Read Online Captain Gravenor’s Airship Equinox (Steampunk Smugglers) by Heather Hiestand - Free Book Online Page B

demonstration,” the captain suggested.
    Brecon flushed with anger. Philadelphia put a hand on his
arm and felt the muscles bunch, though he had the self control not to make a
fist with his human hand.
    “I cannot reproduce the airborne electrocution component,” she
said. “Not so far. It was not part of my work. Have you ever seen a Blockader brass
hand? We do not know if it even looks like mine. I’ve only seen them from a
distance.”
    The captain raised an eyebrow. Her face became a mask which
Philadelphia could not read. “You need an example?”
    “My work was mostly mechanical and electrical in nature. It
was based on actual contact. Whatever causes the electrocution with the brass hand
is done through the air.”
    “The air?”
    “Yes. My understanding from stories Mr. Gravenor has heard
is that the hand starts to flash if the enslaved crew member is too far from
the airship. I would assume the shock reaches the battery in the hand through
the air somehow.”
    “Is that possible?”
    “I suspect they are using the newly discovered aetherial
component of air.”
    “Aetherial?”
    “Yes, or aether. I read a paper on it once. It is assumed
that aether particles can be charged somehow, but I’ve never worked in that
field. The BAE must have someone on staff who has, or they’ve stolen more
technology from somewhere.”
    The captain regarded her for a moment, then the nostrils at
the end of her short pug nose flared. “Expect an original brass hand tomorrow,
then.”
    Philadelphia inclined her head.
    “One,” said the captain, as she strode away. “Bring our friends
a good mutton stew tonight for dinner. And a second cot.”
    When the woman was gone Philadelphia permitted herself a
smile. Success! But Brecon wore a worried frown.
    “Where,” he asked, “are they going to get a brass hand? If
they had one already they’d have given it to you.”
    ~*~

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Brecon woke to the sound of a groan somewhere outside the
cage.
    “Oh good, you’re awake.”
    That voice he recognized. One. Brecon blinked and wiped the
sleep from his eyes. He heard the key inserting into the lock and the cage
opening.
    “The captain said to treat you better now, so I didn’t want
to kick you awake and risk her wrath.”
    Brecon started to stretch, then thought better of exposing
vulnerable bits to One’s boots. He curled into a half-moon and found the floor
with his stocking-covered feet. His first night of sleep on the cot had him
more rested than he’d been since he’d landed in the cage.
    He heard a groan again and this time was able to focus on
the noise. Blast it.
    In front of him lay the body of a man, his brass hand
obvious as it blocked his face. Also obvious was the wound on his arm. Then he
rolled onto his back and Brecon saw he had been gut shot, the kind of wound
that was fatal, though it might take hours for him to die.
    He gritted his teeth against the smell of lacerated bowel.
“Where did you get him?”
    One shrugged. “We had ourselves a little raid in Cardiff
last night.”
    “Killing a BAE officer is one thing, but this man is an
enslaved crewman.”
    “You needed a Brass Hand.” One’s shoulders crept up defensively.
“We took the oldest one.”
    Brecon could see silver strands in the man’s hair, but that
didn’t mean much, considering the hard life he must have led. “Is there
anything to be done?”
    “He’s done for,” One said. “Does she need to see it before
the bloke dies?”
    Brecon heard a rustle of skirts then Philadelphia appeared
at his side, in front of the bars. She pressed a filthy handkerchief to her
face and blinked hard.
    “I do not know what I need to see,” she said. “Nothing
happened to the hand as you took him off the airship?”
    “It blinked red as we took him, but we moved fast and sped
off as soon as we had him aboard. The blinking stopped once we were under way.”
    “The light is certainly related to the distance from