Clockwork Chaos Read Online Free

“The catalyst mixed with the refined oil from the tar pit makes quite an explosive. Apply sufficient force to start a reaction and the mixture becomes quite destructive. That my dear is the weapon.”
    Another sound intruded on Cobham’s hearing, just below the omnipresent pump. This was a drone of sorts. Sparrowknife noticed it as well. The airman’s eyes flickered away from Moore to look upward. Out of the clouds came an immense dirigible, its prow low over the encampment. The long, grey cylinder of its bulk stretched into the distance.
    “The Windram is quite an aeronaught isn’t she?” Moore asked, his voice filled with pride.
    “There’s no such thing as an aeronaught,” Sparrowknife spat.
    Looking at the massive machine drifting by overhead, Cobham felt that he might just have to disagree. It was armored along the sides and bottom. Two sets of spars jutted outward at a swept-back angle bearing immense rotary fan blades that spun in a blur. Round barnacle-like protrusions harbored the barrels of cannons. The massive tail fins cut through the low-hanging clouds. He couldn’t blame Bornesun for lighting out with the Sharpshin. The airship couldn’t stand a chance against this behemoth.
    Kassandra, as always, went straight to the point, “Why, Sante? Why do all of this?”
    Moore responded after a moment’s thought. “The King’s empire in the New World is dying. Dying because he refuses to let us grow and learn.”
    “That is treason,” Sparrowknife said in a clipped tone.
    “Spoken just like a King’s man. But in consideration of your loyalty, do you know the history that your monarch’s dynasty is based upon?
    “When Edward the Third and the Black Prince led the court out of the Old World establishing New Britain in the New World it was a time of great opportunity. We left behind the old ideas with the plague-ridden continent. We conquered a whole new land. We opened our arms to the survivors that made it to our shores because we’d realized it didn’t matter where one grew up. We were human and alive, that was enough. Our nation grew from the strengths of its many cultures. We experienced a renaissance, much like the old Greeks. Our scientists, artists, and philosophers all came together to create something greater than the sum of the whole.”
    “That’s true,” interjected Kassandra, “It was an age of adventure and growth.”
    Moore’s countenance darkened as he swung towards her. “Then we conquered the entirety of the southern continent using what we’d discovered of the Black Plague as a weapon. We pushed all of the native peoples out of our new land into the Southern Islands off of our coast. We gave them indentured servitude that might as well have been slavery.”
    Shaking his head, Moore pointed a finger at their party. “But we’d reached too far. Our grasp couldn’t contain all of the lands we’d conquered. Now we had to try to hold onto what we’d conquered. We couldn’t even do that. We gave the southern continent to the Mexateca and the Southern Islands back to their inhabitants. We also left them all of our machinery and knowledge as well. Is it any wonder they harbor resentment of us? Our proud Monarchy bred generation after generation of Edwards until our present incarnation who can barely see beyond what his fingers can grasp on a map. New Britain is waning. Our once great country has no future.”
    Moore’s sudden silence after such a long diabtribe caught Cobham by surprise, but he could see the tension still working in the man as he strode back and forth. This time when Moore turned back to the group of captives, his attention was focused on Cobham and Sparrowknife and as he spoke each word grew louder in volume until he was shouting.
    “Because I am a man of science I cannot be restrained by hidebound ideals and a lack of vision. Your tottering empire, ruled by aged, senile fools trapped in the dark bunkers of their fear is trembling on its very last legs. The