《Valentines Expedition - Mortal Engines Fan book》 Prologue
The dead continent is the result of the 60 minute war, it is filled with radiation and mutated animals that the scientists who had created the weapons, couldn¡¯t comprehend would even exist as a consequence of the extreme weapons. The dead continent was not always dead and was far from it before the war long ago, some of the legendary cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all lost in the conflict unable to escape the radiation and reducing them and the inhabitants mere to ash and a disfigured metal skeletons, still so dangerous that if you go within 30 miles without protection of them it is reported that it could take years off of your life span and cause horrible disease that could cause you mutate into creatures called Caningarians. Caningarians are no longer humans, they grow limbs all over with red skin where their skin has split apart or dissolved into their flesh, they will eat anything that moves. Thaddeus Valentine had ventured to the Dead Continent in his airship the 13th Floor Elevator, but he had never actually landed their as he new the dangers that the new world brought with it. Stolen story; please report.
The Rumour Thaddeus Valentine woke form his Bedchamber, the early morning rain was pattering on the roof of his house. He got up anxious to start the day seeing as he was already awake. Just as he was about to leave to join his scavenging party, when there was a knock at his door, it was Pandora Rae. She said ¡°I was out scavenging with some of the men yesterday when I overheard plans to go on an expedition to the dead continent, I thought you might be interested.¡± Valentine looked thoughtfully at the wall running the idea through his head over and over again. He had heard the stories of what the dead continent was like and he didn¡¯t fancy becoming a Caningarian. He said ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± and closed the door. He pondered over what on earth anyone on earth would possibly want to go to the dead continent for, it seemed suicidal. Nevertheless Valentine decided he was going to do some digging and find out what exactly could be so valuable. He left his house and walked through the scavenger towns complex alleyways and streets until he found the scavengers hub, a small run down pub that was usually cramed to the brim with scavengers all drinking alcohol or trading their old tech that they had found the in the previous days or weeks. This was not the kind of scavenger that Valentine was, he envisioned himself being an archeologist finding life changing old tech that he would be appreciated for, not getting drunk and selling useless old tech such as hair combs or baseball caps. He walked in and was instantly hit by the smell of beer and bo. He knew almost all the men that came here but something caught his eye strait away, there was a new group of men in the corner that weren''t trying to trade or drinking beer that he didn¡¯t recognise. He walked over to the table next to them and started to eavesdrop. The men were speaking in a Language that Valentine didn¡¯t recognise. Valentine was on edge, he could tell that Rae was right and that he had definitely found the men she had been talking about, the only problem now was how to integrate himself in their group. He realized in that moment that this was not going to be as easy as he had anticipated and was not about to speak to them in this run down scavenger hub. He was going to have to stalk them for a bit and try and get on a scavenging trip with them. It was just a waiting game. He waited for two weeks since that morning in the scavenger hub and had totally obsessed himself with the men. He had stayed up through the night at times making sure that they wouldn¡¯t just slip a way. He had managed to bag himself a scavenging trip later that day and was really too excited to be doing his job, but he knew he was not doing his normal job today. He was totally prepared. He had monitored all their movements for a normal scavenging day and had managed to switch a place on their daily trip with another scavenger for the small price of an old tech coffee mug and a pint of cheap beer. He gathered his satchel with his tools inside and walked at a quick pace to the scavenger bus where as he had anticipated were the group of men. He purposely sat down next to one of them. The bus pulled of the back of the tracktion town down a single lane hydraulic ramp and hit the hard, cracked ground. The bus was super fast and powered by old tech so there was no worry of being left on the floor of the hunting ground and the town had an encrypted radio signal with a homing beacon to find home. The bus drove them about 30 minutes to a new scavenging site. As they were about to get off the bus Valentine purposefully dropped some of his equipment right in front of the group. Two of the men saw it and bent down to help and they handed the equipment back to him. Valentine thanked them and asked if could tag along with them as they had not come on this scavenging party before. The men turned towards each other and muttered some words in their strange language and turned back to Valentine. ¡°Yes you may come with us but I will warn you that our scavenging leader doesn¡¯t like strangers.¡± The three men shook each others hands. The small brown haired man with dark eyes, and the tall fair haired man introduced themselves as Pewsey and Gench. The men led them over to their scavenging leader who was a tall broad shouldered man called Barrin. Barrin had an air about him that radiated when he was annoyed, and that¡¯s just what was happening as Valentine walked over. Barrin looked him up and down and said ¡°I noticed you following us around lately. Is that just a coincidence?¡± Valentine lied and said ¡°Must be, destiny must have had it in for us.¡± Barrin laughed and lightly slapped valentine on the back. This was a friendly gesture but Valentine could tell that Barrin was still on edge and didn¡¯t want to push any questions and just sideline the rest of the day and just dig with them. The end of the day came quicker than he thought, and they all piled back on to the bus and sped across the hunting ground floor back towards his hometown. On the journey towards his town he asked when the men would be digging again, and if he could join their party again. Barrin replied by saying ¡°We shall not be staying on this any longer for we are leaving tomorrow.¡± Valentine realised that this was his one chance to get on the expedition. Valentine said ¡°Where are you going?¡± He immediately realised it was a mistake. Barrin said ¡°Why do you want know?¡± He looked anxious, but calmed himself and said ¡°A private journey, I¡¯m sorry we have to leave you.¡± Valentine was interested, he knew that this must have been the trip. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Stow Aways Valentine hurried over to Pandora Rae¡¯s house and knocked rapidly on her door. Rae answered and said ¡°Valentine, what''s wrong?¡± Valentine Said ¡°You were right they are going somewhere and I think this may be our chance to leave this shoddy town. We need to stow away on whatever transport they use. Of course we¡¯ll have to introduce ourselves along the way, not sure they¡¯ll be to happy but this repetitive town life is driving me crazy.¡± He breathed heavily, he had rambled on and forgotten to breath. ¡°You need to pack if your coming and meet me at the scavenger hub at sun rise.¡± said Valentine. He turned and left not giving Rae a chance to reply. He hoped that she would be there. Valentine had been stalking the men for weeks and had not once seen a means a transport that the men seemed to own though he may have missed them when he had to rest or overlooked people disappearing on occasion. He decided to do some late night stalking. He went to a spot near center of the town and spotted the men sitting down in the pub they had dinner like most other nights. After they finished their meals they walked off in a different direction to normal. Valentine realised that they were not returning back to their accomodation. He followed them at a distance until they reached the air dock. THey walked over to the air masters quarters and payed for a docking fee. Valentine thought it was odd how he had never seen them at the docks before if they owned an airship. The men walked around the docks for 10 minutes until they reached a sleek, black ari ship. It was a beauty. He realised that they must be aironaughts and the language he didn¡¯t understand must be airsperanto. He walked briskly back to his home to pack. He was committing everything to this, there was no going back.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He woke up in the earliest hours of morning, he had barely slept. He got dressed and grabbed his belongings, ran out the house never to return. He reached the Scavengers hub, it was practically empty apart from the regular heavy drinkers laughing loudly into the night. It was half an hour till the sun rose and he was waiting for Rae. He caught movement in the corner of his eye and realised it was Rae. Valentine Walked over to Rae startling her and said ¡°They own an air ship and a good one at that. Ready to go flying?¡± He jogged their silently with Rae trailing a meter behind. They arrived at the airship and looked around it. It was so hypnotising with its shiny paint and streamlined parts. He searched around ships nearby and found a ladder leaning on the side of a taxi ship. He took it and pushed it up against the side of the Barrin¡¯s airship. It held there and him and Rae climbed up it hastily. They were aboard. He had a 30 second analysis of the deck and decided they would have a good chance of hiding below deck between the envelope and an engine pod. They found a maintenance platform through a hatch below deck. THere was a single light for the metal decked path and he decided it was to risky, they would have to spend the majority of the journey in darkness, quiet and hoping they won¡¯t be found early on. It was just a waiting game now.