Romulus Buckle and the Luminiferous Aether (The Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin #3) Read Online Free Page B

named Cassandra Lombard. The Founders were sore to lose her and they’ve always been suspicious of Atlantis.”
    “I heard stories about Lombard as a child,” Sabrina said. “All of them bad. Sour grapes.”
    Felix nodded. “Yes. But the Atlanteans have always dominated the ocean trade routes and held sway over the Spice Traders, the Oriental Compact and the fishermen. The Founders never dared cross them because of that.”
    “It seems the situation has changed,” Buckle said. The Oriental Compact—he’d heard of the mysterious people of the west, hidden beyond the ocean, more fragments of legend than real. He peered into the fluctuating currents below where schools of fish flashed and vanished. The ocean floor dropped off in steeper and steeper angles, darkening as it plunged away from the surface where the sun glowed aqua blue through sheets of ice There was barely perceptible movement in the depths, large, indecipherable shadows whispering of behemoths down below.
    Buckle felt an eerie, familiar twinge. He was well aware of the alien monsters cast down upon dry land by the Martians but he knew nothing of what they had released into the water. There were many stories of sea-beasties more mighty and terrifying than sabertooth or kraken but the descriptions varied so widely it was difficult to make head nor tail out of them in the end. They made wonderful tales for landlubbers, certainly, but now that he was here, under the ocean with them, he hoped that he might not make their acquaintance.
    Icebergs soon appeared, their craggy hulks blocking out the light, massive underwater cathedrals of deep blue glass, inverted, ponderous titans drifting as the ocean willed.
    “I know a chasm—Neptune’s Rift—well hidden, that we can use to bypass the patrols,” Felix said. “We should arrive at Atlantis in about an hour. If you take the main passageway, you’ll find a parlor on your right. It has a big window for you to watch the sea as you landlubbers love to do so much.”
    “Thank you, Felix,” Buckle said. “We shall retire to the parlor, then.”
    “You interesting in selling that robot?” Felix asked, jerking his head towards Penny Dreadful.
    “Not at this time, no,” Buckle replied with an odd sense of indignity.
    “Very well then,” Felix replied. “I’ll tell you one thing, I will, this robot shall be something of a problem in Atlantis.”
    “Why is that?” Sabrina asked.
    “The Atlanteans don’t like their old automatons,” Felix said. “They despise them, really. Don’t use them anymore.”
    “And why do they despise them?” Buckle asked.
    “Malfunctions,” Felix said. “It’s difficult to get a straight answer out of an Atlantean, especially when it concerns anything which they fear looks to be a failure. But I know that they were damned proud of their automatons long ago. Then all of the sudden they collected as many as they could, sending out scouts to recover the ones they’d sold or lost. In the end, the automatons were all melted down into scrap.”
    “Such a thought gives me the shivers,” Penny said quietly, though it wasn’t shivering.
    “We shall retire to the observation parlor,” Buckle said, gently herding Penny toward the hatchway. It annoyed him that Felix had told such a story in front of Penny, though he wasn’t sure why it might bother it—it was just a machine, after all. Perhaps he was angry with himself for bringing a potentially dangerous member into his company. But how dangerous was Penny Dreadful?
    “Keep an eye open for boats,” Felix said over his shoulder.
    “Aye, we’ll do that,” Buckle replied as he ducked through the rear hatchway, walking down the metal passageway that stank of oil and rust. Sabrina and Welly were close at his back with the sound of Penny’s metal shoes clanking behind. Odd, Buckle mused, that he took some measure of offense when the suggestion of selling the robot was tabled; despite its appearance it still felt more like