Mortal Engines

At the pirate suburb, Tom and Hester watch from a cage as the suburb catches the smaller town and rips it to shreds, not bothering to let the people out first. The suburb’s mayor comes to the engine room, and Hester recognizes him. She bargains for her freedom, offering to fight for her place among his people, but the mayor sends her and Tom to the engine room. Before his men can chain them up, though, Tom bangs on the cage, calling the mayor a coward who’s “too scared of your own men to help them” (168). Recognizing Tom’s London accent, the mayor frees him. Tom orders that Hester be freed, too, and the mayor reluctantly obliges.

Over a pirate’s version of afternoon tea, complete with skull-and-crossbones napkins, the mayor asks Tom to teach him and his men to be proper gentlemen like the high-society men of London. Not knowing what to do, Tom agrees, and the overjoyed mayor explains that Tom can start as soon as they get past the marshes. Tom is worried because there’s nothing past the marshes but the Sea of Khazak. The mayor explains that the suburb is specialized and tells Tom, “Wait and sea, get it? Wait and sea, ha ha ha ha” (174).