Book 2: Chapter 1: Once More, With Feeling!

Book 2: Chapter 1: Once More, With Feeling!

“Over there!” I pointed, voice almost lost in the din of the construction site. “No, over there dammit.”

I shook my head as the two men stumbled, almost spilling the pallet of metal onto the ground. We were working with spools mostly, so it was no great loss, but winding them all again would be such a fucking chore. Still, even having metal wire would be such a massive boon, once we’d gotten the infrastructure in place to actually do anything with it.

I pinched my nose, trying to supress the headache growing behind my eyes. “Where’s my fucking coffee.” Joke’s on me, there’s no such thing as coffee in this world! Think, Via, Think! Why did you invent electricity before the french press?

“Get the carts back to the dock.” I waved a hand. “We’re running out of daylight.”

“Yeah, boss.” I waved him off. I hadn’t picked the name boss, but it had kinda stuck.

Well, more like my gang was all calling me that, and all the local villagers didn’t want to offend the new petty tyrant too much. I hope it helped that I brought them a new source of income and plenty of food, but mostly, it was that I told my boys (and girls) to keep their goddamn hands to themselves or so help me—

“Lady Via.”

I let out a long breath, smiling slightly as Rel pressed an earthenware cup of something herbal into my hands. “Thanks, Rel, you’re a lifesaver.”

The young woman ducked her head, tugging on the rim of her fedora. “It’s nothing, my lady.”

And yes, I did invent fedoras before I invented coffee. Cursing my own demented genius, I threw back the tea. “What’s the progress going like at the dock?”

I started walking, and Rel fell in step beside me. “It’s proceeding well within accepted limits. I wasn’t a shipwright, nor was anyone else that came with us... but we’re making do.”

We had a few people who knew how to hammer a pier together if nothing else, she meant. But really, that was all I needed.

“And the village?”

She paused, looking off to the side. “... Still tense.” Rel shrugged. “But less than they were the first week? You’ve been good on your word, Lady Via. That means a lot.”

I nodded. “I keep my promises.” Till all my debts were paid. I’d been racking up a fair few of those the last few months on this world.

I stepped to the side as a group of children rushed down the street, giggling playfully. One of the boys sketched a little bow, and I waved him off—more gently than I’d sent the workmen going, I’ll admit. I always had a soft spot for kids.

“This school system...”

“I won’t budge on it.” I said. “If nothing else, universal education, universal opportunity to excel is a human right as far as I’m concerned.”

Rel nodded.

“Look at me, preaching to the choir.” I sighed. “You had it even worse than I did.”

It really drove home how, despite the flaws I’d battled against for years, earth was a post-scarcity society in so many ways compared to this world. But then, if I were unable or unwilling to kill the good to save the perfect, I never would have been a villain in the first place.

“Tell the people worried about it that we will speak on the subject at the next town hall meeting.”

“It will be added to the list of topics for your next audience,” Rel said.

I growled. “Now that I thought we’d talked about already.”

Rel smiled. It was a sly one that she’d picked up from Electra no doubt, the kind of half-smirk that said ‘I know more than you.’ “Yes, my lady, we’ve talked about it.”

“And there’s a reason we’re calling them town halls, dammit. There has to be a velvet glove to go with the iron fist here, Rel.”

Relia shrugged. “You told me to, ah, focus group it? My Lady.” She shrugged. “People responded best to Public Audiences.”

I grumbled, finishing off my tea. “Never should have called myself Empress.”

Rel blinked. “What else would you be?”

I held back the urge to snap at him.

They’ll think it was because he didn’t address you properly, Via. And then they’ll all be calling you ‘your majesty’, and that would be even worse than ‘boss’.

“Hay que pena,” I muttered.

Rel leaned forward. “What was that, my lady?”

“Nothing.” I straightened with a grin. “Good work! Why don’t you join us up on the balcony?”

“Er, uh.” The first man glanced at his friend as Rel and I made our way up the stairs. “We couldn’ im-impose like—”

“Hey don’t sweat it!” Electra put one of them in a playful headlock. “Now c’mon, don’t you want to see what all the big fuss was about?”

The two looked torn, but it was clear they were curious. I’d only given basic explanations of what I was doing, after all. Enough to show its value, but still, to see it in person?

I waved them after me. “It’s a special occasion, after all.”

We emerged onto the stone balcony overlooking the village of Ineir just as the sun began to sink below the horizon. On this, the western shores of the island republic of Vecorvia, the sunset painted the ocean in brilliant chromas of purple and scarlet.

Below, the shadows had begun to lengthen, the air just now starting to cool. I picked out Dee and Dum at the edge of the town square, herding people into it. I quirked my lip when I saw that the entire village had more or less turned out to the mill.

“I said it wasn’t mandatory.”

“Gimme a break, Em’” Electra socked me in the shoulder. “Everyone wants to see what’s up with this giant brick house you built instead of a palace.”

“Who needs a palace?” I tilted my head back. “Too many rooms.”

Electra just laughed.

I waited for the rest of the crowd to filter in, and they waited below, a sea of upturned faces waiting in the growing twilight.

Waiting for me to change the world.

“Everything ready below?” I asked.

“Yep!” Electra popped her lips. “We just did the last batch of tests, and general Tock was in charge of getting the wires together after.”

I smiled. “And my little robot is nothing if not punctual.”

“Yep.”

I nodded once, taking a deep breath. Usually, for occasions like this, I would go out of my way to prepare a speech. But this time, in this place, I decided that actions would speak far louder than words.

I turned to look at the two workmen that had accompanied us. Evandr and... Merz if I remembered correctly. “Would you two like to do the honors?”

They shared a glance, and I waved at the sturdy wooden lever just inside the door of the balcony. “Well, go on.” I smiled. “Let’s not keep everyone waiting.”

With one last nervous glance, they pulled the lever. There was a massive clunk that echoed up through the soles of my feet. The great gears behind me strained, taking up slack, before slowly, ponderously, beginning to turn. A whirr filled the air, something that you felt more as a prickling on your skin than heard. It grew louder and louder, into a hum that seemed to sing of a future we’d long since forgotten.

And then the night turned back into day.

The wires, the streetlamps, simple crude lightbulbs sitting on simple crude wooden poles, they were electrified.

First the square lit up, as voices started rising through the air. The darkness of the main road was peeled back by a wave of gentle golden light. Even though it was only one square and one road, it bathed the entire village in warmth.

The sun set on Vecorvia, but in the tiny village of Ineir, a new day had only just dawned.