Chapter 45: Happy birthday
The pump rings loudly to let us know that the last of the ether has managed to make its way in.
“Time for the fireworks.” Tin cheers as he jumps off his chair.
“One moment Tin, kid, with me.” Steel calls out to me as we make our way to the doll and decouple it carefully from the bottle.
“What about the pressure?” Steel asks.
“The pressure is a bit on the high side but it should even out.” I let him know.
“Or the meter is broken.” Tin teases.
“When we tested it, it was fine.” I huff.
“This isn’t the time for jokes Tin, just get ready to administer the shock.”
“Aye aye captain,” Tin responds sarcastically while putting on a pair of comically large rubber gloves.
Steel looks over my shoulder at the meter “It’s within safety limits for now. But if the pressure increases we’ll have to drain them a bit to even it out.”
“Sounds good to me.” I concur.
“Ready when you are.” Tin reminds us.
“Wait, do we want the chest open or closed for this?” I wonder aloud.
“With the pressure like this, I say open, if anything bursts now I want to see it and act right away.” Steel muses.
“But what if they wake up in the middle of it? They’ll be naked.” Tiborah protests.
“Just like we were when we were born, don’t worry you can live it down.” Steel huffs “Unless you wanna veto it?”
Tiborah looks at me.
“I think the risk of embarrassment is worth the safety precaution. Besides, isn’t it supposed to take hours?” I assure him.
He grumbles but lets out “It used to, but these machines are much more powerful than anything father had access to.”
“Look if you wanna veto I rather hear it now than-”
“It’s fine, it’ll be fine.” He says and part of me wonders if he’s trying to assure us or himself.
“Can I do it now?” Tin asks.
Steel and I step back “Yeah, go ahead.”
He flicks the switch and turns the dial.
For a moment all that seemingly happens is a buzzing coming from the machine.
But then the fingers start to shake and twitch.
The feet shiver.
The arms tremble and then…
It all stops as suddenly as it started.
“Well, that’s your shock. Now what?”
“Now it’s up to them.” Tiborah says wistfully “It could take hours, it could take days. But I think we did everything right…I hope we did everything right.”
“So it’s back to waiting?”
“Yes.”
Tin sighs “Do I need to be here for it?”
“I don’t think so. We’ll let you know if they get up.”
“Much obliged.” Tin takes off his rubber gloves, flings them down next to the machine and practically runs out of the room.
And then it’s just Steel, Tiborah and I.
Waiting patiently, keeping an eye on the meter and the padding, checking for leaks every time there’s the slightest fluctuation in pressure.
It’s tense and boring at the same time.
I didn’t know that was possible either.
But…things stay roughly stable.
No leaks, no sudden spikes in pressure.
We should be good.
“Can I dress them now?” Tiborah asks as they check their pocket watch.
“Fine, go ahead.” Steel says, he gets up “So do we take turns in looking over them or…?”
“I will stay. The two of you can also stay if you want to, or go. I can imagine you’re both bored.”
“Yes and also-” My stomach rumbles loudly begging for sustenance “That.”
Tiborah smiles “Go on then, I’ll be fine.”
I walk out the door and into the parlour to find an unexpected face “Fayatspaad? What are you doing here?” second question where did you learn where we are? But first, why are you here?
“Is this a good time? I heard from the others you’re making the doll alive today?”
Ah, so the news has spread far and wide already “We did all we could, now it’s just waiting.”
“I see, so which ether did you use?”
“There’s a butcher that sells the ether of the animals that go to slaughter. I imagine it’s pigs, cows, chickens that sort of thing.”
“Oh…” She sounds oddly disappointed by that answer.
“Why do you ask?”
She holds silent for a bit, pulls her father’s notebook from somewhere and opens it at a marked page “I don’t get this.”
she tilts the book up slightly to draw my attention to it.
I pull up an eyebrow and listen.
“What do you think he meant with the boar/deer discussion?”
“Huh?”
“Page 285, he mentions imbuing dolls with the ether of different animals but I don’t understand.”
“Can I see? Sorry, it’s been a while.”
She grunts briefly, but then turns the book so I can read “This like, right here.”
They have their own little personalities, but I have no idea what might be causing the deviation. I thought it was the wood used at first but that doesn’t seem to fly comparing Laylee and Berioth, both walnuts but vastly different in their ways.
I’ve been considering the source of the ether. What if Laylee got fuelled by primarily deer ether and Berioth from primarily boar? I’ll start labelling the containers from now on to test the hypothesis.
She points at something on the next page “And then father writes this.”
Well, there goes one theory, I gave the newest doll deer-only but they are sluggish, slow and lazy. This is exactly the opposite of what I expected. So the ether theory goes out the window.
“Oh that, well I believe the theory was that the different ethers would produce different personality types. But that’s not actually how it works.”
“But he only tested one, how can he say the theory is incorrect if he didn’t even try both ethers?
“They’re the opposite of the expectation though, you’d expect a deer to be flighty, energetic, maybe a bit jumpy, whereas a boar would be strong and blunt.”
“Why?”
“Because those are the qualities we ascribed to them. That’s what we expect.”
“Huh…” They pull the book back towards them and reads the passage again. “So how does it work then?”
“You mean personalities in dolls?”
“Yeah, if it’s not the ether then what?”
“Honestly we don’t know. It’s one of the questions we’d like to answer. It’s a mystery. But hopefully, if we make more dolls over time in controlled testing situations we can figure it out?”
“Huh, okay.” She puts the book away then asks “Can I see them? The doll you’re making?”
“Of course, Tiborah is with them now, just beyond that door.
“Thank you.” She gets up and strides to the lab.
“So how many dolls did you invite in this place?” Tungsten asked behind me.
“None she just showed up on her own accord,” I say and then turn to face him. “You’re back earlier than I expected.”
He pull up an eyebrow “It’s been twelve hours.”
“Fair enough…how were the docks?”
He scratches the back of his head “I uh…went to his den today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I convinced myself it’d be good for me somehow. And I can’t say if it was Steel or those damn pirates but the place is robbed near-empty by now.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Part of me hopes it was the pirates, I’d like to see Steel try to buy back his old supplies.” his smile looks forced.
I smile back out of obligation.
“Tungsten, you’re back early.” Steel declares as he exits the lab.
“Apparently I am.”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something, do you have time now?”
He shrugs “Sure, why not?”
“Splendid.” Steel wraps his arm around Tungsten’s shoulder and the two of them walk off into the tunnels together.
I sure hope that goes well…
Would I even want Tungsten’s den for the university?
I have to admit the location is kind of perfect.
Separate from the city yet close enough that we can go there regularly for supplies.
Maybe putting a country club on top would be enough to ward off potential intruders.
And once it’s legal we can expand as far as we like.
The door opens again.
That was fast-
“Hi Inquiry, did you try dressing the doll yourself? Please tell me you didn’t.” Zjeliah whirls into the room like a fabulous tornado.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” I chuckle. “Tiborah did the honours.”
“Good, then where are they?”
“Just beyond that door.”
“Are they awake?”
“Not yet. It could take hours longer if not days.”
“I sure hope it’s not days, I got a date tomorrow.”
“Really? Who’s the lucky one?”
“That my friend is a secret.” He smiles mischievously before jumping to the door and disappearing from sight.
When the door closes I chuckle awkwardly wondering how many dolls intend to be here when it happens.
I’m going to run out of room.
And the alchemists want to see it as well.
Even though they ditched out the moment they had to wait for longer than half an hour.
Including me, I might add.
My stomach growls, offended by my forgetfulness.
Oh right! food.
I have some buttered bread and sit down to write down everything that’s happened today.
I want to make a diary just like the other Inquiry used to have.
Though maybe a bit more scientifically written down.
Save future generations the headache.
I set my plate aside, and dip my pen another time.
The door opens again.
“Is this a good time?” Jaxogeras asks politely.
“Jup, perfect time, have a seat.” I wipe my pen on the ink cushion, then pack up the writing desk. I note Prishtoli came with them as well, holding their arm as her eyes glance about the place.
“So how are they doing?” Jaxogeras asks.
“Well, we did all the procedures, assuming we did so correctly means they’ll have to wake up in a couple of hours.”
“And where are the alchemists?” Prishtoli sounds nervous. I can’t say I blame her.
“Around, but they’re not the waiting sort so there are only dolls with them now.”
“If you want to go see them-”
“Can we?” She asks hopefully.
“Of course, they’re in the lab.”
“Great!” Prishtoli pulls Jaxogeras up and drags them to the lab.
I roll my eyes in amusement.
Then get back to my writing.
It warms my heart to see that the old generation of dolls have already accepted and are actively looking forward to meeting the new family member.
Tiborah is the one who should take a big part of the credits here. He did a better job at dolls and alchemists than I ever could.
I’m grateful for that.
I try to think of more things to say.
But I think that’s it.
At least for now.
I blow gently on the words to help them dry.
Close the notebook.
Put it all away and just…walk to the lab.
I’m greeted by enthusiastic chatter wrapped up in a cosy atmosphere. The dolls have pulled up chairs and tables around the doll and are just having a good time.
“I like the bangs, can you give me bangs Zjeliah? I’ve been wearing this hair for over a decade now.”
“I can try, you want me to recut your current wig or build you a new one.”
“You think bangs would look good in pink?”
“I think they’d look awesome in pink.”
“Are there scissors around-?”
“Inquiry! Come on in. Have a seat. Did you have a nice lunch?” Jaxogeras asks as they wave me inside.
“Just bread but it was nice enough,” I tell them as I sit down.
“Shouldn’t you eat more than that?” They ask suspiciously.
Prishtoli rolls her eyes “He’s the human Jaxogeras, he probably knows best.” Prishtoli ruffles the other’s wig.
“I know, I know. But he also decided to live underground for some reason.” They smile at me “Just be sure to take good care of yourself.”
“Will do.” I smile. “So what were you talking about?”
“Wigs, clothes, music, that sort of thing.”
“Well don’t let me stop you.” I smile and listen as conversation picks up and I enjoy the sense of community and family.
Minutes turn into hours.
Alchemists come and go.
I should ask about the location of the university but I don’t want to leave.
Don’t want to miss it. Somehow I feel like the moment I leave I’ll be too late.
“Are you okay Inquiry?”
“What time is it?”
“2 am.”
“Already?”
And then they open their eyes.
Purple eyes.
They look around inquisitively.
I look with awe as the others help them up and wish them a warm welcome to the family.
Then pinch myself to make sure I’m awake and say “I’ll go get the others.”
This is the end of the story for now.
Thank you very much for reading my work.
We will explore the ramifications of this new-doll development in the future.
However the next story on the schedule is one in the Royal Griffin universe.
I’ll share more details on that project next week
I’m excited about it, I hope you are too.
-Pumpkin the Gourdian