1 Chapter one:The Age of Steam.

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(commercial music playing)
Tired of lazy workers? Paying more than they can work? Don’t waste your precious money on people no more! With our new Steambots, all your working needs will be done! With only a small sack of coal and a push on the lever, watch as he—
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—… what I am saying is, we cannot use coal for every kind of machine we have! We are running low on natural resources, we are gathering them like a hungry animal trying to find more food to end his endless hunger. We need, no, we MUST find other ways to make energy or the world as we know will cease to exist, there will be only smoke and ashes, life on our planet will be gone.
(sound of people grumbling and talking among each other.)
— Now, the other party will speak of why we should keep using coal for our daily needs.
— Thank you. My dear friends, ever since the Great War of Resources, we have seen how we need this precious black ore. Yes, it pollutes the air and makes our people sick, but you wish to devolve our kind to the age of darkness? Our world will not die, it is impossible, as long as we use this to fill our needs and we take care of our beloved ones, we should be ok. Our scientists are creating more medicines now more than ever, and we are closer to find another kind of resource, one that has the same color but its liquid. If we must, we will change our ways, but not now, we are still learning from this fueling system and we shouldn’t stop now.
— But don’t you agree that the safety of our fellow citi—
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I am tired of listening to the same old bullshit over and over again. My name is Luis Sirota the Third, son of Luis Sirota the Second, I am an engineer just like my father, I currently work in the city as a freelancer, I normally fix machines when people call for money. Ever since the creation of the Steambots, finding work has turned out to be quite the challenge. Either you are gifted with some sort of crazy and brilliant idea or you are just like the others, poor and sick. This is the year of 2021, humanity evolved in a way that its beautiful and deadly. We managed to create so many things but at the same time, we managed to destroy a lot as well. We don’t have cold anymore, not a nice cold that you just put a jacket and you are fine, no. If we have cold, it comes in the form of what we call Cold Age. The planet is engulfed by a blizzard that lasts for almost a year, if not more than a year. We always try to prepare of it, but every time it comes, we don’t have enough to help everyone. Last time, we lost 2/5 of the world population. We don’t have a Cold Age in a long time, last one was… I don’t know, 11 or 12 years ago. After the last blizzard, came the Great War of Resources, every major Country started to make war with one another for more Coal. If there was no coal to be found, we discovered that we could make charcoal, isn’t as powerful as coal, but it was enough for us to destroy ¾ of the world’s forest. After the war, we separated the world in three major powers. We have Nordland, which is composed by the northern Europe and some of the middle Europe, Midland, which is composed by the majority of all the western Europe and all of what used to be Africa, that now is called Blackmarsh. Russia was separated in the creation of the powers; the western side became partly Nordland and the other part was Midland’s. The other side, the eastern side of the world turned into what they call Eastworld, a place where they hate and refuse to use the what they call, and I quote “destructive technology that will be the end of mankind.” As said by the leader of their nation. They live like farmers, as some people I know would call, Medievalists. In a way, I respect their ideas, but I’m already used to this way of life, so, I can’t imagine myself living in a world without steam power.
I don’t want to wake up and go to work, I’m feeling lazy.
(places head on the pillow)
But those machines won’t fix themselves, and I don’t want any damned steambot taking my job. At the same time this technology is crude and destructive, its useful. We can have the newly created lightbulb, powered by steam generators. I have a Steam mobile, I call her Bessy, she is a reliable machine when she wants to be, I cannot tell you how many times I got stuck on traffic and she decided to break down on me. Takes a few hours to fix but oh well, it’s better than walking.
Ok, let’s get out of bed and eat something.
(before he got out of the room, he decided to open the window.)
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Ah, the smell of sickness and steam, never gets old. So, what do I have for breakfast? Hmm nothing great, bread and milk. Well, if you don’t fuel the machine, you won’t be able to work, now will you?
(he ate the bread and drank the milk, wishing for something else.)
Ok now, I am already late, I need to be going.
( he left the house and locked the door. He looked around, it was a normal day. It was hot and windy, people were walking, some were sick and no one was smiling. He entered Bessy and before he could start her, someone came to him)
— Hey, Luis!
( he looked, it was Juliana, an old friend of his.)
— Oh, hey Juliana.
— Hey, are you going to work?
— yeah, Mathew wanted me to go and fix his Steam generator. You need anything?
— I might. When you are done, could you come to my place?
— Well, I have a busy day so…
(as he looked at her, she made her puppy eyes.)
— Ooh come on, please? Pretty please?
The thing about pretty girls is that, most people can’t help but to end up doing what they want. Most pretty girls are like the daughters of rich men, they are as dumb as a door, and they even get to go to school. Not Juliana, no, she is as smart as she is pretty.
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— Alright, Alright. I might get there a bit late, so…
(she jumped on the machine as kissed his cheek.)
— Thank you! I knew you would help me.
(she got out of the machine and ran to her house. He placed his hand in his cheek and smiled.)
— well… one of these days, I will ask her out.
(he drove to Mathew’s home, in the way, he saw something that made him worry. The number of corpses and poor people were getting bigger by the day.)
Poor people. Most of the corpses are only children, I knew some of them, they used to work in the coal mines. Good thing is, they don’t have to work anymore, bad thing is… well… they are dead.
(he finally arrived at Mathew’s place. It was a small house, but even a small house need a big Steam generator to make things work. As he got out of Bessy, he looked at Mathew’s face, he was pissed.)
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— You are late!
— I know, I’m sorry. The… uh… traffic Is terrible.
— I live two blocks away from you! You could come walking!
— yeah well… life, I suppose. Now, show me what’s wrong.
(Mathew grumbled for a moment and walked him to the generator. The machine was not completely broken, but it looked like something or someone struck it with a blunt object.)
— damn… well, it’s not impossible, that’s for sure.
— can you fix it?
— I just told you it’s not impossible, so it’s possible. do you know what happened?
— no. I was listening to some music on the radio and I heard this loud noise, like a blast or something, and everything turned black. After that, I gave you that message bottle through the Steam Pipe.
— yeah, I knew something was weird, you gave me that almost 1 in the morning!
— Sorry, I was desperate…
— its ok… I’m sorry for what happened. Alright lets se what I can do…
Well, I few cogs and pipes are pretty destroyed, I need to replace them. The Coal holder for the next batch is pretty fucked up as well, but nothing that I good piece of metal and the strength of the arm with a hammer can’t fix!
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(after beating the metal and giving a rounded shape, he used his small blowtorch to stuck it with the holder. It was not the best work, but it’s better than paying a major company to do a half assed job and rob you as payment.)
— Well, I can’t promise it won’t break anytime soon, but I think you will have about a month without it giving up on you.
— Thanks Luis! Here is your payment, and a bonus.
— no, Mathew… only the payment is already great.
— Luis, you are helping us in ways that we cannot thank you. Without your knowledge of the machines, we would be poor, or worst…
— yeah… well, thanks.
Normally I ask for 50 golden cogs, but he gave me 100. Today more and more people are getting poor and the few that are rich are getting even more money than we can ever hope to have. Well, I have places to go and people to help.
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( he looked at the clock, It was 2pm. He went all around the city, working and helping those in need. Some people asked for his help on the way, Luis was known for his kind heart, those people who were in desperate need, he helped them for free. He knew that it was getting hard to earn money, so he helped anyway he could. When the clock struck 11pm, he decided to go home.)
Ah, finally, a good day’s work, a good day’s payment. Now I get to go home, relax, turn on the radio and…. Oh shit, Juliana!
(he went as fast as he could, well, as Bessy could. When he finally arrived, he looked at the window, he looked at her sleeping on the couch.)
— poor thing, is already asleep. Maybe I should leave her and come back tomorrow…
(as he looked at her arm, he saw she was bleeding. He quickly went to the door.)
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— Juliana! Are you ok? What happened?
— the door… is open…
(he quickly busted inside the house, she was not bleeding bad, but he was concerned about her.)
— What happened?
— nothing… just another experiment… that’s all…
— You are your creations… one day you will end up being killed…
— No one will miss me.
— I will.
— You will?
— Yes… you know I will…
( she smiled and looked on the ground.)
— Ok, help me get to my room, I have something to show you.
— ok… but don’t you want to rest?
— no! I must show you this first, I will have plenty of sleepy sleep when I die.
— ok… ok.
(slowly he helped her walk to her laboratory, well, “ laboratory “. It was a huge room with a lot of machines.)
I haven’t seen some of her machines, well, I haven’t seen her in a while. Look at all this stuff…
( there were huge machines, small and even pocket sized ones. She pointed to a lever.)
— can you pull it for me?
— sure.
( after pulling, a light shun the room, giving light to her new creation. it was a huge thing, that had a lot of pipes and cogs on it.)
— What in the name of… what is that?
— I… I don’t know.
— You don’t know?
— well… I think it’s a portal. When I tried turning it on, it lasted for a few seconds before it closed. Luis… you won’t believe what I saw.
— what did you see?
— You… but… healthier, clean.