“Come on, come on!” Twila whispered.

The sunset was a carrot slice in the sky, half under the horizon already. She and Rojir stood near an iron grate across a cavern entrance. Marianna glanced back and nodded meaningfully at them. She stood a dozen steps up the path, keeping watch.

At her nod, Rojir thumped Jamis on the shoulder, and the smaller boy started working the grate’s bolts loose. As the bolts pulled free, Rojir took the grate’s weight, muscles straining with it. Marianna looked down again and nodded. Still clear.

After an eternity, the last bolt clattered to the ground. Rojir grabbed the grate and set it to the side. “Who’s first?” He asked.

“Me. Got a trick to get out of trouble. Stay ten seconds back,” Twila said. She held [Anton’s Pocket Watch] in one hand and trotted into the cave. Rojir pulled the grate over the cave entrance, camouflaging their entrance to the Gibson Foundry.

The cave quickly led to a basement filled with whirring pumps and big metal tanks of something liquid. Twila could hear men shouting above her, and the molten hiss and smell of heat meant they were still at work. That wasn’t how the plan was supposed to go, she thought. Auntie Charlie had said that after sundown, Gibson usually shut down in case of Sable Tide.

Sable Tide, she thought, that could be in here. It was dark enough for them. Her right hand strayed to one of [Anton’s Paired Pistols] before she realized it. “Move quickly. We have to beat Hourglass to the dock,” she said, pulling her hand away and heading across the basement to the stairs. Assuming, she thought, that Rosie could get Hourglass to the dock safely.

A lot of things really could go wrong with this plan, she thought as she climbed the stairs. Auntie Charlie was still missing, for one. Rosie wasn’t an expert pilot, or even an apprentice. She barely knew the street rats. They could run into the Sable Tide. So many things could go wrong.

They did not, in fact, find any of the bat-like monsters in the tunnel. She could finally make out the yells over metal hissing and hammers banging. “Let’s go! Break it out! Last one for the night - other ones need more time!” A man shouted.

“Workin’ on it, sir, but she’s really bound up in there,” another voice, this one rougher, shouted back.

Twila inched the door open at the landing and peeked out, using her [Perception] skill. An orange glow, like the carrot of the sun but so, so much brighter, illuminated the Gibson Foundry work floor and cast long shadows across the rails. A massive cannon, half-covered by a mold, hung suspended from chains. A half-dozen men swung hammers, breaking the mold off, while another in an impeccable uniform watched.

As she started sidling out of the door, Twila froze. The uniformed man carried a musket!

She pulled her [Myst Lens] over her eye. The man was a [Gibson Marine], but her lens couldn’t tell her more than that. The gun looked well-maintained, though. He could probably use it better than she could her pistols.

But Hourglass would be docking soon. She moved into the long, cavernous room, staying in the shadows as the [Gibson Marine] stepped away from the roiling heat from the cannon. Twila noticed a second musketeer pacing on the catwalk above as she pushed further along the wall.

Gears spun and whined as the cannon lowered to the ground. The forge workers started using smaller hammers and chisels on it. Brass and iron glimmered in the light. The boys and Marianna followed Twila, staying low, and crept past the carronades and twenty-eight-pound guns.

She’d just started to relax when she heard a clunking sound in front of her. Suddenly, bright yellow light flicked across the group. A monotone voice called out! “Guards! Intruders!” An automaton, the spitting image of Moa the servant machine, looked at them with a glowing yellow eye. It started to unhook itself from the railcart it dragged.

The marines shouldered their rifles as Twila grabbed [Anton’s Pocket Watch] and spun the silver gear as far as it would go. Her [Myst Battery] ticked rapidly, and suddenly, she was backing up and waving the street rats back. The guards and automaton hadn’t spotted them yet.

Redoing time is so helpful, she thought, as they all ducked back into the stairwell.

The railcart and automaton clunked their way toward the men working on the cannon. When it got there, the machine unhooked itself from the cart and waited. The men finished pounding on the cannon. “Take it out to the racks, Moa. We’ll have tomorrow’s first shift polish it up when it’s cooled,” the [Gibson Marine] ordered.

“Right away, sir,” the automaton monotoned. With a few workers, hands in mitts, helping, the machine started wrestling the gigantic cannon barrel onto the cart.

“Need to go now,” Twila hissed. “We have to be in front of the Moa. Gotta ambush it. It’s too strong to fight.”

The four children scuttled along the building’s wall. As Twila looked over her shoulder, another guard jogged down the catwalk. The marine pointed back at the administrative wing and gestured for the other guard to go.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Twila stared at the new guard, who quickly walked along the catwalk, musket in hand.

“That’s going to make things tricky,” Jamis whispered.

“Same plan, just quieter,” she muttered back.

The four children ducked behind half-finished [Long Fives] and [Long Nines], still in their molds and hot. A clunking sound filled Twila’s ears; the automaton was coming back!

“Go! Run!” Twila said, and the four children dashed across the open, tracked pathway, under the catwalk, and out the door. Twila looked back. Surely the guard had heard that! But the guard stared at the automaton instead, his musket at rest.

With a moment to get their bearings, the shore party looked around.

To the left, a man in a tricorne hat scribbled in a notebook. He straightened out, stepped to the side, and bent down to scribble again. To the right, five cannon barrels, each the twin of the one the workers had finished, sat on the hard stone ground.

“Marianna, Jamis, that man might have keys. Get them,’ Twila ordered. “Rojir, we’re going to surprise the Moa.” The children split up, half left, half right.

Twila watched as the automaton clomped toward them from their hiding place behind the cannons. It stopped a handful of feet from the big guns and started unstrapping the cannon from the cart.

Twila reached for [Anton’s Paired Pistols], but Rojir shook his head and pointed at himself. Twila furrowed her brow and then nodded slowly. If his surprise attack didn’t work, she’d just let him redo it, this time with her help.

The faint, faint sound of a music box playing wafted through the air.

Rojir crept forward. The automaton lugged on the cannon, shifting its weight toward the railcart’s side. The big boy drew his [Reciprocating Saber] and pressed the activator. The blade whirred and clattered as he swung it at the machine’s neck.

The automaton was fast, though. It jammed an arm between the blade and its neck. Rojir sawed into the arm, severing it but fouling the blade’s action. “Help! Attacker!” The automaton monotoned loudly. Twila was already ratcheting [Anton’s Stopwatch] as the machine backhanded Rojir in the chest. Then, the faint sound of a music box playing wafted through the air.

Rojir crept forward. The automaton lugged on the cannon, shifting its weight toward the railcart’s side. The big boy drew his [Reciprocating Saber] and pressed the activator. The blade whirred and clattered as he swung it at the machine’s neck.

Twila’s pistol shot caught the machine in the back. Rojir’s [Reciprocating Saber] rattled through the Moa’s neck a second later. As it sawed through, the automaton flailed out, backhanding Rojir across the face.

Then its eyes’ light faded as the automaton crashed to the ground.

“Think anyone heard that?” Twila whispered.

“Probly. Lesh ged movin. Thad cannon’sh too heavy,” Rojir said, a hand pressed against his nose and cheek. Tears ran from his eyes, and blood oozed from his nose.

The cannon wouldn't come loose even with the two of them pushing. It just weighed too much. “Should have…should have let it unload first,” Twila panted.

She heard something heavy drop from high up but didn’t have time to look. Instead, she threw herself at the heavy cannon again, trying desperately to move it. Feet pattered behind her as she shoved.

Rojir looked over his shoulder and stared, eyes wide. Twila glanced at him, then finally looked. The guard who’d run along the catwalk loomed over them, musket at the ready. The musketeer’s wig sat askew–something poked out from underneath it. “What have we here? A couple rats in Gibson’s yard,” the guard said, a hint of sarcasm in his sharp, high-pitched voice.

[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.09 (Myst 1/10, Hit Points 1/1)]

[Head - Empty]

[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]

[Chest - Ship Rat’s Harness (lvl. 0)]

[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]

[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]

[Gizmo #1 - Multitool (lv. 2) - Tool Transform (active, 1 myst/switch) - Change between many common tools; Skill - Tinkering]

[Gizmo #2 - Anton’s Pocket Watch (lvl. 4)] Redo (active, 5 myst/5 seconds) - redo the last five seconds of time, with knowledge of what’s happening (1 minute to reset); Skill - Piloting]

[Gizmo #3 - Empty]

[Gizmo (Belt) - Mystwork Lantern (lvl. 2): Mystlight (active, 25% failure chance, 1 myst/attempt) - start the light; Adjustable Light Aura (sustained, .5-2 myst/tick) - light a variable area; Skill - Perception]

[Myst Battery - Basic Myst Battery (lvl. 1) Small Storage (passive) - 10 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill]

[Weapon/Pair - Anton’s Paired Pistols (lvl. 2) Smoothbore Myst-Shot (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - fire a ray of heated myst; Rapid Shots (active, 2 myst/shot) - fire twice/tick; Skill - Marksman]

[Weapon/Pair - Empty]

[Skill #1 - Tinkering 2]

[Skill #2 - Perception 2]

[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]

[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]

[Skill #5 - Empty]