Steven Harper - The Impossible Cube

“Smuggling?” Alice raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Ennock, I am shocked!”

“Well, Luxembourg has high tariffs on certain items that made it more expensive to ship them in than the goods were worth, and we couldn’t always be- Oh.” He caught sight of Alice’s expression. “You were joking.”

“The famous dry British wit,” Feng observed. “So much like my father’s.”

“Madam,” Kemp said, “I am afraid I have to report that the food stores are nearly empty. Breakfast this morning drained what little we had.”

“Then we’ll have to get more,” Alice said. “How far away are we from the city?”

“Less than five miles,” Gavin said. “A decent walk, though we might be able to beg a ride from a farm wagon or a carriage. Alice, I think you should change into skirts. A woman in trousers attracts attention.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Alice sighed. “And, Kemp, you and Click will have to stay behind with the ship.”

“Madam!” Kemp huffed. “It is my duty to attend to Madam’s every need and comfort. I cannot do that when-”

“The Catholics have made you illegal in Luxembourg,” Alice said patiently. “Besides, the Third Ward is looking for a group that’s traveling with a mechanical servant and a clockwork cat.”

“Madam,” Kemp replied stiffly. On the ship above, Click put his ears back.

“No worrying,” Dr. Clef said. “I will also stay. I am working on a new piece, and the clicky kitty will keep me company.”

“What about food?” Gavin asked.

“There is sufficient for one person for a day or two,” Kemp said. “I said we had little, not none.”

Dr. Clef looked sly. “And it gives farms about, with fruit and vegetables in the fields. If you are gone for a few days, it matters nothing.”

“Right.” Gavin rumpled his hair. “That leaves you, Feng.”

“Oh?” The young man struck a pose. He was, as usual, quite good-looking, though nowhere near as handsome as Gavin, in Alice’s mind. “Do I stand out?”

“I know!” Alice plucked the goggles from Dr. Clef’s forehead and drew them down over Feng’s head, then extracted a red scarf from her pocket and wrapped it around the lower half of Feng’s face. “There! With the right hat, you’ll look like an airman instead of a mysterious Oriental. Around here, that shouldn’t attract attention.”

Feng made a horrified sound. “I was hoping my exotic good looks would attract a great deal of attention, if you understand my meaning.”

“Mr. Lung!” Alice admonished. “That’s hardly appropriate.”

“That is why my father asked you to bring me back to Peking,” Feng pointed out. “Unlike my father, when I see a pretty piece of… a pretty face, I become a bad diplomat.” His voice was muffled through the scarf. “But for your sake, my lady, I will try.”

“Your Ladyship,” Alice corrected. “A baroness isn’t rightly addressed as my lady. ”

“You see? Bad diplomat.” He straightened the goggles. “Let us go now. I will be hungry soon.”

“Feng,” Gavin said, “the jar?”

Feng’s almond eyes widened. “How could I have forgotten?” He dashed for the ship.

Alice, meanwhile, quickly changed into skirts in her tiny stateroom belowdecks and snatched up a cloth airman’s cap for Feng. She also took the book of figures. Gavin had changed out of his torn black clothes into a plain workman’s outfit, complete with a cloth cap of his own. He wore his fiddle case on his back, since he rarely went anywhere without it. Feng appeared with a rucksack that clinked. They bade Dr. Clef and the mechanicals good-bye and left.

“Are you still a baroness?” Gavin asked as the trio set off down the dusty, hedge-lined road toward Luxembourg. “I mean, you left the country and abandoned your fiance and became a traitor, so-”

“Titles are for life,” Alice said. “My father was the last Lord Michaels, and I was his only child. His only relative, really. When he passed away, that left me Alice, Lady Michaels, and I will be until I die, no matter how scandalously I behave, though if I have a child, things become complicated.”

“How?” Feng inquired. His feet kicked up small puffs of dust that hung on the still air. Birds called from the hedges and the trees that grew among them, and cows lowed from their pastures.

“For the line to continue, any child I have must be legitimate,” Alice said, flushing a little. The subject still made her uncomfortable, even though England was hundreds of miles away. “If Gavin and I don’t marry in a Christian church, our children won’t be…”

She trailed off in horror, realizing what she had just said. Gavin would never live to see children. Tears welled up, and she looked abruptly away.

Gavin squeezed her hand. “I don’t care if they’re titled or not,” he said brightly. “We aren’t going back to England, and that’s the only place the title matters. You will be my wife on our airship and the whole world will be our estate!” He spread his arms wide, then swept her into a kiss. “There! Title that!”

Alice had to laugh. “Thank you, Mr. Ennock.”

“You’re welcome, Miss No-Longer-Lady-Alice-Michaels,” he said impishly.

“I believe I will call you Miss A,” Feng said. “If you prefer.”

“Actually, I would not,” she said. “The Third Ward uses Christian names among themselves to show comradeship and to emphasize the fact that they operate outside the usual boundaries of society. Since we are traveling together outside the boundaries of society, and I have little use for my title anymore, I think I would prefer my Christian name. Feng.”

He put his fist into his hand and bowed to her in what Alice assumed was an Oriental fashion. “Then it will be so. Alice.”

“You must be looking forward to going home,” Alice said as they continued to walk.

Feng blinked at her. “What a strange thing to say.”

“Is it? I would think you would miss your homeland, though I would imagine it’s difficult to leave your father. Your mother will certainly be glad to see you.”

Feng was silent for a long moment. Then he said slowly, “I am not returning as any kind of hero, Alice. I thought you knew that.”

“Sorry?”

“I am returning in disgrace. The lowest disgrace you can imagine.”

“I don’t understand,” Gavin put in. “You and your father don’t want you to be a diplomat, so you’re going home to-”

“That is exactly the point, Gavin. I am a nephew to the emperor and my father’s only son. I should be following into his profession. But my father has decreed that I have failed him and the family, which includes the emperor.” Feng’s usual carefree demeanor had left him. The words came out slow and dull as lead pipe. “I am a failure and a disgrace. If I am very lucky, I will spend the rest of my days scrubbing chamber pots with the servants.”

“Good heavens,” Alice said. How outrageous this was! “Feng, I had no idea. You always seemed so cheerful. I assumed you were thrilled to get away from London and go home.”

Feng swiped a surreptitious finger under one lens of his goggles. “What is the worth of moping about? I will be unhappy enough later. In any case, I am in no hurry to face my disgrace, so I am in no hurry to arrive in China.”

“Why not simply disappear between here and there?” Gavin said reasonably. “You’re smart and know several languages. You could vanish into any number of places and live very well.”

“That,” Feng spat, “would show cowardice and bring even more disgrace to my family. I will not do that to them.”

“You are not a disgrace,” Alice said tartly. “Just now you helped save Gavin’s life. Surely that should count for something.”