The Gadgeteer

Chapter 31

ARABETH SAT UP on the small cot in the back of her lab. Why was she here? Her mind felt slow, as though there were thoughts and ideas hovering on the edge of conscious thought, refusing to come into focus.

Focus? Wait, focus was a problem the last time she was conscious. Wasn't it?

Turning, she set her feet on the floor and she looked around the room. There should have been a small metal bottle somewhere close, but there wasn't.

She couldn't remember a thing after trying to get up to open a window. Had someone helped her, and if so, where were they now? Did they take the bottle?

No. The door was bolted from the inside. Except for Marble, she was alone. How much time had passed? She looked at the clock at the bedside and saw it hadn't been wound up. Did she dare go back outside? What if she'd locked herself in due to something other than a gas attack?

She scratched her head. Her thoughts were coming so slowly, and when they happened they echoed around in her head until she stopped them. Wasn't she typically brighter than this?

She noticed four small listening devices, constructed and ready to go, sitting on the desk. When had she done that?

There was a small hole with a fisheye lens in the wall - once she unblocked it, she could see out into the kitchen. It wouldn't tell her about knock-out gas, though. How long could she hide in here? She should probably stay until her brains kicked back in, right? She couldn't wait, though. What was Clement doing with the device he stole?

Would she have to make peace with her bail enforcement friends in order to track him down? She would, if she had to. They blamed her for the demise of the bounty program, but they couldn't actually hate her, right?

She'd give a substantial payment for his speedy capture. There was no good excuse for bad behaviour - not this kind of bad, at least. That line had become somewhat flexible lately.

She had to warn her parents that her listening device was out in the world, somewhere. By now, Clement had probably turned it over to an ambitious gadgeteer, and they were dismantling it to see how to make more. She sighed. It was her own arrogance, she supposed. She needed to make them secure, somehow. She needed fragile materials, so that if someone opened it, the thing fell to pieces.

She slid the cover off the peephole and looked out. The room was vacant. She tried to see if a window was open, but the angle was wrong. Most gases lost efficacy over time, but she had no idea how was long she had been unconscious. It wasn't in her nature to sit around.

At the door, she ducked down as low as she could while still holding the handle. She took three deep breaths, then held her breath. Yanking the door open long enough to get through, she closed it quickly behind herself again.

There were three windows open. Cautiously, she let some air out and then inhaled. The air seemed fine now. She found a clock and saw that only three hours had passed. That was good. It meant Clement didn't have much of a head start. There was no way she was going to let her great-godfather get away with this.

She didn't care what their relationship was, or how old he was. This was a betrayal, both of trust and of family. She knew exactly who to talk to in order to find out where he went, as well. He had no idea who she knew, or what she was capable of when motivated. He probably still thought of her as just a clever little girl. It was time to put Melanie's dark secret to use. Just then the outside door beyond the kitchen opened.

"I see you've managed to get rid of the guards," Hicks said, smiling.

"That wasn't me." If the guards were gone, that meant Clement was done with her. What was he doing next? He'd said something, but the memory of it hovered around the edges of her memory, taunting her.