Copper and Rust

An airship captain and her patchwork crew have to outfly an empire chasing the one invention worth starting a war over.

• Steampunk airship adventure with a hidden inheritance
• A stolen blueprint worth starting a war over
• Grief, loyalty, and outrunning an empire's engineers

“Tamsin Ferro found the false panel in her father's workbench three weeks after the funeral, on the night she finally worked up the nerve to clear out his workshop, and she found it only because she'd knocked a wrench against the bench leg and heard, underneath the familiar hollow ring of old brass, a second, smaller sound that didn't belong. Her father, Emeric Ferro, had been Brassgate's finest independent engine-smith for thirty years, a stubborn, brilliant man who'd turned down three separate offers from the great propulsion guilds rather than sign away the rights to his own designs, and who had died, according to the coroner's report Tamsin still couldn't make herself reread in full, of a heart that simply stopped one evening at his workbench, mid-calculation, pencil still in hand.”

Format: Instant PDF download after purchase.

Length: A full short story — about 25–35 minutes to read.

Works on: Any device with a PDF reader — phone, tablet, e-reader, or computer.