Chapter Thirteen
The Council chamber was a wide, circular room dominated by a huge oak table in its center. The walls were paneled, each panel bearing a neatly executed oil painting depicting one of the great moments in Ondinium's history.
Two of the panels had been pushed aside, revealing a broad metal sliding door. It, too, had been opened, just wide enough to allow a person to pass through.
'I guess that's it.' Taya circled the table and set down the lantern. 'Although whoever went through here wasn't wearing wings.' She leaned against the edge of the door, then yelped as it moved easily, nearly sending her sprawling. She straightened up, studying it. 'Must have ondium counterweights.'
'Be careful.' Cristof joined her. 'If there are any Torn Cards in there—'
'They'll be planting bombs, not running programs,' she reminded him.
'Let's hope there are no more bombs involved.' He picked up the lantern and looked down the dark tunnel. 'I don't want to lose you, too.'
Taya glanced at him. He was still frowning into the darkness. Feeling daring, she wrapped a hand around his shoulder harness and tugged him down, kissing his cheek.
His copper skin flushed as he glanced at her.
'What…' he pushed up his glasses. 'What was that for?'
'For saying something sweet for a change.'
'I — oh.' He looked disconcerted. 'I hadn't intended to be sweet.'
Taya rolled her eyes. 'That doesn't surprise me.'
'Last night I was a slagging pain in your tailset.'
'That's why you need to work harder on sweet.' She took the lantern from him. 'Come on, let's go find your Torn Cards.'
The tunnel to the Great Engine was wide enough for two people without wings to walk abreast and almost as tall as a normal room, which meant they had to walk in single file and lock their wings into tight position — only head-high, but with the joint sharply angled forward over their shoulders and their primaries jutting backward an arm's length behind them. After twenty feet they came to another door, also metal and also ajar.
Cristof eased it wider, needlegun pointing inside. After a moment he stepped through, waving Taya after him.
The momentary playfulness that had affected her in the Council chamber had passed, and now Taya found herself growing tense. A deep, rhythmic rumbling vibrated through the air, tickling the thick soles of her flight boots and trembling through her wing feathers. The sound of the Great Engine, she guessed, her palms sweating.
They came to a third open door. A sign on it declared,
Oporphyr Council Analytical Engine: Authorized Personnel Only Beyond This Point.
Cristof stepped through, pistol out.
Beyond it, stairs spiraled downward into the center of the mountain. The air was still and warm, and when Taya put a hand on the walls, she felt the stone shivering beneath her fingertips.
Cristof locked his wings into high position for the stairs, scowling at the inconvenience as he juggled his needlegun from hand to hand. Taya, better accustomed to the inconveniences of an armature, followed suit.
The rumbling grew stronger as they descended, finally becoming audible as a constant mechanical thumping. The sound came from the steam engines that powered the Great Engine, Taya guessed, although they were much louder than those that powered the analytical engine in the University basement.
The stairs ended in a short hallway and another door.
Oporphyr Council Analytical Engine. All visitors must be accompanied by Security.
Cristof gave it a push. Pale light spilled into the stairwell and the rumbling, thumping sound increased. The exalted peered through.
Taya turned down the lantern and set it on the stair step.
Satisfied with whatever he saw, Cristof opened the door the rest of the way and twisted, slipping his wings through. Taya slid in after him, then straightened.
The door opened onto a long, wide catwalk that ran in either direction around the hollow core of the mountain. Metal lines coiled around the walkway and stretched across the wall like thick spider webs, feeding banks of lights that gave off a brighter glare than any gas lamp Taya had ever seen. The lights all faced inward, highlighting the huge hollow chamber at the heart of Ondinium Mountain and the gargantuan, floating, constantly moving mechanism that was the Great Engine.
Stunned by its size, Taya stepped up to the iron railing and looked down.
The Engine plunged down as far as she could see, level upon level of moving clockwork. Pistons as tall as trees shifted back and forth. Gears and wheels the size of wagons and mansions spun in midair, locked to each other by the intricacy of their design and the light, narrow wires that held the lighter-than-air components together. Levers as tall as wireferry towers shifted up and down with jarring clicks, and thick cables carried power from the steam engines that chugged on every catwalk. Giant drums the size of Taya's eyrie apartment spun in the center of a weaving, bobbing network of metal arms.
They stood at the very top of the hollow mountain. But even here, at its narrowest point, Taya couldn't see the other side of the catwalk. The chamber was too breathtakingly vast, the Great Engine too colossal.
She didn't know how long she stood there, staring. At last she released the rail and looked around for Cristof.
He was as enraptured by the sight as she, his needlegun dangling from one hand and his eyes wandering over the cables and moving parts. She reached for the gun and he started, his hand tightening on it again.
'That's carbon-filament incandescent lighting,' he said, raising his voice to be heard over the clatter. He pointed at the banks of lights. 'I've never seen it used outside a technology exhibit. Look — it's powered by the steam engines. No smoke!'
'Come closer and take a better look,' she said, waving him over. He shook his head.
'I'm fine.'
'After flying all the way to the top of Ondinium, you're still not over your fear of heights?'
'Not in this lifetime.' He craned his neck to look through the open railing. 'Do you see anyone?'
'No, but it's a long way down.' She held out a hand. 'Come on and look. I'll hold you steady.'
He gritted his teeth, then edged forward, ignoring her hand and standing sideways to the railing.
'Stubborn.' She hooked her fingers through a strap on his harness. 'See, I've got you.'
He grabbed the railing with his free hand and glanced down, his muscles tense. Then his head snapped back and he pushed up his glasses as though afraid of losing them.
'It's impossible to see anything down there,' he complained. 'It's all hazy.'
'Probably smoke from the steam engines, or grease spray from the gears. They must keep the machine oiled somehow.' Taya leaned over the rail, heedless of Cristof's flinch. 'This space is so big, I'll bet it has own weather patterns. I can feel an updraft.' She released Cristof's harness to lean out as far as she could and held her hand palm-down, flat over the chasm. Warm air pushed against it.
'Be careful!'
'Relax. There's plenty of room to fly here. Lots of clearance around the sides of the Engine, and even some around the gears and pistons. I'll bet flying through the Engine isn't much more dangerous than flying through the lines on Tertius.' She frowned, studying the mechanism. 'Although I wouldn't want to get a feather caught between those gears.'
