The Steam Queen

The week has finally drawn to a close, which is good. I have a long weekend, and nothing much to do with it. This is probably a good thing. This morning I was out on mission, delivering food and supplies for the last time this week. Soon a lot of my platoon is leaving, too. They're going to a different section to deploy. Probably one of the toughest things about serving in the military is having to say goodbye to friends, knowing full well that there's a possibility they won't come back. Hopefully all will be well with them.

But today on mission, I managed to fall off a water trailer. How, you ask, do I do this? It's not easy. The trailer has two wheels, and a third strut at the pintle, where it hooks to the truck. This strut can swing upwards when the trailer is ready to move- the rest of the time, you set it down so the trailer sits level on the ground. This strut had gotten stuck somehow- actually it was stuck in its upwards position,. and we needed to move it back down so we could reposition it- the strut's mechanism was pretty well jammed, so we needed to loosen it up. It fell to me to stand on the front of the trailer and kind of kick the strut downwards. This actually went pretty well, all things considered- the strut went down, then we got it back up. I was still standing on the trailer- we were also simultaneously draining excess water out of the tank, making the ground very wet and muddy. The easiest thing, I decided, was to simply step backwards off of the trailer onto the ground- it wasn't that high up, and I could jump the distance. The problem is that there was an air hose coupling holder right behind my heel. The trailer has air brake lines. and with that, air supply hoses. The hoses have connectors on the ends of them that hook onto the truck's air outlets, and these supply the trailer with compressed air for the brake. When these lines aren't connected, (which we usually don't bother with anyway) the lines fit into a pair of blocks on the front of the trailer that will hold the couplers. This same coupler was, of course, just the right height to catch a boot heel. So I managed to catch a heel in one of these and fall backwards off of the trailer, flat onto my back, into the mud. Mud, I discovered, is slippery. So off I went, hitting the ground at enough of an angle to slide about 10 feet or so before coming to a stop. I got up, covered in mud, and more or less unhurt. Now I have to admit- that was funny as hell. Even if I had broken something, I would definitely still be laughing at it.

Of course, as the day went on, I began to notice a dull pain in the hip that I landed on- I didn't think much of it, and still don't. I can walk well enough, and will wait a couple days and see if it gets better, like it probably will. I suspect it's just sore from the impact, probably not serious at all. And besides, it was quite the pratfall, and provided everyone with a laugh- including me.

So at this point, I'm still recovering, again hoping it's not that serious- and it's probably not. But I have had weird recurring dreams about a figure called the Steam Queen. This requires a good deal of explanation. In this dream-world, steam power is the main source of energy. This theme has been pretty much done to death by the sci-fi genre- quite possibly why I have it in my head. But here power and energy take on aristocratic and near-religious overtones- the Steam Queen is a kind of figurehead and symbol, representing mankind's mastery of power, and in this way their superiority over the universe. The Steam Queen is kind of a cross between Miss America and Queen Elizabeth, used mainly for parades and functions. She wears an elaborate mechanical suit, including a kind of gas-mask like apparatus, apparently to hide her face. There is no one Steam Queen, but rather it's an office, occupied by any number of women over time. In her full symbolic capacity, she sits on a mechanical throne and holds instead of a scepter, a large wrench, and wears a kind of royal robe with leather gauntlets. It's kind of hard to describe, one of the weirder things I've dreamed of, yet seems strangely consistent from dream to dream. Usually in these dreams I'm one of the people watching the procession or processions the Queen is involved in, and can recall at one point her removing her face mask, (it's mechanical as well, and opens down the middle) to reveal a brunette woman, probably in her late 30s or early 40s, with an open and kind face, yet with a note of command in her voice. So what does all this mean? Absolutely nothing, as near as I can figure. It's just a dream of another place, real or not. But still, as always it's important to be able to kind of escape to an imaginary world that's a little less dreary than the real one once in a while. Not live there, of course- generally that means mental illness or delusion. But still, it's kind of cool to wake up in the morning feeling like your world is a little brighter because of the bizarre yet enjoyable things you imagine. Besides, all great ideas began as imagination. I was surprised to find there's a book by the same title out there, written by Jack Hessey. I haven't read it, but from the description, it sounds interesting. Much like my own world, steam power is the main source of energy in this world, where locomotives are the main means of transportation. My world differed on this point- vehicles are largely based around the same ideas as our gas-powered cars and trucks, usually using hydrogen gas as a heat source. In Hessey's world, there is no real centralized Europe (the book, I hear, takes place in Europe), where those who have locomotives, weapons and/or money pretty much call the shots. It's an interesting idea, and the book looks really good. If I can track down a copy, I'll be sure to read it. Of course, the only real similarities here are the name, and the fact that steam power is the main source of energy. But anyway, funny how a coincidence like that can lead you to find something new.