Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green

Author:Jonathan Green [Green, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Steampunk, Fantasy, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781906735050
Google: WaLXAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1906735050
Goodreads: 6072224
Publisher: Abaddon
Published: 2009-09-17T12:00:00+00:00

Dr Feelgood's Tonic Stout

The beaming face of Dr Feelgood, with his gaunt features, half-moon spectacles and pronounced goatee beard, leered out at them from the gummed paper label, claiming that his patent panacea was a cure-all for:

Agues, Maladies, Nervous Disorders

and complaints of the Digestive System

discovered by the renowned Doctor-Scientist

Phileas Feelgood.

A Remedy for any and every Ailment.

You have not seen it's like before!

FEEL BETTER WITH FEELGOOD'S!

"Renowned Doctor-Scientist?" Ulysses muttered to himself, turning the bottle over in his hand. "I'd not heard of him before he started peddling his go-go juice."

There were no ingredients printed upon the label, as if he had really thought there would be.

"Your friend swears by it, eh?"

"Says it stops her catching the clap or getting in the family way."

"I have a feeling it does a lot more than that," Ulysses set off again, tracing the production line.

A bitter, hoppy smell permeated the hall. As Ulysses proceeded deeper into the bottling plant it grew stronger until it was a miasmic haze hanging in the air above a steaming vat from which, via a complicated network of plumbing, the bottles were being filled, before they rattled off along the line to be stoppered.

He paused to watch as a dozen bottles were filled simultaneously, pumped full of dark steaming liquid in a matter of seconds, before trundling on their way to make room for another twelve.

"Just how many bottles does this place produce?" Ulysses wondered aloud. "What is this stuff?"

"It's Doctor Feelgood's Tonic Stout, isn't it?" Eliza said, giving him a confused look. "I thought you were meant to be a bright spark."

"I mean, what is it really? Something tells me that it could be the missing link we've been looking for to connect those poor 'unfortunates' back at Bedlam.

"There must be another chamber, come on." Ulysses set off at a brisk pace, possessed by the spark of excitement again.

It did not take him long to find the arched entrance to the second hall beneath the wall of steaming pipes. Eliza scampered after him.

The dimensions of the second chamber were on a similar scale to those of the bottling plant. The hot, humid air smelt even more strongly here. The unpleasant, nose-wrinkling mix of chemicals and malted hops hitting them like a wall as they entering the brew-house, making both Ulysses and Eliza reel and take a step back, blinking in the face of the heat.

Like the first, this chamber was also devoid of any human presence. And, like the first, it was packed with a forest of pipework, huge bubbling vats and clouds of noxious steam.

"Oh my God!" Eliza spluttered, unavoidably inhaling a great lungful of the noisome gases. "I can hardly breathe. Can we get out of here now?"

"Just give me a moment," Ulysses wheezed, almost choking from the noxious stench.

"But haven't you seen enough?"

But Ulysses was already distractedly gazing up at two of the vast vats steaming away in front of him, roaring furnaces beneath them making sure that the liquid was kept at a constant simmer.

And

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