Cloudbusting, 3/6
PART THREE: BE OUR GUEST
She woke of her own volition, spying a note on the bedside table that she hadn't the night before. Surely she would have heard one of the automatons coming in and out of the room - they weren't exactly stealthy. Well, perhaps the note had been there, and she simply hadn't paid attention. The note had one simple sentence written on it: if you need breakfast, ring the bell on the wall for Satoshi.
A bell on the wall? She slipped out of the bed, her feet hitting the plush carpeting. She felt truly well-rested, despite her circumstances. It made her wonder what the automatons did all night. Did they require sleep at all? She looked around the dressers and past the armoire, finally seeing the sash dangling on the far side of the room near the screen that partitioned off a place for her to change clothes and use the washbasin. She pulled it once, not used to summoning servants. It must have rung a bell down in the kitchen.
She washed her face and rinsed her mouth and was just getting her breeches back on when she heard the steady clomping footsteps. There was a heavy knock on the door.
"Come in!" she called, and it opened seconds later. To her surprise, Satoshi entered with a nearly overburdened breakfast tray. He walked over to her small table, setting the tray down and pulling the polished silver lids off of the platters. Fresh scrambled eggs with forest mushrooms, oatmeal with brown sugar, bread and jam, and a pot of tea all for her. She walked over in amazement as Satoshi pulled out the chair for her.
"Good morning," he said, speaking for the first time. His voice was a low hum from inside the armor, gentle and relaxed. "I hope this isn't too much."
It smelled amazing, especially after eating her own cooking for so long. She sat, letting him push in her chair. She didn't know where to start, it all looked so tasty. She looked up and met his blank face, wondering if he was expecting a dismissal. She'd never had a servant before. "I can't wait to dig in, it looks great. Thank you."
He nodded, bowing slightly. "Most of what I learned I learned from my mother."
She took a bite of the eggs and a spoon of the oatmeal, wanting to close her eyes with how good and hearty it was. "Your mother was a good teacher, Satoshi. It's perfect."
"I'm happy to cook you anything you like. And not just because Jun says so," he said, moving toward the door. Despite being quiet, there was definitely a rebellious streak to him. "Nino returned with your trunk, but we didn't want to wake you. Shall I bring it in?"
She nodded, and he hauled it in from the hallway, setting it down near her changing area. It would be good to change clothes. She considered wearing the breeches again though, just to get a reaction from Nino. Despite being trapped in this place, she was beginning to see that the bizarre company wasn't as awful as it could be. He stood by patiently while she ate.
"Sho wanted to give you the grand tour of the castle and grounds," Satoshi said. "He likes doing things like that, so hopefully it won't trouble you too much."
"Trouble me?"
He nodded with a grinding metal squeak. "He likes to explain things. Just tell him to shut up though, you won't hurt his feelings."
Machines with voices and clothes and feelings. It was giving her the oddest enjoyment. Maybe it would be a fantastic idea to add to Oliver Nesbitt's world. Surely talking machines would win over her publisher more than talking animals. "Sho likes to chat, Jun likes to give orders, you like to cook, and Nino doesn't like wearing clothes?"
Satoshi nodded again. "I think you've figured us all out pretty well, Miss Vaughn."
"You can call me Becky if you'd like. I'll be here a while, I suspect." She frowned. "I don't suppose I'll have much chance to figure out your friend Aiba?"
The automaton picked up her empty breakfast tray, settling the lids back on. "I brought him his breakfast earlier, but he didn't even talk to me."
"Is he very sick?"
Satoshi headed for the door. "He's very sad. I think that's something different."
Before she could ask him what had made Aiba sad, he was gone, closing the bedroom door behind him and tromping off down the hallway. So was her captor someone who desperately needed a cure for whatever ailed him or was he just a sad man with metal friends who needed a cure for his melancholy? She had the feeling that none of the automatons planned to give her a straight answer. They'd feed her, let her wander around, let her live comfortably until the time came for her father to deliver the potion. Then things would go back to the way they were, and she'd be none the wiser about any of it.
She opened her trunk, seeing that all her clothes looked in good order. She blushed at the thought of Nino and her father up in her room, ensuring that all her things were repacked for transport. She changed quickly into a simple yellow summery dress that fell to her knees. If the machines thought her fashion sense was too casual, it would never show in their faces. At least it was less judgment than she'd get in the center of Sora town. She slipped on some shoes and left the room, heading for the staircase and the ground floor.
It seemed as though Sho had anticipated her arrival. He stood at attention as she descended the stairs, his red jacket just as crisp and neat as it had been the previous day. "Good morning, I hope you slept well, Miss Vaughn?"
"I did," she replied, noticing that the castle was a lot more charming in the daylight. It seemed that her presence had set the automatons into gear. Doors that had been shut tight the day before were now open, letting sunshine pour in. Had the four of them stayed up the whole night to clean and air out the place?
"If you'll walk with me, I'd be happy to give you a tour of the castle so you'll know your way around. We want this to be a home for you, not a prison," Sho explained, walking ahead.
She followed him, seeing in quick succession several beautiful rooms. A ballroom took up a good chunk of the ground floor. Its floor had seen better days, as had the chandeliers, but the floor to ceiling glass offered a beautiful view of the Western Wood, far more green and lively on this side. Beyond the ballroom was a dining room, a parlor, a study, and a gorgeous library that was still well-tended. Despite his metallic exterior, Count Matsumoto was allegedly an avid reader. Becky wondered if he'd be willing to offer any critiques of her own stories - but she was getting ahead of herself, envisioning these machines as her friends and confidantes!
Having already seen the kitchen, Sho led her upstairs, past the room she was inhabiting. There wasn't much to see, only bedrooms, but Sho had apparently had several years to learn the paintings on the walls and the history of the castle itself. Sora had been nothing but a hamlet when the king had first arranged for Matsumoto Castle to be built, settling the first count, Jun's great-great-grandfather on the premises.
The various towers and parapets were empty, mostly serving as additional storage space. Sho brought her outside to the courtyard where Nino waved hello from where he was tending to the dirigible. They walked across the pebbled paths to the nearly empty flower patches and overgrown hedges that ringed the courtyard and the rest of the castle beyond the rear gate. Sho explained that none of them really had a green thumb and any efforts to replant with flowers from the Western Wood had not been successful. Becky didn't have her father's talents, but it was so gloomy out amongst the decay that maybe trying her own hand at gardening would be a good way to pass the time.
Sho definitely liked to talk and at great length, but Becky was just as charmed by his explanations as she'd been by Satoshi's humor and Nino's teasing. It was obvious that despite their appearances, the automatons had truly human personalities and feelings. Of course, it would be impossible for them to leave and wander about Sora town proper, but they'd been self-sufficient all these years, not a speck of rust on them.
The tour concluded, Sho escorted her back to the castle doors, but just beyond the north tower lay an exterior door to a room or castle area she knew she hadn't seen yet. She gestured to it. "And what is that place, beyond the tower?"
Sho showed no sign of interest in it, continuing ahead to usher her inside. "Oh that? It's a mere tool shed. Not much of note in there."
Come to think of it, Sho had led her all around the castle and into nearly every room. Then where did their sick friend stay? If he was so ill, surely he would have been hidden away in one of the guest rooms, but Becky hadn't seen anyone. She paused in her tracks, eyeing the so-called shed carefully. It seemed larger than a mere shed, the stone extending from the tower wall and probably covering half the ground the ballroom did on the other side of the castle. She couldn't understand why, but she felt drawn to this room.
Sho stopped, turning around. "Is something wrong, Miss Vaughn?" Despite her best efforts during their tour, he still wouldn't call her Becky or even Rebecca.
It wouldn't do to make the automatons suspicious of her. The last thing she needed was for them to lock her up in the room. She'd have to wait until nightfall before she found out what secrets were hidden in the tool shed. She smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing. Do you suppose I could see the library again?"
--
The rest of the day passed in relative relaxation. Satoshi prepared her a simple lunch of sandwiches, and she feared that the longer she stayed in the castle eating his food, the tighter her clothes would get. She passed the afternoon and early evening looking at all the wonderful books Jun's library held. Unlike the book stores in Sora and the capital, it seemed that Count Matsumoto wasn't terribly interested in practical novels. She marveled at shelf after shelf of fairy tales and stories of wizards and magical schools. Jun himself joined her, offering recommendations. He'd read every single book in the place.
After dinner, she walked the courtyard and around the castle walls with Sho and Nino, setting up a plan of attack for making the gardens lively again. They listened attentively (as far as she could tell) as she wished for daisies here, daffodils there, and a patch of wildflowers just like the ones in the valley near Sora. Nino promised to fly back to the rainbow house and ask her father for seeds and bulbs. It lightened her spirits to know that her captors weren't cruel and would be checking in with her father from time to time - not just to follow his progress on the potion but to serve as a link between father and daughter.
Despite her initial fright, she found herself settling in nicely. The automatons chatted amiably with her, and half the time she forgot that they were metal rather than flesh and bone. They always stopped just short of explaining how they came to be, but years and years together had bonded them all in a strong, unbreakable friendship. It only made the lack of explanations about their friend Aiba all the more curious.
They wished her good night, and she waited just on the other side of the bedroom door until she heard their noisy footsteps vanish. She wasn't sure if they would be patrolling the castle by night, so she had to make herself as silent and undetectable as possible. She removed her shoes and headed for the window. It was a sheer drop down, no patch of ivy or anything she could use to climb down this way. Making her bedsheets into a makeshift ladder would just be dangerous - they could rip or tear and a broken neck would bring her imprisonment to a quick end.
Instead she waited, pacing her floor until the night grew darker and darker. Hearing no movement in the hallway, she turned the knob, pulling the door as slowly as she dared to keep it from creaking. The hallway was dark - all of the lamps had been extinguished. Sho had given her the impression that she was the only one staying on the second floor in the guest wing. A candle would just give her away, so she crept along in the darkness, keeping her hand along the wall to guide her.
She finally reached the staircase, crouching down behind the rail as she saw Nino down at the base of the staircase, the candle in his hand reflecting warm light off of his metal body as he clomped along. Were they keeping guard to ensure that she didn't leave? There was no need for a patrol on the second floor if someone was going to stay at the foot of the stairs. Her hopes dashed with incredible finality, she went back to her room in frustration.
Come morning, there was a new note on her bedside table. She was beginning to wonder if something in Satoshi's food made her sleep heavier than usual. Surely she would have heard somebody come in during the night! She blinked sleep from her eyes, holding the piece of paper. The handwriting was incredibly sloppy - she imagined the automatons had a difficult time holding a fountain pen.
Can't wait to see flowers again.
Ah, perhaps Nino or Sho had snuck in. They'd spent hours walking and talking about developing the flower beds. Maybe they were just too shy to express any happiness about her presence out loud - the four automatons had been alone with only each other for company for so long. The day passed with good food, good conversation, and the arrival of several types of flower seedlings and bulbs hand-picked by her father. But again at night, her hopes were dashed when she crept to the staircase, this time seeing Sho serving as their lookout.
By day, Becky was nothing but a sweet and sociable guest, reading and discussing books and writing with Jun, working to plant in the gardens with Sho and Nino, following Satoshi to the brook beyond the castle where he liked to catch fresh fish for supper. By nightfall, she was a schemer, hiding in the dark to discover any patterns in their watch. Though they'd all been kind to her, the ideal target for her mission would be Satoshi. He was gentle and patient, and if anything, he let the mind inside his metal body wander more easily than his friends.
It had already been two weeks in the castle when she finally set her tool shed plans into motion. Tonight was Satoshi's patrol, and she imagined him sitting at the bottom of the steps idly. She decided to move about in her nightdress - if they caught her, she could pretend to be sleepwalking. Opening the door first to make her escape all the swifter, she tugged hard on the sash for the kitchen bell and moved as quickly as she dared to the door, closing it behind her.
Two weeks of plotting made her journey in the dark all the faster, and by the time she made it to the shadows by the staircase, Nino was already clomping over to Satoshi at the base of the steps. "Satoshi, the kitchen bell's ringing."
The automaton got to his feet. "Hmm? The kitchen bell? At this hour? Is it Masaki?"
"No," Nino said quietly, pointing up the stairs. "It's Breeches."
She rolled her eyes. No matter how many dresses she wore, Nino refused to call her anything else. The servant nodded. "I'll see what she wants."
She stayed back as Satoshi climbed the stairs, and Nino headed back wherever he'd come from. As soon as Satoshi reached the landing and headed down the hallway past her hiding spot, she hurried down the steps, her bare feet making hardly any noise against the carpet. Knowing Satoshi's patience, he'd probably knock and wait outside her door for several minutes before giving up. She could still hear Nino heading off, and from the candlelight coming from the library doorway, she imagined he was sitting up with Jun.
The path to the kitchen was her best bet, and the door there would make less of a sound than any of the others. She'd designed her little escape very well, and her feet were soon hitting the cool cobblestones. The path took her partly over pebbles though, and the crunching wasn't as quiet as she hoped, not to mention how much it hurt her feet. But she'd run around the valley as a child barefoot - it had just been a while since she'd done so.
The shed was no shed, Becky realized as she pushed the door open. It was unlocked, to her surprise - maybe the automatons figured she was monitored day and night well enough. She closed it behind her and was awed by what she saw. The room had a high ceiling, almost as high as the ball room with large windows allowing plenty of moonlight to pour in and guide her way. It was a far grander version of any tinkerer's shop she'd ever seen in Sora.
She made her way past a few work benches, spying all sorts of little contraptions left behind. A clock with the numbers, minute, and second hands in reverse, ticking quietly. A small model locomotive and some misshapen iron tracks, perhaps for a child's toy. Scattered screws and nails and tools. Glassware and jars full of grease and lubricant for gears. She picked up an old screw-turner, marveling at how large the handle was. She'd never be able to manipulate a tool this size - maybe it was better used by one of her mechanical friends. She set the screw-turner down and made her way around, hearing bubbling noises coming from the far corner of the room.
Something was covered in a dark, heavy cloth. Whatever was underneath had some sort of water or liquid inside. It would be pretty obvious that she'd visited against the automatons' wishes if she pulled the cloth off. She'd never be able to throw the thing back onto it. But what harm was it really? It was just a workshop, after all, and an unlocked workshop at that. Becky grabbed hold of the cloth with both hands and gave it a strong tug.
It fell slowly, slipping off of four glass tanks to puddle in a heap of fabric at her feet. She looked up and gasped at the sight of what she had uncovered, what secret was hiding here in the workshop. Her feet took her backwards, as fast as she could get away from the four tanks. Each tank was filled with strange wires and tubes and a liquid she was pretty sure couldn't just be water. And suspended in each tank was the body of a man, eyes closed, each with dark hair floating about in the liquid.
Four men, maybe her age if she had to take a guess, and from the sounds of the bubbling...were they alive? As she tried to hurry away, wanting to put as much distance between herself and this strange workshop as she could, she bumped into one of the worktables. As she tried to brace herself on the table, her hand came down hard on a sprocket jutting from one of the small gears, and a shot of pain raced through her as it cut deeply into her palm. But all she could see were the men in the tanks, floating, and she hurried to the door, not noticing the figure suddenly standing near her.
She collided with him, her head knocking against his chest. The person's body wasn't metal - it wasn't one of the automatons. "Are you hurt?" the person asked, and Becky could feel a strangely large hand on her back through the thin fabric of her nightdress. "You shouldn't have come in here!"
Becky finally looked up to see just who had followed her into the workshop. The figure was tall, taller than Jun, maybe even taller than Alaric but with a thinner frame. What should have been hair was more like a frizzy brown mane, and it covered his entire face. What should have been a nose ended in a dark snout, the mouth was more of a maw, and she turned, seeing that the hand on her back didn't resemble one like her own. It was twisted and curved - it wasn't a hand at all. It was a paw. She looked up, seeing large, sad eyes staring down at her. It was an animal...like a lion, but standing upright. And it had spoken to her.
"Let me see your hand," it spoke again, its voice perfectly human, if a little raspy. "Becky, please let me..."
She backed up, gasping for breath that wouldn't come to her. Her heart raced as she attempted to process the impossibility standing before her, her skin going suddenly clammy and cool. The impossibility that knew her name. It tried to reach for her again.
"Becky?"
She fainted.
--
"...was inevitable though. She's not someone who will just sit in a cage and do as she's told." Nino. She could hear Nino speaking.
"You tell us you don't want to see her, don't want to meet with her." Sho was talking now. "But you followed her. Why did you do that?"
"But she was in the workshop. The workshop you didn't bother to lock." The voice of the talking upright lion. She opened her eyes, realizing she was back in her room, and night had turned to day. It hadn't been a bad dream at all.
She heard Satoshi's voice closer to her. "I think she's awake..."
There was the sound of muffled shuffling. "Masaki, come on," Nino said. "You don't need to be here when she wakes..."
She opened her eyes, seeing the bed's canopy overhead, painted with stars. Lifting her arm, she saw that her hand had been bandaged up. Definitely not a dream. She really had been down to the workshop, really had cut her hand open after seeing the tanks with the bodies suspended inside. She sat up suddenly, seeing outlines of three all-too familiar metal bodies on the outside of the gauzy pink. Satoshi standing by her bedside table, Sho by the window that overlooked the courtyard.
"Miss Vaughn," Jun said, standing by the fireplace. "Are you alright? We cleaned and dressed your cut. Do you need any medicine? I can send Nino to your father and..."
"Masaki didn't hurt you," Satoshi interrupted, looking through the curtain at her. "He would never, ever hurt anyone. He caught you when you fell so you wouldn't hit your head."
"Satoshi, she's had an awful shock," Sho warned him.
The lion. The upright lion. That was Masaki? The friend who so desperately needed to be cured was no human at all? What was he? What was going on in this castle? What about the bodies in the tanks?
"Miss Vaughn," Jun continued. "There's a lot we should tell you. A lot that we hadn't planned on telling you, but it seems you're far more curious than we'd anticipated."
"Don't blame her," Satoshi replied, and she was oddly touched by his defense of her. "You said this place would be no prison, and yet here we are, crowding around. Telling her where she can and can't go. Watching her day and night!"
"Don't be angry. We had no idea..." Sho started, but the blue-shirted machine stomped his foot once. Talkative Sho and bossy Jun immediately quieted down.
"I think you both should leave," Satoshi demanded. Becky was surprised to see the two obey, leaving the room and shutting the door behind them. Satoshi moved away from the bed and over to her table.
"Are you hungry? I brought up some breakfast for you."
She slid the curtain aside, feeling rather exposed in only her nightdress. The soft purple cotton had dark, dried stains from her bleeding hand marring the fabric. Satoshi stood at her side as he always did, watching while she ate. She had to use her opposite hand to pick up her spoon, but he hadn't brought her anything that required her to use a knife and fork. He'd even buttered her bread the way she usually did - she could tell by the fairly smashed state of the bread that he'd held it in his metal hand.
The animal, man, whatever Masaki was had been following her, had known her name. Satoshi had described him as sad, and she'd seen the proof of it in his eyes. Large, brown eyes that had been more human than animal, looking at her with such sorrow. "Satoshi," she said, setting down her oatmeal spoon. "Have you or any of the others left notes on my bedside table?"
"Notes?" he replied. "I can hold a fishing pole and a frying pan, but writing's a little beyond me. Jun and Sho write things down, but it takes them ages. Nobody's ever asked me to deliver a note to you."
She thought some more, remembering how impossible it would have been for the automatons to go in and out of her room at night without waking her. But it would have been easier for someone not metal-clad to so. Masaki had been leaving her messages, watching her from the shadows since the day she'd arrived. He'd been the one looking forward to the garden blooming. It had been his large screw-turner in the workshop. But there was still so much that confused her.
"We ought to tell you everything," Satoshi said softly. "Now that you've met Masaki, I think we owe you that much."
"Won't you tell me then?" she asked, staring at the bandaged state of her hand. Had one of the automatons fixed her up? Had this Masaki Aiba done it?
"Me?" he asked. "That's a lot of talking. That's more than even Sho is used to saying. I do think, though, that you should ask Nino. About us and about Masaki. Nino wanted you to know from day one, so I think it's best you ask him. And he and Masaki have known each other the longest. If anyone's going to explain, I think it should be him."
"Very well," she said. "Tell him to expect me for a very lengthy discussion. No more secrets."
Satoshi nodded, cleaning up her tray. "No more secrets."
Changing was difficult with one good hand remaining to her, but she managed to get dressed and found Nino in the courtyard, tinkering with the dirigible as he usually did. Though his face could betray nothing, there was a smile in his voice when he emerged from the gondola, seeing her waiting for him.
"So it's up to me, huh, Breeches?" he remarked, sliding the gondola door closed. She had in fact worn the men's slacks she'd arrived in, finding it far easier to pull them on with a blouse than to try buttoning up one of her dresses. They walked along the path to the workshop together, and he held the door open for her. "Don't worry, he's not here," he said, almost reading her mind.
The four tanks from the night before had been covered up again, but the same bubbling noises were emanating from the other side of the cloth. In the sunlight, the room was a lot less mysterious. In the corner opposite the tanks was a large contraption with a control panel that had just as many complicated levers and knobs as the dirigible. It didn't look to be in any state close to completion. There was a platform and a seat built in near the control panel, and in the center were a series of metal tubes. She'd never seen anything like it, not even in the capital.
Nino patted the seat on the machine, encouraging her to sit down. "It's perfectly safe. Go ahead." Once she was seated, Nino clomped his way over to the tanks. "Think I'll leave these covered, if you don't mind. Just kind of frustrating for me. You'll understand." He instead leaned against the workbench, watching her. "I have to say, I'm rather disappointed in you."
"Disappointed in me?" she spluttered. "I find this strange room full of twisted metal and floating men and it turns out your friend's not so much ill as he is inhuman?"
Nino's voice turned from its usual flippant lilt to a far more cynical tone. "So you meet me, you meet walking talking machines and you get straight into a dirigible with one within five minutes of introductions, but as soon as you see a scared man covered in fur, you faint? I thought you were more than that, Rebecca Vaughn, I really did. I thought you of all people could see through the outside and find something real."
"I beg your pardon?" she asked him. "It was the middle of the night, I saw something frightening, and he...he..."
"He what?" Nino asked. "What exactly did Aiba do? Did he yell at you? Did he growl? Did he do anything to hurt you?"
"He surprised me!"
"And?"
She looked down at her feet, remembering the way he'd spoken to her, the gentleness and obvious concern in his voice. He knew her far better than she knew him. "He asked me if I was hurt. He asked me if I was alright."
"And this shocked you so much that you collapsed."
"You're not being fair to me," she complained. "He looks like an animal."
Nino picked up the screw-turner from the table, knocking it against his head with a clang. "I'm a machine that talks. You can't honestly find one thing preposterous and not the other."
"Then tell me," Becky demanded. "Tell me what Aiba asked my father to do. Is it some disease or deformity that makes him resemble an animal so closely?"
"My friend is not deformed," Nino immediately said. "Not any more than I am. And if you must know, Aiba asked nothing of your father. It was our plan, and Aiba had absolutely nothing to do with it." He gestured to the cloth covering the tanks. "You see those four men in there? You see how there's four automatons with male voices walking around here, Breeches? That's me in there. That's Satoshi there. Jun. Sho. That's us. And it's because of Aiba that those bodies are still alive and waiting for a day that may come now that your father's helping."
"What do you mean? How can those people be you?" Becky was horribly confused. How could those people in the tanks be inside machines? But it had happened. Somehow it had happened. It explained how Jun could actually be Count Matsumoto - the human being in the tank was the aristocrat. The others each had a counterpart as well.
"Breeches, it's pretty obvious that your father's got it bad for the Rain Goddess. Well, your father's beliefs aren't as crazy as you think."
She listened, enraptured as Nino described how the five of them had managed to meet. How he and Aiba had grown up together in the capital. How Nino, having no other career prospects or interests, had stuck with his best friend Masaki, who'd longed to be an inventor. How the two of them had come to Sora to work under the patronage of Count Matsumoto. How Sho Sakurai had been the young mayor of Sora, fascinated by the new technology being created at Matsumoto Castle enough to contribute additional funding and support. How Satoshi Ohno, Jun's butler, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time that day.
If Becky hadn't believed in the existence of the Rain Goddess before, Nino's description of the woman's arrival and the aftermath made her one of the devoted faithful now. Nino described how terrifying it had felt to have his soul slip out of him, how horrifying it had been to wake once more inside a metal shell with his empty body lying at his feet. How Aiba had been punished in a different way, and how awful it had been for Nino to watch his dearest friend transform into a beast before his eyes.
"He was hurting," Nino said quietly. "He was broken and in agony, but he's always put science and imagination and his friends before himself. He's kind of stupid that way. When we were kids, he came up with this serum. Used it to preserve things like bugs and even a rabbit once. All this trial and error, and it returned to him, almost like a lightning strike. The four of us stood there in our new metal bodies, trapped by that horrible woman, and we watched our friend cry out in pain as he looked for the ingredients, stayed up for hours even as his body was still healing and adjusting, still bleeding."
"Masaki got our bodies into those tanks even though we were stronger in these stupid suits. We were so angry about our situation, but he put us in the tanks, got them filled up, added the serum. And for one hundred years, he's watched over us. He's in here all day, every day, staring up at those four tanks and begging us to forgive him. Saying he's sorry because he doesn't know how to fix us. Do you know what that's like, seeing your friend get the worst of it all and yet he's the one apologizing to you? Every day he's in here, Breeches. He's built that dirigible, even though his hands aren't as exact and flexible as yours. He makes more serum to keep us alive. He's been cursed, and we couldn't take it any more. You have to understand why we kidnapped your father."
She sat there, hardly able to move. "The Rain Goddess is real. The blessings she's bestowed on my father are real..."
"That's exactly right," Nino said. "The curse is something ridiculous like Masaki needs to find someone to love him or he'll never transform back. Well, he's not terribly interested in going on a marriage hunt in his condition, go figure. And apparently one hundred years of devotion to us and our gratitude for him in return isn't enough to please that rainy bitch..."
She watched Nino kick the table angrily, scattering Aiba's trinkets and tools.
"So you know what, we thought, if Aiba's not going to do anything, then maybe we should. Was it motivated by selfishness? You try being a machine for a hundred years. Of course it was selfishness."
"You think my father can cure Aiba's condition. You think he's got enough talent to reverse the effects?" she asked.
Nino nodded. "It's hard for Aiba to do intricate work with what's happened to his hands. The dirigible alone took twenty-five years to construct." Becky had been alive for about the same amount of time, and she couldn't even imagine working on one project with all your effort for that long. "Needless to say, he hasn't been able to find any way to get our souls out of these machines and back into our bodies. Can't go far either. If any of us is beyond the Western Wood for long, far away from our bodies, the machines start to break down. Fall apart. Found that out the hard way, let me tell you. Sho's on his fourth set of arms, Satoshi a third left leg. You can see why we're so happy your father came to us."
"But you think if Aiba's half of the curse is lifted that it'll motivate him?"
"Who knows?" Nino sighed. "Maybe he'll be healed, and he and your father can put their heads together. If there's anyone I trust to come up with some genius plan to fix us, it's Aiba."
Becky wasn't so sure that a curse from a Goddess, a true Goddess, was so easily reversed. She'd seen what her father could do, and there were definite limits. But she understood Nino and the others better now. She understood Masaki Aiba better. She understood the sadness in him that Satoshi had spoken about. Aiba had hidden himself from her, trying to encourage her with his notes, trying to help her when she'd gone blindly into the workshop thinking herself clever.
Nino walked over to her. "You've scared him off a little, and I know you couldn't help it. He's already mad at us for the bargain we struck with your father and the reasons why you're staying here. He just added it to his guilt, as if he didn't have enough already. So can I just ask you one thing?"
She nodded. "Of course."
He took her hand, and his fingers and metal palm were ice cold. "Your father's working hard. He's doing everything he can to shorten your stay here. If he's able to cure Masaki or not, I just have a selfish request. Be nice to him, please? He's the best of all of us, and I think if you take the time to know him, you'll see that. Don't let the hairballs scare you off."
She blinked. "He coughs up hairballs?"
Nino leaned back, releasing her hand. "That was a joke, Breeches. Your gears are a little loose today."
She couldn't help but smile. "You're terrible." He escorted her from the workshop, closing the door behind them. And so, Rebecca Vaughn decided to become friends with a cursed upright talking lion.
PART FOUR
She woke of her own volition, spying a note on the bedside table that she hadn't the night before. Surely she would have heard one of the automatons coming in and out of the room - they weren't exactly stealthy. Well, perhaps the note had been there, and she simply hadn't paid attention. The note had one simple sentence written on it: if you need breakfast, ring the bell on the wall for Satoshi.
A bell on the wall? She slipped out of the bed, her feet hitting the plush carpeting. She felt truly well-rested, despite her circumstances. It made her wonder what the automatons did all night. Did they require sleep at all? She looked around the dressers and past the armoire, finally seeing the sash dangling on the far side of the room near the screen that partitioned off a place for her to change clothes and use the washbasin. She pulled it once, not used to summoning servants. It must have rung a bell down in the kitchen.
She washed her face and rinsed her mouth and was just getting her breeches back on when she heard the steady clomping footsteps. There was a heavy knock on the door.
"Come in!" she called, and it opened seconds later. To her surprise, Satoshi entered with a nearly overburdened breakfast tray. He walked over to her small table, setting the tray down and pulling the polished silver lids off of the platters. Fresh scrambled eggs with forest mushrooms, oatmeal with brown sugar, bread and jam, and a pot of tea all for her. She walked over in amazement as Satoshi pulled out the chair for her.
"Good morning," he said, speaking for the first time. His voice was a low hum from inside the armor, gentle and relaxed. "I hope this isn't too much."
It smelled amazing, especially after eating her own cooking for so long. She sat, letting him push in her chair. She didn't know where to start, it all looked so tasty. She looked up and met his blank face, wondering if he was expecting a dismissal. She'd never had a servant before. "I can't wait to dig in, it looks great. Thank you."
He nodded, bowing slightly. "Most of what I learned I learned from my mother."
She took a bite of the eggs and a spoon of the oatmeal, wanting to close her eyes with how good and hearty it was. "Your mother was a good teacher, Satoshi. It's perfect."
"I'm happy to cook you anything you like. And not just because Jun says so," he said, moving toward the door. Despite being quiet, there was definitely a rebellious streak to him. "Nino returned with your trunk, but we didn't want to wake you. Shall I bring it in?"
She nodded, and he hauled it in from the hallway, setting it down near her changing area. It would be good to change clothes. She considered wearing the breeches again though, just to get a reaction from Nino. Despite being trapped in this place, she was beginning to see that the bizarre company wasn't as awful as it could be. He stood by patiently while she ate.
"Sho wanted to give you the grand tour of the castle and grounds," Satoshi said. "He likes doing things like that, so hopefully it won't trouble you too much."
"Trouble me?"
He nodded with a grinding metal squeak. "He likes to explain things. Just tell him to shut up though, you won't hurt his feelings."
Machines with voices and clothes and feelings. It was giving her the oddest enjoyment. Maybe it would be a fantastic idea to add to Oliver Nesbitt's world. Surely talking machines would win over her publisher more than talking animals. "Sho likes to chat, Jun likes to give orders, you like to cook, and Nino doesn't like wearing clothes?"
Satoshi nodded again. "I think you've figured us all out pretty well, Miss Vaughn."
"You can call me Becky if you'd like. I'll be here a while, I suspect." She frowned. "I don't suppose I'll have much chance to figure out your friend Aiba?"
The automaton picked up her empty breakfast tray, settling the lids back on. "I brought him his breakfast earlier, but he didn't even talk to me."
"Is he very sick?"
Satoshi headed for the door. "He's very sad. I think that's something different."
Before she could ask him what had made Aiba sad, he was gone, closing the bedroom door behind him and tromping off down the hallway. So was her captor someone who desperately needed a cure for whatever ailed him or was he just a sad man with metal friends who needed a cure for his melancholy? She had the feeling that none of the automatons planned to give her a straight answer. They'd feed her, let her wander around, let her live comfortably until the time came for her father to deliver the potion. Then things would go back to the way they were, and she'd be none the wiser about any of it.
She opened her trunk, seeing that all her clothes looked in good order. She blushed at the thought of Nino and her father up in her room, ensuring that all her things were repacked for transport. She changed quickly into a simple yellow summery dress that fell to her knees. If the machines thought her fashion sense was too casual, it would never show in their faces. At least it was less judgment than she'd get in the center of Sora town. She slipped on some shoes and left the room, heading for the staircase and the ground floor.
It seemed as though Sho had anticipated her arrival. He stood at attention as she descended the stairs, his red jacket just as crisp and neat as it had been the previous day. "Good morning, I hope you slept well, Miss Vaughn?"
"I did," she replied, noticing that the castle was a lot more charming in the daylight. It seemed that her presence had set the automatons into gear. Doors that had been shut tight the day before were now open, letting sunshine pour in. Had the four of them stayed up the whole night to clean and air out the place?
"If you'll walk with me, I'd be happy to give you a tour of the castle so you'll know your way around. We want this to be a home for you, not a prison," Sho explained, walking ahead.
She followed him, seeing in quick succession several beautiful rooms. A ballroom took up a good chunk of the ground floor. Its floor had seen better days, as had the chandeliers, but the floor to ceiling glass offered a beautiful view of the Western Wood, far more green and lively on this side. Beyond the ballroom was a dining room, a parlor, a study, and a gorgeous library that was still well-tended. Despite his metallic exterior, Count Matsumoto was allegedly an avid reader. Becky wondered if he'd be willing to offer any critiques of her own stories - but she was getting ahead of herself, envisioning these machines as her friends and confidantes!
Having already seen the kitchen, Sho led her upstairs, past the room she was inhabiting. There wasn't much to see, only bedrooms, but Sho had apparently had several years to learn the paintings on the walls and the history of the castle itself. Sora had been nothing but a hamlet when the king had first arranged for Matsumoto Castle to be built, settling the first count, Jun's great-great-grandfather on the premises.
The various towers and parapets were empty, mostly serving as additional storage space. Sho brought her outside to the courtyard where Nino waved hello from where he was tending to the dirigible. They walked across the pebbled paths to the nearly empty flower patches and overgrown hedges that ringed the courtyard and the rest of the castle beyond the rear gate. Sho explained that none of them really had a green thumb and any efforts to replant with flowers from the Western Wood had not been successful. Becky didn't have her father's talents, but it was so gloomy out amongst the decay that maybe trying her own hand at gardening would be a good way to pass the time.
Sho definitely liked to talk and at great length, but Becky was just as charmed by his explanations as she'd been by Satoshi's humor and Nino's teasing. It was obvious that despite their appearances, the automatons had truly human personalities and feelings. Of course, it would be impossible for them to leave and wander about Sora town proper, but they'd been self-sufficient all these years, not a speck of rust on them.
The tour concluded, Sho escorted her back to the castle doors, but just beyond the north tower lay an exterior door to a room or castle area she knew she hadn't seen yet. She gestured to it. "And what is that place, beyond the tower?"
Sho showed no sign of interest in it, continuing ahead to usher her inside. "Oh that? It's a mere tool shed. Not much of note in there."
Come to think of it, Sho had led her all around the castle and into nearly every room. Then where did their sick friend stay? If he was so ill, surely he would have been hidden away in one of the guest rooms, but Becky hadn't seen anyone. She paused in her tracks, eyeing the so-called shed carefully. It seemed larger than a mere shed, the stone extending from the tower wall and probably covering half the ground the ballroom did on the other side of the castle. She couldn't understand why, but she felt drawn to this room.
Sho stopped, turning around. "Is something wrong, Miss Vaughn?" Despite her best efforts during their tour, he still wouldn't call her Becky or even Rebecca.
It wouldn't do to make the automatons suspicious of her. The last thing she needed was for them to lock her up in the room. She'd have to wait until nightfall before she found out what secrets were hidden in the tool shed. She smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing. Do you suppose I could see the library again?"
--
The rest of the day passed in relative relaxation. Satoshi prepared her a simple lunch of sandwiches, and she feared that the longer she stayed in the castle eating his food, the tighter her clothes would get. She passed the afternoon and early evening looking at all the wonderful books Jun's library held. Unlike the book stores in Sora and the capital, it seemed that Count Matsumoto wasn't terribly interested in practical novels. She marveled at shelf after shelf of fairy tales and stories of wizards and magical schools. Jun himself joined her, offering recommendations. He'd read every single book in the place.
After dinner, she walked the courtyard and around the castle walls with Sho and Nino, setting up a plan of attack for making the gardens lively again. They listened attentively (as far as she could tell) as she wished for daisies here, daffodils there, and a patch of wildflowers just like the ones in the valley near Sora. Nino promised to fly back to the rainbow house and ask her father for seeds and bulbs. It lightened her spirits to know that her captors weren't cruel and would be checking in with her father from time to time - not just to follow his progress on the potion but to serve as a link between father and daughter.
Despite her initial fright, she found herself settling in nicely. The automatons chatted amiably with her, and half the time she forgot that they were metal rather than flesh and bone. They always stopped just short of explaining how they came to be, but years and years together had bonded them all in a strong, unbreakable friendship. It only made the lack of explanations about their friend Aiba all the more curious.
They wished her good night, and she waited just on the other side of the bedroom door until she heard their noisy footsteps vanish. She wasn't sure if they would be patrolling the castle by night, so she had to make herself as silent and undetectable as possible. She removed her shoes and headed for the window. It was a sheer drop down, no patch of ivy or anything she could use to climb down this way. Making her bedsheets into a makeshift ladder would just be dangerous - they could rip or tear and a broken neck would bring her imprisonment to a quick end.
Instead she waited, pacing her floor until the night grew darker and darker. Hearing no movement in the hallway, she turned the knob, pulling the door as slowly as she dared to keep it from creaking. The hallway was dark - all of the lamps had been extinguished. Sho had given her the impression that she was the only one staying on the second floor in the guest wing. A candle would just give her away, so she crept along in the darkness, keeping her hand along the wall to guide her.
She finally reached the staircase, crouching down behind the rail as she saw Nino down at the base of the staircase, the candle in his hand reflecting warm light off of his metal body as he clomped along. Were they keeping guard to ensure that she didn't leave? There was no need for a patrol on the second floor if someone was going to stay at the foot of the stairs. Her hopes dashed with incredible finality, she went back to her room in frustration.
Come morning, there was a new note on her bedside table. She was beginning to wonder if something in Satoshi's food made her sleep heavier than usual. Surely she would have heard somebody come in during the night! She blinked sleep from her eyes, holding the piece of paper. The handwriting was incredibly sloppy - she imagined the automatons had a difficult time holding a fountain pen.
Can't wait to see flowers again.
Ah, perhaps Nino or Sho had snuck in. They'd spent hours walking and talking about developing the flower beds. Maybe they were just too shy to express any happiness about her presence out loud - the four automatons had been alone with only each other for company for so long. The day passed with good food, good conversation, and the arrival of several types of flower seedlings and bulbs hand-picked by her father. But again at night, her hopes were dashed when she crept to the staircase, this time seeing Sho serving as their lookout.
By day, Becky was nothing but a sweet and sociable guest, reading and discussing books and writing with Jun, working to plant in the gardens with Sho and Nino, following Satoshi to the brook beyond the castle where he liked to catch fresh fish for supper. By nightfall, she was a schemer, hiding in the dark to discover any patterns in their watch. Though they'd all been kind to her, the ideal target for her mission would be Satoshi. He was gentle and patient, and if anything, he let the mind inside his metal body wander more easily than his friends.
It had already been two weeks in the castle when she finally set her tool shed plans into motion. Tonight was Satoshi's patrol, and she imagined him sitting at the bottom of the steps idly. She decided to move about in her nightdress - if they caught her, she could pretend to be sleepwalking. Opening the door first to make her escape all the swifter, she tugged hard on the sash for the kitchen bell and moved as quickly as she dared to the door, closing it behind her.
Two weeks of plotting made her journey in the dark all the faster, and by the time she made it to the shadows by the staircase, Nino was already clomping over to Satoshi at the base of the steps. "Satoshi, the kitchen bell's ringing."
The automaton got to his feet. "Hmm? The kitchen bell? At this hour? Is it Masaki?"
"No," Nino said quietly, pointing up the stairs. "It's Breeches."
She rolled her eyes. No matter how many dresses she wore, Nino refused to call her anything else. The servant nodded. "I'll see what she wants."
She stayed back as Satoshi climbed the stairs, and Nino headed back wherever he'd come from. As soon as Satoshi reached the landing and headed down the hallway past her hiding spot, she hurried down the steps, her bare feet making hardly any noise against the carpet. Knowing Satoshi's patience, he'd probably knock and wait outside her door for several minutes before giving up. She could still hear Nino heading off, and from the candlelight coming from the library doorway, she imagined he was sitting up with Jun.
The path to the kitchen was her best bet, and the door there would make less of a sound than any of the others. She'd designed her little escape very well, and her feet were soon hitting the cool cobblestones. The path took her partly over pebbles though, and the crunching wasn't as quiet as she hoped, not to mention how much it hurt her feet. But she'd run around the valley as a child barefoot - it had just been a while since she'd done so.
The shed was no shed, Becky realized as she pushed the door open. It was unlocked, to her surprise - maybe the automatons figured she was monitored day and night well enough. She closed it behind her and was awed by what she saw. The room had a high ceiling, almost as high as the ball room with large windows allowing plenty of moonlight to pour in and guide her way. It was a far grander version of any tinkerer's shop she'd ever seen in Sora.
She made her way past a few work benches, spying all sorts of little contraptions left behind. A clock with the numbers, minute, and second hands in reverse, ticking quietly. A small model locomotive and some misshapen iron tracks, perhaps for a child's toy. Scattered screws and nails and tools. Glassware and jars full of grease and lubricant for gears. She picked up an old screw-turner, marveling at how large the handle was. She'd never be able to manipulate a tool this size - maybe it was better used by one of her mechanical friends. She set the screw-turner down and made her way around, hearing bubbling noises coming from the far corner of the room.
Something was covered in a dark, heavy cloth. Whatever was underneath had some sort of water or liquid inside. It would be pretty obvious that she'd visited against the automatons' wishes if she pulled the cloth off. She'd never be able to throw the thing back onto it. But what harm was it really? It was just a workshop, after all, and an unlocked workshop at that. Becky grabbed hold of the cloth with both hands and gave it a strong tug.
It fell slowly, slipping off of four glass tanks to puddle in a heap of fabric at her feet. She looked up and gasped at the sight of what she had uncovered, what secret was hiding here in the workshop. Her feet took her backwards, as fast as she could get away from the four tanks. Each tank was filled with strange wires and tubes and a liquid she was pretty sure couldn't just be water. And suspended in each tank was the body of a man, eyes closed, each with dark hair floating about in the liquid.
Four men, maybe her age if she had to take a guess, and from the sounds of the bubbling...were they alive? As she tried to hurry away, wanting to put as much distance between herself and this strange workshop as she could, she bumped into one of the worktables. As she tried to brace herself on the table, her hand came down hard on a sprocket jutting from one of the small gears, and a shot of pain raced through her as it cut deeply into her palm. But all she could see were the men in the tanks, floating, and she hurried to the door, not noticing the figure suddenly standing near her.
She collided with him, her head knocking against his chest. The person's body wasn't metal - it wasn't one of the automatons. "Are you hurt?" the person asked, and Becky could feel a strangely large hand on her back through the thin fabric of her nightdress. "You shouldn't have come in here!"
Becky finally looked up to see just who had followed her into the workshop. The figure was tall, taller than Jun, maybe even taller than Alaric but with a thinner frame. What should have been hair was more like a frizzy brown mane, and it covered his entire face. What should have been a nose ended in a dark snout, the mouth was more of a maw, and she turned, seeing that the hand on her back didn't resemble one like her own. It was twisted and curved - it wasn't a hand at all. It was a paw. She looked up, seeing large, sad eyes staring down at her. It was an animal...like a lion, but standing upright. And it had spoken to her.
"Let me see your hand," it spoke again, its voice perfectly human, if a little raspy. "Becky, please let me..."
She backed up, gasping for breath that wouldn't come to her. Her heart raced as she attempted to process the impossibility standing before her, her skin going suddenly clammy and cool. The impossibility that knew her name. It tried to reach for her again.
"Becky?"
She fainted.
--
"...was inevitable though. She's not someone who will just sit in a cage and do as she's told." Nino. She could hear Nino speaking.
"You tell us you don't want to see her, don't want to meet with her." Sho was talking now. "But you followed her. Why did you do that?"
"But she was in the workshop. The workshop you didn't bother to lock." The voice of the talking upright lion. She opened her eyes, realizing she was back in her room, and night had turned to day. It hadn't been a bad dream at all.
She heard Satoshi's voice closer to her. "I think she's awake..."
There was the sound of muffled shuffling. "Masaki, come on," Nino said. "You don't need to be here when she wakes..."
She opened her eyes, seeing the bed's canopy overhead, painted with stars. Lifting her arm, she saw that her hand had been bandaged up. Definitely not a dream. She really had been down to the workshop, really had cut her hand open after seeing the tanks with the bodies suspended inside. She sat up suddenly, seeing outlines of three all-too familiar metal bodies on the outside of the gauzy pink. Satoshi standing by her bedside table, Sho by the window that overlooked the courtyard.
"Miss Vaughn," Jun said, standing by the fireplace. "Are you alright? We cleaned and dressed your cut. Do you need any medicine? I can send Nino to your father and..."
"Masaki didn't hurt you," Satoshi interrupted, looking through the curtain at her. "He would never, ever hurt anyone. He caught you when you fell so you wouldn't hit your head."
"Satoshi, she's had an awful shock," Sho warned him.
The lion. The upright lion. That was Masaki? The friend who so desperately needed to be cured was no human at all? What was he? What was going on in this castle? What about the bodies in the tanks?
"Miss Vaughn," Jun continued. "There's a lot we should tell you. A lot that we hadn't planned on telling you, but it seems you're far more curious than we'd anticipated."
"Don't blame her," Satoshi replied, and she was oddly touched by his defense of her. "You said this place would be no prison, and yet here we are, crowding around. Telling her where she can and can't go. Watching her day and night!"
"Don't be angry. We had no idea..." Sho started, but the blue-shirted machine stomped his foot once. Talkative Sho and bossy Jun immediately quieted down.
"I think you both should leave," Satoshi demanded. Becky was surprised to see the two obey, leaving the room and shutting the door behind them. Satoshi moved away from the bed and over to her table.
"Are you hungry? I brought up some breakfast for you."
She slid the curtain aside, feeling rather exposed in only her nightdress. The soft purple cotton had dark, dried stains from her bleeding hand marring the fabric. Satoshi stood at her side as he always did, watching while she ate. She had to use her opposite hand to pick up her spoon, but he hadn't brought her anything that required her to use a knife and fork. He'd even buttered her bread the way she usually did - she could tell by the fairly smashed state of the bread that he'd held it in his metal hand.
The animal, man, whatever Masaki was had been following her, had known her name. Satoshi had described him as sad, and she'd seen the proof of it in his eyes. Large, brown eyes that had been more human than animal, looking at her with such sorrow. "Satoshi," she said, setting down her oatmeal spoon. "Have you or any of the others left notes on my bedside table?"
"Notes?" he replied. "I can hold a fishing pole and a frying pan, but writing's a little beyond me. Jun and Sho write things down, but it takes them ages. Nobody's ever asked me to deliver a note to you."
She thought some more, remembering how impossible it would have been for the automatons to go in and out of her room at night without waking her. But it would have been easier for someone not metal-clad to so. Masaki had been leaving her messages, watching her from the shadows since the day she'd arrived. He'd been the one looking forward to the garden blooming. It had been his large screw-turner in the workshop. But there was still so much that confused her.
"We ought to tell you everything," Satoshi said softly. "Now that you've met Masaki, I think we owe you that much."
"Won't you tell me then?" she asked, staring at the bandaged state of her hand. Had one of the automatons fixed her up? Had this Masaki Aiba done it?
"Me?" he asked. "That's a lot of talking. That's more than even Sho is used to saying. I do think, though, that you should ask Nino. About us and about Masaki. Nino wanted you to know from day one, so I think it's best you ask him. And he and Masaki have known each other the longest. If anyone's going to explain, I think it should be him."
"Very well," she said. "Tell him to expect me for a very lengthy discussion. No more secrets."
Satoshi nodded, cleaning up her tray. "No more secrets."
Changing was difficult with one good hand remaining to her, but she managed to get dressed and found Nino in the courtyard, tinkering with the dirigible as he usually did. Though his face could betray nothing, there was a smile in his voice when he emerged from the gondola, seeing her waiting for him.
"So it's up to me, huh, Breeches?" he remarked, sliding the gondola door closed. She had in fact worn the men's slacks she'd arrived in, finding it far easier to pull them on with a blouse than to try buttoning up one of her dresses. They walked along the path to the workshop together, and he held the door open for her. "Don't worry, he's not here," he said, almost reading her mind.
The four tanks from the night before had been covered up again, but the same bubbling noises were emanating from the other side of the cloth. In the sunlight, the room was a lot less mysterious. In the corner opposite the tanks was a large contraption with a control panel that had just as many complicated levers and knobs as the dirigible. It didn't look to be in any state close to completion. There was a platform and a seat built in near the control panel, and in the center were a series of metal tubes. She'd never seen anything like it, not even in the capital.
Nino patted the seat on the machine, encouraging her to sit down. "It's perfectly safe. Go ahead." Once she was seated, Nino clomped his way over to the tanks. "Think I'll leave these covered, if you don't mind. Just kind of frustrating for me. You'll understand." He instead leaned against the workbench, watching her. "I have to say, I'm rather disappointed in you."
"Disappointed in me?" she spluttered. "I find this strange room full of twisted metal and floating men and it turns out your friend's not so much ill as he is inhuman?"
Nino's voice turned from its usual flippant lilt to a far more cynical tone. "So you meet me, you meet walking talking machines and you get straight into a dirigible with one within five minutes of introductions, but as soon as you see a scared man covered in fur, you faint? I thought you were more than that, Rebecca Vaughn, I really did. I thought you of all people could see through the outside and find something real."
"I beg your pardon?" she asked him. "It was the middle of the night, I saw something frightening, and he...he..."
"He what?" Nino asked. "What exactly did Aiba do? Did he yell at you? Did he growl? Did he do anything to hurt you?"
"He surprised me!"
"And?"
She looked down at her feet, remembering the way he'd spoken to her, the gentleness and obvious concern in his voice. He knew her far better than she knew him. "He asked me if I was hurt. He asked me if I was alright."
"And this shocked you so much that you collapsed."
"You're not being fair to me," she complained. "He looks like an animal."
Nino picked up the screw-turner from the table, knocking it against his head with a clang. "I'm a machine that talks. You can't honestly find one thing preposterous and not the other."
"Then tell me," Becky demanded. "Tell me what Aiba asked my father to do. Is it some disease or deformity that makes him resemble an animal so closely?"
"My friend is not deformed," Nino immediately said. "Not any more than I am. And if you must know, Aiba asked nothing of your father. It was our plan, and Aiba had absolutely nothing to do with it." He gestured to the cloth covering the tanks. "You see those four men in there? You see how there's four automatons with male voices walking around here, Breeches? That's me in there. That's Satoshi there. Jun. Sho. That's us. And it's because of Aiba that those bodies are still alive and waiting for a day that may come now that your father's helping."
"What do you mean? How can those people be you?" Becky was horribly confused. How could those people in the tanks be inside machines? But it had happened. Somehow it had happened. It explained how Jun could actually be Count Matsumoto - the human being in the tank was the aristocrat. The others each had a counterpart as well.
"Breeches, it's pretty obvious that your father's got it bad for the Rain Goddess. Well, your father's beliefs aren't as crazy as you think."
She listened, enraptured as Nino described how the five of them had managed to meet. How he and Aiba had grown up together in the capital. How Nino, having no other career prospects or interests, had stuck with his best friend Masaki, who'd longed to be an inventor. How the two of them had come to Sora to work under the patronage of Count Matsumoto. How Sho Sakurai had been the young mayor of Sora, fascinated by the new technology being created at Matsumoto Castle enough to contribute additional funding and support. How Satoshi Ohno, Jun's butler, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time that day.
If Becky hadn't believed in the existence of the Rain Goddess before, Nino's description of the woman's arrival and the aftermath made her one of the devoted faithful now. Nino described how terrifying it had felt to have his soul slip out of him, how horrifying it had been to wake once more inside a metal shell with his empty body lying at his feet. How Aiba had been punished in a different way, and how awful it had been for Nino to watch his dearest friend transform into a beast before his eyes.
"He was hurting," Nino said quietly. "He was broken and in agony, but he's always put science and imagination and his friends before himself. He's kind of stupid that way. When we were kids, he came up with this serum. Used it to preserve things like bugs and even a rabbit once. All this trial and error, and it returned to him, almost like a lightning strike. The four of us stood there in our new metal bodies, trapped by that horrible woman, and we watched our friend cry out in pain as he looked for the ingredients, stayed up for hours even as his body was still healing and adjusting, still bleeding."
"Masaki got our bodies into those tanks even though we were stronger in these stupid suits. We were so angry about our situation, but he put us in the tanks, got them filled up, added the serum. And for one hundred years, he's watched over us. He's in here all day, every day, staring up at those four tanks and begging us to forgive him. Saying he's sorry because he doesn't know how to fix us. Do you know what that's like, seeing your friend get the worst of it all and yet he's the one apologizing to you? Every day he's in here, Breeches. He's built that dirigible, even though his hands aren't as exact and flexible as yours. He makes more serum to keep us alive. He's been cursed, and we couldn't take it any more. You have to understand why we kidnapped your father."
She sat there, hardly able to move. "The Rain Goddess is real. The blessings she's bestowed on my father are real..."
"That's exactly right," Nino said. "The curse is something ridiculous like Masaki needs to find someone to love him or he'll never transform back. Well, he's not terribly interested in going on a marriage hunt in his condition, go figure. And apparently one hundred years of devotion to us and our gratitude for him in return isn't enough to please that rainy bitch..."
She watched Nino kick the table angrily, scattering Aiba's trinkets and tools.
"So you know what, we thought, if Aiba's not going to do anything, then maybe we should. Was it motivated by selfishness? You try being a machine for a hundred years. Of course it was selfishness."
"You think my father can cure Aiba's condition. You think he's got enough talent to reverse the effects?" she asked.
Nino nodded. "It's hard for Aiba to do intricate work with what's happened to his hands. The dirigible alone took twenty-five years to construct." Becky had been alive for about the same amount of time, and she couldn't even imagine working on one project with all your effort for that long. "Needless to say, he hasn't been able to find any way to get our souls out of these machines and back into our bodies. Can't go far either. If any of us is beyond the Western Wood for long, far away from our bodies, the machines start to break down. Fall apart. Found that out the hard way, let me tell you. Sho's on his fourth set of arms, Satoshi a third left leg. You can see why we're so happy your father came to us."
"But you think if Aiba's half of the curse is lifted that it'll motivate him?"
"Who knows?" Nino sighed. "Maybe he'll be healed, and he and your father can put their heads together. If there's anyone I trust to come up with some genius plan to fix us, it's Aiba."
Becky wasn't so sure that a curse from a Goddess, a true Goddess, was so easily reversed. She'd seen what her father could do, and there were definite limits. But she understood Nino and the others better now. She understood Masaki Aiba better. She understood the sadness in him that Satoshi had spoken about. Aiba had hidden himself from her, trying to encourage her with his notes, trying to help her when she'd gone blindly into the workshop thinking herself clever.
Nino walked over to her. "You've scared him off a little, and I know you couldn't help it. He's already mad at us for the bargain we struck with your father and the reasons why you're staying here. He just added it to his guilt, as if he didn't have enough already. So can I just ask you one thing?"
She nodded. "Of course."
He took her hand, and his fingers and metal palm were ice cold. "Your father's working hard. He's doing everything he can to shorten your stay here. If he's able to cure Masaki or not, I just have a selfish request. Be nice to him, please? He's the best of all of us, and I think if you take the time to know him, you'll see that. Don't let the hairballs scare you off."
She blinked. "He coughs up hairballs?"
Nino leaned back, releasing her hand. "That was a joke, Breeches. Your gears are a little loose today."
She couldn't help but smile. "You're terrible." He escorted her from the workshop, closing the door behind them. And so, Rebecca Vaughn decided to become friends with a cursed upright talking lion.
PART FOUR