Della Mortika: Voyage to the Antipodes

By Geraldine F Martin, Paul J Martin and Marisa Martin

The Della Morte family, steampunk inventors, set out on a journey from England to Melbourne in the Antipodes in 1888 in their flailing ship Invention. What they expected to be an uneventful trip turns out to be anything but. This is a book for anyone who loves adventure and intrigue set in a steampunk world very different from our own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781922204714

Geraldine F Martin

Geraldine F Martin was born in Melbourne and has lived most of her adult life in the Canberra region where she raised three children, worked in public service and designed hats and quilts. These days she writes stories and scripts with her two cats in her studio, which is located right in the centre of her garden in the country. She and her daughter Marisa co-created the Della Morte Sisters and are in the middle of bringing them to life through writing, animation and film. This is her second DellaMortika novel. The first, Voyage to the Antipodes, was published in 2014.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I could not have completed Della Mortika – Voyage to the Antipodes without the support and work of a number of special people. Marisa Martin co created the Della Morte Sisters with me and generously agreed that I could put the stories into novel format. My husband, Eric, generously agreed to my retirement from our architectural practice to concentrate on my writing. Sonja Chandler edited the work and her sternness has improved the story and the writing, especially the timeline. Paul Martin has contributed his unique talents to the illustrations and Marisa Martin has rendered them as only she can. Thank you to Marisa, Paul, Clare Martin, Janine Jeffreys, David Tynan, Belinda Barancewicz, Jemima Hartley and Sage Tynan who took the time to read the manuscript and give me some valuable feedback. Thank you Janine for doing the final proof read. And finally thank you Vivid Publishing for being there in the self-publishing business.

The world-renowned London School of Invention has stood in Great Russell Street close to The British Museum of Innovation for many decades. It was here that many of the day’s most enterprising inventors started their careers.

Thursday was a special day for the school. There were many vehicles parked on the street, leaning against the fence or even suspended in the sky attached to the fence by ropes. A great hot air balloon was suspended above the school announcing that Thursday 21 June 1888 was The London School of Invention’s Presentation Day.

Presentations were taking place in a large hall at the heart of the school. An anxious face was peeping out from between the curtains to back stage at the side of the hall. Abigail Della Morte was looking out for her little sister Zarah who was due to give her presentation next but had not been seen that day.

Outside, a young girl was riding a scooter, heading for the double doors into the hall. She was wearing a helmet over which she had put her brass goggles. Her ride was swift and she rose and fell with an elegance that was pleasing to watch.

Finally, she reached the doors, picked up her scooter and vanished into the hall.

Inside the hall, ladies with hats and parasols, corsets and bustles were seated with gentlemen in vests, jackets and highly polished boots. The men balanced their hats on their knees. The audience was applauding as a student left the stage.

The young girl carried her scooter quickly across the back of the hall, up the side and onto the backstage area. Abigail was there waiting impatiently for her. She put her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders and shook her slightly.

Zarah, where in this land of steam and opportunity, have you been? You’re up next.

"I’m sorry, Abigail. I was just putting the finishing touches to my Springster. I just rode over on it. It works perfectly."

Abigail raised her head and listened.

That’s you Miss Livingstone is calling for. Off you go.

Zarah wheeled her presentation piece, her All-Weather Stabilised Springster, onto the stage and faced the audience.

"My invention is a new and much improved style of scooter which will be great for riding in all types of weather. Its third wheel gives it great stability and the speed of ride is far greater, owing to the increased surface area in contact with the ground.

"It operates using the tension in a spring which is compressed with one foot. This force is transferred to the axle, through a set of pivoting arms, which drives the two rear wheels that propel the vehicle forward with more power than that able to be produced by the foot merely pushing off from the ground.

"Can you see the advantages of this? In wet weather it will mean the end of muddy shoes; your feet need never touch the ground. The three wheels means it can be left standing without falling over and I can tell you the ride is fast and exciting.

I will demonstrate.

Zarah did a quick circle of the stage, got down from the Springster and bowed to the crowd. The audience responded with great enthusiasm.

She waved in particular to two people in the second row, her parents Edgar and Celeste Della Morte. They were a very handsome couple. Edgar was dressed in the spirit of the day wearing a moustache and monocle. He wore his brown hair longish and it was just tinged with grey at his temples. Beside him Celeste was sitting very straight and clapping very hard. Her curly dark hair was constrained under a small top hat from which flowing feathers created a frame for her intelligent face. She wore glasses on a chain around her neck, but her long vision was as good as ever. She was smiling widely at her daughter and she leaned over to take Edgar’s hand in hers as Zarah left the stage.

Miss Livingstone, the Principal Innovator at the school, walked back onto the stage. She was resplendent in a beautiful black velvet skirt caught up on one side to reveal a multi-layered white petticoat. She wore very shiny high-heeled ankle boots and a purple brocade corset. Her blouse was sparkling white with long sleeves. Her luxurious red hair was caught up in a bun from which curls were fighting each other to escape and around her throat she had a ribbon with the school’s crest upon it. As usual, right up to the fashion, she wore upon her left arm a cuff displaying her favourite watch with many chains.

Thank you, Zarah, she said.

"I want to thank you all for coming to our presentation today. The London School of Invention has been nurturing young inventors for fifty years and I am very proud to be following in the spats of the many Principle Innovators who have come before me.

"Our curriculum is extensive and includes all aspects of mathematics, science, languages, philosophy, design and engineering. Our emphasis is placed on self-structured and self-directed learning. Here the students are permitted to pursue those areas of study that they really love. There are no grades as such. Lectures and workshops are held in all subjects and students can attend as many or as few as they believe relevant to them.

"At this annual event we choose the most ingenious invention of those presented to receive a wonderful prize. The student who wins will be awarded an extra two hours study time every week over the next year. That person will also receive one week less vacation time.

"Today we have seen so many wonderful ideas conceived and executed that it is no surprise that it was difficult for the board of judges to decide. However we have made our choices. A special commendation has been awarded to Peter for his Critical Timing Toothbrush (patent pending), which rings a bell when the user has undertaken the required set number of cleaning strokes. We’ll all need one of those. Runner up was Susy with her Personal Ventilation Capulet, where a miniature steam engine runs on the burning of methylated spirits and powers the personal fan, which can be attached to the head