Cold Fusion - A Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Fusion Short Story Anthology

Brave New World

Author's note: This was a Steampunk story written as if Rome had discovered steam technology first, a submission for Tevun-Krus. Hope you enjoy.

The intricate clock with it's delicate Illyrian mechanism, chimed musically from its spot on the mantle. Hearing the familiar sound, Gaius Theolonius Bennett looked up from the paper he was reading to check the time. He then glanced out a nearby window.

Just as quickly he was grimacing in disappointment.

It was still raining. While not uncommon in Londinium, Britannia's capital, to have rain at this time of year, well, at any time of year really, he had hoped for less seasonal weather for today's events. And by that, he wanted clear blue skies.

Of course the ever-present clouds hanging over the factories in the industrial quarter made blue skies over the sprawling city virtually impossible. Still, he had hoped.

Gaius sighed. Such a thing was just one of many challenges of living in a modern industrial city like Londinium in this forward thinking time, 724 Anno Domini, two years after the establishment of the first Roman settlement across the Atlantic to the west, on the shores of the New World. But, when one lived in the worldwide glory that was the Unified Roman Republic, one could expect such advances each and every day!

Before he could sink further into his thoughts, there was a sharp rap on the door of his apartment.

"Gaius, you layabout!" a familiar voice called from the other side. "Rouse yourself, old friend. We've an adventure to begin!"

"I'm up, I'm up," he quickly replied, throwing himself to his feet. A handful of steps took him to his door, which he pulled open in a single motion. In doing so, he revealed the smiling visage of his life long friend.

"Gaius!" said the sandy haired man he found there in the way of greeting. Dapper in a well-tailored suit and long coat of gallic make, the man took his hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Lucius Flavius Nero, you old scoundrel," Gaius replied as he returned the handshake, his smile equally broad. "You look fit. Egypt must've agreed with you."

"I was entertained while I was there, for certain."

"By Alexandria's famed Library?'" Gaius asked with a grin, earning himself a snort.

"And you claim to know me," Lucius said dryly, eliciting a laugh from his friend.

"As long as you didn't catch any permanent diseases, I'd say it was time well spent." He gave Lucius a slap on the shoulder. "Good to see you, old boy!" He gestured over his shoulder. "Give me a moment to retrieve my coat and hat and then we'll go!"

By the time the two friends had reached the street running in front of Gaius' building, the drizzle had become a downpour. Flipping up the collar on his heavy gallic long coat, Gaius settled his hat more firmly on his head.

"So the shipment arrived without incident?" he asked as he glanced up at the sky beyond the portico protecting the building's entrance.

"I saw to its escort myself," Lucius assured him. "You've nothing to fear, old friend. Senator Kingsley's goods have arrived in Britannia safe and sound. They'll be ready for the exhibit at the museum on schedule. The senators from Gaul, Hispania and Germania will be suitably impressed by the antiquities you've gathered from Egypt and all points of interest in northern and central Africa at Kingsley's behest."

His friend paused just long enough to settle his own hat before taking a step out from beneath the portico to wave down a taxi. As the horse-drawn covered carriage went to a nearby intersection to turn around and come back on their side of the cobblestone road, Lucius darted back under the portico.

"You'll make your inspection, sign the customs forms, and collect your fee from the senator's aide before lunch," the sandy haired fellow continued as if he hadn't stopped, shaking the rain from his sleeves as he spoke. "Leaving plenty of time to visit Britannicus Circus's steam menagerie, that one you've been dying to see, before you have to make an appearance at the senator's office to make your report."

Gaius couldn't help a wry chuckle. Lucius always made things sound so straightforward. And they usually were, right up to the point that they abruptly went sideways. Something that happened frequently when the two friends got together.

Then the taxi was pulling up in front of them. As the driver, a sturdy Celtic Briton with blue woar tattoos on his face, scrambled down from his seat to respectfully tug a forelock before opening the door, Gaius glanced skyward once last time in the hopes of seeing blue.

Instead he was just in time to see a dirigible slip out of the clouds on its final approach to the city center's docking pylon several blocks away. An innovation of the free thinkers of Germania, it combined Roman steam technology for propulsion with lighter-than-air gases contained in streamlined balloons. The resulting craft sailed the skies much like a ship sailed the seas, connecting the Roman cities of Europa, Asia, and Africa more efficiently and effectively than the oxen-drawn overland caravans that once plied the trade routes that kept the Republic together.

The dirigible was just one of the latest inventions discovered by the free thinkers that drove science and discovery forward in the steam-powered republic. Ever since military engineer and architect Vitruvius discovered the first practical application for steam in 65 BC, garnering the interest of engineers and free thinkers across the Republic, new steam technology and discovery appeared nearly every year. Technology that gave the Unified Roman Republic the strength and capability to swiftly conquer the known world.

And now, 800 years later, the technology had advanced far enough to allow Roman shipbuilders to build steam-powered ships big and fast enough to cross the tumultuous Atlantic in a few short weeks instead of months, like wind-driven ships previously needed. With access to that kind of power, the Republic was poised to bring Roman civilisation to the New World.

An elbow nudged Gaius from his rumination.

"Quit daydreaming, man, and get into the taxi!" Lucius urged, his hand in Gaius' back propelling him forward. "I'm getting soaked out here."

"Sorry," he said, clambering up the steps and into the taxi's cabin. He dropped onto a padded bench.

"This rain has me a bit reflective."

"Figures you couldn't wait for a drier day to do your reflecting, old son," his friend said as he dropped onto the opposite bench, the driver closing the cabin door behind him. "You free thinkers are all the same. Heads perpetually in the clouds."

"Allows us to better see what's ahead," Gaius quickly retorted.

"I knew you would say that," Lucius said with a grin. Then he was giving the cabin wall a rap with his knuckles.

"To the Brittanicus Circus, driver, at best speed!"