Summary

It is the middle of the 19th century, and London is in the midst of the industrial revolution. At the core of the countries great excitement and anticipation is the first Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. However, in the heart of the English countryside, a young boy named Ray, born into a family of inventors, spends his days and nights, waiting impatiently for the return of his father Eddie and grandfather Lloyd, who have gone to America to further their research. Ray’s hopes are brightened when he receives a mysterious silver ball from his grandfather in America. Before he can begin to study the mysterious silver ball, two sinister men from the O’Hara Foundation appear at his door, in search of the ball. Within minutes Ray’s grandfather also arrives and quickly urges Ray to flee, taking the silver ball to a man named Stephenson. Ray quickly mounts the unicycle he has invented and races away with the ball, chased by the men from the O’Hara Foundation, on their ferocious steam machines. After a dangerous high-speed chase along country roads and up onto a railway track, Ray is saved at the last minute by a stranger, David, who happens to be traveling with the scientist Stephenson. As Ray hands over the steam ball to Stephenson, as his grandfather had instructed, the train window is shattered by a giant iron claw, and Ray, with the ball still in his hands, is captured in a net fired from an airship hovering above. Ray, who has been kidnapped and taken to the O’Hara Foundation pavilion at the Great Exhibition in London, now meets his captor, Scarlet, the spoiled daughter in charge of the O’Hara Foundation. The mystery of the ball continues when Ray’s father arrives and explains to Ray the true nature of the ball. It is a steam ball, containing high-density compressed steam – a source of unbelievable power. And the pavilion is in fact a steam castle, the ultimate invention, drawing all of its great power from the STEAM BALL. Ray diligently help his father work towards the completion of the steam castle until a pressure leak is discovered the day before the official opening of the Great Exhibition. When Eddie sends Ray to check for leaks in the network of pipes in the main steam room, Ray unexpectedly finds his grandfather, who he realizes had also been taken hostage, has escaped and is now opening all the valves, trying to prevent the completion of the steam castle. It is at this point that Ray’s grandfather shows him the multitude of steam weapons lining the walls of the pavilion’s storehouse and condemns the steam castle as an ‘evil invention.’ When Ray questions his grandfather as to the possibility of his father being misled by the O’Hara Foundation , his grandfather entrusts the steam ball to Ray and urges him to investigate the situation and make up his own mind. Upon trying to escape with the steam ball, Ray is rescued by a stately British warship. Once again, Stephenson and David, who are aboard the warship, have come to his rescue. Although Ray hands over the steam ball to Stephenson, he has begun to question exactly who should possess the steam ball considering the unimaginable power it holds. However, Stephenson assures him that the very survival of the British Empire may depend on their possessing the steam ball. As the cannons from Crystal Palace announce the official opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria, a steamboat full of British policemen closes in on the O’Hara Pavilion. It appears that the O’Hara Foundation has gathered the top military leaders from around the world to demonstrate the power of the steam weapons, hoping to sell them to the highest bidder. Hence the destruction between the British Army and the O’Hara Foundation begins. Ray is shocked and outraged at the scale of the destruction, shouting, “This is not why my Grandfather invented the steam ball!” Ray manages to remove the steam ball from one of the British Army’s steam tanks and invents his very own flying machine. With the O'Hara Foundation Pavilion in danger of destruction Ray must quickly determine what needs to be done in order to save London, his friends, and ensure the future of mankind!