Among the Nameless Stars (6 page)

He looked up, into her unfocused eyes, and guilt slammed through him. Of course she wore as much of the fuzzy velvet and precious, smooth silk as she could. Of course she didn’t care if the colors clashed. Of course she wasn’t paying attention to him.

Sophia Innovation was blind.

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In his life, Kai had only known two blind people. One was a Reduced boy on a neighboring estate who’d somehow survived infancy. Unable to labor in the fields and unable to learn the hand signs that would help him communicate with others, he was confined to the kitchens, doing what little tasks he could—like pitting cherries or shelling peas. Another was an old Post friend of his father’s who’d lost his sight with age. He’d been sent to the healing house, where all sick and wounded North Posts and Reduced went, and hadn’t survived another winter. One never lasted long in the healing house, with all the sick people shoved in together to fend for themselves. Even Kai’s father, Mal, had barely lasted a few months after his stroke, despite the medicine Elliot had sneaked in.

But here was Sophia Innovation, a young, free Post, rich and pretty and living the life that, a few short moments ago, Kai had envied with all of his heart. Here she was in a crush of spectators, all come to watch her father compete in a race that she could never see.

“I—” Kai stuttered. “I broke something. An antenna.”

“Oh.” Her brow furrowed over her blind eyes. “What do you need one of those for?”

“It’s a long story. But I have nothing to fix it with—not here. And I —” His voice betrayed him then, breaking slightly. “I was really counting on it,” he finished weakly.

She slipped off one of her velvet gloves and picked at a bandage wrapped around her index finger. After a moment, she peeled it off and offered it to him. “Does this help at all? I’m sorry it’s used.”

He took it gingerly from her fingers. “Thank you, I think it might.” He wrapped the two pieces of the antenna back together, then tested the connection. “Will your finger be all right?”

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“Oh, yes. It was just a pinprick, you know. I have … a condition, and my mother gives me blood tests. My name is Sophia.”

“I’m Kai.”

“Young man?” Kai looked up to see Mrs. Innovation peering over at the two of them. “Can I help you?”

Yes she could. She could help him in a dozen ways. In a hundred thousand. She and her husband were the only people in the enclave who
could
help him. He’d come this far to get their attention, and now he had it. Kai stood as straight as possible and swallowed his fear.

“I think your daughter already has,” he said. “I had a bit of a problem with my antenna, and she helped me fix it.”

“What do you need an antenna for?”

He smiled broadly. Like mother, like daughter. Good thing they were the curious sort. “To beat your husband at the race.”

Just then the sound of a pistol shot rent the air and echoed across the water, and the boats took off. Everyone’s attention turned toward the race, except for the two Innovation women.

“What are you talking about, young man?” Mrs. Innovation asked.

“Kai,” Sophia offered. “He said his name is Kai.”

Kai kept his eyes on the boats. His fingers hovered over the switch. He needed to send the signal at precisely the right moment… .

Mrs. Innovation’s hand came down on his device. “Talk to me—Kai.”

There was something in the way she said his name. Something Kai hadn’t heard for months.

Hadn’t heard for far longer than that. He risked looking up at her.

“I—I work for Pen. I’m a mechanic.”

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She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “You can’t be much older than my daughter.”

“I’m fourteen, and I am Pen’s mechanic. I’m the best in the enclave.” He looked back at the water. Pen had almost reached the turn. He was in third place. Kai hoped he’d make the turn without falling even farther behind or even the trick he had planned might not be enough to save them.

“And you’re trying to cheat,” added Mrs. Innovation. She shook her head. “Should have known we couldn’t trust Pen to play fairly. Give that here.”

Kai swerved away from her, keeping his eye on the boats. Just a few more seconds and Pen would be around the turn and heading back toward the marina. “Pen has nothing to do with this,”

he insisted as Mrs. Innovation lunged for the box again. He maneuvered himself on the other side of Sophia. “I invented this device all by myself!”

There! Pen had made the turn. Kai ducked away from Mrs. Innovation again and watched as the nose of Pen’s boat swerved back in their direction. All he needed was a clear shot… .

Kai flipped the switch.

Nothing happened.

There should have been a small explosion, a burst of speed, a turbocharged wave of propulsion that shot Pen far into the lead. But nothing happened at all.

“No!” he shouted. He tried it again.
Flick flick flick flickflickflickflick
. “Not now. Come on…

.”

All around him, the crowd was shouting, cheering on their favorite racer. Captain Innovation’s boat was in the lead, with another racer close behind, and Pen a distant third. Kai watched in horror as Innovation crossed the finish zone and the flag went up.

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Everyone in the immediate vicinity started screaming with joy. Mrs. Innovation stopped her pursuit of him and gave a gleeful little hop. She grabbed Sophia’s hand. “Daddy won, sweetheart! He won!”

Pen had lost. He’d lost the race, and he’d blame Kai. But that was nothing compared to what Kai had just lost—the only chance he’d ever have to impress the Innovations.

His insides seemed to stick in place, dead as the device in his hands. His lungs wouldn’t expand; his heart wouldn’t beat.

Mrs. Innovation paused in her celebration and turned to him. “Let that be a lesson to you, Kai. Pen is doing you no favors by forcing you to do his dirty work. Cheaters never prosper.”

“
No one
ever prospers!” Kai blurted out, his words choked with unshed tears. “No one does, unless it’s by cheating, or lying, or hurting others. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Luddites, or Pen, or— or
you
!”

“Me?” The woman exclaimed. “I’ve hurt no one. Your machine didn’t work all on its own.”

Kai’s eyes stung, but he would not cry in front of these people, even if Sophia wouldn’t be able to see. He turned to leave, but the crowd pressed in tight. Still, he shoved his way through as best as he could.

“Wait!” shouted Mrs. Innovation. “Come back!”

“Kai!” cried Sophia. “Kai!”

But soon their voices were lost in the crowd.

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Kai had never been around so many people. They moved as one living thing, sweeping him along toward the dais, where the race officials sat and waited for the racers to leave the water.

Kai had no desire to see Pen now. Doubtless, his master would be furious at him—not that his loss was Kai’s fault. Pen had no idea about Kai’s device, but he’d need to cast blame on someone, and Kai was as good a scapegoat as any.

He wanted to break free of the current, find Cleopatra and Napoleon, and get out of there.

He’d deal with Pen’s wrath later. He tried to shove through the crush of people to no avail.

Everyone was bigger than him. Someone banged against his bad leg, another shoved him out of the way, and soon he found himself pressed close to the base of the dais, his eyes level with the feet of the racers as they ascended the steps from the cove.

“The winner of the race is Captain Nicodemus Innovation!” cried the announcer. Another cheer went up from the audience, and Kai clenched his jaw. Even from this vantage point, he could see the storm brewing on Pen’s face. No one in the man’s employ would be safe tonight.

“And now,” the announcer said, “for the distribution of the prizes. Each entrant wagered something in the race, with the winner taking all.” He looked down at the sheet in his hand.

“Captain Innovation’s pair of horses shall remain in his possession, but today he’s also going home with the following—” The announcer paused as his words were almost drowned out by cheering.

Kai watched as Innovation beamed and waved to his adoring fans. Now that he saw the man up close, he was surprised. After hearing of his reputation and seeing his pretty daughter and wife, Kai had been expecting someone handsome and dashing. But Captain Innovation was a bit
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on the portly side, with thinning red hair and a sunburned face. Still, he had done marvelous things. He’d beaten the odds of his birth. Who was Kai to judge?

As the shouts died down, the announcer started again. “The Luddite Sheridan Lake wagered his yacht, the Boatwright-built
Long White Cloud
.”

Innovation’s smile grew so broad Kai feared it might split his face in two. And little wonder.

Since the Boatwright shipyard had been shuttered, it was hard to lay hands on any vessel nearly so fine as the ones Elliot’s grandfather used to make. A Boatwright vessel was worth a lot of money. As the announcer read from the list of wagers, Kai’s fear multiplied. These were amazing prizes. He had no idea the race was as important at this.

Pen might be more than merely angry. He might kill someone.

“The Post-Reductionist Pen wagered the boat he raced on, ten ounces of gold, and the bonded services of his scribe, the Post-Reductionist known as Bess—”

“What?” Pen’s voice sliced through the announcement. “I did not.”

The announcer blinked in the setting sun. “I am reading your entrance form.”

Pen took two steps forward and snatched the paper from the man’s hands. He looked it over, as if reading the words, but Kai and everyone else who worked for Pen knew the truth. Pen could not read.

“Bess!” he roared. A few moments later, Bess emerged from the crowd and climbed the steps to the dais. Her hands were folded over her belly, her head was cast down.

“Read. This,” he hissed at her, thrusting out the form.

From his spot, Kai could see how her hands shook.

“
I—
” she whispered.
“I, Pen, hereby submit my entrance wager for the boat race to occur at
the marina on the third day—
”

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“I know that part!” he growled at her. “Read the wager.”

“
I wager the boat I race on, ten ounces of gold, and the bonded services of my scribe, the
Post-Reductionist known as Bess—
”

“You bitch!” He grabbed Bess by the hair and forced her to her knees. “How dare you!”

Kai’s jaw hung open, and he was quite sure he was not alone. Bess had planned this. She’d planned for Pen to lose. Was it Bess who’d sabotaged his machine before she’d brought it to him at the marina? Bess who’d offered to hold it for him so Pen wouldn’t find it? Bess who’d sabotaged his chances to escape in favor of her own and that of her unborn child?

Not that he could blame her, when he thought about it like that. After all, Kai’s plan had been vague. Bess’s was definite, and she was the one who needed results quickly.

And he couldn’t envy her at this moment either, as he watched Bess writhe under her master’s grip. She screamed in pain as Pen twisted his hands into her hair. “She did this! She changed my wager. I did not agree to that!”

Captain Innovation stepped forward. “See here, Pen. Let her go.” Pen glared at him, but the captain did not back away, and his tone went from calm and reasonable to calm but rock hard. “I said,
Let her go
. She’s mine now. Not yours.”

Pen dropped Bess, and she curled into a ball on the ground.

“That’s not what I agreed to,” he spat out. “This is treachery.”

Captain Innovation retrieved the form from where Bess had dropped it. “Is this your signature, on the bottom?”

“That’s not what I agreed to!” Pen shouted. “You cannot force me to abide by the treacherous lies of my . . .” He cut himself off, then leaned down and directed his next words to
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Bess alone. “I’ll kill you, girl. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you and your baby, just like I killed your idiot lover.”

Captain Innovation turned toward one of the other racers, who Kai guessed, by his clothes and noble bearing, was one of the Luddites. “Sir, I would like to register a complaint against the Post-Reductionist Pen, who has just publicly threatened to destroy my property.”

The Luddite nodded. “Witnessed. Better be careful, Pen, or you’ll find your entire operation here in a bit of trouble from your betters.”

“My betters!” Pen said with one of his trademark sneers. “You’re no better than me, Luddite.

How many people do
you
own?”

For once, Kai found himself agreeing with his horrible master.

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Twelve

Dear Elliot,

I’ve failed. I’ve lost my only chance of escape, and even now when I think about it, I can’t
believe I ever thought it would work. What a stupid idea.

Not stupid because of the machine. That would have worked. It should have worked if it
weren’t for Bess’s meddling. But stupid because, even if it did work, even if I did make Pen
win and impressed the Innovations enough that they’d fight Pen to get me—even if all of that
had happened, what would I have gained?

Nothing. I’d still have a master. Maybe the Innovations wouldn’t be as cruel as Pen or as
controlling as your father, but I’d still be theirs. I’d have no choice in the matter because
they’d be the only thing protecting me from people like Pen.