Out of Time: . (Steamside Chroncles Book 1) Read online

  Both sides of the chamber erupted into a boisterous and seemingly unruly appreciation of his acknowledgement. The noise died down after several more blows from the Speaker’s gavel.

  “However,” Lord Ashbury continued, “following recent events, which have been escalating in size, notably the disturbance outside this very building yesterday, I believe the introduction of this bill has now passed into the realm of an emergency.” He looked along the benches of both sides of the chamber for dissenters. There were none.

  Lord Ashbury’s lips curled upwards into a faint sneer.

  “My learned friends and colleagues,” he said, “The events of yesterday were the latest in a long line of disturbances from this rebellious gang who call themselves ‘Levellers’,” He looked straight at the leader of the opposition. “Make no mistake,” he continued, “the only thing they want to level is this great nation of ours.”

  Murmurs spread around the room.

  “This House will no doubt be aware of my own personal circumstances at this time.” Again there was silence. Lord Ashbury looked at the floor for several seconds. He knew he had Parliament in the palm of his hand. He went in for the kill.

  “It is with a great sadness, but nonetheless a rock-solid belief, that I say to this House that the Metropolitan Police are not fit, and are in no position, to defend the men and women of this great city of ours.”

  The murmurs began again.

  “Lawless gangs of vandals and thieves roam the city at will causing devastation and misery.”

  The murmurs from both sides grew into loud voices of outrage.

  “Their intent is to stop the technical progress of which this country is a world leader.”

  “No,” cried dozens of voices from both sides as the volume in the House rose.

  “If left to their own devices they would usurp this House,” continued Lord Ashbury.

  The volume continued to rise.

  “Bring about the end of the British Empire.”

  The Speaker of the House banged his gavel furiously on the wooden sound block, but it had little effect on the cacophony.

  “In its hour of greatest need,” said Lord Ashbury having to raise his voice to be heard, “this city has looked to the Metropolitan Police who have proved without any doubt they are utterly unable to protect anyone from the humblest shopkeeper to a member of this Parliament.”

  Both sides of the House rose to its feet. Men waved their hats and parliamentary papers as the volume reached a crescendo. The speaker abandoned any hope of restoring order and leaned back in his chair. After several minutes, the crescendo died down and Lord Ashbury resumed.

  “I ask the learned members of this House to protect this city. This country. This empire, and vote yes for emergency legislation in regard to ‘The Automaton Bill’.”

  Before Lord Ashbury could sit down every man in the House was on their feet and had voted the bill in with a unanimous, “Aye.”

  Chapter sixteen

  The brougham threaded its way slowly through the traffic past Lambeth Bridge and onto Millbank before grinding to a halt in the traffic. Jacob tapped the roof of the cab with his cane.

  “Driver, what’s wrong.”

  “I think there might be another demonstration sir. There are several lines of police strung across Abingdon Street.”

  “Can you take a side street?”

  “Sorry, sir but we’re stuck in the traffic now.”

  Jacob looked through both windows of the brougham, “We’ll walk,” he said to Kate, “it will be much quicker and we should easily get another cab on the Strand.”

  Jacob paid the driver and they pushed their way through the crowd to the massed ranks of police. Jacob tapped a constable at the rear of the ranks on the arm.

  “What’s happening?” he said.

  “There’s a crowd massing at St. George’s Circus,” said the constable. “It looks like the Levellers are demonstrating against the Automaton Bill.”

  “Why such a big demonstration now? It’s still got to go through the House of Lords and get royal ascent.”

  “No sir, it doesn’t,” said the constable. “They’ve just voted it through as emergency legislation. It’s now law.”

  “What’s the Automaton Bill?” asked Kate. “Why such a big demonstration?”

  Jacob, realising there was no way through took Kate by the arm and pulled her towards the large doorway of St. Margaret’s Church.

  “The Automaton Bill allows the government to use automatons to help quell riots and insurrection,” said Jacob.

  “That doesn’t sound too bad,” replied Kate. “If they go in first and dispel the worst of the disturbances before officers are sent in, and that helps to prevent police officers, or anyone else for that matter, from being injured then I’m all for it.”

  “So would most people,” said Jacob, “but the automatons won’t be there to help the police. They’re there to replace them, and believe me it won’t just be the police.”

  A sudden roar filled the air from the other side of the constables. The air was filled with a noise like a rumble of thunder and Kate could hear glass being smashed. She realised the demonstrators were coming over Westminster Bridge. Moments later Kate heard what she could only think of as a collective ‘oomph’ as the sound of the two sides clashing filled the air. The police line was pushed back a couple of yards before it gained traction and pushed back. Kate jumped as a bottle smashed by her feet. She looked over the top of the police lines and saw the air was filled with hats, bricks and bottles, most if it being aimed at the police.

  “The rioters won’t get through,” said Jacob, “I have a lot more faith in the police than Lord Ashbury does.”

  Jacob had no sooner finished his words when another roar went up behind them. They looked to see another large mob running towards them, this time with no police to intervene.

  “They must have split into two groups,” said Jacob with some urgency. “They’ve come across Lambeth Bridge. We have to get out of here.”

  Jacob grabbed Kate’s arm and they started running until Kate realised they were running straight towards the second mob. She slowed down and pulled her arm back. Jacob looked at her and realised her concerns. “We need to go down the path between here and Westminster Abbey. If we don’t we’ll be in the middle,” Jacob had to shout to make himself heard. He knew he had been successful when Kate nodded.

  They started running again when the iron railing that surrounded the abbey began to collapse. Jacob tried to stop, but skidded on the paving slabs, still wet from the night-time fog, and fell heavily onto his back. He watched helplessly as the leather case containing his examination goggles he was carrying tumbled onto the grass verge. The railings continued to collapse on top of Jacob and now Kate could see why. Slowly clanking up the path between the abbey and St. Margaret’s Church and inexorably through the iron railing was a gleaming brass and steel steamworm. Kate looked at the last segment. The whole thing looked much taller and longer than the previous one she had seen.

  Jacob’s feet started flailing, desperately trying to find some grip on the slick paving slabs when he felt his hand and forearm being firmly gripped. He looked up to see Kate taking a step back and pulling his arm for all she was worth. Jacob started to push himself towards her as she continued to pull him from under the collapsing ironwork. With one final heave, Jacob managed to move his feet away as the railings were crushed into the pavement.

  Kate stood upright as she regained her breath, “You weigh more than I thought,” she grinned in relief, but her humour was short lived. Without warning, Jacob grabbed hold of her cape and pulled her forcibly down. She landed on top of him and was about to protest when she heard a loud hissing above her. Jacob released his grip on her cape and Kate felt his arm around her waist. As Kate felt droplets of boiling water dripping onto the back of her head Jacob rolled towards the steamworm, stopping inches from the wheels of the mechanical monstrosity, holding Kate firmly on top of
him.

  The sound of superheated jets of steam seared above their heads as Jacob held Kate tightly against him. Kate looked up and realised why Jacob had rolled towards the wheels. The steam cannons had restricted movement and couldn’t point down far enough to aim the steam at them. They hardly dared to breathe as they watched the segments of the steamworm slowly trundle past them. Without warning, the steamworm stopped and the sound of grating metal filled the air. Jacob realised the segments were splitting and a window of opportunity had arisen. He released his hold on Kate and shouted, “They can’t fire when they’re separating. Run back towards the church.”

  Kate pushed herself to her knees and leaned against the brass casing as she forced her way onto her feet. The heat from the metal caused the woollen cape to singe and burn. Before she could react, Jacob had pulled her away from the machine and pushed her in front of him in the direction of the church. Kate heard another loud hiss seemingly just behind her, but this time it was followed by a grunt of pain. She looked around to see Jacob running, holding his left arm and realised he had been hit by a jet of steam. She held out her hand, which Jacob took, and they ran to the side wall of the church.

  “Are you alright?” said Kate, with more concern than fear in her voice.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. I think my Ulster took the worst of it,” said Jacob as he watched the separating steamworm deploy into a familiar formation on St. Margaret Street.

  “I thought you said they couldn’t fire when they were separating,” said Kate. “Only before and after.”

  Jacob slowly shook his head, “We were running away. Why did they open fire?”

  Kate tapped Jacob on the arm and pointed down the path.

  “I think that’s the least of our troubles now,” she said as Jacob followed her gaze to two more steamworms heading straight for them. Just as the realisation dawned that they were trapped and at the mercy of the oncoming machines, Kate heard a voice shouting to them. She looked along the wall and saw a man standing on the corner of the church. He was waving them toward him.

  “Into the church,” the man shouted. Kate didn’t need another invitation and, grabbing Jacob’s hand, she ran towards the door.

  Once inside, the door slammed shut just as another jet of steam hit the corner of the wall where they had run past seconds before. Kate looked at their rescuer. He was in his mid-thirties with dark, wavy hair, and sideburns almost to his chin, “Thank you,” she said. “I think you just saved our lives.”

  “You’re welcome,” said the man, “I hope your friend isn’t badly hurt,” he added, looking towards Jacob.

  “I’ll make a full recovery,” said Jacob. “May I ask who you are?”

  “My name is Amos Coleman. I work on the steamers down on the docks. I’d just finished and saw what was happening as I came back into town. I’m only sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner.”

  Jacob extended his hand which Amos shook, “I’m Doctor Jacob McKinley and this is Miss Kate Lockwood. Thank you once again.”

  “And once again you are welcome. And sir, if you are indeed a doctor, I feel your services will soon be required.”

  He motioned for Kate and Jacob to follow him and led them up two flights of stairs to a flat roof which overlooked the riot. All three looked over the ornate battlement at the front of the church down at the ensuing chaos.

  “I don’t understand why they fired on us,” said Jacob again.

  “A disturbance this large can be confusing,” said Kate. “They probably thought we were part of the demonstration and fired by mistake.”

  “No,” said Jacob, “I remember having a discussion with Riordan about this. He said the driver, who sits in the last segment, is a highly trained police constable. They wouldn’t fire directly on anyone, certainly not if they were running away. They would only fire if the demonstrators were advancing and then only at the floor in front of them. Also, each segment only carries a limited amount of coal and water. There’s only so much steam they can generate. They wouldn’t waste it on someone running away.”

  “They seem to be firing quite indiscriminately to me,” said Amos.

  Kate and Jacob looked down to the street again. The rear ranks of the police had turned away from their positions and had moved to confront the new group of rioters. Both groups of police were heavily outnumbered and were being pushed back by the protestors. Jacob looked to his right and saw the familiar diamond shape of the steamworm segments slowly trundling toward the second group of protestors. There was something different. Jacob suddenly realised how large the segments were. They watched as the sixth segment moved into the gap at the rear making the formation a flattened diamond shape.

  All three watched in horror as the lead segment opened fire. The range of the steam was limited, only about thirty feet, but the effect was devastating. Instead of firing down at the ground the first blast of steam went straight into the back of the constables trying to hold the protestors back. Four officers dropped to the floor, their agonised screams clearly heard above the tumult of the riot.

  Momentarily confusion reigned. No-one was sure if the steamworm had been damaged or hijacked by protestors. The next two segments moved up, almost level with the first and all three fired simultaneously into the crowd. Two more constables were hit along with a dozen protestors, their screams muffled by flesh melting from their exposed faces and arms.

  “I have to go down there,” said Jacob as he put his hat and cane on the floor. “Mr Coleman is right, there are people who need my help.”

  “I’m coming with you,” said Kate.

  Jacob turned but the words didn’t get past his lips. One look at Kate Lockwood and he knew he would be wasting his breath. An anxious smile appeared on his face, “Come on then, but be careful,” he said as they made their way back down the stairs.

  The protesters turned and ran. Some back along St. Margaret’s Street, others into the grounds of the Abbey or toward the river. The police ranks parted like a curtain to let the steamworm through, some shaking their fists and shouting obscenities at the brass monstrosity as the first three segments rolled through the gap. One constable got too close and the steamworm opened fire on him. The steam caught him full in the face. He screamed and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

  It was only when Jacob reached the constable lying motionless on the floor that he realised he had no medical equipment with him. He looked up and saw the leather case was still laying on the grass verge near the church. Jacob rolled the constable over and flinched. In his years as a doctor and a surgeon, especially working with the police, he had seen many sights that would turn most people’s stomachs. He had never seen anything like this. The constable’s face had melted like candle wax and he lay shivering on the wet street.

  “What’s your name?” said Jacob, far more calmly than he felt.

  “John,” came the reply in a low, slurred voice, audible now the protestors were moving away, “John Price.”

  “Well John, we’ll get you to a hospital very soon and soon have you walking the beat again.”

  The man’s face contorted into what Jacob thought may have been a smile. Jacob hated lying but he knew there was no hope. He beckoned another constable over.

  “Just make sure he’s comfortable,” said Jacob.

  The constable nodded, silently understanding the situation. He knelt down and cradled his colleague, “It’ll be alright John, there’s a doctor here. You’ll be fine.”

  The steamworm seemed to know there were people to the side and its steam cannons swivelled round to take further aim at the constables. Kate was by the side of the road helping someone with a badly burned arm. She heard the whirring sound and shouted a warning for everyone to get down. The officers nearest the steamworm were jittery enough and they reacted immediately to the warning without worrying where it had come from. Steam erupted from the cannon over their heads and hit several others who were far enough away to make the experience uncomfortable rather than lethal.
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  The segment stopped and veered to its left. Police officers and protestors ran across the pavement and toward the arched entrance to The King’s Tower in an effort to escape. The segment followed and the would-be escapers realised they were trapped. Kate saw what was happening and ran to Jacob.

  “We have to do something,” her voice was questioning, hoping Jacob would have an answer.

  “I think I may have an idea.”

  The sudden voice behind her made Kate jump. It was Amos Coleman.

  “They only seem to have three wheels,” he said. “If we can break off a section of that,” he pointed to the crushed iron railing that had surrounded the Abbey, “we may be able to flip the contraption over.”

  Jacob nodded and the three of them ran to the broken railing. The steamworm had severed the large iron gate from the rest of the railing. Ten iron bars held together at three sections along their length. It was perfect. The three of them picked the gate up and started dragging it toward The King’s Tower. Kate looked at the segment. Thick black smoke started churning out of a small chimney at its rear.

  She shouted at Jacob, “It’s making more steam, we’ll never get there in time,” she had just finished saying the words when two constables joined them and the gate was suddenly much easier to carry. They approached the rear of the segment and Jacob noticed it had stopped, cornering the constables in the entrance to the King’s Tower.

  “Why doesn’t it fire?” said Jacob.

  No sooner had the words been uttered a constable began to run. The cannon on the segments left side whirred forward and a thin jet of steam lanced toward him, cutting him down before he had run ten feet away from the tower.

  “Movement,” said Jacob to himself. He turned to the men trapped at the entrance to the Tower and shouted his instructions, “Stay still. The cannons are triggered by movement.” He turned to the others holding the gate, “We have to get this contraption on its side.”