Glassvitch looked even more distressed. “Then we’re failing!”
Merlot shook his head impatiently. “Not us, Hugo, his son! Gilgamesh Wulfenbach is the Baron’s only heir. I’ve heard rumors that the Baron is testing him, trying to determine if the Spark burns as brightly in him as it does in his sire.”
“And if it does not?”
Suddenly the Jägermonster loomed up behind them. “Dis is Baron Wulfenbach, sveethot! He vill break him down for parts and try again!” Having divulged this information, he gave them a sharp-toothed grin and sauntered off.
“Mon Dieu!” A shaken Glassvitch breathed.
Merlot shook himself. “Yes. Rather comforting to know there’s someone whose life is more wretched than our own, eh?” It was then that he noticed a peculiar buzzing hum that rose and fell in pitch. A scowl flashed across his features and he whirled around to face a distracted Agatha. “Miss Clay!” he shouted .”For the last time, stop that infernal humming!”
Agatha snapped back to the present and blinked wildly. “Hah? I… I’m sorry, Herr Doctor, but I was listening to the Baron, and something he said isn’t right, and—”
“Silence!”
Meanwhile Klaus had finished his explanation. Gilgamesh studied the half-finished device and slowly a frown creased his face. “Well?” Klaus prompted.
“Interesting, Father…” His voice trailed off as he scratched his head. “Hmm, I see what they were trying to do… but that won’t work… no… wait… hum… this makes no sense!” Gilgamesh stared at the device as if it had personally offended him. “No… this is all… wrong!” His voice began to rise. “This would work at cross purposes!” He wrenched off an armature and threw it across the room. “This is absurd! What are you fools trying to do? Can’t you see what you’ve done?” He began to rip apart the machine. “This is all wrong! I would expect a first-year student to do better! You have forces canceling each other out throughout the entire structure! Where are your plans?”
Merlot looked around, then quickly turned to Agatha. “The plans, Miss Clay! They were on the main board. Where did you put them?”
Agatha looked surprised. “Oh.” She said, “They’re in with—” She swung her attention to the storage room door in time to see a rivet pop out of one of the door’s straining cross bracers. She swung back and smeared a grin across her face. “A-heh. They’re in the files in the storage room, doctors. How about everybody goes and has a nice cup of tea while I dig them out?”
Gil strode forward and pushed her aside. “Bah! I’ll get them myself! I’m sure your pitiful filing system will be simple—” He turned the handle of the storage room door and yanked just as Agatha shouted “NOOOOOO!” and with a bang, the door flew open and a tidal wave of lab equipment roared out and over the young man’s head, smashing him to the ground and carrying him several meters back.
After the shower of material finished falling, Gil could be seen lying on his back, covered in debris. Clutched in his outstretched hands was a small goldfish bowl along with its grateful occupant.
Boris and the Jägermonster quickly clambered over the pile of equipment and began to dig him out and help him up. Agatha, Merlot and Glassvitch began to rush forward as well, and found themselves looking down the giant two-meter-long barrels of the clank’s guns, a steely “HOLD” their only warning. They skidded to a halt.
Gilgamesh slowly clambered to his feet. “That’s the worst filing system I’ve ever seen.”
Klaus rounded upon the huddled scientists. His voice was cold. “Beetle, this sloppiness is intolerable. Have these people—”
“No, Father, wait.” He was interrupted by a smiling Gilgamesh, “The thump to my head has cleared it, I think. I believe your theory is… incorrect.”
Klaus looked surprised. “What?”
Gil nodded. “Yes, what you want is possible, but your theoretical structure is flawed. There’s no way this machine could ever work.”
Klaus’ face darkened and he drew himself up. When he spoke his voice was glacial, and his words were measured. “Think carefully, boy. You’re saying that I am wrong?”
Gil paused, took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He clutched the fishbowl to his chest protectively, but his voice was firm. “Yes.”
Klaus slowly relaxed and looked at him carefully before he swung his arm onto Gil’s shoulder and patted it twice. He smiled. “You are quite correct, my son.”
As one Merlot, Glassvitch and Agatha burst out with a loud “WHAT?”
Gil frowned in annoyance. “Another test, Father? I am beginning to find them tiresome.”
Klaus twitched an eyebrow. “Ah, it is much like raising children then. But I persevere for the moment.” He turned to the three shocked researchers. “Thank you, doctors. You will receive new assignments tomorrow.”
At this Agatha could no longer contain herself. “This was all for nothing? But they worked so hard!”
Glassvitch began to nod furiously in assent. “For three months we have toiled on this monstrosity!”
Merlot, who had seemed the most stunned, began to show signs of a growing annoyance. “We were simply… window dressing.” His voice gained energy. “I see. I understand.”
Glassvitch looked at him in surprise. “What? Silas, you’re the one who’s always going on about how little time we have for our own work.”
“Oh, yes—but now I understand why the great Dr. Beetle couldn’t be bothered to work on this oh-so-important assignment.” His voice began to break with emotion. “Unlike we mere mortals, he had real work to do.”
Dr. Beetle frowned and stepped up to the distraught scientist. “Merlot! I don’t like your attitude—”
“Then how do you like this?” With viper-like speed, Merlot spun, and his hand cracked across Beetle’s face, spinning the older man halfway around and sending his spectacles flying through the air.
The Jägermonster’s machine pistol lazily swung towards Merlot. “Ho!” He grunted, “I tink I bettah—”
A hand dropped onto his arm and Klaus shook his head. “Hold. Gil? You are about to receive an important lesson in employee relations.”
Meanwhile Beetle and Merlot had squared off, the aging scientist vibrating with rage. “How dare you! I’ll—”
Merlot interrupted him. “Shut up! Shut up! My attitude? How dare you treat us like this? Just because you have the gift you think we’re simpletons? I have faithfully served you for twenty years and you waste my time with this garbage? I thought you had finally given us something worthwhile! I am not a student! I am not a construct! I haven’t got The Spark, but I am not a fool and I do not have to take this from an arrogant has-been like you! Does the Baron know that his trusted old mentor has defied his strictest orders with his latest experiments? Experiments conducted in the middle of a civilian town?”
With a snarl he strode over to an unobtrusive wall panel, jerked it open and threw the switch inside. “Perhaps he would like to see the important work that has been keeping the Beloved Tyrant of Beetleburg so busy!”
Dr. Beetle screamed, “Merlot! Silas! For the love of God! NO!”
However, this came too late, as the back wall of the lab folded back into itself, revealing a hidden laboratory. Dominating the center of the hidden room was a massive glass and metal sphere, festooned with gauges and pipes. Within its depths swirled a thick roiling fluid. Within the fluid, shapes could only vaguely be seen, but when one slowly drifted close to the glass, what could be seen was extremely disturbing. After one look, the Jägermonster and the clanks independently swung their weapons towards the panicked Dr. Beetle. Dr. Glassvitch pulled Agatha back. The expression on Klaus’ face would have frozen nitrogen.
A triumphant Merlot gestured at the sphere. “Slaver wasps, Herr Baron! I wish to report that two weeks ago we found a fully functional, unhatched Hive Engine, which Dr. Beetle insisted upon bringing into the heart of this University!” He turned with a vinegary smirk towards Dr. Beetle. “Now—Master—show me how fast that superior mind of yours works! I want to see you talk your way out of this!”