Free The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton

that he was there. Yet at any moment the hatch could fling open and a shadowy arm could reach in to stab her. She forced herself to look one last time—she couldn’t see him anywhere—before sinking back into her haven and closing her eyes.
    She thought of the hard, inexpensive pew in the church, of hot cross buns in a shop window, of smoking cigarettes backstage at The Swan and of the comfort of resting her head on Al Grant’s firm shoulder during a polka to die for.
    The lights blazed all at once, from every angle. Brilliant amber from the sun, blue from the earth to her right and Pluto far behind that, red from Mars. Julia shrank to a bottled gasp. The bastard had the measure of the mechanism! A sequence of stutters, grinds and whirs overlapped a rising hiss, hiss from the four corners of the room.
    This was it.
    The steam-powered solar system was starting up.
    Julia gripped the seat back as the sun shuddered into a slow-grinding spin. The amber window filter permitted her a spectacular, terrifying view of the orbiting planets. They revolved at different speeds, while the entire spectrum of colours reflected off their brass pipe-spokes, creating a dazzling optical effect that was part whirligig, part kaleidoscope.
    But where was he?
    The outermost planet, Pluto, illuminated a brass dashboard to the left of the entrance. She saw a number of gears, wheels and buttons but no sign of the bearded man. Rather than pivot her head frantically, try to chance upon him in the phantasmagoria, she remembered Lady Law’s method of deduction. Calm. Measured focus. She let the sun rotate her line of sight, then studied each corner of the room for shadows and silhouettes.
    The door flung open.
    “There you are, bitch.”
    She screamed and kicked at his hideous bearded face while he clambered in. There was so little room to manoeuvre and her kicks landed with such force that he spilled backward onto one of the pipe-spokes. Julia seized upon the chance to escape while the sun rotated away from him. The next three spokes sat close together. She scurried out onto the centre one. It was warm and smooth, like the factory pipe she and Georgy had picnicked on. Except this measured under two feet in diameter. Her dancer’s sense of balance helped her reach the far side, which was the planet Saturn. But the bastard was at her heels. She dove onto Uranus and slid down the far side to land with a sideways thump , smashing her shoulder.
    The man vaulted another pipe, knife at the ready. Julia crabbed away, ducking under Neptune and rolling under its connecting spoke. She saw the massive exit and made a beeline for it. Her attacker dashed in front, barring the way.
    “What do you want? ” she cried.
    The man’s knife flew from his hand. She flung her arms over her face for protection.
    Clang!
    One of the pipes buckled and broke, ejecting steam. A tangle of limbs writhed about on the floor where Pluto had been. Like a billiard ball, the sphere rolled to one side, clattered into Neptune, then continued on to double kiss Uranus.
    The bearded man got to his feet, but was dragged down again. Seizing the opportunity, Julia dashed for the exit.
    Yet she spied someone on the floor with him, throwing vicious fists. Someone smaller but stockier, someone…
    “ Al! ” she yelled.
    “Run, Julia, run!”
    He took a heavy blow to the jaw. The man seemed to be getting the better of him, punch for punch, but Al fought like a bulldog. He landed an uppercut that sent the bastard reeling. Where had Al come from? How had he found her? Shaking, Julia wanted nothing more than to flee, but now he was in trouble.
    Now it was two against one.
    She wiped her brow with a frilly sleeve and then ducked low to ground, questing for the knife. An easy find. It was tiny compared to the spheres but on the bare marble floor it stood out like one of Jules Verne’s rocket ships. She hurdled two pipes and grabbed it from near the sun. The most deafening clatter she’d ever