//------------------------------//
// Early Humans : Dr. Henry R. Cromwell, Personal Logbook 
// Story: Clankers 
// by ISKV 
//------------------------------//

Success! We can finally replace those old, unsafe, inefficient steam engines! Too many maintenance men (Lovingly referred by the Overseers as the "Brass Boys") have been injured or, have mercy, perished while repairing the monstrous beasts of heat and steam! In my personal opinion, there are far too many valves, pipes, and gauges on a standard AutoMann steam engine, the most efficient type produced!

Ever since that mining accident roughly a month ago, water has been a rare commodity. Each citizen is guaranteed one standard pot full no matter how poor they are, mothers get double rations. Before, most of the water used to go to growing the Glowworm Moss so essential to our survival, and the steam engines that powered this glorious city! But now, oh, ho, ho... Now...

I have invented a lifesaver. An engine that is simpler, more robust, and does not require a steady supply of water. Maintenance is only necessary once a week, and lubrication of the parts takes only ten minutes at most! If we can bore a set of holes into Gas Column Four and install the engines, we might be able to power the entire city and have some electricity left over! 

...

The first Sterling (Named after my very good friend, Richard J. Sterling, whom with his messiah-like mercy saved me from perishing on the streets years beforehand.) has been installed. Results are good. With a quick oiling by an insomniac Brass Boy, my engine has produced more than enough electricity to light an entire quarter of Sanctuary! 

...

second is in. was wrong first. city two thirds powered. mind blown. third going in in four hours.

...

It's done. All six are in. Geothermal energy is plentiful, but the pipes that once heated the water into steam were troublesome. Every week they had to be cleared of obstructions no matter how much we filtered the water. But cylinder housings don't need to be cleaned out, much less replaced every year. And believe me, the type of brass required for steam systems are expensive.

...

Just received a telegram from Mayor Alecto of Winchester.

(Attached letter)

Dear Dr. Cromwell,

About three months ago, we have been notified by an old friend of mine that a man has managed to make possible the electrification of an entire city through the use of a revolutionary heat engine. Our town has grown quite large, yet we have only managed to supply ten-percent of our citizens with electric light. Our Laiton-Merlin engines are at the end of their life, and we would like to have the honor of having you and your team modernize our humble city.

With the utmost pleasure,

Mayor James H. R. Alecto III

...

I look down onto Sanctuary. I was not the one that has invented the electric light, nor was I the one who fathered the dynamo, but to see the city so bright, it hurts my eyes to the point of tears. Yet, I am proud. We have moved one step closer to perfection, yet I wonder if we have moved forward so fast, that we have hopped over perfection ages ago?

I crush the thought out of my mind. Perfection is not to be determined by others, but by none other than your own mind, body, and if you like, soul.

...

I wonder what a flower is? It says in the book that they are heavenly creations. They are surrounded by petals of all colors, and have the sweetest of scents, incomparable to the coal and machine oil that fills our nostrils every time we open our eyes.

And the book details of how there are entire fields of flowers! My limited mind cannot fathom such an image.

-Dr. Henry R. Cromwell, Engineering Corps.