Chapter One

I turned the wench a few more times then looked up at the man with a smile, “Try that.”

The veteran eyed me skeptically but he stood on his new prosthetics. The double amputee was hesitant to walk around on the custom made mechanical legs. He tried taking a step and looked down at the device with a glower. The nurse gave me a wink and helped the man get used to the feel of having joints again.

The doctor offered me a hand up and once I was standing he shook it, “Perfect job as always, Ashleigh. I’m glad the academy arranged for you to earn your credits through working here at the hospital instead of in a lecture hall.”

“Thank her majesty for that.” I told him and looked at the hospital bay. “When we all heard of the news coming out of Crimea, all professors in the country were given letters with instructions to make advancements the top priority in all classrooms. Her majesty remembered me from the Great Exhibition and gave me a personal letter requesting mast production of the prosthetics I and my roommate had in the academy’s booth at the exhibition.”

“You ladies are proving to be valuable here. First Ms. Nightingale and now all of the nurses and doctors that come from Lovelace Academy.” He commented. “The empire is fortunate to have you all.”

I nodded and waited for the veteran to come back. When the middle-aged man came back to his bed, he was all smiles.

“Ms. Williams, you’re an angel.” The man declared.

I smiled, “No, sir, I’m just an engineer giving back to the society that raised me.”

Auntie smiled when I entered the wing of the hospital that she worked in. Most of the academy trained nurses and doctors hated being in the wing that had the new arrivals and those who had the worst wounds. I never knew why, perhaps it was the morbid and grim sight that was being shipped back from the front lines. At the academy, we were used to the sight of grime and blood so it was a mystery as to why my peers avoided this wing.

“You didn’t have to make your way here.” Auntie scolded me lightly before giving me a hug. When she pulled back she inspected me and tugged at my loose bun in annoyance. It was the silent reminder to me to right myself, but my hands were so dirty that I dared not touch my hair lest oil created a disaster zone.

“I finished the fittings for the day and thought I could help out here for a few hours before it’s time for the ship to leave.” I replied and set my bag down next to the door.

Auntie nodded. She was the second most supportive of my choice to combine engineering with medicine to help society. The most supportive was grandfather.

I felt auntie watching me closely, almost like an excited child, and in response I held out a hand for her to guide me to the bed of the next patient she wanted me to help. Instead of guiding me to one of the arrivals from a month ago, she led me to the adjoining room.

What I saw on the first bed made me stop. The man on the bed was beyond the mess that normally passed through here. His head was still bandaged, as was a stub of an arm, and most likely his legs as well given the lack of a mass under the sheets.

‘Triple amputee…’ I looked at auntie and she pushed me back before closing the door.

“It’s a lot worse, Ash. He refuses to speak, the only information we have on him is from the papers his commander had. No friends, no family… I filed the paperwork for him to live with us. Father sent back a message that he’ll take him in as a ward.” Auntie whispered.

I nodded. The man’s wounds destined him to a hard life. It wasn’t a surprise grandfather wanted to welcome him into his home. Being the ward of a doctor was better than a beggar. Despite that, he may not end up healing. I looked back at him, “How much is left?”

“Not enough to do what you’ve normally done, dear. His right arm has hope but there’s barely a flab of skin left from his legs.” Auntie explained.

“I can give it a shot.” I answered. With the royal decree for advancements in technology, anything and everything was possible. The Royal Navy hired my best friend from the academy after she discovered a way to make a floating ship, something that made steamships look centuries old. Others were bringing new weaponry and medicines. If I didn’t have the means to make a new prosthetic then it was easy to bring in someone else to help me. My old roommate was a chemist who had gotten a smaller degree in medicine, she had done intensive testing on man made materials to write her thesis on what man made materials were safe in the use of being attached or left in the human body. If there was a way, Lizzy probably knew of it…

Auntie looked through the door’s window, “For some reason I think he needs kindness more than he needs normalcy.” She patted my shoulder in encouragement. “Go say hi, he’ll be a part of our daily lives from here on out.”

I waited until auntie was a few feet away before looking through the window in the double doors. I didn’t realize that I had opened the door until I was past the threshold. The man didn’t even look up in the anxious way that most men did as they adjusted to being off of the field. He looked…void.

Being the granddaughter and niece of a doctor and a nurse, I knew their language well. So when I looked at the chart, I understood everything that the doctor wrote down. Inwardly I winced at the way his head wound was mentioned.

Michael Neil. 3 by 3 section of the skull fractured. Metal plate inserted. Motor functions untested. No clear damage to the vocal cords. Memory appears to be effected. More testing needed.

I closed the file quietly just as a nurse finished helping him consume a bowl of broth. She gave me a smile and dismissed herself. I gave him a moment before taking the vacated seat.

The man didn’t register that I was here. His eyes didn’t move and his muscles didn’t even twitch. Now that I was closer, I saw that his eyes were a crisp shade of blue. “Hello,” I greeted. “I’m Ms. Ashleigh Williams. Your chart says that your name is Michael.”

His expression told me he didn’t like being called that.

“You know if you don’t like that name you can always choose another.” I told him. “Until you choose I’ll just call you ‘Mr. Neil’, okay?”

This time he looked at me and I felt trapped in the depths of the blue pools. He didn’t speak but his eyes showed more to me than what any voice could. He had no desire to connect with the world of the living. There was no life in his sunken eyes, not even a shadow of hope. If anything, he looked haunted by the question of why he was alive instead of one of his mates.

Coming up with giving him a reason to live shot to the top of my priorities’ list. That and finding out what could be done to give him back what he lost.

“Ms. Williams, it’s time.”

I looked up at the nurse and nodded to her in thanks. The hospital had very few wheelchairs, so while I told Mr. Neil of the townhouse in London I made him a chair to sit in during the voyage back to England. He didn’t respond to me, but he watched me curiously – as did the other men in the wing. It probably wasn’t every day that they saw a woman altering the pieces of a broken chair and a bike to make a new chair in a dress that could pass as ‘Sunday’s best’.

“Thank you,” I told her and tested the chair one more time before standing up. When she went to go call for help I stopped her, “I got it, Lucy.”

The young woman looked at me wide eyed. Instead of responding verbally, I merely locked the wheels and moved to Mr. Neil’s bedside.

“Ms. Williams-”

I picked him up; despite the man’s broad size he had nothing in comparison to a mechanic’s muscles. Once he was in the chair I grabbed a blanket to wrap him in. When I noticed the small horde of nurses watching a gap, I scowled but auntie beat me to giving them a reply.

“Did you really think that Ms. Williams only brings those devices?” Auntie frowned at the women. “Back to work, girls. The captain wants to leave port on the hour.”

Once the women had gone back to their duties and after I recovered my bag, I gave auntie a hug before wheeling Mr. Neil towards the dock and onto the ship.

Lady, as she was nicknamed, was a ship created by the academy for the use as a ferry between England and France. With it being wartime, the academy rebuilt it to be used as a welcoming transport home for the wounded. Fit with the finest of what society and technology had, Lady was fondly called a water castle. Rooms were lit so brightly one would have thought that the lamps had caught pure daylight. At the academy, professors teased us girls by saying that they caught fairies to place in the lamps.

Rooms were comfortable and the storage was deep within the belly of the ship. Hot meals were served and there was always enough for seconds. If that wasn’t a welcoming thing for these boys, then I didn’t know what else could be.

When dinner was cleared, I left the dishes on the cart for the footman to take later. The captain was scandalized with the thought of me sharing a room with Mr. Neil but, as I pointed out to him, I was the man’s caregiver until we reached shore and the amount of nurses onboard was minimum. For Mr. Neil to not have me as a caregiver meant that another man wouldn’t get the attention he needed. So, because of that, propriety was damned.

The damnation of propriety would have been more thrilling if Mr. Neil was talkative, or would take part in playing chess. Those in my dorm at the academy would sneak out on occasion to mingle with the college boys of London. It was hardly a scandalous thing for us; none of us did anything to cause a scandal. Well, except for me but that was only because I was good at playing cards. But that was a secret between us girls, grandfather and the headmaster would scold me something horrible if it was ever known.

At times my roommates aimed to join in on beating the boys at their own games. We kept it mannerly but the look on their faces was worth it. We from the academy were underestimated, so to prove to the boys that we were equal on wits was always worth the halfhearted scolding we got once we got back to the dorms.

It was a sad attempt to get Mr. Neil to converse to tell him of my classmates and life in London while playing a game of chess against myself. At times he looked intrigued by what I was saying, perhaps even amused. Despite that, he hadn’t said a word or attempted to lift his arm to partake in the game.

“Would you like to join me for this round?” I asked him.

He looked at the board and then me.

“Fine,” I sighed and set up the board for another round. Just as I placed the last pawn down, he rested his hand on the table. “Do you need me to remind you of the rules?”

He shook his head and motioned with his hand for me to go first, instead I turned the board around so he was white and I was black.

“I’d rather you go first, Mr. Neil.” I told him.

As he lifted his arm, I could have sworn he was smirking.

His transfer to the house didn’t make the difference we hoped it would. He was still mute, eyes still void, and he didn’t move much. His lack of movement worried everyone greatly.  After asking grandfather and the medical professors at the academy for advice, several maids and I moved his arm in gentle movements to prevent the onset of atrophy. When auntie returned from France, she dove in to help keep Mr. Neil’s muscles in good health.

Auntie was hopeful that he would find the drive to live now that he was back on familiar soil. Uncle was skeptical and several nights the pair fought as if they were still nursery aged children. Several maids and even the cook started a betting pool on how long it’d take before auntie threw uncle over her knee. The gardener, butler, and coachman however had a betting pool on how long it’d be before grandfather threw both of them over his knee. In several letters I wrote to grandfather of this and he dictated that I tell the pair to grow up or else he’d come back from holiday early. The reaction was uncle leaving to stay with a friend.

I consulted with my professors back at the academy to see if a prosthetic could be made into an actual limb using new materials to make artificial tendons and muscles. I made rough drafts that I sent to them and last I heard the professors were looking into the safety and durability of the materials I had in mind. While they thought, I went a step further to look into how to design artificial muscles and if the human body would attach to the artificial one. I hadn’t heard back from the academy, but that opened up time to spend with Mr. Neil. I’d spend teatime with him, trying to get him to speak to me. If that didn’t work, I’d pull out the chessboard and suck up to another losing streak. How the man became so good at that game was beyond my comprehension.

After closing my sketchbook I sighed and looked of the mess that had become grandfather’s library over the last week. The maids would have my hide this time around. I had pulled out all of grandfather’s anatomy books and all of the books I had from the academy for compounds. Instead of using the desk, the books and papers were scattered all over the floor circling the settee.

‘The answer is here. I know it is. It just takes some digging.’ I reminded myself before there was a knock on the door. I looked up, “Enter.”

“Miss,” Ginny motioned to the clock on the mantel. “You’ll be late for tea.”

I nodded in thanks and closed grandfather’s anatomy book, “Thank you, Ginny.”

“There’s no time to change so I brought you a pair of gloves.” She said while motioning to my charcoal smudged fingers. She walked through the maze of papers and held out the leather gloves.

I took the offered gloves and pulled them on with little care toward the state of my fingers. Once I was on my feet I hugged the woman, “You are a life saver.”

Ginny laughed and pushed me toward the door, “Go, I’ll clean up and move these papers to your workshop.” She smiled at me impishly. “You’ll find Mr. Neil where he always is.”

I nodded in thanks and lift my skirts to run. The improper gesture caused the maid to laugh and the butler to shake his head at me.

But one should never be late for tea. Especially when the one you are having it with is a handsome Irishman.

He was set up in the garden today thanks to the maids. Like always he was staring off into the distance and instead of enjoying his tea, his index finger was ghosting over the rim. After smoothing my skirt and checking my hair, I stepped onto the balcony.

“Hello,” I slid into the garden chair next to him and smiled. Unlike other times, he actually looked at me. He had been in the house for a full month now and he was starting to look healthier. The full head of jet-black hair hinted to how healthy he had become since leaving the hospital. His multi shade crystal blue eyes looked more vibrant, the darker blue flecks in his eyes seemed to shine in the light. Not to mention he was becoming less like skin and bones thanks to Cook’s hearty meals. He was beginning to look like a man again and not like a corpse. If not for missing three limbs, I’d have said he looked as if he was ready for a ride on old Chestnut or Ginger from the stables to Devon and back. “I’m glad to see you’re getting some fresh air.”

He nodded and his gaze fell on the teacup.

“Would you like to see the garden, Mr. Neil? The gardener takes pride in the climbing roses.” I offered.

“Edmund,” He said. I paused at hearing the smooth brogue in his voice for the first time. The sound felt like cool water on a summer day, something that left a sensation that made the heart sing. When I didn’t say anything he looked up at me. “You said I could choose a name. I’d like for you to call me Edmund.”

I smiled, “It’s a noble name.” I extended my left hand and he grasped it for a brief shake. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Edmund.”

He smiled back and I was awed at the sudden life on his face, “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Williams.”

“Please, call me Ashleigh or Ash. To have you call me something so formal doesn’t seem right considering the circumstances.” I told him.

“Then Ashleigh it is,” he replied. He offered his arm. “It isn’t much of an escort but that tour of the garden sounds perfect on this fine day.”

I took his arm as an aid to help me stand. Once I was on my feet, I moved behind him to push the wheelchair down the gentle slope of the ramp. The house’s garden was made to be accessible for everyone that came through grandfather’s home regardless of his or her health. Gran had the place built to be a refuge for the wounded. While grandfather’s hospital next door healed the flesh, this garden was a place that healed one’s soul.

When we were in the thick of the rose section of the garden, I stopped and walked in front of him. The roses that surrounded us were the more exotic colors that grandmother had. The elegant blooms of blue and violet were surrounded by the red and the white roses, but not engulfed by them. The sight created a beautiful sea of greenery with the blooms serving as ships. Without much thought I picked up a full bloom.

“This place is beautiful.” Edmund commented, like me he was compelled to cradle a soft blue rose.

“I’m glad you think so.” I paused and leaned in to breath in the heavenly fragrance of Gran’s favorite roses. “Gran was insistent on making this garden as a sanctuary for all who passed through. She said that if grandfather healed the wounds of flesh then she would be the one to make a sanctuary that healed the wounds on one’s soul.”

“Her hope was met.” He breathed. “I’ve heard the maids say that the house is often open to outgoing patients from your grandfather’s hospital.”

“Yes, the tradition is to have patients treated like family. Gran’s a firm believer in kindness being the best of medicine.” I replied.

“Is it?” He said but I sensed that he was thinking aloud instead of asking a question.

“It was that belief that led to me attending Lovelace Academy.” I told him.

He turned and his brow was raised, “You went to that college of mathematics and sciences?”

“B.A. in Engineering Sciences with dabbling in medicine.” I clarified my field while releasing the bloom. “I was working on a masters until recently. The war called me to the hospitals to make my prosthetics that are designed for above the knee and above the elbow amputees.”

“You make them?” His expression told me he was skeptic.

I couldn’t help but hide my grin, “My workshop is in a little cottage on the other side of the rose garden. I can show you if you’d like.”

“If you don’t mind the intrusion.” He said.

It wasn’t until I got to the cottage that I realized it had been a while since I last cleaned. The place wasn’t dusty but sheet metal, pipes, and gears could have easily taken the place of the dust. The metallic items were everywhere: on the floor, the table top, and even scattered on the outer edge of the forge. When you looked at the cottage from the outside – a charming little traditional English cottage encased in climbing roses – you’d never have guessed that it concealed such an ungraceful mess.

I kicked away some of the metallic mess to make room for the wheelchair. I looked at Edmund and hoped he wouldn’t be horrified by my little workshop.

“Sorry for the mess,” I pulled the wheelchair up the first step and then pulled it into the room before moving behind.

Edmund looked at the room in awe, “You’ve done all of this.”

I looked in the direction he was looking at, the workbench with the finished prosthetics and the ones that were in the works. Unlike the rest of the workshop, it was the one true spot that could pass as ‘clean’. I nodded, “Yes. I buy steel from a local forge that was willing to use the formula that the academy found is stronger. They make the bars and sheet metal and from there I cut and coax it into the shapes I need.”

He motioned for me to push him toward the draft table. Once there he looked at the secondary drafts that I made for the design I had in mind for his prosthetic. He flipped between them: mechanical legs with full joints and an arm. On the margins I wrote and sketched the details of the artificial tendons and muscles that would be in the limbs and started calculating how much material I would need to make each tendon and muscle. On another page I wrote down the results of tests that were done to find out the strength of the materials I had in mind along with the measurements I took by eye for an estimate on Edmund’s real height. On the final page in the stack was a sketch of the finished device with Edmund. Unlike the other sketches, it wasn’t dissected to show the details behind the device. It was more like a portrait than a rough sketch. Side by side I had both an uncovered sketch of Edmund in the device and then a sketch of Edmund clad in a suit to show how discreet the device was. That it honestly was no different than a flesh and blood limb.

“What is this?” He asked me after he stared at the design for several minutes.

“It’s the design for the prosthetic I had in mind for you.” I answered.

“It’s a waste of time,” he stated and set the papers down. “You’ve seen what’s left, there’s nothing to attach it to.”

I sat down in the chair off to the side so I could be face to face with him, “What if there was a way?”

He blinked at me and I thumbed through the stack of papers until I found the one I was looking for. The sketch was a basic one. On the top of a page I had sketched out a procedure that was similar to what doctors did when a man’s skull was fractured and when bits of the skull were gone. Instead of merely placing a sheet of metal over the area, the metal bone was attached to the existing bone. It was similar to how men used rivets when making a metal ship but on a very small scale. Four holes would be drilled into the bone and after the metallic bone was positioned, a series of pins were sent through the holes and then the ends were melted to prevent slipping. After that the real and artificial muscles and tendons were attached with surgical stitches. The sketch was highly detailed and, from the look on Edmund’s face, easy to follow.

“I believe that this is the way to give you back your arm. I’m still working on a draft for the legs but,” I looked at him. “It is possible to make a whole limb if safe materials are found. Bone, muscle, all of it – not just a form of a limb but a limb that functions just as the one you had.”

“What would be the point?” He looked at the page I held. “I would still be a half man.”

“The worth of a man needn’t lie in appearance, Edmund.” I chided softly. “You and many others earned dignity by surviving this. It is my job to make prosthetics so their lives can be lived to the fullest upon coming home. So they can step off that boat or out of the hospital with their heads held high.” I spread the papers out on the desk. “This is possible, but only if you are willing to give it a try. If you’re willing to find the drive to live and survive.”

He stared at the sketches for a long time. He didn’t touch them, he didn’t even move. He merely stared. He scanned over every detail I sketched or had written down. It felt as if it had been hours, but finally I caught the soft motion of his head.

A barely-there nod: that was all I needed to have the reason to bring my papers to the academy for approval and testing.

The path leading to the lecture hall was crammed, as was the gardens outside. First year students always attended the Empire’s Call lecture after finals. My sympathies were with them. First year exams always felt the hardest, many were not yet used to the behavior expected in school and would keep their true intelligence hidden to be respectful to their peers. When I had to take the finals the teacher started the three hours off by saying, “If you hide your intelligence on this, then you should not be here in the first place”. Needless to say, all thirty of us passed and we all gave credit to that pep talk.

I gave many a nod on my way to the double doors. Though the doors were of beautifully carved cherry wood, the professor didn’t close them.

“…And as a result, her majesty issued the call to the bright minds of our empire to bring forth their ideas so we all as one advance in this age of science and reason.” Professor Irons walked back to the desk at the front of the class and spotted me. “Ah, here’s a fine example of a former student who heeded the crown’s call.” He motioned for me to join the group and with a blush I did. “At the Great Exhibition Ms. Williams here showed the world her plans to advance medical technology in prosthesis, within a year she was given backers and with the coming of the war her device has allowed our boys to come back home to bright and convenient lives. With the new exhibition next year I strongly encourage you to get a booth ready and plan your presentations now. What you present can lead to bright futures for not just for you but for the empire. I advise you take your booth at the exhibition seriously.” He looked at the clock, “Dismissed.”

I smiled at the girls as they passed. Professor Irons was a strict teacher in his belief of preparedness. He wasn’t everyone’s favorite professor, but he was the most knowledgeable.

“How was France?” He asked me when the last of the students were out of the hall and as he packed his briefcase.

“Bloody, depressing,” I answered honestly with a sigh.

The elderly man looked up from the papers in his hands, “You didn’t go off to see the romance of France?”

“There wasn’t any time.” I stated.

He nodded, “I heard your grandfather took in a family-less boy. A triple amputee was it?”

“Yes, that’s actually why I’m here.” I waved the file that I had held to my breast since leaving the coach. “I wanted to run this by you before showing these to grandfather. My engineering professors finished the tests of the materials I inquired about and I wanted your take on the design and its practicality first.”

“Of course,” he motioned for me to hand over the file so he could read it as we walked to his office down the hall. “You’ve done a lot of work…”

“I never do a job half way, sir. You’ll find every bit of information on the design and the method for attachment in there.” I answered.

“What did the engineering department say?” He asked as he paged through the papers.

“That the materials – a modified compound of hevea brasiliensis, monomer, and a few other materials that slip my mind – appear to be similar enough in elasticity to take the place of tendons and the fibers of muscle. In tests the compound worked well but they said to run it by you.” I said and caught the door when he walked into his office.

“Steel plating for bone, the…” he waved his hand “for tendons…muscles,” he laid the file on his desk. “It could work. It’d be a gamble but I trust those chemists to know this stuff. The patient isn’t in the best of shape to have all three limbs installed at once. He’d need to build whatever muscles he has left to fit the strength of the artificial limb.”

“Edmund has weights that he works with but with one arm he’s limited. If he had the other arm, he’d be able to meet the health requirements for the surgery to install the legs.” I explained.

Professor Irons looked up, “There is still a large risk.”

“He’s aware, I’ve made sure of it. I can’t count the times that I’ve walked him through the procedure and yet his answer to me is the same: ‘do it’. He won’t be talked out of it now that I’ve talked him into it.” I replied.

“Who do you have in mind for the surgeons?” He asked.

“If you don’t mind, I would prefer to have this solely in the academy for now.” I answered.

He nodded approval, “That is wise, something like this would cause a stir. We’re still having protests over the use of autopsies. If this was release prematurely the public would be in an uproar over nothing.”

“My lips are sealed,” I agreed. There were many obstacles to those who attended the academy; number one was always the fear of just what science was. Some would argue it is a benefit to man, others would argue that it is only a benefit to the ruling class while others argued that it was pure sacrilege. For us women who created these items of technology, we were all but outright accused of witchcraft.

“I’ll run this past the other surgeons and give you a message once we’re all in agreement.” He collected the papers in a neat stack before returning it to the file. “I do expect to see this as a full exhibit at the fair next year.”

I smiled, “Of course.”