DALEK WEEK : Generations Part 3

(X)

His first lesson on Monday was Science with Dr. Barlow. He'd been informed by a rueful Newkirk, that he hadn't qualified for Higher Science, so it would just be Alek, Pauline and Deryn. Lilit was in actually in Fourth Form and wouldn't be joining them, much to Alek's relief. The girl might not have been quite so insulting the rest of that evening, but she hadn't endeared herself to Alek, with her stony silence.

Deryn, with Alek in tow, had taken them to Science classroom fifteen minutes early, to get the best seats on the second row. Pauline had trailed along after another five minutes, hair curled neatly into three bunches and a few plaits. It looked very complicated and Alek frowned. "Why do you need that in your hair?" he asked.

Pauline grinned. "Miss Rogers asked me to perform a little in her First Form drama lesson in third period. She thinks I'm brilliant at acting."

Deryn snorted. "Like her opinion means much."

Pauline sighed. "Just because you aren't fond of her doesn't mean you have to insult her. Anyway, I think the way she calls you bell-captain is cute."

"You would." retorted Deryn before falling silent as Dr. Barlow entered the room with Tazza in tow.

"Miss Sharp, if you could be so kind as to wheel the book trolley from out from the back of the classroom," the doctor instructed quickly, as she unwrapped her long scarf and placed down her several bags on top of the teacher's desk.

Deryn quickly hurried to the task and Dr. Barlow plugged her laptop into the projector which didn't turn on. "Bother," she said. "Miss White, turn on the projector for me, if you could."

Pauline grinned and leapt onto the science bench in one fluent jump and stood on her tip-toes to reach the button. She pressed it with a flourish and disembarked as the projector rumbled to life.

"Mr Newkirk, could you please feed the glowworm some of the pellets on my desk?" she asked absentmindedly as she flicked through a textbook.

Alek paused. "Ma'am," he said, "My name isn't Newkirk. You've got me confused with my room-mate. I'm Aleksander Hohenburg."

The Doctor looked up, with a single eyebrow raised. "So you are." She said. "It doesn't change my instructions however. If you could please feed the glow-worm, before it gets testy, Mr Hohenburg?"

Alek hastened to obey, understandably, slightly intimidated by her demeanour. The glow-worm quickly removed the pellets from his hand and Alek shuddered as he felt its antennae brush against his skin.

"No need to be afraid of them, Mr. Hohenburg," said the Doctor, without looking up from her laptop, "They won't harm you. Also they are perfectly natural. As I presume were your misgivings against them?"

Alek nodded, she was a little like a mind-reader and it was rather un-nerving. "From your name and your accent, you were very obviously from a Western European province. Not Germany itself as your accent wasn't quite the typical German inhabitant's style, but a nearby place. Prussia or Austria maybe?"

"Austria," said Alek smoothly recovering as he returned to his seat. Deryn had grabbed them all textbooks and Alek started flicking through it as the first of the students started to trickle in. It was mostly biology with mentions to chemistry, with a lot of focus on genes and chromosomes and life threads. Alek sighed; this was after all what his father had wanted him to do here; learn, but it seemed a little too much like turning traitor against his Clanker principles for him to be quite so fascinated by it all.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" whispered Deryn as a brown haired girl squeezed her way past them to the seat next to Pauline.

"What is?" asked Alek, jolting guiltily.

"You don't have to lie to me, you know. It's not a crime to enjoy science. You were clearly fascinated by the book, because you missed Pauline calling your name three times." said Deryn, rolling her eyes. Pauline was now in avid conversation with the brown haired girl, though Deryn looked vaguely disgusted.

Alek flushed. "It's just, I know it's what my father wanted me to learn, but, it feels like I'm betraying him."

Deryn snorted, as Dr. Barlow started the register. "Don't be ridiculous!" she whispered.

"Mr Hohenburg?" asked Dr. Barlwo.

"Present, Ma'am." He called, like the many classmates before him and she gave him a curt nod before moving on.

She quickly started the lesson with a lot of quickfire questions about cell structure, which Deryn and Pauline quickly answered and when they weren't quick enough, Alek usually got a hand in. Many of the students were hurriedly drawing diagrams or attempting to get their hand up in time. Alek himself found it difficult to keep up with the pace of the lesson, as Dr. Barlow moved on very quickly from all the topics, only explaining it in the briefest detail, unless someone was quick enough to get a hand in and ask for a specific bit to be elaborated.

He would have to do some individual reading. Once Dr Barlow had finished the lecture part of the lesson, she told them to get on with the questions in the textbook. Alek skimmed through them and saw that they were all fairly easy, compared to the subject matter they had been discussing. After all, asking for the definitions of chromosome, gene and nuclei was hardly difficult in comparison to attempting to match up all 23 pairs of chromosomes in the space of a minute.

In fact, the questions were so easy, Alek had finished all 10 in the space of around 15 minutes. He noticed that most of the class were still re-reading their textbooks and drawing diagrams of chromosomes and rolled his eyes. He then noticed that Deryn was sitting very boredly with one hand thrust up on the air and the other supporting her chin.

"How long have you been done then?" Alek asked as he too put his hand up.

"When you started Question Five," said Deryn, "I beat Phyllis as well." Alek craned to se that she seemed a lot more enthusiastic about her hand being up.

"How long—"

"Question 8. But then, she was always into Physics more." said Deryn straightening as Dr. Barlow seemed to finally come over to them from helping the blonde boy at the back of the classroom.

"Let me guess," she said, her voice dry, "You've all finished." They all nodded. "And the extension questions?" They all nodded again.

Dr Barlow swore under her breath. "I haven't had time to print out any worksheets. It's only the first day. But, I have got a job for you. As, you are all bright young students, I want to set an extra credit science project."

Deryn perked up and Alek leant a little closer. "Grab your bags. Yes, Mr. Fitzroy, I'll be with you in a moment!"

Deryn quickly packed up and Alek scrambled to get his stuff packed. Pauline did it quickly and efficiently and all of them were ready to go. Dr. Barlow took them to the red door behind her desk.

'These are the Science Storage rooms. If I find that you've destroyed of this, there will be consequences, you hear?" asked Dr. Barlow, whirling around suddenly.

"Yes, Dr Barlow," Deryn and Pauline chorused, leaving Alek repeating it slightly out of sync with them.

She nodded curtly and led them to what looked like a crate filled with eggs. "You have all heard of fabrications, I presume?" Alek noticed that she directed her question at him and he nodded.

"These are fabrications that I have been commissioned to create by the NHS, to help doctors with their workload. I need detailed reports of their growth and development, which frankly, I haven't the time to make. If you three can make them for me, I would be most obliged, and you will get a lot more credit on your end of year reports and grades. As it is, I'll need daily observations, sketches of them over a weekly basis and these reports need to be of the utmost English and grammar level, understood?"

All three of them weakly nodded. "Alek," said Dr. Barlow, "I've looked at your report from your previous tutors, and it has been mentioned you have some skill with making machines? As it is, I need an incubator which can keep these eggs at a constant temperature that isn't alive. I have no expertise in these matters and Master Klopp is rather busy with the National Mechanics society demanding work from him on a nearly fortnightly basis, which leaves me to turn to you or having to buy someone on a teacher's salary. I prefer this option, hmm? Now, get to work. I shall come and collect you five minutes before the bell for your next lesson."

Dr. Barlow nodded before leaving. All three exchanged surprised looks. "Well that's a project and a half!" exclaimed Deryn, looking quite surprised.

"It's strange that she would leave us in charge of her fabrications, especially, since they are on a national scale." said Pauline, looking concerned as she dropped to examine the eggs.

"She doesn't have the time. You heard her, she's always busy. Anyway, I think it is a test," said Alek as he also examined the glow-worm heaters, with an air of disdain, "She had a look in her eyes which was rather an amused expression. She doesn't think we can succeed but hopes that we can. I say we should prove her wrong."

Deryn nodded. "There are three tasks in there. The creation of the incubator, which has to go to Alek, seeing as neither Pauline nor I have skills in Mechaniks." Alek nodded quite firmly. This would be a challenge, but one he was willing to undertake. "The sketches of the eggs, which I think I shall attempt. After all, I am an art student." Said Deryn, looking quite smug, but Pauline didn't seem to contest the fact that Deryn could draw.

"That leaves me with the observations. That ought to be easy enough, but you lot should let me know if you see anything I've missed, language or science wise. That's why she gave it to three of us, I think. So we can correct each other." said Pauline as she reached for some spare paper off the shelf. "As it is, we should start work on the project now. She has given us some time."

And with that, all three flopped to the ground to start work on a project that would stun the world.

(X)

"Are you ready yet, your princeliness?" called Deryn from across the tennis courts. She wore her skort with sass and swung her tennis bat around quite arrogantly. Alek sighed and threw the ball up in the air. He had been explained the basics of tennis by a rather bemused Head of Sport, Mr. Rigby, but it really wasn't enough just knowing the theory, as was proved by his serve falling hilariously short of the net.

Deryn threw her head back. "Come on!" she yelled, 'Use some force! You're acting like the worst kind of girl!"

Alek growled, it was easy for her to say, tennis had been part of her everyday life. As it was, as great as his father was at tennis, he was a disaster at it and hadn't been interested in improving. He served again and hit the ball viciously. It flew over Deryn's head and landed in the middle of a patch of thorns.

Deryn sighed. "Brilliant shot!" she yelled, her voice oozing sarcasm, "It'll take at least an hour to locate that ball, let alone extract it!"

Alek snapped. "Stop being so uppity! I'd like you to be perfect at fencing when you first try it! I've been awful at tennis since forever. I was banned from my anther's courts because I was deemed 'a danger to the participants and audience!' If you're so amazing, why don't you serve then?"

Deryn rolled her eyes. "Fine!" she shouted back, removing a ball from the side of her skort, revealing a scandalous amount of skin, even for modern times. "Get ready for an ace, you ninny!"

The ball soared and Alek lunged for it in what the teacher had called a volley. He hit it but it went sharply to the left, thwacking Fitzroy in the head, causing him to lose his rally and his temper.

Deryn was in fits of laughter. "Okay," she said, clenching her sides, "For that, I take back everything I said about you being bad at tennis! That was genius!"

Alek felt his mouth split into a grin. If this was what his Sports lessons were going o be like, perhaps he wouldn't mind it so much.

(X)

The moment he stepped into his Mechaniks class, Alek was treated to a frosty glare by Lilit, who was sitting in the front row. Alek was five minutes late to his first lesson, having gotten hopelessly lost in the spiral building of the arts department. Deryn had walked away, saying something vague about to the left. Alek had checked every left hand side classroom, until eh surmised that she was wrong and it was on the right.

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Klopp!" said Alek, rushing into the class, "I got really lost!"

The man was slightly chubby and grinned jovially. "No fault in that. It is your first lesson! Just don't let it happen again, eh?"

Alek nodded emphatically, scanned the classroom and surmised that the only spare seat was next to Lilit. He threw his bag down and quickly retrieved his pencil-case and planner. Luckily, he hadn't missed too much of the lesson, just introductions and textbooks. Alek quickly retrieved one form the front desk as Mr. Klopp started the register.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed to Lilit as he opened his textbook. "Aren't you in 10th?"

Lilit rolled her eyes. "So few people want to do Mechaniks, they combine 9th and 10th classes so they can fill the room. This is a Darwinist Country."

"Oh." said Alek, feeling stupid. Mr. Klopp called his name and he answered, quite vaguely. It hadn't occurred to him that it would be unpopular.

As Mr. Klopp announced the page in their textbooks, he'd like them to discuss, Lilit bent over to him. "Look, I don't like you." said Lilit quite frankly, "And you haven't done anything wrong yet, but the moment you do, I will be all over you, understand?"

Alek nodded bluntly. "I think it's better for us in this lesson to not interact unless absolutely necessary." She said casually, as she flicked the book's pages to the topic about different types of mechanisms and how they were invented.

Alek sighed and got to reading about the first steam engine, created by James Watt to pump water out of mines and how the mechanism worked. He had assumed that he would enjoy these lessons, but apparently, it wasn't to be so.

(X)

"Why does homework have to be so tiresome?" asked Newkirk as flopped into the chair next to Alek, who was diligently copying out the drawing of the many household crests of the European families for Count Volger's homework.

"Because it's designed to suck your brains out through a straw!" replied Deryn vehemently, from across Alek where she was still attempting to complete the algebraic rearranging set by Mr. Hirst.

"It's tiresome because you don't find the subject interesting," said Alek evenly, as he finished the Hapsburg crest. He glanced at it, it was rather pompous. The double-headed eagle with mechanical wings, seemed to glaring at him from the page. He wasn't exactly acting the picture of nobility, which was probably for the best because either Deryn or Lilit would have killed him in a heartbeat.

Suddenly, Pauline burst into the library, clutching a copy of the Daily Telegraph. "You won't believe what's just happened!" she said as she drew a chair up to their table. She spread the newspaper wide, over Alek and Deryns' work to display the first double paged spread declaring that his father called for the end to China's communism days.

Alek winced. "I think my father has finally snapped," he murmured under his breath.

"That's what I think too." said Pauline looking disgusted. "Doesn't he realize the reaction he's going to get? Stony silence and blackmail from China's leader. It's been tried before. Until the communism there collapses, we're stuck with it."

Alek sighed. "He must have ignored all of his advisors on this one. He's been contemplating this idea for ages but everyone's told him not to. Hell, I've told him not to!"

Deryn snorted. "For the less politically aware, like this sod here," she said poking Newkirk who looked like he was going to go to sleep there and then, "What the barking hell is wrong with that? Everyone knows that the parliament there is ridiculously corrupt and slowly draining the country! What's wrong with him calling it out?"

Pauline looked patient. "It is politics and the art of bullshitting. Everyone knows what happens behind closed doors in China, but every country has equal secrets behind their doors. No one wants their secrets revealed and China knows a lot of them. Alek's father must be confident there's no corruption in the Austrian government or something else the Chinese can call them out on."

Alek took over here. "But it puts the rest of the world in an awkward position. Leave Austria alone to fend for itself and alienate Austria or back up Austria and alienate China. They can't just ignore it, not when the press are having a field day over it. So it leaves the question of, who is going to move next? Newkirk, you should have paid some attention at least, Count Volger's bound to point it out in the next lesson. Knowing him, he'll probably have the whole class analyzing the actions of Austria and then placing us in the roles of the other countries and their actions."

Newkirk groaned and sunk underneath the table. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want Maths back again," he said and Alek smiled. Newkirk seemed to excel in Maths and statistics, even if he claimed to not enjoy it.

Pauline scowled though. "It doesn't matter about class in the slightest, but the worldwide repercussions are severe. There could be war. China's obviously going to deny everything then target your father specifically, especially since the next page of the newspaper was filled with most of Austria's main party members denying their involvement in this decision. And your father has allies with the EU countries, as well as Norway, and a lot of the Commonwealth, like India and Australia. He'd have powerful enemies though. China, Pakistan, Russia, Syria North Korea and so many more. It could be World War Three if China take offence to it."

"Which they are certain to!" said Alek groaning, putting his hands in his head. He didn't know what his mother was thinking, letting his father to screw up so much. Sophie knew politics just as well as Franz did.

"Sorry to add to the bad news fest," said Deryn grimly, "But there isn't a chance that Eddie Malone will miss this article. If it's all over the internet, the papers had to have released it all over the place. He's going to get a clipping of this paper, and he will definitely recognize your surname. He will then pester you and generally make your life hell, until you give him an interview."

Alek slumped into the table, wishing the ground would swallow him. "Can I join you under the table, Newkirk?" he asked.

"No. The table is mine!" cackled Newkirk, in far too loud a voice, causing their eviction by one Mrs Evans, head librarian.

(X)

"So, Alek Hohenburg? No relation to Franz Ferdinand Hohenburg, prime minister of Austria, whose family has been declared 'enemies of China'?" asked the overly curious English teacher. He looked completely filthy. If Deryn hadn't pointed him out as a teacher, Alek would have assumed that he was a vagrant with his filthy and generally untidy attires. He also sported an awful fabrication, a giant frog that seemed to stare into your soul whenever you weren't paying attention in class.

"None whatsoever, Mr. Malone." said Alek uncomfortably as the frog seemed to focus it's eyes onto his head. "It's a common surname in Austria."

Eddie frowned. He didn't seem too convinced. "Call me Eddie! Mr. Malone makes me sound old!"

"Which he is," muttered Deryn under her breath and it took all of Alek's self constraint not to snort in agreement.

Eddie Malone grinned. "Okay class, today we'll be studying formal letter formation! I don't usually like doing formal writing with you, but it's there in your curriculum. In the brown envelope in front of you are the components of a formal letter. I'd like you, in pairs, to put them in the right places on your A4 paper. The first pair to get it correct win a lollipop. Go!"

Deryn tipped out all of the paper from the envelope onto the table. She immediately started putting the addresses at the top and Alek grabbed the paper that said main body and stuck it in the middle of the page. He put 'ending salutation' near the bottom, along with 'signature' and 'your name'. Deryn had meanwhile sorted out the dates and addresses, so Alek threw his hand in the air. However, Newkirk and Pauline had already got there. Deryn glared at them and Newkirk stuck out his tongue.

"Newkirk, Pauline, I'm afraid there's a mistake in yours!" said Eddie to Pauline's horror.

Edie then came over to them and scanned through their placement. ''Yep, these two have got the correct answers! It's your address in the top right corner, with the date below. Then it's the addressee's address on the top left corner. The beginning salutation should be on the left, below their address. Then it's the main body, ending salutation, signature and your name. Well done, Deryn and Alek! They win…."

Eddie rummaged in his pockets, "Two lollipops!" He held out a purple lollipop to Alek and Alek gingerly took it and threw it in his bag, vowing to give it to someone else or throw it away at the next opportunity.

"Right then, everybody!" exclaimed Eddie, "Now, we're going to write letters home. Remember the structure and formal language please! I will be reading out the best one to the class, so nothing to personal! Then we'll send them off with the Royal Mail! Savvy? Okay, get on with it. You have half an hour."

Alek paled. He could hardly put his actual address on the letter and he didn't know any of the road names of the places in Austria. And anyways, how would they react, getting a letter form a stranger, even if he did know a road name and number there?

"Deryn…"

"I know," she hissed as she wrote her address down, "This is awful. And I can't just give you a random English address, because you told him you were from Austria, numpty. And what are you going to put in there anyway?"

"Generic things, like salutations and exclamations of being homesick and details about lessons and friends. Nothing that I'd actually want to say." Said Alek, looking annoyed. "I'm not that much of an idiot."

Deryn smirked, "Well, you never know…"

"What are the two of you doing?" asked Eddie sticking his head down towards them. Deryn fell into a sullen expression.

"Nothing sir." said Alek, inspiration striking, "It's just that my parents and I have had an argument about learning. Stuff about Darwinists being the enemy and things like that. Personally, I don't want to write back to them. Is there someone else I could send a letter to?"

And they had managed to get into an argument before he'd left. Alek just conveniently forgot to mention that it was he that had been convinced that Darwinists were bad. Eddie brightened. "Well, you can write to the Prime Minister! It creates a sense that children actually like politics!"

"Which he does," muttered Deryn and Alek was surprised that Eddie ignored it.

Alek smiled, as Eddie quickly scrawled the Prime Minister's address down onto some scrap paper for Alek. Problem, avoided. For now.

(X)

"You finished it already?" asked Deryn as Alek placed the eggs inside the newly created incubator. "But it's only been a month since she asked us to help her!"

Alek flushed and waved it off as nothing. He conveniently forgot to mention that he'd been working on it at every spare moment he'd had. It had been a challenge that he'd enjoyed and he was sure that his Mother would have been able to appreciate the irony.

He'd been talking with Klopp a lot and Klopp had given Alek free reign of the parts drawer, after Alek admitted he'd read the mechaniks book that Klopp had written. From then, it had been easy to make it.

"I still can't believe it!" said Deryn, as she got back to sketching the eggs. Alek stuffed loft insulator material around the eggs, suppressing a smile. As if she hadn't sketched all of the eggs so many times she could draw them all by memory.

"When's Pauline arriving?" asked Alek and he twirled the lever to enclose the eggs in a layer of double glazed glass to prevent the heat escaping. He adjusted the knob that ensured the opening of the airholes was at half-mast.

"Soon. She still has Mandarin classes." said Deryn, "You can go now, if you want. I'll still be supervising the eggs."

Alek pondered it, before deciding it was more than worthwhile to be late to Newkirk's history tutoring than to leave Deryn here alone. He slumped down next to her.

"I'll wait," he said and was surprised by the smile he got in return.

"Thanks!" she said, in obvious surprise.

"Your charming company was too irresistible to depart from." He teased, expecting a sharp remark in return. Instead, she flushed and looked back down to her drawing and mumbled a hasty thanks once more.

Alek lapsed into silence. He hadn't expected that. They were at an age where romance was acceptable, even encouraged in some parts of the world, but Alek felt awkward. Just a month ago, he didn't know how to talk to people properly. Now, the person he was counting on most to steer him through this strange Darwinist world was acting weird. Alek was no fool, even if he could act like it at times, he was pretty sure that she was considering herself either in love with him or thought that he was 'fanciable', as Pauline called it.

It was just that he wasn't sure if he returned it. She was a pretty girl; there was no denying that, even with her hair cropped like a boy and her tomboy attire, but was considering someone as pretty, love? In that case, he'd be in love with half the school. He could identify beauty when he saw it. He just wasn't sure if he was in love with his best friend.

Her voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Hey Alek," she asked, her face and voice fully back to normal, "Why do you think your father did what he did?"

"What do you mean? Calling out that China was corrupt?" asked Alek, his brain still half in his previous conversation with her.

"No. Sending you here." Said Deryn and Alek frowned.

"I'm sure I told you. I couldn't talk to people." Said Alek.

Deryn snorted. "Don't be ridiculous Alek. You can talk to people, just fine. You're a tad formal at times but your speech isn't impaired by it in anyway. That isn't enough reason to send you to another country."

Alek frowned. "He wanted me educated. What parent wouldn't?"

"Yes, but Alek, I've researched it. There are far better schools than this one, much closer to Austria. Why this one in Britain? It doesn't make sense, unless your father has an ulterior motive."

Alek frowned. "What motive could he have had?" he asked. This conversation was a strange one. His father's explanation of his speech being strange was perfectly reasonable. After all, the fiasco with the Princess of Sweden proved how bad he'd been at talking. But now he thought about it, she'd seemed more mortified for herself than angry at him.

"You said it yourself, before, when it first happened. Your father declared the thingy with China against all his advisors. You said that if you'd been there, you would have stopped him. I think that's exactly what he didn't want. That's why he sent you away."

Alek sighed. "But it doesn't make any sense! What was stopping his advisors from telling him it was a bad idea? From what they said in the newspaper, they'd told him, but he'd gone ahead with it anyway!"

"Newspapers can make up details. Eddie Malone's an example. His writing was sensational, rarely depending on fact, as long as there was a good story. And anyway, you're closer to him. You would have stopped him in any case. You've done it before." said Deryn, looking up from her sketches.

Alek felt put aback. He had done it before. His father had been determined to pledge peace in Turkey, to go help the royalists. Alek had told his father that the man was bad and that the revolution had been a good thing. He'd insisted and refused to let go of his father until he'd pinky promised in front of mother not to stop the revolution.

"I wasn't aware that had gotten into the papers," said Alek, looking shocked.

"It did," said Deryn, a smug look on her face, "It might not have been allowed in the main newspapers, but the government can't keep track of every single newspaper in Britain. They'd waste too many resources. In fact, that news of your helping hand was published in a Scottish paper, near Glencoe, where I live. I remembered your name from there. It said about your relation to the Hapsburgs and that royalty would aid and abet other royalty if it wasn't for children's innocence or some clart like that. I wasn't sure though, it was a while back, wasn't it? So I emailed my ma and she confirmed it for me."

Alek was stunned. He didn't realize that Deryn would do this much research into his background. "Deryn—"

"Don't. Let me finish. You had the power to stop your father and he knows it. That's why he sent you away, so he could make that decision. I don't know his motive behind it, but it must be important." concluded Deryn.

"I- I- I don't know what to say Deryn. I just don't know why he'd be this foolish. Well, I can see him being foolish, but my mother knows just as much about politics as he does. She would have stopped him in any case!" exclaimed Alek.

But Deryn threw him a soft smile, "Unless she was in on the secret too. But mothers aren't stupid. I ought to know that. She wouldn't send you away unless it was something important. My ma didn't want me to come here, because she loved me more than Jaspert. But she eventually gave her consent, because she knew it was important that I grow up to be something amazing. Whatever they're doing, it's something big."

Alek was about to retort when Pauline walked into the room. She stopped, looking confused. "Am I interrupting something here?"

Deryn smiled, vaguely. "No, nothing at all. Alek, you ought to go now, Newkirk'll be wondering where you are."

(X)

Alek paused and waited outside the Physics classroom. They were supposed to have weekly lessons with Dr. Tesla, but he hadn't shown up at all in the first two months, so had taken over his classes, with a smug sense of satisfaction. By the way Dr. Barlow talked about the physics teacher, she didn't like him much either. But today, for the first time, the notice board had declared that Dr. Tesla would be teaching Third Form again.

So here he was.

"Hey Alek!" came a voice. Alek turned around to see Phyllis approaching behind him. She looked very excited. "I can't wait for his lesson! I've been looking forward to Physics all year!"

Alek felt heartened. "So he isn't as bad as everyone says?"

Pauline looked uncomfortable. "Well, he's not awful, but he's a little obsessive about his own genius. He made a lot of advances in modern technology with his mind and he likes to brag about it. And, he has this bad habit of trying to persuade everyone that Physics is amazing, when people like Deryn much prefer biology. But you can't doubt his knowledge! He's clever, if a tad eccentric."

Alek sighed. This really didn't sound like good news. He loved Physics, because it intertwined so well with mechaniks and maths. It was a predominantly Clanker subject, which was why he had been overjoyed when it had been taught as a compulsory subject in a Darwinist country.

"Morning Alek!" came Deryn's voice. She was carrying what looked like a large orangutan made out of what looked like balloons.

"What is that?" asked Pauline's voice, beating him to the question.

"A giant orangutan. It's for Art. We do a whole bunch of strange things." said Deryn. "But it's quite heavy, so—"

Alek stepped in, lifting her bags off her shoulder as she re-adjusted her grip on it. "Thanks!" she said, another blush on her face.

"Not a problem!" said Alek. She was making him feel increasingly awkward so, he turned away, aware that his cheeks were probably the same colour as the giant orangutan.

Pauline was smirking at them which didn't help the situation. "Look, there's fifteen minutes to the bell, we can go in now!" she said and the three friends walked in and placed their stuff down underneath the benches that were squashed in the middle.

Deryn frowned as she placed her orangutan in the corner of the room. "Is it just me or has he got more experiments in her since the beginning of term?"

Pauline groaned. "Brilliant. He's removed a row of tables. Fitzroy is going to go berserk. He and his gang always like the back row to themselves, but they're always late. They won't have seats!"

Alek sat down near the front row and pulled out some paper. "How much writing do we do, usually?"

Deryn pulled a face. "As much as you can. He likes to lecture, so you need to be able to take notes fast."

Alek sighed; he wasn't quite proficient enough in English to write quickly in it. His notes would have to be in German. He pulled out a few more sheets and scanned the classroom.

"Textbooks?" he asked absentmindedly.

"Doesn't have them. What with this being an academy, the curriculum is quite fluid. He's at perfect liberty to teach as he pleases, regardless of what we already know or need to know to pass. We often do a lot of individual study. At least Eddie gets through the subject matter, despite being the most informal guy I've ever met. Dr. Tesla's a showman and insane." muttered Deryn as more of the class filtered in and goggled at Deryn's orangutan.

Just as the bell rung, the class finished coming in. As Pauline had predicted, Fitzroy had come in last and had to be satisfied with the floor when his attempts to bully some people out of 'his' seats failed.

Purple smoke started billowing out from the sidelines and Deryn started to snicker, while Alek straightened. A voice came from the sidelines, booming and deep.

"Welcome….to my physics lessons. Physics is the art of divining the world around us and how it works. It is studying natural phenomena, the aurora borealis, the forces of gravity and friction, the light and sound that enables us to sense. In studying them we gain the ability to control them. And that is when we reach a godlike status. I am Dr. Tesla and I will be your teacher and guide through this year and this area of study!"

As he uttered this last sentence, a thin man with a mustache and a pristine uniform stepped out from the brown door that was inconspicuous behind the many experiments. He wore black gloves, Alek noticed immediately, as if he didn't want to touch anything. And as Deryn said, there was an air of madness about him. However, she had also been right in saying that he was a showman. That had been a masterful performance, even if it had left Deryn in fits of giggles.

Alek started slowly applauding and soon the entire class joined in, apart from Deryn who seemed unable to speak, through her guffawing.

Dr. Tesla inclined his head. "I thank you. Today we will be discussing the different forms of energy that surround our daily lives and how they effect us all in many ways…."

(X)

"I don't know what you were talking about, Deryn!" exclaimed Alek as he tinkered with the malfunctioning incubator, "That man is brilliant!"

Deryn rolled her eyes from where she was sketching. "Just because he gave you extra credit for answering that mass was a form of potential energy."

"That's not all! The man's amazing! His innovations in telecommunications are fabulous! Sure, he's a little egotistical about it, but anyone would be if they were that brilliant!" said Alek.

"Yeah, but Professor Toyoda from Crafting is one of the biggest genii and rich people in the world, and he isn't nearly that big-headed!" said Pauline as she flicked through a fabrication identification book. "Deryn, don't forget to add in your drawing that egg three looks close to hatching."

"Aye ,and Dr. Barlow's right in with the government and Prime Minister, but she doesn't act like the world revolves around her!" said Deryn, before softening at his exasperated look. "Look Alek, I just don't like him. I have nothing against the subject, it's obviously very useful, but he's a madman with too much power. Did you hear him go on about how if we controlled the environment, we'd be like gods? It's just wrong that anyone could have that power."

"Isn't that the argument that loads of people brought up about fabrications? That we were playing God by dictating how animals' natures should be like?" asked Alek.

"Aye, well it already happens, in nature. Evolution is a slowed down process of fabrication." said Deryn.

Alek grinned and slyly said, "Yes, but doesn't it already happen in nature? Weather's hardly unnatural?"

Deryn opened her mouth to retort when there was a large shockwave through the earth and Alek was knocked backwards off his feet. He felt a pain in his leg and the side of his head. It was so disorienting that Alek saw his vision blur and fill with spots. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a lot of smoke and rubble, but neither of his friends were there. Face contorted with the pain of staying alert, Alek slipped into unconsciousness…

(X)

"Alek! Alek! ALEK! Wake up!"

Alek felt his vision swim as he felt a sharp slap against the side of his cheek. Alek drowsily moved his hand up to his cheek and groaned.

"Pauline?" he asked as he painfully sat up.

"Yep, that's me. What's your name?" she asked, her voice oddly gentle.

"Aleksander Hohenburg. Who else would I be?" asked Alek, feeling dreadfully confused.

She smiled at him and held up her hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Four," said Alek. Despite the slight double vision and spots near the sides of his vision, it was easy to tell that she was holding up four fingers.

Alek rubbed his temples. "Quel âge à tu, Alek? Et, Où êtes-vous en ce moment?" Pauline asked again.

"Why are you talking in French?" Alek mumbled.

"Just answer me, please." said Pauline, looking crotchety.

"J'ai quinze ans. Et je suis dans le cellier de sciences." answered Alek, scanning the room as his vision returned to normal. It looked like a scene of devastation. The roof seemed to have collapsed and there was a sprinkling of white dust over everything. The many experiments had been knocked over and the skeleton's head had rolled dangerously close to the small hole in the window. Many large bits of plaster and brick scattered the room and Alek noticed the incubator lying on its side.

Pauline seemed to sag in relief. "Thank god you don't have a concussion! That's the last thing we needed to happen what with what happened to Deryn."

"Why do you think I have a concussion?" asked Alek as the words slowly processed in his brain.

"You got a headwound close to your temple, and the blood was gushing out. You've been unconscious for quite a while, but so was I. My watch say about half and hour has passed."

Alek placed his hand to where he could feel the clotting occurring. He came away with red fingers and shuddered. Then the last bit of her sentence processed. "What happened to Deryn?" he asked, his voice cold with fear.

Pauline looked panicked. "That's just the thing. It doesn't look too good."

Alek swirled around in is sitting position. He couldn't see her, so stood up, with a wince as his left knee severely protested. "Where is she?" he asked, his voice getting louder.

Pauline looked a little scared as she too got up and walked over to a large piece of plaster, where trainers seemed to be poking out. "I can't lift it. I'm not athletic. You'll have to help."

Alek nodded ferociously and put his hands under one edge of plaster. Pauline quickly hurried to the other and on a count of three, they lifted up. It was very heavy and they both found it slow work as they shuffled sideways, attempting to not lose their grip on the plaster. It took a few minutes, but they finally maneuvered it away from Deryn substantially. Alek placed it down before rushing to Deryn's side.

She was pale white, and was profusely bleeding from a gash in her leg. Her arms and legs were peppered with tiny cuts, but the thing that worried Alek was the broken leg. It looked awful and Alek could see splinters of bone coming out from the flesh. Pauline looked close to being sick.

Alek pressed down at her wrist with two fingers to try and find a pulse. He couldn't find one, but her skin was still warm, so Alek fumbled at her neck. He waited for a minute and grinned as his probing fingers finally found it; weak, but there.

"She's alive, Pauline!" he said with relief.

Pauline took a deep intake of breath. "Okay then. Good. First thing we need, is for her to be awake. Let me try and wake her up."

Alek nodded and shuffled backwards slightly. Pauline went forwards and pulled out a small bottle from her pocket. She opened it and wafted it under Deryn's nose. It didn't do much.

Pauline shrugged. "It didn't work on you either. Not strong enough, I reckon."

Alek frowned. "What is it?"

"The smell of chillies and chocolate. Two of the strongest scents that can be infused. Used to wake up people. Obviously, not you two." said Pauline as she gently tapped Deryn's face, before slapping her. It served to no avail.

Alek waited as Pauline tried a variety of methods to no result. Alek remembered a story of Sleeping Beauty who wouldn't awaken for over 100 years. He smiled with mischief and wondered if the same method would work here. If anything, it would serve to embarrass Deryn further when(not if, never if) she woke up.

Alek pushed Pauline to the side. "I know what to do."

Pauline rolled her eyes. "Be my guest, Clanker boy." She said, stepping back.

Alek pressed his lips against Deryn and held her head in his hands. He could feel her breath against his face and her soft lips. He grinned, as he immediately got a response. She seemed to awaken with a start and Alek pulled back as she straightened into a sitting position immediately, her eyes like a deer in the headlights.

Deryn seemed to regain herself a little and threw him a look that was unreadable and he heard Pauline howling with laughter behind him.

"I'm glad you're awake now, Sleeping Beauty. We've got a problem on our hands," said Alek dryly, attempting to suppress to urge to kiss her again and tell her that he wouldn't mind dating her. There would be a time for all of that, and now wasn't it.

"Right," said Deryn, "What happened?"

"We were bombed." said Pauline.

"Nooooo!" said Deryn looking sarcastically taken aback, "I couldn't have guessed that in a million years! How fascinating! No shit, Sherlock! Of course we were bombed!"

Pauline threw her hands back. "What can I say, stupid questions get stupid answers!"

"I thought, according to Dr. Barlow, there are no stupid questions, aye?" asked Deryn, her voice like ice.

"Can we leave the banter for later? If you haven't noticed, Deryn's legs are in awful condition, I have a headwound and Lord knows what injury Pauline is hiding. This isn't the time!" snapped Alek as he looked to where the door usually was. It was blocked by the fallen incubator.

Deryn gasped and Alek assumed she had just noticed her leg. But Alek frowned as his gaze was drawn back to the incubator. There seemed to be movement there. But there hadn't been any shockwaves, and the eggs couldn't still be rolling by now….

Alek moved closer to the incubator, walking cautiously, glancing behind him. The two girls were rummaging through the rubble for something, so Alek carefully advanced towards the machinery. Vigilantly, Alek reached for the lever that opened the glass. Nothing sprung out at him, so Alek was about to relax when he heard a pitiful whining sound fill the air.

Alek put himself closer to the ground, till he was almost lying down and saw a creature wailing under the crashed eggs and yellowish goo.

"Hello." He said as gently as he could, "I'm not going to hurt you." As he talked to it, Alek slowly overturned the incubator and pushed it out of the way. The creature looked odd. It had skin that hung off it and large intelligent eyes. The moment it set eyes upon Alek, it looked rather hungry. Alek felt slightly disgusted and yet curious by the creature. He gingerly extended a hand towards it.

It wet to him and crawled up his arm. It's fur was soft and wet and it had markings up its hind legs and on it's forehead. Alek was vaguely disturbed as it reached his head and started licking it. Alek was about to pull it away when he felt a cool, painless sensation fall over the wound that had been dully aching.

Then the words of Dr. Barlow came back to him; "These are fabrications that I have been commissioned to create by the NHS, to help doctors with their workload."

The beast was created to help wounds. And who had a very serious wound?

"Deryn!" yelled Alek, as he pulled the creature away from his own, minor wound. "Deryn, I can help your leg!"

Deryn turned back looking confused. "What do you mean? It takes days, even weeks for a broken bone to set! And that's in a plaster cast!"

Alek grinned. "You know Pauline thought that Egg Three was close to hatching? Guess what happened."

"It hatched?" asked Pauline with great fervour. She focused her eyes on the beast and grinned. "What does it do?"

Deryn and Alek both fixed their gazes on her. She quailed. "What?" she asked.

"For someone who claims to be clever, you have your dumb moments, you really do." Said Deryn. "Alek, are you sure it can do something?"

Alek nodded. "Look, it's cleaned and numbed my headwound. It should stop the pain if nothing else."

Deryn frowned. "What do you mean headwound?"

Alek fumbled at his temple, but found only a slight wet patch that was a little sensitive to the touch. "It's gone!" exclaimed Alek.

"Gone." agreed the beast in a self-satisfied tone. All of them stopped and stared at it.

"This beastie just gets weirder and weirder…" muttered Deryn as Alek gingerly placed it next to her leg. It eagerly started licking Deryn and the look on her face was priceless.

"This feels so strange, Alek, you have no idea." said Deryn as they looked at the wound. As they watched, the edges seemed to fade back into normal skin and the bone, while still sticking out, looked a lot less prominent.

"This is amazing!" said Pauline in barely concealed awe. She was rapidly taking notes in the book she had been using to record observations. Her pen was flying through the pages as she wrote down everything that happened. But Alek could only find himself looking at Deryn, who seemed oddly sleepy.

"Deryn?" asked Alek, "Are you…sleepy?"

Deryn's blink seemed to last a little longer than usual. "Aye, a wee bit. Why?"

Alek concealed a 'schiesse' under his breath. "Stay awake. The beastie's saliva is most likely a sedative. You'll be out like that unless you focus."

Deryn scowled. 'The last thing we need it for me to fall asleep. Okay beastie, lets call it quits. That's should be enough."

"Aye." It answered and hopped off. Alek and Deryn both exchanged looks and Pauline looked excited.

"It's like a parrot isn't it? Whatever you say, it repeats! And that's on top of repairing skin damage!" she said as she wrote it down, "Dr. Barlow is amazing! I have to talk to her about these results, this is fascinating…"

"The fact is, the school was bombed. We were seriously injured, so others might be worse off. Let's see if we can find them." said Alek, drawing attention back to the dilemma at hand.

Deryn nodded and hauled herself to her feet. There was a pained expression on her face. "That's barking painful!" she said as Alek slung her arm around his shoulder so that she could lean on him. Pauline opened the door for them and they all walked through the damaged science laboratory.

"This is awful," murmured Deryn, "It'll take ages to repair all of this."

Pauline on the other hand seemed to be contemplating something else. "This wasn't just for no reason. Someone did this on purpose. Someone destroyed our school on purpose. The question is, why?"

"And how," added Alek darkly, "You British take security seriously! Someone must have noticed this!"

Deryn looked pale as they reached the corridor. "Alek! The Chinese! Your father! Didn't they pledge vendetta against our family? That means you! They must have been targeting you!"

Alek frowned, the prospect was vaguely frightening. "Not now Deryn, Pauline. We've got more important things to do. HELLO? ANYBODY THERE?"

Alek paused and waited for a reply. There were voices near the end of the corridor, where the store cupboard next to Dr. Tesla's class was. There was a large piece of plaster that had fallen in front of the door. They all moved closer to it. "HELLO?" called Alek again.

"Someone's there!" yelled the person inside with relief. "It's Fitzroy. We can't get through the door."

"Of course you can't, it's properly jammed! There's this huge plasterboard in front of it!" said Pauline.

"Can't you move it and get us out?" asked the voice again.

"We'll see what we can do!" yelled Alek back.

"Can't we just leave them there?" asked Deryn, looking annoyed, as Alek went to grasp the plasterboard. .

"Deryn!" exclaimed Pauline.

Deryn looked vaguely affronted. "What? It was a joke!"

"Not a funny one," said Pauline as she attempted to lift it. Deryn rolled her eyes and stood up, grimacing to put her weight underneath the block of plaster. It didn't budge at all.

"This is so annoying!" shouted Alek as he put his back into pushing it away from the door.

"Need a hand?" asked a voice. They all swerved around to see Newkirk and Lilit who both had roughing clothes on, that were already covered in white dust.

Deryn grinned. "It's good to see you two! I was entertaining thoughts that the two of you were dying."

"Good thoughts, were they?" asked Newkirk, as he put his back into the lifting of the plasterboard.

"No more snoring!" added Alek cheekily as the stone started to budge.

Newkirk and Pauline laughed and Lilit put her helping hand in as well, and soon the stone was discarded at the side of the corridor.

"Okay Fitzroy, you can safely come out now!" called Pauline and Newkirk looked outraged. "I wasted energy on helping Fitzroy?"

Deryn barked with laughter. 'That's what I said!"

Lilit looked worriedly at Deryn's leg. "You'll need to get that looked at by Dr. Busk." She said, and Alek saw that it was infused with concern for the first time.

"I'll be fine. A beastie has already helped. We've got more things to worry about. This attack had to be directly targeted for Alek. It obviously didn't work. They'll be coming back. Again. We'll need support. We have to call for the military."

Lilit looked quite unconvinced. "How?"

"I know how to summon them. I just need to get into the air." said Deryn, looking proud, despite her leg and the pain that was obvious in her eyes.

Lilit looked worried. "And you're sure they'll be back?"

Pauline nodded. "I'm sure. They're very determined, Chinese. Good at following instructions too, usually. If they're from the government, they aren't going to rest until Alek's dead."

Lilit nodded, looking clearer now. "There's a machine I've been making in mechaniks. It was for my extra credit project, but it doesn't really matter now. It can get into the air, no problem. It's just that, I can't pilot it. They need me on the ground."

"I'll pilot it," said Alek. "I'm a clanker, aren't I? I'm very good at piloting anything. I'm even better than my father."

Lilt looked skeptical. "You're likely to get covered in engine grease. And dirt. And slime. It's quite unfinished."

Alek shrugged, even though he felt a little disgusted. "So? If that's what it takes, I'll deal with it."

To his surprise, Lilit burst into a grin. "You aren't much like royalty, are you?"

Alek shrugged. "What can I say? I am what I am? Right then, where is it?"

(X)

"Whoa!" yelled Deryn as Alek eased the saunters forwards. The machine was fascinating but it was very obviously in construction. Engine grease was leaking everywhere and the needle pressure was really awful.

Despite all of these problems, somehow, they were flying. Deryn grinned as they ascended higher and higher.

"This is the life, Alek!" she called, even as the wind blew her hair into her face.

"How high do you need to go?" asked Alek checking the controls.

"Around 1000 feet. That ought to do it." said Deryn, checking some strange device that looked yellow and black.

Alek threw her a skeptical look; how this machine would ever reach those heights, he didn't know. He eased the saunters upwards an onwards anyway, attempting to keep the ascent as smooth as possible. It wasn't working. The turbulence was awful, throwing them aroudnt he small, cramped cabin.

The beastie, who had managed to persuade itself along squeaked at a particularly jerky curve and tightened its claws into his shoulder. Claws that it didn't have before. The creature just got stranger.

"We're at around 1000 feet. We may be a little lower though." said Alek as he attempted to keep it at an even level, instead of catapulting all over the sky.

"Aye. Then, I'll set this off then."

With that, Deryn arose in her seat and clambered up onto the head of the walker.

"Be careful Deryn!" Alek yelled, attempting to steady the machine even further. It was a long way down for a girl with an injured leg.

"I will be, you ninny!" she called. Just then, Alek stared as a blinding yellow light started flashing from above him. He could see it for miles. Then, he saw the rapidly moving figure of a hydrogen breather silhouetted by the light. It was getting closer and Alek stared as they lowered a rope down to his viewport as it drew closer.

"Alek, grab hold of it and clip it to something stable! They're going to haul us up!" called Deryn as she flung herself back into the viewport, wincing heavily as her leg jarred upon landing. Alek quickly attached it to the controls and felt the huge airship haul them upwards. He could see the rigging and several fabrications crawling across the green illuminated surface and Alek shuddered just a little.

As they drew close to the top, two harnesses were lowered down to them. Deryn quickly strapped herself in and Alek copied her movements, dreading every second. They were then pulled up and Alek saw around four or five people waiting in the small capsule they were winched to.

The tallest man walked towards and shook their hands. "Good day to you. My name is Captain Hobbes of the Leviathan."

"Barking Spiders!

FIN (Or is it?)