Chapter 3 - From Victoria City to Oxbridge

The steam floated over the track, as Victoria-Oxbridge Express pushed across the moors. Alexandra Cleverly politely sat in her second class seat. She was somewhat was relieved that the train to Oxbridge wasn't crowded. An old man sleeping in front of her. A family with small children behind her. She was returning to the University early ahead of the term. She wanted to sort out a few items in the library before the winter term started. In the far back of the car, a few sailors sat chatting in a relaxed manor. 

Her father had been pleased with her progress and it was a nice Christmas time with him in Victoria City. She worried about his health after her mother had passed. Her father, a local constable, was quite busy in his role policing the rowdy section of the Victoria City docks. Her mother sadly had pass after contracting an illness in the “Steelhead Flu” outbreak. The pandemic had taken a toll on the steamlands. She missed her mother dearly. 

Out the window, trees passed quickly. She was staring at nothing in particular. Suddenly the train jolted, brakes squealed. A humming noise seemed to be coming from roof of the train. As the train stopped abruptly, Alexandra became aware that it is the humming wasn't from the train. 

The Air Sailors we standing at the window of the train looking up at something. 

“It’s gone”
“No, we are too far clouds are blocking the view” “It was there and now it is gone”
“That’s not possible”. 

The humming was far away. Alexandra look at where the Sailors were pointing. She was aware of flash of something, that she had no words for. It had the sensation of lightning flashing and then passing. But there was no light. No visible disruption. A negative force, a lightning bolt of nothing. That was the only way to describe it. It was an explosion of blankness. Nothing. After the flashes stopped in a few minutes, Alexandra noticed the humming stopped. 

The old man was standing behind her watching as well. She thought she recognized him. He was likely a professor. 

Slowly, she realized what she was seeing. And a sudden dread filled her stomach. It was more, what she didn't see. Iron Cloud - the Caledonia AirShip Platform. The facilitator and almost symbol of Caledon Defense and Freedom, was not in the sky. It didn't exist. Another bolt of the emptiness flashed.

 “That’s bloody not good. Without it they can’t defend the shoreline in all directions.” 

“The admiral must have moved it” 

“Bollocks, it cant move that fast” 

“Cloaked it? Must be a cloaking spell.” 

“Why do that?” 

Another flash of something. The flash of light they wasn't light. The presence that wasn't there. The humming. 

“How can something that big move? And why didn't we see it destroyed if someone attacked” 

The man in the tweed coat was shaking his head. He moved to step off the train staring north at the sky where Iron Cloud should be. Other people were getting off the train and talking. She followed him off. 

Someone in the growing crowd asked “Professor Steiner, do you know what could have destroyed the station?” 

The old man shook his head. “It wasn't destroyed, as much as it is was un- existed. Erased” 

“That sounds like a load of tosh!” 

“You are talking about a floating battle station with a full compliment of air ships.” It was one of Sailors talking. An ensign in the Caledon Navy, it appeared. 

“There is no known weapon in the Steamlands that could destroy Iron Cloud that quickly” 

The professor looked at the young Ensign, “you are correct, there is no known weapon, but there is a theoretical weapon - a Quantum Erasure Bomb.”

“It would have to use Magic or Charms, that is banned technology.” 

A different voice chime in. “A witch bomb?” 

The professor stared into the vacant sky with the military man. Alexandra watched both of their expressions. She recognized it. When her father was unable to awake her mother. The vacant look. It wasn't fear. It was fatigue, a resignation that the inevitable had happened. The world had shifted in it axis. The world was changed in such a dramatic way. 

Far away, she saw airships moving quick toward where she expected the Air Base to be. 

The young Ensign stepped back from the crowd and raised his voice 

“Attention everyone. We need to assume that the Commonwealth could be under attack from hostile forces.” He seemed nervous. Younger than before. A lad barely fitting in his uniform. 

“We need to assume that we could be in danger. As as a sworn officer of the Vicerine’s Navy. I am asking all of you to reboard the train. We will do everything we can to ensure your safety”. Alexandra noticed he was holding his sword nervously. His other hand was resting on his sidearm. 

She saw the professor ignoring the Ensign and push past the crowd and toward the back of the train. She overheard a fragment of a conversations between the conductor and the professor. 

“Telegraph is in the rear car. But we do not let passengers use it.” 

“you need to —”

The conductor was more animated. Shaking his head.
“Sir, I can’t...” 

The professor was struggling to remain calm, “Please send word to The Thumaturgic Propulsion Laboratory in Oxbridge. You need to get word to Dr. Wolftel or Lady Rhiannon at the Rose Heaven Institute. It is very important. Tell them someone has used the device”. 

“I’ll try sir. This is not typical, but I’ll make inquiries”. 

The professor dejectedly returned to his seat. Lost in thought.