Pistons and Pistols (18 page)

Jayne narrowed her eyes at Gabriella. “No. He can’t. And I would have thought better of you. He’s no less human just because he’s put together differently.”

“That’s an odd way of wording it, but I suppose I see where you are coming from. Nonetheless, I won’t be pulled into your strange triangle just because neither of you was raised properly.”

Before Jayne could argue further, Jax’s shouts reached them.

“If she doesn’t get herself killed,” the woman declared, “then Jax will do it for her!” Jax stormed down the narrow path from the house, followed by Dot. The blonde stopped to stare hard at the professor, cursing him in her low country language. “Yebat! Your house is too complicated. I almost didn’t find my way out. Now look what you’ve made me miss.”

The man in question squeaked.

“It’s like a maze up there,” Dot said. “I found her wandering in your lab.”

“You didn’t touch anything, did you?” the professor asked.

Jax snatched the man by his lapels, perhaps with the intention of dragging him below with her, when Atom’s cry rose from the blackness.

“I have her!” he shouted.

Everyone crowded to the edge of the mine, eager to see what had become of their captain, their leader, their friend. Atom stumbled into view, lit by twin lamps hanging from either side of his waist, with the captain cradled in his arms. Jax rushed forward to relieve him of his burden. Gabriella wanted to weep at the sight of her captain. The woman was black and blue from forehead to neck, with her clothes in tatters and one hand bent at an awkward angle to her wrist.

“Lay her over here,” Dot said, motioning to a flat patch in the soil.

Jax did as asked, lowering the woman to the ground.

“What happened to her?” Dot asked.

Atom leaned over to grasp his knees as he gasped for breath. “She was choking herself when I found her.”

Dot nodded, then turned to inspect the captain’s throat.

“She was shouting something about seeing her husband,” Atom said, his breath evening out.

“She is seeing ghosts then,” Jax said.

Atom shook his head. “No, just a vision of one. A deadly hallucination. The tunnels are full of some kind of gas.”

“Gas?” the professor asked.

“Yes,” Atom said. “It’s nearly undetectable by human senses, but I was able to see it within the infrared spectrum. It’s warmer than the air. Denser too. Definitely some kind of gas.”

Jayne gasped. “I didn’t know you could see infrared.”

“Neither did I.” He smiled and shrugged. “I guess it kicked in when I needed it most.”

“We need to vent the tunnels,” the professor said.

“How?”

“There are doors every one hundred feet along the route. If they are opened in sequence from the source outward, it will pull the gas to the surface, where it should dissipate.”

“I’m on it,” Atom said, turning to run down the mineshaft.

“No, you’re not!” Gabriella shouted.

Atom turned on his heel to stare at her.

“You were lucky the first time,” she said. “Don’t put yourself in danger again.”

“She’s right,” Jax said. “Don’t risk your life for the likes of him.” She motioned to the professor.

Furrowing his brow, Atom opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he wanted to say something he couldn’t.

“He’s not in danger,” Jayne said.

“You keep out of this,” Gabriella said. “If, as his lover, you aren’t going to take care of him, then at least let his friends do it.”

Jayne’s face twisted into a mask of disgust. “Lovers?” She stuck out her tongue, as if the whole idea made her ill. “I’m not his lover. Yuck!”

Gabriella was more confused than ever. “But I thought…” she let the words trail off as she turned to face Atom. He stared at her with a look of confusion that almost matched hers. It was Gabriella’s turn to jaw the air a moment. “You said Jayne was special to you. You said…you…” She replayed the morning’s conversation. Each word struck her to the core.

It all made a mad sort of sense. His time spent with the tinker. The strange nature of his hand. His odd copper eyes. The way he kept repeating the words ‘real man’ as if they didn’t apply to him.

Gabriella shifted her gaze to his clockwork hand.

He flexed it into a fist.

Her gaze returned to his copper eyes. “You aren’t a real man.”

Atom winced at her words, clutching his faux-fist over his heart as if the very sound of her understanding pained him. Before she could speak further on the matter, he turned, fleeing into the blackness once more.

The noise of those around her faded into a thin rush as her heart leapt to her throat. All this time, Atom had pretended to be just another man, when indeed he wasn’t. He spoke like a man, walked like a man, even kissed her like a real man. Yet he wasn’t human at all.

Atom Loquacious was a clockwork man.

Chapter 13

Family Matters

In which we learn of certain relations, some weird, some wonderful

Rose groaned as she awoke. Grabbing her head, she tried to stop the symphony that played with painful exuberance between her temples. Crashing cymbals. Pounding drums. It was no use. She hadn’t felt this worn out since…

Bill!

She sat up in a shot with the memory of what happened in the mine. Was it real? Was he back?

“Calm down, Captain.” Dot pushed against Rose’s shoulder with a gentle hand. “Lie back down. You still need rest.”

“What happened?” Rose croaked, rubbing at her raw throat. She winced when she realized her hand, which was bandaged from wrist to fingers, hurt even worse.

“Your wrist was dislocated, but not broken, thankfully. You have a concussion, and I suspect you might have fractured your orbital ridge. You, my friend, are going to be black and blue for quite some time.”

“How?”

“According to Atom, you nearly beat yourself to death.”

“Atom?” Rose furrowed her brow. Then she remembered everything. “He came after me. I told you all to stay put.”

“He saved your life.”

“Again. I’m going to have to have a talk with that boy.” Rose sighed as she lay back in the bed. It was big and fluffy and comfortable and wasn’t her bed at all. She sat up again. The room was unfamiliar, but well-decorated and kept. “Where am I?”

“The professor’s room.” Dot smiled. “He offered his bed for your convalescence after you came out of the mine looking like you’d gone ten rounds with a prize fighter. He supposed it was the least he could do.”

Rose squinted, shielding her eyes as the first few rays of the rising sun pierced the half-shaded window. “How long was I out?”

“Most of the night.” Dot yawned. “And a long night it has been too. I thought you might be out a few days, but here you are awake. Your tenacity never ceases to amaze me.”

“Thanks.”

“Actually, you should thank Atom.”

Rose swung her legs to the edge of the bed. “No. I can thank him back at the Widow.” She tried to stand, but failed to get to her feet before Dot was pushing her down again.

“You aren’t going anywhere, at least until I’m satisfied you’re well enough to fly. And besides, the young man has been waiting this whole time to speak to you.”

“He has?”

Dot nodded.

“Fine,” Rose said. “Send him in.”

“I’m here,” Atom said at her left.

Rose started at the sound of his voice. He had been so quiet she didn’t even realize he was sitting there.

Dot added, “The lad spent the entire time by your side. I couldn’t pay him to leave.”

“Where was my devoted Click this whole time?” Rose asked.

Dot laughed. “He was right in the bed with you up to the last hour or so. He took a break to stretch his legs and see how the others are getting along. Speaking of which, the coal bins are quite full. We should be ready to go within the hour. That is, if you are healthy enough.”

“I think I’ll be healthy enough.” Rose narrowed her eyes at the boy. He smiled weakly at her. Something was on his mind, she could sense it. “Dot, will you leave us for a moment? I need to thank Mr. Loquacious properly.”

“Aye, Captain.” Dot closed the door behind her.

Atom stared at Rose in silence.

“Thank you,” Rose said. “Again.”

Atom nodded. “It was my pleasure.”

“Yes, well. Let’s not make it a habit.”

“You wouldn’t want folks to think it was dangerous to travel with you.”

Rose laughed. “No. I wouldn’t. Now, what’s on your mind?”

Atom looked away. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Atom?”

He stared at his mechanical hand as he said, “She found out.”

Rose had suspected as much, but it was pitiful to hear him put it like that.

“I don’t know what to do now. She…she seems so upset.”

“She has every right to be. I told you to be upfront. Women love many things, but honesty is a prize valued above all others.”

“You’re right, of course. But…”

With an impatient sigh, Rose asked, “But?” She hated playing cupid to these star-crossed lovers.

Atom looked back up to her. “Everyone knows. They all found out.”

This
was
a surprise. “How?”

The young man explained the circumstances of his great unveiling.

Rose grunted when he was done. “And what did everyone say?”

“I didn’t give them a chance to speak. I came straight here after I vented the mines.” He slumped lower in his chair, the perfect picture of melancholy. “I bet they can’t even stand to look at me.”

“Okay, mister man,” Rose said as she swung her legs to his side of the bed. “This poor pitiful me act is getting pretty old.”

“Excuse me?” Atom watched her with confused eyes.

Rose got to her teetering feet and pointed at him. “You are not excused. In fact, you are hereby on probation until you can learn to get a hold of yourself. I will not have one of my crew always so depressed. It brings down overall morale. Shall I have Click teach you how to be happy? I know he enjoys instructing the women, but he might be inclined to take you on as a pupil.”

Over the next moment, the young man’s face went through a series of changes. First was the droopy frown he’d seemed to favor the better part of the previous day. This was soon replaced by a curious look, which gave way to gaping-mouthed surprise. “You consider me part of your crew?”

Rose smiled wide. “Of course. A man who saves my life not once, but twice, is always welcome on my crew.”

“But I’m not a—”

“And so help me,” Rose said over him, “if you so much as hint that you aren’t a real man one more time, I’m going to ram that mechanical hand where the sun don’t shine. Do you understand, sailor?”

Atom smiled at last. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

“Good, now help me to the ship. We need to get some distance in before the sun gets too high. I have this feeling in my bones that we’re being followed.”

“I will, in a moment. First I need…I need to ask one more thing. Or rather. Oh dear…I don’t know how to approach this.”

“Just spit it out, Atom!”

“I heard you in the mine.”

Rose shook her head. “Heard what?”

Atom’s look was pained again, as if he carried the weight of the world. “I heard you speaking about your husband.”

She could feel the color drain from her face.

“I heard you say things about his death.” Atom focused on his metal hand, flexing it as he spoke. “I need to know. Did you really push him from the ship?”

“I did,” Rose confessed. She sat down with a heavy sigh. “What do you intend to do about it?”