Clockwork Nutcracker

Prologue: From the Past

His uncle Gert led Karl Drosselmeyer down a spiral set of stairs to a space the young cadet had never been to in all of his visits to the mansion. It was below the wine cellar of the family ancestral home and reached by a sliding panel behind a bookcase. The white-haired uncle proceeded with a shuffling gait and many muttered curses about ‘cramped space to work.’

Karl was a tall teenager who was dressed in the crisp cadet uniform of the Mannkopf Mount Cavalry Cadre, proclaiming his recent appointment to that special unit. His shoulders were wide and his arms long. He would have been called gangly but for his straight posture.

Karl had pitch-black hair worn long and had a slight scar on his left cheek that looked like the result of a duel, but was in fact from falling off a table as a young boy. Rather than taking away from his handsomeness, it just added to his dashing good looks.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, the elder Drosselmeyer touched a switch. The vaulted space they were standing in was suddenly awash with electric light.

I may work in disciplines a thousand years old, the old man said, but it does not mean I cannot be up to date, yes? He laughed.

Professor Drosselmeyer would have been taller than his nephew, but he was stooped of shoulder and bent of leg. His limbs were long and thin ending in fingers that looked out of proportion for their length.

He was not an old man, but had a shock of white hair. His face was long and lean and not marked with wrinkles but his eyes seemed truly old, intense burning orbs that reflected purple in the bright electric light of the workroom. The teenage cadet was too stunned by what he saw around him to do much more than nod and smile as his uncle spoke.

The space they had come into was the strangest mixture of old and new the young officer had ever seen. Along the ancient stone walls were charts and maps of the world, but strangely drawn. Crisscrossed lines overlaid on the more familiar country borders and such notations as ‘nexus’, ‘cleansed’, or ‘power spot’ appeared frequently on all the maps. He noted many such notations were within his own beloved Germany. In the center of the room were wooden and metal tables laden with beakers and retorts of glass and metal.

There were books of varying sizes as well as scrolls that appeared to be very old if not as ancient as the stone of the walls. There was a collection of minutely carved dolls in many historical military uniforms standing on shelves like a miniature army ready to march to war. All around the room were the gears and pistons and body parts of disassembled steambots.

When the light came on, two of the mechanical men who serviced the room clanked to life and began to move about dusting and arranging things just where they had stopped when the lights were clicked off the night before.

His uncle noted the boy’s sweeping assessment of the room and nodded. Take it in, Karl, for it is a real gallery of power such as few will ever see. When he saw his nephew was a bit stunned the Elder Drosselmeyer spoke up as if in a lecture hall. Every century and upon every continent a handful of exceptional men have been born who possess the innate ability to read the signatures of nature directly, to see immediately into the mystery of continuous creation. To know pristine reality revealed by the power of hermetical identification. I am one such man, my nephew. The twisted man puffed his chest up. "Such vision differs radically from nineteenth century pedestrian academic mentality. Doktor Mabon was the man who enlightened us all to the true power that is in the world, we should always thank him for that."

He walked over to the cadet and held up a goblet in which bubbled a blue liquid. He waved the liquid, appraising its color and flow then smiled his strange smile.

"To Doktor Mabon! He drank the liquid and giggled at the shock in his nephew’s face. Just schnapps, Karl. My one for the day!"

The boy’s blue eyes were still wide with wonder. He had never been allowed in his uncle’s workshop before, but his father had often consulted with his inventor brother when they had come to visit. Since his father’s death, Uncle Gert had taken an interest and helped get Karl his appointment to the cadet corps of the Mounts.

Then Karl’s uncle pointed upward. Up there in the sunlight political maneuvers are made but here in the shadows many weapons for both defense and offense are created. Your father and I often talked of many ways to help our Fatherland.

Karl moved to the shelf of miniature men and ran a hand appraisingly along them, stopping at an English Horse-guard. When he looked close he saw that it was a wooden carved nutcracker. He moved the jaw of the figure.

The Elder Drosselmeyer laughed, Our father gave that to your father many years ago because he so wanted to be a soldier. You must sense his essence on it. He always liked uniforms even as a child. He moved to the figure and turned a key on it so the tiny soldier clicked its nutcracker jaws and saluted with a stiff mechanical motion.

Both laughed, then the elder man’s face clouded with a memory. He quickly brightened again as he looked at Karl and smiled. He would be very proud of you.

He shuffled past the young officer and a bas-relief map that was set on a slight angle on a table near the back of the large room. On another table was a long oak box.

Bring this, the white-haired man said to one of the steambots.

The mechanical man clanked and hissed over to the table, lifted the box and followed the Sci-magician back to where his nephew stood, still a bit amazed by the incredible workshop.

I wondered why, after all this time, he asked me down here, the young officer thought, But I have so very little space in my kit for presents. The thought made him smile as he remembered the small dirigible his uncle had given him on his tenth birthday; he had used the radio-controlled device to terrify the family cat. I really have not time for his toy inventions, he thought but, like the good soldier he was, he said nothing and just smiled.

Professor Drosselmeyer clapped his hands and gave an almost girlish giggle when the steambot set the box down on the table before the cadet. Open it, Karl.

The young man flipped open the wooden case and was stunned by what he saw. Inside were a cavalry sabre and a steel scabbard. On the blade was etched Karl Drosselmeyer, Beloved Son.

The cadet stared at the gleaming blade with a stunned expression. His uncle giggled again, his high-pitched laugh almost a whistle.

Go ahead, he said. Pick it up.

The teenager picked up the sword by its handle as if it were made of spun sugar and would dissolve at any moment. It felt perfect in his hand, the weight and balance just right for him. He took a few experimental slashes with it, stepping away from the table and whirling about.

This is—this is perfect! he exclaimed.

Your father had that made for you two years ago. He knew you would chose the military like he did, the older man smiled He and I were like opposite sides of a single coin with him being the perfect soldier and I becoming a Sci-magick adept, but we knew you had potential for both and could decide either way. He honestly thought you would choose my career, but I knew different. Still he had this made should you choose, as you have, to serve the Fatherland.

Karl stared at the beautiful blade as if it were Excalibur, stunned by the reality of it and of what it meant. My father believed in me?

My brother was a reserved man with everyone but me, Karl. The sci-magician smiled. "We would fight like two cats, but we always agreed on one thing: you were the future of our family and would always make us proud.

***

Later in his room at his uncle’s, the cadet sat on his bed hugging his pillow and missing his father.

Colonel Helmut Drosselmeyer was legend in the service of the Kaiser, a decorated hero of the Great War who had been a Master of Horse who became a Master Airman. The service had been his life.

Now the cavalry would be Karl’s life. Tomorrow he was leaving for the Cadre training school and he would have to think and act like a man. He must not miss his mother or the comforts he had known. He must be strong to make his family proud of him.

Karl’s father had been a distant figure, not warm like his uncle. He had always been off on military maneuvers while the boy had been raised in boarding schools, but Karl had loved him and admired him, mostly because his mother did. He had never been cold to Karl, but he had never been warm either.

The colonel had died while heroically steering the dirigible Der Habicht away from a small village before the craft crashed. Karl had never had the chance to discover the colonel’s true feelings. But he had been proud enough of his son to have the sword made for me.

The boy’s eyes teared up even though he fought them.

I wish I had known, Father. I will make you proud; I will be the best cadet that has ever been. I promise.

Chapter One: New and Old

Here are the newest of the mounts, Cadet Hauptman Karl Drosselmeyer said as he led the visitors through the entrance to the largest of the stables. He had been in the Mannkopf Mounted Corps for two years now and was less gangly, having filled out to be a handsome young man at sixteen. He was quite striking in his dark grey cadet uniform with its knee-high riding boots, high collar and silvered buttons in echelon down his chest.

The uniformed cadet, with an easy manner and a pleasant smile, led the small group of guests on a tour of the training school grounds, You are looking at what the public calls a face-horse’ though the scientific designation is Genus Equidae-Mannkopf Mabonna after the scientist who discovered the world’s only colony of them on an island in the North Atlantic. They confused many in the scientific community, as they are not related to any other Equus ferus or even the Przewalskii wild horses of Mongolia or the Zebra or Onager of Africa. An entirely new species."

The Mannkopf Mounts, he continued, you are seeing now were bred on the island and just finished the journey by ship from the island to a Baltic port (I can not say which for security reasons) and then by barge down the river to us. He waved a hand to encompass the twenty-two animals that were visible through an open door, milling about in the corral that attached to the side of the building. They are understandably a bit skittish at the new surroundings.

He spoke the memorized guest’s orientation speech but with such joy and pride in his tone that it never sounded like a speech. It was why was he often assigned to conduct the tours; most of the other cadets were too characteristically Nordic and reserved.

The strange, human faced, horse-bodied animals were indeed skittish, sniffing the unfamiliar air with nervous expressions and flicking their tails and stomping their hooves with concern. Though the creatures had horse ears, they had a wholly human looking forehead and face. The brow ridges were a bit thicker than many but by no means prehistoric looking. And the eyes, cheeks and lips of the face beneath were eerily normal.

The face on each of the mounts was unique to even a casual eye. The features showed changes of mood and expression that clearly were in reaction to the circumstances around them. When they saw the half dozen guests and their guide, they snorted and shied away toward the far corner.

They- they’re so expressive! said a slim elegant girl. She stood at the right hand of the Prussian Prince who was the highest-ranking guest. The girl leaned toward the animal pen but kept her arm on her companions for support. I’ve never seen one in person, and to see so many.

Yes, Karl said with an understanding smile. He turned his bright blue eyes to focus on the young girl. I remember the first time I saw a Mannkopf Mount in person. I was already an experienced horseman but it was still a shock; I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was not a beautiful equine body with a perfectly formed expressive human-like face. I was stunned by how they were-so very human-like.

He walked up to the corral and held carrot in the palm of his hand. The mounts at first shied but after a moment of the officer standing stock-still one of the beasts separated himself from the herd. The curious beast walked cautiously across the corral to sniff at the outstretched hand.

They are naturally curious and respond well to puzzles and situations that they have to reason their way through. The guide spoke quietly so as not to spook the animal.

After eating the carrot from his hand the beast stood looking at him with a hopeful expression. The guests gasped then froze as the animal approached and they got their first close up look at the creature that had revolutionized warfare and changed all scientific theories of evolution.

He looks—so—so human! the blonde companion of the prince whispered. The wonder in her green eyes was also reflected in the expressions of the men who stood with her, though they worked to hide their own awed reactions to the strange beast before them.

Indeed, these animals who stand before you have elicited that reaction from every person who has seen them since the year 1895 when three of them were brought to Europe in the hold of Dr. Ernest Mabon’s ship. That was the year he revealed them to the world! The officer kept his voice steady and quiet but his excitement at the history of his charges was clearly evident, even in his subdued tones.

The arrival of the Mannkopf Mounts stunned the scientific community, many of whom would not believe that such a thing could exist, even when presented with the reality before them. There were recriminations and accusations; even a riot at the scientific conference in Vienna with those who claimed, in defiance of what was before them, that the Mannkopf were some sort of puppets!

Even the visitors chuckled at that and for a moment, it appeared as if the mount that was watching the girl might bolt, but he seemed to recognize that the laughter was not a sound to be frightened of and so stayed with his eyes locked with the girl’s.

These so-called men of reason, Karl continued, who had not believed, based on a carcass, that the gorilla was real, and had not believed in for many years, now had actual living breathing anomalies in their midst and still were not all convinced. It challenged all they had come to believe as dogmatically as the churches of the world believed their scriptures. That caused many scientists to completely rethink their view of the world. Conventional science still has not recovered to this day.

The visitors stared with new eyes at the creatures before them, particularly the magnificent beast that was standing so calmly an arm’s length away from them at the edge of the corral. They felt their own views of the world challenged by the Mannkopf Mounts’ existence as the beasts were still not seen in the flesh by most people outside the military. In most respects, it looked like the well-formed body of an Iberian horse with an almost pure white coat, long muscular legs and well-rounded hindquarters. It had a luxuriant mane and tail of golden-white hair that would have made any show horse proud.

The difference that evoked so much awe began at the long neck where instead of the triangular head of a normal equine, the skull sloped and ended quickly.

The mount that had taken the carrot watched the small group of observers with a hopeful look on its face and made a low mewling sound that was part whinny and part moan that had a resemblance to a human baby’s cry.

They are beautiful and frightening at once. The girl said.

Like the apes of Africa and the largest of them, the gorilla which I have seen, the guide said, the Mannkopf hold up a distorted mirror for us to look in and some find it disturbing. It is why so many have mixed reactions to them; and perhaps why the religions of the world can not decide if they are children of God or the Devil.

The guide kept his hand out and the animal stepped in to nuzzle the open palm. The guide, moving slowly reached beside the animal to gently scratch it behind the ears.

May I try, Hauptman? the young girl asked.

You are not too afraid, Fraulein? He said with a smile. They are not tame like the mounts in the school proper.

No, she said with determination, I think the wildness in his eyes will make earning his trust more delightful.

Just so, Karl said, they are smarter and more responsive than any horse I have ever worked with; it is what allowed us to win the Great War in only a year.

As if to prove his point, the golden stallion approached the young girl and looked at the offered carrot with a shy movement of its neck, looking at an angle first this way and then that but not approaching too close.

She smiled at him and raised the hand a bit and the animal responded to the signal by stepping forward to accept the offering.

The Mannkopf nibbled the carrot slowly, with none of the skittish urgency it had shown when the guide had fed him. It maintained eye contact with the girl and one could almost see the hint of a smile on the thin lips of the creature.

You see how he has sensed you might be little more giving of treats than I, the guide said, They seem to be very conscious of us; male or female, nice or mean, warm or cold in personality.

So does any pet dog, the prince said. He had wide red mutton chop sideburns, a well-groomed mustachio and wore a monocle over his right eye. That does not seem terribly remarkable to me.

Yes, your highness, Karl said in his best deferential tone. But there is a specific intelligence here that is at least on par with your smartest hunting hound, or so the scientists tell us; that itself is remarkable for a mount. Sad to say for a cavalryman, most horses are cunning but not really smart the way a dog or chimpanzee might be. Especially the thoroughbreds. They can be very high strung. The Mannkopf, despite what it might seem here with these new mounts, are rather even tempered as a rule and quite smart.

Why is this such an advantage over conventional mounts? one of the other visitors asked. He was a portly man who none-the-less was dressed expensively and well in the latest Paris fashion.

Well, Lord Wolfton, the guide said, A man on the front line must communicate with his mount in many ways. That special connection must be fostered with much training and can take time. With the Mannkopf, a person may establish a connection almost immediately and with a greater depth than I or any of the other riders have ever experienced with horses.

The girl seemed to have made fast friends with the animal she had fed, with the white beast standing by her at the corral fence with a relaxed posture.

I think Fraulein Meyer has found a friend, Karl said.