I drew a smile on my face, determined to cover up my uncomfortable feelings. I couldn't imagine anything more tiresome than working with my former boss! He was so irritable, proud, angry and snobbish!

Alice however, was a different story. She grinned and shook hands with him and I thought I saw the impossible - Mr Olton smiled! He opened the door fully and I reluctantly stepped into his mansion.

"Welcome fine ladies! It is a pleasure to see you again." He greeted us.

Mr Olton strode along the hallways cream velvet carpet confidently and we followed behind him. Leading us up the ginormous mahogany staircase in the centre of the hallway, we eventually arrived in a living room. There were four leather armchairs and a chaise-lounge, which looked too pristine, the silk too new. It was as if it hadn't been sat in for a long time.

Mr Olton took a seat in the largest of the armchairs. Alice sat in the comfy-looking beige one with no cog decorations in the wood and I seated myself in the remaining tan armchair.

Mr Olton sat up with perfect posture and he adjusted his sliver cufflinks casually. He was wearing his usual waistcoat and tails but a different top hat - without clock parts, only a burgundy ribbon.
"What is your business, fair maidens?" He enquired cordially, the fire crackling in its grate.

Alice responded quickly,
"Mila has come across an unpleasant character, and I think it would be beneficial if we could know more about locomotive engines. Can you tell us about those engines, particularly those that could be used for an airship? We have seen your work and it is highly commendable, the work of a true craftsman."

Mr Olton was flattered.
"I would be pleased to do so!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Mr Olton opened it and one of Alice's airship staff asked for Alice.

"Oh dear." She said, with the disappointed tone of a Nightingale who has been interrupted mid-song.

"I must go immediately, my staff want to speak to me about reparking the airship, as a farmer has now requested we move to the next field. I will be back as soon as I can - Mila, tell me what he has told you."

Alice disappeared promptly, leaving me with Mr Olton.

There was a moments pause but then Mr Olton burst into vociferous talk:

"Mila, I will start with one thing. Do not talk all wishy-washy about the facts of this 'unpleasant character' as I know exactly who you are tackling! As of yet, no one has managed to foil Mr Aberdain's plans! Believe me, Mila, I have tried to do so myself! There is a reason that chaise lounge is no longer occupied by my wife!"

I jumped at his words, startled. I had not expected him to know all this!
But shortly after this feeling of shock, I realised something. He'd mentioned his wife and I'd never seen his wife before, not ever. I didn't even know he had one. Before I could stop myself, I blurted:

"Did Mr Aberdain... - "

I was cut off my Mr Olton nodding firmly.
"Yes! She's dead." He spoke simply, but with tightness in his voice. His moustache bristled as if angry and he readopted his characteristic frown.

With this answer, I changed the subject. This was sensitive stuff and I needed to stay on task.

"How on earth did you know what I was coming for?" I asked, confused at his knowledge. "And what can you tell me about the enemy and locomotive engines?"

Mr Olton sat up again, his frown less severe now.

"There is only one crook in this country that specialised in airships before turning to crime: Mr Aberdain! I knew immediately who you where regarding because of Alice's request about airship locomotive engines.

Well, if you want to know about airship engines and train engines, then come with me and try your hand at it. There is a difference between knowing something and actually being able to carry it out, apprentice!"

******

Mr Olton and I walked to the top floor of the mansion, before walking along another corridor. A series of gears were turning with clicks on the ceiling, and I saw that they were powering the lights. Every time a door on this floor was opened, a lever spun the gears, generating electricity to the lights.

Mr Olton ducked into the second door on the corridor and I followed after him.

Inside, the room was enormous, the length of 3 rooms stacked side by side. The doors from those former rooms were still there too. The walls had no wallpaper, being painted instead with a repeating pattern of copper wheels and pulleys connected with haphazard wires.

The feature wall was completely black, a stark contrast to the other walls.

There was a familiar hum of engines running, and the musical whirring of the belts on a traction engine.

Traction engines!

I scanned the room and saw that beside the second window in the centre of the room, there was a traction engine running. The window was stained with a brown oily handprint, with splats down the wall underneath onto the polished pine floorboards.

To my left, there was a toolbox that looked at it it had exploded. Tools lay sprawled across the floor, and there were huge coils of wire lying next to the red toolbox, on their sides.

There was a ticking noise too coming from multiple parts of the room so that I couldn't be sure whether it was dials or actual clocks making the sound.

There was a loud whistle from another machine, and steam entered the room, as if the contraption had sneezed. The steam felt hot but cool at the same time, as it lost heat quickly.

A slick, black pool reached my shoes, smelling strong and overpoweringly pungent. I felt it damp against my black leather boots and realised I'd worn them out, so that a hole had formed. I stepped back and Mr Olton
jumped over to the west side of the rectangular room with a cry:

"Abomination! This automaton always spills oil when it shouldn't!"

He wrenched out a steel spanner from the inside of his waistcoat and immediately set to work to patch up the leak.

I noted with interest that now he'd unbuttoned his waistcoat, I could see the inside of his jacket was riddled with secret compartments and pockets.

In his jacket there were all sizes of spanners, clock dials, clock hands, screwdrivers with burgundy handles, a mallet, two hammers, a pocket full of springs, a spare gold chain, gears, cogs, metal rods, three sets of pliers, boltcutters, a coil of copper wiring, a copper heart, a tiny bottle of glue and a spare burgundy ribbon that matched the one on his hat.

Typical. I thought. He always has to look his best and an oil-stained top hat would be sure to raise eyebrows.

Mr Olton finished and returned to where I was watching.

We walked to the far east side of the room, where there was an enormous hulk of an object draped in a black blanket with a golden rope to pull off the velvet drape. The wall next to it had a heavy crank and sturdy cast iron gears. I wondered what the crank operated but didn't dare touch it.

Mr Olton approached the hulk under the blanket and turning to face me, he grasped the golden rope before pulling it sharply. The black velvet cascaded off the machine with a flourish, revealing, to my awe, a gleaming, shining new train!

"Wow!" I smiled broadly; my eyes were diamonds.

It had a long cylindrical shape, broad and heavy, with great gleaming black iron wheels. The crankshaft, pistons and valve gears which turned the wheels at such a fast pace were of strong bronze, shining so much it could be mistaken for gold.

There was a steam-powered whistle by the driver carriage too, as customary on every locomotive train.

The front of the smoke box (which I affectionately call the trains 'face') was painted with a massive ornate clock. It had Roman numerals from one to twelve on it with feathers spiralling out from the sides in all directions, all intricately painted with a fine paintbrush and gold paint.

The water boilers on either side were concealed with wooden pannels, where a single, large, gold feather was painted. There the trains name was painted: Royal Clockwork.

There was a tall driver compartment at the back too, which, when I entered it, was spacious enough for all my stoker friends and more. A huge furnace with a solid iron door and handle was there but more importantly, there were lights.

A series of gears and cogs on the ceiling, blending in with the black iron powered a bright gas light. The train had a satisfyingly big chimney - not tall and thin like a traction engine, but not stubby and short either.

It was perfect.

I gave Mr Olton a round of applause for his fine craftsmanship and the inventor bowed, smiling proudly.

"Thank you. But now onto the next item on the agenda: teaching you to drive it!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"It's 'Pardon?', not 'what?'!" Mr Olton shot back. "Anyhow, you will drive it. If you can drive this train, you can drive a real, complex airship like Alice's. They both run on steam. They both have complex engines. They're locomotives. So your knowledged will match Aberdain's if you can drive this."

Mr Olton moved over to the crank on the wall and peered outside the window. Seeing the clouds had relinquished their outburst of rain, Mr Olton gestured for me to move away from the train.

Mr Olton turned the crank quickly and the train moved on a concealed turntable. A part of the wall also moved away on a sliding frame! Mr Olton connected a metal chain to the train. The train was pulled on the platform and it platform descended to the ground floor, pulling the sliding door shut behind it.

******

Puffa-puffa-chugga-chugga-puffa-puffa.

The train clacked over the tracks seamlessly, chuffing it's steady rhythm of piston and crankwagon hisses and steamy puffs. Mr Olton was on board the train, directing me.

"Now you've got the train moving, move the cylinder cocks again. I have seen that only steam is being emitted from the chimney, so close them now!" He ordered.

I scanned the odd jumble of levers, pipes and dials, a labyrinth of new technology. This was pristine and shining and I didn't want to mess up this new machine. Then at last I saw the cylinder cocks - a valve connected to a pipe with a red circular handle. I grasped it and spun it round clockwise.

"Push the reverser to near vertical!" Mr Olton prompted.

Eyeing the large oiled lever in front of me, I grasped the handle and pushed it slowly, carefully until it was near vertical. Not quite vertical though - I'd heard that you shouldn't do that on a train but I wasn't sure why.

The lever locked into place and the train continued to puff along the iron tracks.

I eyed the surroundings carefully and saw there were no hazards coming up. Relaxing, I left the reverser, a long stick used to control the speed, in place while still keeping my eyes on the surroundings outside.

Mr Olton checked my work and nodded approvingly.
"Good work Stoker!" He told me.

I resisted the urge to correct him on my name.

"You have now graduated to being a driver! Albeit a woman one." He laughed cheerfully.

I smiled contentedly.

I peeked outside again and saw we were going up a hill. I drew the reverser back further, so the train slowed down. We travelled over the hill and then I quickly pulled the reverser back into its almost vertical position. The train moved on as normal.

Phew. I thought. I'd been worried I might have gone too fast. If I had gone too fast there was a high chance the boiler pressure of the locomotive would decrease - resulting in the train being stuck at a slow speed and not being able to keep moving.

Mr Olton informed me the train 'station' was coming up, so I prepared to brake.

I looked at the gauges and released the brakes, the needle climbed, and I pressed the brake marked 'running' on the train.

I watched another brake dial (numbered from 1 to 25) and when it got to 12, I put my foot on the third brake.

At last, there was a sense of force as the train slowed down until the floor jumped and the locomotive was at the train 'station'.

At the side of Mr Olton's mansion, behind a thick cover of trees, there was his private railway testing line. Being an inventor, he needed to test-drive each one, so the railway line had a 'station' with a platform and stairs to stop the train at and the track ran along a sizable portion of his estate, including over a hill.

This was the track I had been trained on and although I had detailed knowledge of how to drive the train from watching the driver on Crimson Comodo, now I could actually put it into use.

I had been given training to use such a machine and to be qualified now felt pleasing.

Mr Olton shook my hand with a small smile, before we left the train and stepped onto the stone platform.
"I will put the train, Royal Clockwork, away later." He informed me as we walked down the steps to return to the house.

Once at the house, it was evident Alice had returned hours ago. She threw her arms around me and laughed.

"Oh Mila, my dear friend! I really thought you'd gone missing! But Mr Olton's butler told me where you are and I've been waiting patiently for you to return. What were you doing?"

I smiled widely. "I got training in machinery from our new ally."

*****

Well, that's the longest chapter I've ever written!
Hope you didn't get too bored while reading that :D and I'll see you again next chapter! :)

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