Steamforged (Steamborn Series Book 2) by Eric Asher

Author:Eric Asher [Asher, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Fiction
Published: 2016-01-31T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Jacob stared at the intricate web of metal that formed his leg. The outer plates gave him the basic shape of a leg, but when Smith pulled one open, Jacob could see the machinations of a madman inside. How someone could build a machine so precise, and keep that machine working, was beyond his understanding.

“See the tubes here, and here?” Smith asked. He pointed into the cavity behind the plates. When Jacob didn’t answer, he looked up. “Well?”

Jacob nodded slowly.

“Good. Those are filled with your blood. You break a gasket or sever a tube, and that is all manner of bad things. If it happens, and it will someday, just remember the tourniquet built around your interface.”

“I will.” Jacob remembered Smith showing him the levers built into the cap—the interface, as he called it. Jacob liked that word much better than stump. He felt like stump was an ugly word, like a dead tree. Interface spoke of movement and machines and life.

“There is nothing you cannot do, Jacob.” Smith paused until Jacob raised his head and met his eyes. “So long as you keep your wits about you, use your mind along with your gut, there is nothing you cannot do.” Smith laid a Biomech hand on Jacob’s new foot.

“What happened?” Jacob asked as he looked at the network of bronze and copper and steel that made up Smith’s hand.

Smith offered a small smile before he pulled the thin, flesh-toned glove back over his hand. “That is a story for another time. Get some rest,” he said as he stood and squeezed Jacob’s shoulder. “Walking will be a little different for you, and you will need to be rested before you learn.”

“Will he need footplates?” Archibald asked between sips of his drink.

Smith shook his head. “This is a newer design.” He slid plates open on Jacob’s leg and pointed to the notched bars and rivets. He looked up at Jacob. “You are young, and still have a year or more to grow. You can adjust your leg as your body changes, without having to replace it.”

“Won’t the joints be weaker?” Charles asked. “The tubing?”

“No. There is enough extra tubing to stretch almost three feet. The joints themselves may be moderately weaker than a solid leg, but understand …” Smith pivoted and set a sheet of steel across his largest vise. He flipped a lever on his chest, and then two in his hand, just beneath the glove.

Jacob watched in fascination as the man’s arm began to shake, and then Smith punched through the steel plate in a rending squeal of metal. The man returned the switches to their original positions and looked up.

“Moderately weaker will still be far stronger than any mortal joint.”

“Your color looks better,” Alice said as she brushed Jacob’s hair back behind his ear.

He looked up at her and smiled.

“I thought we’d lost you.”

“No …” Charles grunted as he stood up. “Looks like we’re stuck with the sneak thief for a time.”

“Sneak thief?” Smith asked.

Jacob felt the blush crawl up his neck.

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