Wen lay against the dirt, cool wind blowing around her as she looked through her rifle's scope on the valley below. Her target stood at the center of a group of men at the encampment. One of his hands held a dagger, and the other held a child kidnapped from the local village. Their ship was moored in the lake nearby, about the size of a barque. His crew was about twenty men, according to his bounty.

He was Sam 'Big Mouth' Bass, and he was wanted for murder, assaulting Military Police ships, and mostly a lot of robbery. During his last job, in the nearby town, he had taken a hostage because his robbery had gone wrong.

Wen took in a deep breath as she lined up her shot.

Sniping was difficult, even for the most skilled people back on Earth. She had spent most of her life studying languages at Oxford, so it was something she had to pick up when she came to her new world. The name sounded the same, but the world was entirely different. Erth was a world of islands that glowed brightly in the space called the nightsea. Each island was like a world on its own and mostly independent, with the exception of the areas under the rule of the Empyrean. She didn't know why it was called the Empyrean, but the word wasn't lost on her, given all the time she had spent studying English as an undergrad. If she had more access or time, she would have spent years learning all she could about Erth.

Bass brought his dagger close to the child as he yelled something at his men that Wen couldn't hear. She exhaled slowly as she finished lining up her shot, finishing pulling the trigger once all the air had left her lungs. She may have been a linguist, but a gun didn't care what you knew.

Hiss-bang. Thwoop.

Super-compressed cold air shot out of the side of her gun, converting to steam as it hit the hotter air around it. It would be a disservice to call what she shot out from her rifle a simple bullet, but the object shot through the air just like one, right toward Bass's heart.

She couldn't hear the sound from the hit, but she didn't need to. Through her scope, the projectile shattered across him, and her 'bullet' took effect. Instantly, ice began to spread across his body, cracking out from his chest and over his clothes like a growing blue fungus. Bass's eyes widened as he tried to move, but it was already too late.

Wen stood up, slinging her rifle over her arm as she began to walk down the hill toward the valley below. Bass's men were already scattering as ice covered the man's body, turning him a bright white and holding him perfectly in place. They had no idea what was happening, and she was ready to monopolize that ignorance. She drew her revolvers from her waist, cocking the first shots.

"Time to get to work," she said.

She didn't have to shoot many of them, and the few she did were changed into the same ice statues. While alone, none of the men were as dangerous as they had been together under Bass. None of his crews had bounties by themselves, but Bass was worth a pretty doler. By the time she reached where Bass stood frozen, the ice was also beginning to grow over the child. Wen holstered her guns as she approached and pulled the child away before she could be taken over by the ice. A few of Bass's fingers cracked as he struggled against the ice. He was alive, though Wen was only sure that was possible on Erth.

"Are you alright?" Wen asked as she brushed the ice off of the child.

"Yes," she said, rubbing her eyes and face.

"Can you find your way back to town?" Wen asked, nodding toward the entrance to the valley.

"I can, ma'am." She nodded.

"Then go and make sure you don't get caught again," Wen said, giving the girl a slight shove to put her on her way.

"That was nice," a man said as the girl ran off.

Wen turned to face him. A man stood near one of the tents with a gun in hand and pointed at Wen. Wen raised an eyebrow at him but didn't move. He had her in his sights, and there wasn't a lot she could do if he decided to shoot the gun.

However, he hadn't shot yet.

"You worked for Bass?" Wen asked.

"I did," he said, looking at the ice statue. "I was his second in command."

"I don't have a bounty for your head," Wen said, locking eyes with him.

The man wavered between her and Bass, a frown crossing his face as he did the mental math. Wen patiently waited for him to get the picture. She didn't have any interest in dying today. She just needed the money from Bass's bounty.

"So, you're not interested in me," he said, a grin crossing his face. "You'll let me go?"

"I will," Wen said.

"I've always wanted to be the boss." The man smiled, lowering his gun as he examined the ice statue. "Bass was an idiot. He never knew what we had going."

"And what do you plan to do?" Wen let her hands rest next to her sides as she watched the man's eyes.

"Go after something bigger," the man said. "When I'm done, they'll have to give me a bounty name, too."

"And what name do you think you'll deserve?"

"That's a hard one. Maybe 'Tall Order' James."

Wen didn't comment on how short he was. Instead, her hand grabbed her revolver, and she brought it up before he could even react. She took the shot without a moment's hesitation, and James couldn't react fast enough to do anything in response as the ice cracked across his own body.

Hiss. Bang. Crack.

"You should have shot first," 'Cold Shot' Wen said, shaking her head as she looked around her one last time. "What kind of bounty hunter would I be if I let someone like you go?"

"Da-" Before he could even finish the sentence, the ice had wrapped around his face and covered his entire body with a white sheen.

Wen looked over the two outlaws and shook her head. She had to shoot seven shots in total for the entire fight, and that would take her about an hour to recharge. She took out her tools and sat on one of the camp chairs. She had a while to wait before the two men melted and she could actually arrest them.

She pulled out a metal cylinder from her bag and held it in her hand as she opened her gate. An icy chill ran down her arms from her heart as she held both hands to it. White fog flitted out from her mouth as she exhaled and focused her will on the cylinder.

"Ice Touch."

----------------------------------------

Alex ducked through an alley as he slipped through the crowds to his destination. His brown leather duster, renewed from his most recent trip to a tailor, flapped around him in the heavy wind as he looked for his friends. A storm was coming for Grey Lagoon, and he wanted to be off it before the coming rain shut down the entire island.

Plip. Plip.

Drops of water hit the ground around him, and the dirt around the many wooden buildings was quickly turning to mud. Alex quickened his pace as he pulled his duster tight around him. It didn't take him long to find his friends waiting for him beneath the patio of one of the nearby businesses.

Erin wore her typical green cloak over her black clothes, not quite standing out, but definitely not someone who lived in Grey Lagoon. Her hood was up, so only her pale face was visible, and he could just make out her messy black hair inside of it.

Beside her, Mari held her hand. From what Alex could see, they had succeeded in getting real clothes for the android, so her doll-like features were now hidden except for her eyes. Underneath a simple red hood for her cloak, he could still see the glow of Mari's blue electric eyes. Without the articulated joints and black lines down Mari's body, she could almost be a small girl. All of that was hidden now, thanks to the simple shirt and pants Erin had gotten for her. It was leagues better than the hospital gown they had found her in on Nowhere.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Sayed was the last member of their party who had left the ship. The large, bearded, brown-skinned man stood in his normal leather chestpiece with his loose-fitting shirt beneath it. Two swords rested sheathed on his back, and he was examining a broken gauntlet in his hand. It looked like he hadn't found a smith that could work with it.

Jean was the last one in their group, and he had politely remained behind to make sure that no one stole the ship while they were gone. It was a good thing because, below his head, Jean was just a skeleton beneath his blue robes.

Thap. Thap. Thap.

Alex stepped up onto the wooden patio and out of the rain right as it began to pour. They hadn't beaten the rain, but that wasn't the end of the world. It just meant they would have to be much more careful and hurry up before the storm hit in full force

"Alex!" Mari ran over, letting go of Erin's hand and grabbing onto his.

"Hey, kid." Alex smiled down at her, looking between the other two. "How'd it go?"

"I'm not a child." Mari glared up at him with glowing blue eyes as Sayed and Erin shared a glance.

"I was able to load the ship with food and water." Sayed frowned, still holding his broken gauntlet in his hand. "But I could not find a single smith who could fix my gauntlet in our limited time. I do not think we will ever have enough time if we continue at our current pace."

"Sorry." Alex grimaced as Mari began to climb up to sit on his shoulders.

He had to stand still, or she would fall off. While she always insisted she wasn't a child but a Magical Artificial Recombinant Intelligence, to him, she wasn't any different from his siblings back home on Earth. She wrapped her arms around his head as she sat on his shoulders, her legs dangling to the side as she rested her chin on his forehead.

"It is fine, brother." Sayed smiled. "I will find a way to make do with what I have. God will see me through."

"I got into contact with my people," Erin said, shaking her head as she looked up at Mari. "They'll go pick up my ship for me. We'll have it available if we ever need it."

"But it won't get here anytime soon," Alex guessed.

"No. Zanghai is just too far away. We'd be better off getting the Robin out of here as quickly as possible. The fewer eyes that see it, the better."

The Robin was a Military Police ship they had stolen so that they could get access to Death's Yard. Erin's ship didn't have the shielding that a Military Police ship had to be able to deal with debris fields. However, running around in a stolen ship would raise red flags at some point that would point people directly at them.

"We'll figure something out," Alex said as he felt Mari lean harder against him. "Hey, kid, no falling asleep up there."

"Not a child," Mari whispered drowsily, obviously falling asleep.

"So we've got supplies, and we've put your people in the loop. Anything else we need before we get out of here?"

"A destination would be nice." Erin frowned. "Mari wasn't able to give us coordinates or anything. All she could do was vaguely feel where the ship we're looking for was."

"I think I have an idea for that," Alex said. "As I was waiting for my duster to get fixed, I started thinking about how we might be able to figure out where it was."

"And what is that?" Erin crossed her arms.

"Triangulation." Alex motioned to them both. "Here, spread out."

He got Erin situated at one point, Sayed at another, and himself at a third. Between them, they made a triangle. Even if Mari resting on his head made the entire thing look ridiculous, he would make his point. Thankfully, the fact that he wasn't tall made it easier for him to move beneath the patio. He would have dragged Mari's head across the roof if he had been as tall as Sayed.

"So, Mari is like a compass. She feels when she's getting closer to the ship," Alex said, pointing up to the sleeping android wrapped around his head. "What we need to do is take measurements of how strong the feeling is from separate locations, three at a time. That'll tell us what direction it is strongest in. Once we do it a few times, we can draw lines out on a chart and see what direction that's pointing in. Then we'll narrow down the islands the ship could be on."

Erin raised her eyebrow, and Sayed looked completely lost. Alex sighed, wishing he had a compass and a map to demonstrate how it could work. It wasn't perfect and would take some time, but it was better than just going with a slightly stronger feeling.

"Say we do three measurements where we're at." Alex started pointing between the three of them. "Sayed is a hot measurement. I'm a cold measurement, and Erin is a warm measurement. We draw a line that goes between you and Sayed, but closer to Sayed and away from me. Then, we go across the street again and do a second measurement, drawing the same line. Eventually, all the lines will point more in the direction of one island than another."

"It'll narrow it down," Erin said, tapping her chin and looking at the ground. "It might work."

"I do not understand, but it sounds very exciting for me to be the hot one." Sayed smiled, placing his gauntlet into his belt. "If you say this will work, brother, I will believe in you."

"It might work." Alex shrugged. "We can figure it out as we go, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. Failing doesn't mean that we have to give up, right?"

"As long as we don't die, sure." Erin let out a small laugh, looking out into the rain. "We'll need to run to the ship. Otherwise, we'll be stuck here until the storms are over."

"A race is what I think you said." Sayed started running off into the rain, droplets hissing off his skin as he activated his curse to keep himself dry. "The last one on the ship is on cleaning duty!"

"Hah." Alex smiled, pulling Mari off his head and catching her legs with his arms so that she rested against his back.

He couldn't keep up if he left her up there, and she might fall off. He started to run but noticed Erin was already rushing off ahead of him. She also had a good head start, holding her cloak tight to her body.

"That's not fair." Alex jumped out into the rain. "Step."

He drew in a breath of aether before disappearing from sight with Mari. It was like he had instantly slammed his feet into the ground a thousand times. He reappeared beside Erin, sprinting past her as his boots splashed water and mud around him.

"Sayed's fast," Erin gasped as she ran beside him.

"And he started before everyone else." Alex ran past her, his legs pumping hard through the mud.

Part of him wanted to play fairly despite using a technique to speed himself for the short distance he had. However, he was already running at a disadvantage with an extra person, and Sayed had already used his own curse.

Alex opened his gate.

Like an electric pulse around him, his senses came alive, and he was aware of all the metal in his vicinity. He kept his power locked to only the first grade of his curse, and electricity flowed out from his heart and into his limbs with the steady hum of an electric motor. He intentionally made sure he didn't focus his senses on Mari. While he was curious about the internal workings of an android, he still wasn't sure how he should approach that.

As a kid, he binged on science fiction novels and movies, so the question of what an android was occupied his mind from the moment they met. It took him far too long to do anything but call Mari 'it,' only settling on 'she' after asking a few pointed questions.

If androids were people, then it made sense to treat them like people. If they were machines, it made sense to treat them like machines. He didn't have access to Mari's thoughts, so he could only do his best. However, he erred on the side of thinking of Mari as a person. She acted like a kid, and that was enough.

He shifted Mari in his arms, holding out his hand and pulling against the swords on Sayed's back. Sayed continued to run against his pull, his legs still trudging against the mud, but Alex's magnetism was stronger than ever.

"Got you." Alex smiled as he continued to run past Sayed, leaving him behind and releasing his magnetic hold.

Splat.

He spun his head back and saw Sayed kneeling on the ground, forcing himself up through the mud and shaking a little off his gloves. His grin was still plastered on his face, and the mud was quickly drying and cracking off his skin as he stood and continued running again.

"Bean Vault!"

A long green stalk appeared in Erin's hands behind Sayed, and she tipped it into the ground as she reached him. The green stalk grew and grew as she vaulted with it into the air and over not only Sayed but also Alex. In seconds, she was past Alex and running through the muddy ground around a corner.

Alex shook his head as he ran after her. In part of his mind, he thought such a display was an unnecessary drawing of attention to them. However, in reality, he knew the biggest problem they had right now was the ship and not themselves. Sure, they had bounties on their heads, but that wasn't the end of the world on the nightsea. He was more worried about keeping the ship hidden.

Besides, a race was fun, and Sayed was going to lose. He ran through the streets and towards the docks, climbing one of the massive wooden towers built for slipships to dock in the air above the normal water docks. It didn't take long to get to the ship.

The Robin was a long metal ship—a cruiser, as the Military Police called it. It had a forward cabin and a long deck behind it, with two bays for loading cargo that could be opened from below. Two small sets of light sails rested on the rear of the ship, gathering the necessary power to drive the ship forward.

Erin made it first, just a little ahead of Alex, and it was mostly because Alex let her win. Alex had the time to take Mari past where Jean sat in the cabin and below the deck, resting her in one of the many hammocks in the cargo bay below. She had managed to stay asleep despite the run.

Sayed was the last of the three to get to the ship, covered in constantly drying mud as he climbed the steps up the docks and to their gangplank. Erin and Alex shared a look from the cabin as he came inside, not needing to dry off from the rain, thanks to the heat coming from his body.

"Looks like you have cleaning duty." Erin shook her head as he ducked inside.

"He already had cleaning duty." Jean chuckled from his seat by the ship's wheel across the room from them, holding a newspaper marked with 'World Daily Press' on it in his bony fingers.

"A venture with nothing to lose and everything to gain." Sayed shook his head, still grinning despite his heavy breathing. "A great story if I had won."

"I take it by your presence; we're ready to be underway?" Jean asked, standing up from his seat and walking over to the wheel, his long blue robes flowing with him.

"Yeah," Alex said, nodding out to the rain. "Let's get out of here before it gets worse."

Crack. Boom.

As Alex said, a line of lightning cracked across the sky, and white light flashed across the windows as the engine started humming to life. Four lodestones on the sides of the long metal ship hummed to life as it lifted up and away from Grey Lagoon. In moments, they were in the air and above the storm, sailing toward the horizon.