1776: A scifi Setting

1776

The Libertine

Cassidy walked out of the explosion of the tavern, where she had not an hour before danced drunkenly on tables for the pleasure of the patrons, with a pistol in one hand and the iron shield of the old suit of knight's armour that had stood as a valued prize by the door and pointed the first of her pair of dragoon pistols at her foe - her blue petticoat and red and white striped corset now little more than rags. The smoke powder erupted and burned propelling the shot into the red masked rider leading the pack of hessian terrorists that had just detonated a dozen bombs across the community of Trenton to flush her out of hiding.
 Her foe snarled with fury and she could see the words form on his angry lips: "Kill that bitch!"
 Cassidy smiled and dropped the first pistol - spent of its virility - on a short cord preventing its loss and raised the second to fire as black horsemen charged at her. The second Pistol exploded catching the closest rider and dropped - the horse harness snagging her freed hand and she was pulled up into the saddle with a meat-shield behind her and an iron shield between them as it slung loosely like an archers quiver across her back.
 The Red Mask Screamed at her escape discharging a pistol at her horse and dropping the beast.

 A Star Falls at Trenton

 "George Hunt! You bring in the cows now young man!" Elizabeth Hunt had a commanding voice when it came to getting her son's attention.
 George Hunt hurried across to the farmyard and opened the gate to the Grazing Field.
 "Heyup Bessy! Heyup!" George hurried over to the cows pulling at the pasture grass.
 A sound followed by others.
 Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz!... It was like some sort of pile driver. George looked around. It was a great black monstrosity supported by legs the thickness of tree trunks and it moved oddly, dragging each leg across the ground.
 George could only look. He was paralysed with the sight of it.
 A heavy arm reached down from under the machine and a Lamp lit, shining a beam of light on the Farmhouse.
 The wooden structure exploded in flames and his mother Screamed as she burned.
 Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz!...
 The Giant moved on toward the Town of Trenton.

 Death in the Jersey Swamps

 "Good Lord, What be that?" John Landry rowed his little craft amongst the waterways of the swamp until he reached the cluster of metal legs.
 They towered above him. He looked up and saw the great metal shape from which they protruded.
 "Its a hundred feet tall..."
 It fell on John Landry like a ton of black flour...and billowed, sprayed out into the swamp.
 The last thing Landry heard as he died was the sound of the machine moving off.
 Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz! Tzuzuz!...

The Destruction of New York

 Jack Fisher watched as the giant walked across the Hudson like a wader crossing a shallow brook. The Boats on the waterway ignited and burned with their crews.
 "It’s The Devil!" Jack Fisher fled toward town as fast as he could run.
 The inferno amongst the Boats on the river spread to the Port of New York as the great monster unleashed hellfire into the wooden homes that occupied the far end of the island.
 It waded up out of the water and into the Port. The Light from its lamp ignited gunpowder stores in great explosions that tore through building after building.

A Meeting of the Continental Congress

 "Look, I realize that you have a desire to surrender to the British in light of their Destruction of Trenton with this new weapon, but it is foolish." Washington leaned back in frustration
 "And how do you propose destroying something that burns buildings and men with the light of a Lantern, and seems untouched by Cannon and Musket fire? Soldiers in the woods as we shot them from cover, certainly but not this...walking battleship in a bottle that wont break." John Handcock took a swig of whiskey.
 "You dig a pit and let the beast fall in." Adams chimed in an idea.
 "It will have to be led right over the trap and then we need to make it defend itself...to contain the explosion."

 The Philadelphia Incident

 It emerged from the night dark waters with a terrible stealth. Behind it a moon shone through clouds. A lantern lit up somewhere near the base of its great body. Ships ignited Warehouses and vessels brimming with gunpowder exploded in a terrible fury.
 "So that is what the new War-machine of the British looks like. Incredible." George Washington watched in awe as the great engine of Death swept its lamp across the buildings cutting a swathe of fire through them.
 Cannons struggled to respond to the assault only to be met with a strange barrier that protected them from the artillery impacts.
 Washington signalled his aide. The lamps danced in the night. and more cannons fired at the great beast drawing it down a narrow street through the buildings.
 "How in God's Name could they build something like that?"
 The war-machine dragged through a huge pile of Barrels that blocked the street.
 "It’s going to be interesting to find out." Washington signalled his aide again. Lanterns triggered a third round of Cannon Fire activating the protective curtain.
 From beneath the Curtain, Volunteer Militiaman Francis Johnson lit the short fuse and the barrels instantly exploded.
 The fireball filled the great screen and consumed the machine.

News at Boston

 "John, They're saying a great Devil come up out of the south and crossed the Hudson into New York setting it all afire..." Elizabeth Yates had hurried back from the Shops to her home.
 "What? What nonsense are you talking Woman?" John Yates was a sensible man. Not at all god-fearing...
 "They called a meeting of the people in the market square and announced that a great Devil had come up and burned all of New York. They say its still heading our way."
 "I doubt that very much Elizabeth Yates...I think they are playing a terrible Hoax on folks and they will have to answer for it. I'll just get my gun and go see the villains off...Worrying descent folks and all."

The Charlestown Victory

"Run Sarah! Run!" Hugh Putter and his wife struggled through the mud and filth of the mudflats as the great devourer pursued them. People died around them screaming and ablaze.
 Sarah Putter hiked the hem of her dress and dug through the mud, black with it, she crawled across its surface while others sank.
 Sarah could see the fires devouring Charlestown and the black smoke of Boston beyond it.
 Hugh Putter could only watch as the great Devil tipped in the mud and fell on his wife...
 "Sarah! No!" he raged back through the mud with the angry mob.
 A devil emerged from the great machine and they fell on it with brutal fury taking out its eyes and hacking it to pieces.