Cogs in Time 2 (The Steamworks Series)

by SJ Davis

  He removed his top hat and said to me, "Allow me to introduce myself, Mister Alfred Becket."

  I stepped backward when he knew my name.

  "I am Inspector Laurence Moon." His voice was calm.

  "I did not kill Mister Westmorland, the man with the strange gun did," I said, panicking the moment I heard the word 'Inspector'. I had the thought to shut the door and lock him out. Instead, I did not run. I froze in place.

  "May I come in? Perhaps I can better explain things."

  I let him inside the house. Once the door was shut, what little warmth there had been, was restored.

  He slowly removed his black gloves, as he spoke, "I believe you, Becket. I know you did not kill your employer. I am not here on a matter of police business. I need to know if you recognise this man, and if Miss Rebecca Electra was left behind in the fire."He removed an item from the inside of his coat pocket. He showed this to me, it was something quite like the photographs Mister Westmorland made, only it was in bright vivid colour, and it was not a cabinet card, but a strange feeling paper, shining in the faint light of the foyer gas lamps.

  "Yes, he said he was Professor Frostt," I said, looking at the photograph.

  The outfit he wore in the photograph were the same bright ungodly blue colours, but not the same outfit he had worn when I last had seen him. As I handed the picture back to Inspector Moon, I noticed his skin, although not as pale as Professor Frostt's, was very white. It had the slightest hint of pinks on the nose, lips and cheeks, instead of the blue of Professor Frostt. His eyes, although almost human, made me sure Inspector Moon was not like me. The green iris—so pale, so faint—reminded me of the dead girl's eyes, something that once had brilliant colour, but seemingly faded to near colourlessness, but not quite.

  I stepped back, he knew I suspected him.

  "Do not be alarmed, young Mister Becket, I assure you I am here to help."

  "Miss Rebecca survived the fire. Not only survived it, but was brought back to life. She was reanimated, walking by her own power with that-that professor. Now, leave, whoever you are, you're just as frightening as Professor Frostt. How am I to know you don't work for him and aren't here to kill me?"

  His expression went sour, but not angry. "Mister Beckett, I was engaged to Miss Rebecca, she was skating when she fell through the ice."

  "Yes, and she drowned," I spoke with confidence, having known that much. However, the words from my lips were both as sad as her death, and as cold as the waters that had frozen her.

  "She fell through the ice into a dangerous dimensional tear. A dimensional tear hidden under the surface changed because ice was already used of a little skating pond, on our home, the planet Neptune. Falling through the ice there, she somehow resurfaced, here on your planet. Perhaps she was drawn to England due to her longing to be with me, as we had been separated. You see, Alfred I am an officer temporarily assigned to this isolated outpost of the galaxy. She was my love, would have been my bride. We were to marry when I returned. Imagine the horror I experienced in finding her body here."

  His face grimaced with fighting back grief. "We had these rings, which light up when the other was near, and shone brightly when we were together."

  He showed me a ring on his finger made of a metal I have never seen before. I recalled a ring on the dead girl's finger, I hadn't looked too closely at it, but it indeed matched his. When I had last seen it, it was not shining.

  "The grief I felt was overwhelming as I could not revive her, she was lifeless. What you Earthlings call 'dead'. For fear of being accused of murdering my true love, I could not return her to Neptune. I brought her to your employer to be photographed before her earthly burial, I wanted to see her face as long as I lived, and mourn her until my days in this universe were ended. I do not know how Frostt resurrected her, but I know he cannot keep her."

  "You're just as mad as that professor! Dimension tears? Galaxies? You're a madman," I accused.

  "Now, now. Temper, Alfred. I can understand why you would think so, but I can help end this deadly frost. Come with me, I am in need of an Earthling's assistance."

  I stayed back away from him.

  "Don't you want to save the world?"

  "How?"

  "Just you wait and see," he smiled. "Get your coat, we must signal the ship!"

  Although I knew I should be frightened, I had thought all along I was trapped in a dream, so why not? I took my coat and cap and went with Inspector Moon back out into the street. The world was quiet and calm, gas lamps glowed, lighting the way as we returned to the bridge. Inspector Moon took from his pocket a small device, and set it in the snow. It was brass, with a clockwork mechanism working on its own to unfold a tripod, and a beam of green light projected upwards higher than my neck could go back to look. High into the sky, small pulsing rings rode up the beam with a musical chime, reminding me of ship whistles.

  Inspector Moon looked at his pocket watch. "Two in the afternoon, black as night. However, you see the stars? You see how clear the stars?"

  I blew on my hands. "Yes, Inspector, but what does all this have to do with stars? Why is it so black?"

  "This is what life is like on Neptune."

  "Not this talk again, how can you travel from Neptune?"

  "Easy enough, I just took an airship. See?" He pointed upwards, and there descending the heavens, was a large ship, flying above us.

  A gigantic Royal Sovereign class sort vessel, perhaps an ironclad warship. A ship, so large, it would have accommodated a crew of thousands of sailors, descended from the sky. Metallic-like canvas sails billowed out in a wind created by two large propellers.

  "The Ice Breaker, the finest ship in the whole of this galaxy."

  I was in awe and terror as I watched the ship lower until it sank into the Thames, raising the waters as well as breaking the ice that was surrounding it, and as it did so, freeing the ships trapped there.

  "Now we go aboard, come along, Alfred." Inspector Moon held open his gloved palm, and the tripod signal device folded itself back into a small little piece. It hopped back into his hand, and he then placed it into his pocket.

  We walked along the bank to the docks where the Ice Breaker had anchored. Upon closer inspection, I saw the great ship was made of a luminous silver metal, glinting with a green tint, the porthole windows were green glass, and the flags it flew were foreign.

  I turned to Inspector Moon. "What flags are these?" I asked.

  "The Royal Neptunian Navy. The other flags are those in the Alliance that the Nuptunian Naval fleet supports. You see, there are worlds, planets out there beyond our tiny solar system that have made peace with one another. The Alliance, as it is known, has united several galaxies to allow for free space travel, trade shipping, and exploration. Your planet has been designated hostile, which I suppose is why Frostt has fled here." The waters around the ship had warmed so much that the ice was disappearing quickly in a cloud of thick white steam.

  "Hostile? We are the ones who make primitives civilised." I couldn't imagine being called the savage ones, as we British were quite refined.

  "Ah yes, through religion and the gun. Yet, you continue to war with each other on this tiny little planet, it is as you say, 'the wild west', is it not?" A long boat dropped, and a small crew rowed over to the dock where we stood alone. "You are primitive in technology, and learning slowly. Other planets in the Alliance have had this technology, as well as space and time travel for aeons. Your people are very slowly coming around, but to others in the galaxy, Earthlings are uncivilised. You still do not use electricity and computers to their full advantage."

  I was puzzled, and a little angry. Perhaps though, Moon was right; for I did not understand this word 'technology', but I did not wish to ask him for a definition.

  "Ahoy, Ice Breaker," called someone from the boat.

  In return, Inspector Moon replied, "Ahoy, Ice Breaker!" as the crew came up to the dock.

  There was hardly a difference in the uniforms thes
e Neptunian sailors wore in regards to the British Royal Navy, save theirs were green in colour and not made of canvas cloth.

  "Brace yourself for amazement, young man," Moon said to me with a smile as I dropped into the long boat, followed by the Inspector.

  I soon found myself seated among the sailors, who had the same pale moonlight skin as Inspector Moon, as well as the near colourless irises, which when viewed against the brightness of their uniforms, was dramatic.

  I felt excited, suddenly, as the crew rowed the longboat towards the warship. Such fantastical things, I never thought I would see, changed my sadness into heart-pounding exhilaration. My nightmare had turned into a pleasant delirium as I heard the call of adventure. We were brought aboard the Ice Breaker and guided to a hatch, which lead into the bowels of the airship.

  There was a man in an emerald green uniform, dressed as any lieutenant in the navy. His skin and eyes the same as Inspector Moon, his hair was dark brown and wrapped into green beribboned pigtail. He held out a gloved hand and shook Inspector Moon's hand then mine.

  "Welcome aboard, Inspector."

  "Lieutenant Holly, this is Mister Alfred Beckett of the Earthling Queen Victoria's little kingdom."

  "Ah, so often we have thought to meet Earthlings. Why, he looks somewhat washed and educated," Lieutenant Holly said, looking me up and down.

  "I have spent enough time on Earth, although a primitive people, they are slowly coming around to sanitation, although education is still a little lacking."

  "I'm not an exhibition on display to be poked, prodded and insulted by the inquisitive!" I said sharply.

  "Quite, I am sorry, Alfred. No offence meant," Inspector Moon apologised calmly."Humans are still a curiosity to us."

  Lieutenant Holly said nothing, not one bit of an apology, only looked at me as if I were a talking ape.

  "Let us meet the captain, and settle into business."

  The bridge of the great ship was truly more fantastical than any modern ship on Earth. The lights were not gas lamps, nor slush lamps, but glowed on their own with electricity. More green lights, gold trim and richly dark varnished wood-like material surrounded me, reminding me of oak. There was a great glass window, which gave view to all around the ship. Snowy London spread out before us. I felt a gentle warmth to the air, like a spring breeze all around me. Coming in from the bitter cold, this was comforting.

  "Captain Galaxiua," Lieutenant Holly said.

  I looked, expecting to see a man, much like the sea captains I would see at the dock and found none. I realised who Lieutenant Holly had spoken to, Captain Galaxiua was a woman. She wore a green frock coat that matched her crew. Her black felt cock hat set over golden tresses, rich in colour like a perfect sunrise. She wore a pair of gold framed spectacles, which appeared thick with several sets of lenses, red, blue, green and the black as Professor Frostt had worn. She could slide the lenses into her sight or away easily, and as I watched her turn to me, she flicked a series of lenses out of her way, so that only the green lenses were in place.

  Her gown was made of the same luminous material as her jacket and frock coat. Her corset was gold metal, and there were a few ticking mechanisms attached, which clicked in time like a metronome.

  "Laurence, so glad you signalled my ship, another few moments, and the fleet would have passed by."

  "Am I correct that you are still searching for Professor Frostt?" Inspector Moon asked.

  "Why yes, there have been temperature changes on Mars, we thought to look for him there. Is he here on the little blue planet?"

  "He is turning it into a frozen planet. He is destroying the Earthlings and their habitat, Kit-Victoria."

  Captain Galaxuia turned to me. I had never seen a more beautiful creature. I felt lowly and unworthy.

  "This is an Earthling?" She asked, looking me over.

  "That is, but I call him Alfred Becket," Inspector Moon said.

  Flicking a clear lens over her right eye, and peering at me closer, Capitan Galaxiua replied, "Why? Is that the species he is?"

  "No, it is because that is his name," Inspector Moon replied to her.

  "Captain," I said, shaking her hand.

  She accepted my hand, although she looked as if she were only mimicking the gesture without understanding it. "Well, Laurence," she turned to Inspector Moon, then back to me smiling, flicking a darker lens over her left eye. "Alfred, let us withdraw to my quarters for further discussion."

  We, along with Lieutenant Holly, walked down a hallway and down a flight of stairs to the captain's quarters. It was large and spacious, quite different from a captain's quarters on an Earth ship.

  "We registered weather disturbances, nothing dramatic, but only affecting a small island, so we took no notice until your signal," the captain said as we sat at a table so ordinary, I was struck with the plainness of it.

  Lieutenant Holly poured small glasses of Port. Ah, Port wine is universal.

  "The severe weather, which struck mid-summer, came about a fortnight ago. The cold had increased by the hour. If my calculations are correct, Professor Frostt wants the Earth to be cold to suit his comfort. And if that means the extinction of the earthlings, so be it," Inspector Moon said. "This disturbance was manufactured by a weather machine. Normally used safely to prevent droughts or floods, he has used it to create havoc."

  Captain Galaxiua continued the briefing."Professor Frostt is a scientist gone mad. He is wanted for ripping open dimensional holes on Neptune, as well as other parts of the Galaxy. Being too impatient to travel by normal shipping means, he thought to create cosmic short cuts. These tears caused catastrophic events in various solar systems. He was wanted for questioning by the Police Service, his crimes against the universe growing with each day."

  Inspector Moon interrupted for the moment. "I was sent to Earth to watch if he would come there, I was to arrest him if found."

  Captain Galaxiua further explained, turning her head to look at me."He became an outlaw with a bounty on his head when a young woman in line for the Queen of Neptune's throne died falling through a dimensional hole."

  Inspector Moon continued, "The disturbances on Mars were meant to throw the fleet off his scent, but as you can see, he is on Earth. He also has in his company a very much reanimated Princess Rebecca Electra."

  "She is alive?" The Captain replied with shock.

  "According to Alfred, she was last seen walking on her own, and in the company of Professor Frostt," Inspector Moon pointed out.

  Now was my turn in the conversation. "He is a strange and obscene man who killed my employer and my countrymen. I am not a man of revenge, but this is more than about some dead princess, this is about my home and country." I paused, "My own Queen and royal family."

  "The vastness of our universe is no greater than the will of a small Earthling," Captain Galaxiua said with a smile."Then arm yourself Earthling, and join my crew, we shall capture Frostt and return balance to your planet, and perhaps the summer sun soon enough." She removed from her waist another clockwork pistol, this one bigger than Professor Frostt's little blue ray gun. Then she removed a sword belt, with sword in sheath, and gave it to me to wear. "Lieutenant Holly, please make sure Mister Becket is properly attired," she ordered. "These are for you, Alfred." She motioned to the weapons and stood, pressing a few buttons on her golden corset, and vanished in a green flash.

  I jolted to the bones as I witnessed this, Inspector Moon laid a hand on my arm.

  "She has just returned to the bridge. That was a teleporter device to return her quickly." Inspector Moon explained, "I shall go too, but by means of walking. After you are dressed and ready, join us."

  I watched Inspector Moon leave the captain's quarters as Lieutenant Holly presented me with a uniform and hat.

  I was let into a private berth, where I bathed before dressing in the fancy green uniform. I wanted to prove to these Neptunians I wasn't some unwashed primate, whose smelly Earthling flesh would soil their fine alien fabric. I was als
o going to prove my loyalty to my Queen, and save my country. Although I wore the uniform of the Queen of Neptune, my heart was pumping the red fiery blood of England beneath.

  I do this, risk my life in service of a foreign Queen, to save my homeland. I may be considered a savage aboard this ship, but I am a proud and loyal savage, I am an Earthling. I am an Englishman.

  Once in my new uniform, I found my way back to the bridge. The first thing I noted upon arriving was that the window did not show London, but the sky. I felt not one bit of the lift and shift as we had risen from the Thames and up into the air over London.

  "The source of the killing frost has been detected as Craigievar Castle near Aberdeen. The castle was in the hands of the Sempill family until recently, and the frost killed almost everyone near the area first," the captain said as she watched a little glass screen inlaid in a varnished wood panel.

  The Ice Breaker flew head on into a violent snowstorm, this we felt as the winds rocked and struck the ship in an attempt to slow travel down. Ice and hail pelted the ship sharply.

  "The weather man strikes again with his mad machines!" Inspector Moon said as the hail shattered harder. This is mechanised mayhem; he must know we have found him out!"

  Soon the castle appeared, the once reddish-stone tower covered in blue and white ice. Quaint and mediaeval looking, it was a smaller fortress than a criminal mastermind should have. The end felt near, but what end?

  "Queen of Neptune Marines, prepare to board the castle. Professor Frostt is wanted, living or dead, but take the princess alive!" Captain Galaxuia said, her voice shouting orders. On the bridge, it boomed loudly, electronically amplified to be heard all over the ship."Now is time for action. Mister Becket, you stay close to me and Inspector Moon. Lieutenant Holly, take a small crew and look for the weather device, smash it to bits."