Home Again, Home Again

Bookworm Hienrichs and Mariah Lanfier entered their home in New Babbage – the newly-rebuilt home, that they’d hardly had a chance to enjoy before they’d hared off north. They were enthusiastically greeted by Mrs. Pritchard and Mrs. Sawyer – and somewhat dubiously by the cat that had apparently decided to adopt the place as his own. Mariah rolled her eyes a bit and stalked past, but Bookworm stooped down, holding out a hand to the male cat, letting him sniff her. She heard his soft purr, and sent silent thanks again to Dr. Miller for replacing the burned-out mechanical eardrum. She idly wondered if she should have Lisa over some time soon, to learn more about him.

A knock at the door made the cat skitter away. Bookworm stood up and opened the door, and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the militia member, Franklin, standing there. When she and Mariah had disembarked at the airship terminal, she’d collared the first messenger she could find, sending the girl off to Militia headquarters to let them know that she’d returned, and to send word to her if there was anything that needed to be discussed. That someone had come so quickly did not bode well.

“Come in, Franklin,” she said, gesturing toward the front room. “I take it you drew the short straw?” The man started guiltily, then shrugged and nodded. “All right, then,” she continued as she gestured toward a seat, while she settled down on the couch. “What is it?”

“Well…” Franklin rubbed at the back of his neck uncomfortably. “First off, it’s the prisoner.”

“What about him?” Bookworm stared, her eyes narrowed.

“He’s gone, Captain. We had to send him back to Germany.”

“What?!” She shot up straight, her face a thundercloud of displeasure.

Franklin shrugged helplessly. “They sent an ambassador, Captain. That man raised such a stink we couldn’t put him off no more. Underby finally said we had to do it.”

“Had he wakened at all?” When Franklin shook his head, Bookworm sighed and muttered, “Beryl’s not going to like this.” Still, she couldn’t blame the rank-and-file Militia members for it. They’d definitely been overruled. “What else?” she asked Franklin.

“That Mr. Elliot… he escaped from the asylum. Killed a couple interns in the process. We looked,” he hastened to add before she could say anything. “We looked everywhere. All indications are he’s left the city. We sent out alerts to surrounding cities, too, but no word.”

Bookworm sighed again, rubbing her forehead. “I’ll bet Miss Solano was happy about that,” she said sarcastically.

“Erm… speaking of…” Franklin rubbed at his neck again nervously, feeling Bookworm’s overly-patient gaze on him. “We’re pretty sure she’s up to something again. Folks’ve been tellin’ us that there’s been a lot of activity at her warehouse. Even screams from time to time. But every time we show up for a look-round, everything’s in order. We also hear she’s in talks with Mr. Mornington about something.”

“I see.” Bookworm’s voice was mild again, though it had cost her much to regain any amount of patience. She hoped this was all, but Franklin was still shifting around uncomfortably. “What else?”

“Well… there’ve been rumors…”

“Rumors?”

“Well,” Franklin said reluctantly, “a mate of mine’s friends with Unbekannt – you know, the shopkeeper? An’ he says… well…” The man paused, then finished with a rush, “He says Unbekannt swears Dr. Obolensky’s back.”

Bookworm watched as Franklin straightened up in his seat with a sigh, as if glad to unburden himself. She let the silence stretch on a moment, then said, “Again?”

“Yes, I know – we’ve all heard the rumors over the years.” Franklin scratched his head. “But my mate said Unbekannt seemed more… nervous… about this one.”

Bookworm considered that for a minute, then shrugged. “We’ll see. Frankly, right now, he’s the least of my concerns.” She looked out the window at the late afternoon light. “I really do need the rest of today to get settled back in. But let the others know I’ll come to headquarters first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Captain.” Franklin followed her to the door, nodded to her, and left. She closed the door after him, and turned to see Mariah poking her head around the kitchen entrance. “We should have stayed in America,” the woman said wryly.

“You might be right.” Bookworm shook her head to herself as she entered the kitchen, where Mrs. Sawyer had laid out an afternoon tea for them all.