Steven Harper - The Havoc Machine

“Yes, yes,” Thad said. “What does this have to do with clockworkers?”

“Clockworkers are treated worse than serfs,” Zygmund said. “Surely you have seen that. They are worked to exhaustion, and then tortured to death for the amusement of the court. We have rescued a few and brought them down here. They help as best they can.”

Again, Thad found himself split down the middle of his own sword. He had no love for clockworkers, but no one deserved to be treated the way Russia treated its clockworkers. At minimum they deserved a quick, painless death, which was what Thad worked to give them.

“The peasants in Russia and in the Polish-Lithuanian Union are ready to revolt,” Zygmund said. “It will come very soon, probably this winter, when the army has a harder time moving about. We are working to whip them up with speeches and demonstrations. If we can overthrow the tsar-”

“Wait!” Thad held up his hands. “Wait a moment! You want to overthrow the tsar?”

“Of course.” Zygmund looked puzzled. “There is no other way. He wants to free the serfs, yes, but that will come through one of two ineffective methods. Alexander might free the serfs and give them their own land, in which case the landowners will simply increase taxes to make up for the loss, or he might free them but leave the land in the hands of the landowners, in which case the serfs will be forced to work for the landowners or starve just as they do now. And, of course, no matter what the tsar does with the serfs, he and the court will continue to hate and torture clockworkers. No, the only way to create lasting change is to remove the tsar and his court entirely and replace it with a new government, an elected parliament that answers to the people, not a despotic tyrant.”

Thad was deeply shocked by this. He wasn’t a subject of Tsar Alexander, and felt no loyalty for him, but these men were talking regicide.

“So Thad was wrong, and you did place the bomb!” Sofiya exclaimed.

“Certainly not.” The spiders backed away from the device, and Mr. Griffin’s voice had returned to normal. “That was a terrible complication, and you, Mr. Sharpe, both helped and hindered us. It is, in fact, why I was planning to send for you.”

“You’re confusing me again,” Thad said. “Your brilliance is simply beyond me. Please explain slowly, so I can understand.”

“Bless my soul,” muttered Dante.

Sofiya gave Thad a sharp look, and the spider on her shoulder tapped its feet. Thad returned her look blandly.

“I am happy to oblige,” Mr. Griffin said, now in Polish. “The bomb would have killed the tsar and many members of his court, true, but a number of our supporters were present among the latter, and we would not want them to perish. Besides, a bomb is terribly blunt. Any fool can cobble together an explosive.”

Now Thad gave Sofiya an arch look, which she returned blandly.

“Plastids! I have the plastids!”

“That’s it! I’m going to stuff that microscope up your-”

“Tritone, gentlemen.” Mr. Griffin’s machines made a noise that came across as a sigh. “In any case, we aren’t ready to move yet, and the tsar’s death at this juncture would be inconvenient. Unfortunately, your attempt to save his life only made everything worse, Mr. Sharpe.”

“I can’t say I would have done anything differently,” Thad replied with a stiff jaw. “Not with all those children in the room, and my own self.”

“My spiders were there, Mr. Sharpe,” Griffin reminded him. “You did see them in the Winter Palace. We-the Reds-had heard about the bomb and I sent my spiders to find and disarm it. They made themselves obvious to you along the parade route to warn you. They had just located the bomb when you interfered. If you had just kept your hands to yourself, none of those people would be sitting in prison right now.”

A heavy hand of guilt pressed against Thad’s back.

“I fail to follow your logic.” Sofiya crossed her arms. “The people at fault are you and General Parkarov. Parkarov placed the bomb, not Thad. He ordered those poor people brought in, not Thad. Your spiders failed to find the bomb earlier. You failed to inform us of your plans so we could remain aloof. Don’t try to blame us for your shortcomings, Mr. Griffin.”

“Sofiya,” Thad murmured. He recognized the clockwork temper flaring.

“I have no shortcomings,” Mr. Griffin snapped. “Everything was proceeding according to plan until the two of you interfered, and now I’m forced to alter my plan and bring you in before you do something worse.”

“Perhaps we could all have some vodka and caviar,” Zygmund said. “I have some nice-”

“Why don’t you just kill us with your little spiders,” Sofiya snarled, “since we interfere so? You could pour our cerebrospinal fluid into your brain jar.”

“Because you’re useful,” Mr. Griffin said. He seemed to have gotten himself back under control, though the fact that he had lost control, even for a moment, was interesting to Thad. “You are both favored of the tsar, and Mr. Sharpe is talented at manipulating clockworkers. He has done a marvelous job of manipulating you, Miss Ekk.”

“What?” Sofiya was in a full temper now. She whirled on Thad, eyes flashing. Maddie’s claws flashed at her shoulder.

“Doom!” Dante squawked.

“Sofiya,” Thad said, thinking quickly, “Mr. Griffin is the manipulator here. You’re smarter than that. He thinks you’re less intelligent than he is, and he thinks you’re not smart enough to figure out what he’s doing. He’s trying to make you upset, unhappy, angry. Remember what happens when you become angry. Remember your sister. Remember Olenka.”

Thad spoke in a low, fast voice. For some reason, clockworkers responded to patterns in speech, though Thad was rarely in a position to talk to them. An angry Sofiya was unpredictable enough, and an angry Sofiya in this place was a disaster.

“Remember Olenka,” he said again. “Remember Olenka.”

The anger left Sofiya’s eyes. She backed up a step and put a hand to her mouth. “No,” she said. “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” Thad said. “It’s all right. We’ll talk about it later.” He raised his voice and switched to Polish. “Very amusing, Mr. Griffin.”

“You have demonstrated your talent admirably,” Griffin said. “Manipulating a clockworker to prove that you hadn’t manipulated her. Brilliant!”

“I-” Sofiya said.

“So you want me to help you keep the clockworkers in line and use my influence with the tsar to aid your cause,” Thad said.

“You think well for an ordinary man,” Griffin said.

Thad tried not to be insulted and focused instead on how he had been correct, that Griffin’s ego was enormous and that it needed constant care and feeding. It made him feel better, more in control. He touched Dante’s wings with his brass hand, and Dante ducked his head.

“Why don’t we simply kill Parkarov?” Sofiya said. “It would be easy enough.”

“Not yet,” Zygmund spoke up. “The tsar would assume-rightly this time-that a clockworker was behind his death, and it would only make the situation worse. Mr. Sharpe, right now we need you to use your influence at court to slow or stop this massacre. Miss Ekk, any invention of war that you can create for us would be helpful. And we always need money.”