The Timematician by Steven Bereznai

Author:Steven Bereznai
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jambor
Published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Part II

Chapter 8

Genetrix helps me into a velour robe with a wolf head stole, then I walk to the platform with my marble work slab and prepare to be a genius. I grab Mairī Lin’s head, the one I dissected after she invaded my library, and try to make sense of it. Hours later, I’m no closer to understanding her tech than when I began. I cram her innards back inside her cranium and shove the casing into Genetrix’s arms.

“Get this out of my way,” I bark. “I’m going to create something grander than anything this world has ever seen, and I don’t need her to do it!”

I rub my palms together as my bots come over an arching bridge, pushing hovercarts with a slew of tech I’ve stolen over the years but was too timid to try. No longer! My new armor shall be the deadliest any villain has ever devised!

It will have to be. Mairī Lin is unlike any foe I’ve faced. While I work feverishly on my battle shell, I’ve no doubt she and her so-called Gladyses, Saras, and Dahomeys are most assuredly plotting and scheming my downfall.

I work well into the night, welding, soldering, programming, and cursing—I’m too slow; the tech is too banal; the design is hackneyed; she’ll never be impressed by this or me. Will I have to rewind to spare myself the humiliation of her seeing this garbage?

Eventually, exhaustion overtakes me. Genetrix cradles me and flies me up to the nest, where I sleep fitfully in my egg-shaped bed. Dreams of revenge churn in my mind, and every creak of my ocean base makes me sit up in anticipation of an attack.

And yet, days, weeks, then months pass, and there’s no sign of my foe. My satellites and scouts can’t detect any indication that she’s regrouping.

“Do you think she blew her last fuse?” I ask Genetrix.

The bot scoffs.

“I was smart enough to build you,” I reply. “But I agree. We haven’t seen the last of Mairī Lin Monroe.”

Meanwhile, my army has tripled in size and ferocity. I watch with satisfaction as my flying saucers complete my giant warbot and set its dormant form in geosynchronous orbit around the globe, ready to come crashing down wherever, whenever I need it.

Genetrix looks at the image of the massive bot curled into a ball and bleeps at me.

“No, I’m not overcompensating.”

She shrugs skeptically.

“Oh, what do you know? Don’t answer that!” She dutifully remains silent.

Of all my new techno-terrors, the most wonderful of all is my latest armor. After all my near-crippling doubt, I must say, it is magnificent—not that I have any clue when I’ll get to use it. My drone network has yet to detect any indication of Mairī Lin’s return nor where she’s hiding.

So, while I don’t believe she’s gone, I do feel sufficiently prepared to allow myself a break on one special day.

I dress in pure pomp—brown leather top hat with a black feather at the back and flight goggles perched at the

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