“The technology of Ironhold is equally advanced to that of Sanctuary,” Socrates explained. “In some respects, more so. That is why Altaire’s servants were able to preserve my identity while transferring the parts to a different vessel. That is something I would not have been able to do on my own.”
“But why this?” River said. “Why a ship?”
“My other body was destroyed,” Socrates said. “I suppose I could have transferred my personality into a street sweeper, or perhaps a steamwagon. Would that better have suited you?”
“No, of course not, But-”
“It was my hope,” Socrates interrupted, “that you would join me. At least long enough to repair my body and transfer my logic circuits.”
“Join you?”
“Of course! We would be able to continue our mission. I thought you would be interested in carrying on with our adventure; that we could go farther than ever before, to places no one has ever seen.”
River looked at the others. “I don’t know... This is so sudden.”
“The engineers are almost finished with their work,” Socrates said. “Take some time. Go talk amongst yourselves. If you wish to stay, I will understand, even though I will miss you with all my heart.”
They wandered outside into the wide concrete lot. They formed a circle, and River looked at their faces. Tinker, Breeze, Crow, Tam, Micah, Morgane, and a handful of Rowena’s crewmen, along with Rowena and the Vangar warrior whose name she still hadn’t learned all looked back at her.
“I don’t know what to do,” River said. “I want to go with Socrates, but I can’t... I can’t leave you all again.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Crow said. “We’ll go with you.”
River’s eyes widened. “You will?” She looked at Tinker and Breeze, and they grinned back at her.
“I would kill for a ride in that thing,” Breeze said.
“As would I,” said Tinker.
“I really don’t care either way,” Tam grumbled, “so long as I don’t have to go back to Sanctuary.”
“Don’t look at me,” Rowena said with a dismissive gesture. “I have a ship of my own. However, I suppose I could spare a few men if you need a crew.”
River drew her gaze to Micah. He shifted his feet, and Morgane took his hand in hers. “It sounds like fun,” Micah said. “The thing is, Morgane and I had been talking about going to Sanctuary. We thought maybe we would settle down there and start a family.”
River raised her eyebrows, and Morgane grinned at her reaction.
“But now that we’ve seen Ironhold,” Micah continued. “I think we might like it here. Besides, Sanctuary doesn’t sound like all it was cracked up to be.”
“This place?” River said. “There’s nothing here but robots!”
“The park is nice,” Morgane said. “The city is beautiful. The only thing this place lacks is people. When they find out about it, I know they will come. Soon, this will be a thriving city.”
“Are you sure?”
Micah glanced up at Morgane and then back at River. “We’re sure.”
“I’ll miss you,” River said with a smile.
Micah fussed with his satchel. “I thought you might say that,” he said. He pulled out a rolled-up sheet of parchment and handed it to her. “That’s why I made this for you.”
River accepted the gift. She unrolled the paper, and saw the grinning likeness of Micah and Morgane staring back at her. She bent over to hug him. “Thank you. And you as well, Morgane. Take care of him.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Morgane said. “I’ll never leave his side.”
Strangely, River believed her. It was an odd coupling, to be sure, and River was tempted to ask what exactly had happened to them on the way back to Dragonwall. She decided not to. Someday, she would hear the story. The important thing right now was that they were both happy.
The group wandered back inside to tell Socrates of their decision. Needless to say, he was thrilled. “I’ll direct the machines of Sanctuary to serve your bidding,” he said to Micah. “You will have no problem with them. The only truly autonomous machine was Altaire, and he has been recycled. And Tinker, you and I have much to discuss. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on engineering and chemistry.”
“That sounds great,” Breeze said, looking up at the speaker on the front of the hull. “But how to we get inside?”
Socrates chuckled. A section of the hull near the middle of the ship opened up, and an automated staircase dropped to the floor. “Welcome aboard!” Socrates said.
As they began to board, they heard a mechanical clunking sound up above. The glass roof began to slide open. They heard the roar of massive burners above the main deck, and the balloon started to inflate. By the time they were all aboard, the ship had already begun to lift off.
River hurried to the upper deck, where she looked down and saw Micah and Morgane waving up at them as they rose out of the building. “They’ll be fine,” she heard Socrates say.
“I know, but I will miss them.”
“We’ll come back and see them again. Perhaps by then they will have children. Perhaps you will, as well.”
“Never,” said River.
“Oh? You’re not interested in such things?”
She smiled. “Maybe someday. Right now, I just want to be with my family.”
River frowned as she saw a dark shape circling in the sky near the city gates. She put a hand over her eyes to shade them from the light. “That looks like a dragon!”
“It is a dragon,” Socrates said. “A black one.”
“I thought they were all dead! Should we kill it before it can breed?”
“I don’t think Micah would appreciate that,” said the automaton. “Especially since he’s the one who saved that dragon in the first place.”
River’s jaw dropped. “When did that happen? You knew about it? Why didn’t you do something?”
“It has been my experience that interfering in the affairs of mortals rarely leads to the desired outcome. I’ve decided it’s best to let humankind choose their own fate.”
River considered that as they rose ever higher into the sky. As they passed through the heavy layer of clouds, the volcanic Firelands vanished in a sea of churning mist. A moment later, they emerged in a sea of white, under a sky of endless blue. The sun shone down on River’s skin and she smiled, soaking it all in.
“We’ll need a name,” Socrates said.
“What are you talking about?”
“For the ship.”
“But aren’t you the ship now? Shouldn’t we call you Socrates?”
“I’m in the ship, but I am not the ship. I’m still Socrates, and soon I’ll have my body back... I hope. But this vessel is... Something different. What shall we call it?”
River considered. “Well, it was made in Ironhold, and it’s the first metal ship I’ve ever seen. Maybe we should call it the Iron Sky?”
“I like it. I’ll have it painted on the stern next time we land.”
Tinker, Breeze, and the others had been wandering around studying the upper deck. They came over now, and Breeze said, “This ship is amazing. Did you know there is an entire restaurant on the second deck?”
“That’s impressive,” said River. “No wonder Socrates chose it.”
“So where are we going?”
River glanced at the communication pipe. “Well, Socrates? Where are we going?”
“Somewhere we’ve never been before.”
Breeze grinned from ear to ear. “Sounds good to me.”
Epilogue
The next century was a time of relative peace and prosperity. For several years, the Iron Sky traveled the globe. River and her family had many exciting adventures, some of which eventually became the stuff of legends. The Vangar warrior who had followed River onto the airship eventually found the courage to speak to her. He remained at her side for the rest of his life, and River bore him three children. His name was Th
rane. He was half-Vangar, and despite their differences, the two found they had much in common. The story of his childhood was similar to River’s, in that his mother had been a victim of the Vangar invasion, and in the war that followed, his father had died.
Eventually, the couple settled in a tiny valley at the base of the Blackrock Mountains in Astatia, near the Stillwater River. There, River and her family rebuilt Tinker’s old cottage and barn, and made it their home. They buried Tinker at the mouth of the valley, with a view of the plains he had loved so much. Socrates continued to visit regularly, landing his airship in the field south of the valley to bring gifts from far away. Often, he recruited River and her family to go on brief but thrilling adventures.
As River and her family aged, Breeze seemed little changed. The Tal’mar blood that had made her mature so quickly in her youth seemed now to have a stilling effect. She spent a great deal of time traveling with Tam, but made frequent visits to her grandchildren and later, her great-grandchildren. What finally became of Breeze and her descendents is unknown, because there is no recorded history of those latter days.
Dane spent the rest of his life with Aileen. He raised her children as his own, and over the years, she bore him several more, not the least of which was his oldest son, Dane the Great, who drove back the troll invasions in the dreadful Winter War.
Stormwatch grew to encompass most of the area, and became a thriving center of culture and trade for many generations. The cone of Dragonwall eventually collapsed in on itself, taking most of the structure with it and irreparably damaging the Chronoforge. The collapse rendered the place unusable to future generations. By this time, the citizens had mostly abandoned Dragonwall due to the instability of the mountain anyway, so casualties were minimal. However, the loss of the Chronoforge meant an end to steam production and spring power in the region forever.
Ironhold grew as well, and as Morgane had predicted, it soon became a thriving metropolis. Morgane and Micah raised fifteen children. Many of Micah’s relatives from the Blackrock Mountains left their snowy village behind for the promise of a better -and warmer- life in Ironhold. They prospered, and Ironhold soon became known across the continent as a city of halflings and mineral baths.
The black dragon remained Micah’s companion, and when it eventually chose a mate, she laid her eggs in Ironhold’s central park. The offspring bonded with Micah’s children. Micah’s daughter River was the first person to actually ride a dragon, but certainly not the last.
Thane’s blindness never healed, but legends say the bard developed a sixth sense that allowed him to perceive far more than what others could see with the naked eye. He had to relearn the playing of the lute and pipes because of his missing fingers, but this was only a minor challenge to a man of his intellect and determination. Throughout their lives, Thane and Shayla remained devoted to each other and to their tribe, and though they remained apart from society and never saw their old friends again, they were happy for all of their days.
Over time, their tribe became a great nation. The mingling of human and animal blood evolved until these creatures eventually diverged into two separate races. The first, comprised of the direct descendants of Thane and Shayla, became something like the Tal’mar, but taller and more regal in appearance. They were a shy and secretive people, and little is known about them.
The second race grew to resemble the centaurs of mythology, though they were larger and wilder, and were well known as a fiercely independent race. This race too, became very secretive and avoided human contact at all costs. Likewise, little is known about them.
Unlike Ironhold, Sanctuary quickly faded from memory. It is believed that without starfall, the city could no longer function. The Tal’mar were forced to abandon their ice-covered home in search of a new place to call their own. In time, the ice closed in, and the city once again became lost. Some of the Tal’mar returned to their ancestral island to rebuild the city there, while others spread out through northern Astatia and surrounding areas. A few joined the humans and other races, but most kept to their woodland villages.
A similar fate befell New Boston, though for entirely different reasons. The corruption of New Boston began to spread into nearby communities, bringing waves of crime and unbearable levels of poverty. The hardworking, honest farmers who could no longer stand the slow but unstoppable decay of their homeland left the area for greener pastures, many moving to more prosperous places like Stormwatch, or the vogue city of Ironhold. New Boston fell into decay and eventually became abandoned entirely.
Then there was the matter of the handful of crewmembers who had escaped the Legion only to be trapped by a flood of starfall after the explosion. The location of the tree on the far side of the slope sheltered them from the initial blast, but not from the rain of starfall that followed. They left the safety of the tree the day after the incident, and managed to return to Astatia two days later. Though they seemed unaffected at first, it wasn’t long before certain changes became apparent. Their skin began to harden and crack, like the bark of a tree, and they became terrified of fire. They found themselves increasingly uncomfortable in the company of humans, and spending more and more time alone in the woods. Over the next few months, each disappeared, presumed lost or dead in the wilderness.
The truth was that they had put down roots, and were no longer able to go back home. For most of them, it was just as well, for they were now happier in the company of trees than of men.
Pirate the raccoon experienced none of these unfortunate side effects. Having been sheltered in the comfort of Vann’s cloak during the rainfall, he was perfectly normal for the rest of his long life. He did however, spend a great deal of time in the woods in the proceeding years, particularly among a group of trees that he knew very well. One might even imagine that somehow, the creature could communicate with those trees, though surely that is the stuff of fables.
Though the rain of starfall had been primarily restricted to the lands of the west and the south, the effects of it were felt across the continent. The mist, now known commonly as Dragon’s Breath, returned with irregular frequency. This led to many difficulties, not the least of which were the occasional genetic mutations among humans and other creatures, or the unpredictable behavior of usually mundane items.
The absorption of starfall into everyday articles such as Dane’s great sword or Gavin’s armor for example, or even into something as simple as a tuning fork, led to some very strange results. The properties of these items were considered by many to be magical. These changes were not limited to mundane items, but in either case, it would be impossible to enumerate the many variations thereof. It is easier to say that there were very few living beings, human or otherwise, who escaped at least minor repercussions from the event.
This unexpected evolution in human behavior and abilities led to a suppression of previously valued technologies. In fact, the destruction of the world’s largest reserve of starfall had made this almost inevitable. Despite its dangerous and volatile nature, the element had made certain technologies not only possible, but practical. Without it, the expense of complicated machinery and steam engines led to a decline in their use, while the reliance on certain newly evolved “magical” abilities became the norm.
Over the next few centuries, advanced technologies all but vanished. Scientists and engineers fell out of favor, while wizards and sages took their positions in society. Once impossible creatures terrorized isolated farms and villages, while superstition and sorcery gradually superseded the disciplines of science and technology. Eventually, the marvels of steam were forgotten entirely, and the cities and civilizations they birthed faded into the mists of history.
So ended the age of steam.
Thus began the age of magic.
The End
A Note from the Author:
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Starfall
Copyright 2018 by Jamie Sedgwick
Cover art copyright 2018 by Timber Hill Press
All Rights Reserved
ISBN-10: 1727754603
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real events, people, or situations is coincidental.
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Jeramy Gates is married with three children. He grew up on a ranch in Montana and now lives in Northern California, surrounded by grapevines and redwood groves. He also writes sci-fi and fantasy under the name Jamie Sedgwick. Visit Jeramy's website and sign up for his newsletter for news on his books, promotions, and free books!
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