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Won t it be rather dangerous to go to a known
pirate town?
No more than staying here with too few men
on a dangerously unstable vessel. O Rourke is
already doing what he can to shore up the
bulkhead, assisted by Fitch and some of
Madrigal s crew, but we need more men and more
resources. Indeed, we need a new ship.
This vessel is in danger of breaking down?
asked Mechatronic.
If by breaking down you mean breaking up,
then, yes, it could happen, replied Hartwell,
looking placidly at the silver woman, which took a
great effort. He was determined not to show the
strange feelings Mechatronic stirred deep inside
him. The chance of the hull giving way is quite
high.
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Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates
And what of Mechatronic? asked Susanna,
fearing the answer she would receive. Is she safe
with us?
The crew has been concerned with the exact
opposite. They are afraid that we are not safe with
Lady Mechatronic. He looked at the source of the
crew s fear as he spoke, his green eyes gazing
steadily into the astonishingly blue eyes of
Mechatronic, refusing to waver or look away.
Are you a danger to us? he asked.
Only if threatened, replied Mechatronic after
thinking for several seconds.
Do I have your word on that?
You do, said the woman. Privately,
Mechatronic doubted she was truly a danger to
anyone. She was still too badly damaged from the
crash. Her repair systems were working beyond
capacity to rebuild her internally and only her
technologically advanced intelligent skin kept her
externally in one piece and allowed free
movement.
She didn t appear damaged, however, so she
had to rely on bluff for her immediate protection.
Once she had fully regenerated, she could easily
kill the entire crew& except that she had just
given her word that she would not harm them and
she found herself anxious to keep the promise she
had given the grave, enigmatic captain in front of
her.
49
Arabella Wyatt
Very well.
Do you believe me? asked Mechatronic, her
voice sounding slightly incredulous at how easily
Hartwell accepted what she said.
I do, replied the captain, his eyes showing the
sincerity of his words.
Mechatronic held his gaze but internally cursed
that he seemed able to look into her innermost
character and see the truth. She even suspected he
knew she was hiding her injuries from them. She
could see it in his eyes, despite his guarded nature.
Never before had anyone been able to look
through her in that way. Not even her masters
who could reduce her to& She shut out the
thought, and the past, from her conscious mind.
She was no longer in the old place. That was
behind her. Here, she could be something new.
She hoped. If not, why bother with anything at all?
Hartwell frowned slightly as the distress
rippled across the smooth skin of Mechatronic and
he felt his heart give another tug. He slammed an
ironclad barrier down on his churning instincts
and was grateful to see that Mechatronic had done
the same. Her control was easily as great as his.
That she had a past was clear so had he but
that was unimportant. They needed to concentrate
on the present if they were to survive.
We should arrive at Domlusa at nightfall, he
said. We shall go ashore then, as this will give us
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Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates
better cover.
Good, replied Mechatronic. We don t want
the locals to be scared by a silver woman in their
town.
Are you going to go ashore? asked Susanna
incredulously.
Of course. I wish to see this town and its
people.
James, do you think this wise? asked
Susanna.
No, but I doubt anyone could stop Lady
Mechatronic once she makes up her mind and in
any case, it would not be my place to do so.
Then I m coming with you, said Susanna
defiantly. It will be dangerous and I don t want
either of you coming to any harm.
Do not worry, I will look over your brother,
smiled Mechatronic.
There, at least, I have no doubt, thought
Susanna with mischievous certainty.
51
Arabella Wyatt
Chapter Eleven
ater that night, the unnamed galleon limped
L
into the decaying harbour of Domlusa.
Hartwell had paced the vessel several times
during the journey, downing glass after glass of
absinthe and checking for any sign that the hull
was about to give way. It was a relief to reach dry
land.
The relief was short lived. The harbour was a
small, crumbling stone basin with no evidence of
any maintenance work being done on the many
cracked, slipping and missing stones. A series of
long wooden jetties reached out from the basin
and into the sea. All were greasy, filthy and
broken, hence the better jetties were already taken
up by other ships, forcing the galleon to use a jetty
so badly damaged it had several missing sections
along its entire length, while one corner facing the
sea had collapsed and hung down at a drunken
angle.
Dotted around the harbour were several piles of
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Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates
timber, barrels, old rope, old sails, oars, the rotten
hulks of rowing boats, broken swords and
cutlasses and even crates of old pirate plunder. All
had been left to rot and were covered in filth and
neglect. Any conscientious harbour master, on
seeing the rotten wood and rusted iron, would
have put a match to the place. In short, the
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