Stopping the Machine Part 1

Red flooded into Jepser’s room as the sun dipped further beneath the horizon. “Good evening miss.” Cassius tipped his hat as he appeared in a puff of smoke. He looked at Mary. “I suppose it’s just evening then. Did I arrive at a bad time?” He awkwardly adjusted his hat.

Mary glared at him then leaned her back against the door. “Your card did say you would see me around sunset.” She sighed then relaxed her posture in resignation as she passive aggressively refilled her empty magazines.

Cassius surveyed the room. “I have to say miss, I’m impressed. I don’t believe I could have managed such a feat myself, and I must say, I really like what you’ve done with the place. Tearing apart those steambots was without a doubt the best place to start.” He looked at Mary. The smile Mary thought to be permanent was gone. “If you didn’t do something those steambots would have killed me.” He held his hat against his chest. “I had no idea they were there.”

Mary pointed at a gramophone horn on the wall. “I would be careful about what you say. I am not sure she cares, but there is a woman downstairs who can hear you.”

“I wouldn’t worry about Vivian. She really is a wonderful lady... if you ignore her attitude that is.” Cassius leaned in, clearly excited to tell Mary something. “You see we were both aware of his affection for women and knew he would hire Vivian without a second thought. With that part of our brilliant plan out of the way, all that was left was for her to allow me to access Jesper while he was occupied. We were prepared to execute our plot at the most opportune time on the morrow.” His smile returned as he bowed. “I am grateful to you that we did not fall victim to such a thing. You truly are our savior, or at least my savior. I’m not as sure Vivian would view it in the same light.”

“Did someone hire you to kill him?” Mary didn’t look up.

“Heavens no.” He flipped his hat back onto his head and adjusted his crimson tie. “We have a personal vendetta with the Brass Armada. They are certain qualities they consider… undesirable.” A maroon tail with an arrowhead-like tip flicked behind him.

Mary watched his tail with the corner of her eye. She finished reloading her guns then holstered them. So there are different types of humanoid species in this world. “They sound like a bigger problem than I thought.”

“If you would like, I can take you to more of them. I would love to assist you and I’m certain Vivian would as well. It would be a shame to deny our assistance.”

Mary sighed as her breathing calmed. “I am not done here.” She pointed at Jesper’s head. “His machine is still polluting the forest. If you help me dismantle it, I will accept your offer.” She stood up.

Cassius tightened his crimson gloves. “Well I’m not one to say no to a job and it sounds like you’ll be doing me a favor so this one will be on the house.” He held out his hand

Mary shook his hand. “Thank you.” She opened the door.

The opposite wall was empty, doors were centered on the other two walls. One of them must have been ‘the dressing room.’ Mary walked past the stairs in the center of the hall and inserted Jesper’s key into a space marked by two thin cuts on the wall. A door-sized section of the wall vanished.

“Splendid. It would have taken me ages to find such a thing.”

“He told me where the door was before he died. The key was hidden in a compartment in his nightstand drawer. It was the first place I looked... He was not good at hiding anything.”

Inside the room was a staircase leading to the roof as well as a large, brass control panel covered in an array of various levers, valves, and brass panels as well as two buttons. A single metalloid pipe led to the roof. Various words were inscribed into the control panel in key places.

“Another foil crosses our path. I don’t suppose you’ll be able to crack this.”

What is a Great War trench code doing here? “I recognize this code. It was in an archive of codes back on Earth created as an attempt to instantly solve any code.”

“That is quite the coincidence, do you believe another person from Earth brought it here?”

“It is most likely a coincidence, there were a lot of codes made back on Earth. It was the main reason the project failed.”

Clattering and clicking could be heard from inside the control panel. A lever set the machine’s output at half while another set its release interval to every ten minutes. The bright blue ‘off’ button sat above a bright red ‘on’ button. Most of the valves were marked ‘useless,’ the others were marked as ‘maintenance.’

“I could have figured this out without the code.” Mary muttered.

“On closer inspection, the functions do appear to be obvious.”

Mary put her hand on the pipe. “Breaking this would be enough to stop the machine without ever touching the controls.” I just need to figure out if there will be any consequences to breaking it. She knelt down in front of the control panel and began unscrewing one of its panels using a multi-tool attached to her device.

Cassius looked confused. “What are you doing? We already know of two ways to shut off this wretched contraption.”

“Learning.” Mary removed the panel. “Hold these.” She handed Cassius the screws and set the panel aside.

The control panel’s internals were a maze of pipes surrounding a strange, grey box which sat underneath the two levers. Only one pipe exited the control panel. Mary adjusted the lever marked ‘output.’ Nothing changed. She then adjusted the lever marked ‘release interval’ with the same result. After some time, the clinking and clattering within the pipes slowed and eventually stopped entirely. A strange noise, similar to that of an ice maker, could be heard coming from the box. Mary pressed the bright blue button and the noise stopped.

Mary removed a knife from her coat and lifted her respirator over her face. “A circular saw would make this quicker, but I do not have one and it is safer to use a knife.” Also more environmentally friendly depending on what these pipes are made of. She began cutting a path through the pipes.

“A ‘circular saw.’ I fail to find such a use for such a thing when a regular saw would do the same work.”

“The blade is part of a device that spins it much faster than a human could.” Her knife easily cut through each pipe with only a small amount of effort and without any particulates coming off.

“Your world intrigues me miss, though I suppose we use magic to achieve similar results.”

Mary removed a portion of the pipe from the panel. It was made of a smooth, grey substance with a rubber-like texture. It was hard but easily squished and made a soft clack sound when she pressed the sides together.

“What material are these pipes made of?” She handed the pipe to Cassius and began cutting another.

“I suppose Earth wouldn’t have such a thing. It’s made of Borclay. Astounding, magical material for pipes and insulation provided you construct it the correct way.”

Mary removed another pipe and placed a sliver she cut off into her device. “Silicon, Boron, Aluminum, Oxygen, and unknown substances…” She mumbled while watching the screen. “It looks to be highly toxic when inhaled and mildly toxic otherwise though I am only comparing it to Earth substances and do not have any data with Borclay to go off of.”

“That’s quite the device you have there.”

“I never found out what they were. The longer I use it, the more questions I have.” Mary cut through the two remaining pipes then knocked on the box. She pulled yellow gloves out of her sleeves and put them on. A grating sound could be heard as Mary scraped the box with her knife. She carefully lifted her knife then poured its contents into her device. “Lead… Whatever is inside is likely dangerous.” She put her goggles on. “Stand back.” The connecting pipes popped off when she turned them.

*Tick… Tick … Tick … Tick … Tick… … Tick … … … Tick Tick Tick*

Cassius took a step back. “Miss, I believe your device isn’t happy.”

Why now? Mary took a deep breath. “It will screech when there is a problem. The ticks are just a warning.”

She removed the box from the control panel and carefully inspected each side making sure to keep it in an upright position. The box was much heavier than expected, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Screws were present in various places on each half of the box as well as dotted around a lip that stuck out from the connecting edges. “Step further back.” 

Cassius followed her instruction.

Mary loosened the screws which attached the two lips together. She then pushed the lid slightly forward to test if the two halves were now detached before lifting the top half off and setting it on the ground next to her.

*Tick Tk Tk Tk Tk Tick Tk Tick Tk Tk… Tick Tk Tick Tick Tk Tick*