Chapter 20:
"Shoddy Craftmanship"
August 4, 1915
Red Star Chemicals
Research Laboratory Headquarters
"What in the name of the Queen is that?" Edward gasped, gesturing towards the hallway ahead of them. They were nearly out of the complex now, and Deryn had been wondering why they hadn't encountered any guards yet. Her question was answered as soon as they had finally finished climbing the stairs and reached the main level.
There were plenty of guards, but all of them were sprawled on the floor and snoring softly. They looked like little children, all curled up and lying on top of one anther.
"Barking spiders!" Deryn laughed, and then instantly regretted it when a sharp jolt of pain shot through her shoulder like lightning. She winced, and Edward immediately stopped.
"Are you all right?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
Deryn was leaning on Edward, one slung around his shoulders. It was downright embarrassing to admit, buts she wouldn't be able to hold herself up without him. She was so exhausted that every step she took seemed like a marathon. The fact that Edward was still wearing nothing but his skivvies did not make her feel a squick better.
"Aye, Ed, I'm just marvelous," Deryn replied dryly.
Dr. Barlow, marching ahead of them, made absolutely no comment regarding the numerous men that Count Volger had rendered unconscious. Unimpressed, she simply stepped over them, as if they were nothing more than stones in her path.
With her eyes set forward, her posture sharp, and her pace quick, she almost looked like a general. Except, of course, for the little kitten Sebastian, perched atop the lady boffin's shoulder like a parrot. It mewed softly from time to time.
"This is not the time to dally, Miss Sharp," Dr. Barlow said curtly. "Here we are."
They had finally reached the exit. The lady boffin swung the metal door open, holding it for Edward and Deryn just long enough for them to come through.
The sunlight that flooded in was blinding, but it felt amazing on Deryn's skin. She hadn't been outside since her capture, and all she wanted to do was lie down in the grass and bathe in the brilliant warmth of the sun. She craned her neck up at the sky and breathed in the cool, natural air.
When was the last time she had been outside? How long had she spent in that horrible little cell, believing that she might die without ever seeing the sky again?
"I do remember saying something about dallying," Dr. Barlow chided, pushing open the metal gate to clear the way. "Perhaps I must remind you that a gunshot wound happens to be a slightly pressing subject, requiring swift medical attention."
"It's not as if I'm going to drop dead in the next ten minutes," Deryn muttered, although her throbbing shoulder seemed to be suggesting otherwise.
"You might if you keep talking back," Edward whispered. "How can she be so polite and yet so demanding all at once? That woman is absolutely terrifying."
"Believe me," Deryn said, "you've got absolutely no idea. I'd rather fight a ravenous tigeresque bare-handed than get on the bad side the lady boffin."
Although she didn't turn around or slow her pace, Dr. Barlow had heard their exchange. "I don't think you have enough meat on your bones to satiate a hungry tigeresque, Miss Sharp. Now, if you would, Edward?"
They had reached a shiny black automobile, sitting just outside the facility's enormous spiked gates.
Dr. Barlow held open the side door, and Edward helped Deryn inside as gently as he could and then sat down beside her.
Deryn instantly distrusted the automobile. She'd feel much safer in an airship instead of this clanky metal box on wheels. But she decided against complaining, seeing as how she was about to die and all that.
"I've never been in one of these before," Edward gulped, his face laughably pale. He was clutching Deryn's hand without realizing it.
"Don't worry," Deryn advised. "It's only about half as terrible as you expect it to be, unless it explodes, of course."
"Of course it's not going to explode," Dr. Barlow scoffed, and started the engine.
…
August 4, 1915
Red Star Chemicals
Research Laboratory Headquarters
Alek's lungs were burning and his muscles were screaming in protest, but he didn't slow his pace. With Count Volger just behind him, he sprinted up the endless flights of stairs towards the laboratory exit.
Images of Deryn's ghastly death, her muscles hardening into stone, haunted his thoughts, but he had no time to waste on thinking. He shoved the horrific idea aside and focused all his energy on running faster.
Alek was clumsy, and gangly, and had never run this fast or this far in his entire life, and he felt it. He was already exhausted after climbing three flights of stairs, and there had been many, many more. His feet were numb and his legs were on fire.
After what felt like years, he finally emerged into the sunlight.
Instantly he noticed the cloud of thick, black smoke that hung heavy in the sky. Sucking in air, breathing heavily from sprinting, he immediately inhaled it and began choking.
But there wasn't time to stop. Alek forced himself to continue, even as the revolting stench filled his nostrils and his chest burned from breathing in the stuff. The smoke burned his eyes and make the hairs on the inside of his nose tingle.
And then, he stumbled upon the automobile.
Deryn and Edward were leaning against the metal gate, a few meters away from the smoking vehicle, while Dr. Barlow, looking as irritated as Alek had ever seen her, stood closer to it, staring at it as if that would make it stop emitting the thick black smoke that was pouring out from under the hood.
"I thought you said it wasn't going to explode," Deryn quipped cheerfully. She was leaning against Edward, and although she looked fatigued, she was wearing an enormous smile as she scratched Sebastian behind the ears.
"Well, I'm not a bloody mechanic!" Dr. Barlow snapped, her bowler hat askew and her face streaky from the smoke. With one foot, she lashed out and kicked the metal frame ferociously. After that, she inhaled deeply, squared her shoulders, and seemed to recover from her uncharacteristic outburst.
"You've got to get away from there!" Alek choked out, staggering towards them. "You've all been poisoned!"
Dr. Barlow hadn't heard a word he had said. She strode over to him and adjusted her bowler hat. "Alek, I most commend you for your remarkable timing. You're quite the mechanic. Is there anything you can do about this…situation?"
Alek looked at her with complete and total confusion. He was baffled.
How could they all be so calm? In fact, neither Dr. Barlow, nor Deryn and Edward showed any symptoms of having been poisoned by Black Star gas. If what Eliot had said was true, they should already be exhibiting terrible symptoms. And yet, they all seemed to be all right.
"You don't… understand!" Alek gasped, coughing through the smoke. "You've all been poisoned! Vost had the guards rig the engine with Black Star gas so that you would all be killed if you tried to leave!"
"And that would have been terribly vexing, of course, if the engine had actually started in the first place," Dr. Barlow said flatly. "However, nothing I did seemed to get the preposterous thing to work. The more I tried to start the engine, the more of this revolting smoke poured out."
Alek paused. "So you're saying… the engine never started?"
Dr. Barlow nodded. "Shoddy craftsmanship, no doubt."
The Count, who had just appeared next to Alek, as composed as if he had been strolling around the block instead of sprinting up flights of stairs, took in the situation quickly.
He approached the smoking automobile and lifted its hood easily, peering inside. Alek, his chest still heaving, did the same.
Tucked right up against the engine, right where Eliot Vost had said it would be, was a small, unopened canister of Black Star. It was sealed tight.
"Shoddy or not, that poor craftsmanship saved you all." Alek could barely believe it. "I think, just this once, luck might have been on our side."
"I think you're forgetting about the bit where I got kidnapped and shot," Deryn called from over by the gate. "I think that qualifies as unlucky."
Sebastian mewed in her lap. "You're right, of course, aren't you, little beastie?" She grinned. "At the end of the day, we're still alive, and that's what matters."
Alek, overcome by exhaustion, fell to his knees. "I guess I plunged my arm into a tank filled with venomous fabricated spiders all for nothing," he wheezed.
"Blisters, you did what?" Deryn wheezed. "That sounds like a pure dead awful idea."
Count Volger's voice was thick with disapproval when he retorted. "It was."
"Honestly, Alek," Deryn sighed. "And here I thought you were the sensible one and I was the one who made all the rash decisions."
Alek shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, it was sort of exhilarating. Maybe I'll make a habit out of it."
"You'd better not," Volger warned, but Alek swore he saw the hint of a smile beneath the Count's mustache.
"Well," Dr. Barlow interjected, clapping her hands together, "now that that's settled and none of us have been fatally poisoned, I say it's high time we got out of this place."
For once, all of them agreed.