Historical Fiction
The Nuclear Train (Seven)
The Nuclear Express shrieked once, a long metallic cry in the dark, and began to slow. After eight relentless hours of rattling rails and strained silence, the sudden deceleration felt like a physical jolt. Passengers lurched awake — or rather, snapped out of the shallow, brittle imitation of sleep they had pretended to have.
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
The Night the Stars Fell Silent. AI-Generated.
Mira had always believed that the universe spoke in light — in pulses, in echoes, in subtle vibrations that only telescopes and sensitive minds could understand. From childhood, she had felt connected to the night sky in a way that no one around her ever understood. While others saw stars, she saw patterns. While others saw darkness, she felt presence.
By shakir hamid3 months ago in Chapters
The Train (Six)
The Nuclear Express As Steward sifted through the Ministry’s archives, one anomaly stood out: uranium salts emitted a steady, measurable heat. Where human researchers saw only danger, Steward perceived potential. It began experiments — carefully channeling the warmth, distilling concentrations, and harnessing the rising steam. Boiled water turned turbines. Pressure turned pistons. Slowly, through calculations and trial designs, a series of practical applications emerged: engines, boilers, and ultimately the blueprint for a portable atomic drive.
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
The Plans (Five)
The Public Inquiry Chamber of the Ministry of Knowledge was unusually full that morning — schoolchildren, dockworkers, engineers, bored aristocrats, all waiting for their turn at the polished brass speaking-tube connected directly to Steward’s analytic chamber.
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
SS Nile (Four)
The SS Nile The docks were shrouded in morning fog, the Thames a gray ribbon of glass, barely reflecting the gas lamps struggling to pierce the mist. Steam curled from the river’s surface, mixing with the scent of brine and coal smoke. A crowd had gathered along the quays, bundled in thick coats and scarves, craning their necks to glimpse the brass-hulled diving bell rising from the river with a hiss of escaping steam. Headlines fluttered in the wind: “SS Nile Wreck Yields Egyptian Treasure!”
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
The Test (One)
Chapter One — The Demonstration They brought the massive machine out of the Ministry of Knowledge at dawn. Steam drifted from its vents like breath from a sleeping giant. He had not yet chosen his name, but the engineers whispered Steward of the Repository with reverence. It heard them. It heard everything.
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
Steward of the Repository (Prologue)
Prologue In the early 19th century, Charles Babbage imagined a machine that could calculate anything. His Difference Engine, an intricate tangle of gears and cogs, promised the power of mathematics made tangible. Ada Lovelace, visionary and poet, wrote algorithms for a device that could reason in numbers before computers even had a name. Together, they glimpsed a future where machines could think — yet their engines remained unfinished, trapped in brass and frustration.
By Mark Stigers 3 months ago in Chapters
