The Powerless Series: Complete 5-Book Set

by Jason Letts

  But Vika took another step back, bumping into the table and nearly losing her balance. The impact jarred the child, and he woke up and started crying. In the midst of shushing him and bobbing him up and down, she screeched her own entreaty to the man at the door.

  “My children stay with me! Shh sh sh! There ain’t nothing you can give ’em I can’t. Quiet now, everything’ll be all right. He’s better off with me! I can teach him your ways. We aren’t going nowhere!”

  She looked frazzled, raving back and forth over the baby’s wailing. The noise made Crimshaw feel like his head was splitting open. Then he felt something poke him in the arm and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He recoiled and looked down at the little sloth hanging just beside him in the doorway next to him. Reaching back to hit it, he changed his mind and stepped into the hut.

  “This is non-negotiable, Vika. Adopting any children is one of his primary orders. So when this boat leaves, he will be on it and you won’t be,” he said, glaring at her with perfect seriousness.

  Vika’s eyes started to well up and she shook her head vigorously.

  “You can’t! Please, you can’t!”

  “We’re doing what’s best for you both,” he stated over the baby’s cries before turning for the door. The sloth tried to poke him again, forcing Crimshaw to twist to avoid the little hand.

  Sitting in her workshop, Mira leaned back, twiddling a pencil in her hand and staring at the shadows dancing on the finished boat plans lying on the desk. When Crimshaw entered, she didn’t even turn her head to look at him.

  “Have you got something new for me to do yet? It’s so stupid for me to be here now that the drafting is finished. I’m so bored,” she yawned.

  “As a matter of fact, I do have something for you to do,” he said, grabbing the arm of her chair and yanking it so she had to look at him. Even as she jostled, Mira noticed something strange in his voice. It wasn’t the same mindless authoritarian demands; there was a subtle hint of desperation about it.

  “What is it?” she asked, holding her gaze on him even as she rose from her chair.

  Pursing his lips, he hesitated, but then he spat it out.

  “There’s been a freak accident,” he winced.

  “A freak accident?” Mira repeated, pondering in her mind who could cause such a thing.

  “Yes, that’s right. Something happened on the ship, and the machinery from the caravan isn’t working. You have to fix it,” he ordered.

  But Mira felt strangely relaxed. That note in his voice made it sound so personal. There was something about this that had to do with him, and that calmed her somehow.

  “You need my help?” she asked coyly.

  “You need to do what you’re told. I don’t need to remind you how good you have it, and how bad you can have it.”

  Mira looked him straight in the eyes and tried to figure out what was behind them. She knew where this conversation was going. It always came down to this.

  “And what if I say no?” She raised her eyebrow, making him unleash a nasty smile.

  “Then I’d say you’re putting your parents at a very great risk. What would it be like for you to lose them? Not to mention yourself. You belong to us here, and we will get what we want from you. The only thing you have control over is how painful it is,” he intimated darkly.

  Mira kept her eyes on him, trying to feel through the tension he tried so hard to create. She crossed her arms and cocked her head.

  “So do it,” she shrugged, and waited for a moment in which Crimshaw barely parted his lips. “You can’t, can you? I didn’t think so. I know where they are and I know you don’t have any control over them. You’ve just been hoping I would take your threats on faith all this time, but obviously that isn’t going to work anymore.”

  “Why you insolent little…” he began, reaching back to strike her.

  “I don’t think you’re going to do anything to me either, or you’ll never get your machine fixed. Why don’t you have the shipbuilders do it? Oh yeah, they’re a bunch of drunken idiots! Sure somebody must have made these machines, but they’re a long ways away from here.”

  Mira became bolder as she spoke. There might not be anybody else in the world who could do what she could do, and that thought conjured a thrill that tickled her spine. Crimshaw scowled, watching her uncomfortably. He put his hand down as she continued to put the pieces together.

  “The point is you need me, because if I don’t do what you need, you’ll be the one under the knife. What’s going to happen to you if the boat isn’t working when it’s time to leave and Arent gets here? Yes, I know his real name. Did you even know it? But you’re lucky because it won’t be too hard for you to convince me to help you, if you give me what I want,” she spoke, her brown eyes wide.

  “And what’s that?” Crimshaw asked, scowling.

  “I want you to tell me what the ship is for, how it works, and what your mission is,” she demanded.

  Loathe to give up the innermost secrets of their plans, Crimshaw stood still for a moment in silent contemplation. Mira wondered if he would tell her, and she also secretly worried she had gotten in too deep. Maybe there was something he could do to her she hadn’t thought of.

  “To see what drives the ship, you’ll have to see for yourself. But let it be enough for now to say the ship is powered by our faith. Our belief will take us out onto the open ocean to an eternal paradise waiting out across the waves. We’ll finish our glorious conquest of all the lands of the globe and soon all peoples will come to know and respect the ultimate way as defined by our one Savior.”

  Mira nodded her head, for once seeing the ship as a tool to enable their never-ending need for dominion and lust for superiority. There’s no telling what they would find across the waves, or if even a boat such as theirs could withstand the fierce and chaotic ocean, but it made sense as an extension of the terrors they’ve wreaked here. And now that she knew, that knowledge could be put to use.

  “There’s something else I want too,” she added.

  “And what’s that?” Crimshaw groaned in exasperation.

  “You have to let Aoi go.”

  “That’s out of the question. Her punishment might never run its course. The offense, unpardonable.”

  “Let her go, or I’ll make it so your machine fails just a few days into your journey out to sea, leaving you adrift and helpless and in even more trouble than if it hadn’t worked at all to begin with,” she threatened.

  “Fine!” he snapped. “Now let’s go!”

  He grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him just like she was being punished, and that’s how Mira knew she’d gotten to him. She let him tug her outside and then shook him off before anyone got the wrong impression. They marched through the camp, Mira hotly anticipating this rare opportunity to inspect the ship.

  She knew it had been largely completed now that her work had stopped, but she had been mindful of Crimshaw’s last warning when she tried to get into it. Now, as they passed palm trees and huts, the massive galleon came into view. The size of it never failed to astound her. It was as big as Corey Outpost, and the metal interspersed with the wood siding shimmered in the sun.

  Mira suddenly stopped as it came in full view. They had mounted the propeller in the back beside a rudder that looked like a humongous knife. The shipbuilders loaded furnishings and knickknacks onto it via a drawbridge-like entryway near the front that had replaced the ramp. It looked to be the only way of getting inside other than from the top. Crimshaw stomped his foot when he noticed she had stopped.

  “Get moving already. The tour’s not till later!”

  “Who exactly is going on this thing?” she asked, a little mesmerized.

  “The army of the sun. Weren’t you listening?”

  “And what’s going to happen to the rest of us?” she asked, but Crimshaw shook his head with disdain.

  “We made our deal. Now let’s go!” he ordered, reaching out for Mira once again but then drop
ping his arm once she started to move. She kept her eyes glued to every detail of the ship as they approached. Shuffling along, she spied the tiny glass windows imbedded into the hull. Climbing the bridge after a pair of workers hauled in a wooden chest, she put her hand out to touch the emblem beside the entrance.

  Ducking into the dark belly of the ship, she made a thousand observations, checking every detail with what she knew from her plans. Her every step was carefully measured. She reached up and let her fingers drag against the ceiling. Every corridor had to be peeked down and every room had to be looked into.

  “Hurry it along,” Crimshaw grumbled, leading her through the different corridors and up a few levels. Mira quickly stopped asking him any questions and instead focused on the nuances of this enclosed space. Winding toward the back, they passed more shipbuilders carrying around their supplies.

  Mira knew they were headed to the metal room she stood in the last time she visited the ship. Turning one last corner, she saw a thick bolted door set against the wall.

  “I hate having to do this,” he said as he gripped the metallic handle. Screeching, the door gave way to his strength and swung open.

  Mira stepped inside the metal room, immediately noticing a platform near the back supporting the two pillars and their hollow orbs on top. The room’s singular silver color was breathtaking, but it had a single flaw in its construction. One of the ceiling panels near the back was missing.

  Wandering farther forward, Mira figured out what the problem was. That ceiling panel had fallen onto the generator near the pillars. Machine parts were scattered on the floor, and the panel leaned against the bulk of a turbine, shielding it from her view until she came around to inspect it. Hearing the metal crackle under her sandals, she tried to lift the panel, failed, and then turned her attention back to Crimshaw.

  “What happened here?” she gasped at the damage.

  Crimshaw had his arms crossed, standing firmly near the back of the room. He steamed over any number of possible things but eventually gave in and answered her.

  “Every part of this room was installed perfectly. I saw to that myself. But one piece broke loose, the only one that could’ve caused damage to the engine. Isn’t that always the way it is?” he lamented.

  “A freak accident,” Mira repeated, looking through the hole in the ceiling. It was dark, and she couldn’t tell what was up there. Looking under the tilted panel, the cause of the fall was obvious. Some of the bolts had rusted away into little more than dust. The rest were brand new, and they had all been made at the same time. “Things fall apart,” she added, echoing the words of someone she knew.

  “I know,” Crimshaw stated as if she had been talking to him. “So you can fix it, right? You better get to it.”

  Mira still carefully inspected the scene. The crunched generator had a few pieces that would need to be replaced. She would need some tools, but it wouldn’t take her long to fix. What interested her though was how it worked.

  The setup operated under the same principle as the stationary bicycle and generator she used back in Flip Widget’s laboratory. A power source fed energy into the turbine, which would turn the propeller. But instead of the bicycle, there were just these two metal pillars. Standing between them and staring into the hole at head level, she could only see a metal bar inside. She stuck her hand in and touched it, nodding as it all came to her.

  “Your faith will power the ship. Arent is the energy source! Why didn’t…” she started to get excited, but she knew enough to shut her mouth. Letting him know she had been trying to work it out on her own might lead him to think she intended to stop them, and that would ruin everything. She cleared her throat and knew she had just this one precious chance to get what she needed to know from this place to formulate a plan.

  “You’re lucky you brought me here,” Mira confessed, stifling her urge to display her shock and amazement.

  “And why’s that?” Crimshaw asked, matching her serious demeanor.

  “Because he would’ve died in here if you didn’t. Think about it, you’ve got a sealed metal room, and once you close that door he’s going to use up all the air and suffocate. Even if he cried, you might never hear it because of how thick the walls are,” she said gravely.

  “So what do we do about that?” he asked, growing genuinely concerned.

  “This fallen panel isn’t a freak accident. It’s your lucky break. What you need to do is install a vent right above him to ensure enough oxygen gets in to breathe. If it’s not right above him, there won’t be enough circulation and you’d probably have to redesign the whole room, which would take months,” she calculated, presenting him with grim possibilities he couldn’t allow.

  Crimshaw took a look at the hole in the ceiling, struggling to make a decision.

  “I could help the shipbuilders install it. Once I get my tools and finish with the turbine, I can…” she said until Crimshaw cut her off.

  “That’s quite alright. We can handle it. I’ll have your tools brought in and you can just fix the engine. And I have your word it’ll be working properly without any chance of another problem? We need our Savior to power our journey, and there can’t be any hiccups,” he glared at her.

  “You have my most solemn promise,” Mira smiled, raising her hand, and she absolutely meant it.

  Chucky sat beside Mira on the sand just outside their tents. The browning palm trees shielded them from the sun. The soft sound of crashing waves against the shore came in a predictable rhythm. Even though he wished she were, she wasn’t paying him any attention. In fact, she was paying him so little attention he couldn’t help but think it had to be deliberate, and he didn’t know whether to be hopeful or sad because of it.

  Instead of being with him, she absorbed the plans of the ship, which were spread out on the uneven sand. He was just there, trying to figure out what she was doing and some way to be helpful about it.

  She leaned over the plans, and he watched her flittering eyes dance over them. They must’ve been carrying out a thousand little processes and calculations, plans that he was somehow wrapped up in but were beyond him to understand. It was enough to make him wish he’d paid more attention in school, though he always thought he had.

  “So Arent’s going to be here. The main cabins are here. These stairwells lead to the deck. Hallways. Rooms with multiple doors. Storage rooms. If only these plans had the vent they’re building over him. That would help so much,” she contemplated, keeping her eyes on the paper.

  “We’re trying to get to Arent so we can take the carafe shard from him?” Chucky asked.

  “That’s right. And this opportunity to do it is better than anything we could’ve dreamed for. He’ll be helpless, locked into that machine and letting the ship drain away all his energy. It’s incredible! We just have to get to him before anybody sees us, before we lose our chance and they vanish across the waves and put an ocean between us,” she explained, repeating things she’d said earlier and making Chucky wonder if she realized it.

  He found her interest infectious. It didn’t matter that she was explaining the same things she’d taught him again, just as long as she conveyed the same deep yearning and heartfelt intensity that permeated her every movement. What did matter was this plan and how it would help them recover everything they’d lost. Chucky missed his hometown, and he wanted to find where his own parents were, but for right now he just wanted Mira to keep talking.

  “Can I ask you a question? If they are leaving for some far off place, why don’t we just let them go? Why chase after them when they’re happy to just leave us behind?” he asked.

  Mira looked up from the plans, causing him to blink rapidly. Her brown eyes, her hair grazing against her cheek, all of it just seemed so perfect.

  “That’s a good question, Chucky. Even if they go away forever, the little drop of poison they’ve implanted in everyone’s minds will remain. I have to believe it’s what’s keeping my parents from forgiving me. It’s what’s
causing everyone in these camps to think they have no other option but to follow them. But we all do. We can start anew. This whole place, everything they’ve built is supported by a toothpick, or more specifically a round diamond cylinder. We have but to remove it to make it all fall down.”

  It was hard to concentrate on what she was saying when she was speaking directly at him. But he was happy to submit to her logic and only scrambled to come up with something when it appeared as though she expected him to speak. He nodded and swallowed.

  “Do you think if we pull it off it’ll all go back to normal? People won’t be so selfish, and the sun will set again?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she sighed. “But I have to believe it will.”

  Returning to the plans, Mira passed her hands over different parts of the ship. She scribbled little notes, guesses about what the different rooms were for. Drawing circles along the middle, she marked where the windows had been installed.

  The sound of thrashing in the bushes behind caught their attention. Someone was running toward them, rapidly beating every step along the dirt path. Mira and Chucky looked at each other, appraising their guesses about who it could be. When Vern burst through some bushy ferns, they nodded to signal they both guessed correctly. Wheezing after the sprint came to an end, Vern put his hands on his knees.

  “They finally did it!” he huffed. “They took Knoll. Vika is in hysterics. I just came from there. She keeps screeching that he’s too young to ride on board a ship. We…‌we have to do something!”

  Mira brushed away the sand he had kicked on her plans. Looking largely unmoved, she replied to him with the same calmness she had displayed to Chucky just moments before.

  “We are doing something. That’s a terrible shame they took him from her. I’ll have to go over later and try to soothe her. But for us it doesn’t change anything,” she noted, picking up the pencil again.

  “Come on!” Vern raised his voice. “We can’t stand for this, especially since we delivered the baby and all. Without Knoll, we’ll never be able to find the rest of the carafe. Now let’s go get him back!”