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SEV LEANED on the rail of the paddlewheel steamer as it crawled down the river. He closed his eyes while the breeze caressed the skin of his forehead and ruffled his burgundy hair. He spared a glance toward the stern of his boat, where two more barges were in tow. Each vessel held one of the large, clockwork brothers. Sev was reminded of their trip to this New World.
He heard Silas’s footfalls before he felt his hand on his shoulder. “Hello, Si.”
Silas leaned forward and pecked a kiss on Sev’s temple. “We’re almost there,” Silas stated.
“Somethin’ bad is comin’,” Sev responded. “I’ve had some dreams. I think we’re in fer it.”
Silas leaned on the rail next to Sev. “I’m so nervous, I feel like I’m going to vomit every moment.”
Sev reached over and squeezed the base of Silas’s neck. “We’ll meet it t’gether, like everythin’, and we’ll bloody well beat it.”
“You almost sound like you believe that,” Silas said with a slight chuckle.
“That’s because I almost do.” Sev grinned. The rest of the trip continued in tense silence or even more tense small talk. Rat paced the deck, never speaking a word but puffing constantly on his pipe. Tab sat with a grim expression, watching him, while Teddy sat in the bow intently whittling something Sev couldn’t see. He stared dreamily over the river as his hand rhythmically shaved tiny slivers of wood off the branch, where they drifted onto the planks of the ship.
Sev left Silas’s side and walked over to where Teddy sat. “All right, Teddy?”
“Evenin’, Sev.”
“How’re ye holdin’ up, friend?”
Teddy shrugged, though his hand never stopped moving.
Sev sat on a nearby crate. “Ye’re worried?”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Teddy asked. “I think we’re on the edge of a great gapin’ hole, and when we go over the edge, that’s it.”
The constant splashing of the paddlewheel and the various creaking of the rigging and damp wood of the boat were the only sounds hanging in the air between them. Teddy finally stopped his carving and stared fixedly at Seven.
“Are ye scared?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Aye.” Sev nodded. “But that’s what we do. We face down the bastards, and we fight ’til we can’t fight anymore.”
Teddy shook his head and resumed his whittling. “I’m scared, Sev. Maybe scareder than I ever been in my life. But I ain’t backin’ down. I ain’t suggestin’ we give it up. I’m ready to free my people, my country, and my family. I’ll die if I have to. Yes, suh, I’m scared. But I ain’t afraid.”
Sev grinned. “Ye said it perfectly, Ted, old friend.” They were both startled when the boat pulled into dock. He patted Teddy’s knee. “It’s the moment o’truth, but ye don’t have t’worry yet. This is goin’ t’be a simple train robbery.”
Teddy didn’t speak, just dipped his head as Sev stood and walked off.
SEV HELPED Silas get strapped into his harness while Edison tinkered with the power system on the back of Rat’s automaton and made notes as he did so. The torso chambers of the brothers were big enough for the pilot to be suspended in a harness attached with various cables and pistons, giving them a full range of motion. The outer mechanics mimicked their movements exactly, but it was a meticulous process to strap the pilot into the intricate network of belts and harnesses that connected them accurately to their clockworks.
Sev pulled the last belt tight and stepped back. “Ye’re all set, Si. Give it a go.”
Silas extended his left arm and then crossed it over his chest. The Atlas unit’s left arm followed the same motion. When Silas dropped his arm, the mechanical arm dropped as well. “The reaction is even tighter,” Silas said. With a pair of spyglasses strapped to his head, he and Atlas nodded. “Well done.”
“Edison helped us calibrate the mechanisms,” Rat said, his voice amplified from Epimetheus’s mouth speaker. Sev had to laugh at the way the clockwork strutted about just like Rat. Sev shut the door in Atlas’s torso, sealing Silas inside. He jogged over to where Menoetius stood open and ready for him to climb up into the torso chamber, which was exactly what he did.
“Hey, Eddy,” Sev called to Edison. “A little help?”
“Yep.” Edison pushed the ladder over to rest on the side of Sev’s automaton. He climbed up and started securing Sev’s limbs in the harness.
Teddy stepped out into the center of the oversized clockworks. He wore a strange suit with finlike adornments and a large pack strapped to his back. “This suit don’t fit me really at all.” He held up his arms and waved them about to demonstrate.
“It’ll be fine, Teddy,” Sev said, hearing his own amplified voice outside. “Once Ratty launches ye—”
“You mean when he throws me.”
“Aye. When he throws ye, pull that cord and the wind’ll do the rest.”
Edison walked up with a belt adorned with several strange glass bulbs. “These are shock-grenades. They hold a charge, and when they break, they ought to knock out anyone within a ten-foot radius.” Edison put the belt around Teddy’s waist. “When you’re above their turret, drop these in, and you’ll knock the gunmen unconscious.”
“Then I’ll tie ’em up and wait for you fellas to attack.” Teddy motioned to the trio of automatons.
“That’s the plan,” Silas said. “Are we ready?”
“Hell no,” Rat answered. “But it ain’t like this train is goin’ t’rob itself.” Rat offered Teddy Epimetheus’s arm, lifted him up, and put him on its shoulder. Tab and Edison stood silently, waiting with the boats and the other New Undertowners as their friends ran off into the black country night.
TEDDY CLUNG to the side of Epimetheus as Sev and Silas ran in front, piloting Menoetius and Atlas. Teddy marveled at how quietly the big constructs managed to move as they traversed fields and farmland in the dark. They had to intercept Hercules before it reached the South. If a battle broke out, they didn’t want anyone running to the train’s defense.
Nervous sweat broke out across Teddy’s forehead as he was jostled about while they continued to the rendezvous with the train. He couldn’t believe that these three strange men from a country, which had essentially enslaved his own, would go to these lengths to free his people from their Southern oppressors. From what they had said, it was not their queen’s idea to retake America and rename it, and now it was up to them to set the records straight.
They all seemed so confident and sure of themselves that it almost inspired Teddy to feel the same way. Something ate at the back of his thoughts, something dark. His momma used to call it a gut feeling, and it manifested as an uneasiness that Teddy couldn’t put into words. Something bad was on the way, and he hoped they weren’t barreling blindly toward it.
The team skirted around another copse of trees because the brothers were much too large to cut through. “Are we goin’ to make it?” Teddy spoke into the listening tube so Rat could hear him.
“Aye,” the mechanically altered voice of Rat answered. “We’ve got to. There ain’t no question.”
Teddy hadn’t expected anything else from the tough little urchin. He tried to ease his mind by humming one of the folk songs he’d often heard his sisters and some of the other former slaves singing loudly to raise their spirits as they did when they’d worked in the fields. Most of the songs praised or appealed to God, and it made him once again consider the relationship Sev and Silas shared. Everything he’d been taught told him that was wrong, against the Lord and his teachings. Although he’d also been taught that he wasn’t a person, that he had no rights to a decent life, that he was meant only to serve his white masters. He knew that wasn’t right in his heart and that no man should keep another man as property. If one teaching could be wrong, couldn’t others?
His philosophical pondering was interrupted when Rat growled, “Bloody hell.”
“What?” Teddy asked, shaking off his thoughts.
Epimetheus poi
nted. Teddy squinted and saw a bright light approaching quickly from the north. Smoke billowed into the air behind it. “We’re not going to make it!” Sev shouted. All three of them pushed their machines to run faster. Teddy spared a glance behind them, watching the giant feet kick up dirt as the boys poured on the speed.
The trio, with Teddy in tow, crested a ridge just in time to see the behemoth engine and its six cars roar past them. It moved fast, but Teddy already knew the brothers could move faster, and they crossed the hundred or so feet left to reach the tracks.
“You ready?” Rat barked.
“Yes, suh!” Teddy called back and braced himself as Rat stopped Epimetheus. Sev and Silas continued to pursue the train. Teddy jumped into Epimetheus’s hand, and then Rat cocked its arm back and launched Teddy into the air.
The air whipped past his sweaty face, cooling him off, and he felt terrified and exhilarated as he flew through the air. He watched as first Atlas and Menoetius passed beneath him, and then the back of the train entered his field of vision. His heart sped up as the turret approached and then passed. He could see four Southern soldiers gathered in the compartment.
He waited no longer and pulled the dual cords on the straps of his pack. Two spring-loaded silk-covered wings unfolded and caught an updraft immediately, allowing Teddy to glide above the Hercules. He leaned to the side just as Sev had instructed and banked to the left, circling back over the gun turret.
Teddy could see Epimetheus running to catch up with the other two automatons. He freed one of the grenades from the belt and leaned into a shallow dive. He missed, and the glass burst on the train. Tendrils of lightning blossomed along the metal hide of the Hercules and startled the soldiers. Before he leaned up and caught another draft to lift him higher, the soldiers pulled out field glasses and spotted his friends in their clockwork conveyances. He had to act quickly or the soldiers would fire on Sev, Rat, and Silas. He dove toward the turret, pulling up at the very last moment. He bellowed at the men, startling them again. They fired on him, and bullets whined through the air. He stayed at an angle so they wouldn’t be able to use the large mounted gun. He fumbled at the buckle of the grenade belt as the soldiers continued to fire.
They must be usin’ those new repeaters, Teddy thought. A bullet tore through one of his wings. Finally the buckle came loose and the belt slipped from around his waist. He leaned forward slightly to get a better shot at the turret and the soldiers because he planned to gamble by throwing the entire belt now. Just as he sent the belt flying, another bullet shattered the right wing on his pack.
Teddy found himself spiraling toward the top of Hercules and hoped that the lightning from the other grenades would be dissipated before he made contact, because the metal hull rushed toward him. The grenades smashed and lightning exploded, stretching nearly twenty feet from the point of impact. Two of the men were lifted out of the turret and thrown from the train completely, disappearing into the night as the train rumbled along.
The last of the tendrils of lightning licked the metal around the turret just before Teddy hit the top of the train. He heard gunfire from the back and a sickening snap from his arm where pain suddenly stabbed him. He rolled, hit the turret, and started to slide off the curved top of the car. He scrabbled with his uninjured arm, desperately trying to find a grip so he wouldn’t end up like the other two soldiers. Finally, his fingers closed around a small lip where metal sat bolted to metal.
He struggled to pull himself up and into the turret. When he managed to get himself over and into the metal shelter, he noticed the soldiers who hadn’t been blasted from the train. His gorge rose because the men looked like they’d been partially cooked, and a sickly sweet smell—almost like grilled meats—assaulted him instantly. He may have overdone it by using all the grenades at once. He felt bad for killing the men when he was only supposed to incapacitate them.
Shots rang out sporadically from the back of the train. Teddy leaned on the turret wall and stared out toward the noise. He could just make out the trio of silhouettes pursuing it. He heard metal grinding against metal and turned to see a hatch open up on the floor. “Why the hell aren’t you firin’ at them monsters, goddammit?” The man’s eyes widened when he saw Teddy, and without thinking, Teddy aimed a kick at the man’s face. He fell instantly back in. Teddy peered into the portal and saw a car filled with artillery and munitions.
He climbed down the ladder with much difficulty and looked around, hoping to see something he could use to help his friends. The next car held the coal, and in front of that the engine. If he could get into the engine and stop the train, it might catch the other soldiers off guard. He tied up the man on the floor as best he could and grabbed a rifle from an open crate.
The whole train lurched, and Teddy flew forward into the front wall, his arm flaring with pain. “Dang it.” He managed to stay on his feet as he now noticed the train had stopped. Something large ran by outside the car as the engine strained and the metal wheels squealed against the metal rails. Teddy fashioned himself a makeshift sling from one of the rifle straps and then struggled to get back up the ladder.
He wasn’t surprised to see Atlas and Menoetius holding on to the opposite end of the train while the engine fought to move. Epimetheus stood next to the first car, and Rat demanded the conductor stop it immediately or “he’d reach in and stop it for him.” A moment later the engine sounded as though it were relaxing, and it wound down until, with a great hiss of steam, everything stopped.
“Wise man,” Rat said. “If ye start this thing again, I’m goin’ t’crush ye. I ain’t bluffin’, neither.” He marched back toward where the others stood. He paused and looked down at Teddy. “What happened? Are ye all right, mate?”
“Had a bit of a tumble, Ratty. Don’t worry about me.” He waved him off. Rat’s automaton shrugged and continued walking. He joined Sev and Silas where they conferred at the rear of the train. Teddy trotted along the top of the train to hear what they were discussing. A light cut through the night just behind them. A smaller, less impressive train that appeared cobbled together from carriages and hansoms trundled to a stop behind the Hercules. Lincoln, Brown, and Roth disembarked the first carriage.
“How do we find ourselves, friends?” Lincoln asked as he approached the group.
Sev reported to him, explaining their situation.
Lincoln nodded. “We need to secure the crew. We need them to tell us the passwords and protocol to get us into the South.” More than a few New Undertowners had exited the carriages and joined the group. Lincoln instructed some of the children to round up the crew, and they were secured in a few reinforced hansoms.
Teddy climbed down the back of the train to join his comrades. “Teddy!” Lincoln exclaimed. “Are you harmed, young man?”
“I think I broke my arm, suh.”
“We’ll have someone take a look at you.” Lincoln rested a gentle hand on the shoulder of Teddy’s uninjured arm. “We need to send someone to give Edison the news.”
“I’ll do it.” Rat raised Epimetheus’s hand.
“Can ye find yer way back?” Sev asked through Menoethius.
“Oh, aye. We’re not that far off.” Rat stepped away from the group before he broke into a fast sprint.
Teddy noticed one of the young men being locked into the carriages was colored like himself. “Hold!” Teddy shouted. He walked as fast as he could to the new boy.
“What d’you want?” the young man barked.
“Simmer down, friend,” Teddy answered. “These men are trying desperately to free our people.”
“What makes you think we want t’be free?” The young man scowled. “My masters take good care of me and treat me well. Why should I betray them?”
“For your people,” Teddy answered.
“You’re trying to change things that no one wants changed.”
“You’re a slave. You have no choice. How can you think that’s acceptable?”
“I am treated well. I’ve never
been beaten. I think you need to get off your high horse and accept your lot in life.”
“I’ll tell y’all what y’need to know,” a gravelly voice interrupted.
Teddy turned to see a toothless, old white man with spikey white whiskers dusted over his wrinkled and weathered face. “You think you can help us, old fella?”
The man nodded vigorously. “I know I can. I’ve seen all manner of secrets working this run.”
“Go on,” Teddy urged. “Tell us what we need t’know.” The old man did just that, revealing protocols, passwords, and valuable information.
MORE THAN an hour later, Teddy and everyone who had decided to remain on the Hercules had traded clothes with the Southern soldiers. The old man who agreed to help them—his name turned out to be Wert Whurton—had stoked the Hercules’s engine, and they were nearly ready to begin their trip south.
Edison, Tab, and the New Undertowners from the boats had just arrived. The party decided the giant clockworks would be too conspicuous to take along on the trip. Sev, Silas, and Rat had parked the brothers in a nearby copse of trees, Sev having used a ward he found in Fairgate’s Grimoire. It didn’t make the automatons invisible, but it did repel curiosity. Having done that, all three Brits stood in Southern garb.
“The boats are ready to head back upriver,” Edison said, shaking hands, reuniting with his comrades. “What supplies did we find?”
Teddy’s jaw dropped. They’d been so caught up in everything, they’d forgotten to search the train. He looked at Sev and Silas. “The gun car is filled with arms and ammunition,” he offered.
“We need to see what’s in those three cars.” Sev pointed. “The last car is a lounge. The two in front of it are bunk cars, and the two in front of that are the galley and mess cars.”
The 7th of Victorica Page 25