Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories by Paul Kater

Lily Marin - three short
steampunk stories
    by Paul Kater

    Published by the author at Smashwords -
Copyright 2011 Paul Kater

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    Contents:
    Lily and the motley
crew
    Lily and the
avenging angel
    Lily and doctor
Drosselmeyer

    About the
author
    Books I
published

Lily
and the motley crew

    "Lily?"
    The voice made her look up from her
improvised make-up table. In the smudgy mirror, which was flanked
by oil lamps with cracked leather caps, she saw the outline of the
owner of the bar.
    Lily had just sung in his establishment and
now she was removing the make-up from her face. "What do you want?
And why don't you knock when you come into a lady's dressing room?
I could be naked for all you know." She assumed that was what he
had been hoping for.
    "Just wanted to bring your pay, Lily, that's
all." Part of the man in the shadows became visible for a moment as
a hand put an envelope on the table. "I'll get in touch when we
have another evening. You're the best, Lily." For a hesitant second
it looked as if the hand wanted to come to a rest on her shoulder,
but its owner decided differently. He did not know how smart a
decision that was. Footsteps moved away from the singer.
    Lily waited until the door closed. "Sure. The
best. That's why I sing here and not in something like Albert
Hall." She knew she wasn't the best singer in the world, but that
was fine with her. She could live her life anonymously and do what
she liked. And what she had to. "Speaking of which, I should get
moving," she told her hairbrush.
    The singer quickly put her few belongings in
her bag, slipped her coat on and with her umbrella in hand she left
the bar through the back door. A fine rain greeted her as she
walked away.
    "Wonder when there is an evening I won't need
it," Lily muttered as she fought the umbrella. She won, so she
could walk along under the small portable shelter. Since the start
of the alchemists' convention it seemed to rain more than
usual.
    She reached her modest home. It was not far
away. Lily got out of her dress and washed her face. It was time
for action again. The newspaper had told her so, earlier that day.
She tied her long dark hair in a tight knot at the back of her head
to keep it out of the way.
    As she slipped into the tight black leather
pants, she thought of the audience in the bar. Good people, she
knew, hard-working folks out for a nice time. And they didn't
object to her singing, she thought with a grin. Lily put on the red
shirt and buttoned that up. A leather vest went over it and then
she buckled up the tool belt, as she called it. Once the belt was
around her waist, she checked the tools.
    The dagger was shiny and sharp, the razors in
place. The rad-gun, big and heavy, was full as she picked it from
the charging unit. The weight of the radiation thrower felt
comforting on her hip as it slid in the slightly worn holster.
Without looking Lily switched it to standby, so the internal
circuitry could warm up.
    She went to get the long coat and put it on.
It never ceased to amaze her how light it was, considering how many
strands of reinforced microfibres were woven into the fabric. It
withstood bullets and had once saved her life from the blow of an
axe. After putting on the black sturdy boots, Lily opened the small
cupboard that was hidden under her coat rack and disconnected the
backpack. It was her pride.
    She strapped the pine wood case to her back;
the leather padding settled itself quickly to the contours of her
back like the hand of a lover. She tucked the flexible copper tube
with the ruby on the end in her pocket, hooked the whip to her tool
belt, grabbed the big umbrella and then she was ready. The mask was
in her other pocket, she