Capes & Clockwork: Superheroes in the Age of Steam Read online

  I laughed a little and said, “The main project the government has me working on is a … well, for the simple explanation, a very powerful bomb.” She squinted at me, so I added, “Our airships have had limited success at destroying the smoke factories, but it takes the combined bomb payload of an entire fleet to knock just one out of commission. By the time we’re ready to attack a second, they’ve already repaired the first. This bomb should be powerful enough to wipeout a small city. If our air navy can eradicate the factories along with all of its infrastructure, we may have a chance of turning the tide.”

  “I heard two more airships were lost yesterday,” Hunter said in a grim manner.

  Mattie gasped, “I wonder if they were one of those we saw yesterday?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied and sunk back in my seat. I glanced to Keely and watched her smile as she spread a thick layer of butter on her toast. I envied her at that moment, unaware of what the words meant and the distressing news that poured in about the war. I shook my head at the thought; war meant both sides had a chance for victory. This is a struggle for the very survival of our species.

  *****

  That afternoon, Mattie and Keely returned to the flat after an excursion to the school house. I left my study when I heard their intrusion in through the front door and felt a little shocked at Mattie’s pale, haggard expression. Keely appeared just the opposite, happy and smiling as she carried a large box crammed to the brim with books.

  I rushed to Keely and extended my arms, “Oh my dear, let me take those.”

  She handed the box off to me and I immediately dropped to my knees in an effort to keep from dropping it. Remembering her weight when I carried her home, this box of pulp and binding must have weighed at least twice that amount. With some care, I tried to lower it but it slipped from my hands and landed with a loud thud.

  Breathing heavily, I looked up at her and asked, “How did you even get that off the ground?”

  Keely’s eyes lit up as she leaned down and snatched up the box as if it weighed nothing. She stepped around me and proceeded into the parlor.

  I remained there on my knees and pondered what had just happened. How could she have lifted it so easily? I looked to Mattie who wore the same expression that I no doubt did.

  “Mattie?” I said but her eyes never left the door to the parlor or the young woman who sat on the couch and drew from the box one book after another.

  Keely laughed as she opened each book and found pages of words and colorful drawings. She glanced over and waved for us to join her, but neither of us moved.

  “I don’t understand. I could barely hold that…” I started but Mattie put me off.

  “Ahhh. There is something not right with that girl. If I were a proper Christian, I’d say she were a witch or a demon. Ya should have seen the things I witnessed today.”

  I slowly pulled myself to my feet, “What did you see?”

  The old woman’s lips quivered slightly as she spoke. “First off, she were doing her darting about, playing in the sunlight like she always does. But she weren’t payin’ attention and got out in the middle of the street. One of them bloomin’ steambuses came around the corner faster than it oughta and ran straight into her.” She paused and took a deep breath, “I ain’t making this up, you see … but the whole front of that thing just smashed in around her, like it’d hit a tree. But it weren’t no trees, it were her.”

  I started to laugh but the seriousness of her expression caused me to refrain. I nodded and gave a slight wave to encourage her to continue.

  “She just walked away without a scratch. The driver and passengers got off. They were a bit shaken but I pulled her away and got her to the school as fast as possible.” I gave her a quizzical look and she added, “I didn’t want her to get into trouble with the law and we don’t need a lot of questions floatin’ around about her, now do we?”

  “You did the right thing. What else happened?”

  “Well, we got the school. The door was locked and I tugged on it a couple of times. Then she grabbed the knob and yanked it off. That seemed to put her in a mood, so she banged her shoulder against it and the door and facing just shattered. I ain’t seen nothing like it. And then she darted about the place faster than I could see. I swear, she moved from room to room so fast, all I could see was a blur.”

  My mind returned to her morning romp in the back yard, how she’d held me and lifted me off the ground.

  “Mattie, just keep an eye on things and speak up if you see any more of these occurrences,” I whispered. “She’s not from around here. We must keep that in mind. I suspect that there is far more to her than meets the eye.”

  *****

  An hour later, I stood and looked over the destruction my beautiful young guest had wrought. Just as Mattie had described, the front of the steambus appeared to have caved in, wrapping its self around a tree or a metal post.

  “Good Lord, what happened here?” Dr. Hunter said as he stepped up beside me.

  I relayed the story that Mattie had shared as well as my own experiences in the backyard and with the box of books.

  “Doc, I’m at a loss. This,” I waved to the steambus, “has me utterly confounded.”

  He ran a hand through what little gray hair still remained on his head and looked back toward the school.

  “Come on, my boy. Let’s have a look at that door.”

  A brisk walk did little to lighten my concerns. When we stepped up to the school’s main entrance, we indeed saw that the door was gone.

  Hunter gasped at the devastation to the entryway, “Tom, this door hasn’t been knocked down like Mattie said. Look at the splintering. There isn’t even a door, only debris. Knocking a door off its hinges would leave it mostly intact. This looks as if a cannonball plowed through.”

  “Yes,” I muttered, “A five foot four, blond cannonball who fell from the sky and really wanted to gather up some books.”

  *****

  The following day, I awoke to find the front door standing wide open and Keely sitting in the doorway, staring out. I moved up behind her and stooped down. The pale green dress, although torn here and there, looked beautiful, although she would have been lovely in sackcloth as well.

  “Did you enjoy your walk yesterday with Mattie?” I asked but she said nothing. She looked up at me and the lack of a smile on her face was heartbreaking. I couldn’t bear to see her sad and my mind searched for a way to bring the happiness back to her. “Wait, did you want to go back out? For a walk, I mean?”

  Again, she looked at me, not understanding my words. I held one hand flat and with the other hand, used my fingers to represent a person walking. When she perked up, I pointed to myself and to her.

  “You and I…” I started and then corrected myself. “Thomas and Keely go for a walk through the city.”

  She nodded and leapt to her feet. After shoes and jackets were donned, we left and briskly strolled down the avenue. Every shoppe we passed, Keely would point, run to the windows and peer inside. All the wonders I took for granted on a daily basis were new and exciting to her. She spoke constantly, sometimes to me and other times muttering to herself, but always in her language.

  On the few occasions that the sun broke through the clouds, she’d run to touch the rays. On one occasion, she tripped over a pair of young boys in her pursuit. Later that same day, I had to grab her before she stepped into the path of an oncoming carriage.

  The steambuses raced by us and she paid them no heed. But when the first horse-drawn carriage approached, she jumped behind me, clutching my arms as if she feared the creatures.

  “They’re just horses,” I explained and eased myself to the side to force her to look. “They are large but domesticated. Do you understand? They are work animals.”

  She looked at me and then jumped out in front of them. The driver pulled hard on the reins and stopped the carriage a few feet away from her. She stepped a little closer to one of the horses and stared hard at him as the driver shouted obscenities at us.

  “Oy, get that lovely outta the road,” the driver called.

  Keely sniffed at the animals, but they ignored her. She said something and when they didn’t respond, she began talking louder.

  “Keely!” I exclaimed and she glanced over to me. I stepped closer and took her arm. “Please, step aside, this man has business and we need to let him pass.”

  She reluctantly moved back onto the sidewalk, but yelled at the horses as they trotted away. Finally, she looked at me, muttered something and proceeded down the sidewalk as if nothing had happened.

  We’d only gotten half a block away when we heard a terrific crash from up ahead. Screams of men and women filled the air. I grabbed her hand and ran down the street to the intersection. As we approached, others were running to see what had caused the commotion.

  From what I could deduce, a steambus had rounded the corner too fast and veered off the street. It’d hit a set of steps leading into a townhouse and flipped over. Worse, was that an elderly man lay pinned beneath the contraption. Several men desperately grabbed at the bus in hopes of relieving enough weight so someone else could drag the man out to safety. But their combined efforts were all in naught.

  A crowd gathered to observe the scene and watched helplessly as the men struggled and the elderly man clawed at the air, desperately begging for escape. Without hesitation, Keely shook her hand free from mine and ran toward the bus. Just as Mattie had described, she moved so fast that all I saw was a green and gold blur.

  Her hands clamped onto the roof of the vehicle and she lifted it with ease. The sight stunned me and broug
ht a collective gasp from the crowd. In fact, they were so startled and ill prepared for the spectacle that no one moved to drag the elderly man to safety.

  “Grab his hand and pull him free!” I shouted.

  Two men caught my words and reacted quickly, picking him up and moving him away from the wreckage. Once I was sure he was safe, I approached Keely.

  “Everyone move away, please!” I shouted again and placed my hand on her shoulder. “Can you push it on over? Set it up right?”

  She looked confused but I made some hand gestures and got my meaning across. She pulled the steambus away from the building, causing the crowd to scatter back. And then she rolled it over onto its tires.

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from it. “We have to go. Come on, we need to go see Mattie and Dr. Hunter.”

  “Oy, see here. You mind explainin’ this?” someone shouted at our backs. Some in the crowd began to follow but we rounded the corner and then ran all the way home.

  “Doc, it was simply incredible,” I said, having explained the events.

  Mattie, who’d been out shopping that morning, entered the flat with a fearful look. She glanced from Hunter to myself and finally to Keely who sat flipping through her books.

  “I reckon all the fuss I’m hearing on the streets is on account of the missy there,” she said and point to Keely.

  A bad feeling crept up my spine, “What did you hear?”

  “Word is out that young woman lifted a bus and flipped it upright. Saved an old man from a dreadful death. But I think the big news is—she lifted a bus!” Mattie said with a little heat in her tone.

  I looked to Hunter. “What … what do you think they could do? I mean, I saw no one there that I recognized. They couldn’t know she lives here.”

  Dr. Hunter stroked the unshaven growth on his chin and moved to sit beside Keely. I noticed him study her for a moment before looking back at me.

  “Since you got home, has she done anything?”

  “No, nothing but sit and look at her books,” I answered but saw concern in his expression.

  She looked at him and smiled, but then I saw it too. The vibrant glow of her skin had dissipated. Her complexion had a pale, sickly look about it. And her eyes looked tired, as if she’d not slept well in a week.

  Hunter stood and extended his hand to her. She looked up, took it and stood. He led her to the box of books that she’d effortlessly carried the day before.

  “Would you be a good girl and lift this for me?” he said and pointed to the box.

  When she failed to understand the meaning, he leaned over and tugged at the handles. She understood his request and tried but couldn’t get the box off the ground. After a second attempt, she moved back to the couch, plopped down and returned to her book.

  “Amazing,” Hunter whispered. “Whatever the source of her strength, she can deplete it. I wonder how long it takes to build it back up?” He looked around and called out, “Mattie! We need food for the girl. Let’s fill her up and see if that helps restore these abilities of hers.”

  “I don’t know what to think about her.” The words left my mouth as I slowly shook my head. “I just don’t know…”

  *****

  For a city that had held over four and a half million people the previous year, London now served as home for just a couple of hundred thousand workers and government officials. It was still a respectable number, all things considered and that population still required the daily items that made life possible, including the newspapers.

  For the next three days, gallons of ink spoke of the fantastically strong woman and her act of heroism. Sketches of her and myself, none of which were very accurate, graced the front pages, while columns within the folds offered opinions on who she was and the possible dangers a super-powered human could present to polite society, especially in a time of war and unrest. But without more sightings, the papers returned to the war news and my super-powered guest fell out of the minds of the populous.

  Keely’s education progressed at an alarming rate. I kept my head in my work during the day while working with her in the evenings. Mattie spent her mornings teaching the young woman the letters of the alphabet and basic words. Their afternoons were spent cleaning and cooking. By the third week, she’d master the alphabet and the school’s reading books. Although she still couldn’t speak more than a handful of words in English, she’d already started writing basic words. Her penmanship was atrocious but she had a certain knack at doodling. I’d find small sketches of Mattie, Dr. Hunter, and me along the edges of her writings.

  *****

  Keely and I decided that afternoon walks should become a routine, despite the objections of Dr. Hunter and Mattie. I assured them that I’d keep her under control. There was risk but I knew that if she were to understand humanity, she needed to be out in the world, seeing it first-hand.

  She was provided new dresses, almost daily since Mattie had plenty of unsold goods in her shoppe. Her fashion choices were driving poor Mattie insane. The older woman would drape Keely up in beautiful long dresses only to watch as the she’d tear the sleeves off and rip the skirts so they hung well above the knees. When we’d take the occasional stroll through the city, her beauty and wardrobe would turn heads and stir up scandalous whispers among the few ladies that remained in town.

  Each afternoon for the following two weeks, when her schooling and chores were done, I’d sit on the stool in my study, perched over my drawing boards and watch her through the window. Some days, the sunlight didn’t fall and she’d walk about, studying the grass and trees. But when the golden rays struck the earth, she’d dance about with hands outstretched as if scooping the light from the air. It was those days that my work suffered from a lack of attention, but my heart soared.

  When my work was done, we walked farther out in to the neighborhoods of London. She marveled and dragged me around from sight to sight. The steambuses became a favorite attraction for Keely. We rode them all about town. Half the time, her head would be stuck out of the window. She’d laugh and smile as the wind whipped her golden hair about.

  *****

  Work progressed on Henry the 8th, slowly but surely. Keely frequently came into the workshop. After prancing around nude for the men on her second day here, they were eager for her to visit. But a stern lecture and warning about their behavior kept their tongues and wandering hands in check.

  “What?” She asked and pointed to Henry.

  At the moment, the spherical device seemed nothing more than a metal skeleton, a framework of orange painted aluminum. But all the components lay about on the workshop’s tables. This was the first, a prototype but if it worked, they’d be handing the schematics to the factories in the north for mass production. Since the isotopes were rare, mass production would mean a possible five or six devices a month.

  I stepped beside her and answered, “This is Henry. He is a bomb.” When I saw her face scrunch up in confusion, I threw my hands up and made an explosion sound. She nodded and I asked, “You know what a bomb is?”

  She gave a stern look, “Yes. Me know.”

  Despite her expression, I couldn’t help but smile. I just loved hearing her soft feminine voice.

  “Thomas, why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off and show your lovely friend some more of the city,” my workshop chief said as he stepped up behind me. “We’ve got everything we need. It’s all a matter of putting it together and we’ve got the plans.” He gave me a hard pat on the back and leaned closer to whisper. “Look, you’ve been stuck in here for most of the week. Take it from me; if you leave a girl alone too long, she’ll find ‘er someone else who’ll keep her company.”

  I thought about it and he was right. I’d had my head buried in my work for the past few days and could use some time outside. More importantly, I wanted, no I needed time with her. My lab coat was tossed aside, and we left for a well-deserved afternoon stroll. At least, I thought it would just be a stroll.

  Three hours later, we returned to my flat. Mattie stood in the center of the parlor, arms crossed and wicked gaze cast upon us. Dr. Hunter stood off to the side, but his demeanor wasn’t much better.