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    Steampunk Rat: A Boston Metaphysical Society Story
    Steampunk Rat: A Boston Metaphysical Society Story
    Steampunk Rat: A Boston Metaphysical Society Story
    Ebook67 pages1 hour

    Steampunk Rat: A Boston Metaphysical Society Story

    By Madeleine Holly-Rosing

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    About this ebook

    STEAMPUNK RAT is a YA Novella based on the steampunk webcomic BOSTON METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY.

    All that fifteen year old Jonathan Weldsmore wanted to do was design and build steam ships to sail on the high seas. Treated like a poor relation within his own wealthy family, he had little hope of obtaining the future he desperately wanted. That is until he rescued and transformed an injured rat into the mechanism of not only his salvation, but his family’s as well.

    This story is included in the anthology, Boston Metaphysical Society: Prelude.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMadeleine Holly-Rosing
    Release dateOct 9, 2012
    ISBN9780988312128
    Steampunk Rat: A Boston Metaphysical Society Story
    Author

    Madeleine Holly-Rosing

    A TV, feature film and comic book writer, Madeleine is the winner of the Sloan Fellowship for screenwriting, and the Gold Aurora and Bronze Telly for a PSA produced by Women In Film. She also won numerous awards while completing the UCLA MFA Program in Screenwriting. Having run a number of successful crowdfunding campaigns for her comic, Boston Metaphysical Society, Madeleine now teaches a crowdfunding class for independent creators at Pulp Fiction Books in Culver City as well as guest lecturing at Scriptwriters Network and Dreamworks. She has also published the book, Kickstarter for the Independent Creator. Boston Metaphysical Society webcomic is the recipient of an HONORABLE MENTION at the 2013 GEEKIE AWARDS and was nominated for BEST COMIC/GRAPHIC NOVEL at the 2014 GEEKIE AWARDS. The comic has also been nominated for a 2012 Airship Award as well as a 2013, 2014 and a 2015 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award. Her novella, Steampunk Rat, was also nominated for a 2013 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award. Other comic projects include the short story, The Scout which is part of The 4th Monkey anthology, The Sanctuary (The Edgar Allan Poe Chronicles anthology), The Marriage Counselor ( The Cthulhu is Hard to Spell anthology) and the upcoming The Airship Pirate which will be part of The Rum Row anthology. She is currently writing a four issue mini-series for SFC Comics/Evoluzione Publishing. She also has an anthology of short stories and novellas called Boston Metaphysical Society: Prelude (in print as well as eBook) based on the Boston Metaphysical Society universe available at all major online retailers. The Boston Metaphysical Society short story, Here Abide Monsters, is part of the Some Time Later anthology from Thinking Ink publishers. Formerly a nationally ranked epee fencer, she has competed nationally and internationally. She is an avid reader of comics, steampunk, science fiction, fantasy and historical military fiction.

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      Book preview

      Steampunk Rat - Madeleine Holly-Rosing

      Steampunk Rat

      (A Boston Metaphysical Society Story)

      By M. Holly-Rosing

      Published By Madeleine Holly-Rosing at Smashwords

      SMASHWORDS EDITION, LICENSE NOTES

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      HOW DOES A RAT WITH mechanical legs clean its whiskers? Carefully.

      Tinker extended her metal foreleg. It jerked as the tiny gears whined. She tried again. This time she stretched it out until the gears stopped. She moved the leg back and forth again and again each time with greater mobility.

      The leg was comprised of fine copper filaments drilled into the scapula replacing the ligaments in her shoulder. Tinker’s clavicle and humerus were made out of copper piping as was the rest of the leg. The joints consisted of small intricate gears that weighed next to nothing. The boy said she was a marvel. Tinker agreed.

      Tinker reached up to scratch her nose and ended up poking herself. She squealed in pain.

      Be careful, Tinker, the boy ordered, a bit alarmed. Don’t poke out your eye.

      She flexed then gripped her new claw into a fist. Unlike her old paw, this one had five fingers made of a gold and bronze alloy. Soft metals, to be sure, but easy to shape into fine, delicate instruments. The boy said it would enable her to pick up the tiniest of objects. The strength and flexibility pleased her, and the new foreleg matched her mechanical back left leg in design. Tinker wondered why he didn’t change all her legs, but then remembered he’d said something about equilibrium and not wanting to fix what wasn’t broken. None of that mattered as he’d taken her dying body and made her whole again.

      Tinker gazed into the face of the boy the others called Jonathan. He was younger than most humans Tinker had seen. The emerging fuzz on his upper lip was no match for her gray and mottled bronze fur, yet the hair on his head was a dark, luminous brown. It would have been the envy of any rat, except for her. Tinker was special, and she knew it.

      That’s my Tinker girl, he spoke as he stroked her ears. Can you move your paw?

      Tinker flexed her right unaltered paw and chittered.

      No, silly. Your other one, Jonathan chided. Okay, pretty girl, stop with the showing off. Walk for me.

      Tinker flinched when she put her full weight on her right foreleg. Then the pain eased and she hobbled forward.

      Steady, girl. Jonathan placed his hands on either side of Tinker as she wobbled across the table top. It took practice, but soon she found her balance. Well done.

      She sat back on her hind legs and squeaked. So, now you’re telling me it’s time for a reward. Tinker rocked back and forth. She knew how to get what she wanted.

      Well, you deserve it. Jonathan reached into his pocket and brought out a piece of cracker. He placed it in front of her. Tinker reached for it with her left paw, but Jonathan covered it with his hand. No you don’t. You have to pick it up with your new hand.

      Tinker wiggled her whiskers and concentrated. She hated these exercises, but the boy kept insisting they were important. Tinker had no idea why, but she tried her best.

      She practiced wiggling each finger, then touched them to her nose one at a time. Then when she was confident in her dexterity, she reached over and picked up the cracker. After a moment’s hesitation, Tinker gobbled it up.

      Brava, Tinker. Brava. The boy clapped his hands at her achievement.

      Proud of herself, Tinker reached up to clean her whiskers with her new hand, but ended up pulling too hard. She squealed again.

      Careful, girl. Not too much too soon, Jonathan admonished.

      A rapping on the door startled them both. Tinker grew afraid when his face drained of color. Jonathan wrapped her in a blanket and tucked her into a drawer in a rush. She chittered at him.

      Shh, Tinker. Be very quiet. Not a sound, he whispered as he shut the drawer. But in his haste, the drawer didn’t close all the way, and a terrified Tinker huddled deep into the blanket, fearful that this other human might kill her.

      JONATHAN, IT’S ME. OPEN UP. A raspy male voice could be heard through the solid oak door.

      The boy sighed then shuffled over and slid back several bolts. He cracked it open. Outside stood his father, Charles, leaning on a cane as he wheezed and coughed.

      Charles Weldsmore was tall and spindly, with little muscle on his body. Years of illness had worn him down to a whisper of a man. Though his suit was of the finest wool and embossed with gold and silver, it hung off him

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