Fully loaded with more ammunition, drums, magazines and guns than he had ever carried with him at one time, all neatly stashed away in his interspatial wallets along with ropes, hooks, gasmasks, and scads of other accessories, Rip finally left the marketplace and headed for Tomfoolery’s.

As before, the two teams plus Lady Finley, her thin figure clad in black leathers, commandeered tables in the back. Rip sat down next to Blair, who kept a seat for him.

The waitress walked up and plunked down a pint, asking him what he would like to eat.

“I’ll try the meat pies.”

Blair frowned and said, “You want the fish and chips.”

“I tried that last time. This time I’ll try the meat pies.”

The waitress nodded and left to turn in the order to the kitchen.

Blair frowned while the Verez sisters smiled at her.

As the evening progressed, the group spoke of the mission in oblique terms. Rip figured public discussion was probably not a good idea, thus the apparent reticence to talk about it much out here in the open.

The crowd broke up close to 10:00. Rip and Blair caught a Hansom cab and headed for her townhome.

“How did you like the meat pies?” she said when the door closed and the horse began clip-clopping down the street.

He smiled and said, “You were right. The fish and chips are better.”

Her expression turned smug, but she did not say anything else.

At the house, Nancy greeted them with news of the day and about all the workers that had already appeared and the progress on repairs they had made.

“I had so much trouble even getting the window firms to reply to my inquiries this morning. Then around lunch, something happened and all of a sudden they began coming to me. I hired one and they immediately sent a squad of arbeiters. The windows are sealed temporarily with wood, and the glass will be installed tomorrow. Have you ever heard of such quick service? I asked the foreman about it and he said the Royal Court sent word that ‘Lady Brooke be extended every possible consideration.’ Imagine that! The king himself must have put in a good word for you, dear.”

Blair shared with her some of their day, how the king had personally expressed his regrets about what had happened and assured her she would have no difficulty getting the home repaired.

Rip toured the library and felt intrigued to see plywood covering the windows. He found himself wondering when it was invented on his world. He recalled that Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, the largest airplane ever built to that point, was made out of plywood during World War II.

Nancy had pulled all the books with bullets in them and piled them on a table. Most would need to be replaced, she lamented. She pointed out various other bullet holes in the walls and bookshelves. These Blair dismissed with a wave of her hand.

“Leave them be, Nancy. It adds character to the place. And I’m not replacing all these bookshelves just for a few battle scars.”

With concern over what the neighbors might think, or anyone else who happened to visit and wander through the library, Nancy reluctantly let it go.

They assured her they did not need supper and after bidding one another a good night, Rip and Blair retired to their respective rooms.

Rip brought along the stack of books he had been going through the night before. All, thankfully, remained free of damage.

On his way out, he had a thought. He went back in and scoured the history shelves again until a found a particular title. He took it with him, adding it to his stack, and headed for the guest cottage.

Inside, he settled down on the sofa, adjusting the gas lamp to reading intensity.

Before attacking the books, he took a quick look in his mind’s eye at his implant and went over the latest skill increases.

[You are a Tier 2.28 Battle Rogue Technologist.]

[Skill: Detect Traps, 1.10]

[Skill: Vampiric Speed (Boon), 1.12]

[Skill: Night Vision (Boon), 1.16]

[Skill: Transporter (Combo), 1.25]

[Skill: Lock Picking, 1.40]

[Skill: Disarm Traps, 1.43]

[Skill: Mechanical Discernment, 1.46]

[Skill: Stealth, 1.56]

[Skill: Weaponry, 2.21]

[Skill: General Combat, 2.37]

His biggest gains came in [General Combat] and especially [Weaponry]. The battle with the four troopers from the black airship no doubt accounted for the [General Combat] gains, he decided. But Weaponry had gone up even more.

He went back through his notifications list and decided that time spent with Dame Anderson and all her specialized equipment, as well as looking through Marigold Peat’s offerings, must have contributed a couple additional points to [Weaponry].

His [Detect Traps] and [Lock Picking] remained stubbornly stagnant. The only gains he had from those were boosts given by the system.

Determinedly, he set the books aside and walked back to the cottage’s front door. He opened it, locked it, and went down on one knee with his picks.

A few minutes later, and after three near misses, the tumblers fell into place and the door unlocked.

[Your skill in lock picking has increased by one point.]

“Finally.”

He repeated the procedure and over the next half hour he raised it up four more points.

The next time he picked the lock, nothing happened.

“Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Diminishing returns.”

He picked the lock three more times before finally getting another point.

He walked outside and peered around in the darkened courtyard, raising [Night Vision] up by two points over the next several minutes.

Finally, bored with grinding skills, he went back inside while locking the door a final time behind him.

Satisfied with his progress, he vowed to do some grinding every night, raising things up. The only sour note was [Detect Traps] which remained at 1.10. He did not know if setting a trap himself would lead to an increase in the skill, since he would already know about it while trying to detect it.

Shrugging, he sat down on the sofa and looked over the selection of books he had borrowed from Blair’s library.

He passed up all the histories of Umbria and Europe, and pulled out the newest one he had acquired.

“Oh, yeah. This should be good. Let’s see . . . page one. ‘Into the Vault, or, The Later Travels of Marco Polo.’ Let’s find out what he discovered down there.”

Rip put his feet up on the coffee table and sat back in the sofa, reading the book.