The Gadgeteer Box Set

by Gin Hollan

  "That's not true." But it was close.

  Marble wasn't in the lab. The little door she used wouldn't have let much gas in, but she had to go through the main house to get outside.

  Stopping, Arabeth did several jumping jacks to get both blood and oxygen rushing.

  She went the rest of the way inside to the table and quickly grabbed up the parts of the remaining transmitter, as well as her tool belt. She would finish it at Betsy's house. No one would think to look for her there, and if her parents owned it anyway, it was fair game. Mr. Jacobs was still there, but if she remembered right, he and Hicks had an agreement. She wasn't sure what it was, and frankly, she didn't care.

  No. She needed to find Clement first. Frustrated, she sat down and grabbed a pencil and paper. Until she was thinking clearly again, she needed a written list, even if it was only a few items long.

  "If that's a parts list, you're going to have to come with me. I'm not leaving you here alone again," Hicks said.

  Arabeth shook her head. She didn't want to explain, but he'd get more worried if she didn't. Standing, she went out to the kitchen chair where she last remembered seeing the bottle. It still sat there, stoppered with her sleeve cuff. She hesitated to touch it, thinking gas may have settled on the outside. She pulled her intact sleeve down over her hand and picked it up that way. She pulled a paper bag out of a drawer and slid the bottle in.

  There was no point in wondering how the person who gassed her got in. Most locks only kept honest people out. This type of gas may or may not be common, but she needed to know what she was dealing with.

  "Tell me what you're thinking," Hicks said, worried.

  "The apothecary can test this and tell me how to recover. I'm still having trouble thinking straight." She desperately hoped it wasn't long-term damage.

  Sam walked to her and took her shoulders in his hands, looking closely into her eyes.

  "I want you to blink as rapidly as you can for ten seconds."

  She did, but felt a little foolish. "Testing to see just how slow I am, are you?"

  He nodded. "Do you have a small candle, or only lanterns?"

  "I'll be fine. It was just a knock-out gas, I'm sure." She tucked the bottle into her satchel.

  "Are you fine, otherwise?"

  She paused, slowly getting his meaning. "Yes. I wasn't quite unconscious when he left, but I couldn't resist when he took the device. I never felt any personal danger."

  "You are missing the point."

  As his line of thinking started to become clearer to her, she felt weak again. What if that had been someone with rougher intent? Her hands started to shake, so she folded her fingers together to hide it.

  "That does narrow our suspect list, and if you say it was Clement, then he's our first target," Sam said.

  She busied herself with packing her satchel, including a pile of food and snacks for Marble. It always amazed her how much this satchel could hold, as though there was an invisible extension to it.

  If she thought about the hazards ahead, she might back out. She couldn't. Not now. Melanie was at his mercy, more than she was.

  As if the satchel packing were her cue, Marble appeared, seemingly from thin air.

  "Never one to miss an adventure, are you?" Arabeth leaned down and rubbed Marble's head, relieved to see she was fine. When she leaned, Marble leapt up, catching her front legs over Arabeth's shoulder - her way of communicating that she wanted to be picked up. Apparently the fox had been worried as well.

  Clean and wet, Marble must have had a swim in the stream behind the house.

  "Do you know a locksmith I can trust?" She held Marble close, burying her nose in the little fox's fur a moment before looking at Hicks.

  "Not in this city … but I do know a guy."

  "Good, let's send a messenger. I want these locks changed as soon as humanly possible."

  "Would it be better to make your own?"

  "I'm no locksmith." She shrugged. "And I don't have time right now."

  "You need to see a doctor."

  "I'm fine, really." She set Marble back on the floor and gave her some dried meat from her bag.

  "I want you to get checked out," Sam insisted.

  "After. I will after we find out if Melanie is in danger, and after we get my device back."

  "That's a lot of 'afters.'"

  She went to the door and pulled her boots up.

  "Arabeth, stop." Hicks’s jaw clenched. "You can't go after him."

  "Why not?"

  "Aside from the obvious, he's not working alone. You can't go storming into a military facility to retrieve a toy."

  Arabeth stood back, blinking like she'd just been slapped. Did he really think she was that stupid? Toy? It may have come together easily, but the device she’d made was by no means minor, or a toy.

  "No one said you have to come with me," she said in a neutral tone, a skill she'd learned while married. Hiding her emotions had helped her evade Matthew's anger. She knew now that he used anger to push her away, to keep her from learning his lewd secrets.

  "I'm no coward. You know that," Sam said.

  "Neither am I."

  Wait, why was she going all the way to Betsy's to finish these, when it was faster and simpler to use her own ready-made space? She stopped. Now she added a third item to her list - she needed one to hide in Clement's lab … or maybe his house. That would be appropriate, considering he’d taken advantage of her in her home. The parts did snap together easily. The five minutes it took to do that may feel like eternity, but Clement was either long gone using the subterranean trains, or around the city still. Pulling off her boots, Arabeth went back to her lab, not noticing Sam's confused look.

  "I need five minutes. Maybe ten," she said, closing the lab behind her and Marble.

  Walking to the table, she pulled the parts for the last device out of her bag again and examined each one, pondering how to make them tamper-proof. Easy, she thought. Glue them heavily in place, but only on one side. That way, anyone pulling the parts out would shred them. Glue remover would melt the wire casing.

  Snapping the sections of the first one together, she was already thinking several steps ahead. What if she designed one to hide in plain sight? Clement liked to collect things. She'd hide this last one inside an item she'd given him years ago, and the perfect thing had already come to mind. When she was about twelve, she had a small wooden duck whistle that he’d taken a shine to. She hadn't really wanted to part with it, but he liked it. A lot. This device could easily slip inside and still be exposed enough to get good sound, she hoped. Obviously, voices closer to it would come through better.

  It was too bad there was no way to make a permanent voice recording with a device this small… that she knew of. Her world in the small coastal city was starting to feel small. Tinkers were everywhere. What if someone had already invented listening devices that could store the voices as well?

  She packed the finished devices in her bag and walked to the lab door. She could finish the last one later, once she had time to properly examine it for changes or improvements.

  "Sorry for the wait. Let's go." She smiled at Hicks. He was sitting, hunched over at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper.

  He startled a bit when she spoke and he turned. "Did you read this yet?" He held the paper up.

  She shook her head. "Not yet. Why?"

  He scratched his forehead. "You're not going to like this." He held it out for her.

  The headline read, "Peace Through Invasion?"

  "They're speculating we're ripe for a takeover by a third country. We've been at war for ten years - both countries are weakened," he said.

  "Do you suppose that's why things feel like they're escalating again?" she wondered. "The goal is to get us to surrender. That's where the Maddening Device comes in."

  He paused, adjusting his glasses. "It makes sense. What do you propose?"

  "I've been trying to find their equipment and sabotage it. That's far too small a
plan, apparently." She could feel the solution on the edge of her thinking, but thanks to the gas she was still slower than she liked. "The devices need to be put in spots where someone can hear the plan and report it. That's why it's important these get to my mother."

  "That means Clement stealing one of them is too little, too late, on their part. Our plan is ready to be put into motion. They still have to figure your devices out."

  "They aren't that complex, but you're right. We have a slight advantage."

  She quickly pulled up her boots and did up her waistcoat, grateful she had someone to talk this out with.

  "Clement is on his own now. Let's get these into the right hands." She smiled. The moment she said it, the words she'd been trying to recall came back to her. "Graham's calibrator," she muttered. "That's what everyone seems to be after."

  "Pardon?" Sam asked.

  "Let my parents know. I have a meeting I'm late for."

  "I'll stick with you," he said. "You could be walking into a hazard."

  "It's a meeting. How dangerous could it be? I am a bail enforcement agent, you know," she said, hoping her smile reassured him. "And I can't be in two places at once."

  Sam stood, probably weighing his choices and her current tractability, she thought.

  "Fine," he finally said. "I assume you're going to see Graham. I'll head to his house afterwards. You wait there so we don't miss each other's path."

  She patted him on the arm. "You worry too much."

  He scowled as she turned to hail a cab.

  "He hovers a lot lately," she muttered. Too much.

  At the north end of the city, Arabeth climbed out of the cab and turned for the mountain. Vic had said Graham was inside it, working on a top-secret project for the wrong side, believing he worked for the lesser of evils. That information was only half right, because he also said Graham was a captive, of sorts.

  It was a few kilometres out of town, but she was used to travelling long distances. She broke into an easy trot. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to conceal the entrance.

  The cab driver refused to take her further than the city edge, forcing Arabeth to walk. Marble jumped down, looked around, then sat, waiting to see what Arabeth was doing next. The mountain would be a half-hour hike from there. It would be better to sneak up on it anyway. Surely there would be guards at the entrance.

  When she neared, there was a small group, arguing. They couldn’t be guards, so what were they doing out here? Arabeth sighed, waiting for the spat to end. They would know where the trigger was that would open the side of the mountain. Since she needed to get inside, she’d watch to see how they got in.

  As the argument stretched on, Arabeth slipped into the trees and worked her way forward to hear what was causing all that debate. When she drew close enough, she could tell Melanie was one of the people. She refused to react to that, though. She would deal with Melanie later.

  "I'm not going back in there. You brought this on yourself," Melanie said.

  “And here I thought you were loyal."

  For a moment Arabeth thought Melanie was going to punch the man.

  "I'll keep your secrets, but you’d better leave me alone, or that will change." Melanie stepped back and gave a mock salute before turning away.

  No doubt she knew her life would be shortened by the boldness of her behaviour. Grudgingly, Arabeth had to admire how Melanie defended herself anyway, even at the risk of her life. Still, that didn't change her opinion of her so-called friend. She would not accept betrayal in any form. Hiding, she waited until the group dispersed. Her one and only goal was to get inside this mountain.

  The entrance was trickier than she expected. There needed to be two people to open it - one to hold a lever down, and another to push the hidden door open. The entire wall moved. There were more ways in, but she wanted to be quick and unseen. Opening the large exit would work against that.

  How could she do this as only one person, though? Melanie was gone, and wouldn't be likely to go in anyway. Maybe Arabeth would have to come back with help. Maybe Hicks. She slapped the trunk of the tree she was hiding behind. No. She'd have to find someone she could trust. That was an increasingly short list.

  But wait. She was a gadgeteer first. Surely she could find a way to keep a lever in place. She nodded to herself. She could do this. Testing the lever, she found it was exceedingly hard to hold in place. The handle was large; it took both hands to move it and hold it.

  She opened her satchel and rummaged through for a minute. There was a long stretch of leather. She could tie that around the handle with one end and secure it to a tree. Looking up, she realized it wouldn't be long enough to reach a tree, or any other leashable object. The lever had to go up; otherwise she'd weight it with a rock. Wedging a rock or other firm object might stay in place long enough to push the thick stone door open.

  A stroke of luck. That was what she needed right now. Laughing softly to herself, she looked around for a wedge that would hold up to the stress of holding the lever. Luck. Arabeth had that, sure, but not the good kind.

  She searched farther and farther from the entrance, still finding nothing sturdy enough. Wooden wedges slipped at unexpected times or crumbled as pressure grew, and the area was oddly free of stones. Marble circled nearby, performing her own search for something, at once comfortable and happy out here in the woods.

  Stopping, Arabeth opened her satchel, wondering if there was something she would be willing to sacrifice to the job. Surely being crushed between a weight and a lever would be the end of something as delicate as the devices she made. Then again, technical sensitivity didn't mean a lack of durability.

  She snapped at herself. What was her problem? Was she stalling? Maybe. Probably. There was no doubt she was heading into the unknown and she had no team to back her up.

  Adhesive. She needed an adhesive. If her purpose was to get inside and get Graham's help, gluing the entrance open would be a definite step toward that. Rummaging through her satchel, she was certain she had something that would work.

  Getting nowhere, she pulled her bag off and dumped it on the ground. Marble nosed at the contents, curiously spreading everything out. Immediately the tube of adhesive stood out, shining in the mess she'd made. She snatched it up and tucked it into a pocket, then returned everything else to the satchel. She took a second to rub Marble's head.

  "Maybe you should wait out here. I have only a vague idea of what's inside, and I could be completely wrong," Arabeth suggested.

  Marble pushed against her hand, wanting her ears scratched. Arabeth smiled. Soothed by Marble’s interruption, she could admit that she'd wanted to maintain her independence, but this was a bit much. Still, how hard could it be?

  // Chapter 32 //

  THE ADHESIVE NEEDED more time to dry, giving Arabeth too much time to think. To over-think. She had to get moving, before her nerves overwhelmed her. In the half-dark of the moonlight, she couldn't see far.

  Lost in thought, a tap on her shoulder made her duck, turn, and hold her hands defensively in front of herself.

  Melanie looked surprised. "It's just me."

  "What are you doing here?" Arabeth looked at the lever. The adhesive seemed to be holding.

  "I work here," Melanie said, hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

  "What do you mean, work here?" She held a hand up to stop Melanie from explaining. "Wait, I don't think I want to hear about it. Can you get me in?"

  "Are you here to join the gadgeteers?"

  "I just need to see Graham."

  "Oh, good. The guy that runs this place is a little ... unhinged."

  She turned and pushed against the stone door. As they stepped into near darkness, they waited for their eyes to adjust. It was quiet, more so than she expected. Perhaps because it was so late in the day. Distant voices and the odd boot fall was all she heard. Sound carried well in here. She lightened her step, hoping Melanie would do the same.

  The entrance gave way to a long,
dim, wide cavern with unfinished walls and a moderately damp smell. The initial area was no higher than twenty feet, but she could see that quickly went up farther along. Small lanterns hung at hundred-foot intervals, but not all were lit. As they walked farther inside, the light decreased and navigating became more challenging. It would be hard to hide with this lighting.

  "Take the next turn going right. Head toward an area with cloth panels, just a bit too tall to see over. From above, it's patterned like rose petals. At least, that's how I imagine it. Follow the wall on your left as you go counter-clockwise and you'll get to the middle," Melanie whispered.

  A noise ahead stopped her. "Guard?"

  "If we’re lucky, yes. Tanner Stein if we’re unlucky. He’s the boss here," Melanie whispered back. "Let me go first."

  "Is it okay for you to be here at this time of day?"

  Melanie held a finger up to quiet Arabeth. "Just follow me, and act natural if we're spotted."

  Arabeth wished, not for the first time, that Marble's device would work as radar. The technology for a small portable radar device had yet to be developed, though.

  She should redesign a radar screen to be pocket-sized. If it could detect body heat, that would be good, too. That was a little far-fetched, but if she’d thought of it, others would too, making it inevitable. She may as well be the one to develop it.

  Melanie halted and held her hand up to stop Arabeth. "Are you sure we need to do this?"

  “I need to. You could go.” Arabeth waited.

  Shaking her head in resignation, Melanie wove through the cloth partitions. A moment later the partitions opened up to reveal a wide, round room, with maps on walls and tables alike. There, at the centre of the panels, it was dead silent.

  "We can talk now," Melanie said.

  "When did you start working here? Why have I never heard of this place? I thought you were an intern somewhere." Arabeth held her other questions, but one that was becoming profoundly irritating was that everyone around her had a massive secret of some kind. Why was she the only one with an ordinary life? In fact, her life seemed to be an open book.