The Extended Steam Salon

[The Abiliegh]

She sighed and gathered Honey up off the floor and pouring her limp form back into the chair. She'd let her rest a bit. At least, passed out, the girl wasn't going to make a run for it. She looked at Ms Storm, hidingthe weariness in her gaze before catching the woman's eyes.

"You'll forgive my forwardness, but this is likely t'get messy... fast. Why are you so interested in this, and are you carrying a gun?"

[MWBailey]

MW woke up back on the Beau Rosin. He'd called the police, and they'd told him don't worry about it, they'd handle it. He would have expected some kind of follow-up visit by a harness bull or some such, but no, nothing.

The blimp wallowed on the water, as a big, full-rigged loggerhead schooner motored out to the channel. He had kept the original configuration of the ancient airship, complete with the cabin scow/gondola, weird electric "peek-a-boo" gatling mount, the electrically-adjustable cables that held the gasbag on, and what had to be the most ancient diesel four-lunger in existence, not because of its history, but because it made it less expensive to operate and maintain. And the gatling making its sudden appearance from below the main deck always made would-be pirates or sail-by shootists think twice, after their initial pass. He'd only kept two of the original four breech-loading1/2-pounder deck guns, because who really used broadsides these days?

The blimp was his cutoff point; the place at which he cut himself off from the worlkd when things got too hot, or too dead, or too whatever to stick around. Just aether(or whatever they called it these days) the local AT controller, get clearance, and he was gone on the breeze.

he jiggled the crank on the chronojumper, and got the local time. Eight o'clock and a few cents. the thing sort of popped, or coughed three or four times, and the world around MW suddenly felt slightly different, an almost greasy, slippery sort of sensation, as if it turned around but th eworld outside the portholesrevolved up and over. then it was gone, and the world was the same.

Except that it wasn't.

Something undefinable was slightly different about just about everything. Except aboard the Beau Rosin, the universe had changed. again. Except that it hadn't...yet.

MW cursed sulphurously. He knew he needed to overhaul the jumper, but the thing was such a cast-iron glitch to work on. If he ever built another, he vowed, he'd make it simpler and easier to repair.

He boiled some water to shave with, lathered with a bar of soap in his bare hands, and dragged the safety razor around his face until his wide handlebar moustache was the only facial hair in evidence. He put on a clean shirt and a different tie, the same pants from last night, strapped on the shoulder rig, stuck the mauser in it, combed his hair, put on his hat, and absconded out the rear deck hatch, locking it behind him, as he went out for another day of finding the lost ones...

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Tommy sprints down the fire escape of the brownstone, taking the steps three at a time. Whatever it is that's happening, something tells him speed is of the essence...no time for walking today. Landing flat-footed on the pavement of the back alley behind his building, he grabs the edge of the canvas tarpaulin and peels it back, revealing a gleaming electric blue auto. Tommy almost never uses his car..it's a leftover from his more prosperous days, and even when he's been strapped for cash, he's never had the heart to sell it. It's a 1938 Buick Super-Steam Special, quadruple expansion, eight cylinder electrosteam.
Quickly disconnecting the leads to the trickle chargers that keep the battery banks up, he jumps in, flips the levers to get juice flowing to the big glow rods beneath the double boilers under the hood. While he waits impatiently for the pressure to build, he goes over in his mind what little he does know about what he just experienced. One, it was no dream. He was there. Two, all the "Time-bumps" or whatever were forward in time, not backward, except for the last one that put him back in his office. Three, whatever that massive explosion was, it was tossing ocean-going freighters around like they were bathtub toys.
The dials swing over, the four jewel lights go from red to green, and Tommy opens the valves, waits for the big flywheel to spin up, then throws in the clutch. With a scream of burning rubber and a spray of loose gravel, the big blue Buick leaps out of the alley and onto the street, taking the corner on two wheels. T.E. drives like a madman the few blocks back to Mrs. Cross's place, then jumps the curb and parks the Buick on the sidewalk right in front of the Salon. "Sure hope that mystery man is still here," thinks Tommy, as he lurches out from under the wheel and hotfoots it around the front bumper.
Bursting through the door, he hollers , "Mrs. Cross! We've got Trouble! With a capitol "T!" Mrs. Cross is there, and the pretty blonde is back, as well. "Mrs. Cross," says Tommy, "No time to explain, but somethin' terrible is gonna happen! I really need to talk ta that guy that popped in here last night with them fish...is he still here?"

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Sidebar: Not to "pat ourselves on the back" too hard, but I'd just like to say that if this were a pulp-fiction dime novel that I'd picked up in a second hand bookstore to read, I'd be thoroughly hooked at this point....can't wait to see what happens next!-Thistlewaite  

[The Abiliegh]

Hearing the comotion in the front room, she unlocks and opens the door. She breathes a bit easier, seeing it's Mr. Gunn. "Come back here with the rest of us. It's a safe place to talk." She lets him in and closes the door. "Captain Brandsson ought to be back here somewhere... I sent him back to change, but that means nothin, with that one."

She looks at Honey, still asleep in the chair. "We've got ourselves some trouble as well, Mr. Gunn. I'm glad you've come back." She puts a hand in front of the girl's mouth, checking for breath. Satisfied at the soft warm air, she continues. "She came in here a bit ago, all riled up, going on and on about the Lizard havin a plot to destroy the city. I couldn't get it out of her, though, despite several efforts. I'm hoping she'll be a bit less frazzled once she wakes up."

Mrs Cross pushed a hand through her heavy, wavy hair. She looked like she had been up all night, and her hand trembled just a hair as she lit a cigarette.

Sidebar: totally agreed! Though, Noir must be an american love. I haven't seen anyone sides us playin

[Captain Brandsson]

I heard my name as I returned from the back and figured I was either missed or about to be hauled down town again.
I didn't see any badges so I felt all warm inside.  Or maybe that was the buorbon.
"Did you pick this suit out or did the late Mister Cross?"

[The Abiliegh]

I heard my name as I returned from the back and figured I was either missed or about to be hauled down town again.
I didn't see any badges so I felt all warm inside.  Or maybe that was the buorbon.
"Did you pick this suit out or did the late Mister Cross?"

"You're opinion on old suits aside, Captain, it's glad to see you're timing is still impecible. We've got trouble." She wondered if she ought to smack the blonde to wake her up, but thought better of it. Might as well let Mr. Gunn get his story out first. It sounded like he had somethin that needed sayin. With another drag on her camel, she leaned against the stately desk in the center of the room.

[Captain Brandsson]

"You've always got trouble...  Am I on the clock or just working off my tab?"

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

"Man," thinks Tommy, "Mrs. Cross looks beat..still pretty, though.." The mundane thought helps to slow his pounding heart..he realizes he's been running full steam ever since he "popped" back into his office. "Mrs. Cross, can I bum one o' yer smokes? I left my place so fast, I left mine in my overcoat, hangin' on the door." She gives him a cigarette, and he pulls the Zippo out of his pants pocket and flicks it into flame. Inhaling deeply, he blows out a plume of smoke. "That's better," he thinks. He finally twigs to the fact that there are another couple of gals here, ...the one called Ms. Storm, and the little lost-lookin' farm girl, too, standing off to the side, wide-eyed and chewing on a knuckle. The blonde,( "Honey," wasn't it?) is passed out cold, looking a good bit worse for wear than she did last night. "Hey, Mr. Clark," T.E. calls out to the front room, "Does that machine make java, too? I spilled most o' the only cup I've had today, and I could sure use some Joe." Tommy takes another greedy drag on the smoldering butt. "Okay, T.E., calm down, get yer wits together, ya been in worse scrapes than this..." Blowing out a lungful of smoke, his brow knits together in a frown. "On second thought, no...no I ain't." The Captain re-emerges, wearing a stylish, somewhat dated but at least dry suit. "Brandsson," says T.E., "Thank Goodness yer still here! There's something goin' on that's tied up with time travel, and it's way over my head...has anybody else felt anything weird, like somethin' happens, then it don't, then it happens again, only different? Ah, crap, this is making my head hurt!"

[The Abiliegh]

She listened, trying to put Mr. Gunn's rambling in line with Honey's. It added up prety neatly to more trouble than she liked. She took the tray of coffee mugs from Clark as he knocked on the office door, closed and locked it again behind them all, and passed out steaming drinks to everyone. She'd a feelin she should appreciate the joe now. It was shaping up to be a long day.

[Honeybell]

Slumped in the chair, Honey began slowly shaking her head and gasped a single phrase, "He's loading a device on an airship tomorrow.", and after spilling out the news, her whole body began shaking, and sweating with fear.  She slowly lifted her head to look Ms. Cross in the eyes.  Ms. Cross glanced over at T.E. with a look full of meaning.




Sidebar - sorry about last night, I was a bit of a mess... I shouldn't have tried to play.

[The Abiliegh]

Slumped in the chair, Honey began slowly shaking her head and gasped a single phrase, "He's loading a device on an airship tomorrow.", and after spilling out the news, her whole body began shaking, and sweating with fear.  She slowly lifted her head to look Ms. Cross in the eyes.  Ms. Cross glanced over at T.E. with a look full of meaning.

She moved off the desk, and crouched down by Honey. "What kind of device?" Her words were low, voice soft, but firm.

[fireheart storm]

Ms Storm looked at Mrs cross "Yes Ma'am, I carry a revolver and I also carry a knife.  Only fools walk the streets at night unprotected, and I am not a fool,"  She squared her shoulders and adjusting the goggles on her head before she answered.
"Mrs Cross, I've been in a spot of trouble or two in my short life time and I wish some one had stepped up to help me.  And aside form it's the decent thing to do to help someone in trouble," she bit her lip, no longer able to meet Mrs Crosses intense stare, emotion threatening to burst out, "This is the closest thing to a home I have, so if something bad is going to happen to this town I wana stop it," she looked up again.  "The truth from where I'm standing ma'am, take it as you will,"  

She watched Mrs Cross stride around (there was really no other word for it, the woman was proud in the best way) she she looked around, looking at T.E. older, seen trouble.  Then when the Captain comes in she raises her head to look at him, drinking in the details.  

She took the coffee with a smile, "Thank you Mrs Cross, much obliged,"

She walked over to Honey, setting her Coffee down on the desk, taking Honey's hand.  She had no idea what this device was...but it couldn't be good.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

"Okay..okay," T.E. takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. "Lemme see if I can put this together a little better. Things have been going funny ever since the Captain here fell in last night with a load of seafood. In here, in the bar, I mean, the entertainment was just about ta get started, but when I stepped outside, it was just comin' on dawn..didn't notice at the time, figgered I'd just lost track of time. Went back ta my place, grabbed a little shut-eye, woke up about 8 an' was just gettin' my first cup of coffee, when all of a sudden there's a whoosh and a bang and I'm standin' over the dead body of "Bozo" Collins with my gun smokin' in my hand...then another whooshbang, and I'm at my tailor's place down in Chinatown, then again, and I'm on the Drake's Narrows Bridge, watching most of the waterfront go up in the biggest damned explosion I've ever seen...then one more whooshbang, and I'm back in my office,and it's still 8 AM, or it's 8 AM again, or whatever...then I came here."
The big detectives craggy face screws up into an expression that gives him the almost comical look of a confused little boy. "I checked my rod...it ain't been fired since I last cleaned it...what the hell is goin' on?"

[The Abiliegh]

"It seems we've got ourselves a bit of run-off. Time can travel differently in places, or, well, in different times... the speed of light being flexible and whatnot." She doesn't rise from in front of Honey, but she's looking at Mr. Gunn and the Captain. "Seems to me we've got a couple of bits of information we need. First, Honey, you've got to tell us any details about the device the Lizard 'as. We can figure it's a bomb from Mr. Gunn's flashes, but the more we know the better. Mr. Brandsson, it's best you tell me when you were before you dropped in..." She paused, taking the last hit of her cigarette. "And Ms. Storm, love, you're about to get your first crash course lesson in time travel. I need you to go outside for 20 minutes, no shorter, no longer. And then we need to see how much time passes in here, compared to out there... Would you be willing to help with that?"

[Honeybell]

Honey whispered to Ms. Cross, "It's a firestorm coming...it will alter all of us when it detonates.  When I figured out what he was doing, I ran.  I am a fool, I have no weapons on me, and it made it all the easier for me to be shot at last night.  The Lizard thought I was one of his dames...little did he know.  All in all, my curiosity got the better of me.  I'm a reporter for the Aether News, but I'm afraid now I'm just on the menu for a hungry Lizard."  She looked at Ms. Cross with fear in her eyes.  "You won't tell anyone, will you? I already know too much, I don't want to endanger anyone else."

[Captain Brandsson]

"Mr. Brandsson, it's best you tell me when you were before you dropped in..."

I pulled out my golden "pocket watch" and checked the settings.
"Heh...  Exactly thirty thousand solar rotations to the moment I dropped in.  Now, that is some precisions Swiss time!"

[The Abiliegh]

As the Captain spoke, she looked up to him. "Well, that would explain why we're runnin a bit slow."

She was trembling a bit more visibly now. It didn't affect her demeanor any, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that she was working hard to maintain her composure.

"And when is he setting this thing off?" She asked quietly to Honey.

[fireheart storm]

Ms Storm nodded, pulling out an old beat up pocket watch and walked to the door, "See all of you in twenty minutes...I think," she stepped outside, closing the door.  It was times like this she sorely wish she smoked.  Instead she found an empty bar stool and sat thinking.  

Time travel, altering living beings.  She rubbed her temples, her head was killing her now.  She pulled out her pocket watch, not even ten minutes left.  she pulled her knife out of it's leg sheath, examining the edge of the blade.  It was fine, she knew that.  She had sharpened it this morning.  Next she checked her revolver and that she had extra ammo.  She paused, lost in memories for the briefest of moments.  the quite sounds of coins strung together like chimes, an melodic laughter.  

Ms Storm shook her head, looking at her watch and stood, it had been nineteen minutes, she strode over to the office door and knocked at exactly twenty minutes.  Time for reflection later, time for time traveling now

[Honeybell]

Honey whispered to Ms. Cross, "He's planning on the day after tomorrow... but which tomorrow? Someone needs to get on that aerostat.  I just don't think I can do it."  Speaking a bit louder, she motioned to the metal man, "Clark, I need a martini... vodka, and make it dirty." 
"Ms. Cross, I've seen way too much, and I don't think I'm long for this world.  Thanks for listening to my ramblings and for taking care of me.  This is an unusual place, but for some reason it feels like home."

[The Abiliegh]

Ms Storm left, and it seems like no more than a few minutes before she was knocking again. A glance to the clock confirmed it. 2 minutes had passed. Time was travelling 10 times slower in here that it was outside.

"Damn." she thought, as she moved to open the door. "We many need to get out of here, or we're going to run out of time..."

"Thank you, Ms. Storm." And she relayed the information on the time difference to the rest of the room. "Honey... I'm glad you like the place, but I don't see us staying here long. The way time is flying, 2 days from now, out there, is only about 5 hours for us in here..."

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Tommy cradles the steaming cup of coffee in his big hands. Taking a sip, his detective's mind turns the "facts," if they are "facts," over and around, analyzing the available clues from every angle. He turns a hard eye in Captain Brandsson's direction. "Alright," he intones, his voice low," I don't mean to come on hard to a guy I just met, and you seem like a square fella, but somehow you're at the center of this." He takes another swallow of coffee."You know a whole lot more than ya've spilled yet..like, where were ya before you was underwater thirty thousand years ago, an' who strapped that oversize piece o' jewelry to yer ankle? The way I see it, we got a two hundred pound piece o' lead sitting on the floor out there, that also exists somewhere else out there, right now, and two versions of the same thing ain't supposed to exist at th' same time! Could that have somethin' ta do with what's screwin' things up?"

[The Abiliegh]

"Alright," he intones, his voice low," I don't mean to come on hard to a guy I just met, and you seem like a square fella, but somehow you're at the center of this." He takes another swallow of coffee."You know a whole lot more than ya've spilled yet..like, where were ya before you was underwater thirty thousand years ago, an' who strapped that oversize piece o' jewelry to yer ankle? The way I see it, we got a two hundred pound piece o' lead sitting on the floor out there, that also exists somewhere else out there, right now, and two versions of the same thing ain't supposed to exist at th' same time! Could that have somethin' ta do with what's screwin' things up?"

She listened to Mr Gunn, impressed. She was curious to hear the answer.

[Captain Brandsson]

Tommy cradles the steaming cup of coffee in his big hands. Taking a sip, his detective's mind turns the "facts," if they are "facts," over and around, analyzing the available clues from every angle. He turns a hard eye in Captain Brandsson's direction. "Alright," he intones, his voice low," I don't mean to come on hard to a guy I just met, and you seem like a square fella, but somehow you're at the center of this." He takes another swallow of coffee."You know a whole lot more than ya've spilled yet..like, where were ya before you was underwater thirty thousand years ago, an' who strapped that oversize piece o' jewelry to yer ankle? The way I see it, we got a two hundred pound piece o' lead sitting on the floor out there, that also exists somewhere else out there, right now, and two versions of the same thing ain't supposed to exist at th' same time! Could that have somethin' ta do with what's screwin' things up?"

"It might be tough for you to wrap your head around this, but time don't work that way.  I count five things just in this room that are currently looping back and never caused a fuss.  You don't even want to know what's going on down at the museum...  Nah, time isn't broken.  It is leaking somewhere though and we need to find out where... or when."

[The Abiliegh]

"Well, the where is pretty obvious. It's leaking here." She stood, smothing her skirt over ther thinghs. "But Tommy is right. You couldn't have got that weight shackled to ya 30,000 years ago. Where were you before that? And how fast were you jumping between times?"