Trinity

A Decopunk Short by @lambda

It was only a matter of time before I would be crowned Empress of the Diesel Empire, my long streaming dress twisting around my body effortlessly; a dark satin and green, our Empire's colours reflected in the heavy makeup I was wearing. There was a smell of lavender, or was it peppermint, I could not be sure, signaling for the maids to leave; my hand rising to strike the nearest one as they skittered away. I breathed in the sweet air of my cabin, a large bouquet of flowers perched neatly on a wooden table; both items silhouetted against the murky brown of our planet: Atorva.

"Trinity, everyone is waiting..." A sharp knock sounded as I sighed, how I despised this unfair situation that had unfolded, a man I didn't want to marry, on a space station I didn't even want to visit. Our planet was dying, what were we to expect; that the way we ruled would keep us out of harm's way for eternity, now Atorva looked more desirable than once thought. The planet was a dumping ground, factories outnumbered homes, asylums outnumbered schools and where the tallest chimney would be constructed, another one would be erected seconds later even taller; and when the smoke burns your...

"Estalla I mean it child, if I have to come in there!"

"I am ready, don't rush me..." The pipes creaked as I pulled open the heavy iron door, my eye's were confronted with the ugly truth; Miss Yvonne, once a whore working her way around the zeppelin docks down in the capital, she sought seldom in my cousin Henry despite the forty year age gap. Her face is a tattered mess of dizzying pinks and purples with a heavy smell of perfume wafting from her protruding bosoms, a waste of a woman, a real waste.

Miss Yvonne was now my adviser and as I made my way behind her, keeping up quickly with the clattering of her leaded heels, high pressurized stain-glassed windows kept the atmosphere of the long, luxuriously-cladding hall breathable, but they were without light filtering through; this gothic sanctuary now became my personal hell.

"You may find it unfair that a fifteen year old child like yourself, is being married to a thirty-six year old man but you will find on Atorva, it is the natural way of marrying children in a monarchy. You do not get the choice, a forced hand is a clean hand so they say." I tried not to smile as she tripped a little, making what seemed like a meaningful speech, more a mortifying squeak of words.

"We are not on Atorva, we are on the Halitus crown station of the Great Diesel Fleet..." I mimicked my father as Yvonne took no notice, her awkward dress causing creases in her sun-spotted back; I wouldn't expect much less from such a chain smoker. Above us a large tapestry; it revealed an exterior view of the station; a huge metal behemoth which looked like an upside down kettle sprouting many wings, hallways and docks for ferry-ships to pass through, signs leading us towards the Grand Hall...

Heavy breathing emitted from my mouth, my stomach churning as I turned back only to have Yvonne stand in my way; facing forwards again, Yvonne knocked twice and slowly the story-high gold-encrusted doors swung open revealing a hall packed to the ceiling with people. There were important dignitaries, corporation figureheads, royalty and the journalists with their cameras flashing away, bulbs of lights exploding; my false grin turning to a frown of uncertainty. I almost jumped as my father, Emperor of the Empire, took my arm in lock... guiding me towards my future husband as the national anthem was instrumentally played.

"Don't worry pumpkin, it's only me..." I smiled and nodded patiently, the spectacles on his nose lighting up as his smartly brush-shaped moustache grew with the gleaming smile he portrayed.

'Maybe I can do this...' I spoke in my head, although it seemed more like a shout than a whisper, I stared straight ahead; walking in step with the choral singing. They had timed the wedding perfectly, our only moon, the one I was named after, rising steadfast against the huge circular red and green stained-glass window fixed above the priest's pew; it's light shining down in a halo around where I would be standing. My father left my side, gracefully sitting down next to an empty seat with a single rose; for my mother. I wiped away a tear, so many would mistake it for happiness but now all I wanted was for her to come back, but souls don't come back from the dead. 

***

"And so do you Empress Trinity Elliza Béaumont take Cristian Lamb Montpierre as your consort, may illness or death succumb till' the end?" I gulped, the intense feeling of many noblemen and women staring from behind; like a pack of hungry wolves watching my every move. The priest hobbling forwards in an omnipresent manner, the odd cough made me jump as I quickly spoke...

"I do..." The priest smiled in sickly fashion making my cheeks turn a rosy red, tense emotions swelled inside me as the rings were brought forwards.

"And so... let it be announced and sung from the cities and towns and villages of Atorva, the new Empress; Trinity Elliza Montpierre and Grand Prince Cristian Lamb Montpierre protectors of the crown." I quickly glimpsed the rings and then my future husband, his eyes a blackened colour and his face filled with scars of a past war.

"No... I can't!" The words echoed throughout the halls, synonymous gasps filled the air as my mouth dropped open in fear.

"Your Highness?" The priest spoke, his voice quavering as I looked at him in shock.

"I cannot marry this man, I have not made my decision yet..."

"But your Highness..."

"No!" I pushed back, fleeting down the dark crimson carpets adorning the ground, covering oak floors.

Windows passed by, portals showing starless, blackened horizons; the moon rising behind the planet, slowly leaning into a graceful poise. How I wanted to leave this station, to go home to my castle and stay there alone forever, this world was evil and cruel. My feet fell from beneath me as I hit the floor hard, I looked astounded as a bright light shone around me; the room beginning to shake as a hand pulled me back into nothingness; my head swimming as I fell into an endless void, screaming constantly. My head make's contact with a hard surface and as a coppery smell fills my nose, I lose consciousness...

I awaken, my head pangs like a ton of bricks; instantly I feel all my joints pop at once, muddled voices can be heard in the distance and a train's whistle sounds.

"Why 'ello, 'ello..." I jump up in fright, the young man smiling as I do in a goofy grin; my legs aching as I stand, only to fall back over again.

"No use trying that, deorbiting can do a shite job of the body, if you know what I mean." I nod, vomiting a little as he pats my back; the long beautiful dress now gone, bulky, dirt-clodden clothes cover me now, someone had changed me.

"Did you change my clothes! You filthy perverted little nymph!" The man frowned and moved back against the wall.

"I did not, I had me mam do you up..." I gave a sigh of relief, and stood with ease; gaining some balance back.

We walked out into the courtyard, thick smog covered the sky as I sighed deeply; cracking my neck back into place.

"Where are we?"

"Why the Capital of course, here on Atorva." My mind burned with questions as I looked him squarely in the eye.

"Why'd you kidnap me?!"

"We didn't kidnap you, we saved you miss..." I chuckled.

"In case you didn't know I'm the Empress, and you had no specific doing what you did." He laughed in a mimicking poise, before wiping the grime from his eyes, to be fair he was attractive but that didn't tempt my anger.

"If I hadn't of saved your body, you would be in the middle of a bloody assassination." My eyes widened as I looked up into the sky, the sun an orb of hazy light floating in a perpetual stance.

"Somebody was going to assassinate me, on my wedding day?!"

"Not you, your father... and I'm afraid to say, he may already be dead." I looked up nervously at the hollow red light glowing constantly; that was the station.

"How were they going to assassina..." A rapid blaring sound tore through the skies as we covered our ears, looking up only to see the bright hue of an explosion, sirens began sounding, guards telling people to take cover in their homes as huge shapes of metal and wrought iron quickly cascaded through the air; appearing through the fog in embers of red as they began to burn up, careering towards the many buildings of the Capital. I grabbed onto the young man as we fell, people rushed by in fear; the ladies and their corsets, men and their ties, children carrying their younger siblings. Buildings collapsed around us as the space station's debris collided with the city; I tried to see but thick black smoke covered our shivering bodies as I felt myself being tugged into a shelter.

***

"W-What just happened?!" I picked myself up, the sounds of sirens and screaming blended outside and then a deadly silence, I only realized at that point; I knew nothing about how I made it back to the blue and brown orb I had once called home.

"Halitus has fallen from its orbit..." He spoke through hushed tones, trying to get his breath back.

"But that can't be right, that means..."

"That everyone on the station is most likely dead." At the time he was black and white in his thinking, but this allowed me to trust him; he could never tell a lie and proved reliable.

"No... I'm sure they got to the Abscond-Pods in time... I'm sure they did."

"Whatever you say." He had a slightly harsh tone to his voice...

"I have you know I'm an Empress, which means I will be the future queen once my father has ended his reign!"

"We save you from that station and this is all the thanks I get..." He muttered in an undesirable tone, heavy with sarcasm.

"...anyways, I think you'll find mam... that we just saved you using the finest contraptions of the present to save your own selfish backside." I frowned slapping him across the face, watching as he turned a bright red; turning to run as my head collided with the belly of another man...

"I am Doctor Tymberlay, but you may call me Sykes your majesty..."

"I am not a queen yet, doctor I assure you..." If my father was still alive (which at the time I believed).

"And I assure you your father is most likely dead, it is highly improbable he survived such an impact... or the bomb blast, which I happen to know, I am the one that designed it."

"The bomb?" I asked in naivety...

"No... the Halitus. Your father is most definitely dead... you will come to accept it." He grumbled as my stubbornness began to take the better of me.

"Listen here, my father is not dead, and to have a man such as yourself boast me around I find it highly unorthodox anyone is dead, you infertile Kasslaw!" I swore, the quiet man pushing past him, spitting like a terrier as I seethed between my teeth.

"How dare you call my father; a man of brilliance such tempering words, a stubborn mutt like you should know your manners!" A quick yell had me at his face ready to shout more abuse.

"Xender... that's enough, tend to the wolf." His son pushed past me, his face a shade darker as he left the dark and convenient underground workshop.

"Trinity... may I show you something relatively important to who we are as a race?" His face now more endearing then his earlier pressingly addictive attitude; I nodded and submitted to a work stool he had set out for me to sit on. In front stood a large metallic triangle; with a bronze frame of iron and a constant circle of yellow lights moving around in a constant daze. At it's base a small wooden ramp, it's stand connected to a large machine in the far corner of the room where whale oil lamps stood ready to be used.

"This is how we saved you Empress, this allows us a glimpse into the past... into the future... into another world." At this point my immature cranium posed him nothing less of a crazed asylum-bred maniac, the room cluttered with a strange array of inventions; inventions I did not care for.

"You have my attention..." I wanted to try and seem more adult than I was, with a rapid press of a button he pulled down a large metallic crank as the ground began to vibrate; rapid beeping emitting from the machine's gramophone piece; I struggled to speak as the noise grew.

"What is the machine doing?" He furthermore failed to hear my quivering voice, his eyes glowing as a bright flash of energy highlighted the room in the glow I remembered from my rescue.

"Right now... the... machine... is..." I watched as the words faded in sound as the light encompassed both of us, my eyes closing from the intense white.

I opened my eyes, the room faded as the triangle became clear in my view; it's metallic shape drawing me in as it revealed another place... another time.

"You are now looking at a road..." I watched on, gleaming metallic machines passing by in a blur; people walking past in short and revealing clothes as I blushed; the scientest's face amazed by the sight.

"This place... it's not Atorva?

"Empress, from what I have studied... this place, where this portal leads... is another paradoxical plain of which we have not yet visited. This is a window into another world, but the same one... they call their planet in this world Earth." I stood observing the window into another place, the helpless feeling that ensued from such emotions only bothered me.

"A pretty planet... our planet."

***

Xender opened the hatch-door for me, his grip on my hand tight as he aided me; the solarlight blinding us temporarily as Trinity rose from the depths of the horizon. The city was a mess, heavy black plumes of smoke rising in stacks across the skyline; I stared in awe, my teared wedding dress and smudged make-up portrayed me as one of the poor.

"The portal was obviously too much for you Empress...

"Why should I bother with tricks, this is just an escapade or coverup; a mischievous act and when my father finds out I will have your heads!" I shook my fist at the tall adolescent man, his sarcastic grin boiling my blood; across the road a large arch of metal sticking into the exterior of a wooden house, the frames bending as it collapsed further. Long-armed women with blackened faces passing buckets of clear water to douse the rising flames...

Who did this..." I spoke, my eyes watering as I feared for my father's life.

"Who do you think!" Ignoring him I lumbered down over fallen bricks and exposed gas mains, my limbs aching; people screaming in the streets, the water a crimson bloody colour like a deep rust; only it was blood. I looked back in horror, tears falling...

"It's like this everyday..." His words jagged and rough, wiping at my face as half a man is pulled from underneath a collapsed carriage into the arms of his battered children, a coffin already prepared.

This wasn't the end, so many more mysteries to discover, this "other" world, even if it was a fable; I must expect my father's fate is death, and so I no longer have purpose here. As difficult as that choice may be, the insecurities I suffer will no longer disable my tendencies; instead they will strengthen them and I will learn to survive. My desire to reign is misplaced by my desire to explore, and so I will be pursuing sanctum in Tymberlay's dwelling. I write this as the golden sun sets on a burning city, I hear the large water-bearing airships empty their loads on numerous conflagrations raging on; the crackling of burning wood continuing long into the night. It calms me.

- Trinity Béaumont

- Footing: Abstained

- Status: In hiding