Steampunk Omnibus: A Galvanic Century Collection (48 page)

"We've done it!" the Brigadier said. A general cheer rose from the beleaguered defenders.

Seemingly as one, the cogsmen backed away from the manor walls, incapacitated limbs dangling.

"Get ready for the second act," Bartleby said grimly.

The Brigadier turned towards him. "Second act?"

Outside, all three dozen cogsmen stood together, lined up and facing the house. Their mouths opened in unison, and they spoke with one voice.

"FIIIIIIIIIIISKE!"

"Oh dear," Bartleby said. That couldn't be good.

***

Upstairs Aldora slowly opened the doors to the balcony. The cogsmen screamed her name again, a long, hate-filled, drawn-out sound. She hadn't recognised it the first time, when it had spoken with her brother's voice, but as a chorus she knew instantly who their true foe was.

"Aldora--"

"He means me, father."

Her father looked at her quickly. "You know who's behind this?"

"Sarsosa." She stepped out onto the balcony.

***

"Who?" the Brigadier asked.

"Jago Sarsosa," Bartleby looked in the direction of the Fiske bedroom. "Aldora travelled to the jungles of Mexico to find a missing expedition. Sarsosa was the man who had taken them."

"The man who wanted to use that predictive Babbage engine to perpetuate a state of eternal war," James said.

"The man who killed my father." Penny had crept up from the cellar, a determined look on her face. Xin Yan watched from the corner.

"Penny--" Bartleby started towards the girl.

"But it can't be. He's dead. Aldora killed him. She told me."

"FIIIIIIIIIIIISKE!"

"He sounds in remarkable health for a dead man," the Brigadier said.

***

"Sarsosa." The word left Aldora's mouth a whisper, but the cogsmen on the lawn below turned their heads towards her in unison.

"Fiske. So nice to see you again. So glad I could help your brother make an appearance on this, the day of your nuptials."

"Didn't I kill you?"

"It takes more than a woman's treachery to derail my destiny, Fiske."

"What is it you want, monster?" Lucian glared down at the dead faces below the balcony.

"From you?" the cogsmen chuckled. "Nothing. I have already taken what I needed from your facilities and your people."

"Then go and leave us be."

"Ah, but your daughter and I have unfinished business. Surrender yourself to me, Fiske, and I will let the rest go unharmed."

Aldora smirked. "Even if I believed for one moment that you would hold to such a promise--"

"I am still man enough to honour my word, Fiske. The superior man need not rely on treachery."

"And what do you call attending my wedding in the guise of my brother?"

The cogsmen grinned. All of them. "A simple jest, that's all."

"Even if I believed your word, I do think it wiser to remain here, within the manor, and wait for reinforcements from London."

"So smug. So sure," Sarsosa mocked. "Tell me, Fiske, what makes you think they received your message?"

"They responded in kind--"

"And tell me, Fiske, if I can meld flesh and brass, what makes you think I cannot intercept wireless telegraphy?"

Aldora looked to her father. "Can he?"

***

"It's possible." James drummed his fingers along the wall as he considered the Brigadier's question. "He would receive the signal, surely, given his wireless control of these machine-men. He could certainly respond."

"Could he have blocked the signal from reaching the relay to London?" Alton asked.

"This isn't my area of expertise, but I can see a few ways it might be done."

Alton folded his arms.

"What if he's lying?" Constable Fuller asked.

"If it was a bluff his counter wouldn't be to wait us out," Alton said.

***

"Take your time," the cogsmen said. "My army is tireless. Ageless. It does not hunger, and is eternally patient -- as am I, Fiske. We will repair, I will make another dozen from the townsfolk I have taken, and we will knock on your doors once more. Surrender and the others may go. If I have to come in and collect you... well. I simply cannot vouch for their safety."

Aldora hesitated.

"You cannot go to him," Lucian said.

"I can beat him again."

"You cannot say that for sure."

"I'm a Fiske, father. As you are so fond of reminding me."

"So was Grayson."

Aldora flinched, ever so slightly.

"Luck doesn't hold forever, dear," he said. "And what sort of man would I be if I let you expose yourself to danger while I crept away?"

"A sensible one?"

Alton spoke from the doorway. "He's right, Aldora."

"Don't you start."

"How do you suppose this would play out? You agree, and the Constable and Brigadier stumble all over themselves to protect this delicate flower of Ladyhood from the Spaniard and his machines."

"Alton--"

"And then I'd be honour-bound as your fiancée to back them up and you well know I cannot babysit and save the day at the same time."

"You're making entirely too much sense. I think I prefer you drunk."

Alton laughed. "No, please, pet, listen."

"'Pet?'"

"I know your instinct is to let yourself be taken and try and come up with some solution on the fly, but I need more time than that."

"Time for what?"

"Time to find Sarsosa wireless broadcast location, so we can shut it down and neutralise his cogsmen."

Aldora shook her head. "I can handle it."

"No, you can't."

She glowered. "I've handled worse before."

"You were better before."

Aldora rounded on her fiancée, sudden anger in her eyes. "What?"

Lucian put a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Dear, he's right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you've lost a part of yourself," Bartleby said. "Some quintessential fragment, left behind in Mexico or Istanbul."

"You have no right -- you don't know what I've gone through!"

Alton spoke gently. "No, I don't. I can't. I can only draw from what I know of myself. My last tour in the Royal Navy ended in the expedition to Benin. I was not prepared for it, for real war, for being ordered into an amphibious assault. I was not prepared to kill with my... to kill. I was not prepared for the looting and burning that followed, not prepared to watch the men and officers I had respected and served along turning into vengeful savages."

Aldora watched her fiancée silently.

"I pulled a few strings and entered semi-retirement, but I left a part of myself behind. My innocence? My faith in my government and my navy? I felt betrayed. I had given myself over to the illusion of what the Royal Navy, of what the Empire presents itself as, and it let me down."

Aldora dropped her eyes. "Alton."

"I don't know what exactly happened in Istanbul, dear. I respect your privacy on the matter, but I see the pain in your eyes and it's a hollowness I know all too well."

He put a hand under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. "You will recover. You will heal. You will recapture that spark that's fizzled, but it won't be quick. And until you do, until that sparks burns oh so brilliantly within you, you won't be that unstoppable Aldora Fiske that single-handedly defeated Jago Sarsosa and saved us from his mad vision. Until then, you cannot do this on your own."

His voice broke, and though she knew it was calculated she so wanted to believe in his emotion. "Until then, please, let me help you. Let me make you great again."

She tore away from him, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Oh, Alton... fine. Yes. Make your plan. I'll follow it."

He straightened up. "Join us downstairs. You've a role to play in the final act."

Lucian Fiske watched his daughter's fiancée depart. "You've chosen well."

"I know," Aldora said. "He makes it easy to forget sometimes, but... I know."

***

Once Aldora and Lucian had joined the defenders, the group reconvened in the dining room, save for Charles and the other servants, who kept watch on the now-silent cogsmen.

"We should be isolated enough that they can't hear us," James said.

"Excellent," Bartleby said. "All right. We cannot count on rescue from London, and if we wait too long Sarsosa will have bolstered his forces beyond our ability to withstand."

"So what would you have us do?" the Brigadier asked.

"Firstly, James and Mr. Fiske are going to cross the village to the wireless relay tower and disable it. That should disable the cogsmen."

"I'm uncomfortable with placing my father in danger."

Alton shook his head. "This is the safest course of action, Aldora. And I don't think James is knowledgeable enough about wireless telegraphy to do it on his own."

James nodded. "It will be an honour to work with you, Mr. Fiske."

"While they disable the relay, Aldora will seek out Jago Sarsosa."

"What, alone?" Constable Fuller asked.

"The key to our success is that Aldora, James, and Mr. Fiske slip past the cogsmen undetected, and that means we send out as few people as possible. Aldora is the only one who knows Sarsosa in the slightest."

"I don't like the idea of her confronting him alone," Fuller said.

"She'll stand a better chance of success if she doesn't have to mollycoddle--"

Aldora put a hand on Bartleby's arm. "He is welcome to accompany me."

"Are you up to this task?" Lucian asked.

"I'll have to be," Aldora said. "And if you and James disable the cogsmen, I can handle Sarsosa."

"And the rest of us?" the Brigadier asked.

"We're the decoy," Alton said. "This plan depends on Sarsosa remaining ignorant to our intentions until it's too late. The rest of us must remain visible and active. Walk the balconies. Peer out the windows."

"He'll be looking for Aldora," Regina said.

"True." Alton tapped his lip. "You look about the right size. Aldora, do you mind if Regina borrows from your wardrobe to perpetuate a masquerade?"

"A capital idea," Aldora said through her smile. "Though I'm afraid you'll need to pad the bust a little."

Regina's mouth dropped open. "Yes, well, I suppose we can take some of the excess padding from the bustle."

Bartleby rapped his knuckles on the table. "Okay! Good! Great! You all know your parts. I'd say let's put those plans into action. And remember -- if Sarsosa becomes aware of our deception, he will strike, so don't let your guard down, and be prepared to fight. Above all, we must keep him from suspecting that any of us have departed."

The Brigadier stopped him as the others left. "A word, Mr. Bartleby?"

"Yes?"

"You are, I must admit, a capable officer with a keen tactical wit."

"Oh. Well, thank you, sir."

"I am not unfamiliar with the reputation you carry in London. Why is it that you masquerade so?"

Alton hesitated, then folded his arms. "I've seen action abroad, Brigadier, and I've seen the London social season, and I cannot rightly say which is the more vicious. In war, at least, there are lulls in the shelling, the fighting. There are no such reprieves in social politics, and the conflicts have been waged longer than the Hundred-Years War. I will tell you this, but only because you seem a man who does not involve himself on that battlefield.

"Call it a ruse, call it a feint, but I prefer my foes and potential foes to underestimate me. Let them think of Alton Bartleby as a rogue, and let them forget how keen is my wit. Give people the image of you that they want to see, Brigadier, and they'll never look any deeper."

"I can't say that I understand," the Brigadier said. "But I thank you your honesty. I will not underestimate you again."

"And that is why I keep it close to my chest," Bartleby grinned.

***

Aldora opened the door to her mother's bedroom quietly, the light from the hall forging a path through the darkness that lead to the still form on the bed.

"Aldora?" Her mother's voice sounded so weak.

She slipped into the room, pulling the door shut behind her. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so well, but I manage. How are things outside? How is your father?"

"Father is shaken but unharmed." She sat on the bed alongside the woman who had given birth to her.

"And your fiancée?"

"Alton is doing better."

She could hear her mother settling back onto the bed. "That's nice."