Lady Mechatronic and the Bordeaux Locked Room

By Arabella Wyatt

Bordeaux! City of beauty, inspiration of Paris, source of exquisite wine! Unfortunately, Captain Hartwell is going to miss all of it.

Taking his crewman, Francois Bardon, home to Bordeaux ought to have been a short journey for the captain and the mysterious Lady Mechatronic, a silver star woman fallen from the skies, but rancorous relatives and an unexpected murder will make this visit to France an unexpectedly fraught experience.

The profoundly unpopular Lady Mechatronic series limps on with The Bordeaux Locked Room Mystery. Containing the fastest ever resolution to a locked room mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Aug 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781771116107

Book preview

Advanced technology makes short work of a locked room mystery as Captain Hartwell and Lady Mechatronic find themselves with a body in a library...

Bordeaux! City of beauty, inspiration of Paris, source of exquisite wine! Unfortunately, Captain Hartwell is going to miss all of it.

Taking his crewman, Francois Bardon, home to Bordeaux ought to have been a short journey for the captain and the mysterious Lady Mechatronic, a silver star woman fallen from the skies, but rancorous relatives and an unexpected murder will make this visit to France an unexpectedly fraught experience.

The profoundly unpopular Lady Mechatronic series limps on with The Bordeaux Locked Room Mystery. Containing the fastest ever resolution to a locked room mystery.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The Bordeaux Locked Room Mystery

Copyright © 2013 Arabella Wyatt

ISBN: 978-1-77111-610-7

Cover art by Angela Waters

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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Smashwords Edition

The Bordeaux Locked Room Mystery

Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunked Pirates Five

By

Arabella Wyatt

Chapter One

Deep within an ancient galleon that rolled lazily on the Caribbean Sea, a silver cyborg busied herself within the ship’s hi-tech control room.

To any casual observer, the woman seemed to be engrossed in numerous brass screens that extended from the wooden ceiling, surrounding her on all sides as she reclined in a wingback armchair. The screens were relaying information on the galleon, including the latest series of upgrades to the structure, weaponry and engine systems by the woman’s nanobots.

In truth, the woman was barely aware of the information scrolling down the screens. She had retreated to the control room simply because very few of the ship’s crew of reluctant pirates ever ventured into this part of the vessel. One exception to this was Susanna, the captain’s sister, who chose that moment to knock and call through the door.

How are you feeling?

Mechatronic pulled on a short lever that opened the door, allowing Susanna to walk in. I am operating within twenty-per cent efficiency, she replied. Once the upgrades to the ship have been completed, I can devote more nanobots to my own restructuring.

You mean the nanobots are too busy rebuilding the ship to heal any damage you’re still carrying? asked Susanna after working this out.

Yes.

That wasn’t quite what I meant when I asked how you were feeling.

I know, replied Mechatronic. Your species is curious. You ask a question that is in reality another question completely. Being an alien, she often missed the hidden meanings in the strange language the natives of the planet used, though she was getting better at it. She came from a savage world in which language was a brusque means of stating intent. Poetry, simile and metaphor were all unheard of in…

Mechatronic closed her thoughts off from the past. All that was over. Here, she could be someone else, be a person, and as such, she could have friends like Susanna.

Susanna smiled. Ignoring the empty chair next to Mechatronic, she instead stood behind the cyborg and leaned over to gently hug her. She felt the silver woman tense slightly before relaxing completely into the embrace. Mechatronic always tensed slightly when arms enfolded her, as though she carried bad memories of physical contact. It hadn’t escaped Susanna’s attention, however, that Mechatronic could now relax far more quickly into a warm hug.

Susanna gently rocked her friend, feeling Mechatronic’s cool silver skin under her hands and her thick silver hair against her cheek, letting several companionable minutes pass before looking up at the screens.

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