But why did you leave so suddenly? Did you get in trouble with the principal? Just before the Inspector came through to check in on everyone, I looked in your room. You weren't there. I wanted to tell you what I had been trying to in the library before the bell rang. I also tried telling you when you left your room with the Inspector this morning. You looked terrible just then, by the way. I didn't want to say anything in front of the Inspector, so I guess I'll have to tell you my news in this letter. I have two gas masks! I didn't make them, if that's what you're wondering. May gave them to me. I wonder where she got them?
I put one mask in the bottom of your duffel bag. It should help you to keep from coughing from the fog. Just before you and I talked in the library, May smuggled them to me and said that I shouldn't tell anyone--besides you, of course. She reminded me that we cough from the fog, and she wanted to help us.
May also asked me to meet her in the forest tonight, so I will sneak out after the Inspector comes through. That's all for now. Just write your letter back and put it in the metal tube, then give my Airmail Auto-bird some fog-rock for fuel and it will find me! Cool, huh? I thought about putting an animus servo--that copper and gold thingie I showed you--in it, but I think its difference engine is not complicated enough for the servo to work properly. I will just have to wait for a worthy automaton to test it out on. Maybe in the Fogworks! I'm leaving for there next week, you know. Now that I have a gas mask, I haven't a thing to worry about--other than the Inspector. It has been watching me closely lately...a bit disconcerting.
Ariella opened the door of her room and snuck down the hallway. She had finished her letter back to Arona, and now needed to give the Auto-bird fog-rock for its long flight back to where it came from. Now, where was she going to get it? Back at the Junior Academy, automatons always restocked their fog boilers in a small storeroom that had rail tracks leading into it. Carts full of fog-rock traveled there on the rails from No Man's Landing. There had to be one of those rooms around here, but she doubted she'd be able to find it.
She walked through the long halls, searching aimlessly. The lights in the fancy golden sconces on the walls dimly lit the carpeted hallways and the faded damask wallpaper. The arcade of arches and thin columns that decorated the hallway was made of dark wood, as were the baseboards.
Ariella's room was on the second floor, and she could barely remember where the stairs to the first floor were located. Finally, after wandering for several minutes, she stumbled upon the spiral staircase and descended two steps at a time. The bottom of the west wing's staircase opened into an arched hallway similar to that of the upper floors except wider. Potted plants were set on tables along the walls, sadly wilted and shriveled like sea flowers exposed to too much fog.
Ariella came into a large chamber with doors along the walls. Tables, chairs, and more drooping plants lined the room. A green fire crackled in a large fireplace. This was the front lobby. Ariella had first entered the Academy Automicus through the wide double doors at the far end of the room.
Automatons also patrolled the lobby, and Ariella was careful to dodge them on her way to the science lab. The lab was the only place she could think of that might have fog-rock someplace, other than a fog-rock storeroom, which she wasn't about to go searching for. Ariella crept into the lab, dismayed to find the room brightly lit with no shadows present to lurk in. She realized that she always felt safest while hiding in shadows, where no one could see her but she could see them.
Ariella gulped and slunk into the room, her body tense with anticipation and dread. No one seemed to be present, probably because it was almost curfew time. There were cabinets and clean, white counters lining one side of the room. Tables and chalkboards lined the other side. There was a floor high above, dividing the bottom of the science lab from an observatory in the domed roof. The observatory had a telescope that looked out at the stars through the foggy skylight.
Like the rest of the Academy Automicus, golden wall sconces with lamps in them lit the room, attributing to the green glow that Ariella had observed from outside.
She approached one of the lamps and peered at it carefully. It had rectangular glass panes and flickered with emerald light, so it must have fog-rock as its fuel source. Ariella opened a small compartment in the bottom, revealing a pile of fog-rock that had yet to be burned by the lamp. She snatched out two large pieces and closed the compartment.
"You know, we have a bountiful supply of fog-rock in the laboratory," a voice said.
Ariella jumped and nearly dropped the bright green rocks. She slowly turned around, facing an older girl wearing a long grey lab coat that had accents of indigo on the hem and pockets. The girl also wore a pair of goggles on her forehead, and watched Ariella carefully.
"Who are you?" Ariella asked, straightening up and surreptitiously put the fog-rock into her pocket.
"Danria," the girl responded, a slight accent hinting her voice. "Danria Whyatov."
"I'm Ariella Newheart. Are you one of the science teachers?"
Danria laughed, tossing her long brown braid over her shoulder. "No...I'm a student just like you. You're new, aren't you?"
"Yes...I came earlier today with Ambassador Alena Darkmere. For early training," Ariella said stiffly.
"Aha! By early training I suppose you mean you came a week before your fellow Junior Academy students. Interestingly enough, my brother and I each came here for early training two years before we would have. That's a great deal longer than a week, isn't it? Anyway, why do you need fog-rock? I've got plenty over here." Danria moved to a cabinet and opened it, revealing a bin full of the rocks.
"An experiment," the other answered carefully.
"What kind? I'm doing experiments all the time, mostly to prove the influence that the Great Engineer had on Aethasia. There are traces of His power running throughout all the land--you just have to look closely enough," Danria said with a smile.
"The...Great Engineer...Mr. Jefferson talked about a Person like that," Ariella said thoughtfully.
"You know Jefferson? How is he these days? I haven't seen him for some time."
Ariella began to relax. "Ambassador Alena and I saw him on our way to the Academy Automicus. Are you the lab assistant he spoke about?"
Danria nodded in acknowledgment, closing the cabinet.
"Well, he directed us to a safer path here after the previous one began melting."
"Ah, yes," Danria sighed. "The meltdown. Principal Fairrow hopes that the meltdown won't begin to affect this building, but I fear it is inevitable. Obviously, that isn't what he wants to hear, but we will see."
"What exactly are you doing in here at this time of night?"
"I have a right to ask you the same question. What kind of experiment are you working on? Perhaps I can offer my assistance," Danria volunteered.
"One that needs fog-rock, obviously," Ariella said, trying to evade the question once again. "Now, please tell me about the Great Engineer that you mentioned. He sounds like a very important person!"
Danria sat down at a table and Ariella followed her lead. "You truly haven't heard of the Great Engineer?"
"Well, I want to tell you, but Emperor Lucky has strictly forbidden any mention of Him."
Danria stole a cautious glance around the science lab, then at the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes until curfew. "I suppose I can tell you a little. The Great Engineer was the one who made all of Aethasia! It is said that He stood at the heart of Aethasia and spoke everything into existence."
Danria shook her head sorrowfully. "Everyone says He abandoned Aethasia 30 years ago. No one know where He has gone. Then Lucky liberated our land, bringing his fog and promising prosperity and freedom." She lowered her voice. "I don't see that freedom, though, with those automatons running all across the land."
"Isn't Lucky a Usurper?" Ariella asked in an equally low tone.
"A Usurper! If I had to guess, I'd say he is, and he usurped the Great Engineer. But we have no proof of that. As a scientist, I always prefer to have facts and proof. That's why I believe that the Great Engineer existed. I can see the proof in the way the world functions. It runs like clockwork. Everything and everyone is in its proper place, operating flawlessly. Only Someone as powerful as He could have created it so."
Ariella raised her eyebrows. "But there is proof! The fog makes people forget about the past. I know that from personal experience."
Danria looked thoughtful. "I've noticed that the fog has strange, anomalous effects on everything. Plants, animals, people. It's an interesting hypothesis that I will have to investigate, though I don't know exactly how. Gears and gaskets! Everything is immersed in fog, even the whole of the Snowmoors! There is no place in Aethasia that is unencumbered by the fog."
"It once was," Ariella murmured. "There are stories of Aethasia when there was no fog."
The clock now read five minutes until curfew. Danria noticed this and quickly shut down all the lights in the lab. She and Ariella wove through the hallways on the way to their rooms. They passed several automaton patrols, and Danria handled their questions briskly, not wanting them to cause her and Ariella to be out after curfew.
"I should like to talk to you more soon, Miss Newheart," Danria said to her as they went to their separate rooms.
Ariella smirked. "Perhaps you can help me grow sea flowers in an aquarium."
"Is that your experiment?" Danria asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe, maybe not. See ya!"
Ariella hurried away just as the clocks began to chime the top of the hour. She slipped into her room and turned off her light as an automaton clunked up the hall, inspecting the rooms and making certain that each person was accounted for. She answered the knock of an automaton. It looked much like the Inspector except that it was a newer model of Pacifier with bold green markings on its chassis. It stepped away, leaving Ariella to her thoughts.
She put the two pilfered fog-rocks into the fog boiler of Arona's Airmail Auto-bird and let it fly out the window bearing her letter.
Ariella couldn't sleep. She had to do something with her hands, so she dug through her duffel bag, searching for her dyes and some paper. Soon, she found a large piece of paper, then green, purple, red, blue, and brown dyes. She used a paintbrush to draw fog swirling on one corner of the paper, and then a glimmer of amethyst-colored light on another.
She painted vibrantly-colored trees and around the purple and sickly, shriveled trees and fog-rock around the fog. She even drew a believable rendition of Emperor Lucky, using a memory of his statue that had been in the Junior Academy's central courtyard. Once, Lucky had looked wise and benevolent to her. Now he seemed savage as he glared darkly at her from his place on the paper.
Ariella was almost tempted to color over Lucky, then decided against it. She painted a figure near the purple glow, a man cloaked in scarlet. Who was He? There was no doubt in her mind that He was connected to the Great Engineer...but how? Why was He wanted by the Emperor?
Scarlet Man...Resistance...Great Engineer.... All of these were connected by something--the purple mist of legend, the aethereal light of hope and love. Ariella wondered where the mist had gone, and if it would ever come back. If it did, she was certain that the fog would no longer have any power. The fog made everything ugly. The mist would bring beauty back to Aethasia.
Ariella leaned back from her picture, looking down at all the colors she had painted. There was something wrong with the painting. Ariella thought for a moment, then realized that she had drawn a figure of herself in the corner with the fog. She painted over it with purple and drew it back near the aethereal mist. That was better.
Ariella stood up and paced back and forth as was her habit when she thought about something. She didn't want to be an Autofficer. She didn't want to command Lucky's metal monsters. She didn't want to be here. But here she was, and as Ambassador Alena had said back at the Junior Academy, she could do nothing about it. Ariella sighed and sat down, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She pulled on her gas mask to filter out the wisps of fog curling under her doorway.
Tomorrow Ariella would learn about Autofficers. The teachers would give their lectures about automatons and science and engineering. The students would listen--or pretend to. The automatons patrolling the halls would march mindlessly past the classrooms on their rounds.
But little did the residents of the Academy Automicus know, there was someone among them who was no longer loyal to Lucky like all the rest.
Ariella woke to a loud banging on her door. Ambassador Alena had informed Ariella that automatons would come through at seven in the morning with a wake-up call. She groaned and sat up, then remembered the art she had drawn the previous night. She smiled as she looked at the paper, then quickly got ready for breakfast, also packing a bag full of her school books so she'd be ready for her classes.
Ariella snuck out of her room and down the hallway. She was one of the first to get up, but there were still a few other girls near her. She'd hoped to avoid them, but since they were loitering about in the hall, she had no choice but to go past them. Ariella glanced at them as she went by. They wore their Academy Automicus uniforms proudly, and watched her somewhat curiously as she descended the stairs to the lobby and then tried to find the mess hall.
The first door she tried led to a classroom. Ariella closed it quickly, trying another door. It opened into a long corridor, but there were no other kids walking along it. Turning around, she spotted Danria walking away from the science lab and toward a large, ornately-carved door. She wore her customary gray lab coat, and Ariella wondered how long she'd been up.
Ariella followed Danria through the door, figuring it was probably the entrance to the mess hall.
"Hello, Danria! Were you just in the science lab?" Ariella called to her, stifling a yawn.
"I've been awake for a while," was all Danria answered, a slight smile on her face.
Ariella looked around the room, finding it to be large with tall ceilings and intricate paneling on the walls. There was a long counter along one wall, and the food along it was set up in self-serve style. Ariella wrinkled her nose at the strange smells wafting from the kitchen beyond the counter, eyeing the containers of food cautiously. There was some sort of mushroom stew, a tray of dumplings, every kind of shellfish imaginable, collard greens and eggplant with garlic sauce, and was that...a mincemeat pie? Ariella also saw a steaming dish piled with some sort of suspicious-looking food.
Ariella looked over at Danria and cautiously pointed to it. "What is that?"
"Scorpion. In addition, there is oyster, lobster, and some fish."
Ariella wrinkled her nose. "Is this what you eat here?"
"You'll grow accustomed to it," she replied, taking a plate and filling it up, mostly with some type of dumpling. "My favorites are the pelmenis--these dumplings."
Ariella gulped. She also took a plate, but couldn't bring herself to try anything more than a dumpling. The other stuff smelled too fishy--literally.
She followed Danria to a table. "May I sit here?" she asked cautiously.
Ariella hesitated a short moment, then sat down stiffly, poking at the dumpling on her plate. She put in her mouth and chewed, contemplating the flavor.
Ariella began to notice that more kids were filing into the room, and a feeling of nervousness overtook her. She pushed it away, fixing her eyes to the tabletop. She didn't like crowds. There was nowhere to hide here, either, unless it was under the table or in the kitchen.
"Is there anything normal to eat around here?" Ariella decided to ask.
Danria stopped with a pelmeni halfway to her mouth. "Normal? This is normal, at least for me. There are chips at the end of the meal line, if you want something different."
Ariella sighed, then looked over at the kitchen. Chips would certainly be better than those strange foods. She stood up and went to grab a few containers of Pringles chips, ignoring the stares the other kids were giving her. Leaning back in her chair, she popped a Pringle in her mouth, crunching on it loudly.
Danria blinked at her. "You can't possibly eat all those, can you?" She eyed the cylindrical boxes, mentally calculating just how many chips Ariella had there.
Ariella shrugged. "Just watch me."
"Oh, everyone's watching you, all right," muttered Danria. It was true. Nearly every person in the dining hall had his or her eyes fixed on the new girl who so nonchalantly crunched on her chips.
Ariella shifted uncomfortably, a thought coming to her mind. "I'm going to hide under the table."
"Going to hide under the table."
Danria squinted her gray eyes at Ariella and sipped her strawberry-kiwi tea before responding. "Everyone will think you're crazy."
"So what? Maybe they'll leave me alone if they think I'm crazy." Ariella straightened up, scooted her chair back, and slipped down under the table. There was an audible gasp around the room, and everyone fell silent, staring.
Ariella grinned, enjoying herself immensely. She leaned against one of the legs of the table, loudly munching on her chips.The sound echoed strangely in the silent hall. Maybe if the instructors at the Academy Automicus saw she was a bit strange, they would send her back to the Junior Academy or No Man's Landing.
During the rest of the breakfast hour, Ariella finished off three containers of Pringles, but stopped at the fourth, fearing she might get a stomachache.
"Who's the new girl, Danria?" a nearby voice asked. Ariella perked up, wondering what Danria would say.
"Her name is Ariella Newheart," replied Danria cautiously.
"Why are you, the third best student at the Academy, keeping company with her?"
"What business is it of yours, Mr. Darkmere?"
"She's a got a screw loose, don't you think?" The voice held a taunting tone.
"If that's what you want to think, Mr. Darkmere, that's fine. Now would you kindly pick a fight elsewhere?"
Danria's reply evicted a startled silence from the person, and Ariella poked her head out from under the table. She glared the owner of the voice, a boy with blond hair. Ariella held his condescending gaze for a moment, popped a Pringle in her mouth, and bit down with a loud crackle.
Danria winced. "That is not helping, Miss Newheart," she whispered.
The boy smirked at both of them, then turned and walked away.
Ariella came out from under the table, brushed the crumbs off her uniform, and went to dispose of the empty Pringle tubes. Everyone still watched her, but Ariella felt quite pleased with herself. She'd never dared to do anything this strange at the Junior Academy--except for the occasional pranks she'd played on the other kids in the mess hall. No one had ever found out that she'd done them, and Ariella wondered if she could get away with the same kinds of things here.
Ariella smirked as she imagined everything she could do here. Switching the salt and the sugar in the meal line, hiding under the table, water balloons and snow bombs, rocks placed in inconspicuous places...the possibilities were endless.
Ariella went back to Danria's table and sat down. "Who was that kid?"
Danria sighed. "Zaiden Darkmere, my brother's old friend," she replied.
"Nicolai Whyatov. He's going to Evercity. Even though he's younger than me, he actually graduated from here two years ago, and has had extra training in the Junior Academy. He's always had his sights on an assignment to Evercity, and it appears that he finally succeeded."
The family connection suddenly hit Ariella, and she examined Danria closely. She didn't look anything like Nikko, and neither did Nikko have her same accent. However, that didn't mean they weren't family. For all Ariella knew, Nicolai could have been adopted, or a half-brother of Danria's or something.
"Ah, yes...Nikko. Didn't he get in trouble for something? I think it had to do with a spy, or someone who he thought was a spy," Ariella said casually. In the woods before she'd left the Junior Academy, Ariella remembered overhearing May speaking to her friends. She had said that Nikko had caught someone, a girl named Aislinn. Ariella had reason to believe that Aislinn was really Aelis Molligear, a girl who had disappeared months ago without a trace. Ariella wanted to see if Danria knew anything about this occurrence.
Danria looked at Ariella carefully, finishing her tea. "Nicolai said he caught someone spying in the Junior Academy, yes," she replied. "The suspect slipped away, and Nikko was blamed for not catching her. Eventually, everyone began to believe he had made it up, and he was punished. That little mishap nearly ruined his reputation and endangered his chances of assignment to Evercity. He's had to work extra hard to get where he is today."
"So did he actually catch someone?"
"He says he caught a girl named Aelis Molligear. Nikolai had reason to believe she was a spy for the renegades in No Man's Landing," Danria responded.
"Nicolai wouldn't have been punished had there been proof she was, now would he?"
Ariella opened her mouth, then closed it again as a group of automatons filed into the room. They announced that breakfast was over and that everyone should move along to their classes.
Ariella grabbed her school bag, looked over her schedule, and hurried to the science lab. Everyone in the class watched her carefully, as if hoping she'd dare to do something strange during class time. Ariella just ignored them.
Everything in the science class was mildy interesting, until the instructor started ranting about how wonderful the fog was and how everything was better with fog boilers and automatons. Eventually it turned into some sort of a political pep talk, urging students to strive to be like Victoria le Roque, Zaul Grimm, Tasha O'Connor, and all the other loyal Autofficers in Lucky's Empire.
The next few classes weren't much better. Even though the teachers started by talking about geometry or algebra or chemistry or engineering, they always ended up wandering on to topics about the fog's power and how great the Empire was. Ariella mentioned this peculiarity to Danria when she saw her in a hall on the way to another class, but Danria said that it was normal for the teachers to speak in this manner.
A few days after Ariella had sent the Airmail Auto-bird back to Arona, it returned bearing Arona's latest letter. Just as she was about to slide the paper out and read it, there was a knock at her door. Ariella jumped and suddenly remembered that here at the Academy Automicus, there was a weekly room inspection, and the inspection of Ariella's room was today.
Ariella rushed around, looking for a place to hide all her illegal possessions--the picture she had drawn of Lucky and the Scarlet Man, her previous letter from Arona, her gas mask, and the Airmail Auto-bird. The only place she thought the automatons wouldn't look was on the ledge outside her window.
The knocking grew more insistent, and Ariella quickly hid the three items outside the window and closed it. With a final glance around, she answered the door. Three automatons stood there, and Ariella quickly stepped aside to let them in. They questioned her about her dye collection, the apparently suspicious pile of rocks that Ariella had begun hoarding in one corner, the glass aquarium Ariella had gotten from Danria, and the cylinders of Pringles that were under her bed.
"Food is forbidden in the residential wings. It will be confiscated," the lead automaton whined. So, they took her stash of Pringles and disappeared, leaving behind a list of rules that Ariella had already seen. Having food in her room was her first deviation from the rules, and she'd been given a warning. Two more, and she'd be sent to the principal's office to have a nice chat with Baron Fairrow.
Ariella still hadn't met the Baron, though she had seen him from a distance. He was a stubby, dignified sort of person with elaborate clothing and springy shoes. Ariella had heard tales that the Baron had a new suit made for nearly every occasion. Some even said that he wasn't really a baron, he just called himself that.
Ariella let out a long breath and quickly retrieved the three items she'd hidden and unrolled the note from Arona, her hands still shaking from the shock of nearly being caught with two illegal mechanical resources and a picture of the Emperor's enemy.
You met Jefferson? That's amazing! He's one of the best engineers in all of Aethasia! See if you can get his autograph for me, will you?
And yes, I do know about the Great Engineer. May told me about Him. Yesterday, I snuck out through the window and met her in the forest. Apparently the Great Engineer created Aethasia and a network of Great Engines which powered everything during the Golden Age, the time before Lucky took over the throne in an event called the Usurping.
When Lucky seized power, the Great Engineer took a lantern called the Aetherlight out of the heart of the Great Engine network and everything began to wind down. The fog, one of Lucky's twisted creations, rolled in, and it made people forget all about the Great Engineer. Nowadays, there is a Scarlet Man running around out there, reminding people about the Great Engineer and the Golden Age of Aethasia. He's created a Resistance in No Man's Landing, which May is a part of. Isn't that cool? That's where she got the gas mask! And she's also given me several new crafting recipes for cool gadgets which I will have to try out.
I'm not certain if I want to join the Resistance, though. It is all just too new for me. May was a bit disappointed when I said I wasn't quite sure. I know why. She took a big risk in telling me about her connection to this Resistance, and I will keep her secret. I hope you will, too.
Perhaps if I don't like the Fogworks I'll leave and come to No Man's Landing. May couldn't tell me exactly where the Resistance base is, but she told me if I needed help just to leave a note in the print shop there and someone would help me. The same goes for you, if you ever manage to get out of the Snowmoors. It might have to be when you finish your training there.
Until then, try not to forget the tales about the Old Aethasia. I know I certainly won't. Perhaps I'll tell Molly what I know about it, too. She's coming to the Fogworks with me, you know.
I met Nicolai Whyatov's sister here, a girl named Danria. She's actually Jefferson's part-time lab assistant, and is one of the top three students at the Academy Automicus.
The day after you discovered from May about the Great Engineer, Danria told me what she knew about him, only she has heard that the Great Engineer abandoned Aethasia and Lucky liberated us.
You know, I heard May talking about the Scarlet Man once, and ever since I've suspected that he and the Great Engineer are connected somehow. It looks like that is true!
But the mention of this Aetherlight is strange. How did it power the Great Engines? And where are the Great Engines today? Did Lucky destroy them? With all this new information, it makes me want to join the Resistance right now. But I can't. I'm practically trapped here at the Academy Automicus, unless one of the teachers gives me permission to take a trip out into the Snowmoors. Perhaps I'll see if Danria can do anything about that. Maybe we can go visit Jefferson and see if we can stop the meltdown.
Have you heard about the meltdown? Apparently the Snowmoors is melting, and no one knows why. Jefferson is trying to figure it out, but so far he hasn't made any progress.
Anyway, I think you should take any chance you get to escape to No Man's Landing, but it is your choice. Perhaps you can see if all the tales the kids in the Junior Academy told about the Fogworks are true. If people really are dragged away from their homes and forced to work there, I think you should flee. Let me know what you decide.
The rest of the week passed quickly, and soon the other students from the Junior Academy arrived: Grace Newgadget, Kieran Candleview, and Felicity Overshine.
After the customary tour of the Academy, they joined everyone at lunchtime in the dining hall. Ariella introduced them to Danria and they all sat together at a corner table. Ariella still ate Pringles by the dozen.
"Why are you eating those?" Grace asked her.
Ariella shrugged. "They're the only normal things to eat around here. The other stuff is too strange."
"You can't survive on Pringles alone," Kieran spoke up, poking at the food on his plate.
"I know. Occasionally, I sample the fried tilapia and the salads, but everything is so wilted from the--" Ariella stopped abruptly.
Everyone looked at her curiously.
"What were you about to say?" asked Felicity, poking at the mushroom stew in her bowl.
Ariella shrunk down in her seat. "Uh...."
"I think she's talking about the fog," Danria said with a cautious glance around. "It has strange effects on everything. The plants in the greenhouse and everywhere else in the building are shriveled up like raisins." She popped a raisin from her salad into her mouth.
"That could be caused by anything," said Grace suddenly. "We need to test that theory."
"How?" Danria said, almost laughing. "We would require a testing zone free of fog, and the teachers will not consent to that. I just don't see how we could accomplish such a thing."
Ariella suddenly remembered something. "Jefferson doesn't use fog," she said in a low voice.
The older girl looked at her in surprise. "Crackling cogs, you're right! The teachers allow me to visit him occasionally if he requires help with his experiments. I may be able to convince them to let all of you come."
"Hurrah!" exclaimed Felicity. "A field trip. We hardly ever got to go on field trips back at the Junior Academy!"
The kids at the surrounding tables glanced over at her and she quickly fell silent.
"A field trip? Sounds interesting. May I come along, too?" asked a voice.
Ariella saw Danria frown, then turn to face Zaiden Darkmere. "Mr. Darkmere, these four students are new, and I want to take them on a scientific expedition. You are not a new student, therefore I see no reason why you should come along."
"I've been wanting to visit Jefferson. I have a few new ideas about the meltdown problem that he might be able to use."
"What makes you think that he would consider your ideas useful?" challenged Danria.
Zaiden smirked. "I'm one of the best students at the Academy, too, you know. Victoria's getting worried that we'll take her position as top student."
"So you think your position entitles you to give advice to Jefferson?"
Danria sighed and put her hand on her forehead. "Pride goes before a serious mechanical malfunction."
"What did you just say?" Zaiden asked in surprise, his eyebrows raising.
"Your actions will catch up to you someday."
Zaiden just shrugged. "We'll see about that. And I will come along on your little expedition, whether you want me to or not." He turned and walked away.
"Who was that?" asked Kieran.
Danria replied, "That was Zaiden Darkmere."
"Darkmere? Is he related to Ambassador Alena? Her last name is also Darkmere," observed Grace.
"What?" Ariella asked, her mouth dropping open. She abruptly snapped it closed. "Well, that explains a lot."
"Didn't you know, Miss Newheart?"
Ariella shook her head. "I didn't make the connection until now, just like I didn't make the connection that Nikko was your brother until you told me about it. Does anyone else had any relations that I should know about?"
"My father is Autofficer Phileas Newgadget," volunteered Grace. "I also have two cousins who live in No Man's Landing."
"My dad's in Lucky's Court," said Felicity. "But you already knew that."
"What about you, Mr. Candleview? Or you, Miss Newheart?" Danria asked.
"My parents and brother live in Evercity," Kieran said, grinning.
Ariella hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "I have a sister, Arona Copperburst. We were assigned different last names since we didn't know our real ones."
Danria looked confused. "You didn't know your real last names?"
"Nope. I'm not even sure where we came from. We've lived in the Junior Academy our whole lives."
Kieran let out a low whistle. "And I thought three years was bad enough."
"What do you mean? It's a privilege to train to serve the Emperor," Grace said sharply.
"I know. It's just I never got to visit my family very much," Kieran replied, looking a bit uncomfortable. "And I'm not even sure I want to be here."
Felicity nodded in agreement, but Grace just shook her head at them.
"It's not so terrible here once you get used to it," Danria said encouragingly. "I've been here for almost six years, two extra since I came here early. I'm graduating after this year."
"Once you graduate, where do you think you'll go?" asked Felicity.
She thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I would like to stay here for a while...at least until the problem of the meltdown has been solved, if that is even possible. We don't know what exactly is causing it."
Suddenly, three automatons entered the room to announce the end of the noon meal.
"I'll see what I can do about our expedition," Danria promised, going to clear her plate and silverware.
"I just hope Zaiden doesn't get his way," Ariella murmured. "It'll be hard to do our experiment if he's looking over our shoulders."
The next day, Ariella prepared to pull off her first big prank. She'd been hoarding rocks for a reason, explaining to the automatons who inspected her room that she had them for scientific reasons. Whenever she managed to slip out of the Academy Automicus, she collected them. After the snow around the building had begun melting, a large amount of them had been uncovered.
Ariella gathered her collection of stones into her school bag and slipped out of her room, pretending to be going down to the library. She'd already investigated the library, which was twice as big as the one at the Junior Academy. The books were mostly lengthy science manuscripts, automaton engineering guides, and encyclopedias of Aethasia. There hadn't been much time to look through them, though.
Ariella placed a rock on a windowsill at the end of one hallway. Another rock was nestled into an alcove. She creatively placed rocks everywhere she could, from the classrooms to the science lab to the library. And to make everything better, no one saw her doing it.
When she had put the last rock up in the hallway leading to Baron Fairrow's office, Ariella let out a sigh of relief. As she turned around to go, the creaking of a door halted her.
"What is the meaning of this? I demand to know why are you trespassing here!" Baron Fairrow's voice said from down the hallway.
Ariella turned on her heel to face him, trying to think up an explanation. With his springy shoes and tall hat, he was much taller than her, but she wasn't frightened, just chagrined at being caught.
"I was just wondering, sir, if Danria Whyatov has gotten permission to take the newest students on a scientific expedition to one of the research stations," Ariella said calmly.
"Danria Whyatov," said Fairrow, glaring down at Ariella, "has not asked for any such thing, though Zaiden Darkmere has. He came to me just one hour ago, in fact. He wishes to also take part in the expedition, and I have allowed him. He has gone to explain this to Miss Whyatov. Is there something else you needed? I have a meltdown to solve, you know."
"No, sir. Thank you for answering my question," Ariella replied sweetly, and turned to go.
"Aren't you the girl who consumes snack chips during meal times instead of the food that has been so kindly provided for you by our best cooks?" Baron Fairrow asked, a trace of suspicion in his voice.
Ariella gulped. "Yes, sir. I have a...uh...delicate constitution. Most of the time, chips are the only thing I can keep down," she said, wincing at the lie.
"And you also have been seen eating them underneath the tables in the dining hall. Not to mention you have snuck some of them into your room."
"That was only once, sir. And I prefer to eat my chips underneath the table because...I am the opposite of claustrophobic...uh....sort of agoraphobic. I prefer closed-in spaces to wide open ones." That was relatively true. Ariella didn't like large areas--if they were crowded, that is.
The principal raised an eyebrow and examined a piece of lint on his glove. He flicked it away and returned his gaze to Ariella. "You may go."
Ariella nodded and quickly crept away. She was going down the stairs when she heard a loud thump from the hallway behind her, then a groan.
Her hand went to her mouth in shock as she realized what had happened. Fairrow had probably tripped on the rock she'd placed in the hallway.
Ariella quickly descended the stairs before the principal of the Academy Automicus could accuse her of anything more.
Ariella found Danria Whyatov experimenting on rock samples in the science lab.
"We will be going to Mr. Waterhouse's research station at the end of the week," Danria informed her.
"He's coming. It appears that he went to Principal Fairrow for permission," the other said with a slight frown. "We'll just have to keep him distracted. Perhaps you could take some of your chips along and quiz him about their geometric shape."
"It's a hyperbolic paraboloid," Ariella immediately answered. "But I don't think there's any reason to distract him. Remember our conversation yesterday at lunch? He said he's been wanting to visit Jefferson. He must have been listening to us and knew we had been talking about Mr. Waterhouse."
"Cobblestones! You're right," Danria sighed. "We'll just have to ignore him, then. But not so that it looks like we're trying to ignore him. He's probably got some scheme in mind to ruin our expedition."
"Why exactly does he do all this to you? He doesn't seem to like you very much."
Danria frowned again. "No, he doesn't. Even though my brother was one of his friends, Zaiden was always scheming and plotting ways to undermine my research."
"He isn't exactly sympathetic toward my view about the Great Engineer. Zaiden thinks He's just a myth. Nicolai felt similarly, but didn't express his disapproval as strongly as Zaiden did. Once Nicolai confronted him about it, and Zaiden agreed to stop. However, when my brother went back to the Junior Academy, Zaiden continued as before."
Ariella glanced down at one of the rocks Danria had put a drop of chromic acid on. "That's too bad."
"Did you ever succeed in growing any sea flowers in the aquarium I gave you?" Danria asked abruptly, apparently trying to change the subject.
"Yes, but they're all shriveled up. I can't use them in any of my dyes."
"Well, please bring the flowers and the tank when we go to see Mr. Waterhouse. Perhaps we can use them in our experiment."
"Speaking of experiments, why are you examining rocks?" Ariella asked.
"Oh, it's just to pass the time. I found one here in the laboratory, but I'm not sure how it got here. I'm wondering if it is for one of the teachers' geology classes and it was just misplaced."
Ariella hid a grin with her hand. "Have you discovered anything of interest?"
"Just that it is like all the other rocks in the Snowmoors. In fact, it looks similar to the rocks outside the Academy Automicus, but I will have to retrieve one from outside to compare them. Actually, could you find one for me?"
"Of course!" Ariella went out into the lobby, noticing that a person had just entered the library--Zaiden. Before the door closed, she saw Felicity and Grace sitting at a table, studying. When the automatons patrolling the room turned away from her, Ariella slipped out the front door and searched for a suitable rock.
She found one such specimen and slipped it into her school bag. With a glance through the window to make certain that the automatons wouldn't catch her when she entered, Ariella hurried back inside to give the rock to Danria.
"Thank you," the older girl said, comparing the rocks with the aid of a microscope. "Yes, they appear to be the same type of rock. The crystalline structure is exactly the same. Do you want to look?"
Ariella came over and peered through the eyepiece, wondering when Danria would discover the other dozen or so rocks that were hidden throughout the science lab. "They do look similar," she agreed.
"Next I will determine which type of rock they are," Danria said to herself.
"You do that. I think I saw Felicity and Grace in the library, so I'll go see if they need help studying."
Danria nodded absently, and Ariella disappeared out the door.
Ariella crossed the lobby and opened the door of the library. The room's domed roof had a circular skylight, and bookshelves lined the curved walls from top to bottom. Several wide balconies were built high above, and ladders were used to access them. Lifts in the walls made it easier to transfer books from floor to floor. Felicity and Grace were still sitting at the same table as before, their noses buried in their science books.
"Hi, you two," said Ariella. "Need any help?"
"We're nearly done here, but thanks anyway," Grace said, managing a smile.
"The teachers are going to let us take a trip out to Jefferson's research station," Ariella informed them.
"They are?" demanded Felicity, standing up.
Grace looked nearly as excited. "When do we leave?" she asked.
"At the end of the week. Zaiden is coming with us, though," Ariella said quickly.
"Is there a problem?" an automaton's voice asked, the low clunking of its footsteps on the carpeted floor steadily approaching.
Ariella tried to smile and turned to face the Pacifier Officer. "No, we're fine."
"Silence is a requirement in the library. Deviation from the rules will result in--" The automaton was cut off as Felicity kicked her foot out and made contact with its fog boiler. She grabbed her chair and smashed the auto until the green light in its optics flickered out.
"Problem solved," she said nonchalantly, dusting her hands off and sitting back down on her slightly bent chair.
Grace and Ariella could only gape at her.
"You can't leave that thing lying in the middle of the floor!" exclaimed Grace once she'd regained the use of speech.
"Someone had to have heard that racket. We need to hide it before they come to investigate," Ariella said, grabbing the metal arm of the automaton. "Come on!"
Grace grabbed the other arm, and with a sigh, Felicity went to grab its legs. The girls carried it to the back of the library, dodging several automaton patrols along the way.
"Where do we put it?" Grace asked frantically.
"We could dump it out the window," Felicity suggested, squinting up at the top floor of the library where the skylight was.
"We can't possibly get it all the way up there," Ariella replied, shaking her head.
Felicity went over to the wall. "Yes, we can. There is a book lift here. We can stuff it in the lift and bring it up."
Ariella and Grace exchanged wary glances.
"This isn't the first time you've had to do this, is it?" asked Ariella.
Felicity shrugged. "First time here."
The three quickly put the deactivated automaton into the lift and slid the door closed. Felicity and Grace climbed a ladder to the highest balcony while Ariella used the lift's hand rope to move it. The automaton was heavier than it looked, so it took her a while. Ariella wasn't sure if it was quite to the top floor yet, and she hoped no one was nearby to question why she was straining to pull a simple load of books.
Just as she thought that, a voice said something behind her.
It was Zaiden. Of course.
Ariella didn't turn to look at him. "Nope. Go bother someone else."
"That's a bit rude," he observed.
Ariella gritted her teeth. "Sorry, Zaiden."
"That lift looks like it's heavy. How many books could you possibly have in there?"
This time Ariella did look over at him. As always, he wore a smirk. "That's none of your business, kid," Ariella retorted.
Zaiden winced, probably at the implication of Ariella being older than him--she was, by a few months, and was prepared to make full use of that fact.
"I could call that automaton patrol over. One of their officers is missing, and I'm helping them locate it," Zaiden finally said.
When Ariella didn't reply, Zaiden waved over two Pacifiers and turned to smirk at her again.
Ariella had no choice but to let the book lift down for the automatons to inspect. She was so worried that she barely noticed that it was considerably lighter than before.
The lift arrived at the bottom and Ariella braced herself as she hesitantly slid open the door. In the book lift was not a wrecked automaton, but instead three books about an odd subject--frog dissection.
"Frogs?" Zaiden asked Ariella, a dark scowl replacing the smirk.
"I was wondering about frogs. Do they live here in the Snowmoors?" Ariella asked innocently, grabbing the books from the lift.
"Certain types of snow frogs live in the rivers, though the Snowmoorian wildlife is rapidly disappearing."
"What other wildlife is there? I haven't seen very much."
Zaiden nodded to the automaton patrol to dismiss them, then glared suspiciously at the lift once again. "Crocodiles, scorpions, and snakes. Frogs are rarer, though we've had them in the dining hall once or twice before. Fish and shellfish, of course. There are also Tundra Wolves. You wouldn't want to encounter one of them." Then he slunk away, disappearing behind a row of bookshelves.
Ariella quickly raced up the ladder to the top floor where Felicity and Grace were waiting for her. "What did you two do?" she asked breathlessly, sitting down in a chair.
"We saw that Zaiden was coming to question you, but the lift was almost to the top. We were able to bring it up the rest of the way and take the automaton out. Felicity had the good sense to put a few books in before we sent it back down," Grace explained.
"You're welcome," Felicity said, tossing her red hair over her shoulder.
Ariella crossed her arms and frowned. "You're welcome?"
"You're the person who got us into this dangerous predicament in the first place, Felicity," pointed out Grace.
Felicity looked at the ground sheepishly. "Sorry. It's a habit."
"Smashing automatons is a habit?" Grace asked.
"How about we get rid of this thing," Ariella suggested quickly.
The girls dragged the automaton over to the skylight and Grace unlatched one section of the window, opening it inward. They lifted the Pacifier Officer onto the edge and Felicity gave it a little push. It disappeared from view, then a muffled crash sounded from far below.
"That was actually kind of fun," admitted Grace.
Ariella pushed the window closed and turned to face Felicity and Grace. "Let's not attempt such an endeavor again, though."
They both nodded in agreement.
The end of the week couldn't come fast enough for Ariella and the others who were going on Danria's scientific expedition. When it finally did arrive, Ariella remembered that it was the same day that Arona would be leaving for the Fogworks. Ariella hadn't gotten another letter from her yet, and she hoped her sister was all right.
The six teenagers, including Zaiden, bundled up in fur parkas and climbed into a sleigh like the one that had brought Ariella to the Academy Automicus. Ariella had packed her aquarium into a bag, hoping that the water in it wouldn't freeze and harm her sea flowers.
Danria carefully observed a map of the plateau and directed the Bombardier who pulled the sleigh to go across the ground which was the least likely to be melted. The conversation on the trip was lively, Danria making all sorts of observations about rock formations and Snowmoorian trees. The others responded with questions and comments of their own.
"If we go by the river, we might be able to find a snow frog," Zaiden said suddenly. He had been mostly silent during the trip, and this sudden statement was slightly startling to Ariella.
"A snow frog?" queried Danria.
"Oh, yes. Miss Newheart, here, wants to learn how to dissect them."
Dania looked back at Ariella. "You do?"
Grace, Felicity, and Ariella had decided not to tell Danria and Kieran about the little automaton incident in the library.
"Not anymore. I'd rather we didn't go by the river to look for frogs," Ariella said stiffly.
"Mr. Waterhouse's research station is somewhat near the river. If Mr. Darkmere wants to look for frogs, he may do so while we talk to Mr. Waterhouse," Danria decided after a moment, probably hoping that the hunt for frogs would keep him out of the way.
"I will. After I talk to Jefferson about my ideas," Zaiden replied with his signature smirk.
A half hour later, they arrived at their destination. While the others finished pulling on their snowshoes, Ariella examined the the research dome carefully, looking to see if she had been right about Mr. Waterhouse not using fog. Everything was the same as when she had last seen it...except for the presence of two strangers who stood outside the building. They seemed to be making something out of snow.
"Hello!" called Danria. "Are you Mr. Waterhouse's errand runners?"
The kids, a boy and a girl about Ariella's age, looked up and nodded in acknowledgment. Ariella thought they must be siblings.
"Yes," the boy said. "I'm Hans Oddcraft. My sister is Elsa. Jefferson's inside, working on some sort of experiment. He doesn't want us messing it up, apparently."
"What are you building?" queried Zaiden, crossing his arms. Everyone approached the domed building to gain a better view of the figure the two kids had been making.
"What does it look like we're building?" the girl, Elsa, retorted. "A snowman."
"Oh, really?" Zaiden returned. "That's weird. They've probably got a few screws loose, too."
Danria turned to glare at him, and said to Elsa, "You'll have to excuse him. He thinks everyone with strange hobbies has a screw or two loose."
They all tramped over to the entrance of the research dome and Danria knocked. Jefferson slid the door open and surveyed them.
"Mr. Waterhouse, I require a fog-free testing zone for one of my experiments," Danria informed him. "We are trying to find whether or not fog affects plants in a negative way."
Jefferson let out a long sigh. "So long as these children don't disrupt my experiments, I suppose it is all right."
Danria hurried inside, followed by the five others. Ariella put the sea flower aquarium, which had not frozen, on a table. "I wonder if, away from the fog, your flowers will grow better," the older girl mused, setting up another experiment near the aquarium.
This one was comprised of two glass boxes half full of dirt. One had fog being pumped into it, the other did not. Into the dirt everyone planted a few seeds, then watered them.
"How long will it take for them to grow?" Kieran wondered.
"A few days, but they won't be fully grown for several weeks. I'll check back in here soon to see how they're progressing. Now I need to set up a drip line so that Mr. Waterhouse won't have to bother with watering them. Any volunteers to help?" Danria asked.
Ariella raised her hand, and the others mimicked her--except for Zaiden. He was busy pestering Jefferson with questions about the meltdown.
"Good. Miss Newheart and Miss Newgadget, please collect some more snow to melt. Mr. Candleview, please get some pipes from the sleigh. Miss Overshine, can you help me find a tank and a pump we can use to create a gradual flow of water?"
Everyone hurried to comply. Grace and Ariella found a bucket, then went outside to scoop some snow into it.
"Grace, what do you think about all these experiments with fog?" Ariella asked her. She had a good idea of what Grace thought, but wanted to ask anyway.
"I'm not sure anymore. I've only ever heard good things about the fog, but if it causes plants to wilt...perhaps I was wrong," the other replied.
Ariella was silent for a moment, wondering if she should tell Grace what she had learned about the old Aethasia. "Have you ever heard the story of the Golden Age of Aethasia?"
Grace looked confused. "It sounds vaguely familiar...but I can't quite place it."
"It was when the Great Engineer ruled Aethasia."
"The Great Engineer? Is that another name for the Emperor?"
Ariella almost laughed. "No, the Great Engineer ruled before Lucky took over. He created Aethasia, but not the fog. That was Lucky's doing."
"What did the machines run on, if there was no fog?"
"All I know is that the Great Engineer used a lantern called the Aetherlight to power some sort of engine. Maybe everyone used variations of that Aetherlight to power their machines," Ariella guessed.
"Why have I never heard of this before?"
Ariella took a deep breath. "Because Lucky has covered it all up. He usurped the throne of the Great Engineer."
Grace looked at Ariella strangely. "That's crazy."
"You don't have to. I just figured you should know that there is something more than Lucky and automatons and the fog."
Grace stood up quickly, and said in a not-so-friendly tone, "Unlike you, I want to be an Autofficer. My father was an Autofficer, and I have worked my whole life for this."
Ariella looked at the ground, blinking back the unbidden moisture in her eyes. "I won't talk about this again if you'd rather I didn't."
"Yes, please don't. I'm going inside."
So, Grace stomped through the door, leaving Ariella out in the cold with her bucket half full of snow.
"You know, people in the old days used Aether to power their machines," someone said.
Ariella jumped and looked around. Why did people keep sneaking up on her? She had to stop that from happening! Elsa stood nearby, half hidden by the snowman she had created. Had she heard the entire conversation?
Elsa simply smiled. "A purple mist. Want me to show you?"
At Ariella's nod, Elsa reached to unclip a heart-shaped device from her belt. It looked to be a tank of some sort. She opened a hatch in the top and some sort of mist flowed out into her hand, swirling into a tight ball. "Aether."
"Where did you get that tank?"
"Oh, this Aethermeter? Someone gave me the plans to craft it," Elsa replied with a reminiscent smile.
"I have them in my crafting book."
Ariella gazed at the amethyst-colored mist. "What does it take to craft the tank? And where do you get the mist?"
Elsa dropped the mist back into the Aethermeter and looked at the ground. "Someone would have to give you the plans and help you craft it. You can't do it on your own. I've gotta go see what my brother's up to, now. Goodbye!" Then she darted around the back of Jefferson's research station.
Ariella realized the girl had dodged her question about where the mist came from. With a sigh, she lifted her bucket and hurried inside just as Zaiden stomped out, mumbling something about frogs.
"Where's Zaiden going?" Ariella asked Danria, dropping the snow into a pot for melting in a large clockwork furnace.
"Mr. Waterhouse was ignoring him, so he went to look for snow frogs by the river," Danria replied. She had nearly finished setting up a contraption which would pump water from a tank through a line of pipes. The water would steadily drip through holes in the pipes into both of the dirt-filled tanks. After putting the melted snow water into the tank, Danria wound up the machine. To everyone's relief, it worked properly.
"Could you make sure that Mr. Darkmere is all right?" Danria asked Ariella. "Just keep an eye on him, please."
"He'll probably fall through the ice," muttered Grace under her breath.
After Danria had handed her a telescope, Ariella hurried outside to spy on Zaiden. He was stalking down the hill in the direction of a meandering river. Snow papyrus plants grew along the water, but they were not their normal blue color. Instead they had turned green, and were wilted. The river had gaps in the mostly black ice, and Ariella hoped Zaiden would know not to go out onto it.
He waded through the snow to the river, being careful not to get too close to the slushy ice, then reached out and grabbed something. What was it? Probably a frog. Ariella rolled her eyes.
Then the sound of voices caught Ariella's attention. She looked behind her, but couldn't see anyone. She wondered if she should see who it was. The last time she'd heard someone's voices and eavesdropped on them, it hadn't ended so well--meaning she'd been out after curfew and had been caught by the Inspector. Ariella forced herself to look back at the river, trying to quell her curiosity. She struggled with herself for a moment, then with a sigh, she turned to look for the owners of the voices.
Coming around the back of Jefferson's research dome, Ariella spotted four people talking behind a stack of boulders. Two boys and two girls. She recognized Elsa and Hans, but the others were unknown to her.
"Jefferson has been gathering information that might help in solving the meltdown," Hans was saying.
Ariella ducked back behind the dome as the unfamiliar boy and girl looked around cautiously. Trying to keep her breaths quiet and even, she closed her eyes and listened.
"It has been nearly three months," the strange girl, one who looked to be a little older than Ariella, said quietly. "I understand that Jefferson is doing the best he can, but will be able to give the Resistance a conclusive report soon?"
The Resistance! Here were more kids who were members of the Resistance!
"I don't know," Hans said in an equally low tone. "Jefferson is going to meet with a few scientists sometime in the new year to share his findings, but so far he hasn't found out anything."
"I hear voices," the other boy said sharply. He wore a dark mask which covered most of his face.
"Those are some kids from the Academy who are visiting Jefferson," Elsa explained.
"Why didn't you tell us?" the masked one responded.
"They're in the dome. They won't be any trouble," Hans assured him.
The other muttered darkly, "They'd better not be. You really need to be more careful."
"We are being careful," Elsa said defensively.
"Calm down, everyone," the other girl said, putting her hands out in a calming gesture. "If Elsa and Hans think they won't be trouble, they won't be."
The irritable one just shook his head. "If someone catches us, it's your fault, Iliara."
Iliara turned to Elsa and Hans. "You did make sure no one followed you out here, didn't you?"
Crossing his arms, the masked person said, "You see? They didn't check. If that isn't an example of carelessness, I don't know what is."
"Hey, we're doing the best we can, X!" exclaimed Elsa.
Ariella decided it was probably best to leave. She just hoped these people wouldn't go snooping around. They would certainly catch sight of her footprints in the snow if they did.
She checked the river with her telescope, but didn't see Zaiden. After searching along the path to the research station, she spotted him climbing up. Ariella pocketed the telescope and hurried inside to warn Danria and the others.
"Zaiden's coming back," Ariella said as she closed the door to the research station.
"Did he get his snow frog?" asked Felicity with an eyebrow raised.
"I hope not. He'll probably want me to dissect it," Ariella muttered.
"Yeah, what's that all about?" asked Kieran.
"Ummm...I'll talk to you all about it later," she replied with a sheepish grin.
When Zaiden returned, he was suspiciously silent. Ariella didn't think much of it, but she caught Danria watching him closely to see if he was trying to pull any pranks or ruin the experiments.
"All right! I think that's all we can do for today! Perhaps next week I will get permission to take you out here again," Danria said, bidding Jefferson farewell and ushering everyone to the door to put on their parkas.
As Grace pulled on hers, she suddenly yelped in surprise. Ariella glanced over at her, at the same time putting a hand into her pocket. It met with something cold and squishy. "YAAGHHGHGAAAAHHH!" Ariella shrieked, throwing off her coat. Out of the pockets of her and Grace's coats hopped two gray snow frogs.
Danria, Kieran, Jefferson, and Felicity stared at them. Zaiden was suspiciously trying not to stare at them.
Felicity peeked into her pocket and a frog jumped out at her. She quickly tossed it away and it landed on the ground next to the two others.
Kieran reached into his parka and pulled out yet another one, and Danria found one in hers, too. She calmly shooed the frogs out the door, and turned to glare daggers at Zaiden.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, crossing her arms.
Danria shook her head in disgust. "Your pranks are getting sloppy. You did not even try to disguise the fact that you were the one to put them there."
"Gearwheels! Now you're denying it even when it's clear that you were the culprit!"
Zaiden smirked. "You have no proof."
"Who else could have put them in there?" Felicity exclaimed.
Zaiden opened his mouth to retort, but Ariella interrupted, "The absence of a frog in your coat is a clear indicator that you were the one to put them in ours."
He was still smirking. "All right, fine. Just be glad I didn't decide to dissect them for you, Newheart."
Ariella grimaced. "Oy, I'm certainly glad for that."
"Uh...we should leave now," Danria said, changing the subject.
Everyone nodded and put on their parkas, leaving Zaiden behind with Jefferson looking on in amusement.
Silence descended as they got into the sleigh and the Bombardier rattled back across the snowy expanse to the Academy Automicus. Felicity and Grace glared at Zaiden, but Danria wouldn't even look at him. Ariella wondered if she should try to start a conversation.
"Do you think that Jefferson will let us keep using his research station for our experiments, Danria?" Ariella asked her.
Danria thought for a moment. "I suppose we shouldn't keep bothering him. I might ask permission from Principal Fairrow to let me set up a lab in one of the old research stations in the Northern Slurry. Most of them are occupied, but I may be able to find one to use."
"Do you think the principal would really let you?" asked Kieran.
"There is a good possibility," Danria replied.
Zaiden chuckled darkly. "Are you sure about that?"
Danria didn't reply, just looked away.
Ariella hoped Zaiden wouldn't try to throw a spanner in the works and ruin Danria's chances to get a lab of her own. He probably had some sort of ploy in mind. Danria would have to talk to Principal Fairrow quickly, before Zaiden had a chance.
Danria also realized this, so as soon as they got back to the Academy Automicus, she rushed away to Principal Fairrow's office. At the evening meal, she reported that the principal had simply said he would think about it--that's as much as he would say.
"I hope you get a laboratory of your own, Danria. You spend so much time in the lab here, it would be unjust for him to not allow you," Grace said with a smile.
The next few days passed quickly. Ariella began to learn strategy and logic. She played chess against her friends, and occasionally beat them. Danria was a more difficult opponent, and Ariella had yet to defeat her.
"Why do we have to learn all this stuff?" Felicity groaned as she and Ariella sat in the library one day, studying.
"What do you mean?" asked Ariella, looking up from her book.
"All these weird tactics and maneuvers for automatons!" said Felicity.
"If we're going to be Autofficers, then we need to know all this stuff." Ariella buried her nose in the book again.
"But I'm not going to be," muttered Felicity.
Felicity shrugged. "I think I'm going to be a scientist like Danria."
"You have to be specially chosen by Principal Fairrow for a position like that," Ariella reminded her.
"Speaking of Danria, do you know if she ever got her own research station?"
"Zaiden has been trying to stop her, and Principal Fairrow is too busy with all his work on the meltdown to look into that."
"I hope we'll be able to go with Danria again to see how the plants are doing." Felicity closed her book loudly and plopped it onto the table.
"I'd say we have another few weeks to wait," Ariella replied, also setting down her book. Principal Fairrow hadn't allowed the kids to go back to Jefferson's research station every week, but he had said he would consider letting them go once a month.
"Silence is a requirement in the library. Deviation from the rules will result in confinement to your quarters," an automaton said, approaching the two girls.
"I'm sorry. We understand," Ariella replied, holding out a hand to stop Felicity from smashing another automaton. Speaking of, the last automaton had been found, but no one had any idea who had thrown it out the window. As a result of this, security had become tighter, and the punishments for breaking the rules were more severe.
Ariella had decided not to play any more pranks for the time being--other than placing a rock or two around the library just to watch the Pacifiers trip over them. They didn't even step out of the way of the rocks, just stuck to their programmed paths!
"You could go see what Danria's doing. When I finish with my reading assignment, I'll come too," Ariella told Felicity in a whisper once the automaton had gone away.
"I'll meet you at the lab," Felicity said eagerly, hurrying out of the library and across the lobby.
Ariella finished the chapter of the book she'd been reading, Automata Machinations: A Guide to Defensive Tactics and Strategy. Once she'd packed up her school bag, she went to the science lab to look for Felicity and Danria.
"Ah, Miss Newheart. I have excellent news to share with you," Danria said cheerfully as Ariella entered.
"Principal Fairrow has allowed me to transport my science equipment to a small research station in the Northern Slurry so that I may commence with my personal experiments," she explained.
"That's wonderful! Will you live there full time?"
"Oh, no. I'll come back to the Academy Automicus in a few weeks, to keep up with my studies and take you all to see the progress of our fog experiment. I will retrieve the experiment from Mr. Waterhouse's laboratory, and continue watching it closely in my own station," Danria replied, smiling.
"This is wonderful!" Ariella exclaimed.
"I'm sure it is," a voice said.
"AGH!" exclaimed Ariella as she turned around to see Zaiden standing in the doorway. "Where did you come from? Were you spying on us? He was spying on us!"
"Calm down, Ari," Felicity said quickly.
Ariella took a deep breath. She was getting paranoid. "Fine. But were you spying on us?"
"Maybe I was, and maybe I wasn't," Zaiden replied.
"Clearly you were, Mr. Darkmere, or else you wouldn't have heard that conversation," Danria said, annoyed.
Zaiden smirked. "Aren't we smart?"
"You tried your best to stop me from furthering my research, Mr. Darkmere, but you didn't succeed. Now please pick a fight elsewhere."
"All right, fine. I was going to give you a word of warning about Victoria, but I suppose since you want me to leave...."
Danria looked at Zaiden quickly. "Wait. Miss Le Roque?"
"Yes. I've heard that she isn't very happy that you overtook her as the top student..." Zaiden said, and walked away without another word.
"What's he talking about?" Ariella asked curiously.
Danria watched Zaiden go with a worried expression. "Miss Le Roque has been the highest ranking student ever since Miss Claude left. Recently, I have advanced higher than her. I wonder what she would do to regain her position...." Then she composed herself. "Mr. Darkmere may just be trying to frighten me. Miss Le Roque has always been cordial toward me. I have nothing to worry about."
"I hope so," replied Ariella, her brow furrowing in thought.
"When will we be able to visit your lab, Danria?" asked Felicity.
"In a few weeks, should Principal Fairrow permit it, Miss Overshine." Danria's face lit up with a smile once again.
"Do you have time for a game of chess, Danria? I've got a new strategy in mind," Ariella spoke up.
After almost defeating Danria in a chess game, Ariella hurried back to her room and discovered an Airmail Auto-bird sitting on her windowsill. She hadn't received anything from her sister at all during the last week, so the Auto-bird was a welcome sight.
She quickly unrolled the letter and read its contents.
We left for the Fogworks a few days ago and had nearly arrived there, but something happened. Molly Cartdust and I began to realize how wrong everything was. On the road, we met with a group of people from an Imperial prison who were also going to the Fogworks. You were right, Ari. People are arrested and sent there to work. Most of the time all they had done was collect some stray mechanical resources. Others from No Man's Landing were caught wandering beyond the town's limits, or were out after curfew.
They were worn and weary. Some were hurt. Their despairing expressions haunt me, Ari. I wish I could have helped them...but there was no way to.
After seeing what sickening things the Empire has done, Molly and I decided to run away--but that wasn't so easy. The Inspector watched us carefully, and I think it suspected that we would try to escape. We had to either find a time when it wasn't watching us, or somehow deactivate and reprogram it. Molly and I managed to shut it down and I put an animus servo in its difference engine.
From my research, I have gathered that the animus servo makes it so that an automaton can think for itself, not just follow orders! Now that the Inspector has one, it doesn't have to do what the Autofficers command it to. Molly and I were able to escape, and we brought the Inspector with us! That automaton has proved very helpful.
We are on our way to No Man's Landing to see if we can join the Resistance. I explained to Molly about what I learned about the Old Aethasia and the Great Engineer--though not about May being the one to tell me in the first place.
She remembers her brother telling her similar things before she went to the Junior Academy, and thinks he might have joined the Resistance, too.
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I hope you're doing all right.
I'm glad you and Molly were able to escape before you got to the Fogworks, but I don't understand why you brought the Inspector with you. Simply giving it an animus servo won't reprogram it to help you. The Inspector is a strange automaton...be very careful, Arona.
I wonder if you'll ever meet the Scarlet Man who founded the Resistance. Perhaps you can tell him I want to join, too. I'm not sure I'll ever get out of the Snowmoors. Everything is melting left and right, and I couldn't possibly get away without encountering some dangerous obstacles.
I have been busy with my studies here at the Academy Automicus. The classes are a lot harder, but surprisingly, I'm catching on to the strategy part! I can almost beat Danria in chess. Speaking of her, the other kids from the Junior Academy and I have been helping her with an experiment to see if fog makes plants wilt. I am certain that it does, but Grace needs more proof. She actually wants to be an Autofficer, and she follows Lucky without question.
To do the experiment, we had to find a fog-free location. Since Jefferson doesn't use fog, we went to his research station. Danria is going to get one of her own, soon, so we don't have to keep using Jefferson's.
Also, I heard some several kids from the Resistance talking near the research station. They were meeting with Jefferson's two errand runners. It's very interesting how the Resistance seems to have people everywhere...in the Junior Academy and in the Snowmoors. I wonder if there is anyone here in the Academy Automicus.
That's all for now. I'll let you know if there's a chance I can escape.
After several weeks, Danria took Ariella, Kieran, Felicity, and Grace to her new research station in the Northern Slurry.
"I've been working to establish a proper laboratory, but with my limited resources, it has been somewhat difficult," Danria told them as the sleigh slid up to the door of a gray metal dome.
They entered quickly, finding that the research dome was not nearly as crowded as Jefferson's was, though much of the same equipment was set up inside.
The small fog experiment had been transported from Jefferson's dome to here, and Ariella noticed that the plants had grown a lot bigger. Of course they had. It had been almost a month since they experiment had begun.
Besides the growth, Ariella noticed a distinct difference between the plants which had been exposed to fog and those which had not. The fogless plants were tall and healthy, the foggy ones were stunted and sickly.
Felicity peered into the glass containers. "Aha! The plants clearly don't like the fog."
"That doesn't prove anything," Grace said, though she didn't sound quite sure.
"On the contrary, Miss Newgadget," Danria replied. "It proves that some plants may grow better without fog. I will observe these for a while longer, and I will try growing others under the same conditions, but for now we can assume that fog is not good for plants."
Grace's face grew slightly pale. "But...fog power brings prosperity to the land."
"It may bring prosperity, but not healthy plants," replied Danria, pulling on her goggles as she reached for a dangerous-looking vial of who-knows-what.
"Well, who needs plants, anyway? Fog is good for automatons...and people," Grace said, crossing her arms.
"That's the next experiment we have to do," Ariella spoke up. "Perhaps we could see what happens if people aren't exposed to the fog day and night, as they are at the Academy Automicus."
"Fog is required in every area of the Empire," grumbled Grace. "Jefferson could be arrested for not using fog. You, too, Danria."
"For many of my experiments, I require a fog-free testing zone," Danria replied without looking up. "I don't see the harm in it."
No one said anything for a while, but Ariella felt the tension growing. "Anyone want to go look for snow frogs?" she joked nervously.
Kieran and Grace didn't want to, either.
Ariella just shrugged and glanced curiously around the lab. "Ok, fine. How are my sea flowers coming, Danria?"
"I believe they are nearly ready to pick. They are growing better without the fog, as well. Over by the triacetone triperoxide," Danria replied, waving her hand past a table full of vials and jars of suspicious-looking powder.
Ariella gulped and carefully edged past the table, then looked around for her aquarium. When she found it, sure enough, the sea flowers were growing very nicely. She picked two of them and planted two others in their places. "I've been missing seaflower green dye!"
The vials Danria was experimenting with suddenly began to fizz up, and she quickly deposited them on a metal tray. "On the subject of dyes, I found some crocodile tears around the Snowmoors recently, and they may be useful for dye-making. I have some extra if you would like them."
Ariella grinned. "Thanks, Danria! Where are they?"
"To the left of the triacetone triperoxide, and the rocks."
"Why do you even need that stuff?" Ariella asked, picking up two vials of light blue liquid.
"The TATP is needed for some...unique experiments," she replied with a devious smile. "The rocks are the ones I found all around the laboratory in the Academy Automicus." The latter part was said with a suspicious glance at Ariella.
Ariella tried to sound nonchalant. "Oh...really?"
Ariella squirmed under Danria's intense gaze.
"What's this over here?" Kieran spoke up, pointing to a book sitting on a nearby table.
Danria turned away from Ariella. "My crafting book. Every good mechanic, scientist, or engineer should have one."
That gave Ariella an idea. Arona had found an old book in the Junior Academy's library with designs and crafting recipes in it--maybe Ariella should have one, too! She could rip a few pages out of her school notebook and start collecting recipes.
"I believe that's all for today," Danria said cheerfully. "I will organize several similar experiments and, hopefully, in one month's time we can all return to see how they are progressing."
As they went out to the sleigh, Danria whispered to Ariella, "The Academy uniforms have gloves for a reason."
Ariella stopped short and looked down at her hands. She wore the gloves. Then she suddenly remembered that when she had placed the rocks around the Academy Automicus, she hadn't been wearing her gloves. Ariella facepalmed, then looked back at Danria, who wore an amused expression.
Ariella tried to keep a straight face, but she couldn't hold it and burst out laughing. Danria must have identified her as the one who had set out the rocks...by her fingerprints. That was why she'd asked Ariella to find a rock for her, to compare her fingerprints to the ones on the rocks found throughout the lab.
As she laughed, Danria began grinning, and the three others looked back at them in surprise. No explanations were given, and Ariella was relieved. She wasn't sure how she would have explained it anyway. Ariella and Danria boarded the sleigh, and they hurried away.
When everyone arrived back at the Academy Automicus, Ariella went off to her room to begin her crafting book. So far all she knew how to craft were dyes, reticulated splines, and the odd accelerating apparatus or gyrostabilizer. She quickly wrote down the recipes and bundled all the papers up in a pile, then tied it with a fraying ribbon. It wasn't a book, but it would have to do.
The new year came quickly, and it was nearly time for Ariella and the others to visit Danria's lab again.
Ariella hurried down the stairs for the evening meal, hoping that there would be something normal to eat. There's little chance of that happening, she thought with a sigh of annoyance.
As she came out into the lobby, she stopped short. A large crowd of cadets and Autofficers was gathered there, but they were silent as they listened to one person speaking. Victoria.
"I regret to inform all of you that Miss Danria Whyatov has had an accident..." Victoria Le Roque was saying, the expression on her face unreadable.
There was an audible gasp throughout the room.
"It was an accident in her laboratory. She was not careful enough with her experiments, and there was a large explosion. Her lab was demolished. Unfortunately...Danria did not make it out."
A sudden silence ensued as the gravity of her words struck everyone, Ariella included. Her face turned white and her mouth dropped open. Danria...dead? Victoria had said that Danria hadn't been cautious...that couldn't be! Danria was always cautious! Unless something had happened with that triacetone triperoxide...that was the only viable explanation Ariella could think of.
Numbly, Ariella followed the silent crowd into the dining hall. She grabbed a plate of pelmeni and a cylinder of Pringles and went to sit down with Felicity at the table where she always sat. It was the same table where Danria always used to sit. The room was silent for several minutes, then the conversation started back up again.
"Danria's gone," Felicity said finally, staring down at her food. "We just saw her a few days ago! She was supposed to take us to her lab next week...."
Ariella nodded, picking at her food. "Yes." She took a deep breath. "Do you really think she wasn't cautious enough?"
"I don't think so. I mean, she was always cautious. But maybe it was just an accident that she had no control over. I don't know."
"You think it had something to do with that triacetone triperoxide she had in her lab? That could have caused it," Ariella suggested.
"Triacetone triperoxide is quite dangerous, isn't it?" Zaiden asked from behind them.
Ariella gritted her teeth, noting the infuriating tone of nonchalance present in his voice. "Danria's dead now, Zaiden. What do you think about that?"
There was silence for a moment. "It is of no consequence. Though she was a decent scientist, she can be replaced with one more qualified."
"Qualified?" Ariella almost shouted, jumping up. She had half a mind to throw her plate of pelmeni at his head. "Danria was more than qualified. If you had anything to do with this--"
"Careful who you accuse, Newheart," Zaiden interrupted, his voice low and controlled. "And don't be like Danria. Take my words of advice so you won't end up like her."
Ariella stopped suddenly and lowered her plate to the table again, realizing two things at once. The first was that Zaiden was trying hard not to attract attention to their conversation by speaking in a low voice. And the second was that he had just implied that Danria had died because she hadn't taken his advice.
But what advice was that? A chill went down Ariella's spine as she remembered Zaiden's strange warning several months ago, about Victoria. Afterward, Danria had wondered what lengths Miss Le Roque would go to to regain her position as top student. Ever since then, Ariella had also begun to gain on Zaiden and Victoria. Zaiden's grades had been consistently below Victoria's near-perfect ones...almost too consistently. A dreadful thought crossed Ariella's mind. What if he was doing so on purpose, to keep Victoria from...going after him, too.
As Zaiden walked calmly away, Ariella's mind swirled with twisted, panicked thoughts. She sat back down, fighting to regain her composure. After putting on a mask of equanimity, she looked around for Zaiden. He sat with his back to her, munching on fried scorpion. As her eyes swept across the room, she saw several Autofficers and cadets who she recognized...Tasha O'Connor, a learned Autofficer, Keenan Ironcog, a kid who had graduated from the Junior Academy the year before, Elowyn Northheart, a girl about Danria's age, and Estelle Blackpiper, one of Tasha's friends and fellow Autofficers. Ari's gaze caught on another person in the room, one whose right eye was covered by a fog-tech monocle. The unobscured eye was the color of fog-rock.
Ariella forced herself to meet that person's piercing gaze and hold it. After several seconds the person looked away, and Ariella let out a soundless breath of relief, for it had been none other than Victoria.
The last thing Ariella wanted was for Victoria to suspect her of knowing the truth about Danria's accident. But what if Victoria suspected already?
Ariella took a deep breath to calm herself, but the feelings of panic and dread still raced through her mind. Now, more than ever, Ariella wished that she hadn't come to the Academy Automicus. She even wished that she had never come to the Junior Academy. One desperate thought rose above all others.