Kristina then added, “You look…complex.”
“I am,” the doll said, not giving a hint as to which meaning of the word she was acknowledging. But she relaxed, and I helped her up to the side of the bed. We all quietly looked at her leg. As I held it in my hands, I could feel it was not a “bone is broken” sort of break, but a “pistons and chains have pulled loose under the skin” sort of break. It rattled when I moved it. This is not something that would heal - it had to be fixed.
“I don’t know who made me,” she said, and she looked out the porthole window toward the sunset. From here we could see the grassy plains, the horizon, and the setting sun. Just above the horizon we could see a cluster of airships, all uniformly built with black gondolas and black ballonets. These were just visible under t
he docks and airships at the edge of the city. As this cluster of black airships drew closer, bells started ringing around in the distance, and just as we heard them, the enclosing airships fired!
Torpedoes in the sky, self-propelled rockets whistled away from their hulls towards the docks. Their impact shook the city in waves, and cast its citizens off the bridges and into the sky. I could hear commotion in the bar below us, and I now knew why its patrons felt more comfortable dining while keeping their eyes on the horizon.
Another impact sent the room swinging, and the doll desperately grabbed my arm. “Take me with you. I am not allowed to be!”
“What?” I asked.
“Take me with you, and I will help you find my maker! My brother knows were he is, he can take you to him!” She held her arms out to me imploring.
I glanced at Kristina, who nodded, so I picked up the doll and put her over one shoulder as delicately as I could, while saying, “Tell me if I hurt you.” Like this the three of us ran from the room.
As we came down the stairs, Tanner and Daniel were coming up. “Hey, I think its time to leave,” Daniel said. Another explosion painted the sky red, and swung the Inn harshly.
“What gave you that idea?” I said as the five of us ran towards the door.
“Well, for starters, everyone else left,” Daniel said. “Kind of in a hurry, too.”
We ran up the ramp, and when we got to the streets we could see the docks were ablaze. Airships were starting their propellers, and the small black fleet was drawing closer, firing shot after shot into the port, clearing themselves a place to dock.
Many men and woman ran past us down the massive hanging bridge that led to our ship. They brandished a wide array of weapons, some obvious like swords or rifles, and some not so obvious. I saw one man rolling a device that looked like a wheelbarrow, with one wheel and two handles and triggers. On top was a series of brass orbs connected to two large cones that pointed out the front. “Aetheric Condenser Cannon” read a little plaque on the side. I might never know what it does, but I’m guessing you shouldn’t stand in front of it!
Another torpedo hit the docks where our swinging bridge anchored to them. The shockwave rolled down the bridge like a wave on the ocean, and tossed the townspeople like rag dolls off a bedspread.
“Hold on!” I yelled, and we all grabbed the railings and prepared to be thrown. The doll tightened her small soft arms around me, just as the bridge lifted and tossed us into the air. For a moment, my feet were above me, and a second later we were back on our feet running.
The black fleet was now firing grappling lines into the dock, and pulling their ships up to port. A new problem was making itself clear. The Ophelia was at the end of the large pier ahead of us, and between it and ourselves the black ships were docking. Out of them came soldiers, uniformed in black leather, canvas pants, and tall black leather boots. Everything about them was shiny, proper and oppressive. They pulled polished chrome pistols from black leather holsters and shot man, woman and children alike.
One of the soldiers had a megaphone, and he yelled into it in a matter-of-fact voice, “You have violated population control and confinement law, as set out by His Majesty Emperor Victor the First. Any person found outside the cities will be considered a traitor to the balance of nature, and will be executed, or fed to the fauna, at the convenience of the Imperial Navy.” He read this as if he had read it everyday of his life. No enthusiasm. He read it because it was his job, everyone knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Wow, that is not right!” said Tanner, as he and Daniel drew swords.
We headed towards the Ophelia, trying to navigate through the frantic mob on the docks that was either running towards, or away from the naval soldiers. As we rounded a large stack of wooden shipping crates, we found ourselves face to face with a squad of six black-uniformed men with rifles. The squad leader looked at the doll on my shoulder, and the key coming out of her back, and said, “Where are you taking this piece of obviously illegal horology?”
“Um, to you! I figured you’d wanted to see this!” I said, but he didn’t buy it for a second.
“Gentlemen, aim!” he commanded, but as they hoisted their rifles to their shoulders, a shadow flashed over our heads. Between the soldiers and us, a young Neobedouin had leaped, and his dreadlocks coming out from under his head wrap dripped with blood. We had never seen this boy before, and he glanced past us to the doll on my shoulder. Then he lifted his arms, and each wrist was strapped to the handle of two double bladed scythes.
“So you want to be first, beast dancer?” said the officer, “So be…” but the Neobedouin boy jumped up in a spin of whirling blades that slashed the throats of the officer and the two soldiers next to him.
He landed again, and leaped onto the shoulders of the soldier to his right as the soldier to his left fired at him, killing his comrade. The Beast Dancer then did a kind of a backward cart wheel slicing open the bellies of the two remaining navy men.
The tribal boy then turned to us, and said to the doll, “I know you cannot love, but I will always love you!” and he rushed forward into the last remaining group of soldiers blocking us from our ship. As he cleared the path for us, I heard the doll whisper to herself, “But I can love.”
We ran up the gangplank of the Ophelia as she was beginning to pull away from the docks. Jean-Paul looked at the clockwork girl on my back, and said casually, “Hey, where’d you get the doll?” He assumed she was just inanimate thing, like a mannequin. The doll spun her head around to Jean-Paul and glared. “I am not owned!” she said, stunning the pirate. He stumbled backward into a spool of rope.
“It – she! Talks!” he stammered.
“And she’s complicated,” Kristina grumbled. “Watch what you say around her, or she’ll break herself some more.” Kristina rolled her eyes.
I propped the doll up against the mast as the acting-pilot was pulling the ship away from the dock, while pulling hard on the Elevator Wheel, spinning frantically to drop the ship’s altitude below the firing line of the assaulting airships of the Imperial Navy.
“Okay, so it would appear there is a government in this time, and they are not particularly freedom loving,” Daniel said. “What do you think he meant by ‘population control’ and ‘confinement law’?”
“The Neobedouin chief told me about this,” I said.
“People are not allowed to live outside the Cities,” the doll said, sensing our confusion. “The Victorians – that is, Emperor Victor’s supporters – are kept in huge walled cities. It’s supposed to be for the sake of the environment, and the balance of nature. Victor says humans spread like a disease, and if left to breed uncontrolled they would soon destroy the planet with their sheer numbers.”
The doll continued, “So he keeps them locked up. He also keeps them from advancing technologically so he can keep them powerless to rebel against him. ‘Evolution Instigates Manifest Destiny’ he says, meaning that if man evolves they will expand in numbers until they’ve covered the world.
“My kind, Automatons, are also controlled. We are not allowed to be more advanced than basic machines with basic functions. Otherwise we are considered ‘evolution’, and will be disassembled. But some of our makers started making us very complex, and we became aware. In the cities, Automatons must hide this part of themselves; they must pretend to be simple machines. But a few of us escape.”
“So wait, why were those ships attacking the city?” I asked.
“That entire city is illegal. The Emperor does not sanction it. There are a few floating cities and skylands that have sprung out here in the free world. The Navy attacks them, and often burns them down. They won’t get High Tortuga, though. Its too heavily defended. This is just a stunt to let the free people know they are still considered illegal. Most of those people have either escaped from the cities, or were illegally born. If caught alive, they will be fed to the wild predators, or at least that’s what used to happen back in the time of the
first world Emperor. It doesn’t happen much anymore, since they rarely catch people alive. The Imperial Navy is not big enough to take on all the Airship Pirates, as they call any of the sky peoples. While the Emperor is keeping populations down with his people, the free peoples are breeding and growing in number to the point where he can no longer find them all. So he attacks from time to time, just to keep things in balance.”
We were quiet for a while considering this, and then I said, “Well, if you are going to be traveling with us, we should know your name.”
“My name is Timony,” she said. “My brother is Gyrod. He is the one you will need if you need to find father. He was employed as a protector for a rich upperclass family in the city of Everglade. The family he protects escaped the city, and now lives in the bijou in a home he built them.”
She paused for a moment. “He does not know I have left the city. I’ve been trying to get to him, but no sky people will take me to him. Honestly, we haven’t seen each other since the shop days. I was bought by a theater producer, and since then we have only passed notes back and forth to each other.”
“And you think he can help us?” I asked.
“Yes. He helped his family escape with the help of our father – our maker. But our father was thrown into the Cage when the Victorians found out. My brother suffers from the guilt of this, and has sworn to go back and free our father.”
“How do we find your brother?” Daniel asked.
“That will be tricky. His family lives in the swamps around Everglade. It’s many miles from the city, so their home and farm cannot be seen from the city towers, but your airship would be spotted easily. You’ll have to find another way to get there.”
As she said this, I found I was sitting on the front tire of The Bandersnatch, the old motorcycle we got in the junkyard in 2006.
“I think I know how to reach him,” I said.
