Her sister came toward her and together they pushed. The mattress snagged on a piece of brick and ripped, but they kept pushing at the awkward rectangle while straw fluttered to the ground behind them. Her sister’s lips pinched into a thin line from exertion, but they heaved equally until the mattress formed a step against the wall.
Linet folded it, hoping the few inches they gained would be enough.
She helped Terrwyn climb onto the thin mattress, grateful her sister had received this much comfort during her stay. Her sister’s hair just cleared the opening the cracker had made.
“The Christmas should be just outside, but we’ve got to get you up there,” Linet gasped. “I’m going to kneel on all fours and you’re going to climb onto my back.”
“No, what about you?”
“I can jump, you can’t.” She dropped to her hands and knees.
Terrwyn clambered onto her back, her bulk a tough fit on her sister’s smaller frame. Linet felt a splash of wetness on her back, then another and hoped her sister wasn’t injured. It could be snow, coming through the opening.
She heard a shout, but was still so dazed from the blast she didn’t know if it was from ahead or behind her. Then Terrwyn’s weight left her back and she looked up. The ladder dropped through the hole in the wall, and Andrew was pushing her sister’s bum up the ladder toward Glen.
Linet came to a kneeling position as her sister disappeared from view. She’d never seen anything more dashing than Andrew’s gigantic smile under the captain’s hat as he spotted her. He extended his free arm toward her. She lifted her own to grasp it, though he was too far away, then saw a ray of light and realized he held a heater in his other hand and was shooting over her head, feet spread wide on a ladder rung to maintain his balance.
She realized the shouts were coming from more than one direction. When she turned, she saw two guards running into the room. Andrew pushed her to one side on the mattress, then he leaped from the ladder to the bed to the floor, shooting rays from his heater.
“Go,” he shouted. A second later, he was slammed against the wall when one of the guards barreled into Andrew’s stomach.
Linet grabbed the ladder and tugged at it. “Heater!” she screamed.
Hatchet’s head appeared over the railing and she dropped down her hatchet.
Linet caught it and stared at the wooden handle. She needed a ray gun, not a chopping device. But it was all she had, so she ran towards Andrew screaming a battle cry from the Borderlands of her father’s youth.
As Andrew brought up his heater to fire, the guard tried to rip it out of his hand. Linet aimed at his arm and slammed the hatchet down.
The guard screamed and Andrew wrested free of the man’s bulk.
“Go!” He yelled, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to the damaged wall.
“The hatchet!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Andrew said, firing over her head. He swung her onto the bed. Her feet found the ladder and Glen hauled her up two rungs until she balanced. When she looked down, Andrew was right below her, so she kept climbing until she was over the railing.
On the deck, she found Hatchet standing over her sister’s huddled form. Linet ran toward them as Andrew’s boots hit the deck.
“Away!” Andrew screamed, waving at the crewman behind the wheel.
“Blockader airship moving in fast,” announced the calm voice of the first mate.
Andrew swore as Linet fell to her knees and scrambled toward her sister.
“What’s wrong?” Linet asked.
“Get us over the walls!” Andrew called as he ran for the bridge.
Terrwyn swallowed hard as Hatchet swung a lantern above her head, allowing a thin beam of yellow light to make her face visible.
“The baby’s coming.” Terrwyn’s face went pale and she moaned. “I think my water broke when the explosion slammed me into the wall.”
“Is the baby okay?” asked Linet anxiously.
Terrwyn blinked away tears. “I don’t know. Help me!”
The airship lurched as they gained enough altitude to clear Newgate’s walls. The stars dimmed above. Linet glanced up and guessed the Blockaders were directly above.
“Help me get her into the cabin.”
Hatchet nodded. Glen came to assist, grabbing Terrwyn’s shoulders as Linet and Hatchet took her legs.
Linet heard crashing noises on the airship’s deck as they reached the cabin and she opened the door. While they settled Terrwyn onto the bunk and tried to figure out what was going on, Glen ducked his head out and then caught Linet’s eye.
“There’s heaters in the drawer under the bunk.”
“Do you need to break them out for the crew?” she asked.
A black space opened on Glen’s chest before he could speak again, and he pitched forward, lifeless. Behind his body, she saw the metal faceplate of an automan. She leaped forward and slammed the cabin door shut, pushing the crewman’s body outside as it closed, then she shoved a chair under the knob.
“An automan just killed Glen,” she told Hatchet, numb with shock. When had the Blockaders started using automen in the air? She’d thought they were too heavy for dirigibles, but did Gladstone now have his metal army in the sky as well?
The girl had the drawer open and they armed themselves, even Terrwyn, as she panted and moaned softly. No attempt was made to open the cabin door. Maybe the automen weren’t trained to open doors, but they still had heaters.
“They’ll kill us all,” Hatchet said darkly.
“If anyone can get us out of this jam, it’s Andrew,” Linet said, surprised by her confidence. But even if she didn’t really believe it, her sister needed to hear the words. She couldn’t imagine her sister and the unborn child dying like this. “We’ll keep you safe.”
“A man just died,” Terrwyn said.
“We’re armed now,” Hatchet said flatly.
Linet’s sister smiled weakly, then leaned forward as sharp twinges wracked her body. “This seems much too fast.”
“Have you had any pain today?” Hatchet asked.
“My back.”
“Sounds like my mistress,” Linet said. “She had pain in her back all day when her last babe came but she didn’t realize why since the child was early.”
“Maybe if we’re quiet they won’t realize we’re hiding in here,” Hatchet whispered.
Linet nodded and they knelt on the bed around Terrwyn, murmuring soft words of support.
The airship rocked sharply back and forth some time later. Linet and Hatchet fell against Terrwyn as the airship lurched.
After a few minutes, the sounds of boots outside the cabin seemed less forceful, as if the automen were no longer on the deck. Who was flying? The Christmas crew or the Blockaders, or their robot servants?
Linet wished she could go to the porthole and look out, but she needed to focus on her sister. An hour passed as her sister rubbed her belly and moaned. Eventually, Linet swallowed away her fear and had Hatchet light a lantern so she could peer between her sister’s legs, but she couldn’t see anything but blood.
“Do something,” Terrwyn begged.
“I think it hurts for a long time,” Hatchet said. “It’s going to hurt for hours. “Don’t push, I remember hearing you aren’t supposed to do that until the end.”
“But when is the end?” Terrwyn moaned.
Linet wondered the same thing. Another hour passed. At least her sister didn’t seem any worse. Hatchet ripped up a sheet and helped her tuck a clean blanket under Terrwyn’s hips.
The Christmas began to descend. The three looked at each other as the airship made land, wondering if they’d find themselves in London, the Conqueror’s Table, the Blockaders’ fortress, or somewhere even stranger.
Eventually, the door rattled. “Linet?”
Andrew? Could it be the captain? Linet leaped for the door and pushed the chair away, no longer caring if he had a ray gun pressed to his back by a Blockader. They needed help. Boiling wa
ter, rags, whatever was needed for childbirthing. She needed these things for her sister more than she needed her freedom.
When the door opened, she did see an automan behind Andrew and her heart sank. She brought up her hand, clutching a ray gun and aimed it at the monster’s head.
“No,” Andrew said sharply.
She obeyed instantly, as if he were her captain. Then, the most astonishing thing happened.
The automan held up its metal arms over his head, as if showing it was weaponless, like she didn’t know they could shoot hot light from their fingers. She also knew they fought to the death. She’d heard Mr. Guterman boast about it often enough when she served tea at social gatherings.
Andrew stepped into the room, followed by the automan. Terrwyn cried out shrilly when she saw it.
“She’s having her baby,” Hatchet said. “Can you get that thing out of here?”
Linet wondered why the girl wasn’t frightened half out of her wits.
The automan cocked its metal head. She’d never seen one close up before and noticed a joint across its forehead, above the glowing purple eyes. No nose or ears were present, but she observed a mouth of a sort, a lipless opening in the brass.
Its hands had three blunt-tipped fingers and a thumb, all of brass, attached to armature of a duller material. The torso was heavy and quite slim, not like that of a real man, and articulated at the waist. The legs were like the arms, but covered by leather boots at the base. Otherwise the creature was naked. Altogether, the automan was a most horrible and indecent invention and like millions of others, she cursed Gladstone and his cronies for investing in the monsters and their inventor, Monsieur Jean-Claude Tortue.
“You need a midwife.” Andrew’s expression mixed wonder and humor. “What a time to have a baby.”
Hatchet huddled protectively on the bed next to Terrwyn, her eyes huge.
Terrwyn moaned again and grasped her belly. The smell of fresh blood and other less pleasant bodily smells suffused the already malodorous air of the small cabin.
Andrew blanched and stepped backward, bumping into his guardian.
Linet held her breath, wondering what the automan would do, but it only rocked back, its bulbous purple gaze trained on her sister.
Andrew stepped around it. He stood in the doorway, with an uncertain expression on his face, the first time Linet had ever seen him without his customary air of confidence.
“I’ll send to the village for a midwife,” he said. “Come, Rhys.”
The abomination answered to her father’s name? She saw it was true as the monster lumbered out stiffly at Andrew’s command. Why had Andrew named the automan for her father? At least it moved out of her sight. Her pulse slowed as she realized they were out of immediate danger. She smelled the windy, salty air of the coast through the open door and knew they’d reached her former home.
When the door shut, she asked, “Does he have the skills to reroute the circuitry of those creatures?”
Terrwyn began to cry softly, a mixture of fear and exhaustion. Linet stroked her hair. “You heard Erasmus. Help will arrive soon.”
“The captain is educated for a Hastings lad,” Hatchet said, “but I don’t know how he controls that thing.”
Linet saw the girl’s hand shook when she wiped a rag across Terrwyn’s brow.
“Keep your heater nearby,” she advised. “You’ve seen the captain with an automan before?”
Hatchet nodded. “I saw them together the day he brought us to Eastbourne to fly the airship.”
More than an hour passed as Terrwyn continued to struggle. Linet tried not to cry, but when a kindly face peered into the room, she wanted to sob in relief.
“I’m Midwife Cavill,” said the rounded lady, whose mousey hair was striped with streaks of gray. “Please give me an update, lass.”
Linet and Hatchet poured out the story to her. Midwife Cavill clucked then shooed them out of the room to gather supplies.
“Where are we on the coast?” Linet asked as she climbed off the bunk.
“Near Hastings. The Christmas needs to be disassembled and hidden in the caves, but for now, the captain has a watch out. There’s a burial detail aboard and of course the young miss can’t be moved.”
“How often do the Blockaders patrol the beach?”
“Hopefully not often on Christmas.”
Linet nodded, realizing she’d completely forgotten about the holiday. “You’ll have to give the baby a Christmas name, Terrwyn.”
“Noelle, maybe,” her sister said with a faint smile.
“Very pretty,” the midwife said. “Now let’s lift these skirts and see what we have. Hatchet, dear, could you find a clean nightgown?”
She kept Linet and Hatchet busy with small requests for Terrwyn’s comfort. Linet scanned the moonlit beach whenever she stepped out of the cabin, but thankfully the Blockaders stayed away, though she could see the glowing purple eyes of the automan from time to time, walking on the beach with Andrew.
She judged the time to be about eleven o’clock on Christmas night when her niece came into the world. Noelle Catherine Fenna, named for the holiday and for their mother, was not a pretty child, but the midwife cautioned them about early judgment.
“She’s had a tough start,” the lady cautioned as she put the baby on her mother’s chest for her first feeding. “But give her a few days and her head will round out and she’ll lose that fresh-plucked air.”
“Can we do anything else?”
“No, I’ll stay with your sister for a while. She needs to sleep. Can you find us a basket for the babe?”
Linet stepped outside the cabin then tucked her heater into her jacket and slid down the ladder to the beach. Feeling fearless after what she’d seen her sister survive so recently, she moved toward the purple eyes glowing a few yards away.
Andrew leaned against a rock, drinking from a steaming tin mug. When he saw her he held out the mug and she took it, finding it was tea laced with rum.
“Not a bad night’s work,” he said.
“No. Do you want to explain that thing?” She lifted her chin toward the automan, still facing the airship as though he were keeping watch.
“Happy Christmas, Linet,” said the monster, turning at the sound of her voice.
She shrank back against Andrew. He put his arm around her as she dropped the mug and fumbled for her heater.
“He’s a friend,” Andrew said. “More than that.”
“What do you mean?” she whispered, holding the heater in the automan’s direction.
“Do you know how Monsieur Tortue animated his automen?” Andrew asked.
“No. I picked up that it was something disgusting from overhearing whispers at the Guterman’s.”
“They use the brains of convicts. Newgate Prison is a prime source of their harvest.”
As Linet gaped in horror, Andrew continued. “The removal process, as you can imagine, is quite damaging, and the circuitry is controlled by the Blockaders, so even if any personality survives the extraction process, the poor souls are captured inside their metal shells, unable to fight their captors.”
Linet stared at the automan, motionless in front of her heater.
“Happy Christmas, Linet,” the automan said again.
“I’m sure it gives the Blockaders special pleasure to use the brains of Owlers in their law-enforcement automen,” Andrew commented, with rage in his voice. His hand tightened on her filthy shoulder.
“Father?” Linet said. She put her heater back in her pocket. “Rhys Fenna?”
The creature bent at the knees and dropped to the sand in front of her. Shaking, she moved away from Andrew, reached out a hand and touched the soldered metal around the automan’s forehead.
The shiny surface warmed her chilly fingers. Sickened, she hugged herself and stepped away. “It would have been better if they’d hung you.”
“They did hang me, but I was not completely dead, so they scooped out my brain and put it in this metal
carcass.” The voice that came out was metallic, but perfectly clear, though monotonous.
Without thinking, she put her hand to her own forehead and was strangely reassured by the feeling of her skin. “I am so sorry.”
“I lost most of the next two years. I remember nothing until I was on duty in Wales, guarding Blockaders doing a supply run. When I saw young Andrew, something turned on in my brain and I came back to myself.”
“You made yourself known to him?”
“Not then. It was months before I gained control of this body and went back for him. I remained in service. We are all but interchangeable to the Blockaders, so I stayed near the Christmas at all times, and dropped with the jump force tonight.”
“You didn’t kill that crewman in the cabin doorway, did you?”
“No, but I destroyed the automan who did,” said her father in his brass gear and catgut monotone.
Exactly what her father would say. She couldn’t hold back a small smile. “I still don’t understand why Erasmus Andrew was willing to help us.” She looked from her father to Andrew.
“Perhaps it might help if you knew this isn’t Erasmus. He died at his father’s side in battle a few months ago.
She stared. “What? He looks just like Captain Andrew.”
“This is Shakespear Junior.”
She blinked, trying to reform him in her eyes. Yes, there was a younger Andrew brother, younger than she by a few months, but he hadn’t been around in those final days.
“I had no interest in the Owler life,” Andrew said. “My father despaired of me, and after I nearly got us killed by picking up rock samples during a raid instead of getting back to the airship, he sent me to boarding school when I was eleven.”
Linet vaguely remembered this, but since she’d had no interest in the boy as a playmate, she hadn’t cared.
“At first I knew nothing of what happened. My father never visited me, and he had paid for my complete education with gems, so I wasn’t tossed out when he died. But, Gladstone’s men came for me when I was sixteen and took me out of school. I was sent to a mine in Wales.”
“Weren’t you rather delicate?” She glanced sideways at his currently brawny frame.
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