Eros Element

by Cecilia Dominic

  “You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” Edward asked, but his frown deepened. “But my brother said your father had an uncanny ability to make conclusions about finds that were borne out by evidence later.”

  “I suspect he had a similar gift,” Iris said. “He hinted, but we never talked about it directly.”

  Lord Jeremy approached them, and Iris moved to a spot that didn’t call to her as much. Before she did, she noted which of the stuccoes were best seen from that location. Perhaps they were the key to what they sought?

  “Have you noticed anything interesting, my love?” Scott asked.

  Iris kept her expression neutral. “Not yet. You?”

  “I want to see what that box on the altar is. It’s in a unique enough place that surely we can move it and open it.”

  “Wait a moment.” Iris sent one of the workmen for the sketch pad and tools she’d acquired and measured exactly how the box sat on the altar and where with details down to the exact angle it lay at. Then she nodded to Lord Jeremy. “Now you can open it.”

  The box proved to be a small trunk, and it contained a device with, of all things, gears.

  “What is it?” Bledsoe asked.

  “It looks like some sort of calculating device,” Edward said. “But I’ll need more light to look at it. Miss McTavish, if you would care to assist me?”

  “Very well.” Was he interested in her archaeological knowledge, or was this a peace overture? Not that it would help her situation, but perhaps he would move more quickly toward healing if he wasn’t furious with her.

  “I’ll come as well,” Lord Jeremy said.

  Of course Iris didn’t want him along, particularly as they had only shared the broadest details of what their patron had hired them to do, so she suggested, “Why don’t you see if you can find any other interesting objects? You can catalog them like I did the device and bring them up. The credit for those finds would go to you.”

  “A brilliant idea, my dear. But do bring Marie to chaperone you with the professor.”

  As they ascended the ramp into the sunlight, Edward reminded himself he didn’t want to have anything to do with Iris. She had lied to him, and he felt more heartbroken than he had with Lily, whom he never respected as an intellectual. But throwing himself into the work of investigating the underground chapel as well as indulging in replacing his aether isolating rig through the excellent Italian craftsmen put him in a more reasonable frame of mind. He hadn’t forgiven Iris for lying to him, but he could somewhat see why she had. Now if only he could sleep again, as emotional pain had replaced physical discomfort.

  They covered the short distance from the ramp to the small building they’d rented as a place to store and organize the finds, but not before some of the Italian children who had been on the square the day of their initial discovery saw them. They ran over, and Marie had to tell them to back away.

  “This won’t stay secret for long,” Iris murmured once they entered the building and placed the box with the device in it on an empty table.

  “Nothing ever does,” Edward replied. “We better figure out what this does quickly in case the church decides to take it.”

  “Right.” Iris wrote the necessary details on a card and tied it to a splinter protruding from the box. “Go ahead, Professor.”

  Edward removed the device, which looked like a clock but with dials on the outside instead of a face, from the box and set it on the table. Greek writing, which hadn’t been evident in the dim light of the chapel, was inlaid in some sort of metal around the dials.

  “I don’t suppose you know how to read Greek,” Iris said to Marie.

  “No, don’t you? I would think it’s required for archaeologists.”

  “If I were to go to school, I’d learn.”

  “Perhaps I could help.” Doctor Radcliffe entered the room. “I had to study both Greek and Latin in medical school.”

  “Please.” Edward gestured to the device. “I’ve seen plenty of clockworks, but none like this.”

  The doctor squinted at the writing. “May I have a piece of paper? I need to transcribe the words as I read them so I can translate them all together.”

  Iris provided a pen and paper to the doctor, who mouthed the Greek words and phrases, as he wrote them down. “It may take me some time to figure this out.”

  “Please hurry. Once word of this gets to the church, there’s no way to know whether they’ll want to requisition it.”

  “Give me an hour. Oh, and Professor? You may want to get your aether rig set up. This might be the clue we’re looking for.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Rome, 21 June 1870

  Iris watched Edward set up his new aether-isolating rig. He had also acquired a new set of tuning forks and laid them in a precise row. She recalled that the first time she’d seen him work with them, she’d been annoyed with him. Now the tension around his jaw and eyes said he was still angry at her.

  Radcliffe emerged from the office where he’d been working. “It appears to be some sort of astrological device,” he said. “Maybe to predict dates of certain events, but there also seems to be some sort of code underneath the instructions.”

  “How can you tell?” Iris asked.

  “The way the words and phrases are laid out doesn’t make sense. It could be that it’s very old Greek—that’s what took me so long, I had to remember back to reading some of the original old texts from Hippocrates in my History of Medicine course—but there’s something strange about it. But do you know when the next full moon is?”

  “No.” Iris looked at Edward, who shrugged. “Why would I need to?”

  “If you were practicing a mystery religion, it would be important.” The doctor reached for the device, then stopped. “Can I touch it?”

  “Try to do so as little as possible.”

  “Right.” He turned two of the large dials on the top, and three of the smaller ones on the face turned on their own. Iris followed his actions but couldn’t figure out what, exactly, he did.

  “What are you doing?”

  “The first two dials are indicators of season and month. The calendar changed from Greek to Roman times, so I adjusted for that. The others show what day of the month and time the full moon will occur.”

  Edward leaned over and squinted at the dials. “That’s brilliant, but I can’t tell what they say.”

  “Again, making adjustments for calendar changes, it says the full moon will occur July 12, and the new moon will be in one week, June 28.”

  “That’s amazing!” Iris clapped her hands. “What else can it tell you?”

  “It will require more study, but it’s a fascinating device.”

  “Can you teach us how to read it?”

  “I could, but I think it’s more important I work on breaking the code. I suspect it has something to do with the harmonies of the spheres, but that’s a physics problem. Professor, perhaps you could help me with this.”

  The two men bent over the device and Radcliffe’s translation, and Iris stepped back. She knew she had done her part by finding the chapel, but she resented the feeling of being pushed aside.

  “Doctor, was Lord Jeremy in the chapel?”

  “No, Miss, I believe he’s broken for lunch.”

  “Good.” Iris gestured for Marie to follow her. “Let’s explore now that there are no distractions.”

  “Is it as you expected?” Marie asked once they were back underground.

  “Mostly. A lot of things are missing, unfortunately. Perhaps vandals got in before it was filled in.” This time Iris held her own torch, and the sunlight came more directly through the shaft in the ceiling, so she got a better view of the stuccoes. She also filled in the statuary from memory from her two visions, which seemed all too accessible.

  Iris glanced at Marie. Part of her could
n’t believe the other woman accepted her abilities and didn’t think she was some sort of freak. But now they had more in common than Iris would have thought at the start of this strange adventure.

  Marie seemed to read her thoughts because she asked, “So you’re going to do it, then? Marry Lord Jeremy?”

  Iris gazed at a stucco relief of a butterfly-winged woman being lifted in the arms of an angel-winged man: Psyche and Eros. “You see that one?”

  “Yes,” Marie said. “Lots of wings, like the painting at Monceau’s house. Must’ve made for some interesting coupling.”

  Iris’s cheeks heated, but she laughed. “Are you going to take it upon yourself to educate me in such things before my wedding?”

  “Well, you said your mother was dead. Someone needs to, although since you’re into these old statues, you’ve at least seen what a man looks like under his pants.”

  Marie’s statement reminded Iris of the point she was going to make. “So you see those two. That’s Psyche and Eros. He was a god, the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She was a princess who was said to be as beautiful as Aphrodite, which made the goddess jealous.”

  “Yes,” Marie said. “It’s not a good idea to mess with powerful beings.”

  “So she sent Eros to make Psyche fall in love with someone ugly or otherwise inappropriate, but he fell for her. He brought Psyche to his palace, and they married and coupled in the dark. She thought she was married to a monster, so she lit a lamp one night while he was sleeping and was so shocked at his beautiful appearance she spilled oil on him, woke him, and drove him away.”

  “She couldn’t feel he was good-looking and well-built?” Marie shook her head. “Some women are so dumb.”

  “Or innocent.” Iris lifted the torch. The lovers’ apparent expressions of bliss made heaviness settle in her chest. “Of course, this being a temple, they’re portraying the ideal, the happy ending. I saw from my parents that’s not likely to happen no matter how much either might want it to. So I’m hoping that if—when—I marry Lord Scott, I will discover something redeeming about him.”

  Iris refused to look at Marie, to face the pity on the other woman’s face, but she did find the weight of Marie’s hand on her shoulder comforting.

  “Keep that optimistic spirit, Miss. You’re going to need it. But what does Eros have to do with aether and what we’re looking for? And what does it have to do with the device upstairs?”

  “There is no greater power than love, some would say passion. What better name for an extremely strong source of energy? As for the device, perhaps it will show Edward, I mean Professor Bailey, what he needs to add or do to isolate it. Meanwhile, I’ll study the stuccoes and try to remember the statues that were here to see if I can offer some guidance.”

  Heavy footsteps down the ramp heralded the arrival of Johann Bledsoe. “I’m sure Professor Bailey will appreciate your help,” he said. “But he and Radcliffe are shut up in the office, and I’m left to entertain myself, so I thought I’d come down and see what you ladies were doing.”

  “Where’s Mister O’Connell?” Iris asked.

  “Keeping an eye on your fiancé.”

  “What? Why?”

  “We know he’s not the most upstanding individual, and we’ll try to come up with some way to keep you from having to follow through with wedding him. In the meantime, we’ll make sure he doesn’t try to force you to do something you’re not ready for and trapping you in a situation where you have to marry him sooner rather than later.”

  Suspicion rose to cloud Iris’s mind. “Why are you helping me? I thought you would rather have me out of the way so I won’t hurt your friend any further.”

  “He’s handling this better than I thought he would. He’s grown a lot through all this, and he seems to realize you did what you did out of a need for survival, and you wouldn’t deliberately hurt him. Whereas with Lily, she used him and didn’t care at all about him.”

  “Like Lord Jeremy is doing with you,” Marie added.

  Iris had to look away from the torch because tears came to her eyes. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

  “Because you’re a kind person, more than I gave you credit for,” Bledsoe told her.

  “We all feel that way,” Marie said.

  “Thank you.” That was all Iris could get out before she fled up the ramp and into the daylight. Now that she had friends, she would have to give them up, for she knew Lord Jeremy wouldn’t want her associating with a musician or a maid, and he certainly wouldn’t allow her to socialize with Edward. Although their work would make a huge difference for many people, it seemed an unfair sacrifice.

  With Radcliffe’s help in translating and interpreting the markings on the ancient device, Edward thought he calculated the correct frequency to isolate the aether. The tone was much higher than he’d tried previously, and he had to have special equipment made that would transfer it to the vacuum quickly enough before dissipating through the materials. Finally he was ready to try it, and the others gathered around to watch. They did the procedure in the underground temple, which seemed appropriate. Also, the angle of the light coming through the ceiling aperture at noon was perfect for the aether isolation.

  The situation reminded Edward of his teaching days, which now seemed so long ago. “I wish all my students were as invested in the results of my experiments,” he said and started the burners. “Goggles on, please.”

  He tried not to look at Iris, whom he acknowledged as the originator of this exciting opportunity. At least that was the direction he moved his thoughts whenever he saw her. Thinking of her like that seemed to make the most sense rather than attaching the labels of “liar” or “desperate,” or “willing to sacrifice herself for all of them”. At least Lord Jeremy had stayed upstairs. He’d tried to argue to be included, but since he wasn’t authorized by Cobb, they had reason to leave him out. Radcliffe and O’Connell technically weren’t supposed to be there, but as Edward wouldn’t have been able to do anything with the device without Radcliffe’s help, the doctor stood with the group in front of the altar, and O’Connell stayed at the bottom of the ramp and served as a guard.

  Edward went through the procedure to isolate the aether by creating a vacuum in the small glass sphere and striking the tone to make the substance appear. “And now I shall attempt to stabilize it with this higher tone.” He struck the tuning fork and held it to the copper globe. It grated his ears, and Marie actually put her hands to the sides of her head, but no one said anything. He glanced at his watch to note the time, and once the higher sound faded, counted the seconds before the aether disappeared.

  “Fifteen seconds beyond the end of the tone,” he said. “That’s progress, but not what I hoped for.”

  “It did seem to last longer,” Iris said. “Try a different tone?”

  “That’s the one according to the device.” He set the tuning fork down too hard and enjoyed its plink of protest. “What are we missing?”

  He mentally went through the calculations again, and Radcliffe stayed behind as the others filed up the ramp.

  “There has to be something else,” Edward said once he and the doctor stood alone in the temple. “Something simple we’re missing.”

  Radcliffe sighed and shook his head. “You’re right. There’s something obvious. You work better when you and Miss McTavish are getting along. Talk to her.”

  “What’s the point?” Edward picked up the little tuning fork. “She lied to me, and now she’s engaged to someone I have no desire to maintain an acquaintance with.”

  “But she’s your friend. Those are hard to come by.”

  “Thanks for your advice, but I’d rather ponder the mathematics than the emotional aspects of this.”

  “Even though it’s the Eros Element we’re trying to derive?”

  “A clever name, that’s all. Cupid is not to be trusted.”r />
  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Underground Temple, Rome, 27 June 1870

  Several days passed with no progress. One afternoon Iris stood in the chapel and sketched the set of stuccoes over the altar when Marie came puffing down the ramp. The air stood heavy with humidity and dust over the city, so they all got short of breath moving through it except Patrick O’Connell, who grew up around a forge and so could breathe through thick air.

  “Iris,” Marie said, “I’ve word from Cobb.” She held a letter. “I telegraphed him the result of the professor’s experiments, and this came through the tubes.”

  “He must have wanted us to get it quickly to pay to tube it so far. Have you read it yet?” Iris turned from the altar, and anxiety shot through her middle when she saw Marie’s face. “We need to get the others.”

  They all gathered at the cafe, again without Lord Jeremy, and Marie read the letter.

  My dear explorers,

  I am aware of the progress, or lack thereof, of the experiments to stabilize aether and therefor isolate the Eros Element. Due to a change in my own financial circumstances including costly repairs to my airship from the Clockwork Guild’s attack, I am no longer able to finance this expedition as I have been. Your stipends from the trip, including my donation to Professor Bailey’s department, will also be halved. Before you become angry at me, look to your companion Johann Bledsoe, whose gambling debts prompted the attack. Lest you think I am a monster, I will pay for another three days in Italy and your return passages to your respective countries including that to America for Doctor Radcliffe and Mister O’Connell, whose assistance Marie said you have found invaluable. Thank you, and I wish you godspeed.

  Yours truly,

  Parnaby Cobb

  All eyes turned to Johann, who gazed imploringly at Iris. She shrugged—what could she do? She’d kept his secret without threat or malice. All she could do now was not harangue him like the others would and turn her mind more intently toward figuring out the problem with their now very short deadline.