Copper Visions (4 page)

“What's that? Do you think he was wearing it?” Sophie asked, pointing to the tied together sticks.

“I think that's what you heard break. Which tells me that he went in there intent on causing a problem; either with you or with whoever was listening on the other end of the transmitter in your apartments.” David said.

“And because I'm nobody, you think I'm stuck in the middle of a feud between, who? The doctors who gave me my arms and?”

“I think that's what we're going to have to find out,” David said. “If only to get you out of the middle of it.”

“Alright,” Sophie said. “So where are we going from here? He dropped this here and then what?”

“I don't know. I doubt they would have turned around, this looks as though it was hastily discarded, probably because it was causing him problems getting away.'

“Do you think this is why George said it looked like he was walking strangely?”

“Probably,” David said, straightening. “The question is where they were walking to. It would be foolish to discard something like this near where they were hiding if they weren't certain they couldn't be found. Which either means they're nearby and secure or they're far away and just used this as a convenient place to leave anything that could give them away.”

The door next to them burst open and caught David across his back, staggering him forward and cracking the door. A young man wearing livery tripped out of the doorway and looked around him. David turned to look at him and a surprised yelp greeted his attention. He steadied himself and stood up, trembling visibly from the shock, his eyes wide.

“Uh,” He started, looking around desperately.

David grabbed the front of the young man's shirt and pulled him forward. “You should be careful when you're opening this door,” he said. “Had I been someone else, you could have really hurt me.”

The young man nodded, trying to dig in his heels to stop his forward progression. “I wasn't expecting anybody to be out here,” he gasped.

“I see,” David said, his words becoming more clipped, his face less and less mobile. “This appears to be a fairly well used alley. Why weren't you expecting anybody to be out here.”

The young man shook his head. “He was probably just sent to throw something away, David,” Sophie said, laying her hand gently on his shoulder but not getting in the way of how he was treating their guest. The young man nodded his head at her, his eyes going even wider as he saw her arms.

“Yes,” he gasped. “I'm throwing something away.”

“Well, then,” David said, letting go of his shirt. “My apologies. Perhaps you will allow me to make it up to you by assisting with your task?”

The young man swallowed nervously. “I don't need any help and I don't want to be in your way. I'll just go back inside until you're done out here, shall I?” He backed towards the doorway he'd tripped out of, glancing behind him briefly to keep from running into the wall.

“Yes, you do that,” David said, closing the door on the young man then listening for movement inside. When he turned away, he looked at Sophie, holding up their prize. “Maybe they were stupid enough to discard this outside their back door.”

“You think that's what he was after?”

“Undoubtedly. We startled him but he was coming through that door like someone in a hurry. You don't simply slam open a door into a busy alley, like this one clearly is, unless you're not thinking particularly clearly about what your neighbors will think should you hit one of them.”

“Could you tell who he was working for?” Sophie asked. “There was something on his livery but I couldn't see it well enough.”

“Nor could I,” David said. “Come, we'll see if we can make out what kind of place this is from the front.” They moved quickly through the alley, both certain the young man was going to be back with reinforcements. It was a risk going to the front door but it was the only chance they had of discovering who they were dealing with.

There was indeed a plaque next to the front door. However, there was also a woman of the kind Sophie usually associated with the charity workers she'd seen at the mine; clean and starched much stiffer than she needed to be, everything about her was neutral and tight, everything pulled a little too taught for strict necessity. “You must be the people skulking around the back,” she said with a slight sneer to the word people. “Well, come on in then, they're expecting you upstairs.”

“We're expected?” Sophie exclaimed.

“Indeed, yes,” the woman said, smiling a tight little smile. “A bit early, to be sure, but that's better than being late.” She twitched her skirts and went into the house.

David followed her and paused on the threshold as he caught the full import of the plaque said; Society for the Abolition of Infernal Mechanisms and for the Betterment of the Working Class. He moved cautiously into the house, keeping Sophie slightly behind him.

It looked like a well-appointed house that nobody lived in. The light from the windows danced over light-colored furniture that showed no signs of wear. Dust motes moved lazily through the light but hadn't had the nerve to settle on anything. Matched leather bound books sat decoratively on shelves set into the walls.

“This way if you please,” the woman said. She led them to a set of carpeted stairs with a banister polished to a high shine.

“Ma'am, what's your name?” Sophie asked, running her hand lightly on the wood, watching the light scratches her metal fingers left behind.

“You may call me Mrs. Perkins,” she said stiffly.

“Is that actually your name?” David asked.

“No,” she said, pivoting at the top of the stairs and leading them down the hall. The upstairs continued the trend of being scrubbed, polished and new looking. Mrs. Perkins knocked on a door, waited a moment, then opened it. “Here we are, go on in.”

Three men were sitting in wing-backed chairs, glasses in hand, in a circle of similar, empty chairs. The young man they'd seen in the alley was standing behind the one to the far left, glaring at them. Sophie's erstwhile client stood up to greet them.

“Miss Sophie! Such a pleasure to see you again. Please, won't you and your friend come in and join us.”

As David and Sophie moved further into the room, Mrs. Perkins closed the door behind them and the ominous click of the door being locked.

“Please, sit down, Miss Sophie,” her erstwhile client said. “And you too, Mr. Alexander. May I introduce Mr. Rum and Mr. White. I'm Mr. Sail, if you didn't know, and I'm not sure how you would have.” The men nodded as they were introduced and Sophie and David sat down.

“We were planning on sending a cab for you,” Mr. Sail continued. “I must applaud your initiative in finding your way here, though Jem says he found you sneaking about in the alley. Just about scared the wits out of the boy.”

“Um,” Sophie said, not sure what to address first. “Thank you?”

“Oh, you are quite welcome. To be honest, I didn't think you'd be able to find us, certainly not so quickly. That must have been the work of your friend, the redoubtable Mr. David Alexander. I understand he styles himself as some kind of scientist. That's quite a measure above a poor working girl, wouldn't you say, Miss Sophie?”

“I never thought about it like that,” she said, glancing at David, her brow furrowed. “He is smarter than me, though. He's smarter than most people.”

“Yes, he is,” Mr. Sail said, his eyes flashing in a way that made Sophie uncomfortable.

“That is rather the problem, isn't it?” Mr. Rum said.

“I beg your pardon?” David said, setting his unflinching gaze on the man who had just spoken.

“And well you should,” the gentleman said. “Though not from me, from the young lady you brought here with you. It's mechanical monstrosities like you who are the final iteration of what those devils who build machines, which are depriving young women like Sophie here of the means of supporting themselves, are hoping to achieve.”

“I've never deprived anybody of work,” David said mechanically. “And I can't imagine Adam or Julian doing so, either.”

“Oh, not you specifically, boy,” Mr. White put in. “Though I'm quite certain there are human performers who could take the stage times your brother Adam has been given and be just as successful.”

“You'd had to take that up with the booking manager at the music halls. Julian hasn't been in the country for years,” David said, his face becoming even less animated as he talked about brothers Sophie had never heard of. As long as she'd known the mechanical man, she'd assumed he was one of a kind, like her.

“Is Julian still exploring, then?” Mr. Sail asked. “We lost track of him once he went into the jungle.”

“Then you have more recent information on him then I do,” David said.

“Oh, I'm certain we do,” Mr. Sail smirked. “But you, my dear boy, abomination though you are, are not our main concern.”

“What do you want with Sophie,” David asked.

“That is the question, isn't it?” Mr. Sail said. “To be quite honest, we wish to save her.”

“Show her the error of her ways,” Mr. Rum added.

“And help her rectify them,” Mr. White finished.

“I'm not a prostitute!” Sophie burst out.

“Of course not, dear,” Mr. Sail said. “At least, not anymore , though nobody blames you for what you had to do to keep your job in the mine.”

“We make no judgment on your moral character since we feel the earth let her wrath be known when she took the lives of you and your fellow workers. And we certainly don't blame you for allowing the doctors to save you after the cave in. Most creatures will fight for their lives if given the chance and humans, when reduced to their animalistic impulses, are no different.”

“Though, we do doubt the wisdom of allowing them to attempt to undo the punishment extracted from your flesh,” Mr. White said.

“I couldn't stop them,” Sophie protested. “And why would I? And what do you mean the earth was punishing me? What do you think we were doing in the mine that warranted punishment so severe that it killed four of us?”

“It killed five of you, dear,” Mr. Rum said, leaning forward to pat her hand. “You probably don't remember but the doctor's decided you weren't so far gone as the rest and it might be worth trying to revive you. The other's were cremated shortly after they were recovered; a barbaric practice and one that will be ended as soon as we can do something about it.”

“Cremation's in the contract,” Sophie said. “Most people who go to work at the mines couldn't afford a proper burial, anyway, so the company provides for cremation if somebody dies on duty.”

“Did you know,” Mr. White said, leaning forward. “That they use this cremation to extract any metal that may have become lodged in the body of the person who was killed?”

“Yes?” Sophie said, thoroughly confused and looking at David, who had quit moving at all. “The metal belongs to the company, especially if it's the ore we're digging out.”

“But you're not digging it out, are you?” Mr. Sail said. “It's those machines that are doing the digging, making the earth unstable. You and your kind simply pick up the pieces that fall, putting them into those steam-driven carts.”

“But the earth is always unstable,” Sophie said. “It was the rotten beams that caused the cave in, not the digging machines or the carts. And they work a lot better than the donkey's they used to use.”

“She can't see it,” Mr. Rum said. “Too blinded by loyalty to the monsters who made her this way. I'm not sure what we expected.”

“Everybody must be given the chance to see the error of their ways, Mr. Rum,” Mr. Sail said. “Redemption is always best after a person confesses.”

“I didn't confess anything,” Sophie said, shrinking back into her chair. “And I don't need redemption. None of you's a priest, anyway.”

“I believe, gentlemen, that you have been too circumspect in your logic,” Mr. White said. “She's not smart enough to follow it or agree to the remedy you would suggest.”