“I have heard that,” Jules said.
“Oh, right. You’re a common. But an uncommonly smart one!” Karl added, looking pleased with his own wordplay.
Feeling a bit like a pony being praised for carrying out a new trick, Jules smiled again. “So the Mechanics Guild actually arrests someone as…aware of things as you are? Just because you have better ideas?”
“Politics,” Karl said. “I’m not as good at that as others, I guess. I really shouldn’t say any more. About anything.” He smiled at her again, this time the intent behind the smile clear as his gaze once more lingered below Jules’ collarbone where the top two buttons of her shirt were open. “There is something I’m told I am pretty good at. If you’d like, we could try that to pass the time.”
Could he really be suggesting that? Why would he think she’d be interested in such a come on? Rage threatened as memories of the woman on the captured ship rose to the fore, but Jules controlled it. This Mechanic didn’t know she’d come out of one of the orphan homes. Maybe Mechanics didn’t even know that girls from the orphan homes were looked down on as sluts by Imperial society. Apparently he tried this sort of thing on all women who were commons. Would he even know if she made fun of him?
Jules gave the Mechanic an innocent look. “You mean play cards? Dice?”
“No,” Karl said, smiling indulgently. “This is your chance.”
“My chance?”
“To experience the love of a Mechanic. Most common girls would do anything for the opportunity.”
“They would?” Jules smiled as well. “Why?”
“Why?” Karl seemed puzzled by the question. “It’s an honor, of course.”
“An honor, for me?”
“That’s right. And you might have a child from it, who could inherit the Mechanic skills. A child of yours might be a Mechanic!”
“How wonderful,” Jules said, unable to keep her voice from becoming as flat as the land around Umburan.
“That doesn’t excite you?” Karl asked.
“No.”
Karl stared at her, then laughed softly. “Oh, I see. You’re smart enough to hold out for more.”
“That must be it,” Jules said.
“I didn’t misjudge you,” Karl said, with another smile. “I think you and I could do a lot together.”
Jules shook her head at him. “What does that mean?”
“If I…I mean, if we get out of this. If somehow…” He paused to wink at her. “Somehow I were to escape, maybe when this ship reaches port, how would you like to be married to a Mechanic?”
Startled, Jules took a moment to respond rather than simply hurling an angry no back at him. In that moment, she realized that Karl hadn’t actually proposed to her. He’d just asked how she’d feel about being proposed to, which was a very different question, and left him open to later deny having made any sort of commitment to her. “Marry a Mechanic?” Jules said. “Even though I’m a common?”
“Yes,” Karl said, nodding. “It’s a lot of work for a Mechanic to marry a common. There’s a long and complicated process to get approval, because we’re supposed to only marry other Mechanics. Keep the blood lines clean. But I’ve heard that lately it’s become a lot easier to get approval, and you seem the type to fit in well with Mechanics. Become one of us! What do you say to that?”
Jules pretended to think about it. How many common women had fallen for such a not-really-a-proposal-or-a-promise from Mechanic Karl? Because he still hadn’t proposed to her. He was still speaking in general terms. “You’re promising to marry me if I help you escape?” she pressed, trying to see how he’d deal with a demand for a clear commitment.
He hesitated. “If we escape,” he finally said.
She laughed at the evasion in his answer. “That’s one great offer,” Jules said. “But I’ll pass on the honor.”
Karl gave her another puzzled look. “But your child might-”
Her temper shot up as Jules thought about this man toying with her, trying to use her. Her anger gave life to words she knew she shouldn’t speak but couldn’t stop. “I know what a child of mine will do. I doubt any of them will ever be Mechanics, but if they are, it won’t be the greatest thing that child does,” Jules added. “Not even close.”
“What could be greater than being a Mechanic?”
“You’ll never know.”
His gaze on her grew perplexed. “You’re a very unusual girl.”
“You have no idea,” Jules told him, turning her face from Karl and scowling.
“How did you come to be a pirate?”
“I had to make a sudden change to my life plans, and piracy seemed the least hazardous option,” Jules said. “Plus it gives me the chance to chain up guys like you.”
Karl grinned. “You like that sort of thing, eh?”
“Oh, stars above. If you’re an example of the average Mechanic…” Jules sat back, shaking her head. “You’re supposed to be superior, but you don’t seem all that special to me.”
He frowned at her, apparently lost for words. Finally, Karl spoke again. “I’m a Mechanic.”
“I know,” Jules said. “I’m not impressed.”
“How can you not be impressed? We know things! Things commons like you can’t even conceive. We came from the stars!”
“Yeah,” Jules said. “I’ve heard that boast. Everyone has heard Mechanics claim that about themselves. Which star? Or did you come from a lot of stars?”
Karl shook his head at her. “It’s a secret. A big secret.”
“Sure,” Jules said, letting her skepticism fill the word.
“Look, I know this stuff,” Karl said, appearing baffled by her lack of belief and respect. “You don’t.”
“So you say.”
“I don’t have to tell you where we came from!” Karl insisted, his pride obviously stung.
“You don’t know, do you?” Jules said.
“It’s a secret! But there are people who remember. Just a few.”
“Sure,” Jules said. “How did Mechanics get here from another star?”
“I don’t know, exactly. That’s also a secret,” Karl insisted.
Jules rolled her eyes at him, wondering how many more secrets Karl didn’t know and couldn’t be provoked into saying. “If you came from another star, why do you look just like everyone else? Why can you have kids with common folk?”
“I don’t know,” Karl admitted. “Everyone looks the same on Dematr, don’t they? Why shouldn’t people from other stars also look the same?”
“Or maybe we all came with you,” Jules said to provoke him.
Karl only smiled at the idea, though. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No more ridiculous than what you’re saying. Why’d you come here from that star? Is that also a secret?”
“I…don’t know. Maybe to help you people.”
“Help us?” Jules said. “Rule over us, you mean.”
“We’re superior to you,” Karl said. “We can do things you can’t. Listen…Jori…”
“Jeri.”
“I’ve made you the sort of offer that common women rarely receive. But I’m beginning to lose interest in the idea of you becoming my secret lover and helping me escape. Unless you want to toss aside this opportunity, you might want to consider your words more carefully.”
“Yeah.” She rebuttoned her top two buttons with one hand while still holding the cutlass. Jules got to her feet, being careful not to get any limb within Karl’s reach, and opened the door to the safe hold. “Somebody get Ang!” she shouted. “I am done guarding this guy!”
Ang appeared quickly enough that he must have been nearby. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You know it’s important-”
“Ang, do you want that guy alive when the sun comes up? Because if you make me stay in here with him he will not live that long. I will kill him.”
“All right, Jeri. All right. Go up and talk to the cap’n while I get someone else down here to watch him.”
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* * *
Mak, obviously tired after a long day and the late night, nonetheless listened attentively as Jules reported what the Mechanic had said. “Too bad he didn’t tell you the name of the star the Mechanics supposedly came from.”
“It’s supposedly a big secret,” Jules said, waving one hand dismissively. “I think all that talk of stars was because he wanted to impress me so I’d help him escape and think he was serious about offering to marry me.”
“Sorry you had to put up with that,” Mak said. “He’s a Mechanic. We have to call them Sir but there’s nothing of gentlemen about them.”
She saw the pain in him as he said it and knew the cause. “Sir, I’m sure your daughter isn’t like that.”
He brushed off the words with an abrupt gesture, changing the topic. “The information you got might be worth a lot of money. The Imperial court would likely want to hear what he said about the internal disputes of the Mechanics Guild.”
“I’m not going anywhere near the Imperial court,” Jules said.
“No. Naturally not. But I know some intermediaries who can carry the information there and deliver the payment to us. Can you write down as much as you remember, Jeri?”
“All except the come-ons,” Jules said.
“Yes, leave those out. I also doubt the Imperial court will care about his claim of secrets. They’re probably as tired as everyone else is of hearing Mechanics boast about coming from the stars.” Mak gazed at nothing for a moment. “What do you think we should do with him?”
“Karl? I mean, Mechanic Karl? Why are you asking me?”
His eyes focused on her. “Because you’re smart.”
“You’re sounding like that Mechanic, Captain.”
“Not the same, Jeri, and you know it.” Mak leaned on the table between them, his eyes on her. “That daughter of your line, whenever she comes, will inherit something from you. Something you’ve already got. I’m seeing it. I want to know what you think we should do with him.”
Jules paused, not wanting to be part of the decision. But she owed Mak, without whom she’d have probably been caught or killed days ago hiding in the hills above Jacksport. “Sir, I’d say let him go to make trouble for the Mechanics Guild.”
“You think he would?”
“He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s really smart, but isn’t,” Jules said. “I don’t know if other Mechanics would listen to him, but if they did it could cause problems for whoever is in charge of their Guild.”
Mak nodded, his eyes intent with thought. “He’s very confident of himself?”
“Ridiculously so.”
“I know the type. Mechanics as a rule are like that, but he seems an extreme case. The sort of person whose confidence in himself can lead gullible followers to mistake self-confidence for competence. I’ll consider your advice, Jeri.” Mak paused again, his gaze distant. “Those things he said about it being possible, but difficult, for Mechanics to marry commons. Yet now it’s becoming easier. Do you think that was true?”
“I think so,” Jules said. “His lies tended to be vague, but that was pretty specific. Do you think that’s important?”
He took another long moment to answer, his gaze on one corner of the cabin. “When my daughter was taken, it was a surprise in part because few boys and girls had been taken by the Mechanics Guild in previous years. I looked into it, and found the numbers varied quite a bit. And I wondered, did the ability the Mechanics sought vary so much with each year? Or were they like a military unit, seeking to keep their overall number the same, and so seeking more recruits one year and fewer the next?”
She looked away, feeling uncomfortable at being present when Mak discussed his daughter, but trying to think through what he meant. “Do you think allowing marriages to commons might be the same sort of thing? That their Guild makes it harder when they have plenty of Mechanics and easier if there’s a shortage?” Jules hesitated as a thought came to her. “The Mechanics Guild is building new Halls in places like Caer Lyn. They’ll need more Mechanics, unless they spread themselves thin. And if they’re also getting rid of Mechanics like Karl, that’ll make their numbers even lower.”
Mak nodded. “All of which would mean more approvals for commons to marry into the ranks of Mechanics, and more children forcibly swept up by Mechanics to join their Guild. Their precious bloodlines don’t count as much when they need more men and women, boys and girls, to fill out their ranks. Jeri, I hate to keep you up longer, but could you write everything down now before you go to sleep?”
“Yes, sir. Including that last about the Mechanics maybe sweeping up more children?”
“Yes. Other families should be warned, though they may not be able to do anything about it.”
Jules used paper, ink, and pen from a drawer in the captain’s cabin, writing carefully until she had put down everything she thought was important. She’d devoted a lot of time learning to write well, every letter neatly done, every thought clear, because she’d realized that other people would judge her by those things. She couldn’t change her past or her looks or her accent, but anyone reading something she’d written would see the Jules she wanted them to see.
By the time she finished writing, Captain Mak was snoring lightly in his bunk, so she left quietly.
Outside, the ship had that special hush that only came very late, when the whole world felt like it was slumbering. Aside from the sailor at the helm on the quarterdeck and the lookout watch, the rest of the crew was already asleep. Jules stood for a moment, gazing up at the stars.
Among the many things the Mechanics Guild banned was any study of the night sky. No one knew why. Sailors had learned to use some stars to guide them at night, but furtively, keeping their knowledge hidden. Otherwise, like so many other things in the world, the stars held only questions and unknowns.
But she had far too many other things to worry about, even if she’d known any way to find answers to those questions.
Jules went down to her hammock, trying to stifle a huge yawn.
* * *
Five days later, a while before dawn, the Sun Queen eased close to the eastern coast of the Sea of Bakre, north of the Imperial port of Sandurin. The longboat was put over the side, several crew boarding it to handle oars, and Mak in charge. Karl was brought up from below and placed in the longboat as well.
Jules hung back as Karl was brought up. She hadn’t seen him since that bit of guard duty, and didn’t want to run the risk of having to talk to the Mechanic again. But as she saw the longboat heading toward the beach, Jules felt a pang of disappointment that she wasn’t helping on the oars. The Empire, after all, had been her home. She regretted not having the chance to touch its soil again, even if only that of a beach far north of Landfall.
When the longboat returned, Karl wasn’t on it. Hopefully he was on his way to find friends and make trouble for the leaders of the Mechanics Guild.
But Mak wasn’t aboard, either.
“Where’s the captain?” Jules demanded.
Ang jerked a thumb back to indicate Imperial territory. “He’s heading for a town a little ways off along the Imperial coast road. There’s someone he knows who can tell the Imperial police we’ve got information they’d want to have, and who can work the deal to get us payment for that. We’ll pick up Mak again tomorrow night.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Jules asked.
“Head out to sea so we don’t get spotted by the coastal patrols during the day,” Ang said. “Then back in close when night falls and send the longboat to get Mak.”
“What about the Imperial galley that patrols this area looking for smugglers?”
“The galley patrols don’t go out over the horizon,” Ang said.
“Yes, they do!” Jules said, drawing a surprised reaction from those around her. “They were going to start sweeping out over the horizon because they’d realized how many ships were lurking out there waiting for night so they could run in to the coast.”
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br /> “How do you know that?” a sailor named Marta asked, her voice wary.
“I came off that Imperial galley at Jacksport. You all know that! They were talking about it. The officers.” Would she have to reveal that she’d been one of those officers, even if only one in training?
“How far out, Jeri?” Ang asked. “Do you know how far from the coast the galleys were going to sweep?”
She’d had to work the navigational problem as part of her training. “Three thousand lances past the point where the coast dips below the horizon, then either north or south for eight thousand lances and then back toward the coast.”
“That’s trouble,” Liv said. “They’d see us. If we go out far enough we can’t be seen we won’t be able to get back to the coast to pick up Mak and out to sea again while night lasts. Jeri should have been part of the planning for this! I said so!”
“Yeah, you did,” Ang said. “We need a new plan. What’s the name of that town where Mak was going?”
“Saraston,” Ferd said.
“Is it on the water? Does anyone know?”
“Check the chart,” Jules said. “Mak’s chart.”
Ang slapped his forehead. “Lucky we’ve got you thinking while I’m being stupid. Liv, you and Jeri check that chart. If the town’s along the coast road there’s a good chance it’s on the water and has a pier.”
“So?” Marta asked.
“So instead of lurking about like suspicious smugglers, we head for Saraston, and when the galley questions us, we tell them we’re going there. The galleys don’t waste time searching ships headed for Imperial ports because they know the inspectors in the ports will take care of that. Right, Jeri? That hasn’t changed, has it?”
“Not that I heard,” Jules said.
“Check that chart.”
Jules followed Liv into Mak’s cabin, where the rolled-up chart was easy to find. Unrolling it on the table, Liv studied the coast north of Sandurin. “There it is. Saraston. No harbor, but…what’s that say?”
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