Janali shivered and shook herself physically to push away morbid imaginings. She hadn’t been caught in three years. As long as she remained vigilant, she would be safe to conduct her research.

The replacement device fitted perfectly onto the repurposed welding goggles. Placing the goggles over her head, she experimented with changing out the loupes. The loupes moved to her lightest touch, flipping effortlessly between combinations exactly as she desired.

It was early; there was time to test the magnifying loupes with her other invention, the telescope. She moved to the back of her lab. A wide set of glass doors opened out onto her balcony. A wood and stone tea bench rested comfortably just inside, providing a means to enjoy the view during inclement weather.

Before opening the doors, she touched three camouflaged switches on the mahogany panels of the tea bench. The bench’s stone top rose smoothly on polished brass pressure pistons. The secret compartment held her personal telescope in its purple silk pillowed hollow. She kept this one for herself and made sure never to suggest a superior telescope to the ones her family provided the military existed.

She slid her hand tenderly over the polished wood and brass. Her family was profiting from the manufacture of lower quality telescopes for the military and well-to-do members of society. Even the success of the telescopes did nothing to convince her mother Janali’s time would be better spent in research.

Telescope in hand, she stepped out to her high balcony, taking in the magnificent vista of the capital city harbor and open seas to the north. Her breath produced steam vapors, and she took in a deep breath of the crisp winter air. Her skin prickled against the cold. But the golden sun was bright in the cloudless blue sky, and its light warmed her enough she didn’t need to retrieve a coat.

She paused briefly, considering the irony the balcony represented. Without her sister’s attempted slight of assigning Janali the boarded up, rear-most estate buildings for Janali’s new offices, Janali would never have spent hours taking in the view from this balcony. Without this view, she wouldn’t have wanted to see further than humanly possible. Without that desire, she wouldn’t have invented the telescope. Without the telescope, she wouldn’t have discovered she could observe all the great trade houses’ private shipping yards below. Without knowing what each great house was trading, she couldn’t have made so many bold and successful ventures for her house. Without the business successes, she wouldn’t be cemented into place as House Jedalor’s Castatan.

Janali had been given the family businesses because Cybele had grown tired of the work and convinced their mother to name Janali as Castatan. Yet, it was because of Janali’s research, started at the great Crelna Institutes of Science, that House Jedalor was once again a growing power in the empire. Between the production of the telescopes for the military and her view, Janali was an unstoppable business magnate. Cybele didn’t care how Janali did it, only that she did. In shedding the job of managing the businesses, Cybele put all her attention to ladying over the whole family as if she was the matron, and their mother didn’t stop it.

Cybele’s attempted slight had been the fuel for Janali’s greatest success and the root of her current untenable situation of having so little time for research.

Looking out over the harbor, Janali laughed. The Star Empresses must have been in an odd mood when they laid out the threads for her life.

The brilliant morning sun gave the harbor an artist’s idealized oil painting look. Fishing vessels made their way out of the harbor, the larger vessels leaving streaks of black smoke from their steam engines as their paddle wheels turned the sea into a frothy foam behind them. The slower and larger merchant vessels trundled about, pushed or pulled by double paddle wheel tugs of the harbor patrol. Out at the edge of the harbor, merchant ships unfurled their sails to add the wind to their massive steam engine paddle wheels.

She scanned the warehouses adjusting the focus, and swapping in different loupes assessing the results. The optics were not as much of an enhancement as she hoped. But, they did improve the optical performance. She lifted her view to the horizon adjusting the focus. She swept the merchant channel, inspecting the outbound ships testing how far she could clearly see with the new improvements.

One ship at the edge of the horizon caught her eye. Even at this distance, its silhouette was unique. It was longer, taller, and most importantly missing the round hub of a paddle wheel guard in spite of smoke from an engine.

Bracing her arms on the balcony’s railing, she adjusted the focus for the longer distance. She added first one loupe, then two, and the ship came into a fuzzy focus. She held her breath to steady her hands. Her heart thudded against her ribs as she took in the unique silhouette. Only one ship in the entire world looked like that, the Vibrius. Her prototype ship she’d bet her reputation on. Except that ship sunk in an ocean storm taking her reputation and the entire crew with it to the bottom of the ocean.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Empresses, it can’t be. Not after all this time,” she said under her breath changing the goggle enhancing lenses trying to get a clearer view. Blinking her eyes clear of any dust, she put her eye back to the telescope.

The final adjustment worked; the telescope revealed the familiar lines of her lost Vibrius. Six months and twelve days overdue with no word, debris, or sign of what had happened. The church wasted no time in declaring her designs unsafe. The other two ships being built were canceled, and worse, her mother had ordered an end to any further work on such things.

Forcing herself to hold still, she leaned out over the edge of the balcony trying to examine the ship’s smallest details. Its contours were not right. A patchwork of rusting plates warped and bent the once smooth hull. It looked as if there where rust streaks down the length of the hull. The Vibrius looked a decade old instead of only a year. The ship moved slowly, using its sails and the screw propulsion system. Pride swelled in her to see her injured Vibrius still do what no other ship could do, come in against the tide.

A sigh of relief escaped when she’d counted at least twenty moving dots, which meant, at least, half of the crew was still alive.

“Empresses be blessed; you are handsome, my sweet Vibrius. Welcome home.” A wave of shivers passed through her body, and she stood straight, hands on hips looking out over the harbor with her naked eyes as the adrenaline made her breath deep at this unexpected miracle. The Vibrius was only a small dot near the horizon without the telescope. No one except her knew he was home.

Her mind raced over the implications, reactions, and challenges the ship’s return would cause.

Her family had almost been ruined when the Vibrius vanished. Janali’s reputation had certainly been destroyed as well. House Jedalor had recovered, but this return could restore her mother’s faith in Janali’s engineering abilities. If there was even a scrap of cargo aboard, all the better. Cybele might do something rash like order the Vibrius unloaded and scrapped for sale to pay the crew’s six month back wages and bereavement dues. Janali needed to set actions and deals in motion that would prevent Cybele from divesting House Jedalor of the Vibrius.

The ship was still at least an hour outside of the harbor. Ships were required to be brought in by government pilots. Since the Vibrius was unscheduled, he might have to wait an hour or two before a harbor pilot became available. However, with no delays, the Vibrius could reach the docks in ninety minutes.

There were simply too many variables to decide exactly what to do. Janali knew for sure she must be at the docks to meet the ship, and Cybele had to be distracted for as long as possible to give Janali time to maneuver.

She ran for her dressing rooms. But, before she got out of the labs, she had to turn back. She forced the secret panel to open faster and put the telescope into its compartment, tossing the goggles carelessly on top. Jumping on the bench panel, she wiggled, using her weight to close it as fast as possible. The click of panel locks gave her the same adrenaline surge as the starting gun of a horse race launching her across the halls to her dressing room.

Tossing the laboratory cotton shirt and loose pants away, she tore a business suit out of the wardrobe. They were all excellent quality with the family colors so it really didn’t matter which one she used. She didn’t waste time unbuttoning the vest, instead pulling it over her head. It should have saved time, except the narrow lace ruffles on her sleeve cuff snagged on a button. Her arms twisted over her head she wiggled, trying not to damage the lace.

“Urded lace,” she cursed, fighting with the garments.

The lace came free without any telltale sounds of ripping. Ignoring the lace for a moment, she shimmied the vest into place. A quick check ensured the cuff lacing wasn’t noticeably damaged. It was good enough, and she leapt to the doorway choosing comfort over fashion by taking the slightly worn boots over the new pair Cybele had ordered for her. Slamming her feet down into the boots, she yanked up on the sides, pulling them over her calves.

She’d made it as far as the stairs before she remembered she’d forgotten her coat.

Grumbling, she ran back into her rooms, grabbing the business coat from the chair where she’d tossed it the evening before. Turning to leave, she saw the royal house purple sashes hanging on the wardrobe door.

For a moment, she considered forgoing the ridiculous trapping of status. But, if Cybele heard she’d gone to town without proper adornment, there’d be no end to the verbal abuses. With a deep sigh, she dropped the coat on the floor, picking a sash to slip over her head.

In a single fluid motion, she pulled the sash into place, scooped up the coat, and leaned forward into a dash for the door. In her peripheral vision, she spotted her personal dagger sitting on the sideboard. Popping up straight, she grabbed the doorpost to arrest her movement. Pushing off the jam, she snapped back and leapt the three feet to snatch the ornate dagger. She didn’t even look, her hand knew exactly where to move to clip the hand carved ivory hilt’s silver buckle into her leg strap at the top of her stockings.

While her hand fastened the dagger, her eyes glanced around for anything else she’d forgotten. A hand carved ivory comb on the dark wood top made her check her hair. Forcing herself to slow down, she grabbed the comb and ran it through her hair quickly. She’d ignored her hair for longer than was proper, and it was now long enough to tuck behind her ears. The comb caught in a tangle, probably caused by the rapid dressing. She gritted her teeth and yanked the comb through the knots. This was no time to be held up by overly long hair.

The polished silver mirror wasn’t very effective in the dim light. Still, it showed her collar was half tucked into the vest. Putting the comb down, she shrugged into the jacket and took long strides for the stairs as she wrestled her collar free from the business vest.