The Cog Work Apprentice in Dark Skies

By Lee William Tisler

John Lumley Conduit was enjoying his day off from work when hundreds of rebel airships invaded his town.
With the town under attack, John desperately searches for his girlfriend, who has disappeared with his former best friend and romantic rival.
John must overcome bushrangers, invaders, mighty cog-driven machines, and a mysterious man with an agenda to save his girlfriend and his town.

The Cog Work Apprentice in Dark Skies is a steampunk action-adventure set in the Terra Australis town of Tineborough near the end of the twentieth century.

Red Adept Editing Services used
Cover by Streetlight Graphics

Book One in the Tineborough Adventure Series
Fantasy / Steampunk / Action Adventure

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee William Tisler
• Release date: Jul 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476123936

Book preview

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The Cog Work Apprentice in Dark Skies

Book One in the Tineborough Adventure Series

Copyright © 2012 by Lee Tisler

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

Steampunk Glossary of Terms

Chapter 1: The Skies Darken

Chapter 2: Volunteer

Chapter 3: The Cowardly Rise of the Bushranger

Chapter 4: Terra Firma to Stratosphere Particle Disperser

Chapter 5: The Cog Work - Armed Bushranger

Chapter 6: The Operator Latchkey

Chapter 7: Elise

Chapter 8: Swim

Chapter 9: Pursued

Chapter 10: Complicated Cog Driven Machine

Epilogue

Glossary of Terms

Accelerating firing trifling particle disperser – Machine gun

Alchemistic reactions – Chemical reactions

Burner – Handgun that can be kept in a holster

Capacious particle disperser (capacious disperser) – More powerful rifle compared to trifling disperser

Chronographical gauge – Grandfather clock

Diminutive particle disperser (diminutive disperser) – Different type of rifle used by invading force

Hessian – Burlap material

Hydro-pneumatic – Relates to liquid and gaseous substances

Intercontinental projectile alchemy – Rocket science

Leather trapping accoutrement – A type of harness

Libation – Alcohol

Mobile auricular communicate (MAC) – Radio pack

Plummet stopper – Parachute

Steam carriage – Car

Terra firma to stratosphere particle disperser (stratosphere disperser) – Surface-to-air machine gun

Trifling particle disperser (trifling disperser) – Rifle

Veritable calligraphic authorship tome (VCAT) – eBook reader

Chapter 1: The Skies Darken

John looked up from his veritable calligraphic authorship tome, or VCAT, to see his grandmother’s crystal shake ever so slightly. The chronographical gauge’s copper inlet tube let out a billow of steam, which was unusual because it was not the high point of the hour.

That’s strange, John murmured, looking down to continue reading.

The story was a fanciful account of a young gentleman who lived in an alternate world. A substance called ‘oil’ was the primary source of energy, and a War to End All Wars started to take control of the desert where the black substance was dug from the ground. All of which was absolute nonsense according to his girlfriend, Elise.

John Lumley Conduit sat in his grandparents’ house, a small wooden cottage designed for gold miners who had lived decades ago. He had a day off work, the first in many weeks, and was making the most of it. The house had old-style leather couches, and the main control system with adjustable levers used to adjust lighting and heating was centrally located in the entrance hall. He was the last one to turn the lights out at night, and he could walk to his room without bumping into anything anymore.

John was a tall and muscular young man with brown hair that girls adored. He had finished his schooling and was nearly finished with his first year as an apprentice cog maker. The job at the Central District Cog Works kept him fit, as it was mainly a physical job in the first few years. When he finished his apprenticeship, he would be well placed and could move forward in the Academy of Theoretical Advancement, where he felt he could use his creative side to create devices and contraptions to benefit mankind.

The crystal across the room shook again with a lot more vigor. The chronographical gauge let out steam and fell silent just as quickly. John highlighted the sentence he was up to with the touch of his index finger and set down the tome. A loud crack echoed, and the windows rattled. John raced to the front door and stepped outside. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he walked out onto the veranda. The air had a feel like just before the old pressurized cog-turner would blow a valve, burning anything twenty feet in front of its temperamental valve release. John walked as if time stood still, and as if the large plume of smoke in the distance was a normal fixture in the skyline. The skies had been clear and with little wind for the last two days, but now sparks flew up into the sky and turned to fire.

Time returned to normal, and John observed the burnt area around McKinnon’s big brown barn.

John’s mind flashed to when he and two friends used to break into the barn and hang out, even once trying a newly-popular brand of cigarette that made them all sick. Mr. McKinnon had called their parents to complain about their trespassing, and they were forced to hide from John’s parents. Looking around desperately for a better place to hide, they found a hidden door. It was locked from the outside, and the boys were caught before they could figure out a way inside. They had never returned.

When they got older, John had declared his intentions for Elise, and so did his close friend, Jesse. Jesse O’Donnell Reisk was his best friend from an early age, and when Elise joined the group, the three became inseparable. In the end, Elise had chosen John, whose relationship with Jesse had been strained ever since. That all seemed like a lifetime ago.

The noise got louder, and John couldn’t determine its source. He stepped off the veranda and tilted his head upwards to get a better look.