Merfolk on Mars

Chapter 18

The next room was also occupied, with the door similarly mostly closed.

Isla crouched by the door to peek inside. "How..."

She backed up to allow us to look. Corvus went first and, after a few seconds, let me take my turn. When I glanced inside, two men were working at counters as gears hovered in the air beside their hands.

"The Class B magnet coils are more stable than the Class A or E ones."

"Even after four days, the magnet springs are keeping things fairly level when activated. They should work very well in the new steam cannon shuttle launcher."

"It'll be a much cheaper way to get to Earth and back than our current options."

"Landings will be smooth with the anti-magnetic gears and gravity springs. They will also assist with the launch. I can't wait for the launch tomorrow."

"Nor can I. Everything is ready and waiting."

"I hear Stargaze Manor will be the hub of attention tomorrow – maybe even more so than the gala we are missing today!"

"It will be worth it. Just wait until the shuttle comes back and is guided in by the magnetic drives to land right back into its cradle."

I backed with a huge grin on my face. I had found our ride home. Isla gave me a thumbs-up as she pulled out her map, quietly flipping through the pages to locate this manor.

Arai rejoined our group, and we kept climbing the stairs.

"How were magnets making the gears float?" Corvus asked quietly.

"I don't know," Isla replied. "The magnets must react to the planet's magnetic field and are able to lock onto other objects as well."

Arai snorted. "You actually think a magnet can make a shuttle fly? I find it hard to believe in things I can't see."

"Well," Corvus said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "You had no trouble blaming me when I farted in the spa hallway, and you sure couldn't see that."

"That thing practically chased us down the entire hallway!"

"Hush!" Isla whispered sharply, glancing behind us nervously.

They fell silent, leaving me to wonder just how bad his gas had been. How were girlfriends supposed to react to such things? Ignore them? Complain? Fight fire with fire? Threaten to sing? Why was there no freaking manual?

The next room was empty. As was the next one. And the next one.

How tall was this tower again?

Seven floors was a lot of height for a city shrouded in mist. And a lot of stairs. For a place obsessed with gears, why were there so many stairs and no elevators? Or were they hidden behind the gears and we were simply unable to spot them? That actually seemed quite likely considering how few people we met whenever going up or down stairs.

If there weren't elevators, then the people here needed to quit obsessing over buttons and concentrate on the days when they would be old and using wheelchairs.

The next door was closed, and Isla peeked through the small glass window on it.

"No one's inside, but there is a cloth covering something on a counter."

She tried the handle, but it just clicked. Locked.

I pulled my hairpin out of my hair. It took me a bit longer to figure this one out, but the lock clicked and let us in. Perhaps I should look into a career as a locksmith instead.

We went inside and walked over to the counter. With bated breath, I carefully lifted the cloth up – to reveal a teapot. Completely covered in miniature gears, of course.

Isla picked up a nearby paper. "Steam-powered teapot, keeps tea warm for up to twelve hours, added freshly boiled tea to teapot at eight o'clock, check if warm after dinner."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, this is clearly not the Unobtanium stone."

"No," she agreed, "let's keep going."

"At least they left some jerky here." Arai grabbed a piece and chewed on it as he followed us out of the room.

The stairs only went up one more level and stopped. We peered through the gap on the mostly closed door, where an old man was pacing around a table with a glowing green stone on it.

"How are we going to get the stone?" I murmured to Isla, who was also looking.

"I have an idea. Wait here. I'll be right back."

I watched her quickly go down the stairs and out of sight. For some reason, I had a lot more faith in her ideas than in Arai's.

Several minutes painfully ticked by before she returned, balancing a tray with a teapot, teacups, toast, jam, and jerky on it.

"I'm not sure I understand your plan," I murmured, suddenly second-guessing my previous thoughts.

"The boys will leave the chainsaws out here. We'll offer him tea and snacks, and so far, almost everyone here has an after-tea nap after a big tea. Then we can take the stone and escape. If nothing else, we can see if we can distract him or wait for him to go use the bathroom."

"If he drinks more than a cup of tea," Arai said, "then it won't be long before he needs to take a leak. That tea is potent stuff."

I wrinkled my nose. "Too much information."

Corvus put his chainsaw by the door, against the wall. Arai put his beside it with a resigned sigh.

"Ready?" I asked.

They nodded.

"Then let's do this."