The Harvest Machine

            The Union has taken a different turn since the end of the Civil War. Reconstruction has begun in the South already but a second industrial revolution has begun in the North: the Brass Enlightenment. Many inventors such as me have been making machines to make the rebuilding of the lives and homes of the victims of the war. Philip Dunham’s automatic bricking machine, which not only creates bricks, but lays them as well, and Milton Wright’s airship, which is used to transport materials and machines to the South, both created a revolution and a fast recovery for the South. However, resources in the North are running dry and for some reason unbeknownst to any American outside of the political ring (including myself), Canada is refusing to trade. There is a deep forest in the South which seems to contain a vast amount of wood, coal, and many lakes.

I am Daniel Shaffer, inventor of the marvelous and cunningly designed Harvest Machine. It will cut down and gather trees into a cart, take in water to a mobile tank, and mine coal with extending arms that can be operated from the outside of a mine shaft. The Union government has charged me with retrieving the proper resources to continue Reconstruction. With science and ingenuity on my side, I cannot and will not fail.

...

            I have made my way to the South, just in the town next to the great forest I am to harvest; it’s in the northern part of Georgia and it is quite vast. Looking down on it from the airship was quite like looking upon the face of a green marble tile with silvery blue rivers and patches of gray where the rivers and rock formations stood out against the foliage. Beginning tomorrow I will hire some men to help operate the Harvest Machine and its various working parts, and also a few guards and hunters and cooks. Then the next day I shall take the whole lot and go to the edge of the forest and I shall begin to reap the benefits of nature.

…

            I am a week behind schedule! It took me all this time to find just ten men to come on this expedition, all because the local residents are convinced the forest is inhabited by creatures of myth and superstition! They say fairies and druids and ghosts live in the woods and that it would mean devastation on the town if their woods were to be obliterated in such a manner. Of course this is all pure nonsense and I managed to find a few former slaves who were willing to take the jobs. I now have one cook, one hunter, three guards, and five men to operate my Harvest Machine. We will be off to the woods tomorrow, and from there, we shall begin our mission.

…

            The streets on the way to our destination were lined with the citizens of the town. It was dead silent all the way there. One of the men I hired explained that the people were upset about our mission. However, this did not deter our assignment.

We continued to the forest, and just outside of the edge we set up camp. A tent with a steam-powered heater and an outdoor kitchen. As soon as we were settled, I activated the Harvest Machine. The central control panel grounded itself into the soil and each of the three collectors of the machine broke off only to remain connected by the gears and pipes that operated them. One guard and one operator separated with each component and two operators remained at the control panel. Each part of the machine was set to work by an operator.

            The part of the machine that collected wood was made up of twenty axes, ten clamps to pick up the trees, and two trailers to haul wood. Each axe is manually placed exactly six inches to the right of a tree, held up by extending arms from the central part of that machine, and then a lever is pulled by the operator which activates the chopping process. Then the automatic arms with clamps calculate the position of the tree and reach out to pick up the trees and place them in the trailer in sets of one hundred.

            The water gathering component of the machine contains a tank large enough to contain 12,000 gallons of water with a hose attached to take in water. The machine automatically detects water by measuring moisture density in the air down to the 0.000000001% of density. Then it extends the hose to that water source and begins to take in the water until there is less than one gallon left in that source.

            The mining component of the machine contains thirty picks at five foot intervals with sifters placed a foot under each pick. The picks and sifters are extended into a mine shaft and a lever activates their work. After every one hour, the sifters are to be retracted and picked through for coal, and all coal is to be distributed into a cart that is ten feet by ten feet and five feet in depth.

            Our job was carried out quite successfully today. Each of the trailers, tanks, and carts were completely filled by nightfall, and we began at noon! At this rate, the woods will be cleared in less than two weeks. The supplies we gained were loaded onto an airship and sent to Virginia. Afterwards was dinner and then rest. Tomorrow we shall continue our duties and we shall have twice as much as we have today.

…

            My marvelous machine has been destroyed! Some vandals must have snuck in late at night and mangled my machine! I fired my three guards for negligence this morning and set out at repairing my masterpiece. Oddly though, I have not seen any footprints around the ground of where the machine rests. The former slaves that still work for me are raving that it was the fairies and druids of the forest. While I agree there is something eerie about the forest, as if something were watching us, it is more likely to be the vandals than any superstitious nonsensical creatures.

…

            Two weeks behind schedule! I had ten guards brought in from the north by train while I repaired the Harvest Machine. Certain objects went missing that slowed my progress, but before accusing anyone of stealing I secretly checked their bags and bunks while finding none of my lost items. I could only assume the vandals are somehow returning, sneaking past my amateur and temporary replacements, and stealing these items to deter progress. But now we can continue with our mission.

            We set out at dawn and, while overseeing the men at work, I began to notice strange things around our camp and work area. There are strange footprints, like those of ravens, but too large to belong to a bird, and glowing red eyes in the hollows of the trees that disappear. I went to the camp to find the cook but he was missing. When I returned to find my crew, the machine was abandoned and the men were nowhere to be found. I no longer believe this to be a safe mission. I think it necessary to move to a different forest to harvest. This town is proving to be exceedingly hostile and influential enough to cause hallucinations. I shall depart in the morning.