Ethinium's Vault (Steam & Aether Book 1), page 24
In the engine compartment, Rip glanced ahead, his new eyesight providing an excellent view of the tracks despite the dim light.
Absently, he pulled up the list of messages on his implant he had been ignoring. One in particular made him smile.
[You have reached Tier 2. +10 bonus all stats.]
Very nice.
He pulled up his status screen and read off the latest information regarding his levels.
[You are a Tier 2.19 Battle Rogue Technologist.]
[Skill: Airship Pilot, 1.10]
[Skill: Detect Traps, 1.10]
[Skill: Vampiric Speed (Boon), 1.11]
[Skill: Train Driver, 1.12]
[Skill: Night Vision (Boon), 1.14]
[Skill: Lock Picking, 1.40]
[Skill: Disarm Traps, 1.43]
[Skill: Mechanical Discernment, 1.44]
[Skill: Stealth, 1.56]
[Skill: Weaponry, 2.15]
[Skill: General Combat, 2.34]
As near as he could figure, the math continued to work out the way he thought it should. New skills offered a bigger bonus on the Tier level, while skill points were divided in half. So, for every new skill point he earned, he progressed one-half point in his Tier, but for every new skill learned, he got two points.
His progress felt good, although he still worried about skills he was unlikely to use much, [Airship Pilot] in particular. For the life of him, he doubted he would be able to raise that one very often.
And once they were done here, he also doubted he would get many opportunities to use [Train Driver].
But he set aside those thoughts and turned his attention back to the present.
The Verez sisters sat on the floor of the engine compartment. Blair leaned up against the wall, between the girls and Rip. No one looked at anyone else; they all seemed lost in their own thoughts.
So Rip turned his attention back to the tracks. He could see the way ahead without difficulty, thanks to Liza’s boon.
“What’s it like to serve in your military, Sergeant?”
His thoughts interrupted, he turned back to the Verez sisters. Hilda had asked him the question, drawing the eyes of the other two women.
“That’s a broad question . . .”
“Do women serve alongside the men? Here in our world, if you wish to engage in combat, at least officially, then you have to join a Venture Society. We came to Ethinium because it has the best.”
“Ah. Well, that explains what you two are doing here in England. I mean, Umbria.”
“Yes. Lord Sharp graciously offered to sponsor us when he visited Budapest last year. That is why we serve on his team. So, do women fight in your army?”
“Yes, they do.”
Both sisters smiled.
Liza said, “What kind of skills do they use in combat?”
“Well, uh . . . we’re different in that regard. Our skills are innate. But we do have advanced technology, and that allows women to participate in battle much the same as men. It’s all equal footing online. My last posting was in cyberspace.”
All three stared at him with blank expressions.
He cleared his throat.
“That’s sort of like another world . . . controlled by electricity . . . where you can have a body that is separate from your real body back in the real world. Sort of like puppets? And, we have battles there. It’s . . . kinda hard to explain.”
Hilda said, “So, women . . . they fight in this electric puppet theater?”
“Yes. One of my best soldiers was a woman. Physical characteristics don’t matter in cyberspace so much as your mind. And she was great.”
He drifted off, thinking about Maloney. He wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to collect on the drinks she owed him.
The sisters shared a knowing look.
Liza said, “She was your lover?”
Blair shifted the weight on her feet, uneasily. Liza and Hilda smiled at her.
“Ha. No. But she served under me. She was a good soldier.”
Changing the subject, Blair said, “How are the nobles set up in your military? They serve as officers, I suppose.”
Rip noticed she was engaging in the conversation despite her disdain for the vampires. But maybe she just really wanted to steer things away from women in his past.
He said, “The United States doesn’t have classes, officially. We might say someone is ‘low class’ if they’re poor or act like jerks. But they’re not really in a class as you understand it.”
“Then how do you decide who will serve as your officers?”
“We use college degrees. All officers must have one. That’s a big delineation between officers and the enlisted ranks.”
“Ah. So you don’t have a degree, then, as a sergeant.”
“Actually, I do. I started taking online classes shortly after I enlisted, right out of high school. I earned my bachelor’s in History, from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. One of the advantages of enlisting is the GI Bill, which pays for all tuition. If I re-up, I was thinking about going through Officer Candidate School, but . . . Well, let’s just say all plans for my future career in the US Army are on hold at the moment.”
The women furrowed their brows, slowly digesting his comments.
Blair said, “Online classes?”
“Yes. Uh . . . getting a degree online means you don’t have to be physically present at the university. It’s all done over the internet. Um . . . with electricity.”
“I’m having trouble comprehending all these things you seem to do, without actually being there.”
“Oh. Well, you have the telegraph, right? And telephones?”
All three nodded.
“So, one’s voice can be heard or a message passed across long distances, right? In real time. This is sort of the same thing.”
Blair looked doubtful.
Rip decided he really needed a better way to explain the internet.
He turned back to the windshield and gazed out through the darkness.
[Night Vision has increased.]
[You have gained 1 point in Night Vision.]
Maybe I’ll just walk outside every night and try to keep raising that one up.
In the far distance, he noticed a slightly brighter pinpoint of light, marking the end of the tunnel.
“I think we’re coming to the exit.”
Blair moved to stand beside him and squinted through the dark. By now, she too could see the approaching light, gradually growing larger.
She stepped over the sisters’ legs and opened the doors to the first car, filled with police.
“We’re approaching the end of the tunnel. Pass it along.”
55
Rip slowed the train down as they neared the exit. He could see the end of the line, a wooden barricade blocking the way. He slowed even more as they entered a large depot at a stately crawl.
Much like the one they started from, this subterranean room looked like a transfer station for cargo, although far fewer boxes lay scattered about.
Rip felt more concern about who they would find here, rather than what.
He eased the lever back to its horizontal position, bringing the train to a stop and leading to another skill point displaying on his implant’s readout.
An argument broke out in the middle car. After a few heated words, several Venture Society members stepped out, guns drawn.
The police stayed on the train.
Rip deduced that Chief Inspector Sperry must have had a disagreement with Sharp and Bixby, which the nobles won. He decided to join them, and pulled a Tommy gun out of his interspatial wallet.
Blair followed him out, hopping lightly from the engine compartment to the concrete floor of the depot. The Verez sisters jumped out right behind them.
“This place seems deserted,” Chance said, aiming his gun straight up.
Bixby said, “Indeed.”
Rip scanned the far wall and noticed something curious.
“This is a mirror duplicate of the other room, but the far tunnel has a vault door, just like that storage facility we found.”
“He’s right,” Sharp said. “Let’s investigate, and hope those officers stay in place.”
Sharp, Bixby and Finley headed for the vault door with Twig and Chance trailing.
Rip stopped.
Blair looked up at him with a curious expression.
“You don’t want to examine the door over there?”
“Doesn’t seem prudent to cluster together. I’m going to stay back here, just in case.”
“We will stay with you, Ripley,” Liza said. “You are so wise in combat.”
“And strong,” Hilda added, her voice dripping in praise.
Blair turned to glower at them, her animosity reignited by their compliments.
Before the others could reach the vault door, it swung open and a string of men in gas masks poured out.
Sharp yelled, “Sewer troopers!”
The five dove for cover, ducking behind shipping crates.
The troopers opened fire, their broomhandle submachine guns burping long and hard.
Rip and the three women took cover as well. He spared a glance for the train, and noticed several blue dome hats ducking down below the windows as a few stray bullets plinked off the metal cars.
Servos whined and a loud clank sounded as Humphries stepped down from the back of the train.
He clumsily tromped toward Rip and the girls, knocking over a stack of crates along the way.
“I say! Perfect opportunity for combat trials.”
His voice sounded muffled inside the robot’s head.
“He’s like a metal puppet in your electric world, no?” Liza said, lying prone next to the sergeant.
Rip gave her a second glance. Somehow she had sneaked closer when he wasn’t looking.
“Sort of. We call that a mech, although this one is more primitive.”
Sperry called out, “Tally ho, boys! Line up behind the professor’s bot!”
The offices streamed out of the rail cars with a roar, holding their billy clubs high. They lined up three abreast behind the vault robot and marched forward with it.
Blair sighed and said, “Come along. Looks like we’re the only ones in this lot with guns.”
She jogged out in front of the automaton, which had passed them by now, and ran point on its right.
Rip smiled and joined her. The vampire sisters moved to its left.
“It’s actually a decent formation,” Rip said, lining up his sights on the first set of sewer troopers heading for them.
Scattered bodies lay on the floor between Bixby’s group and the vault door. It remained ajar, open wide enough for a man to squeeze through. More troopers filed out, carrying broomhandle guns.
“Hold your position here, Lord Humphries!”
The group stopped at a good spot, with a clear line of fire at the troopers.
Rip thought so long as Sharp and the others lay flat, their four guns could help in the onslaught. The girls and Rip opened fire, bullets ripping into troopers.
Blair said, “They’re not enhanced. They’re going down easy.”
Rip grunted, taking a lung shot. He felt the air go out and blood trickling in. Squinting, he sent a short burst into the face of the man who hit him.
He heard bullets plunk into the sisters, too. He spared a glance at Blair, but so far she had miraculously avoided getting struck.
Humphries’s robot attracted most of the return fire, but of course it was thoroughly impervious to small calibers, and the lead pinged off harmlessly.
One of those ricocheted bullets finally found Blair, popping into her calf muscle.
“Rubbish!”
Rip noticed a large bloody spot on her leg when he paused to swap out magazines. He pulled a fresh drum from his wallet and placed the empty one back inside.
“Looks like they’ve stopped sending men in,” Blair said.
He glanced at the vault door.
“You’re right. No one’s coming through anymore.”
Gunfire trickled off, and slowly stopped as the last troopers were killed or wounded.
When a few seconds went by with no shots fired, Sperry peeked around the robot.
He said, “Round them up, lads!”
The cops broke from their formation and rushed forward with a roar, looking to detain and arrest anyone they could find. But the sewer troopers were all on the floor, most of them dead.
At that moment, a tall man in a dark peaked cap and a long black leather overcoat walked through the vault door. All the Venture Society guns immediately pointed at him, but he seemed unconcerned.
He strolled out from the vault door with hands behind his back, glaring at the fallen troopers, the Venture Society personnel and the police.
Finally his eyes landed on the sergeant.
Rip waved and said, “Dar Caul. I know who you are, now.”
After several seconds of scowling at Rip, he shifted to Sharp, Bixby and Finley who were closer.
“What is the meaning of this intrusion?”
“Are you in charge here?”
Sperry pushed his way through Twig and Chance, then the nobles to face Dar Caul.
“I’m Chief Inspector Sperry of the Ethinium Police. You are all under arrest.”
Caul gave him a withering stare, full of contempt. The Chief Inspector did not back down, but stared back with the full authority of his office.
“Inspector . . .”
“Chief Inspector.”
“You are in the Ethinium steam vault. You have no authority here, as established by the Council of Ghent. That treaty, signed by all civilized nations, predates even your Magna Carta.”
A crack formed in the inspector’s façade, with a trace of worry flickering in his eyes.
“We pursued a suspected crime ring following gunfire under city streets. And our search has led us here. Thus, our authority extends here as well.”
Caul’s glare remained unrelenting.
“While Venture Society members on occasion tread into our outer vaults . . .” Neither Finley, Bixby nor Sharp looked very apologetic about this statement. “Those attached to major cities, such as this one, remain inviolate. And I will not tolerate city police, nor others, to remain in the vicinity shooting up my troopers.”
Sperry looked like he wanted to argue some more, but Finley patted him on the shoulder.
“Come along, Chief Inspector. We got what we came for. Knowledge. Let us depart and leave Dar Caul here to his own devices.”
Sperry had a sour expression on his face, but he acquiesced.
“You heard them, lads. Back on the train, the lot of you.”
Slowly, everyone retreated. The cops appeared particularly frustrated. Humphries clumsily turned around, knocking over two of them in the process, and clumped back to the rear of the train.
Dar Caul stared venomously at Rip a while longer before heading back to the vault door. When he slipped through, it swung shut. Rip noticed another cypher machine connected to the door, and filed that nugget away for later.
The last car groaned as Humphries climbed on it again.
Rip heard a moan nearby. He looked down at a wounded storm trooper.
Then he glanced over at Liza and Hilda, remembering the shots they took.
“Do you need to feed?”
Liza sniffed and made a face.
“Bad blood.”
“Really? What’s wrong with it?”
She shrugged.
His eyes narrowed in thought.
“Blair? Has the Lyceum ever studied one of these guys?”
She shrugged and said, “I don’t know. But then, I don’t keep track of everything they research.”
He stooped down to pick up the man, slinging him over his shoulders. Then he walked back toward the engine compartment.
“I think taking biters from the vaults is a violation of the Council of Ghent,” Blair said, a tone of caution in her voice.
“Well, Caul’s not here to stop me. And somehow, I don’t think the Chief Inspector is going to protest much.”
56
The train slowly creaked back toward the Chelsea pump station. Rip gave standing orders to people in the last car to give him a heads up when they saw the end of the line approaching. He worried how anyone could see past the robot hanging onto the end, but they assured him they would keep an eye out.
The Verez sisters and Blair remained in the engine compartment with him, as before. From what he could see into the next car, all the policemen had glum expressions on their faces.
“So, what just happened back there? We had overwhelming force. We took out their resistance. Then this Dar Caul dude showed up and sent us packing.”
Blair looked up at him and sighed.
“It’s a matter of authority. And tradition, I suppose. But the Council of Ghent established that a city’s vault is fully autonomous. Law enforcement has no authority there.”
“That didn’t stop us from going there . . .”
“We were called on it. When it was brought to our attention that we were in fact inside the vault’s domain, we essentially had to leave. This goes back centuries.”
“What happens if you just ignore the treaty?”
She gave him a lopsided smile.
“Worst case scenario? The vault stops producing power for the city. It’s happened a couple times. Wurzburg is the one that everyone remembers. About 200 years ago, the local princess had an affair with a scoundrel. When he found out, the king threatened the suitor’s life, who escaped into the vault. The king was not to be denied his pound of flesh, though, and sent knights in after his daughter’s lover. They dragged him out and hanged him. But in response, the vault cut off steam power to Wurzburg. To this day, it’s just a shell of its former self.”
“It seems to me there’s something of a double standard here. That Dar Caul dude was on the airship I took down. Obviously he has no compunctions against sending gunmen into Doctors’ Commons and attacking the Lyceum, the Royal Venture Society and the king’s offices.”
Blair shrugged.
“That’s just the reality of the situation. When someone comes out and tells you that your team is violating the Council of Ghent, you back off.”
