The Argonaut Society

Episode Four: Game Over

Amelia found her usual machine at the Metropol office and clacked out what she had devised in her head on the way. She wanted to include Gavin's tuffle with Mr. Mordrake, but she couldn't write about the Metropol's ingénue punching an elderly man, even if word of the event would spread quickly anyway through the dozens of eye witnesses.

A shouted greeting snagged her attention, and she turned to find McGoffery carrying a bundle. She winced, hoping it wasn't the writer's cuff. Still, best to address the issue immediately rather than wait for him to approach her. She squared her mind and knocked on her editor's office doorjamb.

McGoffery's many-armed lens apparatus was pushed up on his forehead, and he glared at Amelia with two normal-sized eyes that still managed to wring her gut.

"Good morning, sir," Amelia said in her most awake and energetic voice. McGoffery put his bundle on the desk with a clunk and a clatter that made her wince again with recognition.

"Thought you would be home sleeping off your evening," he said.

"Not until the job is done," she replied too brightly. "I'm afraid we had a little mishap with the cuff last night."

"That what this is?" he jutted his chin at the bundle.

"Gavin punched Mr. Mordrake, who pulled me down with him. The Colonel said he would see about replacing it. A stroke of luck, though; I was able to interview Merriday. Shall I write that up as well?"

He glanced up at her from his desktop of papers. For a moment, he looked impressed. After a moment of consideration, he waved her remark away and pulled his lens apparatus over his eyes. "Article first."

The page in her machine had been empty, she was certain, when she left to speak to McGoffery, but someone had typed a single sentence in her brief absence.

Write about it as an ignorant socialite, because you are one. G

She ripped the page from the machine and crushed it in her fists.

Fatigue and frustration had sapped all of her considerable stores of composure by the time McGoffery approved her article. She spent the majority of her homeward journey in a fog, still nettled by Gavin's snide writing advice. She received more than a little unwanted attention in her evening dress, ink-and grease-stained gloves, and haggard appearance as she made her way to the Kettery. She tried to ignore the smirks and amused glances of her fellow passengers, especially when, lulled by the warmth of the trolley carriage, she slumped into a momentary doze, only to wake herself with a less-than-graceful snore. So it was with immense relief that she flumped onto her bed at the boarding house and fell into an instant deep sleep.

Daylight streamed through the window the next morning. A plate of small edibles sat on the desk beside her, along with newspaper clippings and a note from Miss Kelley.

Eager to hear of your evening as once you're conscious.

The first clipping, composed of three columns, was of her article, Gala Launches Latest Argonaut Expedition. She gazed at her name in the byline for several moments, then set the clipping aside without reading the article, knowing she would only tear it to pieces in her mind. The second, smaller clipping erased all thought of her article. Mind whirling, she quickly dressed and went in search of her friend and sole female housemate. She found Miss Kelley in the solarium fussing over an orchid.

"Have I gone mad?" Amelia asked without prelude.

"I should think so," Miss Kelley said. "I thought you had no intention of marrying each other."