Agatha H. and the Airship City

Gil nodded. For a Spark, this was solid stuff. Any number of devices had been built because “The cats on the moon told me to.”

Agatha frowned. “Wait. You don’t know what this is? But if you saw me put it together—”

Gil shrugged. “Oh, I know most of how you did it—You had me playing assistant half the night. But that’s a lot different from actually firing it up and seeing what it does. Maybe I’ll get Wooster to do it.”

“What?”

“Just kidding.” Gil grinned. A part of Agatha noted with a touch of embarrassment how much she enjoyed seeing his smile. He pulled a bizarre pocket watch out of his waistcoat and clasping her wrist, began to check her pulse. His hand was warm and comfortably strong. “Hmm. Accelerated pulse. So, how are you feeling?”

Agatha thought about it. “Good,” she realized, with a touch of surprise. “A little tired. Hungry.”

Gil snapped the watch lid shut and gestured towards a long table along the wall. “Hardly surprising, you’ve been working all night. I had the kitchens bring up some food. Help yourself.”

A large covered basket revealed a stack of warm crusty loaves of French-style bread. A block of sweet Irish butter was surrounded by several different types of cheese, including a sharp orange cheddar webbed with fiery spices, a buttery gouda baked into a flaky crust and a pungent bleu which contained small salt crystals that crunched between your teeth. Platters of cold meats, an astonishing selection of various puddings and sausages and smoked fish from all over the Empire. Several small crocks contained pickled vegetables.

Hungry as she was, Agatha swiftly constructed a massive sandwich and was in the process of topping it off with a potent garlic mustard that was a Beetleburg favorite, when she realized that the young man was observing her closely. He nodded when he saw that she had noticed. “You seem very…” He considered his words carefully. “Together.”

Agatha quickly checked her attire and then hefted the finished sandwich self-consciously. “Yes—I’m all dressed and everything.”

Gil waved that aside. “No, no. When a Spark breaks through, it’s usually very traumatic. A fair number go mad. Since they’re made during these periods of great emotional pain and confusion, breakthrough devices usually cause a lot of destruction. It’s how a lot of Sparks get killed. But you—even your first clank in Beetleburg was fairly benign. You haven’t broken through so much as eased through. My father will find this very interesting.”

Agatha swallowed. “You’re telling your father?”

Gil nodded. “Oh yes! He was totally wrong about you! He still thinks von Zinzer is the Spark! Hee!” It was obvious that catching his father in a mistake was the best thing to happen to Gil in quite some time.

“But I don’t want to be ‘studied,’” Agatha objected. “What if I end up like… like Dr. Vapnoople?”

Gilgamesh was instantly serious. “What makes you think you’ll end up like Dr. Vapnoople?”

Agatha blinked. “Oh. Ah…”

Gil’s eyes narrowed. “How do you even know who he is?”

“I don’t really, but his cat warned me.” The sentence actually formed in Agatha’s head, but common sense kept it from being spoken. Luckily, she was spared further interrogation by a blast of sound that came from a set of whistles set into the wall. Both Agatha and Gilgamesh clapped their hands to their ears. “What is that?” Agatha shouted.

Gil leaned close to her and shouted back. “Evacuation alarm! There isn’t a drill scheduled, so let’s move!” With that he grabbed her hand and took off for the exit. Pipes were whistling all through the section, and Agatha saw people emerging from various doorways, some of them frantically clutching armloads of papers or equipment.

“Evacuation?” she yelled over the din, “You mean off the Castle?”

Gil shrugged. He seemed remarkably unconcerned. “Probably not,” he shouted back. “Just out of the labs. If it’s really bad, we’ll head to one of the support dirigibles.”

Agatha stopped suddenly, almost jerking Gil off his feet. “Wait! My little clanks!”

Gil frowned. “You don’t have time to collect them!”

Ignoring him, Agatha cupped her hands and roared down the hallway, “FOLLOW ME!”

From the doorway of the lab, a glittering carpet of tiny devices poured out into the hall. Suddenly the flood paused, and the giant mystery clank smashed through the doorframe. It moved quickly, but with a delicate mincing step that managed to avoid crushing any of the smaller machines that swarmed around its feet.

“But what are they even good for?” Gil yelled.

“If I leave them behind, we’ll never know!”

With that the two again headed towards the exit. Agatha noticed that the hall was now empty, except for them. Gil explained, “We’re experimenting with dangerous stuff here. Once the alarm goes off, we have two minutes to get out of the labs before they’re sealed off.”

“Does this happen a lot?”

Gil shrugged. “Every couple of weeks. You’ll get used to it.” They turned the corner and saw the exit doorway. Beyond it an anxious crowd was gathered, arms loaded with items. At the sight of Gil and Agatha, they raised a cheer and called encouragement. On the doorframe itself, lights were blinking, and a digital display across the top was counting down the seconds. As Agatha watched, it clicked to 21. With a gasp, they crossed the threshold. Agatha felt embarrassed at how out of shape she was, and with a guilty start, realized that she was leaning on Gil’s arm. She jerked herself off just as Gil’s hand was about to delicately ease itself onto her shoulder. With only a slight hesitation, said hand smoothly fished out his watch instead. He nodded.

“That’s cutting it a bit fine. But now we should find my father and help—”

“WAIT!” Agatha had screeched to a halt. “The prisoner!”

Gil looked at her blankly, then he frowned. “Othar? What about him?”

“He’s still locked up in your father’s lab. If it’s something dangerous, he’ll be helpless!”

“Your point being… ?” Agatha frowned. Gil lowered his eyes. “Look, you’ve got to understand. I’ve known Othar a long time. He’s completely insane. He’s probably the cause of this alarm. He’s very dangerous, especially to you—because—”

A collective gasp from the crowd caused him to look up in time to see Agatha darting back down the corridor just as the counter clicked to “0,” and the great metal doors clanged! shut. Instantly a shrill metallic keening arose from the floor. Everyone looked down and saw the swarm of little clanks frantically scrabbling at the closed door. The crowd shrieked and scuttled away, anxiously checking skirt hems and pant cuffs. Gil sighed and rolled his eyes, then squatted down and addressed them. “If you want me to go in after her, you’ll have to help me open that door!” The array of little machines stared back at him. He sat back upon his heels and felt slightly foolish. Why had he allowed himself to succumb to the impulse to talk to them like they could do could actually do anything—

With the sound of a thousand tiny relays flipping to a new setting, the little clanks pulled out, re-arranged themselves into, or simply grabbed a neighbor who was thus revealed to be part of, a vast set of miniature tools, with which they instantly attacked the great metal doorway that stood between them and their mistress.

On the other side of said door, Agatha was having second thoughts as she raced back down the corridor. Turning the bend, she almost plowed into the large mystery clank, which was jogging towards her. She swerved to the left, caromed off the corridor wall and kept on going. The clank jabbed a leg forward, pivoted around it with a screech until it was facing the way it had come, and then clanked off after her.

“What am I doing?” she muttered. “The Baron’s labs are probably even bigger than Gilgamesh’s. How can I find Othar quickly?”

“A-ha!” a voice rang out from an open doorway. “The reticent damsel answers the call of adventure!”

Agatha skidded to a halt and looked in. For a fellow who was chained upside down surrounded by an array of spring-loaded weapons all aimed at him, Othar looked remarkably cheerful, not to mention a bit smug. Agatha took a deep breath and went up to him. Behind her, the great metal clank tried, with qualified success, to ease itself