The Starlight Watchmaker, page 2
“The climbing wall works in four dimensions,” Dorian explained. “Not my cup of tea, but Ada loves it.”
As Dorian spoke, the wall folded inwards, sucking a student inside. The student was spat back out on the far side of the room, managing to keep a grip on the wall using all eight of their arms. Then the student carried on climbing.
“Which one is Ada?” Hugo asked.
Dorian grinned. “That’s her.” He pointed to a person whose scalp was covered in tentacles. She was using the tentacles to hold onto the wall, which was pulsing back and forth as it tried to throw her off.
Hugo was impressed. “She’s very good at climbing.” The wall was twisting harder as it tried to throw Ada off, but she was holding on tightly.
“Oh, no,” said Dorian. “Ada’s not the one doing the climbing. She’s the climbing wall.” Dorian’s antennae shook as he laughed.
Hugo’s jaw dropped. The wall? It was a giant rock face, as large as a building. How could that be a student?
“Ada!” Dorian called out to the rock. Hugo wondered for a moment if Dorian was a bit mad. Had Hugo made a huge mistake in following him here? Then the rock face moved, twisting to face them.
Part of the rock peeled open, and Hugo realised that it was a mouth. The two cracks above it were eyes, and two bits higher up might be ears. There was … there was a face on the side of the rock. The rock was alive.
“Dorian,” the rock said in a creaking, groaning voice that sounded like an avalanche. “Give me one moment to finish this climb.”
“Of course,” Dorian said, and folded his arms behind his back.
“Which world does Ada come from?” Hugo whispered, his eyes fixed on her. She looked like a mountain. Hugo knew it was very rude to stare, but he was unable to stop himself. He’d never seen anyone like Ada before.
“Her mother is the planet Zumia,” Dorian said.
“She’s from Zumia?” Hugo asked.
“No, Ada’s mother is Zumia. Ada is a young island, just a few centuries old. As she gets older, she will get bigger and bigger until she can’t move around any more. She will settle down on a planet somewhere, growing until she’s a continent. After a few more million years, she’ll split off and form her own planet like her mother.”
Hugo stared at the huge student. One day Ada would be so large that people would live on her. It seemed impossible.
Biological people came in so many different shapes and sizes that Hugo couldn’t keep track of them all. They were nothing like androids. It was easy to tell where an android came from, just by looking at them. There were only a few different android models. When cogs got smaller and faster, then the androids could be upgraded to better models. That was much less complicated than all these impossible biological races. There were no rules controlling their forms at all. Just when Hugo thought he understood how they worked, he’d learn about another species that broke all the rules completely.
The student with tentacles reached the very top of the wall and dropped down onto the mat, doing a somersault as she fell. Once the student had stood up, the rock – Ada – walked over to them across the mats. Ada left behind a huge gap in the climbing wall where she had been standing.
“Hugo, this is Lady Ada de Winters,” Dorian said. “Short for Adedeneumdora, a traditional name on her planet. Ada, this is my new friend Hugo. He made the watches for our time‑travel class. He’s very good.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ada,” Hugo said. Dorian was being very polite to Ada, considering that he thought she had broken his watch. If Hugo didn’t know any better, he wouldn’t have even thought that Dorian was angry.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Ada rumbled back at Hugo. She held out a pebbled rock, which Hugo assumed was her hand. He shook it. “How can I help you, Dorian?” Ada asked.
Dorian drew in a tight breath. “My watch is broken. Hugo seems to think that it has been sabotaged. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you, Ada? The time‑travel exam is tomorrow, and I know you—” Dorian cut himself off. His voice had been getting angry.
Dorian took a breath, then in a calm tone he asked Ada, “Did you or did you not use a beetle to break my watch?”
Hugo was impressed. It was like watching a politician in training. He’d never seen anyone make such a polite accusation before.
Ada tilted her head, which made a sound like crunching gravel. “Why in the galaxy would I want to break your watch, Dorian?” Ada asked with an edge to her voice.
Hugo wished that he could leave. He didn’t want to stand here while Dorian and Ada had the universe’s most civilised argument.
“Are you saying you didn’t do it to get revenge?” Dorian asked Ada. “I know you were furious when I took the credit for our coursework last week.”
“I don’t need revenge,” Ada said. “I’ll get better marks than you in the final exam anyway. The professor told me that we will have to plot our way through a black hole. You have no chance.”
Dorian’s antennae shook. “That’s true, I really don’t,” he said sadly. “Well, if it wasn’t you, Ada, then who could it have been?”
“I have no idea,” Ada said. “I’m dreadfully sorry.”
Dorian sighed. “If you aren’t angry with me, could I borrow your watch for the exam? My exam is an hour before yours. We can easily share one watch between us.”
“Well, I suppose,” Ada agreed. “You can practise with it now if you want. I’m going to be helping out with the rock climbing for the rest of the day.” Ada held out her arm, which was a pointed piece of rock, where a watch was dangling.
Dorian thanked her.
Hugo wondered how long it would take him to get back to his attic from here, now that Dorian didn’t need him to fix his watch any more. But before Hugo could say goodbye and leave, Dorian said, “Does it work in the same way as my watch?”
Dorian twisted the dial on the watch to send himself back in time a few seconds. Nothing happened.
“I say, your watch is broken too!” Dorian told Ada. “What’s going on?”
Ada made a deep growling noise that vibrated across the floor like an earthquake. “What?” she said.
“Can I see that?” Hugo asked, taking the watch off Dorian. “I might be able to fix it.”
Ada growled at Dorian. “Dorian, if you’ve broken my watch, I swear I’ll—”
Dorian sniffed. “I didn’t even break my own watch! I told you. Someone else did. It was sabotage.”
“That remains to be seen,” Ada said. “It seems to me that this is just the result of your own lack of skill.”
Their polite tones had gone now as they became more and more furious.
“Excuse me, madam!” Dorian replied. “Hugo said the watch was broken by someone on purpose, and he’s a professional. I hardly think you should question his expert opinion.”
While they were arguing, Hugo opened up the back of Ada’s watch. He released the spring and lifted up the ratchet to see underneath the gears.
Soon Ada and Dorian stopped arguing and started speaking in a rumbling language that sounded like rocks grinding together. Dorian was slow and careful when he spoke. It was clear he was still learning the language. Ada kept repeating words until Dorian understood them.
Hugo listened to them speaking as he unscrewed another tiny cog in the watch.
“Nearly there,” Hugo said, and it was only when they both turned to look at him that Hugo realised he’d said it in Ada’s language.
“Wait – you know Zumian?” Dorian asked. “How did you learn that so fast?!”
“Oh.” Hugo rubbed the back of his neck. “It was part of my programming for being a servant. I have to be able to understand people so I can serve them. I can pick up any language after a few minutes of conversation.”
“That’s brilliant!” Dorian said. “I’ve spent three years learning Ada’s language for my diplomacy course and I’m still terrible. You should help me practise.”
Hugo had been looking forward to getting back to his room and being on his own again. But to his surprise, the thought of Dorian visiting him to practise speaking Zumian didn’t sound that bad. It actually might be … nice.
“I think I’d like that,” Hugo admitted.
“What other languages do you speak?” Ada asked Hugo.
“Oh, I travelled all over the galaxy with my old master,” Hugo said. “I’ve probably picked up around forty languages.”
Ada and Dorian were both impressed.
Hugo carried on working on the watch, a bit embarrassed by the attention. He unscrewed the last cog and opened up the inside of the watch. The yellow ball of quantum energy was missing from this one too.
“Ah,” Hugo said, and held up the watch for the others to see.
Dorian stared at it. “So it’s not just my watch that has been a target,” he said. Dorian sounded very relieved to find out that no one hated him so much that they would try to make him fail his exam.
“Someone must be collecting quantum energy,” Hugo said, worried.
“Why would they take it from my watch?” Ada asked. She was steaming in fury and a tiny volcano on her upper arm was spewing red lava.
“Why would anyone want that much power?” Dorian asked Hugo. “Didn’t you say that it was dangerous?”
Hugo frowned. “It is. Very dangerous, in fact.”
Dorian’s face had gone pale. “What could it be used for?” he asked.
“Well, I suppose you could use it to power a spaceship,” Hugo said. “Or … oh.”
“What? What is it?” asked Dorian.
“You could use it to make a bomb,” Hugo whispered.
CHAPTER 3
“We need to stop this. Right now,” Ada said, her voice rumbling with fear.
The academy had been attacked before. Ten students had been injured in a bombing just a few years ago. It was a common target because the students were all from wealthy, powerful families. If someone wanted to cause a war or find a person to ransom, the academy was a good place to start. Security guards patrolled all over the campus, checking that everyone had permits to be there and that no one was planning on causing any trouble.
“Is there any way we can find out who had the chance to get at your watches?” Hugo asked.
He hadn’t really been interested in finding out who had broken Dorian’s watch before. But Hugo was really worried now. There could be something seriously wrong here. It might be something fairly innocent, such as sabotage against classmates just before an exam. But if there was even a chance that it was something more sinister, then Hugo felt he had to find out what was going on. He was involved now, however much he wanted to go back to his peaceful attic.
“What do you mean, find out who could get to our watches?” Ada asked.
Hugo thought about it. “Well, do you have security systems in your rooms?”
Dorian’s eyes lit up. “I do!”
Ada ground her rocks together and said, “Why didn’t you check your security system before you stormed in here accusing me of sabotage, you silly boy?”
“I have never stormed anywhere in my life,” Dorian said, puffing out his chest. “And … I didn’t think of it,” he added weakly.
Hugo felt the need to hurry this along. Someone might be making a bomb right at this moment. They didn’t have time to bicker. He worried that Dorian and Ada weren’t taking this very seriously.
“Shall we go?” Hugo asked, and gestured to the door.
“You two go,” Ada said. “I’ll ask the other students in our time‑travel class if their watches are broken. I might be able to find some more evidence about who stole the energy.”
Dorian nodded and replied, “We’ll let you know if we find anything useful.”
“How did you end up working at the academy, then?” Dorian asked Hugo as they caught the steam engine tram to Dorian’s dorm. The tram didn’t ever seem to stop, as far as Hugo could tell. Instead, students used handles to hold on to the outside of the tram carriages and hopped away when they wanted to get off.
“I used to be a servant,” Hugo explained. “My master, the Earl of Astea, left me behind when he graduated.”
Hugo tried to be casual about it, but somehow his voice ended up shaking as he spoke.
It had been awful. Hugo’s whole life had revolved around making the Earl happy, and then one day, just like that, Hugo had been on his own. The Earl left the planet, and Hugo’s whole world had shattered.
He had spent a long time wondering if he had done something to upset the Earl. But he hadn’t been able to think of anything really bad that he could have done wrong. Hugo had always ironed the Earl’s uniform as smooth as paper and polished his knee‑high black boots to a gleaming shine. The Earl had even joked around with him sometimes. They hadn’t been friends, but Hugo didn’t think the Earl hated him or found him annoying. The Earl seemed to like him – when he remembered that Hugo existed.
Hugo had tried to tell himself that the Earl had probably just decided to get a newer, faster, shinier android model. He’d told himself that it wasn’t personal. But Hugo didn’t really believe that.
“The Earl abandoned you?” Dorian asked, frowning.
“Well, ‘abandoned’ is a very strong word,” Hugo replied. “But I suppose.”
“How terrible!” Dorian said. “How did you survive?”
Hugo’s cogs jolted out of sync as he remembered the fear that had overtaken him when he’d watched the Earl’s private spaceship take off without him. Hugo hadn’t had any money, or friends, or a way to contact anyone. He hadn’t known what to do.
“I couldn’t afford to pay for a ride off the planet to find my way back to Astea,” Hugo said. “The security guards kept trying to get me to leave the campus, because my access pass expired as soon as the Earl left. I didn’t have a reason to be on campus when I stopped being a servant. The guards were patrolling all the time because of the terrorist threats.”
Androids weren’t allowed to be at the academy if they didn’t have a job. Hugo had tried to apply for a temporary permit so the guards would leave him alone, but his application was rejected. And there had been nowhere else to go. The whole of the rest of the planet was ocean. The academy owned all the land. With no money to travel off‑planet, Hugo had been trapped.
“I was hiding from the guards one day,” Hugo said, “when I ended up behind one of the science buildings, near the bins—”
Dorian interrupted to say, “We need to get off the tram here.”
They leaped from the moving tram. Dorian landed neatly. He turned to catch Hugo, who tripped and almost fell onto the grass verge.
“Thank you,” Hugo said, and pulled away. He had forgotten what he’d been saying.
“You were by the bins …?” Dorian prompted Hugo as they walked to Dorian’s dorm.
Hugo said, “I found a bag of broken cogs and gears that had been thrown away from the engineering classrooms. I kept them and taught myself watchmaking by fixing an old watch the Earl had given me. I remembered how often the Earl’s watches broke and thought if I could repair them, I might be useful to one of the students. I was actually …” Hugo trailed off, feeling a bit nervous.
“Yes?” Dorian said, while nodding hello to a passing cloud of glowing mist. The cloud grew brighter in reply.
“I was hoping that a student would be so pleased I fixed their watch that they would hire me as a servant,” Hugo said. It seemed a small and silly dream to Hugo now. None of these rich students would want a second‑hand android servant. Especially one who had been abandoned without warning. Hugo must have been very terrible at his job to have deserved that.
“But instead, I started being paid to fix watches,” Hugo continued. “Soon, I could afford to rent my small attic room on the edge of campus. After a while, I was able to buy some clockwork parts, so that I could start making my own watches. I’ve been selling them in the academy shop ever since.” Once Hugo had proved that he could be useful, the academy had agreed to let him stay and work as a watchmaker.
“Well, you certainly have made the most of an awful situation,” Dorian said. “Did you say your master’s name was the Earl of Astea? I wonder if I’ve met him.” Dorian frowned thoughtfully.
“He’s a politician for the Terra council now,” Hugo said. He’d found this out when he’d seen an article in the news about a speech the Earl had given.
Dorian shuddered. “Oh dear, the Terra council? What a bunch of scoundrels. Well, you’re better off without him, I say.”
Hugo beamed at Dorian. “I think so too.”
Hugo suddenly felt strange all over. He realised with a shock that he was happy. For the first time in ages, Hugo felt happy. It wasn’t terrible at all, talking to Dorian and getting to know him. It was actually nice.
Hugo knew then that he had been lying to himself about wanting to be back in his attic. He hadn’t enjoyed being on his own. He’d been lonely, stuck up there without any company. Really, Hugo had missed other people. He liked being with Dorian, even if they might uncover some dangerous bomb plot together.
“This is my dormitory here,” Dorian said, walking up to the entrance of a towering skyscraper. A security guard marched over to them.
“Excuse me,” the guard asked Hugo. “Can I see some ID, please?”
Dorian stared at the guard and said, “What do you mean by this?”
At the same time, Hugo said, “Of course!”
Hugo was used to being asked for identification when he was alone on campus. Hugo showed them his ID card for the watchmakers’ guild. The guard checked it carefully.
“That all seems to be in order,” the guard said. “Have a good day, milord,” he added to Dorian, completely ignoring Hugo.
Hugo followed Dorian into the lift in silence, with his head bowed. He hadn’t expected a guard to question him when he was with Dorian. It was embarrassing. Dorian had only just started treating Hugo like a person instead of a thing, and now he would go back to looking down on him again.
