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Clockwork Heart Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

The next market in the lower end of Portside just so happened to fall on the day after Millie revealed her plan. Madame Mo and several of her cohorts had been given the opportunity to help but there was not much that they could do considering the knowledge on the notorious killer was relatively sparse.

No one had died in the days since Mr Clancy’s death which set the trio of friends on edge. The killings were usually only days apart which meant that they were searching now for the next victim. They all just prayed that instinct was right and the Ripper would be watching them all at the market – where else could the killer find its next target with ease.

Standing on the edge, under the cover of Madame Mo’s stall, Millie hid herself under her own cloak. He own secrets had been revealed in days as some nosy kid who often worked at the printing shop for the newspaper had decided to follow her onto the other sides of the tracks. Now the lowers knew that Portside royalty often walked among them which made people more perceptive than normal. At least they hadn’t figured out that their loose pursed customer was actually one of the wealthiest women in England. It would not bode well for her costs as people would try to take advantage of her – more than they had before.

Shaking off such mundane thoughts, Millie sat down beside Mo and thanked the old crone when she handed her a flask of bitter alcohol. She took a few sips and was grateful for the burn that ran down her throat. She may not have been raised on this side of the tracks but slowly she was learning how to drink like them. Times like these a person needs a drink, Millie thought as she released a sigh of approval.

Her eyes scanned over the crowd and felt her brows rise up until they had almost disappeared into her hairline. People seemed to be dressing up more than usual and it took her several minutes to figure out why. It was the winter solstice. Not generally a holiday celebrated universally but the poorer half of town never passed up an excuse to celebrate. Millie supposed it was good then that she was wearing a silver beaded corset with steel boning running inside courtesy of her seamstress friend. It was beautiful and dazzling to look at but would protect her from any blade.

She didn’t tell her friend that it would not work against the powerful hand of an automaton. There was no point scaring the woman about just what exactly lurked within the human shell of the Ripper. For it was a shell, they were not human and even with the fake heart – they would never be.

Humanity was more than looking human – a lesson her father had never understood.

It was nearly two hours later, when the clockwork enthusiasts were getting ready to show their wares, Millie included, that she first got a glimpse of gold. It had been a flash out of the corner of her eyes but it had drawn her attention in an instant to the figure lurking on the edges. A strand of hair was peeking from the edge of the hood. It was pale like Millie’s but instead of being so white it was almost snow – this hair was the colour of spun gold which glinted in the cold winter sun.

Her eyes quickly moved away looked for Percy but he was already ahead of her, discreetly assembling the others so they could close off the exit routes for the killer. Now it was Millie’s turn to make her move.

Striding to the front of the group, she did something she had never done before, she volunteered her, Percy and Stretch’s design to be shown and critiqued first. The tall lanky man, who had spent many hours perfecting the exoskeleton brought it forwards under the cover of the cloak. It was hard to manoeuvre the automaton as it was turned off and would not start until someone turned it on by winding it up or placing in its heart.

At first people frowned at the cloaked form but when it was pulled off to reveal the masterpiece beneath they were awed and confused. The automaton, except for being made of metal, looked too much like a real living person. Every feature on its face had been created to look human even though the skin was obviously metal. There had never been one so life like in looks. All manufacturers of clockworks worked under the assumption that the automatons, though human like in forms, must always look like a machine. They must always be separate from humanity.