“We’ll have to disassemble it,” Hart said. “If we move it away piece by piece, we can get through. Won’t take as long as you might think.”
“But what do you think is inside?” She touched the rusty metal plating. “Will we ever be able to account for all the staff? The maid, the gardener, the other broken robot on the first flight of stairs … and probably most of the security-knights. That would be about twenty-three, wouldn’t it?”
“Close to it. Hopefully there will be clearer records in the main computer.”
Nyssa unshouldered her satchel and took out her screwdriver. “I’m supposed to bring Rivera the data, you know. He has legal right to it, as Dalhart’s business partner.”
“Undoubtedly.”
She found the first screw and turned it. “I don’t want to give him the files, though. Rivera may be a good man who would never do the things Dalhart did with the technology, but what if someone else gets a hold of this? Governments greedy for an army of robot-human hybrids? Mad men who just like to tinker with human subjects? Maybe this sort of knowledge is best forgotten.”
The screw fell into her hand. She dropped it between the stair steps and listened. After half a minute of not hearing the screw hit the bottom, she gave up and turned back to her work.
“I suppose you’re right, but what about the potential good we talked about?” Hart asked. “Limbs replaced? Possible lengthening of life? In the right hands, this technology could enhance and save lives.”
“Is it worth the risk of more people meeting the fate of Yancy and the other staff?” The fate of you.
“Every advancement has the potential for evil, Nyss. The question is, do you trust Rivera to use it for good?”
She paused in her work. “I don’t really know anything about Rivera. I only met his employee, Albriet … and his competitor. His competitor I wouldn’t trust with a rock and a stick, let alone world-altering scientific advancements.” She shuddered.
The last screw dropped after the first. She slid the front plate off the robot and laid it to the side. A handful of dust and a few wire-wrapped ribs greeted her. I’m sorry, whoever you were. I wish I could give you a better resting place than this.
“Do you want me to look for the memory wheel?” she asked, holding the RAM up to see into the body cavity.
“No.” The lights on the RAM pulsed. “I’m sure it will only tell us what the other two did, that this was once a person who endured a terrifying and unnecessary end. Besides, we’re almost to the main computer. Once I have access, I should be able to fill in any remaining blanks. Let’s let him be.”
With added reverence, Nyssa looked for the next set of fasteners.
“Nyss, you don’t have to answer this, but what did you do before you came here?”
Nyssa’s neck muscles tightened. “I was apprenticed to a videophone repairman.”
“I mean before that. Your skill set and your personality don’t match.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She avoided glancing at the RAM, not wanting him to see her face.
“I mean you seem honest and caring. You’ve done your best to calm me when I’m upset, and you’re giving me a chance to redeem myself. You don’t seem like the sort of person who should have intimate knowledge of lockpicks and security system weaknesses, but you do.”
“Maybe I just read a lot of detective novels.” She shrugged.
“If you want me to believe that, I will. However, I’ve told you everything I’ve found out in these computers, even at the risk of scaring you away, and you’ve given me the benefit of the doubt. I’d like you to trust me to do the same for you.”
Nyssa freed the second plate and placed it on top of the first. She sighed. “My parents died when I was ten, and my dad’s brother took me in. Mom and Dad were good people, honest, but poor. My uncle, on the other hand, was a waste of breath. He made it clear I was expected to work for my keep. First it was pickpocketing and acting as a lookout when he broke into homes and businesses, but as the years crept on, he taught me more and more of his trade. One day, though, he ended up in jail.
“I slipped through the cracks … not that I was eager to go to the orphanage. Since I needed to eat, I kind of continued with the only thing I knew.” She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. Stupid dust. “Anyway, I got quite good. One of the best in the business, partially because I don’t look like a thief, you know?”
“So how did you get out of it?”
“I got caught robbing a small shop on Clockwork Row. I was off my game that night, triggered a silent alarm and the owner, who lived above the shop, caught me. When Mr. C saw it was a kid staring down his revolver barrel, he took me in, helped me negotiate a pardon, then enrolled me at Miss Pratchett’s School for Mechanically Minded Maids. He had a job for me when I graduated. He gave me a second chance, helped me be the sort of person my parents wouldn’t be ashamed of. I really didn’t want to come back to this life. It just sort of … caught up with me.”
“Okay.”
The brevity of his reply made her raise her eyebrows. She moved aside the remainder of the mechanical parts and slipped through the narrow space. “Just 'okay'?”
“You left out some things, but it was enough to confirm my suspicions.”
“What suspicions were those?” She raised the RAM to stare into the glass.
“This entire time we’ve been together, you haven’t boasted, even when you have had reason. You’ve been very practical and understated about your abilities, so when you tell me you were one of the ‘best in the business’ I know you aren’t just polishing your fifth
