Fianna Kelly Versus the Jeebees: A Collection of Steampunk Stories by Harry Dodgson Page A

laid there holding his leg with both hands
and glaring at me.
    Felix
asked, "Is it true that it told you how it works?"
    "Yes,
but it's not like I could replicate the process. The jeebee science is much
more advanced than ours. You could almost say it was magic."
    Bradan
tapped me on the shoulder. That was never a good omen. He was also holding out
my rifle.
    DANGER
EAST 75 YARDS
    If
this had been outdoors, I would have waited for it to come to me. Instead, I
ran as fast as I could through the crowd. By the time I reached where Bradan
had indicated, it was too late and there were no jeebees in sight.
    One
man was lying on the ground. His face and arms had burn marks on them. I had
seen wounds like this before. The guns that the jeebees used caused wounds like
this. The man was in pain, as expected, but alive.
    A
police constable had come running behind me. I said, "I don't know whether
I find trouble or it finds me. I most certainly do not go out each day looking
for new excuses to see you guys."
    He
smiled and said, "I think trouble comes looking for you. I read these
cheap novels of the American West where someone is looking to challenge the
fastest gun. I am thinking they just might be here to challenge you."
    "What
can I do to stop them?" I asked.
    "In
the novels, one of them usually ends up dead and the winner is the fastest gun
alive."
    "I
don't like that ending. I need to find myself a different novel."
    "Let's
find out what part this man plays in the story."
    The
man was demonstrating his device to a small audience. He liked to keep it
behind a curtain while he explained what it did. The jeebees had been in the
process of stealing it when he surprised them by opening the curtain.
    The
police constable asked me, "What can you tell us about the jeebees? It
might help us if we knew what you know."
    "Between
the army and I, we don't know much about them. They take people, farm animals,
and items they deem useful."
    "How
do we deal with them?" he asked?
    "If
you see one, shoot it in the head. Do not fire a warning shot. Do not stop to
ask questions. It isn't likely it will have anything good to say. If you see
one wearing robes, run away as fast as you can."
    I
addressed the wounded man as I bandaged his wounds, "Excuse me for not
noticing sir, but what does your device do?"
    He
said, "It concentrates sunlight to generate electricity."
    "Could
the jeebees turn it into a weapon?"
    "Anything
can be used as a weapon in the wrong hands, Miss. In short, yes they could."
    I
walked back to Felix and Bradan. I explained what had happened and asked
Bradan, "What was wrong? You usually provide warnings when the jeebees are
further away."
    UNEXPECTED
    "I
wasn't expecting them either. I'm sorry. We both need to be more vigilant. They
could come back. Now that I look at the convention from a different
perspective, I see many things here they might want."
    Felix
spoke up. "Have you considered it might not be a coincidence that both
disturbances happened so close to each other?"
    "You
are suggesting that person was working with the jeebees?"
    "It's
just a theory," he said meekly.
    "Let
me think that over for a minute..." And that's what I did.
    I
said, "I'm going to tell you a story."
    "Once
upon a time there was a guy named Cedric. He was not a nice person. He was
captured by the jeebees and pleaded for his miserable life, promising to do
anything to avoid whatever jeebees do with people. They let him go and he comes
to a convention to find inventions that they could use. He returns to them with
what could be considered a device grocery list called a programme. He notes on
it that their deadly enemies, Fianna and Bradan, who he never saw before, are
coincidentally in attendance as well, since they are not listed in the
programme."
    "So
rather than wait for a convenient time and place to grab an invention when
Fianna and Bradan have gone home, they send him back to cause a disturbance.
They somehow know that Bradan can detect them when