Captain Gravenor’s Airship Equinox (Steampunk Smugglers) by Heather Hiestand

into the iron
bar. But now, he was too protective of his remaining flesh to do it. Instead,
he gritted his teeth and turned back to Philadelphia. “If you don’t want to
bring me the sewing stuff, bring me a pillow for the lady instead, and another
blanket for me,” he said, no longer looking at the twins. “It’s bitter cold
down here at night, even if it is summer.”
    “It’s not meant to be pleasant.”
    “We aren’t common prisoners. The lady needs enough rest to
think clearly.”
    “I need more water,” she interjected.
    One sighed loudly. “I’ll fetch another bucket.”
    When the twins stomped out, Brecon turned to the bench,
where she had everything laid out. “Did you get what you need?”
    She muttered under her breath, then looked up. “Yes,
perhaps. I think so.”
    “I’ve never seen a battery so small.” He examined the tiny zinc
can.
    “I’m sure it cost the captain a pretty penny.” She pulled
out a magnifying glass and some pieces of wood, and fashioned a stand for the
glass over a board.
    “What are you going to do first?”
    “Make the motors for the fingers. The way I planned the cow
milking machine. Human muscles and nerves will start the process, and then the
motors, running on the battery, take over to perform the task.”
    While she worked, he sorted parts for her, laying them out
on the bench. When she called for something he handed it over. In between
requests he drew modifications to his two-people airship idea. Somehow he
needed to add firepower without manpower.
    Surprisingly, One arrived with his requested sailcloth and
trimmings the next day. Brecon abandoned his sketches for sewing comfort items
for the cage.
    “Doesn’t it bother you to sew while I work on an invention?”
Philadelphia asked as she stretched her neck from side to side, late that
afternoon.
    He glanced up from his work. “Your invention is the key to us
leaving the cage. I can set my ego aside for now. Besides, I am used to sewing
balloons. That much is simply part of my trade.”
    “No women to do the sewing for you?”
    “My mother helped as she had time, but I only had brothers.
I am the third of four and my father was successful enough to take us all into
his shipbuilding business.”
    “No one had other desires?”
    “There are enough challenges to suit us all. I hope to go
back some day, if possible.”
    “Why did you stay away?”
    “Worry that I’d bring the Blockaders down on their heads. I don’t
know if I was recognized during the Valentine’s Day battle.”
    “Couldn’t you send a letter?”
    “What if it was intercepted?”
    “By hand, then?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know anyone who has gone into Cardiff
recently.”
    “It’s probably a good place to hide from the Red Kites, if
they stay so local.”
    He stabbed his needle into the cloth. “Soon enough I’ll be
on the run from everyone.”
    “If we could get some money we could go to the south, then
find a way to get to Italy.”
    “I’d go to Marseille, now that I’ve thought about it some.
Your sister-in-law might have sold the family house in Italy, after all.”
    She made an irritated noise. “Do you speak French? I imagine
it is a good place for someone with your skills to find a position.”
    “With the shipping trade, I expect they speak all kinds of
languages there.”
    “I speak French,” she said, making an adjustment with tweezers
before inserting a wire into a miniature motor. “I had a French governess for
five years. I went to Paris on holiday once, for a month. But my governess met
her husband there. Married him very quickly. Then I had a German governess.”
    “And you learned German.”
    “Some. Enough to read scientific papers. They have some
strange ideas for war machines there. I expect my brother and his ilk would
have fit in.”
    “But not you.”
    She tightened her lips. “No. Not me.”
    Early the next morning, Brecon woke to the sounds of boot
heels on the metal staircase. One