Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology - Plot & Excerpts
Although there was no wind, the dirigible rocked at its moorings. The elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh painted on its prow bobbed and nodded regularly as if it adorned a ship at sea. In the salon, ruddy-faced, barrel-chested Nick Bottom paced. He was easily the weight of four regular men. Replacement refit parts, the most advanced industrial clockwork machinery of the fledgling Industrial Revolution, had transformed him into a precision metalworking bellows. The parts, including his steel girder legs, lent him such great weight that as he stalked back and forth the entire airship rocked.“Nick,” came the voice of the ship, with its distinct twang of the American West, “I know you been cooped up here so long you’re goin’ batty. But the pacing back and forth has got to stop. The rocking is making me seasick. And I’m an airship, for crying out loud!”Bottom wrung his hands. “Can’t ’ardly ’elp it, mate,” he said. “The lads is out there, and the young ladies and gentlemen and all, and there ain’t a bloody thing I can do but wait for orders from ’Er Majesty!”“Orders’ll come soon enough, I expect.
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