The Emperor of Mars

by Patrick Samphire

  “Stop!” I shouted, leaping forward.

  Rackham was already straightening, pulling his rifle back up. I stumbled out just as a length of wood whistled by, almost taking the top off my head.

  “Stop!”

  “Edward?”

  Olivia stood a yard away, the length of wood raised ready to swing again. It looked like the leg of a display table, and if that caught me across the ear, I’d know it.

  “He’s a friend,” I said. “Probably.”

  Rackham rolled his shoulder. “You’re fast.”

  Olivia gave him a suspicious look but lowered the wood.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

  “We can’t get out this way,” Olivia said. “I was about to look for another when your friend snuck up on me.”

  “Freddie sent him,” I said. “He says.”

  Olivia’s hand fluttered to her throat. “You know Freddie?”

  “We spent some time together. Once.”

  “What have you done with Papa and Jane?” I said.

  “I put them in a closet with Mr. Davidson,” Olivia answered. “It seemed like the best idea.” She pointed along the corridor, past a statue of some minor emperor.

  “You said there were guards,” Rackham said. “How many?”

  “Just one,” Olivia said. “But he’s armored, and he’s carrying weapons.” She swung her length of wood. “We’re not exactly equipped for that.”

  “Keep an eye behind us,” Rackham told me, “and follow me.”

  While Olivia let Papa, Jane, and Mr. Davidson out of their closet, Rackham led us to where the corridor cut back. Up ahead, daylight shone through the open door, outlining the bulky shape of one of Dr. Blood’s armored men. He was so large in his clockwork armor that he almost blocked the doorway completely.

  “Keep back,” Rackham said. He strode out into the middle of the corridor. “You!” he called.

  Cogs whirred as the armored man turned. His compressed-air gun swung up more smoothly than any man could have managed. A targeting light flicked on, settling on Rackham’s chest.

  Rackham snapped his rifle to his shoulder. There was a crack, like a stick breaking, then a puff of smoke. The rifle kicked back and up.

  The armored man jerked. Gears screamed. His gun spun wildly. I dropped to the floor, pulling Putty with me.

  “Get off!” she said. “I want to see.”

  The armored man seemed to leap, almost crashing into the ceiling. Then he toppled back and lay motionless.

  I scrambled up and ran over to him. He was lying on his back, unmoving.

  “You killed him,” I said.

  “Just disabled his armor.” Rackham squatted over the fallen figure and rapped on the thick glass faceplate. Angry eyes stared back. “If he wants to get up again, he’s going to have to move half a ton of armor all by himself.”

  Somewhere behind I heard a crash as something was flung aside.

  “And that’s our cue to get out of here,” I said. “Before his friends come along to help.”

  There was a small open area between the back of the museum and the wharf. Thousands of years ago, when the temple that once stood here had been built, the Martian Nile had flowed almost half a mile further to the west. The temple grounds and buildings had stretched gently down to the river. Now all that was left was this narrow stretch of ground before the wharf. The remains of worn statues and pillars jutted through the flagstones.

  To the north and south, native Martian buildings crowded to within fifty feet of the museum, then stopped abruptly, as though not daring to get any closer to the ancient temple.

  I took Mina by the arm as the rest of our party spilled out into the sunlight.

  “You could still get away,” I said. “They don’t know who you are. You could disappear. They would never find you.”

  “What about you?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not your problem. You don’t have to be involved.” She had nothing to do with Dr. Blood. If something happened to her, I would never forgive myself. “You’ve got your key cylinder.”

  She stared at me as though I’d slapped her.

  “How can you say that?” she whispered. “You think I’d just walk away and let you get killed? Is that what you really think of me?”

  “No!” I protested. That wasn’t what I’d meant at all. Why couldn’t she see that? “I was just … I mean … Why are you helping us?”

  “Because you’re good people, and I don’t want to see you get killed. I thought by now we were friends.”

  “But—”

  “Edward!” Olivia called. “We have to get going. Now.”

  I tried to catch Mina’s gaze, but she wouldn’t look at me.

  Rackham came up behind me and laid a big hand on my shoulder. “I’m not coming with you.”

  “You’re not?” He’d gone to all this trouble to rescue us and now he was abandoning us?

  “You’ll never make it to the docks if you go to your house first,” he said. “Your friend back there is going to be coming after you with everything he’s got. You’re going to be trapped.”

  “So you’re going to run,” I said. “Some friend of Freddie’s you are.”

  Rackham’s eyes hardened, and I had to force myself not to retreat.

  “I told you. I owe your cousin. I made him a promise and I keep my promises. I’ll bring my boat around and meet you at the edge of your estate, where it abuts the water. Be there. We might not have much time.”

  With that, he turned and ran to the buildings to the south, his rifle held loosely in his hand.

  I helped Olivia round up the rest. Papa was white-faced but grimly determined as he clutched his hat to his loose hair. Mr. Davidson, though, looked as though he could collapse at any moment, while Jane was surprisingly calm. We headed in the opposite direction to Rackham.

  Mina still wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  A detachment of militiamen ran past as we made it to the shelter of the northern buildings, and only just in time. We’d scarcely made another dozen yards when the back of the museum exploded. The giant troll-like automaton smashed its way through the wall, followed by a dozen men in clockwork armor. Behind them came the two remaining fliers and Apprentice. Except now he wasn’t walking like his men were. He was hovering in the air.

  “Great,” I muttered. “Now he can fly, too.”

  Several of the militiamen raised guns, but most were only armed with cudgels.

  “The militia are going to get themselves killed,” Mina said.

  “They won’t fight,” Olivia said. “Not when they see what they’re up against. They’re not soldiers.”

  There are some battles you can’t win, Rackham had said. This was one of them. Gritting my teeth, I turned away.

  “We run,” I said. It was all we could do.

  So why did I feel like such a coward?

  14

  In Which We Bravely Run Away

  The Flame House stood on the northern edge of Lunae City, where the Martian Nile, which had been traveling almost directly north until then, swung to the northeast to make its long way to the sea. We were almost a mile from the museum, but even as we approached our small estate, I could still hear shouts and explosions from the city. The militiamen were making a fight of it, but they weren’t going to win.

  “We need to be quick,” I said. “Five minutes, no longer. Putty, you go and find your governess. The rest of us need to find Mama.”

  Putty gave me an appalled look. “I’m not getting my governess! She’s a spy and she deserves to be left behind. I’m going to get my stuff.” Without waiting for an answer, she turned on her heel and dashed into the house.

  “Let her go,” Olivia said. “Miss Wilkins is probably with Mama anyway.”

  “We should split up,” I said. “Papa, you and Olivia search the ground floor. Jane, if there’s anything important you need, find it. I’ll—”

  “Go with Mina?” Olivia said, raising an eyebrow.<
br />
  I blushed furiously and glared at Olivia. “Shall we just get on with this?”

  * * *

  Searching the Flame House was not the easiest job in the world. There were places in which even I could get lost or stuck or possibly eaten by a stray, hungry corridor. Luckily, Mama kept very strictly to only a few reasonably respectable rooms. Mina and I searched for Mama in her bedroom and dressing room without luck and were heading for the nursery when I heard Papa calling. His voice sounded urgent.

  “Something’s up,” Mina said.

  “Something’s always up with this family,” I said as we hurried along a hallway. “You get used to it.”

  “Do you always get attacked by armed men and deadly machines?” Mina asked.

  “More often than you’d think.” I sighed. “You’re right. Let’s find out what’s going on.”

  Papa was in his study when we finally made it through the maze of the Flame House.

  “What is it?” I called as I burst in. “Is it Mama?”

  Papa glanced back at me, a distracted expression on his face. “What? No. She’s in her drawing room with Miss Wilkins. This is far more important! I’ve been burgled. Look!”

  I peered past him. His study was in chaos. Papers were scattered everywhere. Books lay open in piles on the floor and chairs and desk.

  “I thought it always looked like this,” I said.

  Papa drew himself up. “I know exactly where every single piece of paper is in the study. Someone has been in here and moved everything.”

  “Putty?” I suggested.

  “Parthenia is a more careful burglar than that. She knows to put things back where she found them. In any case, nothing has been taken from here.” He crossed to the back of the room, stepping around the slumped stacks of paper. “It is my safe.” He pushed aside a portrait and swung open the safe door. “See? The lock has been burned out. It would take a powerful acid to eat through the metal. My papers have been taken.” He rubbed a tired hand across his eyes. “My most important work. The plans for my improved water abacus. My theories on photonic storage. My thesis on the history of spring power in the Third Age. All of it is gone.”

  “I’m sorry, Papa,” I said, “but we have rather more important things to worry about right now.”

  Papa’s forehead furrowed. “You don’t understand, Edward. The plans for my water abacus have been stolen. The Emperor Napoleon will get hold of them now, one way or another. This is bad, Edward.”

  I glanced toward the window. Dr. Blood’s men and machines weren’t in sight yet, but they would be soon.

  “How long?” I said.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “How long until Napoleon can make use of the designs?”

  Papa rubbed at his eyeglasses. “A month to get the designs to Earth along the dragon paths. Six months to install water abacuses in his machines of war if his mechanicians are good, and they are good. The emperor has always understood the potential of Martian technology, which is why he has been able to conquer most of Earth. Another month for an invading force to travel back to Mars, if he holds the dragon path terminals by then. Eight months. Less than a year, certainly.”

  “Eight months.” I shook my head. “Then we can worry about it another time. Right now we don’t have eight minutes before Apprentice gets here.” I took Papa’s elbow. “I really am sorry, Papa, but we have to get Mama and we have to leave. Now.”

  * * *

  Mama was waiting in her drawing room with Olivia, Jane, Mr. Davidson, and Miss Wilkins. She was sitting so straight and stiff it looked like someone had glued a board to her back. Jane had an oddly shaped bag between her feet. I’d assumed she would want to bring half a dozen gowns, but this was something else.

  “What is the meaning of this, Edward?” Mama snapped. “Hugo? Olivia tells me we must leave the house. It is absurd. I have no intention of leaving my home.” She turned her eye on Mina. “And who, pray, is this? Is she here begging?”

  I closed my eyes. Why? Why did Mama have to be like this? I’d never introduced a girl to her before—not that this really counted, what with Apprentice trying to blow us to atoms—and when I did, she acted like this? All I wanted to do was stick my head in a bucket.

  “That is hardly fair, madam,” Mina said. “I am not a beggar.” She smiled sweetly. “I am a thief.”

  Mama’s jaw dropped. Serves you right, I thought and had to stop myself from grinning.

  “Olivia’s telling the truth,” I said. “The house is about to be attacked. We need to leave. Right now.”

  “I have never heard such a thing!” Mama said. “Where do you propose we go? I will not stay in a hotel.”

  “We’ve got a boat.” I glanced around the room. “Has anyone seen Putty?”

  “Behind you.” She darted into the drawing room, carrying a heavy-looking bag. “Why are we all still here?”

  “The children are right, Caroline,” Papa said. “We must leave immediately. There can be no discussion.” At Mama’s rebellious expression, he added, “I insist.”

  Mama rose hesitantly. “I will not leave without my valuables.”

  “I have taken the liberty,” Papa said, indicating a valise by the door.

  “And I have Parthenia’s bag packed,” Miss Wilkins said.

  Putty looked startled. “You do?”

  “You may find it hard to believe, Parthenia,” Miss Wilkins said, “but it is my job to keep you safe and under control, and I am very good at my job. Do not imagine that I did not fully understand the history of this family when I accepted your mother’s offer. I am always prepared.”

  Putty shot me a wounded look as we headed for the door as though to say, You see what I have to deal with?

  We followed Papa and Mama out of the house, across the terrace, toward the lawns that led down to the Martian Nile.

  “I’m not suitably dressed for this,” I heard Mama complain.

  I pulled Putty to one side. “What have you got in there?” I demanded, pointing at her bag.

  “My dragon’s egg,” she said defiantly.

  I stared at her. “We’re running for our lives, and you bring a stone egg?”

  “I’m not letting Apprentice and Dr. Blood have it.”

  “Leave it,” Mina said urgently. “You won’t be able to run with it. It’ll slow you down.” She looked around. “Put it here.” She pointed to a table on the edge of the terrace. “It’ll be out of harm’s way and you can get it when you come back.”

  Putty’s jaw tightened. “I’m not leaving it! It’s mine. And I can still run faster than the rest of you.” She jogged a couple of paces forward. “See?”

  “Fine,” I said. “Then prove it by running to the river door and seeing if Rackham is there yet.”

  “This isn’t a good idea,” Mina murmured as Putty ran off, the bag banging awkwardly against her hip.

  “There’s no point arguing with Putty,” I said. “Not unless you want to waste your whole day.” I looked back toward the high roofs of Lunae City. The shouting and explosions had ended. In the still, hot, desert air, clouds of dust slowly rose, becoming thin and tattered and finally drifting away.

  “They’re on their way,” Mina said. “I’ll go and look out for Rackham, too.” She took off at a trot, heading after Putty.

  “Your friend seems nice,” Jane said from behind me. She’d come up while I was talking to Mina. I gave her a hard look. Jane considered everyone nice, but I thought I detected a touch of sarcasm. Or maybe I was being too sensitive.

  Jane had been walking with Mr. Davidson, but he’d hurried forward to talk to Papa.

  “It’s a long story,” I said. I glanced at the bag she was carrying. “And what have you got in your bag? I hope it’s more useful than Putty’s dragon’s egg.”

  Jane looked around nervously. “Books,” she said quietly.

  I stared. “More books?” What had happened to Jane? “What is it this time? More history?”

  She shook h
er head. “Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia and Sidney Smith’s Ancient Martian Calculus.” She snuck a look at Mr. Davidson.

  Ah. That was it?

  “You’re doing this to impress him?”

  “No! Mr. Davidson has nothing to do with this.” She winced. “You can’t tell Mama. You really can’t.”

  I nodded, mystified.

  She sighed. “Mama always told me that if I wanted to attract the best husband, I must have more admirers than any other lady. I must be more charming, more beautiful, and more talented, and I must never make a young man think that I am more intelligent than him. But I am tired of it, Edward. I am tired of being held up as some bauble to every eligible young man on Mars, of being part of a game for young men who are no more constant in their affections than I have been in mine. I fear … I fear that I have never been in love.”

  I blinked. “You?” Jane fell in love three times a week. Didn’t she?

  “Not truly. I have felt but it was always … it was always that game, Edward. Now I have seen Olivia and Freddie in love, and I have never felt anything like that, not with any of those young men. Mr. Davidson is different. He is a scholar.”

  I shook my head. “So now you’re in love with him.”

  “No. You’re not listening, Edward. I believe Mr. Davidson is someone I could talk to about more substantive things. I am not in love with him, but when I do fall in love, I would like it to be with someone who would be more interested in discussing natural philosophy than in showering me with empty compliments.”

  I peered at her. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  She straightened, and I saw a glimpse of that same stubborn determination I so often saw in Putty’s eyes. For some reason, it gave me a chill. I looked back over my shoulder toward the city.

  “Come on,” I said. “We need to hurry it up.”

  * * *

  Putty and Mina were waiting on the other side of the river door as we reached the end of our garden.

  “Any sign of him?” I called.

  Mina shook her head. “Nothing.”

  I cursed.

  I’d hoped there would be a lot of boats on the river so we could slip away, but it was empty. The water had risen noticeably since this morning, creeping up the bank, over the lower of the steps that led down to the river. The Inundation must be closer than I’d thought.