Page 46 of Only Cold Depths
“I’ve missed this.” I gestured at the shelves and machines. “Being in a lab and trying to figure out how to fix something. Especially since I haven’t made much progress stopping the Techwave cannon from overheating.”
My gaze zipped over to the cannon, which was lying on another table, then back down to the temperature-shielding watch. Silver flares of light glimmered around each device, and my mind started humming with ideas.
“Vesper? What are you thinking?” Asterin asked. “You have a really strange look on your face.”
I stared at the Techwave cannon again. “Sometimes overheating isn’t such a bad thing. Sometimes it can be quite useful.”
Asterin also glanced over at the cannon, her forehead crinkling with confusion. She didn’t understand, but I couldseethe possibilities.
Excitement coursed through me. “I need some solar wiring and a set of jeweler’s tools.”
Anhourlater,Iput down my tools and swept my hand out in a grand gesture. “May I present the new and improved House Rojillo wristwatch.”
I’d added two new components to the original design: a small knob on the side and thin threads of solar wiring, which I’d painstakingly wrapped around the bits of lunarium and sapphsidian already embedded in the device. Basically, the watch looked as though I’d laid a silvery spiderweb over the holoscreen.
“Ready to test it?” I asked.
Asterin grinned. “You do the honors.”
I picked up the watch, turned the knob, and pointed the holoscreen away from my body. The solar wiring flared to life, growing brighter and hotter, as did the pieces of lunarium, although the sapphsidian chips darkened, turning more black than blue.
“Come on,” I muttered. “Come on . . .”
I turned the knob again and again, as though I was physically winding up the wristwatch . . .
Zing!
A tiny bolt of white electricity sizzled out of the device, zipped across the room, and slammed into a bin of nails, shooting hot sparks everywhere.
I pumped my fist in the air in triumph, then quickly spun the knob in the opposite direction. The light faded from the solar wiring, and the lunarium and sapphsidian returned to their normal hues.
Asterin clapped her hands, and I bowed to her applause.
“I can’t believe you turned what was essentially a personal thermostat into a miniature shock baton,” she said. “I would have never thought of that.”
“Thanks, but the credit goes to Jorge Rojillo.” I waved the wristwatch in the air. “Because I never would have thought to make something this small and compact.”
Asterin started typing on a holoscreen. “Well, Lord Jorge isn’t satisfied with the watch being small and compact. He’s planning to scale up the device so it can be wrapped around individual trees and bushes in Promenade Park to help maintain each plant’s desired temperature.”
Several holograms appeared, flickering in midair. I set the watch aside and studied the images. “These are updated schematics. How did you get them?”
Asterin gave a modest shrug. “I planted a few lines of code in the House Rojillo servers when I broke into the R&D lab during the summer solstice ball. Now I automatically receive copies of every project Lord Jorge and his lab rats work on.”
“How did you become such an accomplished spy?”
“Ah, that, I’m afraid, is a House Armas trade secret,” she replied in a teasing tone.
I started to ask another question, but my stomach growled. We’d been working for hours, and the morning had sped by.
Asterin waved her hand, cutting off the holograms. “Let’s get some lunch.”
We left her workshop, went through an alley, and stepped out onto another street. From this angle, I could see the green dome of the antiques emporium, along with the shipping yard and the mineral exchange. An enormous square connected all three areas, and cobblestone paths crisscrossed every which way.
Several food carts had set up in the square, and the heady smells of sizzling meat and baking bread wafted through the crisp air. Dozens of people were waiting to place their orders, while even more folks were already sitting at chrome benches and tables that were nestled in between topiary trees like the ones on the Collier estate.
Asterin headed toward a cart with one of the longest lines. “This place has amazing shock bacon sandwiches.”
“What, exactly, isshock bacon?”
