Cogs in Time Anthology (The Steamworks Series) (11 page)

“That is what father meant.” Cassie spoke aloud, but the words were only a confirmation of her clearing thoughts.

“I did this to us, Cassie. I condemned the people to this monstrous machine, which chooses our time of death. The Politicians have taken away the power of God and placed it in the hands on the face of that thing as if they had a right.” Tears streamed down his hardened face.

Grabbing her hands, he forced her to look into the depths of his blue eyes, and all the things he had tried to protect her from stared back at her. “They gave us these shotgun houses, food to feed the poor, sturdy clothing to cover our backs, and even coins for our needs, but for what? They took away our freedom. We are a hardworking people who have been rendered useless, who have been tied to this town and to that clock against our will.”

Suddenly, he was the one who wept, and she was the one taking him into her arms. He knelt before her on the floor, his head in her lap and arms around her waist, as he cried out five years of doubts, fears, and failure. As his shoulders shook, Cassie ran her hand through his dark hair, silently letting him release his anguish.

When, at last, he looked up at her, she didn’t see the wounded man he had become, she saw the boy she once loved. The world and all its problems faded as she bent to him, cupping the unshaven scruff of his cheek with her palm. Their lips met in a passionate fire that burned away everything else.

  ******

As day broke, Cassandra opened her eyes onto the small, two room living quarters. She took in everything at once, aching to find Max and fearing their reunion had all been a dream. When she spotted him in the dim morning light, he was sitting near the window, watching the sunrise with tears streaming down his face.

At the sound of her movement, he briskly wiped his face with the back of his hand, and turned to her. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“Not at all. I’m used to waking early. What are you doing?” Cassandra didn’t bother to hide the concern in her voice.

“Just watching the sunrise, my love. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw it.” The sadness in his voice drew her from the bed to wrap the blanket around the both of them as she snuggled into his lap. “I took so many things for granted before. I always thought there would be time.”

Sliding her hand over his shirt, she let it rest on the slight rise where the timepiece lay. “We will find time, Maxwell. We will make time. Remember, you always use to say that, together, we could do anything.”

He pulled her closer, laying his head against her shoulder. “If that were only true, Cassie, I would be the happiest man alive.”

Watching the golden rays of the morning sun peak over the quiet streets of Wren, she thought over the long night they had shared.

             
The sun had finally risen into the morning sky when they stirred, and Cassie finally asked the question they had both dreaded and avoided throughout the night. “How much time do you have, Max?” Her voice trembled despite her attempt to sound calm.

             
He turned to her, eyes blazing with pain and fear, his strong jaw set in the rigid line that she knew meant trouble. “Five days.”

Jumping to her feet, tears sprang to her eyes like glistening droplets of regret. “Oh, no. No! That’s too soon. There’s not enough time. I’ll talk to Papa. I’ll talk to someone. There must be something I can do! I will take you back to The University with me. You won’t stay here. You won’t be dependent on them any longer.”

              His fingers bit into her shoulders as hers gripped the front of his shirt in a white-knuckled panic. “Cassie, stop! I can’t just walk out of here and get on the train. There’s a system in place. If I cross the city line, the Timepiece stops. They made it so that we would never escape their punishment for the revolution.”

Cassie’s scream of frustration rang out in the quiet room. “Then we will have it removed! The Physicians! They put it in, and they can take it out! I’ll go see Dr. Anderson!”

She turned away from him, ripping his hands from her arms as she searched for her clothing. Grabbing up her bag, she mumbled to herself, “I’ll need a walking dress, something simple.”

Maxwell called out her name, but she didn’t answer. Cassie was lost in her thoughts as she rifled aimlessly through the small amount of clothing she had brought, focused on the conversation she would have with the austere, old man.
I’ll tell him that there’s been a terrible mistake. Maxwell has to leave, he has to come back with me to The University.
Of course, he’ll balk. No man will instantly agree to break law and covenant with his peers because of a simple request. I have my savings. I have enough. I’ll bribe him.

“Cassie!” Max’s voice rose in a demand for her attention as his large hands circled her waist and spun her to face him. “Cassie. Dr. Anderson is gone. They punched his card a year ago.” He instantly regretted the harshness of his words as her bottom lip trembled and the color drained from her face.

“He wouldn’t have been old enough to die. He wouldn’t have been sick. He was younger than my father.” Each new revelation brought the reality of the nightmare that Wren had become down on her.

“If you will sit down and listen. The device can’t be removed or simply shut off. The only way to stop the mechanism is to stop the clock. The only way to stop the Time Clock is to destroy it, but it’s not too late, beautiful one. I have a plan, but I couldn’t do it, not without seeing you first, without knowing if you would commit the final act of defiance at my side.”

“You see, Cassandra, I didn’t realize when you left that I’d be fighting for nothing. I never understood that. All the time I had spearheaded the revolution, it was because I wanted a better future for you and I. Without you, the victory was nothing. Now that I have the opportunity to make it up to the people, and truly give myself over to something greater, I couldn’t do it without you. I love you.”

Flopping down on the small bed, Cassie fell silent. His words stunned her almost as much as the pure compassion in his expression. She had felt the same for him since they were no more than children, but never spoke the words. The expression of their feelings had been in their shared laughter, tears, and the occasional passion found behind closed doors.

Sitting beside her, he took her hands in his. “Now, you shut up. Say something!”

“You bastard!” Her anger rose, and she felt as if she could slap his handsome face. “How dare you? How dare you wait all these long years to tell me that you loved me? I wouldn’t have left, had you only asked me to stay. If you had only spoken those words, I would have stayed forever. Why now, when you are at death’s door?”

“Sometimes it takes the permanence of death to show someone what they should have been living for.” His words ended with his lips a breath away from hers.

She closed the gap with a sigh, “I love you, too.”

******

The airship depot was the newest addition to Wren City, entirely constructed of steel and glass, it shimmered in the sun as Cassie and Adrian approached. The noise of the crowds, wagons, and horses filled the air, bringing a vibrant feeling of life to the area. However, Cassandra couldn’t shake the shadow of death she envisioned hanging over the people.

“Quit fidgeting, Cassie. You look as gorgeous as you ever did.” Adrian smiled down at her, his sandy-blonde hair catching the light and his nearly black eyes glowing with pride. “Just like old times, girl.”

Cassie laughed for the first time since she had arrived in Wren. Adrian was right; the outing was definitely reminiscent of the days leading up to the revolution. They had often used her as both a distraction and a walking piece of resistance propaganda back then. The mayor’s daughter dressed as one of the rebels and gallivanting around town on the arm of known radicals and conmen had drawn everyone’s eye. Cassie had loved it all.

Smoothing a hand over the tight, black bodice of her dress, Cassie exclaimed, “I still can’t believe you guys kept all my old costumes. I never thought I’d wear them again.”
              Adrian gave her a wink to match his cocky grin as he took in the sight of her. He loved everything from the small hat and veil perched jauntily on her head, to the short-fronted skirt that barely covered her lily-white thighs before tapering back into a long train. He adored her right down to the chains and locks that crossed over the laces of her boots—everything trimmed in silver cogs and gears.

“You know, this one was always my favorite. I miss the revolution fashions. Perhaps we will bring them back into style. Now, let’s go buy two tickets to the Sky Merchants.”

Cassie held her head up high as they entered the revolving door and marched across the marble tile to the ticket office. The disdainful glares as she passed among the people would have angered her five years before, but the sight of the timepieces, proudly displayed on women’s chest as if they were fine jewelry, made her pity the society women and men.

Though she breezed through the crowds as if she were completely at ease, Cassie’s fingers dug into the bend of Adrian’s arm and she whispered through a wide smile, “What’s with the decorative boob show?”

Laughing aloud, Adrian bent to kiss her cheek as if she had made some sort of joke and whispered into her ear. “Not now, Cassie!” The urgency in his whisper was much less pleasant than the adoring look he gave her.

Clamping her mouth closed on the thousands of questions that brewed inside her mind, Cassie allowed herself to be guided to the glass ticket booth. However, she couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped when the thing inside the receptacle turned toward them.

“How many and to what destination, please?” It almost looked like a human woman, almost.

The skin was too waxen and had an odd sheen, but was nearly the right color. The silk hair was beautiful. Any woman would kill to have such golden locks, but when Cassie looked closely, she could see the stitching that held it to the scalp. However, the worst were the eyes. Two bulbous, shining, painted eyes, lined with thick and spiky lashes, stared at her in a wide
expression. Cassie knew she was gawking but couldn’t help her astounded fascination as she watched the mechanical woman’s hands move on the strangely jointed wrist and listened to it interact with Adrian.

“Two tickets to the Sky Merchants. That will be ten dollars, please.” The voice held a hint of the Southern accent known well in the city, but the click and grind of the gears that controlled the recording device added a strange mechanical whine.

Adriane shoved the money into the tray, collected the tickets, and ushered Cassie toward the boarding area as she strained her neck to watch the next customer approach.

“Cassandra, you’re going to break your neck. Haven’t you ever seen a mortech before?” Even as he dragged her along, hissing his displeasure, Adrian smiled at her as if he loved her more than life.

Cassie, unfortunately, couldn’t act as well and her anger took her voice louder with every word. “Stop it, Adrian. Stop looking at me like that all the while you are snarling in my ear. No, I have not seen a mortech before. The University doesn’t approve of such abominations.”

“Cassie, quiet please. We have a part to play, my dear. You can cuss me when it’s done, but if you want to save Max, you’ll play along.”

She saw real emotion for the first time in the conman’s face, causing her to remember why they were there and to clamp down on her outrage. Sliding her arm back through his, Cassie mentally berated herself as they made their way to where they would board.
Don’t let yourself get caught up in the old game, Cassie, you have only one goal this time around. Maxwell must live.

As they stepped out of the cool and shaded building into the sunny day once again, she quickly forgot their small argument. The airships loomed up above them, large metal and wooden ships attached to great blimps, all divided by the price of their ticket and the luxury a passenger could afford. Cassie couldn’t help but look longingly at the first class ships made of shining, lightweight metal, where the passengers rode within the belly of the ship and dined on exquisite food.

Their own ship was a rough-hewn wooden boat, sturdy and wide, with a full deck of passengers from the middle and lower classes all riding the wind in order to shop, work, and browse the bazaar that floated amongst the clouds above. Cassie couldn’t help but marvel at the large, elongated parachute hovering above them. Patched in places, and clearly worn, the only thing that remained fresh and untouched by the elements was the insignia. The phoenix, hand painted in red, orange, and yellow, blazed on the gray canvas like a sign from God.

“Adrian, whose ship is this?” The suspicion in her voice couldn’t be hidden.

The young man looked positively wicked as he answered, “Why it’s yours, my dear. Well, your father’s, to be exact. He bought a fleet of them and runs charters upward and outward on the half hour.”

Cassie shook her head. “Always the daring one, Westing.”

Feigning hurt; Adrian grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart as the airship began to rise. “Am I in trouble, my fair one? You only call me by that damnable name if I have displeased you.”

Hating the feel of his timepiece under her palm, Cassie pulled her hand away and wiped it on her dress. “You are always trouble, Westing, but I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as they rose up into the white fog of the clouds and watched Wren City turn to nothing but a spot below.