Machinist of Mana

The Royal Society was, in a single word, chaos. I was sure that somewhere there were men and women writing papers in stuffy offices, but it certainly wasn't here. The building was occupied by lecture hall after lecture hall, any one of which might be the site of vigorous scientific discussion at any given time.

My favorite part was this though, that nobles seldom frequented this location. Studying science was done by the nobility, but being on the bleeding edge, the researchers, the examiners who brought the data here to correlate and argue, that was for commoners. It meant that many of the social strictures that I had to abide by in my daily life were lifted in favor of the local culture.

There were dozens of rooms to explore, and subjects to look into. The section on biology alone had no less than five lectures ongoing about current theories revolving around microorganisms and their various forms, one about evolution of all things, and a demonstration of some new techniques to try and isolate various compounds. There were a few areas talking about new discoveries in radiation, though it seemed someone had gotten word around that playing with it was dangerous, as I could see safety equipment being brought in. Chemists had a hall for 'practical demonstrations' which was in a detached building. There was also a whole section devoted to new machines and their uses.

Grandfather and I both headed straight towards the last section, eager to see what was being found there. My chaperone was happy to let me lead, this being my first time, and soon I found a room where was being described something painfully simple, but that had taken my own world many more years to realize. It was a Archimedes Screw, but rather than rotating the screw itself the cylinder around it was spun. This had been found in living memory back on Earth by an enterprising Mr. Olds in Australia, and I was glad to see that this world's people were just as clever as my previous one's.

“Darksky, is that you?” an older man asked as he approached. “Why I haven't seen you in years old friend. Wherever have you been?” He seemed to smile under his bushy beard.

“Oh pah, it hasn't been that long, come here,” grandfather replied as he moved to give the man a half-hug, clearly they knew each other. “As for what I've been doing, mostly tottering about, teaching my grandson this and that.”

The older man soon looked down at me. “Ah and that must be you my boy. Though I'll say your grandfather looks barely old enough to be your papa, doesn't he? Have to admit I'm a bit jealous.”

“Percival, this is Longdon, an old friend of mine,” grandfather said, seeming to want to change the subject. I didn't know why, but it seemed a bit of a sticking point with him.

“Hello Mr. Longdon,” I dutifully replied, greeting the older fellow.

“So, anything of note going on today?” grandfather asked, looking about.

“Certainly certainly, why I've got a demonstration coming up in just a few minutes. Care to come and watch?” he asked.

My grandfather looked at me and I shrugged, not knowing all that was going on it seemed as good a lead as any. So soon we found ourselves in one of the lecture halls, looking over a rather large piece atop a table. It didn't take me long to see what exactly it was, but it was so primitive that I was surprised it worked at all.

Soon enough Longdon reappeared, shepherding people in and bringing up some diagrams.

“As you can see my dear guests, this engine runs not on steam, but the burning of volatile chemicals, in this case, ethanol. The speed and power which I'm already finding from this device appear to match, or perhaps exceed those of conventional engines. Admittedly there are some problems, but I'm sure that with time those can be worked out. Now if you will direct your attention to the pedestal.”

He started his device and almost instantly it sounded... off. I couldn't place it, but something about the way the engine was running just seemed wrong to me. I wasn't the only one either, as Mr. Longdon began to look over the device with a hard eye, adjusting the control knobs carefully.

“That doesn't sound right...” I managed as the engine began to shake. “Oh no.”

Longdon tried, and failed to get things back under control but soon his work was bouncing up and down at speed, faster and faster until the moorings holding it in place failed, and a couple hundred pounds of metal jumped upwards like a pogo stick.

Time slowed as I rushed forwards to grab the old man and pull him to safety. That much weight throwing itself around was an impending disaster and he was too close. Before I could make it though I saw something that seldom happened, grandfather used magic.

In an instant the engine was enveloped by light from his extended hand, and it froze. Not just still, though it was that too, but it began to radiate cold like an arctic wind. I could feel it many feet away, see the ice ripple across the surface and the device shatter as moving parts couldn't, the steel made brittle by the sudden drop in temperature.

Worse than that though was the look on grandfather's face as he held the pieces, finally letting them fall. It wasn't rage, or fury, it was ice, it chilled me to my core, just as it had the engine.

It made sense, in a world with monsters you had to know how to fight. Did I wear a face like that when I fenced? No, I was too amateur, too novice, and had never had to really do battle. Would I in the future though? I didn't know how to feel about that.

Longdon looked up from where I'd pulled him back, also catching the look in his friend's eyes, and I heard him gulp.

“My apologies, I... that's never happened before,” he managed to say.

“Such things sometimes happen, but see that it doesn't around my grandson again yes?” grandfather said, his eyes not losing their edge until the other man nodded.

“So...”

“Well Percival, what say we go and find another demonstration then?” I was asked.

“Ah, that sounds good.”

We kind of needed to, since this one was quite thoroughly destroyed. There were a few people making rude comments about the failure, but most were being rather polite about it. Hopefully Mr. Longdon's reputation wouldn't be damaged too badly by the disaster, since internal combustion really was a good technology.

“Mind if we go to see the chemists next? I'd love to see what they're doing,” I asked as I was led out of the room.

“Oh certainly, though personally I find that a bit tiresome. Much better the moving parts and bits.”

While I personally agreed with my grandfather, many things needed to come together.