Free-Wrench, no. 1 Read Free Page A

point of great envy,
but such childish feelings had been left behind… for the most
part.
    Joshua was eighteen years old, two years
younger than his sisters. He was the spitting image of his father:
a strong, stout build, deep brown eyes, short brown hair, and a
head taller than Nita. Though just finishing his schooling, he had
already made a name for himself as both a sculptor and a musician.
A part of that, perhaps, was having Lita as a model and dancer for
his compositions, but his original works earned no less renown. The
two of them had become precisely what the rest of Tellahn had
expected them to be; fine artists and worthy inheritors of the
Graus name.
    When Nita became a steamworker, many viewed
it as an admission of defeat. Those who found a place in a more
utilitarian role weren’t precisely looked down upon in Calderan
society, but they were universally viewed as those who had failed
to find a way to contribute to the beauty of their land. In a way,
this was true of Nita. As a child she’d tried her very best to
follow in the family tradition. Alas, she didn’t have the legs for
dance, nor the ear for music. Though her hands were steady enough,
she didn’t have the eye for painting or sculpture. It wasn’t until
she tried her hand at constructing the intricate clockwork music
boxes that had brought her father his fortune that she found her
true talent. She was a tinkerer, and something in the building of a
mechanism ignited her passion. Perhaps she could have continued
with the clockwork sculptures and music boxes and earned the
position her countrymen viewed as her birthright, but what held her
fascination wasn’t the beauty of the machines, but the way they
worked. It was thus only a matter of time before she found her way
into the steamworks, the grandest mechanism in all of Caldera.
    “You shouldn’t have to toil away in that
place.”
    “I like to ‘toil away in that place,’
Mother. I do important work there, and I do it well. Foreman Stover
says the system-wide pressure losses have been down four notches
since I was made a free-wrench.”
    Gloria gave her daughter a gentle smile of
encouragement that betrayed a complete lack of understanding of
anything Nita had said, save that it seemed to be a point of pride.
“Well, that’s lovely, dear.”
    “Where is father this morning?” Joshua asked,
spooning out a serving of the steamy pot of oatmeal set on the
table.
    “Your father had to leave early, I’m afraid.
He’s to discuss matters with the council in Drummer’s Valley again
today.”
    “The council? About what?”
    “That’s your father’s business, dear.
Something about the perimeter battery, I imagine. No doubt they
want to request another contribution to be sure the guns are
greased and ready.”
    “They certainly have been discussing the guns
an awful lot lately,” Lita said, selecting a peach from the fruit
bowl.
    “I hear the folks from the west have been
making airships that can go even higher. We’ve got to improve our
guns or they might be out of range, now.”
    “It still seems silly to me,” Lita said. “As
far as I can remember we’ve never even fired those guns
except to test them, and at the annual memorial celebrations.
Surely if the outsiders had wanted to invade, they would have done
so by now. Better to dismantle the ugly things. Make room for a
magnificent lighthouse or two. Or perhaps a really grand statue
like they have at the mouth of Meristis Straight. That titan could
really use a bride.”
    “Oh, I’m sure the outsiders would love that. You know what a mess the rest of the world is. Foul air.
People floating about in those ugly machines. Keeping them out is
the only thing that has kept us safe from the same fate,” Joshua
said. “They are completely lawless out there…”
    Nita filled her dish as her brother spouted
the same tired speech she’d been hearing her entire life. Caldera
had indeed closed its borders to the outside many decades ago,