In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become all-out war, and Mad Science rules the world with mixed success, Agatha Clay, a student at Transylvania Polygnostic University is unable to build anything that actually works. However, when the University is overthrown, Agatha is taken aboard the giant airship Castle Wulfenbach, and she might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.

Most of the material in this collection was originally published in the Girl genius comic book issues 7-10.