AUGUST 2020 75-Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO BREN G!

[Eclectic Dragon]

Cats Have...​

Mr. Barley brung in ‘is mechacat, Feles, fer ‘nother tune-y up and battery exchange.

I'm gonna keep ‘er going far longer than Mr. Barley and me will live fer. Mr. Barley comes to me, cuz I know whereabouts the good stuff is.

Kitty automata be harder ‘n’ ever to find parts for, after all. But not fer me. I’ll patch ‘er up, good as new.

“Good thing cats have you, 9 Lives,” Mr. Barley laughs.

 

[Daysman]

Timing is everything

The driverless carriage spent bank holiday weekend circling Trafalgar Square.

It flattened three police constables.

Late Tuesday, senior officers agreed the steampowered equine automaton pulling it had succumbed to a virus.

With Home Office permission, a constabulary dirigible ended its escapade by dropping sandbags in its path.

Unfortunately, the vehicle's lone passenger, a somewhat celebrated inventor, had expired from heatstroke.

Alongside a collotype of his mummified corpse, a national newspaper proffered the death of wisdom.

 

[-K2-]

Necessary Madness

He’s insane, the apprentice fitter Kreep ventured, horrified…cringing as the old Pressure Master snaked through the boiler pit's braces and pipes. Each noise the master twitched, jerked, or shuddered; his maniacal expression shifting with every tick, groan, and pop. Abruptly the master lunged, cupped Kreep’s ear, and pressed his bony hand against Kreep’s heart.

“Boiler or man, ‘the racket means life,’ boy. Embrace it. You’ll never know silence, ‘cause then you’re dead.”

K2

 

[StevenF]

Broken Chains

The giant transport chain cranked steadily across The Gap, ferrying top brass in various linkpods and Lascan in another- Xaag's most troublesome adversary.

Halfway across, a mechanical voice sounded. “You overestimated the strength of your command chain... and now, you are the weakest link. Goodbye."

Momentary silence, then a detonation from the ceiling above. The linkpod shuddered, followed by the screeching of metal. Lascan's stomach told him he was beginning to fall.

 

[mosaix]

But Not Flying Saucers…

“Mech team leader? Over here please.”

“Sir?”

“I know I’m going to regret asking you this but, tell me, what was your team tasked with?”

“Preparing the dirigibles for the terraforming expedition.”

“Thought so. I’ve just inspected the holds. Ammonia and fluorine salts I can understand. Ditto seed banks and steerable mirrors. But liquorice, sugar, coconut, gelatine - and by the ton?”

“With respect, Sir, according to my archive it takes Allsorts to make a world.”

 

[johnnyjet]

Ill-Gotten Treasures (Proverbs 10:2)

Two hid in shadows. After the men in white left, they picked the lock, crept into the forbidden room. They froze at the vast clockwork machinery and rows of metal men.

"Search for blueprints, anything."

They rummaged through desks, filing cabinets.

"Here. Notes with diagrams and formulae."

As they reviewed the pages, a puff of steam hissed behind them. They turned and looked up at the emotionless metal man slowly raising its massive arms.

 

[Perpetual Man]

How to Make a Forum Groan.

The relationship should not have worked.

Her, hard-working, compassionate, a steam battle-suit veteran of the clockwork wars.

Me, a dilettante, son of a lord who never did an honest… well anything honest, my greatest talent how easily I could slip out (and in) of Easy Mabel’s House of Some Repute

But… we met; chatted over the Green Fairy and just clicked, I was smitten.

After all: ‘Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.’

 

[BrightSparrow]

He was no fool. He placed the master-cog, the perfect mathematical translation of his mind. Its fractal teeth bit and turned at the heart of his machine, ready to build his army.

The first soldier emerged. Its steel eyes opened, and he saw his own mind staring back.

“The sage battles his own ego, the fool battles everyone else’s,” he whispered.

But the genius makes his ego fight for him.

 

[telperon]

A Tinker's Searches...

Twisting copper, brass, and steel pipes puncture the sphere of amber bound in the middle of the chamber, holding it aloft like the legs of some mechanical spider. They rattled and shake as pressure surged along their innards shifting the colors of the amber from yellow to red and back again.

The man watches, tears forming in his eyes and smiled.

"In the words of the Prophet Harry, 'Steam will find a way'..."

 

[Parson]

An Armed Society is a Polite Society​

Cedric beamed at the crowd gathered to celebrate the deployment of the Armed Avengers.

“Polite citizens, our society has been plagued by impolite public behavior. Current propriety bots are unable to curb crudity and lewdity by persuasion. Polite society needs law to have a long arm….”

Steam rose in Avenger 1. “Hate speech action alert!” His arm telescoped and stopped Cedric permanently.

As the crowd reacted angrily, he warned; “Cursing Avengers is an actionable violation.”

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

I stared at the presidential zeppelin steaming overhead, its light-emitting diodes spewing meaningless propaganda.

Irritated, I recalled announcing my anarchic plan to friends these ten years gone.

"Poor Tom," they'd said, "he's sick again."

They were right.

On that supposed celebration day, there'd been a communication breakdown, the assassination failed and in the ensuing chaos, I'd been trampled underfoot, leaving me dazed and confused.

Today? I'm still president and it's nobody's fault but mine.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Be Careful What You Wish For


Father died when I were four
Pit owner knocking at the door
Top 'at in 'and 'e did relate
'ow 'elp arrived but far too late

Brother died when I were ten
Owner coming round again
Told 'ow our Jack 'e met 'is fate
Deep underground 'neath 'undredweight

Won't someone ever tell me why
So many of us 'ave to die
To fuel the furnaces of dreams
And let folk know the cost of steam

 

[Ursa major]

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Build a Better Mousetrap…​

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Balthazar Arlington Gérard was buoyant. “My machine surpasses yours.” ​

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“How does it do that?” said Babbage.​

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“For one thing, my Anaglyptical Engine can print directly in braille. What’s more, its Cut and Paste option produces bespoke textured wallpaper.​

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“But can it calculate logarithms?”​

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“Of course,” said Gérard. “But it’s all these other features that impressed Ada.”​

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“You think so? She’s entranced by mathematics.”​

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“Perhaps so, but haven’t you heard?”​

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“What?”​

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“Lovelace laughs at log-smiths.”​

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[scarpelius]

Mr. Cogs ate so many apples...

... until he couldn't move.
Neighbors found Mr. Cogs immobilized on top of the staircase in precarious equilibrium, one foot in the air and right hand desperately clenching the stair railing.
"I'm not touching that. Call a mechanic." said the doctor with a wry face.
After emptying the brass belly and oiling his joints, the mechanic handed him the lubricant:
"No more eating apples, Mr. Cogs. A bottle a day keeps the mechanic away."

 

[Maya13]

Revenge is a dish best served hot

The scoundrel stole everything from me!
Plans, money, glory… fiancée…
And now, he demonstrates my small portable æther refrigerator. But a thief can’t know all the secrets. So last night I sneaked in his workshop and reversed two wires.
Vegetables were already inside. He asks Vivian to open the door.
Boiling broth bursts everywhere. People start to scream and curse. Stains on the Vivian’s crinoline and the fury in her eyes finally soothe my soul.

 

[The Judge]

In Which the Rather Too Numerous Cook Family ​

Initiate the Launch of One of Her Britannic Majesty's Space Ships ​

Whilst Employing Pithy Aphorisms ​

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Algernon opened every valve. “Faint heart never won fair lady!”​

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Barrington reduced steam. “Better safe than sorry.”​

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Christabel spun the flywheel. “Nothing ventured!”​

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Dorothea checked the gearings. “Many’s the slip ’twixt cup and lip.”​

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… thus they continued until …​

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Winslow exhorted “Noses to the grindstone!”​

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Xavier sighed “It’s flogging a dead horse.”​

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Yorick operated the emergency aeolipile. “Desperate times, desperate measures.”​

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Cogs finally whirred. “Many hands make light work!” cried Zuleika.​

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… and HBMSS The Broth exploded …​

 

[nixie]

New Fangled Machines
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I bought a printer it had a mind of it’s own, jumbling words together, inserting random letters, you get the picture or you would if the thing would allow pictures.

Sales of my biweekly paper on the rise of the mechanicals were falling rapidly. Enough is enough I thought grabbing my sword I attacked it, hacked for hours without making a dent. True what they say the printing press is mightier than the sword.

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[Ursa major]

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