By Ariana Hagen
“What makes it work?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“We don’t really know.” Dr. Tine shrugged. “Some energy source that we haven’t been able to figure out. Our scientists who worked in the lab with the last one ended up getting sick, and some of them died within months. Nasty stuff. Skin bubbled and peeled away like overcooked meat.”
I shuddered, pushing the mental image out of my head. I clenched and unclenched my steam-powered metallic hand, feeling the humming vibration of the gears whirring inside it. “So, what do you need this one for?” I asked him.
“Sources say it’s the last of its kind. We need to capture it so we can study it. This might be our final chance to learn the energy source of the Ancients.” His excitement was barely contained.
“What happened to the last few your group got its hands on?”
Dr. Tine’s face puckered like he tasted something sour. “Erm… The last few died, so to speak. When we dissected them, their power source just… dissipated.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured skeptically. “And now you want me to catch the last known specimen of this species so you can dissect it and make a bunch of people sick again?”
“We pay handsomely,” he promised, avoiding my question.
My eyes widened at the glittering chip he handed me and its outrageous amount. It seemed my morals did have a price.
My dirigible was already stocked with hunting gear. Once I reached cruising levels, I adjusted my goggle settings to see through the cloud layer. My engineered arm beeped and chimed as it recalibrated. It took two days of air travel before I reached the ruins that rose and spread like a skeletal mountain range. My target waited there… somewhere.
Miles of metallic bones thrust from the ground, raising up toward the sky like grasping fingers—all that remained of an ancient civilization much different than ours. A world that didn’t rely on steam or air power and didn’t blend gears and mechanics with human flesh. Yet one that created life from the unliving, powered by something as hot and dangerous as the sun.
I scanned the ruins, searching for color and movement. There! To the north, in a particularly dense part of ruin, a flash of red lit up my sight. I hastened the descent of the dirigible. The thought of a million chips drove my desire to catch the beast. Hurriedly, I unloaded my electrified net blaster, steam-powered rifle, and magnetic field projector.
It took a few hours to crawl through the metal jungle, but finally I reached the summit of a particularly high structure. There, right below me, was the thing I hunted.
The creature was the size of an elephant. Reptilian skin held it together—dull red like old blood or rust—and each scale was larger than my head. A long tail wound around a pillar, and massive wings spread to each side like flags. The neck was thick and spiked, and shiny metal teeth protruded from its snake-like head. But the eyes were the most unnatural thing about it. They seemed lifeless, yet somehow blazed with an iridescent yellow-green light. The same yellow-green light dripped occasionally from its mouth in liquid form.
My breath caught in my chest at the terrible beauty of the thing. I had never seen a dragon in person before. Never dared to think I could get so close to one before they went extinct.
The thing looked suddenly in my direction. I must have breathed too loudly. It roared, spilling molten yellow liquid from its mouth. Where the liquid touched the ruins, the metal melted. I could feel the heat radiating from its very core. Bracing myself against the onslaught, I launched the electrified net only to have it tangle at the dragon’s feet.
We battled all day. I discovered its wings were broken. Despite its inability to get airborne, it was still extremely dangerous. It spit molten yellow acid at me, dissolving anything it touched and occasionally slipping through energy fluctuations in my magnetic field projector. I felt bubbles rising on my skin and burns scalding my face. I shot the steam-powered rifle at the creature, but that only enraged it.
Eventually, the dragon would surely kill me. But to my surprise, I managed to get the net around it after a last desperate throw. Sheer luck.
Subdued, the animal rolled iridescent eyes to watch me.
Shaken, out of breath, bleeding and weak, I approached it from behind the safety of my field projector. Up close, the dragon was even more beautiful. I could see the beat of its green heart through its translucent skin. Looking closer, I noticed words in the Ancient language on the side of its massive head. I lifted my engineered arm and scanned the words, uploading them to the scientist with the message asking: “Does this mean anything to you?”
I raised my stun gun to knock out the creature. Instead, I met its eyes. Despite their lifeless look, I could feel the power behind them. Grief and loneliness tickled my mind. The weight of immeasurable age smothered my thoughts. I understood that these emotions came from the beast itself.
“Damn it,” I sighed.
Dr. Tine’s voice blared over my radio, “Those words translate to ‘Warning: Radiation Levels’ and then it fades away into the skin and I can’t decipher it. I don’t know what radiation means though. Did you get the thing?!”
“No,” I lied. “When I caught it, it burst into flames and incinerated itself.”
“Damn it! That was our last—”
I switched off the radio, cutting him off mid-sentence. I couldn’t help but smile as I retracted the electrified net and watched the dragon stretch out from under it. It turned to look at me one last time before it slunk into the vast ruins of the ancient city, leaving behind nothing but the engulfing feeling of thanks drifting on the hot wind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
steampunk prosthesis – interesting concept.
Thank you! I love the idea of a whole world of engineered possibilities created from the most simple elements
Such a cool story!
Thank you so much! I’m very glad you enjoyed it
Absolutely loved this! It now I want more 😅
Thank you so much! That inspires me to write more for that character!
Fascinating and fun. Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading it and I’m glad you enjoyed it!