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She asked, “Doctor Smeeks, is this…is this a solar cannon?”
“A solar cannon?” he removed the lenses that were strapped to his forehead, and pulled a pair of spectacles out of his front breast pocket. “Something like that. You mean the German doctor’s patent? The gentleman from the Washington Territories?”
“I believe so. ”
“Can’t recall his name,” the doctor muttered. “He designed a solar cannon. It was made to be held in the hand, by a large man with exceptional motor skill control, I assume; it was a magnificent prototype, that’s to be sure. But it was no more harmful than a powerful gun, or perhaps a high-capacity cannon. At that size,” he began to say more, but lost his train of thought. “At that size, it was, it was only. A weapon for one man, to kill one man. Not a weapon designed to dash the masses. Not like…this. ”
“What do you call it?” Maria asked. She ran her fingertips across the most benign-looking bits of metal frame.
“I don’t call it anything. Until this ship arrives with the final piece, and then I can call it finished, and…” There were tears in his eyes when he said the rest. “And that animal can give me back poor Edwin, and he’d best return the lad to me unharmed!”
He turned away and fiddled with one of the smaller lenses, poking his hand into the spot where a metal plate was cut to hold an object the size of a child’s fist. He picked at it with his nail and hummed something unhappy before looking up again, gazing at Anne with something like wonder.
He asked, “Nurse Anne! What are you doing down here? I hope you haven’t been standing there long; you ought to announce yourself! It’s good to see you of course, as always. It’s a wonder Edwin didn’t say something. Where is that dear boy, anyway? Have you seen him? I thought he was supposed to bring me supper. ”
Anne gave Maria a look that asked for compassion, and she took Maria’s arm to lead her away. But first she said, “I’m very sorry to bother you, Doctor Smeeks. We didn’t mean to intrude, but this is Maria, and she’s visiting the facility. You’ve showed us a wonderful array, and we’ll leave you to your work now. Thank you again for your time. ”
On the way back up the stairs, Anne said softly, “You see? He’s as harmless as a lamb. He only works when he remembers he must; and when he forgets…”
“Who’s Edwin?” Maria asked.
“Edwin is an orphan, the child of a resident who died here. He lives down in the basement with the doctor, who has taken him as an apprentice. The boy is patient and sweet, and he is a great help and comfort to the doctor, whose mind, as you can plainly tell, has slipped. It’s a true pity. He was once a great inventor, with a keen brain and a warm heart. Now he spends most of his days befuddled and unhappy, except for how he lov
es the boy. ”
Maria said, “And this Ossian Steen—he’s taken the boy away? This is how he manipulates the poor doctor?”
“Correct. He locks the little fellow up with himself, in one of the outbuildings, where he pretends to be a doctor himself. Obviously we don’t let him anywhere near the patients; or rather, it’s just as well he has no interest in them, for he could only do them harm, and he wouldn’t care in the slightest. Missus…” the nurse hesitated, uncertain of what to call the spy. She settled on, “Boyd. I want you to understand that even if I had no lingering loyalties of my own to any nation or side in the long-running unpleasantness, I would wish to see an end to this awful lieutenant colonel. I can’t abide such cruelty—much less to a gentle old man and an innocent child. ”
Maria steeled herself against what might come and she de-manded quietly, “Take me to Ossian Steen. We’ll settle this now. ”
11
Simeon squinted at the sky and drew a quick, hard sip from his cigarette before tossing it aside. He asked, “You see that?” and he cocked his head towards a corner of the sky where a fistful of puffy clouds were parting to make way for something heavy, high, and dark.
The captain’s scarred face widened with delight. “Men,” he said, “Watch for it. Look—let it land. You see where it’s going?”
The craft swayed as it sought a place to settle; it moved drunkenly and slow, too loaded down to fly swift or straight. It hummed and hovered over the Waverly Hills compound. Atop the low central mound where the sanatorium hulked, the Free Crow slipped and jerked through the air as if it threatened to land on the roof, but it did not rest there. It swung over to the side and behind the main building, into the trees beyond it—where there must have been another clearing, or perhaps a landing dock designed for just such a purpose.
“How are we going to play this, Captain?” Lamar wanted to know. “Do we catch them mid-air, or do we let them land?”
The captain said, “Mid-air hasn’t worked so well, so far; but then again, we didn’t have a ship this strong. Still, this time let’s let them land, and we’ll take it out from under them. ”
Simeon said, “We’re going to take it quiet, and let ’em walk back to Washington?”
“Not even if they ask nicely. ” Hainey stomped back up the folding stairs that led inside the Valkyrie. “I don’t plan to leave any of the bastards standing. Or this bastard, either,” he indicated the ship he was entering.
“Sir?” Lamar asked.
The captain answered from the interior, “Engineer, I want you to unscrew that bottom armor plate along the rear hydrogen tank. Leave it naked, and be careful about it. But be fast. ”
When he descended the stairs again, he had the Rattler slung across his shoulders. It had long since cooled from the assault in Kansas City, and although it was almost out of ammunition, another band of bullets sagged around the captain’s chest like a sash.
He continued, “We want to give them a few minutes to get themselves moored and get comfortable. ” Then he asked Simeon, “You don’t think they saw us, do you? This is a big bird, but we’ve got some tree cover and the hill between us. ”
“I couldn’t say. But I’d guess they didn’t. ”
Hainey stripped the last handful of bullets out of the Rattler and began to thread the new band into its chambers. Lamar was already whacking at the armor with a wrench and a prybar, and they both finished their tasks in less than a minute; but Simeon joined Lamar, and between them they pulled away another crucial strip of plating, widening the vulnerable spot and giving themselves a bigger target.
