The Time of the Toymaker (short story)
The Time of the Toymaker was a novel in the The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids series, cowritten by Aristide Twain and Lupan Evezan. It served as the series' 2020 winter special.
As was customary for such a special, many characters and settings from previous installments of the series were thrown together into a Yuletide plot. This included a prominent supporting role for Jenny Everywhere.
Contents
Plot
Chapter 1
Christmas is nigh in the Cupid Homeworld and the non-Clockwork Cherub residents of the Homeworld have seeded the idea of yuletide celebrations in the minds of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids at large. The Cupid Parliament have been persuaded to authorise such celebrations, so long as Santa Claus (an entity Pythagoras-858 believes to be untrustworthy) is not involved.
To achieve this, Pythe devises a plan to get magical toys in bulk directly from the Interdimensional Toymaker without going through Santa Claus at all. After persuading it to comply, Pythe travels to the Workshop of Madame Tarsa aboards the sentient Fog Ship of Pessimist-242, who is the only one in the Homeworld who knows how to get to Tarsa's pocket dimension. After arriving in the giant workshop, however, Pythe finds to his distress that Tarsa herself has been magically frozen into a large cube of ice.
Chapter 2
After some of Madame Tarsa's sentient toys came out of the Toybox in the corner of the Workshop, angrily demanding to know what has happened to their creator, Pythagoras-858 returns to the Cupid Homeworld and enlists his fellow problem-solver Juliet-178 and the fighting expert Arganthone-056, tasking them with trying to find a way to unfreeze Tarsa. Pythe then departs for a journey across dimensions to try and find the culprit.
Arriving in the Workshop, Juliet and Arganthone observe the ice cube for a while and discuss possible solutions. They agree that normal fire certainly wouldn't suffice, but after Juliet remembers Pythe saying (during his adventures trying to defeat Mandragora-257) that magic tends to still follow the spirit of the laws of physics to some extent, they agree that “abnormal” heat should be able to melt this abnormal ice, if it is sufficiently powerful. They land on the idea of using a Wellsian Heat Ray and thus fly to New Wellsia.
Chapter 3
Juliet-178 and Arganthone-056 land on an ashen hilltop on the devastated planet Thrash, with a valley between them and the pyramid where the Wellsians appear to have taken up residence. The two briefly reflect over whether they've seen anything like this before, and come to an agreement that this is never going to be a diplomatic mission and they must get a hold of a Heat Ray either by stealth or by force.
Inside the Pyramid, Sympus ag-Forgos, Viceroy of the New Wellsian Empire, is panicking in expectation of the upcoming celebrations of Allac-Ur, the Wellsians' equivalent of Christmas: they too had placed an order with Madame Tarsa (for a gift to their leader, Radluhac ag-Wampyr) which she has failed to complete for reasons that are, to them, mysterious. Another Wellsian, Baron Skollops ag-Warka, offers to fly the Wellsians' Fog Ship to the Interdimensional Black Market to inquire after the whereabouts of the Toymaker.
After they agree on this plan and Skollops departs, one of the Wellsians' Goblin slaves runs in to warn Sympus about two Cupids — Juliet and Arganthone — having been spotted flying towards the Wellsian fortress. Although a flying threat would normally be within Skollops's purview, Sympus, keen on Radluhac not noticing Skollops's absence, decides to handle the situation himself, using nothing less than heavy artillery.
Chapter 4
Jenny Everywhere is walking through a snowy street in Victorian London, enjoying the Dickensian atmosphere to get into the Christmas spirit, when she sees a Fog Ship crash in front of her. She wonders if its occupant is her friend Pythe, but it turns out to be Juliet-178 and Arganthone-056, who explain that their Ship was shot down by the Wellsians.
After the two Cupids explain the purpose of their mission, Jenny opines that Madame Tarsa probably had some safeguard in place to resurrect herself in case anything happened ot her, which might be worth looking into. With the Fog Ship unable to take off again, she agrees to shift the two of them back to the Workshop of Madame Tarsa and join them on their investigation beyond that.
Chapter 5
Moments after Jenny, Juliet, Arganthone and Pythe have left, Pythagoras-858 (in a human disguise) turns a corner into the same street of Victorian London, which turns out to be none other than 1895 Baker Street. He makes his way to 221B Baker Street and is greeted by Mrs Hudson. She is initially reluctant to let him in, but after he persuades her to simply pass his name along to Sherlock Holmes and gives it as “Professor James R. Moriarty”, Holmes naturally lets him in. Pythe, though keeping his true nature as an android a secret, reveals to Holmes that he is a time-traveller by pointing out an error in one of his monographs which he has yet to publish, and whose only draft currently resides on Holmes's own desk. Baffled but intrigued, Holmes agrees to hear him out.
Chapter 6
Back in the Workshop of Madame Tarsa, Arganthone-056 attempts to get the Mechanical Fortune Teller to tell them whether or not Madame Tarsa had any failsafes in place. However, after it transpires that the Fortune Teller is programmed to never give a straight answer to a question, an irritated Arganthone stomps off to join their companions, who have already made their way to the Madame Tarsa's Toybox.
After catching up with them through the initial stage of the Labyrinth inside, Arganthone rejoins Juliet-178 and Jenny Everywhere on the outskirts of Wild West Town, where they are greeted by the Frog Mayor of the town. The Mayor is initially mistrustful of them due to the bad behaviour of the two previous Cupid visitors of the labyrinth, Pessimist-242 and Larrikin-1029, but after he is reassured that not all Cupids are as irksome as that duo, he advises them to seek out the oldest toy in the Labyrinth, currently residing in the Christmas Toyland, as she might know some of Tarsa's secrets, even if the Mayor does not.
Chapter 7
Having been brought up to speed and ferried to the Workshop of Madame Tarsa by Pythagoras-858, Holmes is able to deduce that Tarsa's aggressor must have had some means of teleporting in and out of the room, and observes that they stole Tarsa's cane, which is neither in her hand nor anywhere to be found in the Workshop. Pythe comes up with a slightly alternative hypothesis: that Tarsa was attacked by one of her own creations (who thus didn't need any teleporting abilities to get in), who subsequently escaped using the powers of Tarsa's cane.
Chapter 8
Meanwhile, inside the Toybox, Jenny Everywhere, Juliet-178 and Arganthone-056 reach the Christmas Toyland. After passing through a simple wooden door, they are greeted by the strange and festive sights of the place. Interrogating a living puppet Elf, they are told to ask the conductor of a nearby Toy Train to take them to “the old dollhouse at the top of the hill”, where the Oldest Toy in the Labyrinth allegedly lives. They buy tickets at a discount from the jack-in-the-box ticket-seller and enjoy the scenic train ride, during which they look upon various strange Christmassy landmarks including the Star Atop the Tree. Finally, at the end of the train tracks, they reach the life-sized “dollhouse”.
Chapter 9
Pythagoras-858 and Sherlock Holmes land near Castle Frankenstein in a new universe. Holmes is initially disbelieving, thinking of Baron Frankenstein as simply a fictional character, and, when he is introduced to Holmes, the Baron has a symmetrical reaction, but after Pythe provides the due explanations about the nature of the Multiverse, the two eccentric geniuses turn out to get along well. After a spot of conversation on the nature of Frankenstein's experiments, he gives them his guesses (based on his experiences with his monster) as to what Madame Tarsa's rebellious toy might do next. Building from the Baron's insight, Pythe drags Holmes off to the Interdimensional Black Market.
Worldbuilding
Jenny
- This story features the version of Jenny who once travelled with Pythagoras-858.
- She notes that she could, with an effort of concentration, shift herself into a universe where she was already on precisely the kind of adventure she'd be in the mood for, but “doesn't like to force these things”.
- Jenny loves A Christmas Carol.
- She believes that no incarnation of her has visited the Christmas Toyland in Madame Tarsa's Toybox before her.
Universes
- The story begins in the Cupid Homeworld.
- Pythagoras-858 travels from it to the Workshop of Madame Tarsa.
- Juliet-178 and Arganthone-056 visit the universe of the planet Thrash.
Other
- According to Pythagoras-858's research, Santa Claus is an interdimensional parasite who spreads to new universes every year, first planting the idea of himself in the local culture, then gaining a physical existence sustained by the belief of children.
- The Devastation of Alexas was an event in which the Mark 1 Clockwork Cherubs of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids at a time when the Mark 2s like Juliet-178 were considered too young and inexperienced to go on such dangerous missions.
- Red Weed is a plant from the Wellsians' home planet.
- Aside from one Void Ship they stole from the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, the Wellsians use Flying Machines as vehicles.
- The Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future visited the Cupid Homeworld the year prior to the events of the story.
- Locales in the Christmas Toyland include the Giftbox Mountains, the Snapdragon Lake and Wrapping Point.
Continuity
- Thrash is seen, having been colonised by the Wellsians following the events of PROSE: The Grand Multiverse Hotel. The Crystal of Thrash is mentioned and its powers expounded upon.
- Also in reference to PROSE: The Grand Multiverse Hotel, Jenny Everywhere reminisces in Chapter 4 about a conversation she had with Pythagoras-858 “en route to Hilbert's”.
- Jenny mentions “the Lords of Hell” in an apparent reference to PROSE: Jenny Everywhere and the Lord of Hell.
Behind the scenes
Read online
This story is available online on the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids website.
