Rayner Evaristus's Story

"Last call!"

Rayner Evaristus, Professor of Metallurgy at the Cogsman University of Technology, bellowed out across the docks. A selection of students from the University, as well as some hobbyists, had signed up for the expedition to Trivington Hills. Everyone had seen the stars go wild, everyone had seen the giant winged beast, and everyone had seen something fall from the sky. As quickly as the phenomenon in the sky began, it ended.

Now, it was time to see what had fallen from the heavens. Abigail Fogg had gotten lucky. While her tuition to the University was lost, an opportunity presented itself at the docks. She was all hands on deck and ready for action! This could be the perfect segway into the education she sought, the future she dreamed.

The gangplank bobbled as the last few boarded the airship S.S. Bronze Bolt, Abigail Fogg among them. She settled herself along a railing on the deck, taking in the view of Port Goldengear from here. She hadn't been in the city long enough to truly appreciate it, but she would be back, and this time with a future for real.

Clutching the sea chest that held all her meagre belongings and everything that consisted of her profession tightly to her side, Rikki disembarked from the transport ship as quickly as she could amongst the other passengers. For the first time in quite a while, she was merely a citizen aboard ship. It didn't really help though, as the man serving as ship's doctor was a complete quack. Somehow, word had spread through to the other passengers, and even a few of the sailors, that she also was a doctor. So, of course they came to her instead, and thus she hadn't actually relaxed to the full extent. And, of course, a fair amount of her medical supplies had been depleted. That was the first thing she needed to do after reporting to the captain of the good ship Bronze Bolt.

Wending her way through the crowd, it wasn't terribly difficult to spot the Bronze Bolt, surrounded by a crowd of students in the process of boarding. Falling in behind a woman maybe slightly younger than her, Rikki marched up to the forecastle and demanded of a passing sailor, "Where is the captain? Inform your captain that the ship's doctor has arrived, but has to replenish her supplies before we disembark."

Eileen did indeed reach up with her ornate leather glove and put her hand in Doreen's. Everything said a substance was there, with hints of flesh and bone inside, as if small fingers idly moving. Though some of the senses denied or inconsistant. The faint wrinkles of leather present to Doreen's fingertips a bit too smooth. As was the rustle of mittens not leather between fingers came to ear. Neither cold nor warm however expressed a presence to doreen in partial void of that sensation. If anything Eileen's small glove kept heat from escaping a larger hand supremely well.

Floated along beside to the city without the constant bob of legged people her cheer bobbed instead. Humming to herself reached into her small tailcoat jacket to pull out a book. A feather popped from the spine of a book bound in downy black cloth, On its front a label of sterile grey letters 'Eileen Mulford, Humankind, Anchored, Viable' a label also written shadowy places of dark stone.

Manipulated with one hand the book refused to totter away from her touch. Bobs and weaves balanced on her fingertip Eileen's gyroscope and compass. She raised it and looked to the environs though inside the clearly open book Doreen would see nothing. Just empty tan vellum pages spread open.

Eileen's moving gaze in rapt attention to the page belied something there as did her cheer, "There's so many little lines! The dark men must look here a lot! They're really busy though. They said I could go anywhere I could see the lines."

She looked down past her tailcoat where an amorphous overlong torso of white simply ended. Where legs ought to be had never been at all. The lower half ill-structured and wavy as if half-forgotten.

In a child's passing interest of serious things looked up to ask, "Do you think the university has legs? The dark men said they weren't allowed to change my busted legs. I dunno."

She bobbed side to side a hips underneath push her red tailcoat at angles, "I guess I like this better than my old wheelchair. Stupid no-legs!"

Finding herself approached by whom was apparently the expedition leader, Rikki smiled politely at the man and shook the proffered hand quite firmly. "Professor Evaristus, I presume? We shared some correspondence when you were looking for someone to fill this post. I'm used to reporting directly to the captain of any ship I am expected to serve upon, sorry. I'm guessing I'm supposed to be serving as expedition doc as well as ship's doc?" Rikki replied, noticing the man's glances and his avoidance of asking about her eye. "Yes, it is a clockwerk eye. I lost my real one in a bar fight..."

After laughing to make him think she may or may not be joking, she dropped the chest to the deck and kicked it open. Perusing the contents with a practised eye, she looked back up at the prof and said, "Well, I guess I'm better on supplies than I thought, so long as you are well stocked on painkillers and antibiotics..."

Eileen floated beside or perhaps a little behind following up the gangplank looking at the ships with gasps and wows at the spectacle. Though it would become more apparent to those behind or under her there wasn't anything under her. Little book closed she slipped it back inside the red tailcoat and slipped goggles from her hat to her eyes. Brass and googly she thought they were fun and just held her hat on as the wind slightly buffeted her around.

"It's really windy up here, Doreen!", came the little one's reply at the gangplank.

Slight lean off the gangplank to see she wondered at the drop, "If I fell off would I go splat? I dunno."

It was the professor that caught her eye next it reminded her of an Uncle she saw once. The dark men couldn't find him but she could get more, right? He looked older than the sailors. Important even! It must be the captain.

As they made deckside the small stark-white floating child squeed, "Hi, Captain!"

"Indeed!" The professor firmly shook Rikki's hand, "We greatly appreciate your presence. I understand you have yet to decompress from your last endeavor. I do hope we are as sufficiently stocked as you assume. The University admittedly has never gone on an expedition such as this one," They shared in a chuckle, and Professor Evaristus complimented her on the eye. Unfortunate how she lost it, but what a piece of equipment it was!

The Professor flushed as a little girl squeed a greeting at him. He quickly looked around for the source, but the child was lost in the bobbling crowd. Something about that greatly unsettled him. He brushed it off as behind him there was a fuss between Abigail and two students over a telescopic lens. It was her turn! Excusing himself, Professor Evaristus marched to handle the situation.

Doreen giggled and tugged gently at Eileen, "That's Professor Evaristus, he's the national head of Metallurgic Research and teaches up at Cogsman. I've taken two of his classes," There was a strong sense of pride in her last words.

"Sorry, mi-iss, for interrupting," The student apologized to Rikki, noticing for the first time the eye.

About to respond again to the Professor, Rikki was startled somewhat by a squee from a strange little girl. It registered in her ears on a different level than normal human hearing, which is why she pivoted so quickly to find the source of the sound. The next moment found the ship's doctor dropping to the deck quite quickly on her right knee, clutching her left knee which was shooting all sorts of pain up her leg. An old injury from one of her very first adventures had torn and more or less completely destroyed the patellar tendon, rendering her knee completely unable to support any weight. Except for the ingenious clockwerk brace Rikki had created, she would never have been able to move about with alacrity.

Pulling a screwdriver from a pouch on her hip, she quickly re-tightened the loosened screws that held it all together, and, after another moment or two of pain, Rikki once more rose to her feet. Only to find a student apologising to her about some sort of interruption.

"Interruption, dear girl? Whatever do you mean?" The doctor replied with a wink and a spark from her violet, not so human eye. "The Prof obviously has a lot on his plate leading this expedition, whatever it is... And hmm... is that your friend there who just squeed quite loudly and gave us all a bit of a start?"

A rather crooked smirk to show that she was only gently teasing, Rikki glanced about again for the source of that squee. Not immediately finding it, she called back over to the Professor in friendly query: "Just what exactly is this expedition about, Prof? You weren't exactly forthcoming when you sought me for this position..."

As Doreen went forward to apologize Eileen had gone to find somewhere to draw a door. If she fell off the side how would she get back? She didn't want to fall off the side and go splat but... she'd gone splat a few times already. Stupid wing city.

Her book out and held up on one finger drew with the quill from within its spine. On the tan vellum pages her nib seemed not to need dipping as much as picking up colors from the opposing page. There instead of tan Vellum was a Gamut of colors for her to choose from. The nib went slightly in farther than the mind's eye said the page surface was but left angular lines all the same.

A simple thing with a frame and a hinge it was purple with bright yellow hinges. Upon its front written with a red heart above was her name in black, Eileen Mulford. Below in a children's wobbly script said in black as well, 'To the Dark Men'. As she filled in colors the page shuffled and pivoted as if the image locked in place certian revealed such as the door fixed in space as she floated about. She finished coloring in the opposite side and lowered the book. Just below a stair on on opposite wall between a blink the door now sat, its gausche coloring and all. Hardwood and cast iron doorknob and all revealed by touch and seen by unaided eye.

Though by sight it faded slightly as Eileen went back to Doreen one could still feel and partly see the space that door occupied. However one that neither touched floor nor breathed that she was quiet moving is quite understated. Eileen tugged on Rikki's dress gently for notice. Goggles partly obscuring her black marbles for eyes though the professor certian at vantage to notice her missing half.

Question burning on her mind as Rikki called out to the professor immediately reframed one in her small voice, "Yeah! And what's metal urges?"

"Oh, miss!" Doreen reached forward to catch Rikki, but she caught herself. She moved in closer to be there in case the woman stumbled again. Oh, wow! She was too busy watching Rikki adjust her leg to notice what Eileen was getting into.

"That is a beautiful piece of equipment," Doreen held her arms out to offer stabilization should Rikki need it, "Yes, we're all quite excited. I myself had a very clear view of everything which transpired-not quite sure to where Eileen, her name is, went off to-" She glanced around, trying to spot Eileen, when the little girl appeared again.

"You didn't see it?" The Professor called back from the scuffle, holding a young man gruffly by the collar and extending a brass telescope into the air with the other arm away from Abigail Fogg, "This morning, something great fell from the-get back!"

"You waren't about when 'e promised-" Abigail protested, earning a silencing look from Professor Evaristus. The young man grabbed at the telescope. The Professor held it higher and shoved him away. After a quick inspection he found it didn't belong to either of them and was Cogsman University property. Pressing a little button on the side the entire telescope collapsed. He slipped it into a pocket and marched back over to the Doctor.

As he approached the three ladies, a chill crept up his spine. The crowd moved a little too quick for him to verify, but did that little girl have a lack of legs?

"Ms. Terrazip," The Professor nodded, trying to hide his concern with the legless child, "I see you've brought an apprentice, is this?" He then turned to the Doctor, "We have no idea what we are in for, truly. Things falling from above our world!"

The gangplank was brought up and the entire ship shifted as it prepared for departure. Abigail scoffed and head straight for the ghostly door, irritated with the boy but glad her cover wasn't blown.

Alexander Wells handed his ticket to the ticketing officer, boarding the ship, and handing his leather handbag off to the Bellhop, he was eager to get to his room, and start some much needed research.

Rayner Evaristus shouted and pointed over the rail of the airship, the wind whipping his hair about. There was a large hulking object down in Knightheart Valley. It wasn't the one they were going to see, but it was even closer to home. This must have been responsible for the quake!

Eileen shoots up the stairs as she heard the professor call tightening her hat on her head to place the goggles over her hollow black eyes. A quick stop by the under-stairs door she'd made opened it to reach in and remove a scarf. The weakly connected space made her feel cold and the Dark men had left a black scarf in a careful fold by some of her other things. Faint crystals were tied through it periodically and at the end of each cord at the ends. She rubbed one against her face and thought it felt warm.

Knickknacks and souvenirs there were kept on a small grey stone outcropping. A short corridor to a labyrinth both dark and bent at strange angles. Just out of range of a small crank emergency light hung by the door were a hodgepodge of lights and candles just before the line of shadow. At least other than the faint light somehow leaking into reality barely outlined everything though just dark enough she still feared it.

The door closed behind her swaddled the far-too-black around her neck as she went to the rail where she saw Rayner standing. They'd finally arrived at something interesting! One hand on her journal the other on the rail hauled herself upward. The effort lacked a certain weight with her movement as did the thin tasseled scarf drifting of its own accord.

Her grunt off effort contrasted her drift goggles barely over the edge to see clearly, "Nnnng! What's that thing professor? It looks kinda like a huge vacuum!"

Rikki took the time given to head down to the Sick Bay of the good ship Bronze Bolt to stow her sea chest and take stock of things. Fairly standard layout, of course. A few bunks lined up along one wall, with the other wall lined with shelves and drawers presumably stocked with everything the expedition would need. She would have to make a full inventory later, but for now she would just have to take the Prof’s word for it. Dropping the sea chest on the bunk situated against the far wall, Rikki pulled the curtain around to wall off a little area from the rest of Sick Bay. There was no need for the Ship’s Doctor to be any further away than necessarry from her patients, if and when she had them.

Wanting to quickly return above deck, Rikki grabbed a large backpack that served as her field medkit out of the chest and swung it onto one shoulder. After lifting out the bottom of the sea chest, she pulled out a seven-cylindered revolver complete with holster and gunbelt in an almost reverent manner. Other than the extra cylinder, the revolver was a fairly standard one: longish barrel, regular ammunition, cherrywood lined grip. The last thing she pulled out of the chest before closing it were her goggles. Simple and practical, with a blue tint in the lenses, nobody sailing on an airship should go without them.

Satisfied that everything was in order, at least for now, Rikki hurried back towards the main deck. On her way past a set of stairs that led to the upper decks, something made her pause for a moment. It might have been a twinge in her knee, or a twitch in her eye that made her stop. There was a door, in an out of the way place, and only visible if you looked for it. With the shadows and the colouring of the door, it could be easily dismissable to the eye, but Rikki could feel its presence. Several moments passed, how many she didn’t know, when she was roused out of a stupor by the calls on deck, hand resting on the doorknob.

Puffing her bangs out of her eyes and readjusting her goggles, Rikki ran over to the railing to see what was going on. All thoughts of the strange door were completely forgotten as she laid her eyes on the huge chunk of metal. Something about it remided her of the Horned Men she had encountered during her voyages with the Deadalus. The metal thing looked like nothing more than…

“That’s the propulsion exhaust-thinger, isn’t it?” The Doctor asked aloud. “I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know the lingo, but that thing’s just a bigger version of what propels this ship. Something that gihugeic, though… that ship would be massive!”

Rikki peered around at those gathered around the rail, her eyes resting a bit longer on the girl that seemed to be floating at the rail next to her, before staring evenly at the Professor.

“Prof, if we’re going to check that thing out, make sure all your people are updated on their Tetanus shots before we do,” she said sternly, before adding more lightly: “But of course all you Cogsman folks would already be inoculated against whatever metals you work with.”

The Professor was deep in thought on the Bronze Bolt's deck. He had decided a breath of fresh air was needed to help him decipher the hulks as he stared at sketches of both of the hulks that had been compiled since they landed. His deep thoughts were interrupted by the medical doctor whom he presumed had been attatched to their expedition interrupted them. He took his eyes off the sketches, and focused on Rikki.

He looked out and rubbed his chin. "Putting the two halves together." He said, pulling out a third sketch, which was a rough approximation of what the strange hulks would look like assembled. "It's some kind of airship, but not any design we have seen before, we'll know more when we explore it's inside. What we've been able to find out though... is these protrusions are weapons of some kind. it's purpose was for war." He put the sketches down, and rolled them back up.

"I'm up to date on all my shots! I made sure before we set out on this expedition." Straightening his coat, he pulled out a pair of brass binoculars, and began to study the exterior.

"I've never seen these symbols before, maybe some fresh eyes..." He held up the sketch so Rikki, and the others could see it, the sketch was that of a stylized phoenix with a large, superimposed V, a a strange firearm like weapon clutched in one set of talons, and olive branches in another, with everything superimposed on a large shield design, and strange, alien text written under the design.

"What do you guys make of this?"

"DESCENDING!" Hollered a voice from somewhere up the deck. Everyone scrambled to hold on to something, save the more seasoned. The ship continued down, resting gently a short distance from the crash site in Knightheart Valley. Charred earth dusted out as the vessel landed in the scar left behind by the giant hulking metal thing that had crashed.

Abigail Fogg scurried to a cabin as everyone else scampered towards the deck. She had a bit of air-sickness and thought the mountain air was a bit too cool for her tastes. A shawl and a bit of deep breathing should do.

Rayner Evaristus propped his hands on his hips and turned to let the wind stream through his hair. He tapped his foot impatiently, leaning all the way over one of the rails to look closer at the gaping metal hulk. It had been quarantined off earlier by a dispatch, the same who had so graciously provided him with a sketch.

The foreign vessel from the skies waited patiently for his exploration students to do the learning and poking about. The Professor was not patient, not at all. He glanced at the gathering crowd, waited a beat, and then kicked down the gangplank.

Steam hydraulics hissed as the staircase unfolded from the side of the Bronze Bolt. The mechanics had barely disengaged when the Professor started down them.

Steam hydraulics hissed as a staircase unfolded from the side of the Bronze Bolt, the big flying ship that had come from the college to the south. The mechanics had barely disengaged when a man in a double breasted coat started down them, two long tails trailing behind in the cool mountain breeze.

He clapped loudly as he arrived at the bottom, taking in a deep breath and surveying the wreckage. A bright metallic ribbon, twinkling with copper weavings, marked the perimeter.

There was a loud thud as a big crate was dropped a bit too hard off the ship. The Professor shot a quick glare to the one working the pulleys before swiftly cranking open the lid. He fished out a hard hat from the collection in the crate and jammed it over his hair. Again, Rayner clapped. He turned his attention up the staircase gang plank and addressed the small crowd of students (and college staff, and one or two others on the expedition) that had gathered.

"BEST EARS ON, EVERYONE!" Rayner Evaristus cleared his throat and continued, loudly, after a beat,

"SINGLE FILE DOWN THE PLANK! GRAB A HARD HAT, AND GATHER HERE," The Professor pointed at a spot in the dirt between him and the copper ribbon.

"DO NOT CROSS THE RIBBON! Right-o!" He clapped again, signaling everyone to move.

Doreen Terrazip slipped on the Hard Hat neatly over scarfed braids and hoisted her pack onto both shoulders. She went to wait where the Professor had pointed. Doreen's eyes never left the strange wreck. The curious symbols. The unfamiliar metal.