We had things to do. Victoria, Dale, Liza, and I sat around the map Dale had made for our first expedition to the workshop. If we were to take the workshop as the center of the network of tunnels the creatures were sure to have made, then there were likely several entrances into the tunnel system. We still didn't know what those things ate to stay alive and thrive, so we had to assume it was wildlife.
Where in this blasted ice-waste would there live animals to eat? Find a concentration of wildlife, I thought, and it’s likely we will find an entrance to their tunnels nearby. Enter in through that area, and navigate far enough into the system to find a place where several tunnels meet. Plant explosives, closing off several tunnels at once. They will realise that they are under attack, and the likeliest place they would regroup all together would be the manor house, where the tunnels all center. Hope that one single explosion does not chain-reaction cause the beginning of the collapse.
The house itself wasn't terribly insulated from the ice, but at least on the inside it wasn't completely frozen over. There had been no indication that the creatures had been any further upwards than the basement room, so we could assume that, up until the recent harrowing escape that lured them up to the surface, the upper house had not been tampered with. Furthermore, there were several doors in the first basement level that we had not opened. Perhaps we could find something in one of those places that might help us to defeat those creatures.
The notes did not leave any indication as to how much time we had, especially since they were written more than a century ago, so I had to assume time was of the essence. If we were not going to have the support of the explorer's guild, then I suppose we'd have no choice but to do it ourselves.
If you'd have told me two weeks ago that I would be on a quest to save the world, I'd have laughed in your face. I'm not cut out for that, I'd say. The world doesn't need saving anyway, I'd say. Piss off, I'd probably also say.
I'd have never believed you, but now, sitting at this table, staring at the map on which Dale was marking possible places to search for entrances to the cave system, the full weight of it finally hit me.
"We're trying to save the entire goddamned planet, aren't we?" I mumbled. Victoria looked up. "We're looking at a map of what is ostensibly the epicenter of a possible cave-in the size of a small continent, and we, this crew of mine and I, we're trying to figure out a way to stop it?"
"If we do not, who will?" said Victoria, sounding almost defeated.
"When," I said, and put my hand on my forehead, "did it become our responsibility to play wet nurse to the world when it soils itself?"
"It became our responsibility when you decided that dying in a terrible cataclysm wasn't what you wanted to do!"
"And I assume you'll tell me now that if we die while trying to save the world, we would have died anyway if we did nothing, so it's a balance?"
"Absolutely not!" shouted Victoria, standing up straight and clenching her fists. "Because I do not know what your intentions are, you great oaf, but I have no plans to die in the near future! The crew of the Nephele is an extraordinary collective of people. We have experts here that would put the professors in the Central University to shame. This ship houses the bravest, most cunning, smartest, and cleverest souls under the sky! If someone must save the world, then let it be saved by those who value their lives enough to stand up and move for it! No, Captain Strallahan, you may sit and die if you please, but do not bring your crew down with you. Do not leave your crew without a captain. Be a man, Strallahan!"
It was as though we were in a huge stone chamber, the way her words seemed to echo in my ears. My blood suddenly boiled.
"Do you mean to challenge me here? Do you think I cannot drive this ship to the ends of the earth, seize them up by the corners, and drag her back from the edge of destruction? Well, I'll have you know, Victoria Grimsley of Northaigm, you do not have the authority to make judgments on my character. You want a wager? Fine! By the end of this fortnight, I'll have seized this world by the collar and dragged it kicking and screaming back from the edge of the precipice upon which it now stands!"
I felt like an idiot. That sort of move always worked on me. I was honestly surprised I did not catch onto it while Victoria was pulling her little mind game.
I don't take well to being criticised. Victoria had learned to exploit this weakness after the first year on the Nephele, and it wasn't long until she had it down to an art.
Victoria sat down, the smuggest smile I'd ever seen on her face.
"Well then, Captain Strallahan, let's make good on that claim," she said, and giggled once.
After a bit more discussion, I ducked over to the communication pipes. "All hands, prepare for departure! We're heading out, boys and girls, straight to the frozen workshop! Make sure you've got a clean pair of trousers!"
The reply came immediately, but was not what I was expecting: "Captain, you've got a, uh…caller here."
*****
The man stood a full six and a half feet tall, his long, white jacket's crisp sleeves ending at a black leather glove on one hand and an elaborate brass-embossed prosthesis on the other. He had a great pistol on his belt, and his cane was a thick as my wrist. I approached him with a cordial yet cautious greeting.
"Captain Austin Strallahan, of the vessel Nephele. My name is Edgar Longfellow. I am a ranking official from the Guild of Explorers, the Antimony Eyes’ guild. We have discussed your claim regarding the Wrightworth workshop and its…inhabitants, and we are willing to offer you assistance. In return," he began, but I cut him off.
"In return, you will continue to be alive on the planet and not be drowned to death or thrown into a deep pit or some other such natural disaster-based demise. Do you really intend to bargain with us when the object about which you would bargain is the continued existence of life on this planet?"
"Be that as it may, Strallahan," said the man, who did not bristle at my accusation, "Antimony Eyes demands free access to the workshop of Copernicus Wrightworth upon completion of the extermination of the creatures and the stabilising of the continental plate. We have developed an expanding solid, and will prepare great amounts of it to fill up the tunnels and harden them, thus solidifying the faults in the ice and ensuring our future."
I blinked a few times. "You are serious? Putting an expanding solid into something which we are afraid, when it breaks, will literally throw the planet off its axis seems like a good idea to you?"
Longfellow stared.
"Listen," I said, and shook my head. "If you put something expanding into an already faulted crystalline structure, when it expands, it will not just fill the tunnels up. It will shear the whole thing on its fault lines, like a jeweler cuts gems. You will not only not be helping to stop it, you'd be actively causing it to happen faster. Who thought of this idea? Aren't you supposed to be some of the cleverest inventors around?"
"Captain Strallahan, if you wish for our assistance, then you had ought not to treat your guests with such hostility. As per the charter rules of our guild, we've stayed out of your claim of the workshop on account of your arriving first. Our charter says nothing about the elimination of the owners of a claim."
"You come on my ship and then threaten me. Antimony Eyes, you never cease to amuse me. Listen, we need your help, this is true. We do not need your help if it will cost people their lives." I pulled out a chair at the table, and motioned for him to sit down while making sure the others knew to vacate. Longfellow hesitated for a second, and then lowered his massive frame into the chair. I sat down across from him, poured a pair of drinks, and cracked my knuckles.
"Let's talk about what we will need from you."
*****
We were set to depart that afternoon. Longfellow stood on the dock next to the Nephele. I waved to him. "Good-bye! I'll be waiting for you to double-cross me!" I called at him.
We'd made some agreements over drinks, Longfellow and I. They were not the soundest of agreements, but at this point I w
asn't in the mood to wheel and deal when the fate of the entire world was at stake. I tugged on a rigging, feeling the tension satisfactorily pull back, and then sighed.
"All hands, now prepare for leaving port! Finally! We're heading back into the ice, so put on your hats and gloves, kids, because here we go!"
Majestically, the Nephele rose into the air. The portmaster sat on top of his shed, smoking his pipe, and waved as we floated upward, buoyancy tanks pumping and rudders finding the wind. I waved back to him, almost envying him his ignorance of the weight of the task on which we were leaving.
"First thing is first," I said as we skipped along the clouds toward the blasted ice waste, "we need to explore to see if we cannot find more security devices like that magnet spider thing. If we can, I have half a mind to think that Dale and Liza can whip up a bit of engineering magic and put them on our side of the inevitable fight. We also have to be constantly aware of the Eyes, as I am one hundred percent certain they will try to kill us before this is over and take the credit for saving the world for themselves. Longfellow said he would have a few vessels ready to drop fire-retardant dust if we sent up a flare, so everyone needs to have a mask with them as well. Who knows what else will be in such dust.
"They said they would be in neutral buoyancy above the workshop, but they still cannot go inside without written consent because of their rules, so I would not expect foot support at all. I gave them the map of possible locations to blow up to block tunnels, and also suggested they bring more of those fire-canons to cut holes in the ice to get nearer the workshop, so that's another thing that may come toward us at some point.
"To avoid this, we're going to stow the Nephele back down the hole we dug to get out last time, partially in that tunnel so that they cannot just drop something down our escape path and hit us. We've really got two enemies here, only that one of them is also an enemy of our other enemy. Does anyone need a chart of the relationships here?" I asked, eliciting a round of laughter. For as much as I was worried about this whole ordeal, I could not show my crew that. They played their cards well, refusing to show me their own misgivings. I felt a swell of pride for my crew build up in my chest.
"To put it plain and simple, fellows, we're going to have to save the world and live through the aftermath. Let's make sure that happens."
A cheer rose up, and this time, I raised my fist as well. After all, if I am going to do something, I am not going to half-ass it. It was time to make things happen.
As it turns out, Antimony Eyes had developed a device that essentially envelops a large sphere in "cancelling wind." The device generates thermic energy in specific directions at high temperatures and speeds to counteract other strong winds that might disrupt the flight of a craft. We still had to take it relatively slowly, but this was how those ships made it through the storm-wall after us the first time we'd come so quickly-- they literally cancelled the storm around them. We rode through the wall in this same bubble, accompanied by four dirigibles.
Two of them broke off after the wall to head toward the spots we marked on the map, and the other two stayed with us, barely keeping up with the smaller, lighter vessel in which we rode. I could almost imagine the Nephele making faces and obscene gestures at the slower hot-air crafts that struggled to keep pace. We passed over the abandoned village with the large pile of metal, and I instinctively rubbed my hand over the wound the giant metal spider had left me. We flew over the frozen, frost-ridden landscape until we neared the huge, crystal-clear deep blue mountain, and began to slow.
"There's the escape hole," said Dale, looking over the side. "Easy does it, Captain."
I didn't need to be told. I slowly maneuvered the hull of my ship into the gaping hole in the ice, and motioned toward the other two ships. Slowly, carefully, we descended through the ice, and the air became a sudden frigid type that cut through my coat like a knife. I wrapped my scarf tighter, and we continued to descend, until at last we alighted on the ground.
What was recently a relatively rough ground was now smooth and slippery, having been doused in running water and frozen before the water had time to finish running off. The landing spikes we installed on the ground gear bit into the ice, though, and we managed to not slide the whole ship into the wall and crush ourselves. As the buoyancy tanks emptied and the ship settled to a stillness, I cracked my knuckles.
"Back inside the frozen workshop, boys and girls! We're going to break into two groups. One group will go down to the basements first floor and try to get some of those doors open, to see if there is anything useful inside. One group will scour the upstairs and try to locate any vaults or safes that Wrightworth has hidden anywhere. For the safes and the like, I'm sending Liza and her keen eyes and deft fingers. With Liza, Victoria and Martha will go. I'm sure you three will be able to take care of yourselves. Luke, Dale, and I will go to the basement. If there is any sign of the creatures, you are to try to get away unnoticed. Failing that, get away noticed. Failing that, take them down." I hefted the heavy, brass-fitted revolver rifle onto my shoulder. "You will probably be okay. Ship-essential personnel, keep the ship ready for instant departure. We don't know if we'll have to have a repeat escape performance like last time. If the creatures come up here and we don't come with them, fill them full of holes. When and if that does not work, you are to take the ship and escape through the hole at all costs, with or without us. Engineering, one of you four is to take the helm. Let's get to work, ladies and gentlemen. We're on a tight schedule."
Now much more heavily armed than before, the six of us warily entered the front foyer, expecting to find it a mass of frozen ice that would throw the best wire-walker off his feet, but surprisingly it was completely dry, despite having watched the torrent of water that had saved our lives a few days ago rush through here. In fact, the carpet looked even cleaner than before.
We'd taken the doll that had met us by the front door before. I was sure we had, because parts of its inner workings were at this very minute in Dale's pack of tiny automatons. It was with this in mind that when a nearly identical doll and its twin that had been broken before greeted us at the door, I was reasonably surprised, and nearly blew one's head clean off with a pistol.
"Welcome to the main workshop of Dollmaker Copernicus Wrightworth. The master is not in at the moment, but feel free to wait in the drawing room. He will see you as soon as he returns." The very same voice, with the same timbre and pitch, came from the doll on the right, as both dolls bowed at the waist, and then gestured down the carpet toward the drawing room, whose door frame was also mysteriously fixed.
All six of us stood in wonder for a few moments. Liza was the first to pipe up.
"Wait, didn'ae we take this doll with us th'last time we came?"
"And that door frame... and the carpet..." said Luke in a semi-whisper.
Ahead of us, the staircase spiralled up to the second floor. The doors down to the basement were there as well. I shook off my trepidation and moved forward, toward the stairs. Even though I was sure I avoided the pressure plate we tripped last time, I heard a voice resound through the foyer.
This one, however, was different. It was a voice I felt like I'd heard before, like I'd experienced somewhere, but could not put my finger on it. It was gentle, feminine. It sounded sad, almost, but like it was still trying to put on a better air.
"It is you again," it said. I froze, the hair on my neck standing straight up. "The one who restored energy to this house. You have returned. Why is this?" said the voice.
I waited for a gunshot or the sound of a bowstring, but neither came. I relaxed a bit, still wary. "Who are you?"
"This house is Diana, the Doll-House."
My blood ran cold as I suddenly remembered where I'd heard that voice.
"You are my creation, my perfect work, the culmination of all my research. I will make a perfect world for you."
"This house is Diana, the Doll-House."
Those were the words on that record. I shook my head. "
Diana? Are you... are you all right?" I asked, not really knowing what to say.
"This house is not fully functional. This house can only see some places."
"Are you injured?"
"This house has healed its injures as best it can. This house cannot reach some wings."
"Do you plan on killing us?"
"This house will protect the world from those things. If you threaten this house's work, then this house will eliminate you."
"Diana, you are in luck. We have the same purpose as you do. Will you help us?"
A long silence. It seemed Diana was not going to respond. I looked back at the others, who were just as surprised as I was.
"Let's get to work. Upstairs team, off you go. Downstairs team, come with me," I said quietly, even though I did not know how the house could hear me anyway. "Be careful."
The Nephele Ship: The Trilogy Collection (A Steampunk Adventure) Page 9