Alan's Bizarre Adventures -Chapter 1 - Part 7-

Alan started to read the book right away as instructed by Dr. Harry. It was a well explained illustrated book about how to operate the whole machinery of the cart piece by piece.

-Well… this is a lot better explained that i expected, so… if i can’t understand it nobody can.

Following the manual, he first looked for a box inside the cart that contained coal and moved it outside the cart. Then he searched for protection gloves against the heat produced by the steam pipes. And as soon as he was equipped he went over to the front part and opened the big “box” there.

-wow, look at all the gears inside this thing… this people sure love clocks.

Amazed by the machinery and the high amount of heat produced by that part of the cart, he had to turn back a bit in order to give it time to cool down a bit. As soon as it was safe to look better, he followed the instructions about how to operate that part of the cart, and as soon as it was done and he closed the “box”, the whole thing started to howl louder than ever.

-That’s it… the devil's kettle is going to explode -he said agitated by the sound- and now i know how it feels to be the kamikaze mechanic from my hometown.

Once the machinery settled, Alan stood there amazed by the show of steel and steam. After a while, he goes up the driver's seat how he can and then froze for a while at the sight of the complex, yet ironically simple control panel. Just a few levers here and there, some compasses on the middle and a cord falling right beside the seat.

It’s starting to get really dark around there, so Alan rushes to read the rest of the manual as soon as he can before he can’t even see any of it anymore. To his left the levers are for brake and emergency brake, to his right they are to go forward, backwards and the speed control. In front if him the compasses indicates the speed, pressure levels of the pipes and steam heat. Last but not least, the cord was designed to open a big pipe behind the cart that allows the steam to go out.

-It actually looks more complex than it’s on the manual… oh well… you can’t live without trying new stuff, so… if i crash, let be because i’m an idiot and not because i never tried.

He plays a bit with the levers to get used to them. Then he try to do it while looking half way on the road and half way on the compasses to get an idea about how they operate. After going round a bit and getting back to the starting point, he finally thinks he can drive the cart without any accidents. The only thing that he can’t seem to get used to is the brakes, every single time he uses them, he falls of the driver’s seat.

-God damned machine… let me drive you for the love of god, how annoying.