Fires of Invention

by J. Scott Savage

  “What did they do to you?” Trenton asked.

  Flexing his hands slowly, Clyde grimaced. “I’d rather not talk about it.” He grinned, but it was a shadow of his former smile. “Everything’s kind of a blur right now, and I think I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Trenton thought back to the drawings and paintings locked away in City Hall. Maybe Clyde’s slate was stored there now. For the first time, Trenton wondered what was so terrible about a drawing. Who did it hurt? How did drawing a picture make the city run any less smoothly?

  He was so caught up in his thoughts that he completely forgot about the fact that he was supposed to invite Simoni to dinner until everyone began putting away their tools for lunch.

  “Coming?” Simoni asked. “Or are you going on a walk again?”

  Trenton looked up to find that he was the only one still working. He considered asking Simoni to dinner later, but the longer he put it off, the harder it would get. Trying not to meet her eyes, he said, “I, um, was wondering if you, uh . . .”

  Simoni pressed her lips together. “If I what? Is something wrong?”

  Clyde, who was beginning to act a little more like his old self, moved toward them, and Trenton turned his back, trying to shield his conversation with Simoni.

  He took a deep breath and plunged forward. “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

  She paused with her gloves halfway into her apron pocket. “I don’t think so. Why?”

  Clyde leaned toward Trenton and whispered, “Go for it.”

  Trenton picked up a handful of asparagus and scrubbed vigorously. “I was talking to my parents, and they were saying how they never get to meet my friends. And, well, my mom’s making something special for dinner, so . . .”

  Simoni looked expectantly toward Trenton. Heat spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. This was why he preferred working with machines. Getting your finger caught in a chain was infinitely less painful than asking a girl to dinner.

  “He wants you to have dinner with his family,” Clyde said, as if that would somehow help things.

  If his friend hadn’t just returned from a terrible twenty-four hours, Trenton would have punched him.

  “Is that what you’re asking?” Simoni said.

  “Actually, it was my parents’ idea. They want me to ask if you’ll come to our house for dinner tonight.”

  Simoni frowned. “You make it sound like having me over is some kind of punishment.”

  Trenton realized he’d been grimacing. “No. It’s not. I mean, I want you to come.” His ears felt hot enough to burst into flame any second.

  “Do you really?” she asked, studying him like she’d be able to spot a lie instantly.

  “Yeah.” Trenton looked down at the asparagus spears he’d been cleaning. He’d practically destroyed them. “Only if you want to. You don’t have to. If you have something else tonight, I totally understand.”

  “I’d love to come,” Simoni said, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “What should I wear?”

  Trenton was at a complete loss. He shrugged. “Uh, regular clothes, I guess.”

  As Simoni hurried to tell her friends, Clyde clapped Trenton on the back. “Smooth.”

  • • •

  Talking to his parents was awkward. Half the time, Trenton didn’t understand what they were trying to say. Talking to girls was hard. They seemed to speak a language he didn’t understand, full of hidden meanings and implications that sent the conversation going to unexpected places. Except for Kallista. She was the one girl who always said exactly what she was thinking.

  But sitting at the dinner table with Simoni and his parents, Trenton felt as if he were juggling balls of all different weights and sizes and failing miserably. Simoni and his mother clearly both spoke girl. They said something, then smiled in a way that made it clear that they both understood things Trenton didn’t have a clue about. And his mother and father spoke parent, giving each other meaningful glances throughout dinner and laughing for no reason he could find.

  Trenton was left trying to contribute while knowing that at least half of the conversation was going over his head.

  “How are you enjoying your training?” Trenton’s mom asked.

  Simoni finished chewing a small piece of potato, then patted her lips with her napkin. “It’s very interesting. I had no idea the city had so many plants and animals in production. The orchards smell like perfume.”

  “How’s Trenton adjusting?” his father asked. “Not trying to rebuild water pumps, is he?”

  His mother scowled at that, but Simoni laughed. “He’s the hardest worker in our group. All of the teachers are impressed with him. And he stays after work a lot to explore.”

  His mother cut a piece of meat. “He arrives on time?”

  Trenton held his breath.

  “Of course,” Simoni said without missing a beat. “Sometimes he gets there before I do.”

  Trenton gave her a grateful smile. But even though things were going better than he had feared they might, he didn’t think he could take much more stress. He felt like an appliance being examined on a shop floor. He gulped down the rest of his meal and wiped his mouth.

  “Well, we’d better get going.”

  “Already?” his mother asked. “What about dessert?”

  Simoni folded her napkin and pushed back from the table. “Thank you for the meal and the conversation. But we both have a lot of studying to do.” She smiled at Trenton. “Are you going to walk me home?”

  He looked at the clock. Twenty minutes until he was supposed to meet Kallista.

  “Of course he will,” his father said.

  “Yeah, okay,” Trenton said. “One minute.” He ran into his room, where he snatched up an old sweater and work gloves.

  “I hope we get to see you again soon, Simoni,” his mother called as she and Trenton walked out the door.

  As they headed down the apartment building stairs, Simoni glanced at his sweater and gloves. “Expecting a storm?” she joked.

  “I’ve been feeling a little chilly lately,” he said. “I might be coming down with a cold.”

  Simoni placed a hand against his forehead. “You don’t feel feverish.”

  Outside his building, Trenton noticed a uniformed figure watching them from down the street.

  “Angus,” Simoni said. “He thinks that just because his dad is someone important, I should gush all over him.” She took Trenton’s hand deliberately, and Angus disappeared from sight.

  They walked for several minutes in silence. Trenton wanted to hurry, but Simoni appeared content to stroll slowly along.

  “Your parents seem nice,” she said.

  “They’re okay. My mom was a lot more cheerful than she usually is.” Was that because he’d brought a girl home, or because she thought he’d given up on machines? Her response would definitely have been different if he’d invited Kallista.

  When they reached Simoni’s apartment building, she stopped and turned to him. “I was surprised when you asked me over.”

  Trenton kicked his feet in the dirt. Simoni was nice and smart and funny. And she was one of the cutest girls he knew. So why did being with her make him feel so awkward? “I’m glad you could come,” he said, realizing he meant it.

  She stepped forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running into her building. Trenton felt his face turn beet red.

  26

  As soon as Simoni was out of sight, Trenton broke into a jog. He was already five minutes late, and the vent was at least ten minutes away. Running down the street, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

  So Angus hadn’t gone away after all.

  No surprise. If one thing characterized Angus—other than his strength—it was stubbornness. Trenton slowed to a walk, forcing Angus to drop back, then ducked between a pair of shops and sprinted through the alley. He turned right, before Angus could see him, ran into another alley, and hurried inside the back door of
an apartment building and out the front.

  He waited across the street for several minutes, watching to make sure he’d lost Angus, before racing as fast as he could to the vent. He expected Kallista to be fuming when he got there. When he didn’t see her, he thought maybe he’d lucked out and she was running late too. As he got closer, he saw that the vent was propped in place, but not screwed in.

  He yanked it from the wall and stuck his head through the opening. From somewhere above, he could hear banging and shuffling. “Kallista!” he yelled.

  The clanging stopped for a moment, then started up again. How could she have left without him? He squirmed into the opening and pulled the vent against the wall behind him.

  Climbing up the shaft was more difficult than going down. If he released the pressure of his knees from the sides too early, he started to slide back down. He tried to hurry but knew that if he wasn’t careful, he could end up slipping all the way to the mines.

  He was making progress, though. Kallista was taller than he was, so it was harder for her to wriggle up. He was also more nimble. By the time he reached the light shining through from the vent of the food-production level, she was only a few feet ahead of him.

  “Wait up,” he called.

  “I’m surprised you came,” she said, continuing to climb.

  Trenton ground his teeth. “What are you talking about? I told you I would.”

  Kallista grunted and pushed herself faster. “Didn’t think you’d be able to break away from your date.”

  Trenton paused at that. She’d seen him? He forced himself up the vent more quickly. “It wasn’t a date. My parents wanted to meet some of my friends.” His knee slipped, and he had to reach out a gloved hand to catch himself. “Besides, why do you care if I asked Simoni to dinner?”

  “I don’t care,” Kallista said. “Ask your whole neighborhood to dinner if you want. Just do it on your own time.” One of her feet slid on the cold metal and clipped Trenton’s ear. Either that or she had kicked him intentionally.

  “I didn’t have a choice.” His arms and legs were beginning to ache, and he was working so hard that the cold air actually felt good. “Our snoopy old neighbor told my mother she’d seen me spending time with a girl.”

  Kallista stopped, catching her breath. “What did you tell them?”

  Trenton rested his head against the side of the duct. “What could I tell them? That I’ve been building a dragon with Leo Babbage’s daughter? I told them it was Simoni, and then they insisted that I ask her to dinner.”

  “You could have told me you’d be late,” Kallista said, her tone softening a little.

  “Didn’t have a chance. Besides, it was only, like, fifteen minutes.”

  An odd rumbling sound drifted down to them, and they both stopped talking. It came again, an echoing roar, like an engine revving.

  “What is that?” Trenton asked.

  “How should I know? I’ve never been up there,” Kallista said. He could almost hear her eyes rolling.

  They waited several minutes for the noise to come again. When it didn’t, they continued climbing. A thought occurred to Trenton. “Do we know how high up the filtration system is?”

  “It should be past the first level,” Kallista said. “The real first level. But it’s possible they moved the filters down after those levels were sealed off. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  They climbed in silence. The higher they went, the more uncomfortable Trenton felt. They were about to leave the only world he’d ever known and would be that much closer to poisonous air.

  “Why do you think they sealed the levels off?” he asked. It seemed like something they probably should have considered before climbing up.

  He could hear Kallista panting above him. Was she as exhausted as he was? “Probably lots of reasons,” she said.

  He noticed she didn’t suggest any, his brain seemed all too capable of coming up with possible explanations. What if the top levels were contaminated? What if they were unstable? Maybe they’d been sealed off because mutants had gotten inside. He and Kallista could be heading into an ambush right now.

  Kallista stopped. “Should we go back?” It was the first time she’d ever suggested quitting. Apparently, she had the same kinds of thoughts he did.

  Another weird, rumbling noise would send them both scrambling back down the shaft. But wasn’t it a matter of time before they tried again? Their curiosity would be too much.

  “Let’s keep going,” he said. “But if we see, hear, or smell anything weird at all, we’re gone.”

  Kallista continued climbing, but at a much slower pace. Sometime later, she paused again. “I think I’ve reached another vent,” she said softly.

  That was a good sign, wasn’t it? If the air on this level was bad, they’d have sealed off this vent to keep it from contaminating the levels below. Of course, that didn’t mean there wasn’t something else equally dangerous waiting for them.

  “Can you see anything through the vent?” he asked.

  “No. It’s completely dark. The only reason I know it’s there is because I can feel the grill.” Trenton listened as Kallista fished around in her pack. A moment later, he heard a click, and bright light filled the duct. The flame on her miner’s helmet flickered and jumped in the rushing air.

  She pulled out a pair of pliers and began unscrewing the vent. “It feels like they’re rusted in place,” she said, struggling to get the screws to turn.

  Now that they’d stopped climbing, the cold air began to work its way through his sweater and gloves. His ears felt like icicles stuck to the sides of his head. At least Kallista blocked some of the air. She had to be freezing. The pliers chattered against the screw as her hands shook.

  Just as he was about to suggest they climb down to warm up, the vent fell out of the wall with a clang, and Kallista whispered, “I g-g-got it.” The light of her helmet disappeared as she stuck her head through the opening. Her voice floated down to him. “W-w-wait there f-for a m-minute. I’ll s-see if it’s safe.”

  Trenton crouched in the duct, trying to decide how long to wait for her to return. What would he do if he heard a thud? Or even worse, a scream? What if something had taken Kallista, and she couldn’t call for help? Right now she could be—

  “Come on up,” Kallista said. “It’s okay.”

  Trenton’s arms and legs were cramped, and his hands were numb as he started climbing again. He nearly fell twice before reaching the vent. Kallista held out a hand and pulled him through. The air wasn’t as cold as inside the duct, but it wasn’t nearly as warm as the city. As he stood there shivering, Kallista turned around, and her helmet lit up a series of tall dark shadows.

  “What are those?” he asked, squinting up at the shapes.

  “Machinery and buildings, probably,” Kallista said. “This must have been their old manufacturing and power level.”

  The two of them walked deeper into the darkness, the only light coming from the flame on Kallista’s helmet. Everything was covered in layers of dust. Except for the hiss of the lamp and the sound of their own footsteps, the entire level was silent, making it far too easy to imagine ghosts or bloodthirsty creatures waiting to jump out at them.

  “What if your light goes out?” he asked.

  Kallista patted her pack. “I brought enough fuel to last for days.”

  “I hope you’re not planning on staying that long,” Trenton said, but Kallista was barely listening.

  They passed what might have been an old power plant, then a factory. Bits of rusted metal and pieces of abandoned equipment were scattered across the floor.

  “Do you think your father came here?” Trenton asked.

  “I know he did.” Kallista pointed to the ground.

  Although the rest of the floor was covered with dust and debris, a path was clear where someone had walked repeatedly.

  “This way,” she said, following the path deeper into the maze of buildings.

  They’d been walking f
or ten minutes before something caught Trenton’s eye. “What’s that?” He pointed to a nearby building. It was an old foundry, where metal was produced and cast into shapes. Although the rest of the equipment was covered with years of dirt and rust, the machinery there looked almost brand-new.

  “This is it,” Kallista said. “This is where he was working.”

  The two of them hurried through an open metal gate maybe twenty feet across and into a large open courtyard. Just inside the gate was a switch. Kallista pushed it up. Nothing happened. She pulled it back down. Still nothing.

  “Hang on,” Trenton said, noticing a crank below the switch. He tried to turn the handle but could barely budge it. Using two hands, he bent down and shoved. The handle finally spun around, and a rough put-put-put-put-put filled the air. The sound slowed, nearly stalled, then rose to a smooth and steady rumble. “Try it now,” he said.

  She pushed the switch up again, and one light after another turned on until the foundry and courtyard were lit up so brightly that Trenton had to squint.

  “Look,” Kallista said, pointing to a gleaming gold-colored pile. They walked to an immense stack of metal sheets, beams, and rods. “The alloy,” she said, brushing off a slight layer of dust.

  They looked up from the pile at the same time to find a message painted on the wall. The letters were large and blocky but perfectly easy to read.

  “If you have come this far, know that you are now in extreme danger.”

  27

  Trenton stared up at the words, bumps rising on the backs of his arms that had nothing to do with the cold. “What did he mean by extreme danger?”

  “I don’t know,” Kallista said. “But look at all of this stuff. I knew my father wouldn’t have given me the plans if there was no way to build the dragon. Look at the steam pipes. And here’s part of the coal feeder.” She picked up a foot matching the one they had and held it over her head, dancing around. “The second foot! Our dragon has two feet!”

  “Stop it!” Trenton shouted.

  Kallista lowered the foot and glared at him. “What’s wrong with you? We’ve finally found what we’ve been looking for. I’d guess that at least half of the parts we need are here, and we can make the rest with the equipment my father left behind.”