Orion and the Clockwork (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #2)

Chapter 17

Morning came fast, and before long, the Gearmaster was up and at it. Orion was sure to bring him some food, which had been legally obtained using the Gearmaster's money, and they stood together at the dusted office desk.

"I'm nearly complete with that chip," the Gearmaster said, staring into his cheese danish. "There is just one little extra thing I'll need to make sure that the technology works as intended."

"What's that?" Orion said, already done with his own danish. The bakery wasn't too far away from their hiding spot, and if the owner recognized who he was, he clearly hadn't cared.

"A cloudship shield."

"Cloudship shield?"

"Yeah. There aren't very many cloudships that come equipped with that sort of thing, but it's very important that we get one for the protection chip. They carry all the right components for me to really get the Clockwork going."

"Who would even need a cloudship shield? They're not even designed for combat. The only few I've seen that had weapons on them were..."

"Syndra's cloudships, yes."

"So I need to sneak onto a cloudship, not get killed, and somehow steal their shield thing?"

"It's that or have two hundred fifty thousand wings offhand that we could use to buy one. There is a company that makes them in the Engineering District, but background checks are always run on whoever enters."

"So a Syndra cloudship it is. Alright, what's a good way for me to find one?"

"Going into the air?"

"That's it?"

"I guess I could jury-rig something on that radio of yours to intercept cloudship transmissions, but I don't think I could reverse the damage I'll do to it."

"Don't worry about it. I'll get up there and figure it out."

Before deciding to leave, he turned said radio on. It was back to the original channel where he'd learned about the evacuations in the northern Housing District, and apparently they were still hosting. His work had paid off, at least for now.

"It's clear to see the effect that Orion and the Clockwork have already had on our country from the events of yesterday. There are a lot of mixed calls out there right now. But I, for one, am willing to call the kid a hero. A force of good against Syndra's oppressive force."

He smiled and switched channels, but nearly regretted it immediately. "He's a menace," the host said. "A murderer. No better than the man he thinks has stolen control of the country by force. Orion Muldane should own up to the damage he is doing and turn himself in."

He tried a few more channels, each with a different opinion, until he found another who had just finished playing a song. "Welcome back to the Engineering District Ministry Faith channel, and for those of you just joining, we're spending all day discussing the satanic nature of Orion Muldane and his terrorism against Syndra's leadership. We have a guest speaker, Pastor Ben, from a portion of the Agricultural District."

Orion immediately turned the radio off. The last person he wanted to hear anything from was the pastor of the church that Rami had to go to.

"I'm just trying to help."

The Gearmaster approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know, some will never accept who you are and what you're doing, even if you are the hero."

"I mean, sure, but that doesn't mean I can't be upset about it."

"By all means, be upset. Just don't waste the energy you'll need for later. And by that, I mean going to get that cloudship shield generator."