The orb, which Ray calls the “Ghost Core,” is unlike any pressure sphere he’s seen. It doesn’t heat up. It draws heat in , turning ambient steam into silent, perfect pressure—no waste, no explosion risk. It is the holy grail of steam technology: perpetual, silent, infinite efficiency.

Ray’s only ally is the Steamhawk —his father’s experimental gyrocopter, which he rebuilt after London. He takes to the skies, heading toward the last known location tied to Eddie’s letter: a decommissioned North Sea oil platform turned secret laboratory.

Ray’s blood runs cold. His father is dead—crushed in the collapsing London Steam Tower. Yet the letter is fresh, the ink unfaded.

There, he finds not his father, but a holographic recording (projected by steam-lens technology). Eddie, looking haggard, explains:

Von Stahl reveals his true plan: to overload the Calibre, not to open the Nether-Steam gently, but to siphon it explosively , turning the South Pole into a weapon that could freeze entire nations into submission.

Scarlett kisses him on the cheek. “You really think they’ll agree?”

Manchester, 1866. Two years after the Rayleigh Castle incident, the world is still catching its breath. The O’Hara Foundation has been dismantled, but the scars of the Steam Wars remain. Young Ray Steam, now 17, works as a junior engineer for the International Steam Safety Commission (ISSC). He no longer dreams of glory. He dreams of stopping it.