Fianna Kelly Versus the Jeebees: A Collection of Steampunk Stories (31 page)

Last
night, Felix had told us his time viewer was working better than ever. He had
replaced the damaged parts with ones we had salvaged from the mountain. I
wanted Gwen to stay one more night before leaving. She and Felix agreed that a
few more hours couldn't hurt.

We
arrived at Felix's lab shortly after breakfast. He had the machine idling,
waiting for its passenger. Gwen had put on her battle-suit again and was carrying
her helmet.

She
handed Felix a map. "This is where the lab is that I came from. If you set
the time to less than five minutes after I arrived, they should be able to
resynchronise the two systems."

Felix
asked, "Where is your mechanical trunk with all your things in it?"

She
replied, "It's in Fianna's room."

She
looked at me. "You know the dresses will fit. The beacons are stored
inside of him. They should stick to those brass heeled shoes I bought for you
and he will follow you around when you travel. Trace the numbers '1107' on the
front to wake him up."

I
asked, "How about your bounties?"

"I
have the remaining coins with me. They will make a nice souvenir and proof that
I was here. The guys will not believe what I've done in only five minutes of their
time."

I
pleaded, "Must you go?"

"I
figured I had to leave eventually. Felix said I'd have to go back in order to
untangle the knots. If I stayed much longer, I would be tempted to improve
things and that could be bad for the future."

Felix
added, "Yes, she has to leave."

I
said, "I hardly got to know you, but I will miss you greatly."

"I
will miss you too; all of you."

She
said, "I'm ready, cousin. Start it up."

Felix
set the displays to the correct time and place and then turned it on. It ran
like the last time. It was beautiful, but I was sad. Gwen put on her helmet and
walked into the red mist, presumably back to her own time and place.

Felix
asked, "Why did she call me her cousin?"

I
said, "'Tis a gift of knowledge to you. She is a direct descendant of mine
through my daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters all the way to
her time. That makes her your cousin many times removed as surely as I am your
first cousin."

He
said, "Then I shall miss her too and welcome her as family if she should
ever return."

I
asked him, "Can she return?"

He
sighed. "Not anytime soon. I don't have enough power remaining to even
send her an invitation. I do have enough to finally see if it was raining the
day you were born, if you are still interested."

"Perhaps
another day."

I
figured this was the end of my adventures. I needed to find a nice Count,
settle down in a nice castle, and start having nice children, grandchildren,
and great-grandchildren. It was a lonely walk home. I hadn't been all alone for
more than a year and a half and it hurt.

I
put her trunk on my bed so I could see the front. It did not seem happy about
that. I had gotten used to talking to mechanical things so I tried soothing it.
It calmed down and stopped spinning its wheels. When I touched it, music
played; the friendship song that Gwen sang for me. I drew the numbers slowly.
After each one, it showed a few colour pictures of Gwen and I from our time
together. She hadn't told me it was a camera.

I
was crying as I drew the '7' on it. There was one last picture of Gwen waving
with this written over it in large letters:

Gráím
thú
Go dté tú slán

The
front turned white and then gibberish characters flowed across it for a minute.
When it stopped, there was a picture of yellow roses with the words 'Hello
Fianna' on them.

I
asked, "So what do I call you?"

Bradan is okay

The
End

This
is his first collection of stories. He is better known for his involvement with
Atari console homebrew cartridges, having programmed and marketed four of them
over the years. Those games are currently sold through Video 61. You can also
find five of his apps on the BlackBerry World store. He and his wife live in
Oak Park, Michigan (They were married during CGE2K, a classic videogame
convention, in Las Vegas).

You
can send comments or criticisms about this book to [email protected]. I
promise not to share your email address, but I might add your comments to the
next page.

"a
strong female character in a solid adventure story"
MATT PEARSON, author of
The
Sun Never Sets