The Steam Tycoon

by Golden Czermak

  “Oh. My. Goodness! My sincere apologies!” Miss Persimmons insisted, dropping her shaking hands away from her mouth.

  Jenny groaned before replying, “I’m not sure how sincere you can be considering…”

  “This must have been an accident,” said a man’s voice from very close behind.

  Jenny bounded away from the wall, spinning to discover it was no wall at all. There, standing in front of her was none other than Jesse Winthrope, debonair as ever in his tan suit and brown trench coat, even with a stack of crumpled documents piled in a heap over his leather shoes.

  For a split second, it became so quiet one could hear a pin drop. The other ladies were still recoiled, arrested by fear and embarrassment while Jenny could only manage an awkwardly flattering stare right at Jesse’s face.

  What are you doing?! she screamed at herself, becoming mortified.

  Yet, before she mustered the energy to flee, something soothed her, something so astronomically impossible that she wanted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. Staring back at her from those beautiful brown eyes was the exact, same look.

  “I… I am so sorry,” Jenny said at once, dropping to her knees where she started collecting the fallen documents.

  He followed, planting a knee to the floor (and the ladies watching nearly fainted at the sight), smiling at the one time the sound of rustling paper could fill his heart with joy.

  This is her, he thought excitedly. The woman from the market. What are the odds! I must speak with her about the attack, find out…

  He stopped thinking as soon as his hand brushed up against hers.

  What was this strange thing he felt? It was like the enjoyment he got out of his work but so much deeper. Something had passed between the two of them at that perfect moment, unseen but certainly felt.

  Her skin is so supple and smooth…

  Jenny felt the same way, obnoxiously thoughtless while her head swam in a cloud of delight.

  His skin is so soft and warm….

  They both looked at each other, wearing smiles inside and out, bursting with a feeling that should be long brewed, yet given in a moment of breathless surprise.

  Their hands began to reach for each other to embrace.

  “My goodness, what is the meaning of this!” came the voice of the foreman. Even his tone managed to foam like his lips, quickly snapping the duo back to reality.

  Butler reached down and snatched Jenny’s arm away from Jesse’s, forcefully using his grip to jerk her to her feet.

  “Mr. Winthrope! This incident is all my fault!” he proclaimed apologetically. “I assure you that I only stepped away for a mere few moments.” He looked at Jenny with revulsion. “I will see to it that Miss Boone is severely…”

  “Excused,” Jesse replied tenderly, and Butler’s disgust turned to aggravation. “We cannot go around reprimanding workers that have done nothing wrong, other helping a clumsy fellow pick up his mess.”

  We cannot go around consorting with employees nor those in classes that are beneath us either! Butler imagined himself shouting back to Jesse, but of course he stayed silent.

  Jenny grinned but Butler looked more annoyed than usual. Releasing his vice like grip on Jenny’s forearm, she rubbed on it, a sharp pain shooting between her wrist and elbow.

  “What are you all gawking at?” Butler exclaimed, looking around at the room, now full of ladies returning from lunch. “Back to work, all of you!”

  The workers listened right away and there was a rush of breaths and a mass scraping of chairs as they all assumed their positions at the tables.

  Jesse could not take his eyes off Jenny; there was something about her that had him held captive. She possessed not only beauty but an unbridled innocence that wanted to be tamed yet, at the same time, could itself tame the most savage beasts.

  “What is your name?” he asked.

  Lured not only by the question, but the soothing tone of his voice, Jenny looked right into his eyes again.

  “It’s Jenny,” she said bashfully, amazed that he even asked.

  “Jenny,” he repeated softly. “I like the sound of that. Boone is your surname then, if I take Mr. Butler to be correct?”

  She nodded.

  The way the conversation flowed, it was like they already knew each other, even though they had never met until a few minutes ago.

  “Jenny,” whispered Penny as she tugged on the base of her uniform. “I like the sound of your name too but Mr. Butler doesn’t seem to right now. He’s looking quite heated! I think it’s time for us to get back to work…”

  Indeed, the foreman was cross, his bushy beard and brows standing on end. Jesse glanced at him, thinking he looked a mess.

  “It’s fine,” said Jesse to Jenny, his words riding an audible sea of gossip that had started to rise. “Duty calls to us both.”

  “Yes, it does,” Jenny said meekly, forcing herself to tear away.

  As she did, Jesse leaned in swiftly as if he were going give her a kiss. Jenny nearly collapsed with surprise. He wasn’t actually going to do it, whispering a message into her ear instead.

  “Before you head for the shantytown this evening, please see me,” he requested. “I have some questions for you about the attack. I’ll return then and will be waiting outside the gates at quarter past six.”

  “I will…” she said, not knowing anything better to say.

  Jesse pulled back, making way for Butler who was waiting impatiently with arms crossed and foot tapping violently on the floor.

  “And Mr. Winthrope,” she said, and he turned to look at her. “Thank you for being such a shining example for us all to follow.”

  Jesse smiled, reaching the foreman. The two disappeared up the stairs and into the upper foreman’s office, Butler drawing the curtains once Jesse had closed the door.

  The main clock’s hands struck the half-noon position and a bell tolled. Immediately, the assembly lines began working and Jenny finally sat down in her seat.

  Her head might have been pounding from getting punched by a ratty girl’s fist…

  Her stomach might have been grumbling from missing lunch with six hours left until the end of the day…

  Her heart might have been beating so fast it could easily burst out of her chest…

  Yet with all of that piling on top of each other, Jenny was more than content and for the time being, feeling good about her future.

  THE LIGHT RAIN that had started a few days earlier grew into a thunderous downpour that battered the city, only just starting to subside around an hour ago. Dark clouds still spat on the city from the broken sky while above the shadowy swirls, white tendrils gleamed in the blazing evening sun.

  Jesse walked briskly down one of the glistening streets, puddled water like silver splashing around his boots and wetting the tails of his flapping overcoat. Checking for pursuers, he stopped and slipped on a pair of bizarre goggles. Flicking through various lenses that were attached to the front by little brass fasteners, he moved his from side to side. Normally, those kinds of accessories were used for magnification but the combination of special coatings on these allowed him to see things in better the dark, though this set were still experimental and needed refinement.

  Jesse didn’t notice anything suspicious through his clarified but slightly muddled view and once sure the coast was clear, he took off the eyewear and snapped them to the top of his bowler hat. Moving down the street, he stopped in the shadows just out from the light of an overhead street sconce, turned sideways, and disappeared down a narrow gap in the wall. Far too thin to be an alleyway, Jesse followed it as it turned left then right then left again, emerging into an area of roughly square shape with no other way in or out.

  Jesse was amazed, for the area was like a garden bursting with life, supplied with water from a couple of redirected downspouts. Looking around at all the plants, wild and unkempt, he had never seen anything like it within the walls of Diablo before. Green flowed across the ground like a sp
ongy carpet, climbed the walls like soft wallpaper, and sat on ledges like cushioned chairs. It was a tiny piece of serenity within a city sorely lacking it.

  Yet, as spectacular as the verdant space was, in the center of it all was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.

  Jenny approached, clad in a gleaming white bustle skirt and corset, both with golden accents like swirling leaves. Her brown hair was swept around her face like the long petals of a flower and Jesse’s heart had no choice but to bloom with delight.

  “It’s great to see you,” Jesse whispered as she got close. “I appreciate you still wanting to meet, this time away from all those prying eyes. Most would be scared or embarrassed, wanting to avoid experiencing ridicule like that again…”

  “Why on Eaugen would I pass up the opportunity to see you of all people again?” Jenny said with a smile. “Especially when I’d probably face ridicule from the others regardless.”

  “Touché,” Jesse said, giving his shoulders a quick shrug. “I am that great after all.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Mr. Winthrope,” Jenny replied, doing a quick twirl in her dress.

  “Point taken,” he said with eyes wide. “I’d rather flatter you! That dress looks amazing; where did you…”

  “Evelyn,” Jenny said softly. “She agreed to let me borrow it after telling me about this place. Those other ‘ladies’ can say whatever they want about her, but they can’t fault the woman on her style or willingness to help.”

  “I certainly can’t,” Jesse replied with a long exhale and a slow, methodical stare. “Nor can I fault the woman wearing it, at all.”

  Standing together in the peaceful garden, it seemed like an eternity since Jenny met Jesse that night outside the gates of the factory yard, yet only two excruciating nights had past, this being the third.

  During their brief discussion, urged to haste by scornful looks and remarks from workers to Jenny as they left the property for the night, Jenny told Jesse about her family and prior life in the Gulch, right up to the point the terrible attack sent it all to ruin. With each word, she confirmed his prediction that all the posturing the raiders had done was a prelude to an assault.

  Concerned about which settlement would be next to fall, Jesse struggled to figure out the how and why behind it. Also, as much as he would never tell the bastard, Frost might have been right in his desire to bolster security forces, and his work along the railways certainly helped to stem the tide.

  Though his mind was locked on figuring all that out, along with how his resources and technology could be used to help combat those evil forces, Jesse also found himself distracted by the woman standing in front of him. Wanting to get to know her better, he asked if she knew of a place they could talk in private, not that he cared if people saw them together, but in those budding moments he felt it necessary that she have his full attention.

  “This place… it’s unreal,” Jesse muttered as he looked around again, knowing the same could also be said of his situation.

  Stifled, he removed his coat, letting the weighty thing slide off his shoulders to the flora below. Beneath it, he wore a lighter gray vest over a crisp white shirt. There was no tie to burden his neck and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, chest hairs peeking out invitingly.

  Jenny was speechless, the outfit and frankly everything about Jesse tailored to absolute perfection.

  What is happening to me? she wondered, Aftershock’s words of warning ringing in her mind. Is this just my willful fancies taking advantage of me? But he said that I would find what I was after when I got here; that it would happen when I least expected it. Yet, this… it’s so fast. So soon. It can’t last…”

  “Are you all right?” Jesse asked, seeing the look of concern forming on her face.

  “I… yes, I’m fine,” she said. “You know what’s truly unreal? No, remarkable? Seeing you that day in the market there by the train station. While the world seemed against that poor old man, you approached him with nothing but kindness and light, willingly aiding him without so much as a second thought.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” he asked her earnestly. “Just because he is different than I am? It may be an unpopular view, but I care about everyone. I guess that is why I pour myself into all this work and these projects.”

  His voice trailed off and he sat himself down on one of the spongy, moss covered ledges. Jenny walked up beside him but remained standing.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that, Mr. Winthrope…”

  “Please, call me Jesse,” he requested. “It makes me feel far less old.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that Jesse,” she said with a nervous laugh. “You’re helping people in your own, commendable way. You should be happy about the progress you’ve made.”

  Jesse nodded, shifting so he could get a better view of her face. Reaching out, he passed the outer edge of his hand along her silken cheek until he touched the outer edge of her lips.

  “That may be the case,” he continued, “but sometimes the happiness you see in someone’s face – their smiling lips and eyes – are just a dam, holding back a flood of tears that have accumulated over a long time. I have sacrificed a lot in my pursuit of work, nothing more than love. As I told you, I have no other family other than Logan but I have always wanted someone to fill that space… someone out of the ordinary.”

  Jenny’s heart fluttered and she brought her own hand up to meet his before guiding it along her neck to rest on her chest where he could also feel it beating.

  Can it really be? he pondered. Is this the one I have wanted yet did not have the time to look for?

  “I know you are thinking the same thing I am about this situation…” Jesse said, though the words were difficult to get out. “Is this really love or just –”

  “Lust,” she answered, confirming her similar worries. Her eyes plummeted to the ground, but at once he moved their joined hands to her chin and push up. Their eyes locked.

  “I cannot explain this, but this is the absolute best I have felt in a very long time. Just please never mention that to my best friend Duncan. Is there any way something that appears so quickly can even be considered real?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted, “but my world has changed and that is certainly real enough for me.”

  “Mine, too,” he replied, leaning forward.

  “And what I’m about to say sounds incredibly naïve…”

  “As most silly yet significant things do…”

  “But I feel like a spark has set something aflame in my heart and though society may try to douse it with all their might, everything that should feel wrong at this moment…”

  “…feels incredibly right,” Jesse said, pulling her closer until their lips met.

  Jenny trembled, kept upright by Jesse’s sturdy grip. The kiss lasted for an age of the world, until the time their souls were satisfied. When they separated, Jesse collapsed back on the ledge and panting, inched over so Jenny could sit down beside him. She nestled her head at the base of his neck while he pressed his against the cool brick and vines.

  “I hope that was the right thing to do,” Jenny whispered, her hand finding its way back to his but twitching anxiously. “For the right reasons.”

  “You know what?” Jesse asked after a time. “I don’t care…”

  Jenny was quick to lift her head, eyes like saucers. Did he suddenly come to his senses and realize this was a mistake? Why hadn’t she?

  “Calm down! Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Jesse continued with a lighthearted smirk. He pulled her back against him. “What I mean is that life is full of so many important questions that go unanswered, and so many trivial ones that everyone seems to have an answer for.

  “I don’t know about you, Jenny, but I don’t want to ask any more questions about this… about us… and just see if it is trivial and ends, or great and meant to be. Either way, know that I don’t see you as just another woman; there are plenty of forge
tful ones here in the city. What I see before me is a beautiful soul that longs to be cared for and I want to be the one to do it…”

  Jenny thoughts began to swirl again; so much about this was unclear…

  “Okay,” she said at last, “no more questions. Let’s see where this road takes us, the journey being the best part.”

  IT HAD BEEN nearly two weeks since Archer proclaimed his deadline for dealing with Winthrope, two weeks since Archer ordered production be restarted on the energy cells for Angelus, and two weeks since Frost had made no progress with any of it.

  Whether caused by sheer arrogance or just the inability to overcome his nemesis, Lucas found himself in a terrible position. He was weary and stressed, his focus frayed just like the shirt beneath his toffee-colored coat. Grabbing the leather lapel, Frost yanked the coat’s swooping line of polished buttons completely open before dropping into an unyielding wood chair.

  Beside him on an otherwise empty table was a lowball of whiskey, calling out to be held. Frost reached out and did just that, placing the chilled glass right in the middle of his pounding forehead. The condensation ran in broad strokes down both sides of his nose.

  If you don’t get rid of Winthrope by tomorrow Archer is not going to be happy, Frost thought. You have to do this; there is no other way.

  If Frost could have shed tears he would have, yet the stinging in his eyes was merciless and he was sure crying would be just as comforting as salt in an open wound. Besides, why shed tears for something that he had done numerous times in the past? If anything, he would do so for joy, his apparent success mere moments from his grasp.

  Lowering the glass to his lips, he breathed in some of the whiskey’s sharpness as a shrouded figure appeared in a distant doorway.

  “Sir, he is here,” said a man’s voice, each word precise and clear.

  Frost stood from the chair, striking the seat with his thigh. It made a dreadful screeching noise as it skidded across the floor. Once he managed to regain his balance, he gave his coat a quick flick, stowing any last-minute regrets. Then, sputtering, he downed a large gulp of whiskey before walking toward the next room, carrying the glass by his talon-like fingertips.