Engineer's Empire

Engineer's Empire: Aether and Abyss: Prologue

Prologue

The distant crackle of fireworks signaled the beginning of the festival. Slade jumped out of bed that morning with wide eyes and a smile. Every part of his small, thin frame ached from the long hours of labor from the city works program, but today was the Engineer's Ball. Builders, inventors and tinkerers from all over the Empire had come to showcase their newest and greatest works. Slade had dreamed of this day for months. In his dreams, he got to show his new creation to the Engineers. He hoped to speak to them in person, and see if he could get an apprenticeship. But first, he had to know that it worked.

Slade ran down to the giant water wheel at the edge of the creek running at the edge of White Pine, his home town. He tightened the bolt fastening a ceramic pipe in place. He angled the end of the last pipe next to the water wheel.

"What're those contraptions for?" an older woman asked.

"The containers attached to the paddles on the water wheel are to scoop up water as the wheel turns. When it gets up to here," Slade indicated by pointing to the upward facing funnel at the end of the pipe. "The scoops on the paddles will poor into here, bringing water to the village through this pipe system, and to the farm through that system there," Slade concluded by pointing to the two pipes dividing from the center.

"Oh? And who came up with all of this?" she pressed.

"Well, I did," Slade answered, scratching the back of his head with his wrench. The old woman scoffed.

"It'll never work," she huffed and wandered off. Slade sighed.

He set the funnel towards the water wheel and stepped back. The long scoops affixed to each paddle of the water wheel dipped into the river. As they came to the top of the wheel, the water splashed down onto the paddle below. On the reverse side of each paddle was a raised tube, one end higher than the other. The low end pointed toward the funnel and guided the splashing water toward it. Bit by bit the water trickled into the funnel and moved down toward the village, filling the troughs at the edge of town.

The divide in the tube headed toward farmer McGhee's fields. McGhee marveled as he saw water brought to his crops via this series of connected tubes.

"Ell I be Slade me boy! Ye've done it! This'll save us so much time each season," he laughed. Slade smiled.

"Seems a lot of waste, all the splashing around," another person from the town said as they passed. Slade shook his head. Tyler, Slade's lifelong friend, spit as the person passed.

"Man, some people can't appreciate nothin'!" he exclaimed. This earned a dirty look from the towns person, which Tyler readily returned. McGhee came waddling up, his thick, rosy cheeks stretched in a wide grin.

"You've done this whole town a great service. Let naught say otherwise. And if'n they must, don't you listen!" McGhee said. Slade bowed and ran to the fair, jotting down his sketches as he went. He turned to say something to Tyler, but realized that in his own excitement, he had run off without him.

At the festival, machines of all shapes spun and buzzed as the adults and children of Brickton stared in wonder. Two sets of propellers sat on either end of a platform that an inventor showed off to an eager crowd as a means of cleaning the sides of buildings with the power of science. Another man showed off his Utili-Cane ™ that was a combination walking stick, umbrella, pipe, flute and butterfly net. Some marveled at having so many devices in a single cane, while others puzzled over why so much was necessary in a single device. One inventor showed a diagram for a rolling bridge, while still another showed off his Diplograph, a contraption that held two pens, and allowed a writer to write two pages at the same time. A display promising 'electric jewelry' was shut down for too closely resembling illegal items within the empire.

Slade was certain that this would be his year. He'd built a clock recently by hand, which no one else in White Pine had ever done. He hoped that would be enough to at least get their attention. He ran up to the entryway when a guard blocked his path.

"Tickets," the guard said. Slade paused.

"I don't have any," Slade admitted.

"Then you can't get in. Paying patrons only," the guard answered.

"I just need to show the Engineers my designs. They'll take me for sure!" Slade pleaded.

"Look son, dressed like you are, you'll be lucky if they don't toss you on your ear, like I'm about to if you don't move along," the guard insisted.

"Could you just ask them if they'd look?" Slade asked. The guard shook his head.

"Can't leave my post. Now off with ya," the guard said, nudging Slade off the path with his pike. Slade shuffled away. He turned to see his Tyler and Jeffrey coming up the walkway.

"You left me!" Tyler scoled.

"Sorry, I was just so excited about going to the Engineer's Fair," Slade said.

"Didn't have a ticket?" Tyler asked. Slade shook his head.

"Don't worry, there's the Masquerade in Autumn. They'll be back," Jeffrey said.

"And he'll still be just as poor, and they'll still be just as uninterested," Tyler replied.

"Come on, we better get back to work before Lumen realizes we're away," Slade said, not looking back at his fading dream as he returned to a job he wished everyday he could escape from.