The Gadgeteer

Chapter 29

THE CARRIAGE PULLED to a slow stop in front of the Barnes' family mansion. Climbing out, Arabeth stopped and stood, confused. Life around the house bustled, with servants coming and going, many carrying bags or boxes. A few had chairs and small tables.

Arabeth watched, looking for a pattern in the chaos. It wasn't the right weather to rotate seasonal furniture or decor.

"It looks like you're expecting a lot of company," Sam said. "They're taking all of that to the guest house."

"Great timing," she said sarcastically, expecting it would be one of the wings of the family from the capital city. But maybe it wasn't.... What if it were more people like her father's last guests?

She followed the servants around, hoping to ask one of them. As she went around the corner, she confirmed the items were being taken to the guest house.

Marble darted off to her right and as Arabeth turned, her breath caught in her throat. Behind the main house, someone had built a stone structure resembling a monastery or one of the castles of old. Around it sat a city of some design. None of it stood taller than her hip, but it extended out over nearly half an acre. It was small, as though built to scale as a model. Right now Marble was running and leaping over buildings as if there were a mouse to chase.

Arabeth shook her head. Her parents had the strangest hobbies. Her mother had one of these built in the lowest level of the main house, but it was a replica of the world laid flat.

Staring at the new toy, the memory of her father's most recent guests blended with another memory. Servants had come and gone from the house over the years - some leaving for days, some for hours. Others she didn't know would arrive suddenly and stay long enough to recover from their journey, then leave again.

Her mother said it was the family's duty to tend to the servants of relatives that were on extended errands. She had excused it as the unseen side of business and finance. Arabeth believed her, but... were they planning something that required a deep knowledge of how to get around that city, as though they were spies? That would be amazing, but unexpected. Her parents stressed home and family, and staying out of all but the fringes of politics. Still, it added up.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked, touching her shoulder.

Her body shuddered as she came out of deep thinking and looked around. "I need to speak with my mother as well, it seems."

Nodding, he followed as she turned.

Inside the house, the chaos continued. As the two of them wove their way upstairs to her father's study, it was quieter, calmer. Arabeth knocked on the door and pushed it open to see if her father was inside.

"Close the door behind you, dear," her father, Eldon, said as he waved her in.

He waited as Arabeth and Marble entered, but startled slightly when Hicks followed her in.

Sam bowed, but kept his expression neutral.

"How can I be of assistance?" Eldon smiled at Arabeth. "What is on your mind?"

"That is a big question. I am discovering a lot of things." She smiled back as she pulled off her coat and dropped to sit in a soft, oversized chair. "Our backyard, for example, has a model that is eerily built to scale. But which city is it? I am guessing it's the Eltesean capital."

Eldon nodded.

Arabeth pulled out the envelope and slid it across his desk but did not let go.

"I, too, have a puzzle," she said. "Someone is building an army in our backyard. Each automaton is equipped with a transmitter set to a frequency that causes violence in humans, predominantly in men. Did you know about this?"