**My Little Steampunk Adventures
From The Chronicles of the Uhra **
What in blazes WAS that?!
Harvey Kesser put down his hoe as he noticed the completely baffling spectacle. Before him was the shoddiest-looking tent he had ever seen. The white canvas was stretched in all sorts of horrid fashions with mismatched color patches everywhere. The ropes were a tangled mess across the structure. Who in their right mind would build such a ramshackle thing?
And how did they put it in the SKY???
He had to turn away and blink. Yes, that was a floating tent in front of him, he wasn’t dreaming. And it looked like a huge bird’s nest dangled off the thing, only adding to the strangeness.
And then, a man popped out of the same mess. He called down to the farmer.
“Is this your land?”
“Uh…yes. This is my farm. I was just about to plow here.”
The man smiled. “Ah, perfect. Then you might want to back up about thirty lengths. I’m afraid I’m about to crash.”
Harv immediately sprinted out of the way as the careening catastrophe collided violently with the ground just moments later.
“What…who, in the name of the Brothers, ARE you…?” Harv stammered.
“Ah. My apologies. My name is Arthur Finnebaker," he said with a slight bow. "I am a traveler of sorts, with my “Aerial Globe” here, the Uhra.
Harv stared. “I see…well, what brings you to Carbas, then? Trading? Or did you come to see the famous Dam across Lake Vyrnwy, perhaps?”
A monstrous bird suddenly screeched overhead the two men.
“…Was that a Titan…?!” Harv finally said.
“Yes, and THAT was my reason for stopping. The rogue’s on a beeline for the urban center.”
“Well, we have to stop it!”
Arthur gave another smile. “Again, perfect. Hop into the basket here, and we’ll glide right behind it.”
Harv actually took to the Uhra fairly quickly. He worked on the Dam years ago—he wasn’t afraid of heights. They soon reached the town and the avian Titan.
“So…how do we help, now?”
Arthur yanked a tarp to reveal a long pair of bloated pipes…a double cannon. “It’s built somewhat like the Carbanian model, with a few tweaks. Can you fire?”
Within minutes, the strained ground soldiers suddenly found themselves with fresh reinforcements. But it wasn’t more ground troops, no. Apparently, they were now be aided by what seemed to be a cannon-armed flying pavilion.
Obviously, confusion resulted.
“I’m afraid…I didn’t catch…your name, sir, in all this activity,” Arthur admitted between shots.
“I’m Harv Kesser,” the man said, still aiming. “Carbanian military, third artillery commander.”
Another round blasted the Titan.
“…recently unretired,” he added with a grin.
