Leo stood on the doorway to the engine room, clenched first hovering inches above the door. The memory of being chased away was still fresh in his mind, but he wanted some company aside from crazy inventors and even crazier pirates. He had taken Jonathan's presence for granted, he realized with a pang. He had missed the older man's gentle teasing and quiet companionship.
With that in mind he deigned to knock, carefully swinging the door open, happy when it didn't creak. The steady hum of machinery hid any noise that he could have made though, only a thin metal barrier, a few inches thick, between this room and the massive engines that ran the ship. He sank down onto a thin metal bench, content to just absorb the sound. The heavy vibrations reminded him of the Bells, and for just a moment the madness of the past few days melted away.
"Oye, find some other place to loaf."
Leo opened his eyes to see Spiders tall lanky form hovering over him. There was a scow etched on the man's face, but as he had yet to see him without a scowl, he had to wonder if it was actually indicative of Spider's emotions, or just a permanent feature. He probably would have intimidating if it wasn't for the balding hair and singed eyebrows.
"I'm sorry sir, I had actually wanted to see if you wanted help with anything?"
"No."
"Then do you mind if I just stay here for bit? I promise to stay out of the way."
"Why the blazes would you want to do that?"
"Because I'm afraid Lazarus's insanity may be contagious, and this seemed like a good place to detoxify."
Spider snorted. "I can't argue that." He eyed Leo for another long moment. "Fine, you can stay, but don't touch anything. The minute I find you annoying, you're gone."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Don't you bloody sir me..." Spider grumbled, apparently to himself as he walked back into the depths of his workshop.
Leo followed him. He was beginning to see why Spider didn't want him to touch anything. It was a perfect example of organized chaos. He didn't have a doubt the man knew exactly where everything was meant to be but if he picked up a wrench he wasn't sure he could find a surface to put it back down on, much less the right one.
Spider grabbed his box of tools and swung open the heavy metal door that lead to the engine room. The noise level was multiplied ten fold and he found himself wishing for some cotton to stuff in his ears. Spider didn't seem to be in the mood to offer any.
The other man walked around checking gages and lubricating pipes, occasionally glancing back at Leo with mild annoyance.
Leo just watched him work, bitting his tongue every time a question tried to slip past. Not even a little, 'how does that work?' or, 'what does that do'. It turned into a sort of game, coming up with possible explanations as to what the man was doing. On occasion he was pretty sure he even got it right. He'd never been on an airship before, but he had pulled the engine of a motorized carriage apart before, much to the owners chagrin. Steam-powered machines were still far outside of his area of expertise. His one true love would always be clockwork.
"Blazes!" Spider swore.
He'd been stopped in front of one particular machine for a while now,muttering under his breath.
"Is there anything I could help with?" Leo asked
"My bloody eyesights gone to hell."
Leo peered over the mans shoulder into a tangled mass of metal. There was a sort of organic organization to the thing, like the tunnels of an ant farm.
"What does that say there?" he pointed a slender finger to a five ringed brass dial.
"Three-seven-four-four-one"
Spider grunted, pulling out a little leather notebook to write it down.
"Have you thought about getting a magnifier?"
"Had one, broke." He didn't offer any more information about the subject.
After that he was a little friendlier. Leo trailed behind him doing anything that was needed, and managed to squeeze a few terse answers about what they were doing. By the time they stopped for a break Spider even offered him something to drink. It was dark and bitter, but warm. He took small sips as they sat in a comfortable silence.
Spider was giving him a strange look though, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"I knew how to fix the Holocore system."
Leo raised an eyebrow. It was the first time the other had initiated the conversation.
Spider sighed, taking a few more moments before he continued. "I knew how to fix the Holocore system. Hell, I put the damn thing together. I built this ship from the ground up, she's my child."
The unspoken question hung in the air, 'Why Didn't you?'
"Boy, tell me what those mists felt like to you."
"What does that have to do with the Holocore system?"
"Just answer the dam question," Spider grumbled, but there was no bite to it.
"It was like I was being watched at first, but after I started working there were voices, too faint to make out."
"What did they sound like then?"
"Quiet" Leo paused, trying to think of how to describe such a strange phenomena. "The sort of thing you would hear right after you wake up from a dream but still aren't quite sure whats real or not."
"What did they feel like?"
"Hostile at first, then just sort of foreign, then familiar, I could have sworn I heard my father among them. Not exactly unpleasant but I wouldn't have called them friendly"
"Hmh, that's what I thought."
"What do you mean by that? What's out there? Matthew wouldn't say anything."
"We call them Ethers, whatever it is that lurks in the mists. They linger on the boundary between life and death, or at least that's what people say. For those who have strayed too close to that border, the ethers give that final push. Its different for everyone, the voice of a loved one calling you to the other side, the voice of a victim screaming for vengeance, who knows what else. It drives people to madness as surely as a knife kills."
"Why did it effect me differently than the others then?"
"You can bet that there isn't a man or woman on this ship who doesn't know death. Some have made a living through killing, others have just grown accustomed to it, or narrowly escaped its grasp. The only people who are safe are those who stand firmly and life and are of sound of mind, or those who have incredible mental fortitude. I don't know how much experience Lazarus has with the afterlife but his head's so scattered he wouldn't last a minute. That's why most of the sailors refuse to go up there. Matthew trained for years to have the strength to hold onto himself. I suppose the captain just hoped that you and the other girl would be inexperienced enough. It seems that at least with you she was right. I don't suppose you've spent much time thinking about the other side. Besides, it helps if you have something else to focus on, particularly something you can throw yourself into."
"But Alice tried to jump off the edge."
"Well then it seems the girl has more secrets than she's cared to share, like the rest of us. It was stupid of Diana to send her untested."
"Diana?"
"I've known the captain since she younger than you, I can call her whatever I please. Besides, once you pass a certain age no one cares what you say any more, for good or ill." There was a trace of bitter resignation in those words.
"What about you then?" He couldn't imagine the mechanic reigning death on anyone.
There was a pregnant pause and Leo wasn't sure if the man would reply. "I'm getting old. My eyesight's failing me and my bones creak when I walk. It won't be too many more years before the reaper comes to meet me." He stopped. "I wish I could say that thats all it is but I've done things I'm not proud of, the kind that leave stains on your hands that can't ever be washed away. I was young and stupid and wasn't satisfied with what I could do with my own two hands. Dreams, they can drive people to do unimaginable things. It seems like you haven't made those mistakes yet, haven't let that love for creating be tainted by greed, keep it that way."
Spider went quite, eyes staring vacantly into the distance, but Leo wasn't paying attention anymore. Something the man had said struck a chord with him. An idea was forming, how to finally get through to Lazarus.
"A man will do anything for his dreams"
***
He found himself once again standing in front of the doorway leading to his shared residence, but before he could open the door trepidation overtook him. He was almost certain that he could get Lazarus to work with him, but did he want the man to? A living machine, was that something that the world was prepared for. Humans already looked down on and feared those with different faiths, different skin colors, different traditions, but how would they react to something something so other?
The truth was that he could have found some way to get Lazarus to cooperate far earlier if he'd really wanted to. He'd managed to put it off, to leave it for the next day and blame it on the madman's stubborn oddity, but he couldn't do that when he had an answer staring him in the face.
A sour taste filled his mouth. He wasn't a martyr. Besides, maybe the automaton would be better off out of the hands of war-hungry military forces. Yes, because pirates were definitely the set option.
Lazarus was ignoring him, as per usual. His body was turned into the corner, eyes staring off into space, and his mind probably wandering even farther. His hands were still active, somehow managing to sprint across the parchment I front of him in perfect lines without paying any attention. Leo didn't bother with anything subtle like clearing his throat or calling out the mans name. Instead he steeled himself, marched over, and plucked the quill from his fingers.
For a minute it seemed like it hadn't made a difference and those nimble fingers continued to dance mindlessly above the page, like he was conducting for an orchestra only he could see.As the seconds ticked by the music slowed though, and Lazarus snapped out of his dreamlike trance.
"You! What do you want?"
"Why did you build the Automaton?"
"Again, again, again, must you keep asking? You shouldn't be like them." The madman clenched and unclenched his fists, eyes closed, head tilted down as if in prayer
"I haven't asked this question before. Did you build it so it could sit in the dark with the Germans, did you want to sit around and wait for them to pull it apart and turn it back into the mindless monster that they wanted to begin with?"
"Of course not, never, you should understand. I thought you understood." Those wide silver eyes bored holes though him.
"Then why? What is your dream?" He took a deep breath, unsettled by the intensity of that gaze."Don't you want it back, to see the fruits of your life's work and have it be appreciated. You can't do that unless you help them." Them, not him, because at every turn something happened to prove once again that he wasn't like them. At least so far that was proving to be a good thing.
"I See, I see," Lazarus muttered under his breath.
The silence stretched on like the sky from the glass observation deck. A small sly smile found its way onto the mans lips. "I have always striven for perfection, to be the most perfect, to create the most perfect, but what happens after is occasionally lost in the midst."
Leo had to stop himself from snorting. One flaw?he was about to push his victory when Lazarus cut him off again.
"But why should I assume that these men are any different. I'm only here because I don't particularly desire to be anywhere else. Different time, different place, same kind of people. They'll just sell it."
"I wouldn't." Leo wasn't sure where the words had come from, but they were true none the less.
"No," Lazarus grinned again, slow and lazy like a cat, "You wouldn't."
Viper fast, a frail hand clamped around Leo's wrist. He jerked back instinctively, but that grip didn't break. A frown creased his brow, but he sat back down and waited for the man to continue.
"Do you know what this is?"
In his other hand Lazarus held up a strange blue crystal the size of a pinkie finger. In the dim light it almost seemed to glow, unmarred by any imperfections like a natural stone would be. A band of copper wound its way around the stone in a complicated, nonsensical array. Somehow, Leo couldn't bring himself to look away from it.
"Auripigmentum Magnesia, an imperfect philosophers stone. The only part of her I couldn't make."
"A philosophers stone?"
"An imperfect one, and since the definition of the philosophers stone is perfection I doubt you could even call it that. The Alchemists guild would certainly kill to get it back though regardless."
"How did you get it?"
Lazarus waved the hand with the stone airily , causing light to refract off it in iridescent shimmers that made it even more entrancing. "I stole it, it was being wasted. You can build hands and eyes, arms and legs, lungs and guts, even a brain, but at the center of it all, you need a heart to tie it together. Without that she may well be a hunk of metal to be sold for spare parts."
"You mean-"
"I never had the chance to put it all together, to see if it all worked. They want me to strip her to a shell but she already is one. I haven't seen it but,you can."
Lazarus pressed the crystal into Leo's open palm, curling his fingers around it. Leo starred in shock for a moment, then everything fell into place. Whatever the madman thought Magnesia could give it, a soul? The Automaton didn't work without it. He could lead the pirates straight to it, and so long as he didn't put in the final piece it wouldn't matter. They couldn't blame him if it didn't work, and Riker, if harsh, was fair. For a fleeting moment he felt guilt at lying to Lazarus, right after getting the man to ope up to him, but he had to think about the bigger picture.
"Her?"
"My dearest Natalie, the ghost of my wife."