Today, in 2054
Chapter 2
Because of my father's wealth, we owned a small corner of England, which was made up of paddocks and stables with our beautiful house being to the back of the land we owned. Although the paddocks looked pretty plain, the exterior of our home was a garden of life, bursting with colorful flowers and seasonal trees which turned almost all different shades of the rainbow.
"So," I began as we entered our humble abode, "are you going to make time for me on this break?" my father smiled.
"Hopefully," was his reply, "but for now, I need to sleep. It was a three hour train ride, a very bumpy one at that."
"Three hours? Why didn't you just get the Aviator to fly you?" although I was quite aware that he had a name, I felt as though I wasn't on first name basis with him quite yet.
"We had no plan on flying there or back. Besides, Kaito said that it would've been too difficult with navigation around all of the mountains along the way, he said it would have been much easier to just catch the train."
"I thought he was a skilled aviator?"
"He is. Maybe he just felt as though it wasn't worth it for a journey that small." And that was when my father left me to sleep. With nothing left to do, I decided the most entertaining thing to do was to go and check on our horse, Ella.
I'd had Ella for as long as I could remember, and we had bonded as a man would to his dog. I didn't ride Ella, although she had been bred to become a racing horse and we had the right equipment in the shed behind the stable.
She pricked her head up as I approached and trotted over as soon as she realised who it was. I pet the side of her neck as she inspected both my empty hands for any food. She should've known that they would be empty at that time of day, but I guessed she was just being hopeful.
Ella became bored of my company after about half an hour and decoded that eating grass was more fun, so I knew it was time for me to find something else to do. Knowing that going back to the house would only provide boredom and possibly even wake my father, I decided to go into town for an hour or two. Although the walk would be long, I knew that I may just have found something interesting to do.
There was next to no roads during the walk to town, so it was a bit of an adventure figuring out how to get there. I had been there so many times, though, that it was habit to always take the one path.
I found my journey to be over when I came to one of the major roads into the city. I smiled as I saw a car drive by into the city, though one couldn't be too sure if it were a car or not; everybody that had an automobile of a sort had built it themselves out of scrap metal and anything else they could find until it had a roof and had a way to move that didn't involve too much manual labour.
Once I entered into the city itself, I realised that there was no point of me being there, so I followed the cobblestone path to anywhere. I observed the area around me carefully, as to take up more time, and soon found a mob crowding around one small area.
"Oi!" I heard as I walked closer to the scene, "break it up!" when I got closer, I saw two men fighting, with two policemen trying to split the fight up, though their efforts were not succeeding. I looked behind me to leave, as I found the brawl uninteresting, to find another policeman moving in, and soon started to break the mob apart.
"Alfleda!" I heard a familiar voice call as I walked away. Turning around, I saw a familiar face.
"Hi, Vasco!" I smiled brightly. Vasco was one of the men on father's excavation team, as well as his closest friend and ally.
"How have you been?"
"Quite well, thank you, yourself?"
"I would've been better if the excavation went to plan, but I'm sure you've heard enough about that. Why are you here?"
"Father is sleeping, I felt it would be best if I just let him be. Didn't you just have a long train ride home, why are you here?"
"I had to stock up on a few essentials, mainly food and coal."
"Coal?" I asked, "shouldn't you have restocked before you went out for your excavation?"
"I thought I had enough, but it seems as though I don't." Vasco checked his watch before saying to me, "well, the night is getting older, and I'm not getting any younger, so I best be off. I'll see you next time."
"Bye," I waved before continuing on with my small adventure.
It was beginning to get late, though I couldn't help but stop by the pet shop to see the animals in the window. Well, as close to animals that they could be; most species of animals had become extinct and were usually just complex machines run by both clockwork and steam, which people had dubbed 'steamwork'. Although they could feel simple emotions and never needed to be fed, they didn't need any exercise which caused obesity in quite a few people, and never needed to be treated for any kinds of medical conditions, which had caused quite a few jobs to be lost. The only living animals I usually saw were some breeds of dogs, fish, and very few cats. It was somewhat sad, but people didn't know any better.
I headed home, knowing my father would be awake soon and wondering where I was. I took one sorrowful glance back at the steamwork puppy before making my way out of the town for the walk home.
"So," I began as we entered our humble abode, "are you going to make time for me on this break?" my father smiled.
"Hopefully," was his reply, "but for now, I need to sleep. It was a three hour train ride, a very bumpy one at that."
"Three hours? Why didn't you just get the Aviator to fly you?" although I was quite aware that he had a name, I felt as though I wasn't on first name basis with him quite yet.
"We had no plan on flying there or back. Besides, Kaito said that it would've been too difficult with navigation around all of the mountains along the way, he said it would have been much easier to just catch the train."
"I thought he was a skilled aviator?"
"He is. Maybe he just felt as though it wasn't worth it for a journey that small." And that was when my father left me to sleep. With nothing left to do, I decided the most entertaining thing to do was to go and check on our horse, Ella.
I'd had Ella for as long as I could remember, and we had bonded as a man would to his dog. I didn't ride Ella, although she had been bred to become a racing horse and we had the right equipment in the shed behind the stable.
She pricked her head up as I approached and trotted over as soon as she realised who it was. I pet the side of her neck as she inspected both my empty hands for any food. She should've known that they would be empty at that time of day, but I guessed she was just being hopeful.
Ella became bored of my company after about half an hour and decoded that eating grass was more fun, so I knew it was time for me to find something else to do. Knowing that going back to the house would only provide boredom and possibly even wake my father, I decided to go into town for an hour or two. Although the walk would be long, I knew that I may just have found something interesting to do.
There was next to no roads during the walk to town, so it was a bit of an adventure figuring out how to get there. I had been there so many times, though, that it was habit to always take the one path.
I found my journey to be over when I came to one of the major roads into the city. I smiled as I saw a car drive by into the city, though one couldn't be too sure if it were a car or not; everybody that had an automobile of a sort had built it themselves out of scrap metal and anything else they could find until it had a roof and had a way to move that didn't involve too much manual labour.
Once I entered into the city itself, I realised that there was no point of me being there, so I followed the cobblestone path to anywhere. I observed the area around me carefully, as to take up more time, and soon found a mob crowding around one small area.
"Oi!" I heard as I walked closer to the scene, "break it up!" when I got closer, I saw two men fighting, with two policemen trying to split the fight up, though their efforts were not succeeding. I looked behind me to leave, as I found the brawl uninteresting, to find another policeman moving in, and soon started to break the mob apart.
"Alfleda!" I heard a familiar voice call as I walked away. Turning around, I saw a familiar face.
"Hi, Vasco!" I smiled brightly. Vasco was one of the men on father's excavation team, as well as his closest friend and ally.
"How have you been?"
"Quite well, thank you, yourself?"
"I would've been better if the excavation went to plan, but I'm sure you've heard enough about that. Why are you here?"
"Father is sleeping, I felt it would be best if I just let him be. Didn't you just have a long train ride home, why are you here?"
"I had to stock up on a few essentials, mainly food and coal."
"Coal?" I asked, "shouldn't you have restocked before you went out for your excavation?"
"I thought I had enough, but it seems as though I don't." Vasco checked his watch before saying to me, "well, the night is getting older, and I'm not getting any younger, so I best be off. I'll see you next time."
"Bye," I waved before continuing on with my small adventure.
It was beginning to get late, though I couldn't help but stop by the pet shop to see the animals in the window. Well, as close to animals that they could be; most species of animals had become extinct and were usually just complex machines run by both clockwork and steam, which people had dubbed 'steamwork'. Although they could feel simple emotions and never needed to be fed, they didn't need any exercise which caused obesity in quite a few people, and never needed to be treated for any kinds of medical conditions, which had caused quite a few jobs to be lost. The only living animals I usually saw were some breeds of dogs, fish, and very few cats. It was somewhat sad, but people didn't know any better.
I headed home, knowing my father would be awake soon and wondering where I was. I took one sorrowful glance back at the steamwork puppy before making my way out of the town for the walk home.