
An Archie "Guliver" Penn story: Little Trouble in Highbridge
I was talking with
Rwolf5 about wanting to write, and he suggesting writing for this character he created! It is a cool world and I enjoyed expanding on it and writing about Archie!
This is only Chapter 1, look forward to more chapters as I edit and post them!
Archimedes "Archie" Guliver Penn, and the world he inhabits ©
Rwolf5
Alexus, the prof. Stormburrow and any other characters we meet ©
BlueZest
Here is the story for those who don't want to download, note the formatting in the downloadable document makes it easier to read.
The Adventures of Archimedes Guliver Penn
"Little Trouble in Highbridge"
By: Andrew "Zest" M
Chapter 1
It was a brilliantly clear and sunny day; the clouds shredded into nothing by the neighboring mountains. In the valley was a most unusual sight for anyone not familiar with the location. On the ground was a rather normal looking city from a distance, a hodge-podge of many differently sized buildings crammed together as if huddled for warmth against the cold.
Not helping the temperature, the city was most unusually covered in near perpetual shade; shade created by what would appear to the unknowing traveler from a distance to be another city floating above it. The awesome sight was only magnified for those entering the city, as what appeared to be a floating landmass was instead a vast armada of city blocks. Upon closer inspection of the underside, one would see that beneath blocks vast sections of wood and iron that held the many parts together. Beneath that, a million propellers turned endlessly, and above, a million zeppelin's; both working in tandem to hold the city aloft.
It was in one of the many flying blocks that Archimedes started this chilly day, in his tiny side room of the Engineers guild.
He was a rabbit, in a world filled with creatures of varying species and sizes. His large white toed and tan colored feet hung off the end of the too small bed, wriggling as a breeze rattled the window next to him and shifted the block a few inches. This kind of movement was normal, and Archie did not wake from his slumber, a rather patchy but warm blanket covering everything but his feet and face, his long ears over his eyes.
He was however woken by the loud banging on the door.
" Archimedes Gulliver Penn! You've got a work request!" came a loud squeaky voice that came from a rather squeaky assistant guild master. They didn't wait for a response, which from Archie was only a groan, before stomping off down the hallway to bang on someone else's door, the message was similar.
"Work. Work. Workworkwork!" Grumbled Archie, pulling his legs up under the blanket and shivering against the chilly air.
It was a few moments before the shivering Archie sat up in bed. looking around the small and rather shabby room.
"A highly respectable and important profession, allowed to swing in the clouds with the rest of the highly respectable and important folk, but not allowed some bloody insulation!" He accused the peeling walls of the underfunded guild hall.
Consigning to the cold, he flung the blanket off of himself, his large buck rabbit teeth nibbling on his lower lip as he shivered and rubbed the tan fur along his arms. Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood in his undergarments for a moment, preparing himself against the cold by immersing himself in it as a swimmer in cold water.
He was slim, toned from years of hard work as an engineer. The fur covering his body was tan, with a lighter tan patch around his eyes and a bit of white on the ends of his long feet-paws and under his tail.
Swinging his arms, he turned faced the small dresser next to the bed, opening the drawers and pulling out his garments for the day.
It was several minutes before he emerged from his room fully dressed. Not knowing where this job might be, he wore the street formal variety of his clothing. A white shirt and tan vest, the shirt buttoned up to the top, A tie ran slightly loose about his neck and tucked into the vest below. His pants were tan as well, with a black belt that kept them secured about his waist. His shoes were also black, although a little worn around the edges and bottom, the tops were polished and well maintained.
He closed his door behind him and decided not to bother with the lock, knowing there was nothing the other engineers could steal or see that was worth anything of value. He made his way down the narrow hallway past the other rooms. There was a few sounds of movement within some of the rooms, and Archie thought he heard the clink and whirr of machinery behind one of the doors at the end of the hall.
Ignoring the sounds, he descended the staircase down to the main hall of the guild, where a majority of the hall's residents stood in front of the main desk. They were a varied group that called themselves engineers, and hailed from many different classes of Animalia and walks of life. Rodentia, Vulpus, Felis, Lupus, Canis, and even an Ursus; all called together to work on the marvelous technology of the age.
Pushing in amongst the crowd, Archie stopped when he could get a clear view of the desk. The assistant guild master was nowhere to be seen.
"Oie! Alexus!" Called a fox who was leaning against the counter. "Come give us our work, we won't get paid to freeze our paws here!"
A grumbling sound emerged from the door behind the desk, and it open and shut without anyone appearing. The sound of a footstool scraping across the floor was heard for a moment, and then the diminutive mouse Alexus appeared on top of the desk. They were dressed very formally, a rather poufy suit tucked into tiny black and polished shoes. The fur on Alexus's head was slicked back and the fur on the tips of their ears was neatly brushed and pointy.
Now animals of the world all varied slightly in size depending on their species and breed; but they mostly ranged in height from four and a half feet to as high as eight, with their species causing a difference of only a few feet. Alexus was one of the exceptions to this rule, standing at only a foot and a half high. There was speculation that Alexus was involved in some kind of shrinking accident, a side effect of the size technology fad that was permeating the cities. Alexus never told anyone, in fact they never told anyone anything about themselves, and there were several bets among the members on just what gender they were. Archie never participated in these bets.
"A'right!" Squeaked Alexus to the murmuring room from the tabletop, clutching many sheets of paper that seemed too big for them to carry.
"Shuddap; all of you! I got your assignments from the guild master!" they said as a hush fell over the room. Everyone leaned forward slightly, hoping for a good days work.
Alexus banged on the doors of those who had direct assignments offered to them, but there was always a smattering of work that was offered up to the guild as free assignments. Archie was silently grateful he did not have to clamber for work as an unknown engineer anymore. He had invested a lot of sweat and muscle into getting his name familiar with the denizens of the cities, and although it was not a lot of work, people still requested him by name to work with them.
"First, you 'requested' lot, alphabetically of course," Alexus said as they pushed up their spectacles.
" Archimedes Gulliver Penn," Alexus began as they pulled a sheaf of paper from the stack.
Archie hurried forward and grabbed the paper from the hand of Alexus, who did not look at him as he turned and walked toward the front door of the hall. Alexus continued to rattle of names as Archie headed out the door for better light. He stopped out on the steps down to the walkway below in the morning sunlight. The request was short, shorter than the message from the guild master.
"To the Esteemed Engineer Archie,
Upon this noble and long lived house of engineers a request has been made appealing to your direct talents. Do well to uphold the good name of-"
Archie skipped past the flowery intro, having read the guild terms of duty many times. Pinned to the bottom of the paper was the original request. This one was dirty, with barely legible scribbled handwriting.
"Archie Penn- A3200 Highbridge RD, New Boulton - Prof. Stormburrow"
"Stormburrow?" thought Archie.
Stormburrow was one of the leading inventors and scientists who discovered size manipulation technology, Archie met him briefly when the inventors guild was building a prototype distillery for a serum that shrank the drinker by precisely seventy-two inches. He was a reclusive mole who sold off all his recent inventions before disappearing into the ground city of New Boulton.
"Highbridge. Great," Archie muttered quietly.
New Boulton was once a normal city, with the rich and the poor living within relatively close proximity. With the rise of steam technology and the first floating city block, the rich decided that living among the clouds was the "highest fashion" and moved all of their homes and boutiques up into the sky. Now New Boulton was populated almost entirely by a literal underclass, constantly overshadowed by the flying city above.
Many places of New Boulton were of course quite respectable, where honest citizens lived out a decent, but poorer existence; Archie himself had many friends from New Boulton, and traveled constantly between the cities. Other places, like Highbridge, were a nest of abandoned houses, violent recluses and roaming robbers.
Highbridge and its surrounding neighborhoods were also testing grounds for various new technologies; and recently many unwilling testing subjects found themselves blown up to giant proportions, trampling sections of the neighborhood, or shrunk down to inches tall and lost in the rubble.
Archie sighed and turned back into the guild hall, heading through the doors back into the gloomier inside. He was surprised to see a majority of his guild mates gone, either back up to their rooms to prepare, or had slipped out while he was pondering the request. The few that remained lounged depressingly on the couches in the lobby, hoping for work, or talking quietly.
" Archimedes," came a squeak from the desk across the room. Alexus was writing some notes on the table top, now sitting on an unseen high chair. Archie headed over to stand in front of the desk, watching Alexus as they finished signing some document.
"That was a strange request, delivered by a courier who got it up from another courier down in New Boulton," Alexus said, looking up and looking over their spectacles at Archie.
"The doctor is a good friend of the guild master, otherwise we would not have accepted such a task at all," Alexus leaned back, crossing their arms over their well tailored suit coat.
"You've done well with us, and we don't want to see you come to any harm... that being said," Alexus said, leaning forward and pulling open the pen drawer under the desk and pulling out something with both hands.
"Use this to fend off anyone who would rob you or... experiment on you," they finished, rolling the object onto the table.
It was a long cylindrical rod, nearly the height of Alexus themself. The tip was copper metal, and had a thin wire tubing running down in circles around it before it tucked into the handle, which Archie noticed was insulating ''Rubberwood'', the other end was wrapped in leather, and presumably where the hand was supposed to grip it.
"The handle is hollow, inside is a set of coils in an emulsion designed to hold a charge," Alexus said, rotating the rod with a small hand to reveal a button on the leather grip.
"Press this to connect the wires inside and send out a bolt of electricity from the handle," they said, looking up at Archie again. "There should be enough charge to suppress one or two groups of bandits, should you encounter any," They finished; settling back in the chair and pulling up another sheet of paper, they dipped the large quill into the ink well and began writing, ignoring Archie as he stood there in surprise.
"T-thanks Alexus..." Archie began, picking up the rod and hefting it. It was quite heavy, and Archie was surprised Alexus lifted it so easily.
"Mmm... be back soon," Alexus said without looking up.
Touched by the sudden generosity of the guild, Archie took a simple set of tools and a leather strap. Putting the tools in a bag which he secured to his waist on his right, and the rod he secured to his left side like a sword. This was going to be an interesting job; it would take all his wits to even make it to place in once piece.

This is only Chapter 1, look forward to more chapters as I edit and post them!
Archimedes "Archie" Guliver Penn, and the world he inhabits ©

Alexus, the prof. Stormburrow and any other characters we meet ©

Here is the story for those who don't want to download, note the formatting in the downloadable document makes it easier to read.
The Adventures of Archimedes Guliver Penn
"Little Trouble in Highbridge"
By: Andrew "Zest" M
Chapter 1
It was a brilliantly clear and sunny day; the clouds shredded into nothing by the neighboring mountains. In the valley was a most unusual sight for anyone not familiar with the location. On the ground was a rather normal looking city from a distance, a hodge-podge of many differently sized buildings crammed together as if huddled for warmth against the cold.
Not helping the temperature, the city was most unusually covered in near perpetual shade; shade created by what would appear to the unknowing traveler from a distance to be another city floating above it. The awesome sight was only magnified for those entering the city, as what appeared to be a floating landmass was instead a vast armada of city blocks. Upon closer inspection of the underside, one would see that beneath blocks vast sections of wood and iron that held the many parts together. Beneath that, a million propellers turned endlessly, and above, a million zeppelin's; both working in tandem to hold the city aloft.
It was in one of the many flying blocks that Archimedes started this chilly day, in his tiny side room of the Engineers guild.
He was a rabbit, in a world filled with creatures of varying species and sizes. His large white toed and tan colored feet hung off the end of the too small bed, wriggling as a breeze rattled the window next to him and shifted the block a few inches. This kind of movement was normal, and Archie did not wake from his slumber, a rather patchy but warm blanket covering everything but his feet and face, his long ears over his eyes.
He was however woken by the loud banging on the door.
" Archimedes Gulliver Penn! You've got a work request!" came a loud squeaky voice that came from a rather squeaky assistant guild master. They didn't wait for a response, which from Archie was only a groan, before stomping off down the hallway to bang on someone else's door, the message was similar.
"Work. Work. Workworkwork!" Grumbled Archie, pulling his legs up under the blanket and shivering against the chilly air.
It was a few moments before the shivering Archie sat up in bed. looking around the small and rather shabby room.
"A highly respectable and important profession, allowed to swing in the clouds with the rest of the highly respectable and important folk, but not allowed some bloody insulation!" He accused the peeling walls of the underfunded guild hall.
Consigning to the cold, he flung the blanket off of himself, his large buck rabbit teeth nibbling on his lower lip as he shivered and rubbed the tan fur along his arms. Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood in his undergarments for a moment, preparing himself against the cold by immersing himself in it as a swimmer in cold water.
He was slim, toned from years of hard work as an engineer. The fur covering his body was tan, with a lighter tan patch around his eyes and a bit of white on the ends of his long feet-paws and under his tail.
Swinging his arms, he turned faced the small dresser next to the bed, opening the drawers and pulling out his garments for the day.
It was several minutes before he emerged from his room fully dressed. Not knowing where this job might be, he wore the street formal variety of his clothing. A white shirt and tan vest, the shirt buttoned up to the top, A tie ran slightly loose about his neck and tucked into the vest below. His pants were tan as well, with a black belt that kept them secured about his waist. His shoes were also black, although a little worn around the edges and bottom, the tops were polished and well maintained.
He closed his door behind him and decided not to bother with the lock, knowing there was nothing the other engineers could steal or see that was worth anything of value. He made his way down the narrow hallway past the other rooms. There was a few sounds of movement within some of the rooms, and Archie thought he heard the clink and whirr of machinery behind one of the doors at the end of the hall.
Ignoring the sounds, he descended the staircase down to the main hall of the guild, where a majority of the hall's residents stood in front of the main desk. They were a varied group that called themselves engineers, and hailed from many different classes of Animalia and walks of life. Rodentia, Vulpus, Felis, Lupus, Canis, and even an Ursus; all called together to work on the marvelous technology of the age.
Pushing in amongst the crowd, Archie stopped when he could get a clear view of the desk. The assistant guild master was nowhere to be seen.
"Oie! Alexus!" Called a fox who was leaning against the counter. "Come give us our work, we won't get paid to freeze our paws here!"
A grumbling sound emerged from the door behind the desk, and it open and shut without anyone appearing. The sound of a footstool scraping across the floor was heard for a moment, and then the diminutive mouse Alexus appeared on top of the desk. They were dressed very formally, a rather poufy suit tucked into tiny black and polished shoes. The fur on Alexus's head was slicked back and the fur on the tips of their ears was neatly brushed and pointy.
Now animals of the world all varied slightly in size depending on their species and breed; but they mostly ranged in height from four and a half feet to as high as eight, with their species causing a difference of only a few feet. Alexus was one of the exceptions to this rule, standing at only a foot and a half high. There was speculation that Alexus was involved in some kind of shrinking accident, a side effect of the size technology fad that was permeating the cities. Alexus never told anyone, in fact they never told anyone anything about themselves, and there were several bets among the members on just what gender they were. Archie never participated in these bets.
"A'right!" Squeaked Alexus to the murmuring room from the tabletop, clutching many sheets of paper that seemed too big for them to carry.
"Shuddap; all of you! I got your assignments from the guild master!" they said as a hush fell over the room. Everyone leaned forward slightly, hoping for a good days work.
Alexus banged on the doors of those who had direct assignments offered to them, but there was always a smattering of work that was offered up to the guild as free assignments. Archie was silently grateful he did not have to clamber for work as an unknown engineer anymore. He had invested a lot of sweat and muscle into getting his name familiar with the denizens of the cities, and although it was not a lot of work, people still requested him by name to work with them.
"First, you 'requested' lot, alphabetically of course," Alexus said as they pushed up their spectacles.
" Archimedes Gulliver Penn," Alexus began as they pulled a sheaf of paper from the stack.
Archie hurried forward and grabbed the paper from the hand of Alexus, who did not look at him as he turned and walked toward the front door of the hall. Alexus continued to rattle of names as Archie headed out the door for better light. He stopped out on the steps down to the walkway below in the morning sunlight. The request was short, shorter than the message from the guild master.
"To the Esteemed Engineer Archie,
Upon this noble and long lived house of engineers a request has been made appealing to your direct talents. Do well to uphold the good name of-"
Archie skipped past the flowery intro, having read the guild terms of duty many times. Pinned to the bottom of the paper was the original request. This one was dirty, with barely legible scribbled handwriting.
"Archie Penn- A3200 Highbridge RD, New Boulton - Prof. Stormburrow"
"Stormburrow?" thought Archie.
Stormburrow was one of the leading inventors and scientists who discovered size manipulation technology, Archie met him briefly when the inventors guild was building a prototype distillery for a serum that shrank the drinker by precisely seventy-two inches. He was a reclusive mole who sold off all his recent inventions before disappearing into the ground city of New Boulton.
"Highbridge. Great," Archie muttered quietly.
New Boulton was once a normal city, with the rich and the poor living within relatively close proximity. With the rise of steam technology and the first floating city block, the rich decided that living among the clouds was the "highest fashion" and moved all of their homes and boutiques up into the sky. Now New Boulton was populated almost entirely by a literal underclass, constantly overshadowed by the flying city above.
Many places of New Boulton were of course quite respectable, where honest citizens lived out a decent, but poorer existence; Archie himself had many friends from New Boulton, and traveled constantly between the cities. Other places, like Highbridge, were a nest of abandoned houses, violent recluses and roaming robbers.
Highbridge and its surrounding neighborhoods were also testing grounds for various new technologies; and recently many unwilling testing subjects found themselves blown up to giant proportions, trampling sections of the neighborhood, or shrunk down to inches tall and lost in the rubble.
Archie sighed and turned back into the guild hall, heading through the doors back into the gloomier inside. He was surprised to see a majority of his guild mates gone, either back up to their rooms to prepare, or had slipped out while he was pondering the request. The few that remained lounged depressingly on the couches in the lobby, hoping for work, or talking quietly.
" Archimedes," came a squeak from the desk across the room. Alexus was writing some notes on the table top, now sitting on an unseen high chair. Archie headed over to stand in front of the desk, watching Alexus as they finished signing some document.
"That was a strange request, delivered by a courier who got it up from another courier down in New Boulton," Alexus said, looking up and looking over their spectacles at Archie.
"The doctor is a good friend of the guild master, otherwise we would not have accepted such a task at all," Alexus leaned back, crossing their arms over their well tailored suit coat.
"You've done well with us, and we don't want to see you come to any harm... that being said," Alexus said, leaning forward and pulling open the pen drawer under the desk and pulling out something with both hands.
"Use this to fend off anyone who would rob you or... experiment on you," they finished, rolling the object onto the table.
It was a long cylindrical rod, nearly the height of Alexus themself. The tip was copper metal, and had a thin wire tubing running down in circles around it before it tucked into the handle, which Archie noticed was insulating ''Rubberwood'', the other end was wrapped in leather, and presumably where the hand was supposed to grip it.
"The handle is hollow, inside is a set of coils in an emulsion designed to hold a charge," Alexus said, rotating the rod with a small hand to reveal a button on the leather grip.
"Press this to connect the wires inside and send out a bolt of electricity from the handle," they said, looking up at Archie again. "There should be enough charge to suppress one or two groups of bandits, should you encounter any," They finished; settling back in the chair and pulling up another sheet of paper, they dipped the large quill into the ink well and began writing, ignoring Archie as he stood there in surprise.
"T-thanks Alexus..." Archie began, picking up the rod and hefting it. It was quite heavy, and Archie was surprised Alexus lifted it so easily.
"Mmm... be back soon," Alexus said without looking up.
Touched by the sudden generosity of the guild, Archie took a simple set of tools and a leather strap. Putting the tools in a bag which he secured to his waist on his right, and the rod he secured to his left side like a sword. This was going to be an interesting job; it would take all his wits to even make it to place in once piece.
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