Pirate of the Prophecy

by Jack Campbell

  Jules listened as most of the Mechanics spoke of her fate as if she wasn’t even here. She might have been another chair for all the concern they showed.

  She knew that feeling. She’d experienced it many times in the orphan home, at the hands of administrators who saw the orphans as names and numbers but not people.

  Mechanic Karl had seemed like any other boorish man. These Mechanics were speaking like the bureaucrats Jules had known. They weren’t special, she realized. They were as flawed and human as any of the commons they looked down upon. But they were also separate, speaking a language and sharing ideas she sometimes had trouble grasping.

  “We don’t want a war between the Mages and the Empire,” the sympathetic Mechanic said. “What if the Mages win?”

  “They can’t!”

  “The Mages have power over the commons as long as the commons believe in that Mage nonsense.”

  “Lock her up in Longfalls then.”

  “If we lock her up we’re telling the commons that we believe in that prophecy junk, too,” Gin said. “They’ll take that as confirmation that this baby factory is important to them.” She nodded toward Jules.

  “How about just killing her then?” Mechanic Nat asked.

  “You mean, do the work of the Mages for them?”

  The Senior Mechanic, listening to the debate, looked at Jules. “What about you? Why do you think we shouldn’t kill you?”

  Jules, startled by the sudden interest in what she thought, chose her words carefully. Was the Senior Mechanic simply looking to have Jules condemn herself with her own words? “Because I’m valuable to you alive, Lady Senior Mechanic.”

  “Why? You’re supposed to have this daughter that’s a big threat to us, aren’t you?” the Senior Mechanic asked in a mocking voice.

  “A daughter of my line, Lady Senior Mechanic. Not my daughter. It could be a long time before that daughter appears.” Why not make something that tormented her into something that might help instead? Would these Mechanics pick up on the ways they could try to use her uncertain future, or would she have to spell it out even more clearly?

  The Senior Mechanic’s eyes narrowed in thought. “A long time. While the commons wait for her. I see. It would work to prevent uprisings against the Guild. The Guild Masters want to prevent uprisings by the commons. Uprisings waste resources.”

  The sympathetic male Mechanic smiled. “Then this is perfect, isn’t it? They think some kid she has way down the line will overthrow the Mechanics Guild. So the commons will stay quiet while they wait for this mythical hero to show up and save them. Which will never happen.”

  “But she’s going to have children,” Lady Mechanic Gin said. “What if the commons decide one of them is that hero predicted by the Mages?”

  One of the Mechanics who’d seemed supportive of raping Jules shrugged. “We’d have to kill any kids she has, right? To keep the commons from rallying around one of them, which might force us to kill a lot more commons.”

  “Killing a lot of commons would teach them a lesson,” another Mechanic said.

  “Do we have that much ammunition?” another man asked. “There was that quality-control problem-”

  “If the Guild would give a waiver authorizing one-time mass production-”

  “Unthinkable,” the Senior Mechanic said. “If the problem is severe enough, the Guild has access to special weapons that can suppress any common rebellion.”

  “We do?”

  “Even I don’t know the details, but I’m told that if they’re needed they’ll be brought out and employed. But the Guild wants to avoid extreme measures that could also destroy Guild Halls and create problems with contaminated areas. I think you’re right,” she told the Mechanic who’d suggested freeing Jules. “If we don’t have custody of her, anything that happens to this common girl will be laid at the feet of the Mages. The commons will blame them.” She tapped one finger on the table, looking at Jules. “If she’s free, the Empire remains distracted, the Mages are occupied trying to find her, and the common folk remain focused on that daughter of her line, waiting for her to show up. She seems smart enough to stay free and keep causing trouble for our enemies.”

  “We still ought to kill any kids to make sure they don’t become rallying points,” another Mechanic complained. “Even if we let her go, the Guild wouldn’t have much trouble finding her again, right? Just like we did this time.”

  “Why would we kill the boys?” Gin asked. “Obviously none of them could be a daughter of her line.”

  “Fine,” Nat said. “We kill her girl kids. But we ought to kill the boys, too, because when they grow up they might have girls. They’re just commons. They’re having too many kids as it is. That’s why we’re having all these problems, isn’t it? The population of commons inside the Empire is too big, and they’re spilling out looking for new places.”

  “If the Emperor would crack down on commons trying to escape his lands-”

  “He is,” another Mechanic said. “But the Empire’s like a boiler with too much pressure on it. Commons are escaping it, and that’s a good thing because otherwise the pressure might get too high.”

  “You think it could blow?” Gin asked, skeptical. “The Empire?”

  “Yeah. And then where are we? Having to pick up the pieces and rule the commons directly?”

  “If we killed some of the kids,” the Mechanic named Nat complained, “maybe when commons have more than two, the pressure would come off, and-”

  “I’m uncomfortable with talking about killing kids,” the sympathetic Mechanic said. “Adults can make their own decisions. Children have no voice in what happens. Or who their mother happens to be.”

  “You’re too soft! Next thing you know you’ll want us teaching them how to use tools! As if they could ever learn!” Nat pointed at Jules. “Senior Mechanic Liz, do we want her free, and alive, if she’s smart? We don’t want commons getting ideas.”

  Another Mechanic raised her eyebrows at Nat. “Are you scared of her?”

  “I don’t think we should reward a common who’s smart enough to figure that stuff out!”

  “We can’t use a common who’s not smart. She’d just be killed by the Mages in no time. They’re liars and fakes, but they know how to kill their enemies.”

  “And do we want the Mages killing her?” another female Mechanic asked. “If they do, yes, the Mages get the blame, but the commons stop hoping this hero will show up to save them, and maybe start causing more trouble right away.”

  “Good point,” the Senior Mechanic said. “We want her alive. For now, at least. And she’s obviously smart enough to be obedient when her life is on the line instead of striking out blindly like a frightened animal as many commons do. She could be a valuable resource for the Guild.” She looked at Jules again, smiling in a way that was meant to look encouraging but instead sent a chill down Jules’ spine. “We can use her. How would you like that, common? If you do what we ask, the Mechanics Guild can help you. And protect you.”

  Jules breathed in and out before replying. This kind of outcome was what she’d hoped for. But… “And kill my children.”

  “Does that idea bother you?”

  “Yes, Lady Senior Mechanic, it does.”

  The Senior Mechanic smiled again. “But if you have any children, they’d give us a handle on you, wouldn’t they? The commons will listen to you. If you’re compliant, if your children are compliant, we can use all of you to preach compliance to the other commons. And if you and your children tell the commons to submit to the authority of the Mechanics Guild, there would never be need to kill the children. Everyone wins. We just have to see to it that right now you have a means to deal with any Mages who corner you.” The Senior Mechanic stood up abruptly. “I need to call—” She glanced at Jules. “I need to talk to some others. Everyone wait here.”

  After the Senior Mechanic left, Jules waited along with the Mechanics, most of whom engaged in low conversations among themselves. Onl
y occasionally did one of them take a brief look at Jules. She sat straight in the chair, knowing she looked nervous and deciding that was probably for the best. Looking too confident might anger the Mechanics.

  She wondered who the Senior Mechanic was talking to. Were there more high-ranking Mechanics on this ship? But, if so, why weren’t they at the meeting?

  After what felt like a very long time, the Senior Mechanic returned, her expression giving away little. Sitting down again, she gestured to one of the male Mechanics. “Give her your pistol and four rounds of ammunition. Don’t load it.”

  “Honored Senior Mechanic—” the man began to protest.

  “The Guild Masters approved this. Don’t forget your place,” the Senior Mechanic said.

  The man scowled, bringing out an object that he put on the table and shoved across it toward Jules.

  She stared down at it. A thick, hollow metal tube on one end about the length of one hand and its extended fingers, a curved wooden handle of some sort at the other end, and what looked like a metal cylinder and other objects in the middle. Jules had sometimes seen Mechanics with such things in their hands, and knew it was a weapon. She’d never seen a Mechanic weapon so closely before, though. The Mechanics Guild had decreed it would mean death for a common to possess or to use one.

  “Hold it like this,” the male Mechanic closest to Jules said, grasping the wooden handle. “It’s called a revolver. This is the trigger. Pull it to fire the weapon. Four cartridges. Here. Load them like this. Pull out the cylinder, slide them in, close the cylinder. Point it at someone, pull the trigger, this hammer comes back, slams forward, hits the round in the chamber lined up with the barrel, and bam. There’s no safety like there is on a rifle because the revolver uses a double action trigger pull so an accidental shot is almost impossible, though I guess commons might manage it.”

  “That’s not exactly a firearms safety course,” Gin commented.

  “If she accidentally shoots a friend it’s just another common.” The Mechanic set the weapon down in front of Jules again, along with the four “cartridges,” cylinders rounded at one end and flat on the other.

  “That is a Mechanic weapon,” the Senior Mechanic said to Jules, speaking slowly as if to a child. “A revolver. It’s far more powerful than any weapon commons have. With this, you can defend yourself against the Mages. But you only have four rounds for it. That means it will only work four times. If you want more ammunition, you’ll need to do what the Mechanics Guild tells you to do.”

  The cartridges must be like the bolts for a crossbow. Without them the revolver would be useless except as a club. Jules looked down at the weapon, then back at the other woman. “I understand, Lady Senior Mechanic. This…I’m permitted to have this?”

  The Senior Mechanic nodded. “For this purpose, and for you alone, the rule against any common having a Mechanic weapon in their possession is waived. Don’t let any other common touch it. Understand that we’re not giving it to you. It’s a loan, for as long as you serve the purposes of the Mechanics Guild.”

  “Yes, Lady Senior Mechanic.”

  “Don’t let her load the weapon before she gets back to her own ship,” the Senior Mechanic told Gin. “Oh, and, common, what’s your name again?”

  “Jules of Landfall.”

  “If you try to use that weapon against Mechanics it will explode and kill you. So don’t. Kill Mages with it. Or other commons. We want the attention of the Mages focused on you, and we want the Emperor to stay busy trying to catch you. The weapon is so that you can stay alive for those purposes. If you want to continue to live, if you want your children to live, do as you’re told.”

  “Yes, Lady Senior Mechanic.”

  “Take her back to that ship,” the Senior Mechanic told Gin. “She’ll do our bidding, and create more problems for the Mages and that troublesome Emperor.”

  Jules sat, not believing, until Lady Mechanic Gin gave her a glare. Jules got up, but Gin stopped her with a push and pointed to the Mechanic weapon. Jules picked it up carefully, as well as the four…cartridges? She thought that was what they’d been called. She held the weapon awkwardly as Gin pushed her out of the room and along the metal-lined passage again until they emerged into daylight.

  Surprisingly little time had passed. Jules blinked at the sun, not ready to accept that she wouldn’t die today.

  They went back down the ladder into the boat, the younger Mechanics once again pulling the oars. This time the only Mechanic not pulling oars or handling the rudder at the stern was Gin in the bow with Jules.

  Jules looked at the female Mechanic. “May I have my knives back, Lady Mechanic?”

  Gina started at the reminder, scowled, then dug into her pocket and pulled out both knives, looking over the dagger before giving it back to Jules. “There’s some nice metallurgy there in the blade, but the handle isn’t great quality.”

  “It’s all I could afford,” Jules said. “Thank you, Lady Mechanic.”

  “They’re yours,” Gin replied without turning her head to look at Jules.

  “Not for returning the knives. For stopping the others from harming me.”

  That earned her a very brief glance from the female Mechanic. “I didn’t do it for you. How they treat common women affects how they think of all women. If they get away with mistreating you, they won’t respect me. I did it for me.”

  “Thank you, anyway,” Jules said, knowing her voice sounded sharper.

  “Don’t get uppity, common,” Gin said. “I’m an engineer. You’re a common. A common whose sole claim to fame is that she’s going to have a baby.”

  “I appreciate your support as a fellow woman,” Jules said, her emotions beginning to boil as she thought back over the meeting and her treatment by the Mechanics.

  The female Mechanic finally focused fully on her, an angry glint in her eyes. “Watch your mouth. A daughter of your line. That’s what it says? So what does that make you?”

  “Nothing,” Jules said, feeling that answer deep inside her and trying not to show the pain it caused.

  The other woman hesitated, her eyes on Jules, before turning away. “No mother is nothing,” Gin muttered. “Each one is something. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. What do you do on that ship?”

  “Anything that needs doing.”

  “Anything? Can you navigate?”

  “Yes, Lady Mechanic. I was an Imperial officer trainee before the Mage spoke the prophecy.”

  Gin eyed her closely. “You might be too smart. It’s a good thing for you that Senior Mechanic Liz didn’t know that part about you.”

  Was that a subtle warning not to share that information with other Mechanics? Or was Gin saying out loud her own misgivings regarding Jules? “I don’t understand you, Lady Mechanic,” Jules said.

  “You’re a common.”

  “I don’t think that’s the reason.”

  “If you say one more word before we reach that ship, I’m going to take you back to ours.. Got that, common?”

  Jules nodded.

  She climbed up the ladder onto the deck of the Sun Queen again, turning slightly just before reaching the top to see the Mechanic boat already returning to their ship.

  “Jeri?” As Jules reached the deck of the ship she saw Captain Mak looking at her in disbelief. “Are you free? They’re letting you go?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How did you manage that, Jeri?”

  Jules inhaled slowly, seeing the rest of the crew staring at her. “Sir, we need to talk privately.” She realized she still had the Mechanic weapon in one hand and held it up, bringing a gasp of shock from more than one of those watching. “About this, and other things.” She couldn’t help adding one more thing. “I told you to trust me.”

  * * *

  Mak sat thinking after Jules had described the conversation between her and the Mechanics. She sat on the other side of the small table in the captain’s cabin, the “revolver” on the table between them. “Jeri, this
changes a lot of things.” He nodded toward the weapon. “That changes a lot of things. You changed a lot of things.”

  “How?” Jules asked him. “I got through that, I got released by playing on what the Mechanics wanted, but I’m not sure what happens now. That revolver can only kill four people. Then if I beg and promise to do what the Mechanics tell me to do, they might give me enough, uh, cartridges to kill four more.”

  “It’s not just the means to kill Mages,” Mak said. “It’s the symbolism.” He reached a finger toward the revolver, not quite touching it. “Do you know what this says? It says the Mechanics Guild is backing you. You’re one of their players.”

  “I know,” Jules said. “That’s how it looks. How many common people are going to hate me for that?”

  “That depends on what they hear from us. And now we have a chance to talk to them. Captain Erin was worried about you being aboard this ship because the Empire and the Mages wanted you and there was no way we or any other group of commons could stand against those two powers. But the Mechanics Guild can stand against them. You’ve got backers powerful enough to turn you from a dangerous liability to a very desirable asset.”

  “Like I’m a game piece,” Jules said.

  Mak hesitated. “A game piece who gets to make her own decisions.”

  “That hasn’t been happening a lot lately, sir.”

  “I let you decide to go to that ship,” he said in a low voice. “Do you think that was easy? But you said that was what you wanted, and I listened, even though it hurt a great deal to see you go.”

  That was true. She sat staring at the weapon. “Between you and me, sir, I’m not sure how I managed it. Part of it, maybe a lot of it, was saying just enough to let the Mechanics believe what they wanted to believe about me. And then prodding them in the direction I wanted. But I’m very much out of my depth now. I feel a little stupid saying this after insisting I should make my own decisions, but I’d really appreciate some advice from you, sir. On what I should do.”