“Jean!” Claudette laughed as they held hands and smiled at each other. “I'm so happy to see you back. After they hauled you away, no one was allowed to see you! How is your burn?”
Jean smiled a coy smile and lifted his arm, he unbuttoned his cuff and pulled the sleeve down, revealing a perfectly fine, albeit scrawny, arm. Claudette's face was one of utter, total, and complete shock.
“H... How? It was damn-near burnt off!”
“I know! I know!” replied Jean. “I don't know what they did, but one day I woke up like this!Magicians! The best doctors on Earth, I can tell you that much!”
Claudette ejaculated a few breathy sounds, trying to speak, as a smile carved her face in two. “I... I... oh, yes, Jean, this is George. He works in the mechanics lab with me. George, Jean is a wonderful man who deserves more than they are paying, no matter what they are paying him.” George and Jean shook hands.
“And I would use every penny to woo you, my dear,” he said to Claudette.
“Oh you. I would break you like a twig.”
“I know! It would be wonderful,” Jean said, squeezing Claudette's bicep. “So, I'm assuming that he isn't supposed to be down here.”
“Nope,” replied Claudette.
“Meh. Not like it matters. They have all these rules and then they push people through here so often that none of them get enforced. Ooh, are you here to see the test?”
“Yes? Did we miss it?”
“Psh! No! Nothing ever happens on time. They're bringing the sled back in from a pre-fire now. Ooh!” Jean ejaculated, reaching for his pocket watch. “Yeah, I cannot talk. I need to get back to my terminal. George, sorry we couldn't talk, Claudie, don't think you can escape dinner with me tomorrow. I need to give you my continuing presentation as to why I would be the perfect husband for you.”
“I look forward to that, Jean.”
“À bien·tôt,” Jean said, walking off.
“He's nice,” said George.
“Very nice. I don't know what he sees in me.”
“Maybe because you're friendly to him,” George said as they began to walk farther into the room. “Small guys like that don't get that very often. At least he's not strange about it.”
Claudette nodded. “That's true, I'm sure, but when he leaves here, he's going to have more money than Rockefeller. He could buy any woman he wants.”
“I don't blame him for wanting a woman who was just nice to him.”
“Don't get romantic on me,” replied Claudette. “Once he gets some, he'll forget all about me.”
“Well... yeah. I'd imagine he would. Still, I can't help but feel a bit bad for him.”
“Trust me, he'll be rich, and he's no idiot, either. He won't waste his money on booze and gambling. His future is paved with gold.”
George nodded as they walked. He looked at the end of the monorail where a multitude of men stood at various terminals. Cables large and small ran between them and all seemed to run to a large, bulbous machine about twenty feet from the rail. It hummed loudly and had people in thick leather suits and goggles running around it. Claudette stood on her toes and looked out into the cave as a clack clack clack sound echoed out of the darkness.
“Good. The sled is coming back in now,” she said. George squinted a bit and watched as a light in the darkness got brighter and closer. After a few moments, it emerged into the bright lights of the lab floor. It was the strangest rail car that George had ever seen. Instead of sitting on the rail, it seemed to wrap around the rail. On top of the car were pyramidal stacks of two-foot-wide cylinders running the length of the car.
“What is that?” asked George.
Claudette talked maintaining her eyes on the car coming in. “We call it the sled.”
“I got that much,” replied George. “What is it, though.”
“You'll see.” The two continued to watch the work as others from around the lab began to gather around the end of the rail. The workers wearing full-bodied leather suites waited by the rail after picking up welded metal frames connected to a thicket of cables. The sled finally latched into a holding position and the men trundled over and attached the frames to the sides of the car.
George watched all of this wide-eyed. “You can't leave me in this suspense. What is happening?” he asked.
Claudette pointed to a large, conspicuous, glowing gauge near a switch-covered terminal by the large humming machine. “You see that gauge?” she asked. George nodded. “When that baby hits the red area of the dial, you're gonna' see some serious shit.”
“Um, really? Because it's getting their awfully quickly,” replied George, nervous.
“Yeah. You have no idea how much work it took to do that,” Claudette grumbled.
The humming of the machine increased in intensity until it drowned out all of the men working. They signaled and yelled to each other, but George couldn't hear any of it. Eventually, one of the men walked over to the terminal with the large gauge and pulled down a large switch, causing a klaxon to sound in the lab. Claudette let out an excited laugh as her uncontrollable smile grew across her face.
“I never get tired of seeing this!” she yelled.
George's gaze darted between Claudette's face and the unfolding events. The loud clash of metal deep below signaled the raising of large, protective, metal and glass walls out of the floor and into a perimeter around the monorail. As the gauge neared the red area on the dial, Claudette gave George a couple of smacks on the shoulder with the back of her hand.
“Here we go!” she yelled.
The floor vibrated. The lights flickered. The machine rumbled as the gauge moved into the red.
BOOM!
The sled fired off into the darkness. George fell backwards onto his rear. The metal frames dropped off to the sides of the rail, and a thick trail of steam floated up from the path of the sled. The machine's hum lessened to a dull thrum as the crowd dispersed and got back to work.
George sat on the ground, breathing heavily. Claudette reached down with her hand, smiling. George didn't acknowledge it at first. “So that's what that goddamn noise is!” George said. “We hear it upstairs every now and then and no one knew what it was!” He then noticed Claudette's hand, and after a moment to allow his shock-addled brain to adjust, he reached for it, getting to his feet.
George's eyes darted around the room as he took everything in. He adjusted his clothing and dusted himself off as his eyes followed the steam rising to the ceiling. “It's steam-powered? How?”
Claudette looked where George was looking. “Oh, yeah. No. That's not from the engine. That's just cooling fluid for the charging process. When the sled fires and the cooling tubes fall off, the fluid inside flash-boils. So you get that trail of steam. It's actually powered by electromagnets in the car.”
George trotted down the room toward the cave. He walked as far as he could go before reaching a guard railing about five feet from the edge of the floor and a drop of unknown height. His eyes frantically searched the darkness. Claudette walked up behind him.
“Don't bother, it's three miles into the cave already.”
“What?!” George gasped.
“Yeah. The sled goes at about five-hundred miles per hour, so it clears a mile every seven seconds or so. Granted, it starts to slow down immediately after being fired, and we have big brakes deep in the cave, so maybe not three miles.”
George stammered. He couldn't form words.
“Well, you wanted to know how we get those airships up. This is how. Batteries. We have engines driving dynamos that charge batteries which then power motors. We also have the ability to drive the fans directly from the motors.”
“What... how?” George stammered.
“What do you mean how?”
“Well, what kind efficiency are you managing?”
“Oh, that. I don't know. It's hard to figure out exactly since all of the various motors and engines are different.”
George's mouth hung open as he looked around
the room. “What kind of power are we talking about?” he asked.
“Gigajoules,” Claudette responded with a smirk.
---
Anna sat, her arms and legs close to her body, at the work station, glowing tanks of bubbling fluid surrounding her. Hoffman walked in through a space in the tanks and over to her desk. Even in the bright confines of the lab, his face always seemed to be covered in fierce shadows. He gave her a large stack of folders and papers.
“This is your first assignment,” he said. “We're having issues transferring power from a micro-scale hydraulic system of a certain viscosity to another hydraulic system with a different viscosity. Thermal expansion causes even more problems.”
Anna nodded quietly as she accepted the stack of papers.
“I generally avoid chit chat while working, so you'll excuse me for my silence.”
Anna again nodded quietly. “Why don't we work with the other labs?” she asked.
Hoffman turned as he walked behind his own desk. “Who? Them? They are children, playing with toys. We cannot be bothered with them.”
“My brother is out there. Will I get to see him?”
“Ah. Yes. I recommend that you forget about your brother. While I am sure that he is intelligent and skilled, he pales in comparison to you. You are at the absolute forefront of human development here. Everyone who is behind you, is behind you. Keep your eyes ahead.”
They looked at each other for a moment, then Hoffman turned his eyes to his desk and began work. Anna then turned to her desk and stared at the closed folder. She gazed a thousand feet past the desk, a look of sadness and concern on her face. Finally, she opened the folder to the first page of schematics.
---
George sat at his workstation, not moving. He sat on his stool, his hands in his lap, his eyes off into the distance. Claudette walked up with two plates of food and put one down in front of him.
“You doing alright,” Claudette asked with a smile.
“Yeah,” George said through a breath. “Yeah, I'm alright.”
“You look a little burnt,” she said, digging into her mashed potatoes.
“It's just that... it seems that every room I enter around here has something even more amazing than the last. I thought everything in here was incredible, then you show me those batteries. How many people are down here?!”
“I don't know,” replied Claudette. “I guess thousands, but that's just a guess.”
George looked over Claudette's shoulder to see Professor Jacobson walking toward them. George nodded in greeting.
“Taking our young lad on a sightseeing tour?” Jacobson asked as he walked up next to Claudette.
“I took him down to the battery lab,” she replied.
“Ah, yes. I've been impressed by your restraint, George. Most of us spent the first month, at least, sneaking around into places we weren't supposed to go.”
“Yeah, I keep hearing that,” replied George. “It's hard for my mind to be excited about things when Anna is away.”
“I'm not joking. Do not worry about her. She's precious to these people. I'd worry more about yourself.”
“Um, why would I want to test my luck, then, by wandering around?” George asked.
Jacobson went blank for a moment, unable to answer. “I have no idea,” he finally said. “Forget about that. Enjoy the battery lab?”
George nodded, almost giggling.
“Did you show him the sled?” Jacobson asked Claudette.
“Oh yeah,” she replied.
“That is an impressive toy, is it not?”
George nodded. “Yes. Very.”
“And make no mistake, that is precisely what it is... a toy.” Claudette rolled her eyes.
“You have to bring that in to everything,” said Claudette. “You've been here for two months and have already cemented yourself as the house curmudgeon.”
“It's because I like him,” Jacobson said, gesturing to George. “And I don't want him getting absorbed by the nonsense here. You can't tell me that you buy their line about helping mankind.”
“Of course I don't believe it,” said Claudette. “But it doesn't matter. We don't have much choice. We either work, or we get locked up or maybe killed. You can appreciate, I assume, that many here would rather think the best of their work and time and not deal with an angry son of a bitch like yourself trying to ruin their day.”
“And I would rather not look out at a room full of prisoners who relish their prison.”
“At least we've accepted our fate. I think it better than tilting against a windmill.”
“Meh,” replied Jacobson. “Regardless. The sled was impressive, was it not?” he asked George.
“Terrifying, terrifying is I think a better word. I've obviously worked with numbers that big, because, well, everyone in the field has. But actually seeing something that is able to produce those numbers?” George shook his head as he tried to form words and failed. “Terrifying. Awe-inspiring and terrifying.”
“You're a wise young man,” Jacobson said. “The power that we are playing with here is terrifying.
“Yes, but just imagine what will happen after that technology spreads to the rest of the world?” Claudette mused. “New York to San Francisco in one day. The economic growth would be unparalleled.”
“I'm obviously more concerned with the moral growth,” replied Jacobson.
“Here we go,” said Claudette.
“No, no. Not today, my dear girl. I have lunch to eat. I just wanted to see whether our lad here had seen the coolest toy in the shop or not. So, with that, good day.” Jacobson bowed and walked away.
“You seem to be on edge when he's around,” said George to Claudette.
“It's not that I'm on edge, it's that he's a pessimistic old goat who shits all over everyone's work. And it doesn't seem to matter what anyone is talking about, he'll start lecturing them about what they're doing down here.”
“You'd think he would just choose to stay in his room.”
“Yes. You would!” Claudette replied. “But no, he instead wanders around for eight hours every day telling everyone else how awful their choices are and that we should all be ashamed. I can only assume that his neighbors hate him.”
“Well... He does have some good points. I have been thinking about what all of this is working toward.”
“Oh, I don't blame you for that. Not one bit. But no matter who we work for, our work will be misused. That's the nature of this. And while here, we can make more progress for ourselves than we ever could out there. That's selfish, yes, but so be it. Being selfish is great sometimes. When I'm done with this, I'll be rich and possessing of ten times the knowledge I had when I came in. I'm sorry, but I can't be anything but happy about that.”
“You don't need to defend yourself to me. I'm not—”
“I know, I'm sorry. It just seems like Jacobson has glommed onto you, which means that you're going to be receiving an ever-increasing amount of invective aimed at me and all of the other poor people. I want to lay down a foundation of defense as a preemptive strike of sorts.”
“Well, to assuage any worries, I doubt that I could ever be made to think that you're a bad person. You're pretty obviously a good one.”
Claudette smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
“Did you get to know my sister at all?” George asked.
“A little,” Claudette responded. “She was rather quiet. We didn't talk about much else beside her work. I'd be curious to know your life story, if you feel like entertaining me.” Claudette smiled an easy smile at George and crossed her arms on his work table. George looked back with a smile, relaxed and comfortable.
“Sure,” George said. “Why not.”
---
The whistle screamed into the night. Bursts of steam chugged out of the massive steam engine as the engineer leaned out the side, signaling to the yard master on the boarding platform of Houston's three-story Grand Central Depot. The wide, starry night st
retched out over the world as Cassidy looked out the window of her train, the light from the gibbous moon casting her in pale shades of blue and white.
“Finally,” said Cassidy. “We finally made it. I feel like we can relax.”
“Why do something like that?” asked Gideon. “We have an entirely new city to destroy. The possibilities are endless,” he said, putting on his coat.
Cassidy chuckled. “You're right. If anything, we're behind schedule. As we're leaving, you set fire to the station, I'll kill everyone coming off the train.”
“Teamwork. That's the ticket,” replied Gideon. “No quiet, peace-loving cities will be able to resist our combined might!”
“You two are just going to keep hitting that ball back and forth, aren't you?” asked Jebediah.
“Damn right,” declared Cassidy. “It's called having a sense of humor.”
“Indeed,” replied Jebediah, motioning out the door with his open hand. Cassidy gave a little mock curtsy and walked out.
---
The trio walked out of the large, brick station and stood in the glow of the gas lamps. “Your show,” said Cassidy, motioning to Jebediah. “Where are we going?”
“That's annoying,” said Jebediah.
“Huh?” replied Cassidy.
“There was supposed to be a carriage waiting for us.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I don't think you can blame them,” said Gideon. “We were delayed multiple times. They likely had little idea as to when we would arrive.”
Jebediah grumbled. “Well, we've got quite a walk ahead of us. Come along, then.” And the three walked off into the night.
---
The late hour did little to stop the citizens of Houston from enjoying city. As they walked down the streets, a multitude of saloons, restaurants, and cafes stayed open and dozens of people chatted and dined in the glow of the street lamps. Lights flickered on tables, out of windows, and on the carriages that rolled through the streets.
Cassidy St. Claire and The Fountain of Youth Parts I, II, & III Page 48