Flashing #7: Steampunk

Today’s story is a thematic follow-up to yesterday’s jidaigeki story. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will continue to follow generations of the Nakajima family as it continues to deal with Western intrusion. As I said yesterday, I fell in love with this concept, and really wish I had more time to research it and write it. As the weeks go on, I’ll be revisiting this story for sure, and trying to flesh it out into something bigger and tighter. For now, enjoy it as it is, and come back tomorrow for a little bit of dieselpunk.

If you want more Flashing stories (and an explanation to exactly what’s going on here), you can visit the main page.
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1866: Edo's End (970 words)

Nakajima Sukemochi leaves Date Yoshikuni’s palace under cover of darkness. All he has is a destination and an order to pick up a package. He rides towards port, compulsively going over his instructions. 

The port is busy with ships but empty of sailors. A small party waits in the outskirts, and Sukemochi  makes his way towards them. He stops short of a wall of white faces, all of them looking at him with distrust and disgust. Sukemochi  recites the lines that Date Yoshikuni has given him, “A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

The crowd of faces part and an older white man comes forward with a frazzled man in tow. “Nakajima Sukemochi,” the older man says, “The man I am with is your package. He travels with several crates. Tell your master we appreciate his assistance with the Tokugawa clan but our relationship is henceforth finished. Good evening.”

The white faces disappear into the night. The package turns to Sukemochi  and says, “Hello. I’m Dr. Ernst Mach. Let me show you to my luggage.”
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Date Yoshikuni receives Ernst Mach with a wide smile as they lock hands in a western display of affection. “Dr. Mach! You have your machine, yes?” Ernst signals towards the collection of crates in the carriage and rolls his eyes. “Good! Then let us eat, for now. You must be hungry.”

Date Yoshikuni escorts Ernst into the dining area. Servants swarm towards the carriage and unload the crates. No-one dismisses Sukemochi . No-one commends him for a job well done. He walks into the house, curious to see how much he can see.
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Sukemochi  sits at Date Yoshikuni’s table for the first time. No-one asks him why he’s still here. Everyone seems distracted. The conversation at the table is brisk and cordial. Ernst can not keep his eyes off of Yoshikuni’s female servants and Yoshikuni is trying to get to business before Ernst’s distraction gets the best of him.

“Dr. Mach, I would like to speak to you about your machine. How does it work, again?”

Dr. Mach lets his head drift towards Yoshikuni. “Ah, yes. My machine. That is why I’m here, I take it. I wasn’t told much, honestly.”

“My child, Date Munemoto, has been having such restless nights. He wakes with aggression and fear and won’t take his mother’s breast. My advisors tell me he may be seeing in his sleep, and his visions of the future are more than he can take. I believe your machine can help us understand the problem.”

“How old is your child?”

“He is only three months old.”

The idea of using the machine on younger, savage children excites Ernst. He forgets the women for now. “His delta waves will be off the charts. We could see image clarity beyond anything I’ve ever imagined. Let us start tonight. I’ll need coal. Lots of coal.”
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The boiler burns white. The pressure vessels strain. A giant wheel turns and screeches and shakes wildly on its axle. The sound of pistons pumping fills the air and a jumbled mess of tubes, valves, levers, and atmospheric samplers seem ready to burst at any moment. 

On the table is Date Munemoto. The naked child cries, unable to escape the heat and cacophony of metal and steam. Ernst attaches the electrodes to Date Monemoto’s head and checks the connections to the humode tube. “This isn’t going to work!” Ernst yells over the din. “I need the child to be calm! Do you have any sound sinks in your kingdom?”

Date Yoshikuni looks at his servants who all shrug in unison. “Bloody savages,” Ernst whispers while fumbling about in his pocket. He pulls out a packet of fine white powder. “He’ll need to smoke this!”

Date Yoshikuni hesitates before signaling his servants to bring his pipe. He packs the white powder into the stem and touches flame to metal. He pulls from the pipe and breathes the smoke into his child’s face. His child’s cries give way to sleep, as he drifts into oblivion.
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An hour passes. Steam dances in the humode tube. It circulates and shifts with rhythmic twitches. Date Yoshikuni, who has sent much gold to America and Austria in order to get Ernst here, paces about the room, sighing heavily whenever he passes the young scientist.

Sukemochi  stares at the humode, and notices the steam begins to take shape. “Look!” All the men turn, and although the figures and scenes are foreign to Ernst, everyone else knows what they’re looking at and what it all means.

They see Emperor Kōmei on his death bed. His young son, Mutsuhito, takes power. They see war. The Satsuma and Chōshū domains join together and overthrow Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The Emperor’s forces fly in great airships. They drop flame and bomb from the sky, fire canons out of the air and tear through Tokugawa fortifications. The war is fast and bloody.

There are now great metal machines on land, sea, and air. People talk over magic boxes. Faces move and speak through tiny frames. Edo is transformed into massive copper structures and arsenals and people move about on bikes and scooters and self-powered rickshaws.

The humode turns off. Date Munemoto begins to cry. No-one in the room makes a sound except for Ernst Mach, who dances about, hands thrown into the air. “Wasn’t that wonderful? What did it all mean?”

Date Yoshikuni dismisses Ernst. He dismisses his servants. He dismisses Sukemochi . He doesn’t look at any of them; he only stares at his three-month old child and fears for his future.

Sukemochi  leaves the palace and never turns back. Honor is gone. The samurai are finished. He saw them die. He heads to Edo, ready to be part of whatever is coming.

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