Fianna Kelly Versus the Jeebees: A Collection of Steampunk Stories (30 page)

She
replied, "In the right hands, it keeps the world running. In the wrong
ones, it destroys cities. You can ask your cousin about it when we get
back."

She
addressed the sailors, "Do we have a medic here?"

One
man said, "We have the kit from the Clover with us, but we aren't trained
for a situation like this."

She
said, "Okay, I will do my best." She took the kit and found something
that looked like tweezers, only much cruder. "Look what they put into the
survival kit; Scotch Whiskey. It's almost pure alcohol and will probably
hurt... a lot." She opened it and poured some on my back. She sang a
little ditty as she worked:

5 bits
of shrapnel pulled out
5 pieces of steel
grab one today
toss it away
6 pieces of shrapnel all gone
[xii]

I
screamed and I cried until I passed out. That probably made it easier for Gwen
to work. When I revived, I was laying on my stomach and Gwen was holding my
hand. I looked around and we were by ourselves.

"I
sent the men on. If the army was punctual, there should be a full-scale battle
going on in the centre of this mountain. How do you feel?"

"Why
do people ask me what they already know?"

"Because
we care about you."

"A
jeebee commander once accused me of asking questions that I knew the answer to.
I lied to it so it would keep talking."

"I'm
not lying to you, and I know you are in pain. I am hoping it's not as bad
now."

"I
feel a tiny bit better than before. Now my back only feels like someone ran a
cheese grater down it."

"If
you feel well enough to walk, we can see how the battle is progressing."

"What
happened to the three jeebees down that tunnel?"

"They
were blown to pieces along with their device. The bulletproof glass kept your
bullets out but couldn't handle the force when your automaton exploded."

"Did
you say 'bulletproof glass'? I don't think that can exist."

"We
call it that, but it's really other things mixed with the glass."

"I
didn't come this far to miss the ending... Can you give me a hand up, or
two?"

She
stood first and let me pull myself up. It was a long walk and I was moving
fairly slow. We encountered nothing hostile until we reached the centre.

The
cavern was enormous. On the far wall, the jeebees had installed all of their
equipment. I recognised some of it, but not everything. In the centre of the
cavern were about a hundred jeebees with their weapons at their feet. They were
surrounded by soldiers and sailors with their rifles and pistols drawn.

Off
to the right side, I saw Captain Plumer talking to a green jeebee. He noticed
us and sent a man to bring us to him.

The
man said, "The jeebee says it wants to surrender to our officer, but it
won't talk to any of us."

"It
will talk to me. They've always thought I was an officer."

I
looked at Gwen, "Would you please run and shut off all their devices? I
don't want any more surprises today."

I
tried to walk as if I was okay and hoped I could fool it. I addressed the
Captain, "Go and tell your men to watch the jeebees carefully. They can
use their legs like we use our arms and those rifles are too close to make me
feel comfortable."

I
moved as close to it as I dared. I wanted to speak to it privately, but there
was no chance of that. I would have to be satisfied with talking quietly.

It
spoke first. "I wish to negotiate our surrender with you."

I
asked it where the people were that they had abducted. It told me, without a
hint of pride, glee, or malice. It calmly explained what they had done with the
people and animals they had taken. I now knew the answer to the biggest mystery
of the decade... and wished I didn't.

Then
it talked about all the good things that they could do. There was mention of
how the planet could still be saved from man's mistakes. It talked about
starvation, overpopulation, mining, and deforestation.

Every
sentence it spoke started with the words 'With our help' and included 'you
could'. It was not surrendering, but trying to coerce me into conquering the
world with them at my side. It didn't realise that I had no desire to rule.
This was like when the Captain Benton surrendered. It was offering me all it
had and to serve me.

Having
finished its speech, I had a chance to respond. I asked it, "Is this all
of your kind here? Are there any other officers or Lowers hiding in spots
around the world?"

"This
is all that is left of us. We came here hoping to survive and lead your kind.
You have reduced us to three officers and these remaining Lowers. We only wish
to survive now." it replied.

I
said, "I know what you are trying to do. That is a poor attempt at
persuasion. I learned about it from a master and you aren't even good enough to
be called a novice. Do you really think you can fool me by changing your
tactics? This isn't a surrender. It is an attempt to insinuate yourselves into
our society and then take control when there are more of your kind here."

I
drew my pistol and shot it until I ran out of bullets. The soldiers reacted
instinctively and followed my lead.

The
two remaining jeebee officers were having problems getting their thoughts
organised to control their Lowers. A dozen jeebees managed to pick up their
rifles, but were immediately seen as a threat and targeted by the sailors. My
men were obviously taking care where they fired as I didn't get hit by any
bullets. I looked around and saw Gwen was down on one knee and shooting the
jeebees with her pistol.

I
backed away from them since the stench was building. I switched to the shotgun
shell and looked to see if any commanders were still standing. One was
attempting to run away and I shot it in its back. It fell down before it got
far. I approached it, removed its helmet, and kicked it in the head until it
stopped screaming. Gwen came over, looked at it, and stomped on its head with
her heels.

The
battle was over in a few minutes. Only a few of my men had been shot and they
would wake up with nasty headaches. The jeebees were all on the floor but
Bradan was no longer able to bury them.

Gwen
walked over to me, looking at me strangely. She said, "You saw that it was
unarmed."

"I
saw that."

"You
heard it say it was surrendering."

"I
heard that."

"Why
did you kill it? The rules of war state we don't kill those who surrender and
they don't try to kill us anymore."

"I
didn't agree to those rules. Neither did the jeebees."

"You
are upset about your automaton, aren't you?"

"I
am upset about that too."

"What
else was there?"

"You
never saw or heard of a jeebee before you arrived here, did you?"

"No,
I didn't. What does that matter?"

I
sighed and said, "Sometime in the next five centuries we would have killed
them all anyway. The longer they survived, the greater chance you would have
known about them."

"Oh!
How long have you realised that?"

"Remember
your first night here?"

"I
remember the night we talked for hours in the dark?"

"That
was when I knew we could leave none of them alive once we found where they were
based; not a single one. They had to be a footnote in human history, nothing
more."

"And
all this time, you've born this responsibility alone. You could have shared it
with me."

"You
said you knew things about the future that you could not share with me. This is
exactly the same. Telling you would have changed events. It was something I had
to keep to myself."

"Surely,
there could have been a compromise between us and them."

"In
order for you to exist as you are, the jeebees couldn't. I chose you and not
them. That was before I knew you were a distant part of my family. When we
discovered that, I knew in my heart that this was the only choice."

I
wandered back through the tunnels with Gwen following behind me. When I got
outside, I fired the Very pistol and watched the flare go up and drift down. My
airship dropped down about as quickly to where I was standing. The men brought
out the wounded ones first. I ordered them to get some rest in the second floor
rooms.

Gwen
ran back into the cave and returned with men carrying out the jeebee devices. I
asked her playfully, "Who said you could order my men around?"

She
laughed and said, "I tried to move one myself and then asked them nicely
for their help."

One
man came out with the officer's robes and helmets. I asked him, "Why do we
need those?"

The
man said, "I just assumed she wanted them too."

I
replied, "Okay, toss them someplace where I can't smell them."

I
took count and verified we were all on board the Clover before we took off. I
instructed the pilots to head to Liverpool at any speed they wanted and I told
everyone that we were going to have a party when we arrived.

It
was raining buckets. Gwen and I had gotten thoroughly soaked running from our
guest rooms to the commissary for breakfast. I was still feeling miserable from
yesterday and the rain didn't improve my mood. I sat quietly in my stateroom
listening to the sounds the rain made hitting the balloon.

I
could see Colonel Reynolds approaching and met him at the door. He reached
inside his raincoat and handed Gwen and I each an envelope. I was amazed at the
amount of the cheque inside and stared at it. He said, "We weren't certain
of the amount this time so we guessed. We also took into consideration that
these would be the last bounties paid out for them."

I
asked, "Do you have a fund for injured soldiers and their families?"

"Yes,
we do. I take it you ladies would like to contribute something."

Gwen
and I both nodded our heads. She said, "Let's make this easy." She
ran up the stairs and came back with a jar of gold coins. She handed him the
jar and said, "This is from both of us."

"I
thank you and many families will thank you."

I
asked him. "Colonel, when will someone be here to take the remaining
ammunition, the Gatling gun, and my uniform?"

"I
don't think we need any of those returned. I believe the expression is 'One
never knows when the opportunity comes along to help another'. Captain Plumer
mentioned you had a pirate friend with a destiny to help others. I think you
share that destiny."

"But
what about the agreement regarding the Clover and the railway gun."

"There
have been many changes since you left and the only copy of that agreement has
been burned with the approval of all remaining parties."

Gwen
asked, "Remaining parties?"

The
Colonel said, "We have five men in our stockade that were glad to see your
safe return."

I
asked, "Why are they in the stockade?"

"We
caught them informing the jeebees that you were coming. Had tomorrow morning
come and you had not returned, they would have been shot."

"What
will happen to them now?"

"They
will get a fair trial and then be shot."

He
thanked us again for the donation and headed back into the rain. I asked,
"How much was in that jar?"

 She
said, "A lot less than we were just paid."

I
said, "I guess I'm out of a job. I think I'll wait until we get home to
ask what to do with my airship."

"That's
a good idea. It would not be amusing if your employers told us to leave the
Clover here and walk home."

"They
will know we killed the last of the jeebees as soon as they read the Colonel's
report. With any luck, the rain will pass and we will be in flight
shortly."

We
played several games of draughts. Gwen would usually win as I wasn't trying. I
think she let me win the last one. It felt good that I wasn't a piece on a
board anymore to be pushed about by unseen players.

There
was an opening in the clouds that we shot through to get above them. Rain
clouds were not pretty looking up at them, but weren't so bad when looking from
above. I asked the pilots to go as fast as we could safely go anyway. Gwen and
I just sat there dreaming aloud about what we could do.

The
pilots set us down as close as possible to Felix's lab. He had heard the
airship coming, but was still surprised when he saw us. He was even more
surprised when we opened the cargo doors. The men took a long time carefully
unloading all the scientific equipment. It filled up the few open spaces
remaining in the lab. I thought about how much easier it would have been if
Bradan was still here and barely managed to keep from crying.

Felix
offered to return the favour and help the pilots get the Clover into her
hangar. He hitched his horses to a wagon as we headed back into the sky. I had
Asher turn on all the lights, perhaps for the last time. We got the ship
settled, our luggage repacked, and loaded on the wagon. I mentioned that we
might not see the pilots or the Clover again. We shook hands and hugged as
appropriate before splitting up and heading out.

Gwen
asked Felix if he had what he needed to repair his time viewer. His reply was
noncommittal. He dropped Gwen and I off and then helped me with my trunk.
Gwen's trunk helped itself into the house. I gave him a big hug and watched him
drive off.