by S. D. Stuart
The Wizard of OZ
A Steampunk Adventure
by S.D. Stuart
Summary
There is no yellow brick road here. No emerald city. No lollipop guild. This is the Australis Penal Colony, a continent sized prison referred to the world over as the Outcast Zone. Built to contain the world’s most dangerous criminals, OZ ended up the dumping ground for everything polite society deemed undesirable.
From inside this place a garbled message proves Dorothy’s father is still alive, trapped in a prison with only one way in and no way out. Into this place 17-year-old Dorothy must go if she wants to find her father and keep the promise she made to her dying mother.
She thought she had spent the past seven years preparing to overcome anything that got in the way of fulfilling her promise, but the situation she finds herself is harder and more intense than anything she has experienced before as she drops right into the middle of a power struggle for control over all of OZ. If she has any hope of surviving long enough to find her father, she will need her mother’s guts, her father’s brains and the unexpected help from those discarded and forgotten.
Everyone she meets tells her the same thing. The only person who can help her is the one prisoner who deserves to be in a place like this and refers to himself by the name, Wizard.
The Wizard always asks for something in exchange for his help. Can Dorothy afford the terrible price he will demand?
The Wizard of OZ: A Steampunk Adventure is an exciting epic adventure that re-imagines a place where no one should be forced to live.
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organization, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
Ramblin’ Prose Publishing
Copyright © 2013 Steve DeWinter
All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
www.stevedw.com
Cover design and illustration by Mike Penn
MichaelJPenn.com
eBook Edition
ISBN-10: 1-61978-003-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-61978-003-3
Trade Paperback Edition
ISBN-10: 1-61978-004-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-61978-004-0
Thank You
Most books are created first in the mind of the author and then committed to the written word.
That was not the case with this book. This story was already imagined, written, and published some sixty years before I was born. They even made a movie about it. Maybe you’ve heard of it ;)
As a fan of the original story of The Wizard of Oz, and a fan of the steampunk offshoot of science fiction, I thought I would bring the two together. This book is the result of that marriage, a spunky kid who follows her own rules. My journey, however, was not taken alone.
I would like to thank Amy Roberts for tearing through my novel with the equivalent of a paper shredder, forcing me to write a better story. This book would not be anywhere nearly as good as it is, without her help.
I would also like to thank my good friend Bob Young, who helped create the wonderful character of Toto who, unfortunately, never makes an appearance in this book. He does, however, become a featured character in the sequel, The Scarecrow of OZ.
A very special thanks to Dee, my wife, whose patience and understanding made all of this possible.
Chapter 1
Professor Benjamin Gale gazed out the window at the fog. Even without the white mist obscuring everything beyond fifty feet, the island continent to the north was still far enough away, he never would have been able to see the coastline from the smaller island that served as the gateway for every criminal sentenced to the Australis Penal Colony.
His wife, Elizabeth, tugged at the black satin lapels of his wool frock coat and did her best to brush off imaginary specks of dust from his sleeves. Her eyebrows furrowed as she attempted to adjust the folds in his fiery red ascot tie. “I wish you’d wear a color that was a little less showy.”
Benjamin flashed the perfect smile he had used to get funding, resources and a personal visit once with Queen Victoria. “I am asking the Council to set aside nearly 15,000 British Pounds from the annual budget for my proposal. I have to stand before them and look like I know what I’m talking about.”
She finished fussing with his ascot and looked him in the eyes. “That smile of yours may have won my heart, but the men in there …”
He placed a finger tenderly on her lips. “If I could convince someone like you to marry someone like me, I will not have any trouble convincing a group of pompous old stuffed shirts to fund my project.”
Someone cleared their throat behind him.
Benjamin spun around to see Bartholomew Danbury, the youngest member of the Council at 68 years old, frowning at him through a monocle. “My fellow pompous stuffed shirts are ready to see you now Professor Gale.” Bartholomew turned away and disappeared through the door.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I’ll be waiting in the carriage outside with Dorothy.”
He gave her a sheepish grin before he followed Bartholomew.
Bartholomew was only slightly taller than Benjamin, but his height was mostly in his legs and, while he was not walking hurriedly, Benjamin had to jog to catch up with him.
“You know I’m not talking about you, don’t you?”
Bartholomew kept to his long stride without slowing down.
“Just be thankful I’m the one who came out to get you.”
He did not see how Bartholomew could move so quickly in the heavily starched, fitted frock and waistcoat that had become the most popular attire under Queen Victoria’s reign.
He trotted alongside Bartholomew and tried not to sound winded. “So what is the feeling of the room today? Do you think they will set aside the money for my proposal?”
Bartholomew stopped abruptly and Benjamin almost crashed into him.
“We’ve known each other for a very long time, so I will be frank. I remember when you were just a brash 19-year-old with lofty ideas to convert the southern landmass into the world’s largest prison. And you did it. You changed an entire continent into the inescapable Australis Penal Colony. But I think you did too good of a job.”
Benjamin laughed and opened his mouth to defend himself.
Bartholomew held up a gloved hand. “It is because of your innovative designs that we have been able to slowly reduce the number of personnel needed to keep the penal colony running and under control. In fact, the Council is considering shifting guard duties to some of the more behaved prisoners; thereby, bringing the non-inmate count in the colony down to zero within a year.”
He could not keep his mouth shut after that comment. “That would be a mistake.”
“This is not the same prison you and I built twenty years ago, Ben. Times have changed and the recommendations of the Council have to change with them.”
Benjamin barked out a mocking laugh and motioned to the inner chamber doors. “One of those changes was to deny all requests for parole. I designed the colony to mimic polite society for purposes of rehabilitation, not containment.”
“Take a look at the effect that one change had on the rest of the world. Crime is down 70% all over the world. Everyone, people and nations, are more civilized to each other. Mission accomplished Ben. Accept your pat on the back and take your latest invention to London or New York in the Americas. Let somebody more deserving have first crack at your machine.”
Benjamin was shaking his head. “You know what everyone’s starting to call the Australis Penal Colony don’t you?”
Bartholomew shrugged his shoulders. “P
eople call it many things.”
“They’re calling it the Outcast Zone. A place to send the undesirables from society and forget about them.”
“Maybe it’s time you forgot about them too.”
He could not believe he was hearing this from the same man who supported him from the very beginning. “Take me before the Council, Bartholomew, before I say something I will regret.”
Bartholomew pushed open the doors leading to the Council’s inner chambers. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Benjamin walked into the Council Chambers and paused at the edge of the top of the stairs that led down to the presentation platform. He slipped a small wooden box from the pocket of his frock and gripped it tightly.
He thought about what Bartholomew had said.
His hands sweated around the edges of the box. All he wanted to do was scream at these self-indulgent morons that they were all making the biggest mistake of their lives. They could not, in all conscience, abandon the people in the penal colony.
But that would only get him immediately ejected from the Council Chambers and he would not get a chance to say what he had come to say even if, according to Bartholomew, they weren’t going to listen anyway.
He quickly dismissed all negative thoughts from his head. The Council was made up of reasonable men, he assured himself. They would listen to what he had to say.
Then they would do the right thing.
He would outline his proposal and they would see why it was not only the best thing for the penal colony, but for the world. His invention would effectively change the human condition in more ways than one. He had to make them see that, and now he knew exactly what to say.
“Please step forward, Professor Gale.” The Council leader’s voice echoed loudly in the acoustically designed chamber and startled him. His head snapped up and he had to crane a little higher to look up at Phillip Weston, the Council leader, who sat in the center of five occupied chairs that formed a semi-circle on one side of the room. His friend Bartholomew had already taking his seat on the far left.
He surveyed the construction of the Council Chambers and hated how the members of the Council sat in a raised banister section above the presentation platform in the center of the room. To make matters worse, and to make the Council appear that much more foreboding, he had to walk two more steps to the center of the room where the platform stood raised a foot above the rest of the center of the room with its own little railing for presenters to lean on if they began to feel dizzy as they addressed the Council.
“All the world’s a stage,” he whispered silently to himself as he mounted the steps and stood on the raised platform. He always thought of that familiar line from England’s most famous playwright every time he came before the Council.
He cleared his throat and heard it echo throughout the entire chamber.
Here goes everything, he thought as he stared up at the row of ancient men who stared back down at him.
Outside the New Kansas Council Chambers, the air was not as choked with soot from the countless coal fires as it had been in New York and London. However, a thick blanket of persistent fog had lingered throughout the city for the third day in a row, and the bright blue skies over Dorothy Gale’s home in the Americas seemed but a distant memory.
Everything was better back in America. The water was better. The food was better. Even the people behaved better back in America. She had only been here for two months but she was already homesick. And this did not bode well with the reason why she was even here.
Normally her father would make the trip to New Kansas on his own, leaving her and her mother back in America. However, she was nearing her 10th birthday and would no longer be educated by the governess at home. She was finally of the age where she should be sent to a proper school for young ladies.
Their journey together as a family doubled as both a business trip for her father and a school-finding trip for her. As she sat by herself in the carriage parked outside the New Kansas Council Chambers, she plotted how she was going to convince her parents to let her attend the school that was within walking distance of their home.
Even at the tender age of nine and nine-tenths, Dorothy loved her mom and dad and did not want to spend any time away from them if it was not absolutely necessary. And in her mind, being sent to some boarding school in a foreign land was not absolutely necessary.
Her mother exited the front door to the Council Chambers building and headed for the carriage. Dorothy had been unsuccessful in trying to convince her parents to not send her away to school. Every time she talked to them, they would quickly convince each other that it was the best thing for Dorothy to attend one of the top schools in the British Empire.
Maybe a change of tactics was required. She would turn her mother into an ally, and together they would convince her father to let her stay home. That would work, Dorothy thought to herself. Divide and conquer.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,” she whispered to herself as her mother climbed up into the carriage.
“Were you saying something, Dorothy?”
“I was just wondering how long Daddy would be.”
“He just went in to see the Council. It might be a while.”
Dorothy smiled. Her head swirled with the many ways she could eloquently tell her mother that the best school for her would be the one that kept her close to her family.
When she had formed the most brilliant sentence in her mind that would convince her mother that keeping the family together was the best option for everyone concerned she opened her mouth and blurted out, “I want to go to the school close to home.”
Her mother breathed an audible sigh. “We’ve gone over this many times before, Dorothy. Your father and I want you to have the best education possible, and we just don’t think that the public school near our house can give that to you.”
“But it’s where all my friends are going to go.”
“You’ll make new friends.”
“I don’t want to make new friends. I’m happy with the ones I have!”
This conversation was not going as well as Dorothy had hoped. Even worse, it had spiraled out of control almost immediately.
“We’ll discuss this when your father returns.”
Having failed so miserably, so quickly, Dorothy wanted to burst into tears right then and there. But she knew her mother was stronger than most and would never allow her to cry.
As she fought back the tears, all Dorothy could do was stare out the carriage window and hope that her father got what he wanted so he would be in a good mood.
The Council leader’s voice echoed in the massive room like an exploding cannon as he banged on the gavel to quiet everyone down. “That will be enough Professor Gale!”
Benjamin disagreed that it was enough.
“Don’t be stupid enough to think …”
“I said that’s enough!” The Council leader punctuated each word with an increasingly harder bang of the gavel until the handle snapped off at his final word.
Benjamin’s upper lip quivered. He had not expected to let his emotions get the better of him.
But when the Council announced that this would be their final session before dissolving and letting the penal colony operate on its own without any outside influence, someone hurled vulgar insults at every Council member. He looked around the room to see who had the nerve to say what he was thinking and was shocked to discover that the insults had come from him.
How would Elizabeth recover from this idiotic blunder, he thought and then reminded himself that she never would have made such an idiotic blunder.
His wife would not be happy that he let emotions cloud his judgment. She was always the more logical of the two, which seemed to be the absolute reverse of just about every other couple they knew. They hid it well enough to blend in with Victorian society, but he always felt out of place at the gentleman’s club and she was never satisfied with the local ladies sewing circ
le.
He also reminded himself that, despite the lunacy of their actions, these were still reasonable men. He could appeal to them in a reasonable manner.
He took several deep breaths, looked up at the head of the Council and did his best to replace his quivering lip with the smile that had gotten him this far.
“I sincerely apologize for my outburst Councilman Weston.”
“I will not tolerate outbursts of any kind from anyone during my sessions.”
“I understand. But about my invention …”
“There is no budget for the Australis Penal Colony, Professor Gale, as there is no longer an active council to oversee the colony.”
He lifted the mahogany box in his hands. “If I could just show the Council my …”
Councilman Westin held up a hand to silence him.
“I am sorry Professor, but the rest of this session is devoted to finalizing the closure procedures for this Council and approving the hand off procedures for control of the Australis Penal Colony to the designated inmates. We do not wish to hear any new proposals regarding the colony.”
“But I …”
“I suggest you take your ideas to the Royal Society of London. If your device is as crucial to the future of humanity as Councilman Danbury says, the Royal Society is in a better position to listen.”
He stood there staring up at the Council, his mouth opening and closing, trying to come up with the words that would make them change their minds. He saw Bartholomew tilt his head and shrug his shoulders in an “I told you so” manner.
“That will be all Professor, you are excused.”
“Please stop kicking the seat, Dorothy.” Dorothy’s mother never looked up from her dog-eared copy of Les Trois Mousquetaires.
“I see you reading that book all the time Mother. Haven’t you finished it by now?”