Captain Albion Clemens and The Future that Never Was: A Steampunk Novel! (Lands Beyond Book 1) by Kin Law Page B

with my blue ones. He seemed to be satisfied.
                  “What do you want with him?”
                  “That is the business of Her Majesty Victoria the Third, Queen of the United Kingdom, Empress of…”
                  “Yada yada yada,” Clemens interrupted again, frustratingly.
                  “Beg pardon?”
                  “It’s a Yankee expression. From the Yiddish, I believe. It means I don’t want to hear the rest.”
                  “How rude!” It was British, actually, from ‘yatter-yatter.’ I was not about to tell him.
                  “How much an enormous waste of time! Either tell me what your business is, or I toss you in the longboat and leave you adrift in the Atlantic.”
                  “Is this where we are? Why, I thought we were on some civil pirate airship, not some centuries-old seafarer!” My jibe was as ineffective, as his threat. Something about the way he threatened threw me. I felt like he would not harm me, not if he did not need to. Gentle imprisonment spoke volumes. Maybe a gentle hand was called for?
                  “All right Master Pirate. I will concede to your persistence. What follows is all I shall tell you, and that shall be the end of it.”
                  “And what I will do with the information is my business,” he finished for me.
                  “Touche,” I agreed. Just what I expected.
                  “Out with it.”
                  “Your Captain Clemens consorts with a very dangerous crowd, Albion Clemens,” I breathed. I felt a great weight come off my shoulders. “I was extraordinarily surprised. You understand there is a million-quid bounty on his head? What were you doing telling me who you were? Did you not expect a slew of bounty hunters coming down upon you like a swarm of vultures?”
                  “I’ve heard of the bounty. What I don’t know is who wants my Captain Sam, nor why. If I have to crack a few skulls to get the down-low, I will.”
                  There- the idioms again! What strange things to say, for a man of the east.
                  “Right,” I continued, aware of our sudden closeness to each other. We had both unconsciously leaned in to hear, separated only by the bars of the cell. I could feel his breath on my face, warm and scented with tea.
                  “All I can tell you is, your Captain Sam is connected to a laboratory explosion in Oxford. The building was destroyed by a contraption producing great heat and thunderous clamor. This weapon, we believe, was also used to steal the Houses of Parliament not too long ago.”
                  Clemens whistled.
    “Captain Clemens is also connected to an item of import, though I am unsure how or if it relates,” I finished. This last I had garnered through sources at the Jilted Merman, many unreliable. The sky was practically abuzz with the news.
                  “Something of great value,” said the Thief of Tibet. My, the man had a lot of aliases.
                  “Indubitably. You can rest assured, the bounty was not offered by any of Her Majesty’s agencies, at least with her knowledge. I am the primary venue of investigation, and as such, I doubt the Queen is deploying any stratagem against my interests.”
                  “Save me the power play. What is the name of the item?” Clemens demanded.
                  “I believe you may have heard of it-”
                  “If I have, I wouldn’t need you-”
                  “-on a bit in the Jilted Merman-”
                  “-stalling, take me for a fool-”
                  “-have the nerve!”
                  “-that dress!”
    “T he Laputian