Engine Dreamer (a steampunk story)
Madoc wandered through the spacedocks, sucking on a ha'penny candy and feeling out of sorts. Mr. O'Shea had given him the day off, and he'd cleaned the ever-present oil from his hands as best he could and put on his spare set of clothes, but his two stationside brothers were working and none of the ships where he had family was in dock. That gave him too much time to think. So he rambled down the corridor, passing docks and the occasional bulkhead, not paying much attention to where he was going. Only a few of the docks were out of bounds to a young station labourer, and nobody much minded if he poked his nose in wherever he pleased. But right now he didn't want to talk to any spacefarers.