Clockwork Chaos (25 page)

“Easy, please,” Cecil said.

Turning the knife back to Cecil, the man said, “If I could have all the coin in yours and the pretty lady’s purse, Milord?”

Elizabeth clutched her purse, thanking God that she had thought to leave the majority of her personal coin and papers at home this afternoon. Cecil nodded and slowly raised his arms so that the elbows were perfectly crooked.

“I need to retrieve it from my breast pocket,” Cecil said soothingly.

Elizabeth admired this man’s calm. For all her silence, calm was the furthest thing from describing her current feelings.

“Fine.
Slowly
,” the mugger warned.

And as slowly as he possibly could, Cecil began to reach for the pocket on the left side of his jacket. However, just as his hand was hovering over the pocket in question, he jabbed his hand right in front of the mugger’s face, holding it so that his wrist was stuck out. A small puff of smoke escaped from his wrist, and the mugger fell instantly to the ground, unconscious and the knife slipping from his fingers. Elizabeth’s eyes widened.

“How—?” she asked as Cecil’s arms moved gently about her shoulders, ushering her forth with him. Gerald followed close behind.

“We have to inform the constable, Liza,” he said hurriedly.

“But how did you do that? What
was
that smoke?”

“A type of knockout gas,” he said, spotting the park’s patrolling constable. “Wait here.”

Cecil rushed forward and talked a moment with the constable, pointing out the location of the slumbering mugger. With a nod, the officer rushed past Elizabeth to perform his duty. Cecil returned with a sigh.

“That was too close,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Elizabeth said dismissively. “But the knockout gas? How did you get it to puff out like it did?”

“Oh. Uh, this is how.”

He unbuttoned the cuff and sleeve of his right arm and rolled both toward his elbow. A long, golden pipe, with an opening that would be hidden just below the sleeve, ran up his arm. At the curve of the elbow it encircled his arm with an equally golden clamp. Attached to the pipe and hidden in the elbow’s curve were two very small vials of the knockout gas—one, of course, being empty now.

“May I?” Elizabeth asked, stepping forward without waiting for his consent.

She eyed the contraption hungrily, fascinated by it. It was an ingeniously simple device. She traced the pipe’s path with her gloved index finger, muttering to herself as she did.

“Liza?” Cecil asked, clearing his throat.

“It’s a pull switch,” she declared. “When you jerked your wrist forward, the pipe elongated just enough so that the seal to the first knockout gas was released, thus allowing it to travel up the pipe and into our attacker’s face.”

Now it was Cecil’s turn to be fascinated. His amber eyes doubled in size as he gently pulled his arm away from Elizabeth’s grasp. He pulled his sleeve and cuff back into place and shook his head in wonderment.

“And may I ask how you know about
that
?”

She felt herself blush, something she rarely did in response to a person. It was mostly a flush of success that she felt when her cheeks reddened.

“I... am an inventor... of sorts.”

And she paused, holding her breath for a moment. Most the men she knew would laugh at her instantly. A woman fancied herself an inventor? How ridiculous! But Cecil only stared at her for a moment, seeming to be deciding upon some course of action.

“Come with me, if you please. There’s something I would like to show you,” he said, ushering her forth to the edge of the park that met the street.

He threw his hand in the air and signaled for a carriage.

Elizabeth had heard of the manor that Lord Cecil Waltham had somehow acquired of his own means. It was a gorgeous place that was quaint, even in its large size. Flowered vines climbed the two stone towers that attached to the front of the building, its glass windows gleaming merrily in the sun. Its front doors were heavy, oak, and lightly stained. Cecil led her and Gerald into the main foyer, in which Elizabeth had to pause.

“Your home is beautiful,” she said, glancing at the delicately carved handrails to his staircase and the polished flooring.

“Yes, yes, but you’ve yet to see the best part,” he said, not unlike a child excited to receive a new toy.

He led her down a hall that ran beside the grand staircase and passed her by room after room. Finally, he came to a stop in front of a large door that looked similar to the one that graced the home’s threshold.

“Look,” he said breathlessly as he pushed open the door.

And Elizabeth gasped. The room beyond was one she had only
dreamed
of having for herself. Long, sturdy tables were strewn about here and there, covered in all manner of machinery and gears and tools. Schematics hung from almost every wall, tacked unceremoniously sideways and over older ones. Elizabeth stepped into the room, her boots’ heels clicking on the flooring. Above her hung several finished inventions that, had she been close enough to inspect, she was sure she would be envious of. This, by no doubt, was an
inventor’s
room. She whirled toward Cecil, beside whom Gerald stood in similar wonderment.

“An inventor? Is that how you bought this lovely home? Have you had anything patented?” she asked, stepping closer.

Cecil nodded proudly. “Yes, indeed. And I’ve had two inventions patented, and three pending. And one showing at the upcoming Expo.”

The Expo! Elizabeth’s heart soared, and she ran forward, stopping a bit too close to Cecil.

“You could sponsor me! I have an invention that I’ve been working on for
ages
. It still has some kinks, but I can surely have it done in time for the Expo!”

Cecil grinned. “I would love to... but I can’t sponsor something, sight unseen.”

“Of course not. If you could come by my house for tea tomorrow, I could show you some of my work.”

With a polite, small bow, he said, “I would be delighted.”

Elizabeth had spent the rest of that day talking with Cecil about his many complete inventions and a few that were not so complete. He seemed delighted to have someone with whom he could converse about such things, and she, likewise, was just as thrilled.

So as soon as tea at her home was finished the following day, she had lost no time in ushering Cecil up toward her room, Gerald following of course. Once inside, he complimented the décor, which she immediately let him know her utter hatred of it.

“Oh, lovely,” he said with a laugh. “Because it really is quite horrid.”

Standing with her back to the bed and trying her best not to bounce, girlishly, on the balls of her feet, she grinned.

“I’m about to show you something I’ve not shown anyone, save for Gerald here, of course. He was my very first invention!” she whispered almost feverishly.

“He?”

“Chipper! Come out and meet Cecil!” she called.

A little uncertain chitter followed. Elizabeth turned toward its source and began to try and coax her clockwork friend out. Eventually, Cecil stepped forward and said, “Please. I would very much like to meet you, Chipper.”

Scampering forward and scaling her gown, Chipper the Clockwork Chipmunk came to a rest on Elizabeth’s shoulder. Cecil gasped in surprise.

“Amazing!” he said, stepping forward to examine Chipper’s every gear and casing.

“I’m sewing his covering using fur from deceased chipmunks that I’ve found. Ghastly, I know, but poor Chipper deserves proper coverings.”

“I quite agree,” Cecil said, straightening. “And you say this is your first invention? It’s head and shoulders above my silly little walking-stick-that-walks, which was
my
first invention.”

Elizabeth laughed and Chipper chittered merrily in her ear.

“What is your second invention?”

“Well, I build machines for clients on the side, which I started shortly after I built Chipper. But I don’t count them. Instead, I count this.”

Reaching behind her bed, she snatched CAT from its hiding spot. A meow from somewhere around her pillow sounded, and Elizabeth absently reached over to scratch Bella behind the ear.

“This is Bella,” she said, gesturing to the calico. “And this is CAT. It means Chapeau of Animal Translation.”

“Clever. Talk me through it.”

And she did just that, explaining everything from its inception to the kinks she kept encountering. Finally, she ended with explaining her parents’ feelings on her “tinkering.”

“They don’t believe it’s proper, that I ought to stop. They don’t know about Chipper or CAT, only the failures I’ve had before. They don’t know about my extra coin either. If they knew that I wished to participate in the Expo they would be furious.”

“Nonsense,” Cecil said, still eyeing CAT. “This is a sound device that only needs a bit more rethinking. And Chipper is simply delightful. And luckily for you, you don’t need parental permission, only a paying sponsor. And I, personally, would be honored to sponsor you. And, should you like, I would love to help you work out the kinks in CAT.”

The next few weeks were something of a happy blur. Every day, Cecil would come to have tea with the Nigels and would then go straight from that to working on CAT with Elizabeth. This, of course, the Nigels knew nothing about. The Chapeau’s workings changed almost constantly during the weeks, and a few times ended up with Elizabeth taking Cecil to Russell’s shop at the Dockside Markets—which had fascinated him.

And in the backdrop of all of this were the preparations for the wedding, which was slated to take place the day right after the Expo—again, something that the Nigels knew nothing about. But Cecil and Elizabeth choose not to discuss their impending marriage, instead diverting all talk to that of the Expo and CAT. Eventually, this led to Cecil sharing the whole reason why the Expo was even coming to this city.

“I don’t mean to sound too self-proud, but it is because of me. Some wealthy investors have taken some interest in my works and wished to see more. Thus, they chose to fund the Expo if only I were to show something new.”

Elizabeth had said that she was quite all right with this explanation. She did not care what brought the Expo to her city, only that it came. She had never been more motivated to work on CAT in her life.

Finally, the afternoon before the day of the Expo, after many gear switches and tube replacements and power source checks on the Chapeau, they decided that this was the final straw. If all their work over the past weeks had not succeeded on making CAT operational, then nothing ever would. The early morning birds chirped brightly on a limb outside Elizabeth’s window as Bella sat, attentive, at the foot of her bed. Chipper was sitting upon Cecil’s shoulder, his little gears practically quivering with excitement.

“Here it goes,” Elizabeth said, placing the Chapeau upon her loose curls.

She pulled the goggles of the strange headdress down over her eyes and crossed her arms over her work-suit-covered chest. Cecil’s breath was slow and deliberate as he stood forward and pushed the small, red button at the back of CAT to activate its power source.

The gears whirred, the tube made an odd sucking noise, and the whole hat seemed to hum. Elizabeth waited, staring hard at Bella, waiting to hear her “voice.”

But nothing came. Sighing, she reached up to remove the hat... and paused. Voices, two of them, were coming from outside her bedroom window.

“Oy, get your own branch!” one voice yelled.

“I was ’ere first, mate!” the other cried back.

Her eyes widened as she ran toward the window, glancing about the street below. None stood below her window. Her heart swelled.

“Liza? Is it working?” Cecil asked.

She ignored him for the moment, trying to make her eyes focus in on the source of the words.

“Watch it!” the first voice cried.

The two birds that had been chirping so merrily were now bouncing off each other in the air, fighting. And it was clear. The voices she was hearing... were
theirs
!

“It’s working!” she cried joyfully, and Cecil and Chipper both made their own celebratory sounds.

She turned her attention back on her cat. Now was the time to test and see if animals could understand her now.

“Bella, can you understand me?” she asked aloud.

Bella’s little head cocked to the right.

“Yes. What’s that weird thing on your head, Liza? And how come I can understand
all
your words instead of just some?” the cat replied.

Now Elizabeth was bouncing and clapping for joy, repeating over and over, “It works! It works!”

Finally, after a few moments of not having her question answered, Bella the cat sighed. “Fine. Don’t explain it to me. I’m just happy that you will now call me by my name instead of that dreadful ‘here, kitty, kitty.’”

She explained, rather hurriedly, CAT to Bella before removing the invention from her head.

“Congratulations,” Cecil said.

“Thank you,” she blushed, smiling.

“You should tell your parents.”

Elizabeth’s smile vanished. Hugging the Chapeau close, she shook her head.

“They would be furious,” she muttered.

“Perhaps, at first. My parents weren’t all that thrilled when I decided to become an inventor, myself. But success helps, and this is most certainly a success. Perhaps, once they see it...?”

Elizabeth sighed. “They wouldn’t care for my success. All they care about is what is
proper
for a Lady.”

“But will you try? For me?”

Smiling softly at him, she nodded. “Only once... for you.”

The next morning, the morning of the Expo, Elizabeth descended the stairs with CAT tucked under her arm and Chipper on her shoulder. Needless to say, this was quite a shock to Mary and William.

“What in the name of our Lord and Savior is all
that
?” her father exclaimed, his eyes looking too big for his head.

With a deep breath, she explained everything. She began, diplomatically, with her deep love of inventing. From there, she moved on to the creation of Chipper, and from there, the creation of the Chapeau—she assumed that they still need not know about her workings for extra coin. Finally, she ended with the Expo. By the end of it all, Mary and William looked like they had both sucked the juice of a lemon.