The Shattered West: The Tale of Colt Marsh

Chapter Eight: Not Alone Anymore

Salt Lake City, Nation of Deseret: May 8, 1869

What a whirlwind…

Colt and Gabriella were taken into town by wagon, had their wounds looked after by the best doctors, and were treated to the best meal of their lives at a very fancy restaurant by the mayor of town. He’d apologized profusely that President and Prophet Young couldn’t attend but he was out of town. The mayor, a member of Quorum of Twelve, offered them his heartfelt thanks and a thanks from all in the city for stopping the train. Had it barreled into town at full-speed, casualties would have been tremendous.

Settling in for the evening, Colt had to ask Gabby the question which had nagged at him all day - what was that gizmo of hers?

“Living in Massachusetts, one grew accustomed to the whaling trade. I was always ahead in my studies, which gave me time to explore and meet others. One such jaunt to the seaside took her to New Bedford where she met Lewis Temple. A brilliant man, inventor and blacksmith he had developed a very unique harpoon dubbed the “Temple’s Toggle.” It worked so well on a whale I always theorized it might stake into a rock face as well,” Gabriella said with a confident smile as they sat in a private lounge among the elite of Salt Lake in the Grand Hotel.

“And that sail cloth?” asked Colt, still dumbfounded by it all.

“Ah yes, termed a ‘parachute’ by many aeronauts - meant as a safety device should they fall from their balloons or need to escape from it. I took the principle and conceived that were the same principle applied against a horizontal force, like we being pulled from the train, and the parachute being released, then it would fill with air and slow us down considerably. My good friend Thomas Jennings of New York City has been very patient with me over the years and my many design requests have stretched his tailoring skills to their limits. Working with silk is never easy,” she replied in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

Colt couldn’t help but blurt out, “But you’ve never tried anything like this before!?”

“Tut-tut my good fellow, I’ve too many ideas and contraptions in the works and am too often called into the field to properly test them all. Just be glad we weren’t facing a frozen night in the Canadian Rockies like me and a team were a year back...my ‘Insta-Fire’ - a device meant to replicate the act of working a fire-bow - failed on it’s first attempt and shot out the baseboard and into our only horse. Poor Clementine…tasty though..”

Colt thought of replying but he had no idea how to respond to all of that so he took a bite of the very nice steak in front of him. This gave Gabby the chance to ask the question which had been nagging at her all day. “So just what happened on the front of the train? I mean, I think I saw someone go out there and you left me alone to see to the engine but only you came back. You don’t strike me as someone who would’ve thrown someone to their death nor did I see anyone escape otherwise. So…?”

Several variations of the truth and a few different lies came to mind but in the end Colt opted to tell her the truth. After having done so, he hoped she would have an answer as to how Hong could have disappeared like that. Gabriella puzzled over the question while taking a few more bites of her food and Colt could see her mind conjecturing through the possibilities.

“I’ve seen the marvels of science first hand, but I’ve also seen things that make no sense at all,” she began, “and so have you…the Kraken, the man who could conjure storms and force lightning from the sky.”

“But surely there’s a logical explanation for it? Like a contraption meant to look like a sea monster? Or the man used some sort of energy manipulation to keep himself in the air? I saw a monk once balance on a single finger as he meditated.”

“When you drove the mast into the beast, did it explode or scream in pain?”

Colt sighed. “The sound it uttered as it died and sank beneath the waves will haunt me to my grave.”

“And that same monk, was he causing flowers to bloom around him or was water springing from the ground around him? Colt shook his head. “There is a difference between creating an energy field and forcing it to do your will. No my friend, I, unlike many in my field, believe in magic - a power greater than ourselves or that we can bottle up or hammer into place.”

“I never told you what happened to me on my survey of the unclaimed territory south of New Victoria - the land you most likely knew as Oregon Territory, bordering the Pacific Ocean - nor why I’m on this train alone,” Gabriella said.

“I assumed you used local guides and hired hands from the area - I’m sorry, I guess it was rude of me not to ask,” Colt replied.

“Think nothing of it. I was so amazed by your tale I thought little of my own as of recent. I was asked by the Secretary of the Interior, Jacob Cox, to scout those lands and see if it would be worth the Union laying claim to them. No one has yet and all the other parties in the area seem preoccupied or uninterested,” she said.

“But it is so far from other Union lands and I’d read that the Tri-Nation of the Crow, Cheyenne, and Lakota wanted nothing to do with the Union. And the Free People, whose lands are between the Platte and Arkansas River, are too lawless to allow a railroad to be built across it. How would the Union reap any benefits from something so far away?” Colt asked.

“The same way I got out there with all my gear and a crew of scientists from back home, in my dirigible, Sally Mae the Third,” Gabriella said with a whisper.

Colt’s jaw dropped. He’d seen pictures but assumed they were conceptual only or works of fantasy. Sure, Giffard and Blanchard had sent balloons to the sky, even crossed the English Channel, but across the whole of this continent? But then he thought again of being propelled into the air and saved by one of Gabriella’s other inventions. She’d believed him thus far, the least he could do was return the favor.

“But why ‘the Third’?” he asked.

“Sally Mae was my mother’s name and no, she was not the third of her namesake, but it was my third,” and she took a deep breath before continuing, “surviving model.”

Colt wanted to say something but bit his tongue once again.

She leaned in closer and whispered even more carefully than before. “President Weed has commissioned a fleet of my design and has a right of passage treaty with the Tri-Nation, People’s Republic, and State of Deseret. But I fear it is all for not. Those lands are cursed and first thing in the morning I need to disembark back to Washington and tell him so.”

“Cursed? How so?”

“As we approached the territory the skies were clear and all barometric readings implied we should have smooth sailing. But not unlike your tale, a storm came from nowhere and we were forced to land far off course. While we surveyed the damage, we were set upon by a pack of creatures I can only describe as a combination of beast and machine combined. They had the rough size, form and gait of a bear, but their hides had metallic spikes and their claws were mechanical, like saws with gears. And through it all there was a man, a single man who seemed to command them, dressed like a shaman, carrying a spear, and uttering the most foul sounding language I’d ever heard in my life.”

Colt gagged on the food in his mouth, nearly choking. Clearing his throat and assuring Gabby he was alright, he knew of whom she spoke. It pained Colt to utter the words but recalled them easily - “Sol vi ruko vole cesar,” he uttered the horrid phrase that so often haunted his dreams.

“The words were different but the rhythm and tone were the same. Where on earth did you hear that?” she asked.

“The leader of the tribe that slaughtered mine. The man who killed my mother and who drove his spear through me said those words as I lay dying at his feet. I’ve always wondered what they meant and I intend on asking him before I kill him myself.”

There was a thoughtful pause between them both.

Gabby took the napkin from her lap and wiped her mouth. “Well then, we best get some rest if we’re going to find him then.”

“But you said you had to get to Washington right away?”

“Some of my best friends were on that expedition with me and being a scientist, I firmly believe all things happen for a reason. There is an imbalance in this world. That force, that chaos brought us together. And I’m going to help see the scales tipped back in our favor.”

Colt didn’t know what else to say but he was so caught up in the moment he just leapt from his seat and hugged Gabriella tightly. “Thank you,” he said.

“Think nothing of it,” she replied with a grin. “Ayomi…straight-forward, remember?”