Multiverse Snippet 2

 Sitrep:

So, I'm plugging away at Bootstrap Colony 5. It is slow going but I'm picking up speed as I get back into the rhythm.  

I have also been making some progress with the revamp of the Bootstrap 1 cover. The base cover is done, I'm going to work on the lettering and the back flap in a bit.

In other news, Goodlifeguide let me know they'll have MV7 back next week sometime.

On to the snippet!

The following is from the PRI story Dragon Carrier, which is a follow up to the PRI story in Multiverse 6.

Dragon Carrier

Tuanku Cayao stared out at the bricklayerserecting a smokestack and considered how far they had come in such a short timeperiod. It was all due to the gaijin in the Ianna Imperium.

Well, to be fair they had set the spark and alarmhad fanned it into competition, a sense of urgency to do something or get leftbehind or worse, get invaded and have their lives and freedom ruined or cutshort.

In one of the rarest moments in history, the twelvepirate clans had banded together like never before. They had opened theirarchives to the makers like Dirk Wheeler to compile what they already knew butdidn’t understand with what they had seen from the Imperium’s craft. Dirk hadmentioned that seeing something done was halfway there to actually doing itthemselves.

Well, they’d known the realm of possibility fromtales from his home world of Patria, Earth. He had left there at thetender age of eleven from the seas near Indonesia thirty local years or annusas they called them ago. The years didn’t quite match up on the alien world,one of many differences between the two planets.

They had seen and heard the stories, seen samplesof craft and technology that survived to get to the island. But none couldunderstand enough to implement the technology, at least not until a group of gaijinhad come across with a seemingly complete computer database of technology.

Seeing was believing though, and when a piratecaptain had seen an Ianna aircraft buzz his ship and prevent him from catchinga prize, it had sparked the lords to do something.

That and well, the stories of the Imperium usingthat technology to utterly destroy the army of Duluth and conquer it in shortorder. They had to upgrade if only out of an urgent need for self-defense.

Knowing something could be done was great, butthey hadn’t the understanding of things until Dirk dug into the archives. Thatand they picked his brain. He hadn’t expected the changes that had been wroughtin such a short time.

They had alcohol fueled motors now. They had crudeelectricity with little understanding of how it worked; he only remembered somuch to help. The materials were an issue of course; he knew they couldn’treplicate a microchip when they were still struggling to produce the basics ofother components.

Teasing his memory helped to break through logjamsof things that had been described in journals from gaijin. That wassomething he liked. His adopted people had bought or taken in gaijinfrom various cultures, and they had been paid to write down what they knew.

Unfortunately, less than a tenth of that knowledgehad been applied up until now. But now they were making a great deal ofheadway.

Dirk Wheeler’s Maker Clan had been working toinnovate before the Imperium had grown in importance. His clan had engineeredgliders and flying beasts. They had implemented many other things. Adding newtech was just pushing things faster.

He looked over the top of the building whereworkmen were covering over the truss sections with plywood. Plywood had beenaround for a while but they now made a lot more of it. Dirk had introducedworkshops and other facilities and a better shipyard. The building he waswatching grow was a new workshop being built where a group of old workshops hadbeen torn down two hafta ago.

Even though he and an elderly Chinese lady hadfilled in important pieces, they still had many left glaringly open to puzzleover. The Chinese lady had passed away recently but not before finallyrevealing the secret to gunpowder to the clans.

He heard shots and turned to see puffs of smokewhere men were drilling at a gun range. They had flintlock pistols and riflesat the moment, but it was far better than bows, crossbows, and swords. They hadto use flintlocks since they were recreations of the few originals that hadsurvived as prizes in collections and could use the black powder. The chemistsin the Abbas Clan knew of smokeless gunpowder and guncotton but lacked therecipe to make them at the moment.

The fact that the Imperium had both wasn’t lost onthe clans. Their spies were working with the Duke of Medicini to redress thebalance there and elsewhere.

Pierre Fouche, lord of his own clan, was steeringthat effort. He was dealing with Duke Medicini as well as managing the spyefforts in Ianna with Cheung Leung’s support.

Already they had received some useful bits, likepamphlets on vaccines and a tattered children’s book with pictures of gaijintechnology. It was proving useful but maddeningly vague.

Perhaps more would come in soon.

~~~\^/~~~

Captain Ahmad felt his ship rock as the two boatslined up. He was in his old clipper. He wanted to use the newer vessels but hislord had decreed that those ships had to stay close to port. They did not wantto tip-off their hand that they were moving away from sailing vessels so quickly.

He understood it, but the newer ships were faster.Perhaps they could find a way to work some of the new gadgets into his oldship? That would be nice. A motorized winch would be ideal. The same for stovesand things. He made another mental note to look into it as the breeze pickedup.

A lookout called out a sail sighting and he turnedin the indicated direction. “About time,” he muttered.

The small fishing vessel came alongside warily.Once they were alongside, a plank was extended between the vessels and he wentaboard.

The fishing captain was ready to do business. Heoffered papers and things that had been handed out in his small village. Theyhad been crumpled at one time but smoothed out. “You do not need them? Or didyou make a copy?” Captain Ahmad asked as he looked the material over. Therewere new pamphlets, a paper on events, and another book.

The fisherman looked away. It became clear butunsaid that he couldn’t read. Most of the fishing families couldn’t read.

“They want to put our children in a propereducation,” the fisherman said and then spat over the side of the boat. He wascareful to do it in the offside away from the clipper out of respect or fear.

Captain Ahmad nodded. It was typical in thefishing villages. As soon as the children were old enough to mind themselvesthey worked clamming or in the docks running messages or carts or gutting fish.You learned what you could. If the family wasn’t too tired, they would dosomething during the long winter or hire a tutor if they were well off. Thepoor didn’t care, however.

Most families inland liked having kids becausethey did chores and helped out with the farm. They were accidents though. “Theymight as well pay for their own upkeep. My eldest son will be coming out withme next trip,” the fisherman said.

“Ah,” Captain Ahmad said as he nodded and handedover a small pouch of coins. It was a bit ironic that the coins had come fromthe Nuevo Imperium vessel that they had captured and looted. The crew didn’tneed such things anymore.

“Thank ye kindly, sorr,” the fisherman drawled ashe made the small pouch disappear. His eyes gleamed.

The two captains conversed; Captain Ahmad wascareful to question the man in different ways about points of interest thatPierre’s men had given him to follow. When he was certain of the answers, theyparted ways.

Once he was on board his ship, the captain wentbelow and came back with a massive fish. He tossed it to a deckhand on theclipper. “My thanks!” he said.

The deckhand took it with a grin. “We’ll be eatingwell tonight!” he said.

The crew cheered.

The captain snorted. Once the fishing vessel wasunderway again, he ordered his first officer to set course for home and thenwent below to his cabin to write up everything that had been said while thememories were fresh.

~~~\^/~~~