Steven Harper - The Impossible Cube

“Grind these ends smooth,” he boomed. “And be quick about it! Maybe then I can ride you into battle.” Then he turned away and flung a handful of bolts at one of the little whirligigs, who caught them in midair. He didn’t even seem to recognize Alice. At first she felt indignant. Then she felt sickened. She told herself it was the clockwork plague, not him, and when a clockworker entered a fugue, nothing mattered but the work, but she still felt like she’d been slapped.

“What are you waiting for, girl? The usual offer to tup you for half a sandwich?” Gavin snarled. His eyes were wild and his hair half stood up. Oil streaked his face and hands like blood. “Move!”

Face flaming, Alice did as she was told, and when she was finished, accepted another snarl from Gavin, this time to tighten bolts. The little automatons flitted and scampered about. He snatched her automatons and spiders one by one, opened them up, and changed their memory wheels around. They squeaked in protest, and Alice bit back a cry of alarm. Dr. Clef worked elsewhere, shouting orders at Kemp and Nathan. Click stayed out of the way. Alice felt as tense as the metal she tightened.

“Faster!” Gavin bellowed at her. “You’re slow and clumsy. Typical of dog meat.”

Alice kept her head down, feeling small and stupid and hating herself for it. Gavin had become another person, a sneering stranger, and she didn’t like him. Telling herself that it wasn’t his fault didn’t help much. After being barked at for the fourth time, she began to see why so many clockworkers were forced to build automaton assistants. The only saving grace was that Gavin and Dr. Clef seemed to be working three times as hard as anyone else.

“Hey!” Gavin dropped the automaton he was altering and dashed over to Dr. Clef, who was frantically reworking a set of wheels. “Those measurements are wrong, you fat idiot. You’re off by a good sixteenth-inch.”

Dr. Clef’s jowls reddened. “You’re not half the man your mother is, you grease-faced dog. The tracks are clearly-”

“Did you think I can’t see the obvious?” Gavin barked. “My mind is sharper than any tool you’ll ever touch, and certainly a good deal larger.”

Dr. Clef picked up a sledgehammer and hefted it with an ease and power that caught Alice off guard. She had forgotten that the clockwork plague enhanced his strength and reflexes just as much as Gavin’s. “We will see how large a tool I have.”

“Just a moment!” Nathan plucked the hammer from Dr. Clef’s hand. “Over there, Doctor. Does that axle look crooked to you?”

“And, Gavin,” Alice said, hurrying forward, “I don’t think that automaton is functioning properly.”

Both clockworkers turned, distracted, and moved fairly quickly to their new tasks. Nathan set the sledgehammer down.

“Clockworkers don’t work well together in fugue,” he murmured.

“I can see that,” Alice said.

“You!” Gavin snapped. “The one with an ass like a bag of laundry! Bring me that box of parts.”

“Don’t shout back. You just saw how it only makes them worse,” Nathan said quietly. “And don’t take it personally.”

Alice’s jaw was tight. “I’m trying.”

In a surprisingly short time the Lady sported three sets of train wheels on her underside, and all the automatons had been modified. Still, the sun was setting, and Alice felt dirty, greasy, and half starved, and the steady stream of invective stuck like pitch to her skin. It would never come off.

“We’re done,” she called up to Gavin, who was busy carving ivy leaves into a box that he had mounted on the deck. The box had two buttons on it, one red and one green. His hands moved with inhuman speed. “Gavin! We’re done!”

“Not close, you ignorant filth. Do something useful with your fingers besides twiddle yourself, and bring me a screwdriver.”

Setting her mouth, Alice strode up the gangplank and grabbed him by the shoulders. He shook her off and snarled at her like a dog. A blob of spittle flew from his mouth and landed warm on the back of her hand. She jumped back, eyes wide at the monstrosity of it.

“How dare you lay hands on me?” he snarled. “Keep your disgusting hands to-”

Water doused him from head to foot. It plastered his hair to his scalp and ran off him in rivulets. Gavin gasped and gaped for a long moment. Alice scrambled backward and Nathan set down his bucket.

“Are you yourself, then?” he asked Gavin mildly.

There was a long pause. Gavin dropped the tools, and they thudded on the planking. “Are we done? What time is it? Why am I all wet?” His voice was normal, and held none of the sneering tone she’d been hearing all afternoon. She felt so relieved, she was afraid she would half burst into tears, but she was angry, too. Why hadn’t he come out of it when she talked to him?

“We had to snap you out,” Alice said stiffly. “Thank you, Mr. Storm. We should get moving, before someone spots the ship and gossip spreads.”

Gavin uselessly mopped at his face with his sopping sleeve. “Did it work? Are we ready? Why won’t anyone answer me?”

“I’m assuming it worked.” Alice forced her voice to stay level. Looking at Gavin made her angry at the way he had treated her. It’s not his fault. It’s not his fault. He told me to walk away, she told herself. But it didn’t help. “You and Dr. Clef were doing nothing but decoration, and we probably shouldn’t wait for that.”

“You’re mad at me,” he said. “Did I say or… do anything to you? God, Alice, I’m sorry. I don’t-”

“Not now, Gavin,” she said. “We need to move.”

Gavin looked like someone had kicked his puppy. She knew she was being unreasonable, that she should apologize or offer to hear him out, but she couldn’t seem to do it.

“We’re ready up here,” she called over the gunwale.

Nathan had disembarked. The Lady was still floating a few feet above the ground, and her new wheels just barely cleared the green grass. Dr. Clef, also out of his fugue, was hitching the horses to the front of the airship with Nathan’s help.

“Give it a little more power, my boy!” Dr. Clef called up.

Gavin went to the paraffin oil generator and adjusted the dials. The purring grew louder and more steam emerged. The endoskeleton glowed a little brighter, and the Lady rose higher, but only about a foot.

“Clear!” Nathan called from the horses, and flicked the reins. The four horses started forward, towing the ship, which slid forward at a quick, even pace.

“It works,” Alice said.

“So far,” Gavin said cautiously. “And we can come back for the wagon later. I’m just not so sure about the rest.”

Alice whistled, and whirligigs flew from a dozen different directions to hover in front of her, their brass parts glittering in the dying sunlight. Most of them were carrying at least one spider. “Thank you for your help,” she said. “We’re nearly set for the next step. Please stand ready.”

Looking excited, they flew up into the rigging like a cloud of mechanical bats.

“Do they understand please and thank you ?” Gavin asked.

“They seem to work better when I use those words, so I do,” Alice said. “I can’t explain it, so I don’t try.” Her words came out curt.

“Look, Alice, I’m sorry I-”

“Oh look-the tracks!”

The railroad tracks ran alongside the road Alice, Gavin, and Feng had taken into Luxembourg two days ago. No one was on them at the moment. Nathan guided the horses around until the airship was hovering just above the tracks.

“Down!” Nathan called.

With another glance at Alice, Gavin slowly powered down the generator. The blue glow lessened and the Lady sank like a woman settling into an armchair. Alice looked over the side. Kemp, Dr. Clef, and Nathan pushed and nudged the hull as it went down, making sure the new wheels lined up with the tracks. With a clunk, the ship dropped into place.