Agatha H. and the Airship City

Klaus looked embarrassed. “No—”

“YES!” Othar shouted. “Help!”

Bangladesh blinked in surprise. “He asked me to help!” She grinned and a blackened stiletto materialized in her hand. “A wise choice! Nobody knows more about torture then me!”

“I believe,” Klaus murmured, “he expected you to rescue him.”

Bangladesh pouted and the knife vanished. “What—Is he stupid?”

“A bit.” Klaus opened a slim leather volume that had been crudely adorned with hand-drawn skulls, scenes of decapitation, flogging and other acts of violence that Klaus carefully did not look at too closely. “I noticed something interesting in your latest log book…” He looked up. “A pity about that walking gunboat, by the way.”

“Yeah, that was over way too quick.”

Klaus opened his mouth, and then just sighed and shook his head. “What caught my eye was this note in your Phenomena Log.”

“The rain of marzipan?”

“No—though that is intriguing. I meant the apparitions.”

Bangladesh grew serious. “Yeah, those were weird.” She thought back. All trace of frivolousness was gone now. “The first time was when I was watching that gunboat burn. There was this… crackling in the air, a kind of hole in the sky opened up, and there were these people… it was like they were right next to me. One of them looked like Gilgamesh, but—” She thought. “But older than he is now. Not a lot older, but—” She patted Klaus’ great shoulders. “Bigger. Tougher. He’d been working out. And you could tell from his face that this guy didn’t go around moaning about how miserable his life was; he made life miserable for other people,” she said approvingly. “He looked right at me, like he could see me. And then he said ‘maniac.’ You know, I think maybe it was Gil, because he’s always saying pointless stuff like that.” Klaus forced himself to nod sympathetically.

“The second person was a girl. Light hair, fair complexion, a little shorter that Gil, big hips, but in good shape, not fat. Big glasses. She was running some sort of mechanism. When they appear she’s in mid-sentence and she says, ‘—A little earlier. How’s this?’

“A third guy, he’s shorter, darker, trim beard and moustache, kind of rumpled. Looks like a minion. He’s looking at the burning gunboat and he starts jumping up and down and shouting, ‘Yes! There they go! They made it!’

“At this point a Geister enters from the right. The others don’t even blink. She seems to be addressing the girl, and she says, ‘Mistress—you are needed.’

“The short guy says ‘Thanks.’ and the girl smiles and does something to the controls and the hole in the sky kind of collapses in on itself.” Bangladesh paused. “I just remembered. Gil was dressed like one of the Geisterdamen. It didn’t really suit him. Does any of that make sense to you?”

Klaus shook his head.

Bangladesh shrugged and continued. “Then, two weeks later, I’m investigating this burnt-out town, Furstenburg, which I did not do, when—ZAP! There’s another hole in the air. Same group of people, same situation. The girl says, ‘Okay, there’s Bang.’ Like she knows me, you know? Then she says, ‘You see your friends?’

“The little guy looks around and says, ‘Um… no, this isn’t the right place.’

“Gil notices that I’ve pulled my shooter and he says, ‘Hey mistress—’”

“Mistress?” Klaus asked sharply.

“That’s what he said. For what it’s worth, he looked kind of annoyed, and he’s saying it like he’s saying something stupid. So he says, ‘Hey mistress, she’s getting ready to shoot you.’

“The girl looks at me and says, ‘Don’t worry. I’m going to try—’ And then it was gone. Say, are you okay?”

This question was asked because Klaus was staring grimly at nothing, and his hands had crushed a metal canister without his knowledge. When he spoke, it was obvious that he was trying to project a calm demeanor. “This is very important news, DuPree. Thank you.”

To her astonishment, Bangladesh found that she was upset at Klaus’ obvious inner turmoil. She realized that she relied on Klaus’ imperturbability as a sign that all was well. Awkwardly she reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Hey. Don’t worry. What do I know? It couldn’t really have been Gil. You’ve had him caged up here for the last couple of months, haven’t you?”

Klaus went still, and the air of worry vanished. He turned to Bangladesh and nodded. “You are correct, of course. Thank you, DuPree.”

Bangladesh relaxed. “Always am. So. Any news about my problem?”

Klaus shook his head. “No. I told you I’d let you know.”

“It’s been three years.”

“And I’ve heard nothing.”

Bangladesh sighed, then shrugged. “Well, a group that tough can’t hide forever. I’ll be in dock for the next three days if you need me to burn down Sevastopol or something.”

Klaus waved his hand in dismissal. His brow furrowed in thought as DuPree strode out. “This is very bad,” he said conversationally. He turned towards Othar. “Surely even you realize—”

The examination table was empty. The restraints cut cleanly, as if by a scalpel. From behind, Klaus heard Othar’s triumphant voice, “Ha, villain! Realize that your reign of evil is at an end!”

Klaus sighed.

Agatha and Wooster stepped through a giant set of metal doors, and Agatha stopped in confusion. This was yet a different lab, still filled with a bewildering array of machines and benches, but the ceiling was easily thirty meters high. Almost one entire wall was covered in glass revealing a magnificent cloudscape, as well as several dozen of the Wulfenbach support fleet. On an outside ledge along the bottom, several gargoyle clanks squatted motionless. The center space was dominated, and almost filled, by pieces of a gigantic clank. With a shock, Agatha recognized a section of the exterior carapace, which was hanging from a set of enormous chains.

“It… that’s Mr. Tock!”

High above, Gilgamesh’s head and shoulders popped out from inside a cavernous hole in the massive chest plate. Agatha saw a large clock mechanism hanging beside it, waiting to be placed within. “Ah, Miss Clay! Wooster, do show her in!”

Tossing aside a large wrench, Gil clambered out onto a precariously balanced ladder, which began to fall backward. Agatha gasped, then blinked as Gil calmly stood on the falling ladder until it passed a hanging chain, which he snagged with one hand, as he kicked at the ladder with one foot. The ladder swung back into place with a thunk, just as Gil touched the ground next to Agatha and Wooster. “Today I’ll just show you around the lab and let you settle in.”

“Shall I fetch some tea, sir?”

Gil looked around and, not finding what he was looking for, shrugged and nodded. “That would be excellent, Wooster, thank you.” With a short bow, Wooster glided away. Agatha looked up at the immense clank.

“What are you doing with Mr. Tock?”

Gil blinked. “I’m fixing him, of course.” He patted a gigantic toe affectionately. “He’s too much a part of Transylvania Polygnostic’s history and tradition.” He then turned serious. “Dr. Beetle may be dead, but the University his family built will continue as he wanted it to.”

Agatha smiled. “That’s good.” They stood looking at each other awkwardly for a minute. Agatha looked around. “So how many labs do you have?”

Gil smiled. “Four. You’ve seen the flight lab, and you—” he coughed discretely—”saw the entrance to the chemical lab. This is the large mechanical lab, and my private lab and library are through those doors.”

“You really need four different labs?”

Gil snorted. “My father has forty-three onboard the airship, plus two ground-based complexes. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a model of efficiency.”

Agatha felt a light tug on her skirt and, looking down, saw a single eye staring at her from under an oversized hat. “Hello again.” Agatha smiled.