Aetherian Gambit, The

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The brass gears of the Celestial Observatory clicked in perfect rhythm as Professor Evangeline Thorne adjusted the massive telescope's focus. Steam hissed from the intricate network of pipes that powered the complex mechanism, sending wisps of vapor into the cool evening air above New Londinium. Through the eyepiece, she could see the approaching airship fleet, their copper hulls gleaming in the gaslight that illuminated the city's towering spires. "They're early," she murmured, her gloved fingers tracing the calculations she had made across the leather-bound logbook. The Meridian Trading Company's vessels weren't supposed to arrive until dawn, yet here they were, cutting through the night sky like mechanical leviathans. Behind her, the heavy oak door to the observatory creaked open, and the familiar sound of mechanical footsteps announced the arrival of her assistant, Cogsworth. The brass automaton's optical sensors whirred as they focused on Evangeline's position at the telescope. "Professor Thorne," Cogsworth's voice resonated with the perfect diction that only the finest steam-powered vocal apparatus could produce, "there has been a development regarding the copper shipments you've been monitoring." Evangeline straightened, her emerald eyes reflecting the amber glow of the gas lamps that lined the observatory's walls. At twenty-eight, she had already earned a reputation as one of the most brilliant strategic minds in the Aetherian Empire, though her unconventional methods often raised eyebrows among her more traditional colleagues at the Royal Academy of Sciences. "What kind of development?" she asked, stepping away from the telescope and pulling her burgundy coat tighter against the evening chill.