Determined not to fail—especially in front of Julian—I narrowed my focus. Precision meant ignoring the stares.
With my left hand on the conduction pad, I used my right on the controls, deftly swinging the boom over the cargo hold and lowering the winch. When it became clear that I wasn’t utterly incompetent, the crowd sprung back to life.
“Good,” Julian said beside me. “You’re doing well.”
In the train’s hold, a handful of men and women fastened the winch straps to the crate and hollered when it was ready to lift. A bead of sweat ran down the side of my face. As a child, I’d learned that using radiance in a sustained fashion taxed our bodies the same way running or lifting heavy things did. A light current was no more than a steady walk. This was somewhere around a jog, enough to heat my body and change the pace of my breathing.
When the first crate landed with a gentle thud in the back of a fortified wagon, I heard the gust of relieved breaths around me. We had three more to go, but each would have to wait until the wagon made the round trip from the station to the Mission. I removed my hand from the conduction pad.
A few people applauded, and others were stone-faced and silent, as if what I had done had disturbed them. I leaned against the platform’s edge and wiped my brow with my sleeve. As the wagon creaked away, the crowd slowly dispersed. Everyone had plenty to do unloading crates and sacks from the train’s other cargo cars.
“Don’t use this as an opportunity to rest,” Julian told me, gently chiding. “These people are working hard.”
I was too exhilarated by the work to take offense at the notion that someone might consider me lazy. “I should do a maintenance check on the motor.”
“Yes. Good,” Julian said absently, his attention on the edge of the woods.
“Are you going to observe?” I ducked into his line of sight, a little irritated that he wasn’t paying me any mind. He was meant to mentor me, after all.
“No. I trust you can do something basic without supervision.” Julian rolled his sleeves back down restlessly. “I’ve got work to do at the Mission. Be sure to break for water. You’ll get a headache from exerting yourself otherwise.”
We climbed down from the platform one by one, and Julian studied me for a moment. “You have a deft touch. I imagine you have a good mind for machines whether they’re powered by radiance or water or wind.”
I found myself blinking. Wind and water power were archaic. We’d hardly learned a thing about such old-fashioned means of work at the House. “I suppose. All machines are cousins, Professor Dunn always said.”
“She’s wise. I’m glad you listened to her.”
“Why?” I asked, utterly confused. I’d hardly be expected to build a new waterwheel at the old mill. We were here precisely so that no one would have to rely on the whims of nature again.
Julian’s attention drifted back to the skeletal tree line. “We’re a long way from the House of Industry.” Before I could attempt a response to such an obvious yet ominous statement, he gave me an awkward nod and left me standing beside the train, mystified.
Unsettled, I opened the winch’s access box with the tools at my hip and checked the wiring from the gears to the motor. Baffling or not, Julian had done impeccable work. He took no shortcuts, labeled his wiring appropriately, and carefully tucked away edges to prevent radiance from jumping from the wiring onto a bit of grease or dust that could spark a fire. I made a mental note to return with fresh oil for the motor and wiped my hands clean on the rag fastened to my belt.
“Has anyone seen Ezra?” Someone called out, making me startle and straighten. Icy guilt flooded through me, though surely no one knew I’d spent the morning with him.
Alice and another worker hurried by. “I need him to come to camp and take a look at Phillip,” the man was telling Alice.
Slowing to a stop, Alice wiped her face with a handkerchief. “Fever’s getting worse?”
“The wasting’s got ahold of him, I’m sure of it,” the man said with a tight sigh.
“There’s not much to be done for it, if that’s the case,” Alice muttered. “Not when it’s gone this far.”
“Could Ezra see to the aching, at least?” The man’s gaze darted toward me warily until I looked away. “Bring him some relief?”
I didn’t hear Alice’s response, but she turned back at me for a moment, her mouth an unhappy tight line.
CHAPTER TEN
Talk of the wasting left me uneasy, so I soothed myself with work to quiet my mind, carrying light cargo and helping to secure the empty train car. Soon, the train would depart for the final destination on the line, where the engine would be loaded onto a turntable to reverse its path and set it on its journey back across the continent, all the way to the coast—to Sterling City.
I couldn’t imagine wanting to leave this place when it was so close to blossoming into a real town. I wanted to be here to see lamps lit on the street and tradespeople filling the inn and building homesteads along the river and the rolling farmland across the Dry Bone River.
Watching an attendant carry a small bundle of letters onto the train, I wondered about Julian’s correspondence. I didn’t recognize the name Nikola, but that wasn’t to say they hadn’t graduated long before me or Julian. Was Julian also writing to the House? Was he reporting on me?
Was he already complaining about my performance?
Shortly after I returned to the Mission under a sunset-pink sky, Julian knocked on my bedroom door. Spotting the stiff angle of his shoulders, I braced myself for a lecture about being late to the rail yard.
