Island of Icarus Read Online Free PDF

fingers around a hammer. “This arm is amazing.”
    He beamed. “Thank you. I’m glad it suits you.”
    “And what is this?” I asked, gesturing to the metallic apparatus that almost threatened to swallow him.
    “Oh! This is my pet project. My pride. Wings.”
    At first, I didn’t understand, but once I stared at it, the lines and shapes and struts and joints materialized into a brass skeleton and overlapping rows of neat steel feathers. It was a pair of human-sized wings, half-folded on the table. Spread to their full width, they would easily span fifteen feet or more. “Real wings? Functional?”
    “Real wings? Decidedly not real , but hopefully quite functional. Real in their intent, certainly.” He rubbed a hand down one of the struts. “I’ve been studying the form of bird wings. Vultures, primarily. Gliding still appears to be the best option for human flight, and that is something vultures excel at. But vultures can power themselves into the air and maintain their flight, which I must figure out how to do. And that is where I run into a problem. I’ve worked on compact steam engines, although they can’t sustain propulsion for long. Langley’s aerodrome didn’t last a mile before it lost fuel, and that was catapulted into the air, at that. I worked with electricity, which led to my side project with wireless electricity and the finches. You are familiar with those. Now I am toying with clockwork. Your arm is the working prototype for a new system I’d been developing. Not the first official prototype, mind you.” He laughed, obviously recognizing the flicker of dismay on my face. “I obviously can’t keep you on display in my workshop or take you to the World’s Fair. No, that’s what this is for.
    “Say,” he said. “Care to join me for a walk? I like to scour the beach every morning. I’m rather in the mood for eggs.”
    How the two correlated, I wasn’t sure, but I joined him. I was rather in the mood for eggs, myself. We walked down to the water’s edge and picked over the sand. Now and again he would stoop to examine a piece of beach detritus, turn it in his hands, and toss it away again. “Nothing today,” he said. “But then, it hasn’t stormed. That is when I can be out here for hours.” He paused, straightening, and looked out to sea. He raised an arm to point. “There is a large reef system out there, surrounding most of the island. Very dangerous in a storm. It’s what shipwrecked us, and it’s what keeps most ships from passing close. When they stop to trade, they must lay anchor beyond the reef and take the jolly boat up. Frankly, I’m fortunate they take the risk at all.”
    We walked a while longer along the surf. He glanced at the sky and said, “We’re lucky it hasn’t rained. Usually, there’s at least a short shower every day.” He turned to face inland and pointed up, where the land swelled up into a peak. “I believe there is a rainforest on the top of that mountain, hidden and kept constantly moist by the clouds. I’ve heard descriptions of cloud forests. That’s the first place I’m going when I’m up in the air on those wings. A man has to have aspirations, eh?”
    I nodded. It was an impressive goal. Something he had said stirred my curiosity, and I asked, “You referred to ‘us’ when you mentioned you had been shipwrecked. If you don’t mind me asking, were you the only survivor?”
    “No,” he said, shaking his head. His tone took on a somber note. “No, I was not. There were seven of us that came to shore. Two died of malaria in the two months before we could hail a ship. The other four left on that first ship. Only I remained.”
    “I see,” I said, softly. “Excuse me for asking.”
    He looked at me. “No, it’s all right.”
    We walked in silence for a while. He led us inland on a different, smaller path. It took us through thick forest to a small pond, where I was surprised to find a colony of common ducks. These, he explained,