clockwork nessie

Revelation

Clockwork Nessie, Part 15

“I see you’ve discovered Nessie the Second.” He stood by my side, the pair of us facing the automaton, and handed me a glass of amber-colored liquid. Our fingers brushed and our eyes met and held.

Determined not to betray my addled state, I cocked my head and asked, “How many Nessies are there?”

“At least two now. This model took Ewan and me years to design and fabricate.”

“Why? What’s her purpose?”

“Ah, your father never told you?” I scowled and shrugged. “I guess not. I thought when you came to the cave today, you seemed to know your way around. When you climbed to the rock ledge, it was as if you’d been there before.” He downed the entirety of his drink in a single gulp.

I did the same and nearly choked. Robert thumped me on the back, chuckling.

“How did you know I was in the cave?” I asked.

He walked toward Nessie. I set my glass on the buffet and trotted to his side. We stopped at the capsule large enough to seat a single person in a semi-reclining position.

“I saw you because I was there too, inside Nessie.”

(To Be Continued)

Clockwork Nessie, Part 14

While Robert made a hard left turn to where a small cabinet sat, I gazed beyond him into the massive space overcrowded with bits of machinery, tools and tables. In the back corner, next to the opened barn door, sat a massive coal bin.

I threw away all pretense of stealth and entered the area, my face upturned to peruse the loft. A long silver column that grew in circumference as it neared the floor, dangled from the rafters. Triangular plates traversed the cylinder’s length, exactly like the coal-eating creature’s. Green bits of seaweed clung to several of the protrusions. The column connected to the front of a capsule approximately four by six feet. A tail extended from the rear end, except the capsule’s appendage possessed a series of propellers down its length of nearly five feet, with a tapering diameter of eighteen to six inches.

A throat being cleared jerked my attention away from the… What was it, anyway? It couldn’t have been the same creature I encountered earlier. How could it have reached Loch Ness? The Caledonian Canal ran nowhere near Papa’s cave and no one knew of any subterranean passageways between the loch and the coast.