A warehouse had been converted into a workshop when the old laboratory was found to be too small. Both children had graduated with degrees and lofty titles just a month before. People mocked them as eccentrics and excluded them from most social events because of their curious and secret work. Spencer kept a social schedule, as courting Ms. Brewer would not be appropriate otherwise. Trudy did have a suitor, Mister Emery Vance, though she had no interest in him.
“Three years, seven months, sixteen days, and eighteen hours later, here we stand,” Uncle Waldorf proclaimed to the twins, “and tonight we shall see the fruits of our labors of this project we have toiled upon.”
They went to work, shoveling coal into the furnace and ramping up the machines to a fine head of steam. A storm raged outside. Lightning and thunder played their song and electrifal conductors were raised to attract the energy. The yellowed windows above rattled with each crack of nature’s power. Though steam set the machine into motion, the lightning would actually open the portal to the Æther. The room hummed and their hair stood on end with the static that filled the warehouse.
Uncle Waldorf was like a child at a fair. He ran back and forth to each device, checking dials as if he had never seen them before, his eyes full of excitement and wonder. His hair was standing straight out and his white laboratory coat flapped wildly around him.
“Spencer, Trudy, prepare the circuits.” The twins had already done this, but Uncle Waldorf always enjoyed a bit of theatrics. “We shall test this beast and take it for a ride tonight!”
The air rippled and a chill wind swept through the room. Black whispers were lost on the breeze, as dusky things waited beyond the veil for their opportunity to enter the world, unbeknownst to the trio.
“Remember when that man came to the house with the papers Spencer?” Trudy asked.
“Hm?” Spencer was distracted. He had given up a social engagement to be there. He had confided in his sister that Abigail had allowed him to kiss her last week. It was scandalous. No one had seen, and he had only told his sister, but if anyone were to find out, his betrothed would be ruined.
“You are thinking of her again, aren’t you?”
“What? No, I am not,” he denied, “I am just hungry.” He paused for a moment, head tilted. He was immaculate as usual. He had taken to wearing his collar buttoned and a cravat at all times now. He was a picture of a gentleman, sans the overcoat and top hat. He had also grown a full head taller than his sister. “Actually, I am ravenous!”
“Yes my dear brother, as am I. I hypothesized this may happen. The machine is drawing energy from wherever it can, including our bodies. I expect we will be exhausted when this is over. You see, we exude an electrical current and the device is drawing all that to itself.”
“I know, I did help design and build it, if you recall.”
“Children,” the professor shouted over the din. They hated being called that, but said nothing. “We are almost ready. I will strap myself in now, and when I signal you, throw the switches.”
The switches were actually modified brake levers for trains. Moving them would take all of their strength. Uncle Waldorf climbed into the machine. It was a puzzle of brass and wires with a plush crimson chair bolted in the center. The theory was that the electrical field would create a centralized energy field that would interact with the bio-electrical system of the professor’s brain, allowing him to become the navigational equipment that would guide the device to transport him where he desired to go. Or more precisely, ‘when’ he desired to go.
There had been many heated discussions about this, because it seemed there would be no way to return. Uncle Waldorf argued he could build a new machine when he arrived and return here. Trudy pointed out that would only be possible if he was not labeled a madman, could gather the resources, find assistants, and was not disintegrated in the process tonight. Spencer also pointed out that they had no way of knowing what collateral damage would ensue at the arrival point. This much energy being pushed through time and space could create anything from a low pressure system, to an electrical storm at the arrival point, to a permanent doorway that would draw all energy and matter through it from one world to the other, entirely destroying both. As a compromise, Uncle Waldorf agreed he would target a point in time and space that would be less likely to create an issue. He would attempt to travel to Drungia where his father had disappeared thirty years ago. He would send a telegraph to himself and present it to the twins moments after the test was complete, in person. Spencer pointed out that he would then be thirty years older and living in the same world as himself for all those years. As a second compromise, they all agreed instead he would target a field near the country house at which the family normally took holiday in Southern Gallia, one week previous to the time they were currently living in, and still the telegraph message. Six days previous, they had received just such a telegram, and the other uncle Waldorf was due to arrive via train tomorrow morning.
Their Uncle’s shout brought them back from their joint reverie. They exchanged knowing smiles and put their back into throwing the switches. That is when the world shattered. The blue electric arcs shot in bands outward from the Prime Machine where Uncle Waldorf sat and an explosion rocked them, throwing them backwards in opposite directions.
Ten minutes later they stood talking together in the ruined laboratory and surveyed the damage. They both knew it should not have happened. A crashing was heard on the other side of the warehouse, and the crunching of footsteps on glass. Two men came into view, walking towards them with a purpose. Trudy puffed up and moved towards them. Spencer had seen these two before though, and he put a hand on his sister to stop her.
Aetheric Elements: The Rise of a Steampunk Reality Page 29
