Prototype No. 2

Prototype Number One lasted exactly four days after its maiden trial before Ernest Teucher began systematically tearing it to pieces.

Hollen discovered the carcass at sixteen minutes past eight on Monday morning.

The old ironmaster hobbled into the experimental bay of Machine Works Number One balancing a tin mug of coffee in one scarred hand, his ash walking stick tucked under the opposite arm. He crossed the threshold, stopped dead on the oil-stained flagstones, and blinked against the bright flare of the gas mantles.

The road carriage was no longer an assembled mechanism.

Its wire-spoked wheels leaned against the far brick wall like discarded barrel hoops. The single-cylinder iron engine hung suspended from a rope tackle, dripping black oil into a shallow sand tray. The transmission gears were arrayed along a sheet of brown paper like a clockmaker's salvage, and the steering assembly had vanished entirely.