The Mechanical Era

The sun shines again on the city of Hoverdam. Marco, wearing a reed-flower green dyed hemp tunic, with red hot-poker hemp leggings and a pair of calfskin shoes, walked alongside his mother Mia, who wore a reed-flower green gown and a nettle-leaf gray scarf on her head she used as a hat.

The two walked around the streets. Since the day was just getting started, people started to open up and set up their businesses. Marco's eyes did start spotting new products every other day, especially in terms of clothing.

As they walked along the street, Marco looks upon the newly built chimneys with curiosity. Ever since he started coming over to get to school, these chimneys started to puff out smoke like never before, with the chimney itself appearing to be built using some kind of special mortar that hardens quickly. Some buildings, mainly failing businesses, were being torn down to build new places, using the same weird mortar.

"Can you tell me where we are going, ma?" Marco asked his mother. Mia pointed to the basket of old clothes filled inside.

"We are going to a friend of mine, to get these clothes fixed and sown. Your father had been a very clumsy man, who managed to rip his best pair!"

"Alright then. If you say so."

"Say... Where is this guy located? Is it far?" Marco asked next.

"Over in Grover street, south-side. So no, I think not," Mia replied.

"Grover street? Then why not go through the right?"

"Huh?" Mia asked, a little confused by her son's comment.

"Through the right corner, we will come up in a few minutes. The road leads to an alley that connects to Grover Street. It was built once this old building got taken down."

"How do you know that?" Mia questioned.

"I come here every other day. In my free time, I walk around with my friend Vice near the school building to get to know the place. He tells me a lot about this place. It's not like I sit around there all day."

"Oh, is that so? Alright then." And with that, Mia took Marco's advice and followed her son. On the way, he showed her the marvelous building that he studied. A piece of architecture that impressed the woman. Soon, they made their way to a well-lit alley, walked across it, and came to their destination quickly.

Mia looked around the streets, trying to remember where it was. Just then her eye managed to spot a peculiar sign down the street and smiled. She pointed in the opposite direction and started walking.

"This way," she said. Marco followed along with her. He followed his mother till she stopped to look at a building. It was made of wood, while the sides of the stone.

"This is it." The two walked right in, The place was filled with fabrics of all kinds, whether it be hemp, wool, or cotton. On the side, there was this machine that the tailors used to work on. They used this hand crank to move the needle up and down, sewing the fabrics smoothly. While Marco looked amused, Mia was shocked by the existence of the machinery.

Just then, the owner came back from downstairs. He sees the two present and welcomes them warmly. He was a large man, with a bald head, short brown hair on the sides, and a pair of glasses on his eyes.

"Mia! It is so good to see you!" He said while smiling.

"It is good to see you too Mr. Soustere. Say, did you recently shave your beard? You look different without it."

"Well yes. She kept on pestering me. Anyways, what can I do for you?" he asked while rubbing his hands.

"Oh well, it is just that I need these old clothes to be sewed back up again. That is all." Mia gave the old clothes over to Soustere. He examined the product and chuckled a little.

"Man, this is old. Are you sure you don't want anything new from here? I could get you a discount."

"Oh, thank you but... I don't we could really afford it."

"About... 46 copper," she stated.

"46? I can get you a new pair of clothing with that! Provided you take the discount that is. I can get you something made of cotton, or wool! I mean look!" He walked over to the white fabrics chilling on a wooden roll.

"This cotton from HugoFabrics is very soft and delicate, and very comfortable to wear! Better than hemp clothing. And only for about 42 copper pieces, you can get one too!"

"Ah... I see. But still, we need to use that money to buy groceries... Can't go home without it," Mia politely declined. Mr. Sourstere was understanding and decided to nod and accept her final answer.

"Is that so? Well, alright then. Just give me a minute..." he went through a back door and came back with a spool of hemp, made of wood. He places it down and asks for some money beforehand to get it done.

"It will be 4 copper pieces," he said. Mia took out her leather pouch and grabbed 4 dull copper coins from it. She then handed them over to Mr. Sourstere, who kept them inside a locked drawer.

"Well, this should take a few minutes. Thanks to the new sewing machines we bought."

"Oh, is that what it is called?"

"Yes. It is. Would you like to see it?"

"I would," Marco added, a little curious as to how they worked.

"Marco!"

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "No! No! It is fine. Your body is curious, that is all. Come, let me show you." Marco followed Mr. Sourstere, with Mia behind the two. Sourstere led them to a lone sewing machine on the table.

The machine was made of metal and wood, with the arm being mostly made of metal. Its most prominent visible feature is the hand crank and the needle, with a hole inside it. On the bed of the sewing machine, about where the needle is positioned, had his metal plate with holes.

Sourstere put on the hemp threads on the spool pin. He grabbed one end of the thread and tied it around some other pins and hooks before trying the insert the thread through the needle hole. He used a needle threader, which was made out of a metal wire, to put the hemp thread through.

He then grabbed the hand crank and started to rotate it. As if the machine worked like magic, the needle started to up and down, automatically sewing up any holes in the cloth.

"According to my friend, what happens is that when the needle pushes a thread through the material, the shuttle hook is inside the machine, which is under the part where the iron plate called the throat plate, its hook rotates around a bobbin filled with thread.

At the same time, it grabs the thread coming in from the top and winds the two threads together, making a stitch. The needle then comes back up and comes back down to do the same thing again. Impressive, right? Helps us a lot around the workshop." Marco and Mia stared at the machine as it did wonders. The tears were quickly fixed back up, far faster than with a hand.

"Where did you get this?" Marco asked.

"I got it from commissioning a bunch of craftsmen. My friend was the one to inform me of its existence. Apparently, it is an invention that came from Prince Kant's head."

"Where did he learn of it?"

"That would be the patent registration office. It is a bit further up in Middletown. You should be able to recognize it. It is very close to the corporate registrar."

"Corporate registrar?"

"Think of it as a merchant's new tool to ensure they won't lose all their money. More rich bastards are coming along to this city to take advantage of it. though, it does have its benefits."

"Like what?"

"Like those fabrics. Those rich bastards are buying up a lot of these machines in order to make a profit. I myself am thinking of doing the same thing..."

"Does that mean who won't be running the shop anymore?" Mia asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that! I will probably still be here. They are going to need my knowledge to operate those damn devices."

"Oh thank the lord. Phew."

After a few minutes, Mr. Sourstere soon fixes up Richard's clothes and hands them over to Mia. After that, the two went over to shopping for some food, and other essentials. While on the journey, Marco thought of what he said.

'Patent Registration, huh?; he thought.

'Interesting. I got to know more about that.'