The Clockwork Princess

9 The Janus sisters

A/N Image Neuwegersleben Optical Telegraph  tower built in  1832  similar, if shorter than the one used by Miss and Miss Janus.

The trip up the road was much longer than they had all thought. The hill was quite steep and the road zigzagged up it like the trail of a huge dizzy snail. The cat complained every inch of the way, then Princess joined.  Eventually Flying boy would have joined in if he had the energy to move his arms but he didn't. The wind was getting stronger clouds got darker. Eventually they got to the first junction they had found. The Princess demanded to sit down and they began to argue about which way to go. Flying boy pointed to the main route, which led them to the monorail station.  The princess and the rat noticed the telegraph tower was close by; it had  lights in the windows and smoke rose from its chimney.

Eventually the tiny drops of rain on the Princesses' cold face made her with the rat go off to the tower. Flying boy insisted that the monorail would be close by went off with the cat to find out. He told them he would meet them back at the telegraph tower.

As the Princess and approached the tower she began to realise how big the tower actually was. The lower floors were made of stone but the upper stories were wood. It was like a huge ship  had been thrown by a giant sea monster from the river.  It looked like the ship had landed on stone house that happened to have been built on that spot. Closer the tower was so tall It hurt the princesse's neck to look up that far up. Near the top was a set of large windows.  Above the roof were the six huge flags which would move to send signals across the country faster than any rider could ride.

The princess knocked on the door then knocked again and the unlocked door opened.

'Hello' shouted the Princess.

'Come in, are "T" you wet and cold?' H"' shouted a voice from high above them.

'Yes' said the princess starting to climb up to the voices on the long ladder.

'Come upstairs , 'E', lets have a 'DASH' look at 'M' you 'A"'

'What 'C' happened to 'H' the boy?'

'How do you know about him?' asked the Princess.

'We 'I', have been 'N' watching 'I' you walk towards 'E' us all afternoon' said the voice from above.

As they climbed the rat wanted to explain the tower to her. 

'It's like sending a message to a friend by waving flags at them. Over on the far hill is a similar tower like this one. If someone wants to send a message to the people in the next tower set their flags show one letter. The signalman looks at the tower in a telescope and if he sees the distance letter change he shouts it the other signal man'

'So what does the other signalman do?"

'He listens to the letters first one shouts out and sets that tower's flag so that the next tower is told what the last tower showed. That way the letters of the message passed down a chain across the country.'

Through a window in the far distance they could just see another telegraph tower on the far horizon. It had six flags like this one did. When they changed then the old woman would pull and push the levers and pedals like some demented spider then announce a letter. The levers made the six flags on the top of the tower move.

The Princess reached the top of the ladder.  The rat and the princess went up through the last wooden hatch into a large room at the top of the tower. Sitting on either side of the room was an old woman with unkempt hair looking through a large brass telescope. Each woman sank so low in her chair it looked like she had grown into it. In front of each woman was a series of levers and wooden pedals connected by ropes to the machinery above them.