Where Dragons Play

Gift of Life

Josephine stepped back and wiped the grease from her hands with a sigh. Her work was not yet done; the steam powered vehicle of her dreams seemed always to need one more part, one more gear or crankshaft or rubber belt.

"Take a rest, My Lady," Professor Igor spoke up in tones of warm appreciation from his chair. "Would that I were young and strong enough to help you with this grimy work."

"If only my mother approved of my interest in steam engineering…"

"Someday the Queen will appreciate what you've devoted so much of your life to."

Princess Josephine sat down next to the aged Professor who was one of only a few who believed in her efforts. He poured her a cup of tea.

"Explain to me again how it works…" he said, with a gentle wink. "You need to have your words ready if Her Royal Highness your mother is interested."

"I started with the observation that steam takes up far more volume than the water it was boiled from," the princess began. "Steam is extremely powerful. When I was little I enjoyed spending time watching the cooks in the royal kitchen. I saw countless lids of saucepans rattling and flying off when the soup boiled over. Even the whistling teakettle is an example of steam being put to use.

"In an enclosed space, steam becomes pressurized, filled with potential energy which can be harnessed and funneled through various channels that can be made to perform work. My first and most basic test of such a machine was a simple set of two cylinders with pulleys attached, arranged in such a way that when one pulley is forced up with the steam rushing into the cylinder, the other one goes down, in a rhythmic cyclical fashion."

She stopped to take a sip of tea.

"And what are you currently working on?" He asked.

"This project is far more ambitious. If I can design and put into practice a mobile vehicle which does not require horsepower, that will change the way the world functions. But it requires a multitude of moving parts, carefully assembled - and oh, the grease!"

She gazed ruefully down at her stained hands and the oil splotched on her gown.

"Mother detests to see me like this…"

"It is but a small price you pay for the advancement of society." Professor Igor said. "I know you will live to see the day when the Queen is proud of your undertaking."

***

Princess Josephine worked for months and years on her automobile, as she learned to call it. The steam engine was large, noisy and unwieldy, and she narrowly escaped blowing up her entire laboratory more than once, but finally, that one last serpentine belt snapped into place between the last two pulleys. The engine roared to life with the ferocious, unbridled power of a tiger.

"My Lady, come quickly! Your mother the Queen is sick!"

It was a rare, deadly and rapid disease, one that could only be healed by the essential oils from a certain type of salvia which grew two hundred miles to the south of their castle.

"My automobile could go such a distance in a day or less," Josephine said. "I must do this."

And so the Crown Princess made the journey in her newly invented vehicle. Only one brave lad from the Guards went with her, and Professor Igor, whose botanical knowledge was needed.

They made it safely to the southern lands and back in record time, bringing with them a plentiful harvest of the medicinal herbs which could only be found there.

"My dear child, you have saved my life," the Queen spoke as she sat up in bed with the herbal poultice on her forehead. "It is with great admiration and respect that I inquire as to how your vehicle operates without the use of horses, and ever so much faster."

Princess Josephine squeezed her mother's hand and glanced up at the elderly Professor Igor with the faintest of ladylike winks as she began her explanation.

Word Count: 677.

Prompt: ▼

Door 15
1. Inventions - Steam Engines (Not part of this fantasy world)
Explain the invention
Show people's reaction
What does royalty think of such an invention?
1500 story word limit

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