Agatha H. And the Clockwork Princess Read Online Free Page A

roll of tools, she extracted a medium sized hammer, a chisel and a trio of wrenches. She spent several minutes tearing select items off of the airship’s now useless engine before once again carting an armload of interesting potential components back to her makeshift base. 
    Only then, surrounded by a satisfyingly varied amount of raw material, did Agatha begin to work.
    About two hours later, she sat back and noticed a small stack of airship biscuits on a rock beside her. They were chewy and contained flavors Agatha had never encountered before, but she was so hungry that they tasted delicious.
    Looking around, she saw that Krosp had been busy. All of the smaller boxes and items had been sorted and stacked around her. She vaguely remembered finding components readily to hand. She frowned. Sparks could be dangerously oblivious when they were deep within the grip of creation. She would have to try to keep this tendency under control, at least while they were out and exposed. The ability to construct a battle clank was of no use whatsoever if an enemy could simply walk up and brain you with a rock while you were busy tightening the screws.
    The bulk of the wrecked ship had almost disappeared under a covering of stones and artistically arranged brush. A movement caught her eye. It was Krosp, climbing clumsily about in a tree, trying to detach the now deflated balloon. She hurried over and between the two of them, they managed to get it down and flat on the ground.
    Krosp sat and surveyed it with annoyance. “How much of this do you think you can carry?”
    Agatha lifted a corner of the treated silk and aero-canvas. “Depends how much else we have to haul, but it’s pretty light stuff.”
    Krosp nodded. “Cut enough for a tent, and some more to keep you warm at night. We’ll have to cover the rest. I don’t want anything visible from the air.” Involuntarily they both peered up into the sky.
    She unfolded a standard airshipman’s multiplex knife, and hacked free several square meters of fabric.
    Aided by Krosp, she then folded the rest and stowed it out of sight beneath the closest stand of trees.
    Then, she returned to her makeshift workbench, and returned with a strange device cradled in her arms. It was about sixty centimeters long and had obviously been constructed from parts of various weapons, as well as bits of the airship control panel, the ship’s generator, and one of the emergency pack’s can openers. It was held together with balloon sealant and wire. Krosp’s shoulders sagged. “That’s the best you could do?”
    Agatha hugged the weapon possessively. “It’s what I had to work with.”
    “Does it actually do anything?”
    “Theoretically…” the rest of her statement wilted under Krosp’s unnerving stare. “…I hope so,” Agatha admitted. She swung the stock up to her shoulder, and found a chunk of the airship rudder that had escaped Krosp’s clean-up. It was several meters up, wedged in a crack in the rocky hill. She sighted on it and squeezed the trigger.
    There was a crackle of energy, a smell of burnt hair, and at least five square meters of rock vaporized in a ball of blue flame. Krosp stared aghast at the new crater in the hillside, which was already cooling with a series of pops and clinks. He turned to see Agatha gazing delightedly at the weapon. A thin wisp of smoke arose from the interior of the mechanism and spiraled gently into the morning sky. “Beautiful,” she whispered.
    “Very impressive,” Krosp muttered. He shook himself. “Okay. We’re done here. There’s no way we can cover that up. Let’s get going.”
    As Agatha turned, he noticed that a little brass trilobite, the traditional symbol of the House of Heterodyne 4 , had been attached to one side. He pointed with one claw and gave Agatha a sidelong, questioning look. “Hmm?”
    “I found it in one of the packs. I guess it was Lilith’s. I… well, I figured if we’re going to be wandering strangers, we should