Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories

by Paul Kater

Selma, of course. She's married." His face turned red as he got lost in his words. It made Lily laugh.

  "I know what you mean, Mr.?"

  "Oh, I'm sorry," the young man said as he grabbed his cap from his head. "Billy Masterson, but my friends call me William. No. They call me Billy. I'm William."

  His face could not get worse, Lily suspected. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Masterson. Will you be joining the dinner and dance this evening?" She hoped she could cut this conversation short, as the large bag was getting heavy now.

  "I doubt that, Miss Marin," William, Billy for friends, said, "I am not that good a dancer. And I will have dinner at my uncle's." He fumbled with his cap and showed expertise with that: whatever twitching he did, he did not drop it.

  "Well, give my regards to your uncle then, Mr. Masterson," Lily said with what she hoped would be a deterring smile. As she walked on, into the restaurant, she heard Billy's surprised voice asking if she knew his uncle. She did not bother to turn and set him straight.

  After 'some singing', Lily packed up her belongings, received her fee for the evening (which was amazingly generous), and wondered if she would find Billy Masterson waiting outside. Apparently he was still at his uncle's, though. Lily's curious side wondered why he would be eating there and decided to ask Selma about him some day.

  Her Masked Woman side urged her to go home and get ready for action. The Masked Woman won, the way she always did. On the way home she caught a snippet of a conversation where someone vowed that the 'angel' had killed someone by simply touching the man's head. The speaker unfortunately just went into a house, so Lily could not hear more.

  Lily came home, unpacked the large bag and put the rad-gun to the side. After getting in her black leather pants, a dark blue shirt and the leather vest, she put on her tool belt, slipped the rad-gun in the holster and tied up her long dark hair. Then she took her long coat, the one with the micro-fiber reinforcement. After making sure the mask was in the proper pocket, she slipped the coat on.

  Her keen sense of hearing, something that had also been boosted by the accident in Dr. Drosselmeyer's laboratory, told her that the street was quiet. She slipped outside and walked off. The Masked Woman was not sure where she should go, but everything was better than staying at home while such a dangerous creature was around, murdering people. With a touch. That sounded strange perhaps, but Lily was painfully aware how different she was from regular people. Who knew what had happened to this 'angel'?

  Lily had been walking around for a while when suddenly there was an awkward sound overhead. It was not uncommon that inventors were experimenting with new kinds of air transportation, or the occasional airship that came over, but - not in the dark! As she lifted her head, she put on her mask and flipped the light-enhancing lenses over her eyes. Lily could not believe what she saw.

  A man with large wings was flying through the air, over the trees. Behind the airborne shape she saw a double trail of what had to be a gas or some other propellant. That had to be him.

  The Masked Woman brought her rad-gun in position and fired a shot at him. Silently the ray of radiation particles stormed skyward, at the flying man who now passed right over her head. She could not miss - but did, to her surprise. The stream of the rad-gun was deflected, a few feet before it should have hit the man in the chest. Her aim had been flawless. Her firing at him did have the desired effect in a way though: he came down.

  The few people who were still in the street at this hour stared at Lily, as whispers went from one to the other. Most of them had heard of the Masked Woman, and now they saw her in action. Nobody dared to do something, either for or against her, as everyone had seen her shoot. Big rad-guns made people very respectful and wanting to keep a safe distance.

  The woman in the long coat hardly registered the people as the man with the wings landed in the street. He looked breathtaking. Stunning. He wore a gold coloured helmet that covered his face, it had a slit for his eyes. He had a complicated rigging over his chest. But the most impressive about him were the two enormous wings that seemed to protrude from his lower back. They looked metallic, but in the darkness, even with the help of the light enhancing lenses, Lily could not be certain. Their span was roughly twelve feet, and truth be told, it did make him look like an angel, were it not for the helmet.

  The man slowly walked up to her. "You took a shot at me." His voice was muffled by his headwear.

  "I did. And I could not have missed you," said Lily as she raised the gun and pointed it at him. "How did you do that?"

  "Look at me. Woman." The last word carried a mild form of disgust. "I am an angel. You cannot kill me. I can kill you however." With unexpected swiftness he stepped forward and touched Lily's cheek. Before the nausea hit her, she noticed he wore some kind of rubber glove..

  The world spun around her for a while and she almost collapsed. By the time she had recovered, the flying man had disappeared. Most of the people were still where they had been before the angel had landed, but none of them made a move to help her. As usual. Her cheek, the one the 'angel' had touched, burnt as if it was on fire.

  "Where did he go?" Lily asked someone as she had gotten herself upright again. She was swaying on her feet, but despite that nobody dared approach her. As soon as her eyes obeyed her nerves again, Lily understood why: there were two people lying in the street, in a very uncomfortable position. She understood that the 'angel' had not only touched her, but also these two unfortunate ones. Her stomach tightened as she felt responsible for the death of them. Why had they not run away?

  "He said that he would be in front of the cemetery tomorrow evening," someone called out from behind her.

  As Lily looked over to where the voice had come from, the people shrunk back as if her gaze from behind the mask was as lethal as the angel's touch. "He killed them, didn't he?"

  A few heads nodded. A few others turned as the sound of a police wagon announced its approach.

  The Masked Woman decided that there were enough witnesses here. If she remained at the crime scene, the police would want to question her, and see her face. And that was clashing with her intentions. "I have to go," she announced. "I am very sorry that these people died." She kicked her heels together, and on extended legs she quickly disappeared into a dark alley.

  -=-=-

  At home, Lily fell on her bed and cried. The image of the two bodies in the street seemed burnt onto her mind, and she was to blame for their deaths. Had she not taken a shot at the 'angel', he would have flown, but they would still live. She hated herself, her life and how she was. She also hated Doctor Drosselmeyer who had put her in this situation, who had turned her into the abomination she now was.

  Lily cried and sobbed until she ran out of tears. By then she was so exhausted that she fell in a deep, colourless sleep.

  She woke up with a sore throat and crumpled clothes. As she remembered what had happened, she wished for sleep to come back and never leave again. Sleep however did not hear her so she got up, washed her face and spent the day preparing for the coming evening. She would go to the cemetery and face the false angel. There was no question that the police would be there; doubtlessly the people in the street had told the officers what the man had said.

  A few hours before she wanted to leave, Lily treated her face with coconut cream. It would make her cheeks somewhat rigid, but she had discovered that this cream made her skin almost as impenetrable as the microfiber coat. Whatever it was that the man had done to her face last night, it would not work this time.

  Fully dressed for action, her backpack where it felt best, she left her house through the rear door, because it was still too light to go out directly into the street. The Masked Woman should not be seen leaving the house of the singer Lily Marin. In two steps she crossed her tiny weed garden, stepped over the low fence and disappeared among the sheds and bushes that flanked the narrow path that ran along the back of the houses.

  Lily was on extended legs as she reached the street, and as fast as she
could she made her way to the cemetery. Good thing there was only one around town, otherwise this would be a gamble. One mile from the place she retracted her long legs. Being careful was important now, no one would tell her if the police had already taken position. As she walked along, keeping under the cover of the trees, she put on her mask and flipped the magnifying lens over her right eye...

  Four groups of three police officers were there. They had positioned themselves cleverly, but Lily caught all of them. Under the trees she waited until evening was well on its way. Meanwhile she wondered what would happen. Would the 'angel' wait for her to show herself? Her unspoken question was answered very quickly.

  Almost soundless, the winged man landed in front of the large cast-iron gates. He did not seem to have a care in the world, nor did he look afraid of anything. As he walked around, Lily saw that the man also wore a backpack. So that was how he flew, it was not just the wings. It probably got its propulsion from the two central cylinders that were hooked up to the rigging on his back.

  The police force stayed out of sight. Showtime, Lily thought as she stepped out into the open.

  "Ah. There you are," the winged man said. "We can do this quickly and relatively painless, or you can try to have another go at me." The hand with the rubbery