Twitch

     Hello everyone! We have another wonderful guest entry this week by a talented young Steampunk writer named Nina. Those of you on OYAN or Neverland may know of her personally. She has a strong presence there. For those of you who don't know her, you are receiving the chance to read some of her fantastic work this week!

    We hope that you enjoy this piece and that you will read it and pass it along to your friends. Now, without further ado, we present to you...Twitch.

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~TWITCH~

We’ve reached Adagen. I stepped closer to the edge of the deck and flipped down the binoculars goggles to my eyes.  Zooming in to get a closer look through the dark grey smog, I stared down. The surface far below looked like clockworks, with thousands of gears all shapes and sizes.

“Stop the ship.” I heard Dr. Kennedy order the captain. Captain Clent’s footsteps echoed up the wooden steps. The low rumble of the blimp connected above us abruptly stopped. The airship rocked forward, the cords and wooden boards groaning to a halt. We hovered in the air about a hundred feet above ground, but it was nearly impossible to see through the dark fog and clouds.

We had left the city of Tharant, when Dr. Kennedy became certain that Adagen was really out there and the people ridiculed him, thinking him crazy. For a few years we lived under Tharant in the underworld—a tangle of old subways, the west wing being abandon. While he prepared to journey out and find Adagen, we had stayed in an empty station. It had been dark and gloomy down there and the polluted air made the man cough and ill. He had been eager to leave and built Helen—an airship created from the abandoned debris left below the city to do so.

Leaning over the deck with a tight grip on the rails, I stared down trying to get a better glimpse of what lay below. It took a moment, but I could see it. Massive gears; they made up the surface of the land below. The gears where laid flat and slowly rotating and whirling. They were such large gears that the cracks and open spaces linking them, went down into pitch blackness.  Smoke came from a city—in the center on top of a gear; spinning slowly with it.

We’ve found Adagen. We’re in the very clockworks of that old legend. Now they’ll believe us. But the legend never mentioned a city. That was never on the doctor’s radar or maps.

“Twitch?”  Dr. Kennedy’s low voice came to my ears and I straightened as the tall thin scientist came up beside me. We were near the bow of the airship, a soft rumble coming from the steam engine.

“My theory was right. Ha! Now they’ll have no choice but believe you and I.”  His laughter sounded warm and joyous.

“But there is smoke rising…” I said.

“Twitch, my boy, that’s impossible. Simply impossible. No one could live out there in that heap of machinery”

“ ….and a city.”

“Give me the goggles. Your vision is off—I’ll have to fix it.” He huffed, unbelieving. Clipping my goggles off, he peered through them, his face turning white. Was that fear? Shock? Worry? I couldn’t tell—people’s faces turn white from all of those things.

“By golly.” He gasped. “Let some helium out of the blimp! I want her to descend!” He clasped his hands together and Clent hesitated, but did so.  It took a while, but we got closer to the ground-gears and there was the city. Slowly rotating, it was in ruins. Crumbled skyscrapers, a broken bridge, and buildings degenerating, it was completely destroyed. Steam rose from the ruins in little wisps and something crashed to the ground with a groan. The fact that it was rotating, made it seem alive.

“We’re going to anchor down.” Dr. Kennedy’s voice was crisp and he glared at the hesitant Captain who scurried off to do his bidding. Something rocked the airship then and the doctor nearly stumbled to the ground. But he grabbed me and regained his balance. He cursed, but that turned to a gasp and he stumbled backward.

Two massive cat-like eyes stared at us. The largest automaton we had ever seen slowly stood, appearing to materialize out of nowhere. It was a dark shade of grey, made up of many metal plates, rivets, cogs and gears—like it was made out of the broken bits of the city. It reached out and its iron hands grabbed the airship as if it where child’s toy. Its huge eyes zoomed closer at us. I heard the captain scream as the wood groaned and a few cords snapped with the sudden pressure. 

“By thunder!” Dr. Kennedy slowly straightened and his face paled. He tried to collect himself and adjusted his coat, his face still bursting with utter disbelief. He looked at me and then turned to the huge machine.

 “By golly, you are large. Put us down and take us to your master!” The doctor shrieked. 

It didn’t understand. 

“Twitch!! Talk to it for me. Tell it to take us to its master.”

I looked it in the eye and felt the gears turning inside. My man wants you to take him to your human.

It turned its attention to me. I have no human. I am the ruler here. I destroyed the city and I will stop the gears from turning, it will blast Adagen and stop functioning the sky city. The humans must die.

But if you do that, we will die as well. No humans, means no robots. Who will fix us, bring us back to life when we are shut down, or give us the oil we need?

There is much oil below the gears. The oil has seeped through the cracks and there is a river of it down below.

Hearing this I stopped stunned. The doctor hadn’t heard our conversation—it was above the frequency humans could hear and back and forth through our mechanical minds.

“Tell me Twitch! Does he listen to you?”

Dr. Kennedy stepped forward and shook me, when I didn’t reply. I could hear my insides clanging against each other. The large robot saw him shaking me and flung the airship up, knocking the doctor against the cabin’s walls. The small captain’s legs shook and he clutched the rail. I also grasped the railing for support.  Everything crashed up and a piece of equipment rolled down the deck smashing a round low glass porthole.

“Curse you!!” Dr. Kennedy shook his fist at the massive machine who only stared at him in return.

I will take you away from this cruel human.  The frequency was loud and static flickered in my head. My insides seemed to heat up and I felt electricity spark through my heart, threatening to tear it apart. I looked at the man holding the key to shut me down. Was this what torn loyalties felt like?

 My man is lonely—he needs me.

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Nina Orellana is a dedicated story teller, hoping to one day write professionally. She focuses mainly on the genres of science fiction and historical fiction, occasionally writing short stories.  When not writing, she enjoys art and music.