Dark Times - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Factory of the Squid-y Kind

Jack ran as fast as he could to the factory, desperately trying to tame his bedhead as he reached the enormous doors. Great. An hour late. He’d even supplied Patch with extra coal so he could wake him up at six. Nope. The little robot had used his coal supply up by walking around the tiny apartment all night. By six he was out of power and Jack was still asleep. He should have been at the factory for seven and it was five past eight already.

The brass doors swung open and Jack raced inside, clutching his bag close to him as two shadows moved across the factory floor. The automaton craftsman ended up suppressing a scream as a large hand landed on his shoulder, then a smaller, colder one on the other. He glanced to his right to see a tall man standing there, a mop of curly black hair covering his forehead and soft brown eyes watching him. He wore a bear skin over his shirt and trousers, the head placed over his own like a hood. He took in the sight for a moment before looking the other way. The other man was shorter with close crop hair. A set of small, black glassed goggles were perched on his head and he appeared to be wearing some almost synthetic material that glistened like the skin of a wet frog.

“Jackie, you made it!” The shorter one, Septimus, beamed. “We’ve been waiting for you, mate! Took you long enough to get here!”

The other one, Tedizrul, nodded with a broad grin.

“Yeah! The machines have been out of action for two days and we are losing customers!”

Jack sighed quietly, closing his eyes as he was pushed and pulled over to the factory line where the voices of the two men could be heard when no voices should be heard over the din of the constant machines whirring.

“How did you break them this time anyway?” He sighed, scanning the still production lines with gentle eyes. “Did you manage to get Gillespie stuck in there again?”

Tedi laughed gently and Jack was nearly thrown forwards by the thump he received to his back.

“Nah! We were playing catch the lark and it may have gotten sucked into the cogs! Whole thing shut down!”

Jack rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses back up his nose as he set his bag down carefully.

“I don’t know how you two manage this so frequently! This is the fourth time this month this has happened! You need to learn to be more careful. Do you know how hard this stuff is to mend?”

Both men just laughed again.

“We aren’t the ones fixing it so it doesn’t make a difference!” Septimus beamed softly as he leant against a column carefully. “You are. Go on then.”

Jack scowled gently but went to work, removing each little cog carefully so as to be able to source the problem. He eventually came across the problem – a tiny wooden lark that had become lodged in the cogs. He pulled the wooden bird from the mechanics and threw it back towards the pair, Sept catching it quickly. They ran off then to continue playing as a tall, blonde haired woman walked over to Jack.

“Don’t run you two! Play nice!” She called after Ted and Sept.

Jack looked up at her and smiled.

“Hey Crane. I’m finished here now. Unless there’s anything else you needed?”

Crane’s soft smile faltered slightly and she cleared her throat.

“Well actually Jack there is one other thing. You know that player piano you made for me? It isn’t working again and I can’t figure out how to fix it. I miss listening to my music before I go to bed.”

Jack blinked. One of his most elaborate contraptions was a small player piano he had designed and built for Crane to help her get over her nightmares. It was crafted from solid, polished oak with pearl and ivory inlay in the shapes of tiny squids that gave the image of them swimming through a sea of darkness. Endless and wonderful, full of grace and no cares in the world. It had been three years since he’d finished it and it hadn’t broken down once.

“I’ll…come and take a look now…” Jack replied softly.

Crane nodded before heading off towards the private quarters at the back of the enormous factory. She unlocked the little wooden door of supple pine wood and took a long stair case up to her room where the piano sat against the wall beside her bed. Jack smiled as he took in the sight of his creation, taking note of the lack of dust and pristine condition it had maintained over the years since it had been in his workshop. Crane clearly loved that piano. There was no sign of any damage though. What could have caused it to stop working so suddenly?

Jack wandered over to the piano and opened the lid. No visible damage at a first glance. It was more than likely deeper down then.

“Crane I’m going to need to take the front of it off. Is that okay?”

“Sure Jack. Just be careful with it.”

Jack nodded before carefully taking his tools out of his bag and starting to work the front away from the back. It swung open after a little bit of prodding and Jack took in the wonderful smell of varnished wood and dust. It was immaculate on the inside as well, despite Crane not being able to get to it to clean. Maybe that was for the best. Who knew? Gently he began to tinker with the wiring and eventually discovered the source of the problem – a necklace. A silver chained necklace with a small, silver heart locket on it.

“Here you go Crane…” Jack said softly as he managed to work the metal from between the teeth of the cogs and handed it up to the taller woman. “That was jamming the cogs up. Should work properly now though.”

As Jack stood up, he caught a look of confusion on Crane’s face and he frowned – “What’s wrong?”
Crane shook her head gently and swallowed.

“I’ve never seen this necklace before. It isn’t mine. It’s locked as well. A really tiny key too. Couldn't get anything bigger than, I don’t know, a needle tip into the lock.”

Jack frowned softly and was about to ask to see it when there was a shout from outside. He looked up as Crane gasped and ran out of the room, dropping the necklace as she went. Jack piled all his tools back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder before heading to the door, only to turn back. He snatched the necklace up, stuffed it into his pocket, and ran after Crane as fast as he could.

As he turned the corner and ran across the still silent factory floor, running to the door and throwing it open.

He soon wished he hadn’t.

Magmason Co was in flames.