October 18th, 1888, Royal Polytechnic Institute, West End, London
Through the double doors, the half-full lecture hall hummed with oscillating waves of human syntax and grammar. A tall, lanky man in a tailored suit entered from a side door and the hum faded into silence as he approached the podium.
“Good afternoon,” he said with a Slavic accent. He absently brushed a hand across his neatly trimmed mustache. The dark brown of his hair was offset by the intense blue of his eyes, which looked eagerly around the room. “Thank you all for coming. As you all know—I assume, since you are, after all, here—I am here in an effort to introduce wireless energy transfer to the Greater London area.”
He was interrupted by a young woman entering the hall. She wore a loose black skirt, from under which heavy black boots made their presence known. Her auburn hair was twisted back in a bun, save for a few escaped strands which hung in front of her ears, just brushing the collar of her grey blouse. She pulled a silver pocket watch from a pocket in the burgundy corset around her midsection. Glancing at the time, she sheepishly looked up at the podium.
“Sorry,” she said quietly, as she brushed the loose hair behind her ears and took an empty seat on the aisle in the fourth row.
