Grigory's Gadget

by E. A. Hennessy

“Me too,” Demyan said. “There will probably be Starzapadian spies on the ship, so if anything they'll ensure the ship reaches Mirgorod safe and sound.”

  Zoya jabbed Demyan in the side with her elbow. He yelped and glared at her.

  “You know you can't say things like that,” Zoya told him in a hushed tone. “We're not out of Morozhia yet.”

  “Calm down,” Nikolai said. “No one's listening. Besides, it's not as if we said we're spies.”

  “Is there a problem?” a muffled voice asked through the door. Zoya tilted her head and stared at Nikolai, who only shrugged in response. Demyan opened the door. Standing in the hall was the man who had served them breakfast and the conductor.

  “No trouble at all, sirs,” he said. “We were just reading the paper, that's all.”

  “Horrible mess,” Anya said. “Starzapad is always trying to start trouble.”

  “They're foolish to think they stand a chance against Morozhia,” Nikolai added.

  “Indeed,” the conductor replied. He nodded to the server then headed down the hallway. The server turned to follow.

  “Excuse me,” Nikolai said before the server had gone very far. “Could we get anything to drink? Tea, perhaps?” Lilia slapped him on the arm.

  “Do shut up,” she whispered.

  “I'm thirsty,” Nikolai whispered in response.

  “Yes, right away,” the server said with a nod.

  “Thank you.” Nikolai smiled.

  “Now keep your mouths shut,” Zoya told Nikolai and Demyan after the server had left. “I think we all just need to be quiet and inconspicuous. We still have eight hours before we get to Koravsk.”

  “Agreed,” Anya said, picking up her crochet project again. Lilia opened her book.

  “Well, aren't you prepared?” Nikolai grumbled.

  With a smirk, Demyan stood and started digging through one of his bags. He pulled out a small brown box and presented it to his friends.

  “That doesn't look inconspicuous to me,” Anya said.

  “Yes!” Nikolai cheered. Lilia slapped his arm again. Nikolai lowered his voice and chanted, “Durak, Durak, Durak!”

  “As if we'd play anything else,” Demyan replied, opening up the box to reveal a stack of cards. The backs of the cards were covered in a geometric design of brown and teal. Most of the cards were bent or creased, but they always insisted they didn't know which cards were bent in which ways.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Lilia asked. “We get pretty intense playing this game.”

  “We'll be quiet,” Demyan replied. “We promise.”

  “How about this,” Anya said. “Anyone who speaks above a whisper has to pick up a card.”

  “I can live with that,” Nikolai whispered.

  Demyan shuffled the deck and offered it to Nikolai.

  “Get out of here,” Nikolai whispered, shooing the deck away with his hand. Demyan sighed and dealt each of them six cards. He pulled out one of the remaining cards and placed it face up on a suitcase.

  “Trump card is a ten of hearts,” Demyan said, keeping his voice low. He placed the remainder of the deck facedown next to the trump.

  The server knocked on the door. Nikolai opened it.

  “Here's your tea,” the server said, lowering a tray with five small teacups. Nikolai took his cup and sipped the hot tea. He leaned back and sighed.

  “Thank you,” he called as the server left.

  “Pick up a card,” Anya whispered to him with a smirk. Nikolai opened his mouth to protest and closed it again. With a huff, he scooped up an extra card. His friends laughed softly as they began their game.

  The game of Durak went on for over an hour until only Demyan was left with cards in his hand and dubbed the Fool. Anya had been the first to win, promptly returning to her crocheting. When Zoya emptied her hand, she rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. Demyan wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest on his shoulder. Zoya's exhaustion finally caught up to her, and she fell asleep.

  It felt as though only minutes had passed before Demyan shook her awake.

  “We're here,” he told her, smiling as she opened her eyes. Her friends were standing and grabbing their suitcases.

  “That went by fast,” Zoya commented as she followed suit.

  “Lucky you,” Nikolai replied.

  “I told you,” Lilia said, “you should have brought a book or something.”

  Nikolai mocked her silently when she looked away.

  “Well,” Anya said, “let's head to the Koravsk port!”

  The sky was clear as the friends disembarked. The red sun sat on the distant horizon. Its reflection glittered along the surface of the ocean. The buildings of Koravsk were made of concrete and steel and shone in the fading sunlight.

  “Wow,” Lilia said. “I've never seen the ocean before.”

  “None of us have,” Anya replied. “It's beautiful.”

  Zoya smiled. “I'll take this as a good omen.” Her friends nodded in agreement.

  “I can't wait to swim in the ocean,” Demyan said. “When we get to Mirgorod, of course.”

  “I bet swimming in the ocean is far better than swimming in that pool at school,” Nikolai said.

  “We won't have to worry about freezing when we get out of the water,” Zoya said.

  As they spoke, they made their way toward the harbor. Small pine trees lined the streets. Their green combined with the red sun to create the most colorful landscape Zoya had ever seen. She spotted their ship immediately. It was a huge, colorful sidewheel steamer. Its top deck rose well above the two and three story buildings of the port. A tall staircase connected the ship’s deck to the docks below. Light smoke rose from three blue smoke stacks. There were large paddle wheels on the port and starboard sides of the ship, encased in brass and wood. Its windows and portholes were framed by reds, golds, and oranges.

  Zoya’s mouth fell open. “Wow.”

  “That'll be our home for the next two weeks,” Nikolai said.

  “Hopefully we'll have better quarters on the ship than on the train,” Anya said, casting a look at Demyan. Zoya patted him on the shoulder and laughed. Demyan grunted and continued toward the docks.

  “Papers,” a guard dressed in dark gray stated curtly as they approached the security counter. Anya handed him hers first, and he waved her by. Lilia and Demyan then did the same.

  “Open your suitcases,” the guard said when Nikolai presented his documents.

  “What? Why?” Nikolai asked before he could stop himself.

  “Open them, now,” The guard said, coming around from behind the desk. Another guard appeared to accompany him. Silently, Nikolai obeyed, clenching his jaw. One guard eyed Nikolai as he shuffled through the assorted maps and sketches in the bags. Then, abruptly, they shoved the bags back at Nikolai and waved him on.

  “It will be better in Mirgorod,” Demyan told him as he closed his suitcases.

  “Why did you need to look in his bags?” Zoya asked in spite of herself.

  “Zoya,” Nikolai said, “it's fine.”

  “Feeling bold today, are we?” the guard said with annoyance. “Open your bags.” Zoya sighed but obeyed.

  “And what is this?” the guard asked, holding up Grandma Orlova's keepsake. “Looks a bit suspicious to me.” The guard grinned smugly.

  “It's just a knickknack from my grandmother,” Zoya explained, reaching for it.

  “I think it needs to be confiscated,” the guard replied. “And I think you and your friends should be questioned.” Zoya's heart raced, and she stared wide-eyed at her friends.

  “Hey! You! Stop!” The yells of other guards echoed through the building. An older man with a rucksack ran past the security lines toward the dock. The guard holding Zoya's keepsake dropped it on his desk and followed the other guards to tackle the man. Zoya quickly grabbed the object and shoved it back in her bag.

  “Let's go!” she urged her friends in a hushed tone. “Come on!”
r />   The friends walked briskly away from the commotion and toward the line of passengers waiting to board.

  “Crazy old coot,” another passenger grumbled, watching the old man attempt to evade the guards. The passenger wore a long brown coat and mottled top hat. He itched at his unkempt beard. “Every other day there's some idiot rebel thinks he can scare the government with a bomb threat. I bet that rucksack is just filled with rocks.” He huffed and boarded the ship. As she and her friends boarded the ship, Zoya watched the guards corner the old man. As soon as she set foot on the deck, a horrendous boom sounded on the dock. She turned to see smoke rising from one corner of the security building.

  “Would you look at that,” the scruffy passenger said with amusement. “This one actually had a bomb. Poor fool.” He laughed and walked away.

  “I'm so happy we're leaving,” Lilia said. Her friends nodded in agreement.

  The passenger ship had finally departed several hours past schedule, after security searched the vessel from top to bottom. Zoya and her friends had enjoyed large, if bland, dinner in the meantime.

  “I call top bunk!” Nikolai shouted as he ran into his cabin. Demyan shook his head and followed. The cabin had one bunk bed and a single bed. An elderly man was already asleep on the single bed, snoring loudly.

  “I don't want the top bunk,” Lilia said as the girls headed into their cabin next door.

  “I'll take the top,” Anya offered. Lilia smiled and put her luggage and coat on the bottom bunk.

  “You sure you don't want the single?” Zoya asked.

  “You can have it,” Lilia replied. “To make up for being cheated by your landlord.”

  “What did he do?” Anya asked. Zoya sat down on her bed and removed her coat.

  “He hardly gave me anything for the furniture in my apartment,” she said. “Half the things in that apartment are from before the Revolution. But all that means to him is that they’re old.”

  “What a chump,” Anya grumbled. “At least you're done with him now.”

  “Exactly!” Lilia said. “We're done with everything in Lodninsk. We can focus on our new life in Mirgorod.”

  “By the way, Zoya,” Anya said. “What was that thing the guard pulled out of your bag?”

  Zoya dug the gadget out of her suitcase and showed it to Anya. The gears in it shimmered in the light of the sconces on the wall.

  “It was my grandmother's. I'm not sure what it is, but it seemed important to her. So I decided to bring it.”

  “Oh!” Demyan said, popping his head in the doorway. “That's nifty. What is it?”

  “Why don't you tell us, Mr. Archaeologist?” Zoya replied with a smirk. Demyan picked the object up and turned it over in his hands.

  “Let me see,” Nikolai said as he snatched it out of Demyan's hand and looked at it.

  “I’ve already figured out what it is,” Demyan said proudly. He paused and looked around at his friends.

  “No you didn't,” Nikolai replied lazily.

  “Yes I did.” Demyan said. “It's a little ball of gears!”

  “Thank you for that insight,” Anya said. Zoya took the gadget back from Nikolai and put it in her bag.

  “I wonder what the Grand University will be like,” Lilia wondered, lying back on her bed. “I bet the library is huge.”

  “I bet their trowels aren't chipped!” Nikolai laughed.

  Anya picked up a booklet from the table by the beds. “Look, here's a whole brochure for Mirgorod.” She opened it and displayed it for her friends. The brochure contained numerous engravings depicting elaborate architecture, crowds of well-dressed people strolling by the ocean, and images of the latest models of carriages, even the new horseless carriages.

  “Zoya, you’re an engineer,” Demyan said. “How do those horseless carriages work?”

  “I’m not an engineer yet.” Zoya stuck out her tongue. “I can tell you about boilers, but horseless carriages? You’ll have to wait until after I’ve studied at the Grand University.” Demyan pulled Zoya into a hug and kissed her temple.

  “Look at those clothes,” Anya said. “They look so light. It must be so warm there!”

  “They have such a short winter,” Zoya mused. “I can’t even imagine what it will be like to be so warm.”

  Zoya and her friends sat huddled together in the cabin poring over the brochure as the reality of moving set in. After so much planning and waiting, they were finally on the ship headed to Mirgorod.

  “So,” Nikolai said, “that old man in the port. You don't think he was a Starzapadian, do you?”

  “Of course he was,” Anya replied, putting down the brochure. “No Morozhian would be dumb enough to blow up a building. I mean, what does that even accomplish?”

  “Terrorist,” Demyan spat.

  “Do you think he was alone, or…” Nikolai trailed off, studying his friends.

  “No, you don't think…” Zoya replied.

  “What?” Lilia asked. “If he's not alone, then what?” Her eyes opened wide as she stared at Nikolai.

  “No,” Lilia said. She stood, wagging her finger at Nikolai. “Nope. No. I don't like where you're going with this, Nikolai.”

  “I wasn't going anywhere,” Nikolai defended. “You're the one going somewhere with it.”

  “No,” Lilia replied. “No, we're going to be fine.”

  “Of course we'll be fine,” Zoya told Lilia, placing her hand on her shoulder. “We're on a Vernulaian ship now, not a Morozhian one. So even if there were more terrorists, they wouldn't target this ship.”

  “Right,” Lilia said, still looking at Nikolai. “See? She's right.”

  “And don't forget all we learned in our lessons,” Anya said.

  “What, dance lessons?” Demyan asked. “What good would dance lessons do?”

  Anya exchanged grimaces with Zoya and Lilia.

  “Maybe if you took the lessons with us, you'd know,” Lilia said, crossing her arms. Demyan and Nikolai merely shrugged.

  “Ok,” Zoya said to her friend with a smile. “Now that that's settled, why don't we go get dinner?”

  “Yes,” Anya said, standing. “That sounds good to me.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Nikolai stared at the ceiling of the cabin, listening to Demyan and the elderly man snore. This is my luck, he thought unhappily. He rolled onto his side and picked at the golden wallpaper. Above, he heard the sound of rushed footsteps. At least I'm not the only one awake.

  A few seconds later, a loud boom echoed through the ship. Nikolai felt the bed and walls shake.

  “Nikolai, what are you doing?” Demyan asked sleepily. Nikolai heard a second boom, and Demyan jerked awake. “What was that?”

  “I have no idea,” Nikolai said, jumping down to the floor. The girls appeared in the doorway.

  “Is the ship being attacked?” Anya asked.

  “Are you all alright?” Zoya added.

  The elderly man stirred from his sleep.

  “Sir, the ship is being attacked,” Nikolai told him, offering a hand to help him out of bed.

  “Go back to sleep,” the man said grumpily. “The guards will take care of it. Silly kids.” He pulled his blanket back over his head and rolled over. Another boom sounded, and the ship shook especially hard.

  “What do we do?” Lilia asked her friends. “Should we just stay in our cabins?”

  “I'd say that's a good idea,” a strange voice said behind her. The girls jumped and turned around. A lean young man with dirty blond hair and blue eyes grinned at them while drawing his pistol. A multitude of necklaces hung about his neck, and his ears were dotted with golden earrings. “I suggest you go back to your cabins and hand over any valuables.”

  “We don't have any valuables,” Zoya lied. The young man seemed surprised by her and stepped back eying her quizzically. It took less than a few seconds for him to compose himself. He stepped toward Zoya with his pistol aimed at her head.

  “You look pretty valuable to me.” A second man
with black hair and almond eyes appeared next to the first, similarly covered in gold jewelry with pistol drawn. “We're in need of more crew, right Alexi?”

  “That's right, Fyodr,” Alexi, replied. “You and your friends have two minutes to grab anything you can carry. Then you're coming with us.”

  “We're not going anywhere with you!” Nikolai said defiantly. Alexi stepped toward Nikolai, now pointing his pistol at Nikolai's head. Anya stepped forward, placing herself between Alexi and Nikolai.

  “Two minutes,” she said, staring the pirate in the eye. He smirked, nodded, and lowered his pistol.

  “Anya!” Nikolai said, glaring. Anya returned his look then turned and walked into her cabin.

  “What did I tell you kids?” the elderly man growled from within Nikolai and Demyan’s cabin. Nikolai glanced back at him and stepped to block the doorway. When the man saw Alexi and Fyodr, he furrowed his brow in annoyance.

  “What are you, now? Pirates?” He spat in Alexi's direction. “Bunch of lazy crooks. The guards will put you down in a second.”

  “We’ve disposed of the guards already,” Alexi said. “We can dispose of you, too, old man, unless you give us whatever valuables you have.”

  “Do I look like the sort who owns any valuables?” He gestured to his raggedy clothes. He wore a dingy, ill-fitting vest and a button-down shirt that may have once been white. His trousers were covered in salt stains and worn through in one knee.

  “Well, if you have nothing of value, maybe we should just put you down,” Alexi said, raising his pistol and aiming at the old man.

  “Don't you dare!” Nikolai shouted, rushing toward Alexi. Fyodr turned his pistol on Nikolai and drew a sword. Alexi drew his sword as well. Zoya and Demyan moved to Nikolai’s side, guarding his body with their own.

  “Your two minutes are almost up,” Alexi told the group. “I'd get moving if I were you.”

  “You can't just kill an innocent man!” Lilia protested. “He hasn't done anything wrong!” Fyodr sheathed his sword and grabbed Lilia by the arm, shoving her toward the girls' cabin.

  “Get packing, miss!” he ordered. “This doesn't concern you!”

  Zoya took the opportunity to grab for Fyodr's gun. He twisted around and slammed her into the wall, his forearm pressed against her neck. Zoya gasped and clawed at his arm. Demyan yelled and charged toward him, knocking his arm away from Zoya's throat. Alexi shot his pistol into the air.