Maiden Voyage of the Rio Grande: A Bartleby and James Adventure (Galvanic Century #2)
Michael Coorlim
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
4.00
· 1 ratings · Published: 29 Jan 2012
Brilliant but socially-awkward inventor and engineer James Wainwright has been accused of murder most foul, and only his savvy partner Alton Bartleby can clear his name.
The clock is ticking, though, as the true murderer’s sabotage threatens to crash the world’s largest airship into the teaming streets of London below.
This 8,000 word story is the second in the Bartleby and James cycle of steampunk mystery novelettes.
Excerpt
The detention cell was a far cry from the cabins that the luxury airship provided its honoured guests. I only can assume that, should one find oneself to be clapped in irons and escorted to the brig, that one no longer is classified as ”honoured.” While my previous appointments had plush carpeting, elegant wallpaper, carved hardwood furniture, and delicate electric lighting, the brig (as the American crew chose to call it) was uncomfortable and utilitarian. Frost formed on the bulkhead's unadorned steel, and beside the crude bench a bucket in the corner served as the totality of its amenities. A grate in the entrance hatch the only access given the outside world.
To say that I was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I can only imagine the dreariness of being left alone in that miserable hole for the duration of a voyage. Without a task to occupy my mind and hands I had little doubt that I would go mad after only a few days. Fortunately that didn't seem to be the Captain's intent, for half-an-hour after my incarceration he returned with one of his officers.
"Wainwright." Captain Nussbaum conveyed a military demeanour that matched his uniform.
While the Rio Grande was a civilian vessel, the crew's uniform was based loosely on that of the American Navy, perhaps a little more ornate and a little less saturated. If the Captain was a retired German officer, they were a far cry from what he would have worn during his term of service.
He refrained from further comment, standing near the hatch as a trio of airmen brought in a small folding table and a pair of chairs, which they set up in front of me so that the seats were across from my bench. When they'd left, shutting the hatch behind them, Nussbaum and his officer sat.
"You have already met Herr Dewit?" Nussbaum asked.
Dewit, First Mate by his insignia, scowled at me. As the man had walked in on me amidst a blood-soaked murder scene I cannot entirely fault him, though I must admit to some annoyance at the entire business.
"Let's cut to the quick, Wainwright," First Officer Dewit said. "Why did you murder the Second Engineer?"
"He was an engineer?" I asked. "Pity."
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The 'Galvanic Century' series
3.82 · 22 ratings- And They Called Her Spider by Michael Coorlim Book #1
- Maiden Voyage of the Rio Grande: A Bartleby and James Adventure by Michael Coorlim Book #2
- On the Trail of the Scissorman by Michael Coorlim Book #3
- A Matter of Spirit by Michael Coorlim Book #4
- Sky Pirates Over London by Michael Coorlim Book #5
- The Tower of Babbage by Michael Coorlim Book #6
- Fine Young Turks by Michael Coorlim Book #7
- March of the Cogsmen by Michael Coorlim Book #8