Tabula Rasa

***please read The Bounty Hunter tales first***
http://www.welcometosteampunk.com/profiles/blogs/the-bounty-hunter-...

More than three years had passed since the events at Westminster Abby and almost as long since the abandoned lab on the outskirts of London had seen any activity.

Somewhere high above the north Atlantic, the eccentric scientist sat at a desk, sleeping over what seemed to be plans for a power core. The room shuddered and shifted, rustling him awake. His arm quickly swept down to catch a falling rocks glass that, too, was shaken from its calm position on the desk.

“Too close for that crystal” Os said sipping the remnants of the glass before setting it back down. “now what the hell is all of this commotion about”

He stood and walked across the small room, balancing himself like he was on the deck of a ship, until he reached the latched door and grabbed on. The door flew open as he opened the latch, throwing him back and revealing one hell of a thunderstorm. Os stood up with a sigh, wiping the water from his face and walked over to a coat rack, grabbing his black, leather john bull topper and his long grey coat and headed out the door, shutting is behind him.

Thunder bellowed in the air and the wind and rain blew around him as he held on to the railing of the platform he stepped out to. Lightening flashed, showing the silhouette of what appeared to be a small habitat. Os walked across the platform to a staircase that lead to a lower catwalk. Taking quick glance, he sighed, starring at the northwest corner. “Number 3 power is fluctuating again…damn thing won’t hold out in this storm.” He said to himself. Os turned and jogged up the stairs and back inside the habitat, quickly grabbed a pair of gloves and his goggles and ran back out. This time instead of heading down, he vaulted over the staircase and continued running platform till he hopped over the railing on to the deck of the docked Archimedes. He ran inside, flipped a switch and the instrument panels whirred to life. OS then ran to the closed hatch in the back, opened the engineering compartment and hopped inside.

Flipping a few more switches, the reactor in the back began to emit it’s harmless, green glow. He grabbed some heavy gauge cables, hooked them up to the reactor and ran back outside, down the staircase and over to the northwest corner of the catwalk. Flipping open an access panel on a large pod, he attached the cables and ran back to the reactor. With the flip of a heavy knife switch, sparks flew and the inconsistent glow of the ring evened out as the cables sparked on the pod and the platforms motion leveled out.

A sigh of relief escaped in to the air as Os walked to the front of the airship, stopping at a control station and flipping a few more switches. “Since I’m here, where in the hell am”, he paused going over navigational data. “Wait… what??? How in the hell did I drift this far east? A dirty green light came on as a blip started to flash on the navigation radar. “No..”,. Os said, taken back, looking at the radar. “That’s not possible... I disabled that beacon before I left and no way in hell it should have power… Well, the platform needs repair and being this close, it’s the best place to do it.. I supposed it’s about time I show my face back in London. I think it’s been long enough….time for a fresh start..”

After making a few preparations back inside the habitat, he ran around outside take a few large chains and cables from the platform and attached them to the hull of the ship. Back in the engineering compartment, he opened a few valves and flipped another large switch, transferring power from the reactor to the heating element in the boiler. The pipes hissed and moaned and the pressure quickly grew. He tapped on a few gauges and checked a few instruments “Alright, looks like we are at pressure, navigation for the habitat is successfully patched in, time to hit the ole’ dusty trail”

With a flip of a switch, docking claps disengaged and the Archimedes floated from the platform. Pushing a button and easing a leaver forward, the sound of a valve opening could be heard from the back and the props hissed to life as steam filled the piston chambers of the rotary engines outside. The four props slowly spun as the ship and the platform drifted apart, bringing the chains taught. Quickly gaining speed, the tethered units ascended out of the storm as they headed towards London.

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