Jack Of All Trades ✓ | steampunk, dragons, trickery

Chapter 3.1: News on a Theft

Monday for Jack flew by. He had to make sure the food would be ready and had to taste it to make sure it was what his customers would want as part of the theme of magic, order the drinks and make sure he had the appropriate time-period cups, call on the usual musicians he often asked and hear the rehearsals, and then he had to make sure the lighting worked in the ballroom and in the showroom. Everything of entertainment had to be set and ready to go so that when tomorrow came, it would be easy to get everything in one place at once.

He also did some last-minute promotion, putting up an act of cheerfulness and talking to people in arts shops and made sure there were enough tickets to sell. Through doing all this, he started to forget the whirlwind of gloom that happened the day before. He just busied himself and the more he put on the cheerful act, the more the act became him, and he was beginning to feel cheerful.

"Simon!" He called for the old man as soon as he finished lunch. "Simon!"

Simon came in the door. "The car is ready for you, sir."

"Good." Jack grabbed his coat and headed out into the bleary rainy noon. It had just started raining and the weather promised a let-up in an hour, but it was always a few hours off. The driver held an umbrella out for him as he slipped into the car. Simon followed after locking the office up. They were going to visit Craig Baldwin who was claiming to have fallen ill and couldn't move, but that his son was just as capable of going in his place. Jack, to keep up good relations, said he would go and visit Craig with a bottle of whisky as sometimes whisky was the solution to feeling better.

"Have the drink?" Jack said.

"She's here," Simon said.

"Good." Jack tapped on the separating window. The car started up and they were off.

During the ride, the storm worsened. The televised radio came on over static waves, telling of a hailstorm and the clogging of the troposphere. The news shifted to low voices. Something about Arrow's Bend and a Dr. Gray. It struck a chord. Jack opened the separation window.

"Could you turn that up?"

"Aye," the driver said. "And I'll get the screen up back, too."

The static cleared as the visual came on behind the driver's seat. A television anchor stood before a picture of a white facility surrounded by police cars and many news station personnel milling about. The man's mouth just moved without sound for a few moments and then finally Jack could hear him.

"...st night, the Arrow's Bend Aviation Center of Science suffered from a massive theft. Two-hundred-thousand fellings' worth of equipment was stolen. Macy has the story."

The visual zoomed in and focused on Macy, a brown-haired woman, standing in an office with wide windows that looked out at the crime scene of Arrow's Bend Aviation Center of Science.

"Thank you, Tom. A-Bacs, Endil's most renowned aviation science center suffered from a major theft of experimental equipment. Dr. Howard Gray, Percy Peace Prize winner last year, revealed last week a new type of fuel may have been discovered in Belvinshire. 

"However, the forest and mountain glades where the energy lies are under the Nature Protection Law and the Animal Protection Law. Dr. Gray could have made a plea to the Ministry and the King, insisting on excavation of the area for our future technological advancement and which would have been a profitable discovery for Dr. Gray and his team, however, he has refused to continue the experiment to protect the environment which is said to rely on the energy for survival.

"And so, the excavation plan was called off. The teams were moved out. The equipment was left unfinished in a heavily guarded warehouse with five separate security systems and fifteen cameras all watching the location 24-7. However, last night, there was a breach, and the experimental equipment was stolen along with all paperwork involving the excavation and the location of the energy.