Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

Author:Scott Westerfeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2011-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

“Well, we fought the Goeben and the Breslau on our way here.”

There was a long moment of silence. From the looks on their faces, it seemed that little fact hadn’t been in the papers.

“The sultan’s new toys?” Nene asked. “When exactly?”

“Eight days ago. We stumbled on them due south of the Dardanelles.

Nene nodded slowly, her eyes sliding to one of the chattering wireless receivers. “It’s possible. Something was certainly afoot last Monday.”

“It was quite a battle,” Alek said. “The Goeben’s Tesla cannon almost put us all into the sea!”

The three exchanged glances, then Zaven said, “Tesla cannon?”

Alek smiled. At least he knew something that these revolutionaries might find useful. “That tower on her aft deck might look like a wireless transmitter, but it’s an electrikal weapon. It makes lightning. I know that sounds absurd, but—”

Nene silenced him with a raised hand. “It does not. Come for a walk with me, boy.”

“A walk?” Alek asked. He’d assumed the woman was an invalid.

“Onto the balcony,” she ordered, and suddenly the delicate sound of a clockwork mechanism filled the room. One of the bed’s wrinkled legs took a slow, smooth step forward.

Alek jumped back, and Lilit laughed from across the room. The creature crawled back up to his shoulder, echoing her giggle.

“Haven’t you ever seen a turtle move?” Nene asked, smiling.

Alek took another step back, getting out of the bed’s way as it lumbered toward the double doors. “Yes, but I never thought of sleeping on one.”

“You sleep on one every night, boy. The world itself rests on a turtle’s back!”

Alek smiled at her. “My mother used to tease me with that old wives’ tale.”

“Old wives’ tale?” Nene cried, her voice crackling. “The notion is perfectly scientific. The world rests upon a turtle, which itself stands on the back of an elephant!”

Alek tried not to laugh. “Then what does the elephant stand on, madam?”

“Don’t try to be clever, young man.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s elephants all the way down!”

The bed made its slow way from the bedroom toward the balcony doors. As he followed, carefully matching its turtle’s pace, Alek wondered at the perfection of the mechanism. Clockwork machines ran on wound-up springs instead of noisy steam or gas engines, so the bed’s movements were smooth and slow, ideal for an invalid.

But the woman lying in it had to be mad, with her talk of elephants. All three of them were a bit peculiar, in fact. They reminded Alek of his own poor relations, once-wealthy families who’d fallen on hard times but still had an inflated sense of their own importance.

The night before, Zaven had said they’d been part of the Young Turk uprising six years ago. But was this strange family a real threat to the sultan, or simply wallowing in past glories?

Of course, Zaven’s walker had been nothing to sneeze at.

Out on the balcony Alek realized that the family’s apartments were built atop the warehouse, the rooftop surrounding them like a small plot of land. An odd place to live, but it had commanding views of the city.

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