Chapter 17

August Fenwick stood in the great central chamber with his arms bound behind his back,

staring straight ahead as if transfixed. He had been brought here from his cell by one of the

flesh-covered androids, and walked up to the command platform where Captain Clockwork had

stood the last time the supervillain had granted him an audience.

On the walk-up from his cell, Fenwick had been mentally testing the reaction time of the

man-like robots to see if they were markedly different than their simpler cousins by varying

his own pace and movement. It had not been a perfect test, and Fenwick was not entirely

certain how much useful data he had gathered, but he had recovered his full capabilities now and knew there was no more time to waste.

He knew that he would have to make his move soon.

However, all such thoughts vanished the moment the mechanical man brought him up to the empty platform.

Suddenly Fenwick could see what he had missed entirely the first time

he had been in this room, restrained as he had been. The high wall behind where he had stood

directly across from the platform was hung with a vast, illuminated schematic of one of the fiendish

clockwork men. It was clearly intended as a trophy, a celebration of one's own genius, the sort of

gift that a megalomaniac with no one but robots to talk to might bestow upon himself. But whatever

the purpose, the plans appear to be complete in every detail, far more so than any analysis he

and Dr. Chronopoulos would have been able to make had they had a month to conduct it and nothing

else to do.

August Fenwick stood and drank in every detail with his eyes. He did not know how much time had passed when he finally heard footsteps on one of the catwalks above. Irregularly paced human footsteps.

His host had made his entrance at last. Fenwick did not turn away from the precious plans.

"'It is frustrating, is it not, Mr. Fenwick?'

...