A Matter of Temperance (The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance Book 1) (12 page)

Ichabod

     “Miss Plumtartt, are those bells signaling an attack?”

“They do not herald the arrival of a frozen confection wagon, Mr. Temperance.”

The bells are still ringing, but they can barely be heard over the tumult of citizenry readying themselves for war. Fighting panic, the defenders desperately try to get the new giant Disruptor, the one we just examined, into place North of the city. Efforts at getting power to the location are still under way.

The bells stop ringing. Lots of folks start ‘shushing’ one another and then silence falls over the anxious city. Being quiet and watchful are the only means of detection other than the ‘Eye.’

Semaphore signals from the clocktower communicate that the ‘Eye’ has revealed something large to the North of the city. We then get signals of what the locals are calling ‘Daisies.’ That is, they just sort of ‘pop up’. The ‘Eye’ searches near and far. Secondary messenger teams use their flags to pass the information to ground level operators.

The university’s middle sized wagon-mounted Voltage Disruptors operate on the ends of their copper wire leashes that supply their power. More of the powerful devices adorn the roofs of the houses of learning.

Several Voltage Disruptors sit ready to defend the Sol Furnace.

I understand that the independently powered wagons, be they by hand cranked methodology or steam driven dynamos, are stationed throughout the city. I reckon there’re about seventeen, or eighteen, altogether. Our biggest obstacle, I believe, lies in our inability to see and locate the beasts. Only a few sets of “Beauties” have been created. Crews are trained to listen. Currently, ear horns and electro-dynamic listening stations are used to detect the chittering noises the unearthly beasties make. Sharp young boys and girls who have the heart for such work help to look for the fleeting shadows and listen for the disturbing sounds.

Disruptor squads are already busy throughout the city. Someone makes a comment that the attacks have not started this early before. They are popping up with more frequency. We can see a blast of Voltage Disruption! Great Jehoshaphat! I just about jumped out of my skin at the crack of that charge, and it was nearly half a mile away. Two more discharges happen where we can see them and we hear excited sounds of combat!

Spinning up my ‘Beauties’, I can see a few fluttery batlike creatures, clumsily flapping through the air. Most are way too far away for me to assist, but one darts near to our position and drops. It lands on the head of an unfortunate victim. I am at his side in a flash. With effort, I pull the thing off and kill it with P.E.R.K. before the poor man is seriously injured.

More citizen soldiers jump in to defend each other with their new resin weapons.

The Voltage Squads know their business. They have learned how to track and spot an invisible foe. Amazingly, with the combined efforts of many people, monsters are sketchily tracked. It is the operator’s decision whether to take the shot. It is always immediately apparent whether the strike hits home; either there is a terrific explosion from the demon, with the monster briefly visible in a stark silhouette before detonation, or the surrounding buildings are hit instead, and they suffer the blast.

K
U
H
-
r
rR-
ACK
!
!
!

That was a Voltage Disruptor at close range! Good grief, that was powerful!

K
U
H
-
r
rR-
ACK
!
!
!

Distantly, the big gun in the North East has fired on something. Now the emplacement to the East has fired. This Squad weapon next to me is charging up for another strike. It must have a target or it might explode. There! I climb up on the platform and put the goggles over the operator’s face. He sees the creature. The concentric glass circles begin to light up in a sequential pattern, faster and faster, until they reach an electric crescendo!

K
U
H
-
r
rR-
ACK
!
!
!

BO
O
OM!
(Explodes the monster).

Miss Plumtartt is monitoring the semaphore. More large creatures are moving towards us from out of the Alps in the North, and from out of the Carpathians, to the East. The two giant Disruptors cast monumental bolts of destruction from the mountaintops. Apparently there has never been an onslaught like tonight’s. There is real desperation that the third emplacement will not be operational in time.

More Disruptor fire is going off all over the city now. Between the University’s and Furnace’s roof mounted guns, and those around the city of Graz, there is never a moment when the Disruptors are not firing.

One of the few prototype back-mount, handheld Voltage Disruptor operators hurries by. He has one of the few new sets of ‘Green Beauties’ that have been hastily constructed. I do not envy him as that backpack steam-dynamo looks like it gets very hot.

Oh no! There is a terrible explosion from the big North-East emplacement! Rings of electrically charged flames burst in strangely patterned circles from the vital, big gun. The gigantic battery that is so essential to this city’s defense has apparently malfunctioned. Jagged, yellow halos of lightning flash in perpendicular, sawtooth-edged orbits from the misfired battery. Surrounded by electric chaos, the Disruptor erupts in a fiery, sparking demise. There is bound to be a great loss of life with this tragedy. I hypothesize an arc was created and jumped inappropriately when a crewman made contact to discharge the weapon. This errant reach of unregulated voltage triggered the initiation process. These devices are devilishly dangerous to operate.

There are attacks all over the city. In an ominous fashion, though, they seem to be getting closer. Moreover, they appear to be heading for us.

A nearby Disruptor blast nearly knocks us off our feet.

Miss Plumtartt and I can see a green glow coming from the north of the city. The only large Disruptor is the one on the eastern range. It apparently has plenty of targets. The one gun we had in the north is destroyed, with, no doubt, tragic result. The desperation to get the new Disruptor into position is palpable. The glow of green to the north beyond the protective mountains is getting more intense.

Disruptor fire all over the city continues unabated. Miss Plumtartt and I are constantly on the move for safety.

There is a crack of Disruptor fire from the north! The new emplacement is functioning and active!

Suddenly, there is a flash of light, followed by a deafening explosion, and we are all nearly knocked from our feet. The greatest explosion the world has ever known has just occurred on the other side of the towering Plabutsch Mountain.

The Voltage squads are all in full fledged fights. The two remaining major Disruptors are unable to regenerate their charges fast enough for the demand. Something with a green glow is approaching from the north and the east. Those unbelievable Disruptors, bigger than large houses, are unable to stop whatever it is that draws near.

“I ain’t one to leave a buddy in a bad spot, Ma’am, but I think you and me ought to high tail it of town, Miss Plumtartt.”

“Quite so, Mr. Temperance. If anything, we add to their troubles by our presence.”

“Let’s hoof it for the aircraft field, Ma’am.”

“All the dirigibles have all left, Mr. Temperance! All but one and it is lifting off now!”

“Wait, please! Grab up Miss Plumtartt, y’all!”

“Ja, ja, vee have zee young lady. Farewell, young man.”

“Take me with y’all!”

“Nein, it is too late.”

“Herr Captain, the little chap is clinging to a trailing rope.”

“Cut him loose.”

“I say, captain, I do so appreciate your taking me in at the last moment, but I do so wish you would extend that courtesy to my companion, the rope clinger, eh hem?”

“You are Persephone Plumtartt, are you not?”

“Yes, Captain, indeed, I am.”

“In that case, we shall pull him in.”

“Thanks for letting us aboard, captain. We’re good for the fair.”

“Mr. Temperance, look there. A grotesque worm, several city blocks in length, squirms past Plabutsch Mountain. The electric gun emplacement is unable to bear on the beast.”

“Oh my Goodness, you’re right, Ma’am. Golly, that there colossal grub is turning to follow us ain’t it. Gee, I think it knows you’re up here, Miss Plumtartt.”

“That is not a comforting thought, Mr. Temperance.”

“No Ma’am, I’m sorry. I reckon we made it out of Graz in the nick of time, hunh, Ma’am?”

“That enormous worm is closing upon us faster than we are exiting. Mr. Temperance, please be so good as to share your goggles with our captain, that she may see her threat for herself, eh hem?”

“Yes, Ma’am, Miss Plumtartt, Ma’am. Here you go, Miss Captain, Ma’am.”

“Ach!”

“I say, our captain is now fully engaged with hurrying us from this abysmal position. Do you think we will escape, Mr. Temperance?”

“I don’t know, Miss Plumtartt, even without the goggles, I can see this monster worm being lit up by many electro-strikes, momentarily displaying its grotesque form in bright green outline around a black reflection. It is fair determined to catch us.”

“I say, these Disruptor discharges slow, but do not stop, the beast so intent on catching our departing Zeppelin. The harried pace of the Alpine colossus is not deterred by dynamo bolt. If anything, the horror exudes a joyous excitement as it squirms towards us with all its energy.”

“No Ma’am, Miss Plumtartt, Ma’am, we’re gaining speed and altitude! We’re going to make it!”

“Hear, hear, good show. Oh drat! I see several long-legged insectile monsters scamper up the worm’s back and launch themselves in an attempt to jump to our airship off of the worm’s head. Hah, they make the attempt in vain. No, vain but for one. By spreading and flapping its carapace shell, this creature has managed to fly and latch onto the steering mechanisms at the rear of the Zeppelin. The over-sized green beetle is a tenacious monster! It resembles an enraged and voracious ladybug, but one with several sets of large pincers.”

“We ain’t got no weapon on board to shoot the emerald-carapaced critter, Ma’am. That ectoplasmic passenger is clinging to our steerage.”

“No, more than that, he is tearing our rudders to shreds, Mr. Temperance.”

“Woah! He just got sploded! A Distruptor operator on the ground must have got him.”

“Though we now travel with a nausea inducing wobble due to the off-kilter orientation of our damaged rudder, we are, at least, still afloat.”

- - -

Phosphorescent creatures pursue us on the ground, as we fly westward through the night.

The nocturnal horrors burn away, like the morning dew, as daylight breaks.

Once we land in Milan, Captain Stromberger is able to make the necessary repairs to her craft. The honourable Zeppelin commander wishes us Godspeed, and we continue our flight Westward aboard another airship, the
Edelweiss
, a marvelously appointed Austrian Zeppelin.

“I say, Mr. Temperance, the European continent itself has become too dangerous for us to remain. We must retreat into the unspoiled West.”

“Do you mean all the way to the Americas, Miss Plumtartt?”

“Yes, Mr. Temperance. Our capable pilot has this ship bound for La Rochelle, on the English Channel. From there, we shall gain passage to England, and from her we shall bound Westward.”

“Golly, it sure has gotten dark. I was hoping we would have made it to the coast by now.”

“This is not the case, Mr. Temperance. You and I must be ever vigilant for our foes.”

“Look there, Miss Plumtartt, I see some faintly glowing specks in the distance.”

“I see them as well, Mr. Temperance. Please take your goggles to our Captain that he may see our foes for himself.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“I say, Captain von Tropp, these foes are to our north. I suspect these come from Paris, which has rejuvenated itself in our short absence.”

“Ja, Persephone, I see that. This phenomenon is incredible. Is it my imagination, or do these low, green glowing lights approach with alarming speed?  These creatures are aloft! We are being pursued by a squadron of winged harpies! I will still maintain a Westward heading, but I am altering our course southward.”

“Let me have another peek at them flying boogie-men, please, Captain von Tropp.”

“Your goggles allow for magnification, Mr. Temperance, can you describe our pursuers, eh hem?”

“Let me get them focused in... Eek! I mean, yikes! These are some big old scary gargoyles come to life! They have huge, bat wings and they are after us like nobody’s business!”

“My word, we have retreated too far south to achieve La Rochelle and there is still no sign of the coast.”

“Well, you ain’t got to worry about us retreating any further to the south, Miss Plumtartt.”