Tsaimath
patreon
DLM Bk 3 Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2019-05-02 23:09:27 +0000 UTC
The private workshop I was shown had a set of relatively basic equipment in it, nothing tremendously fancy but it was adequate.
“Thank you, I will be happy to work here.” I told Technica with a smile.
“Great. And now, let me show you one of the greatest wonders the Guild has. I’m sure you will appreciate it.” she said with a smile, before guiding me further.
Again, we had to bypass multiple sets of security, each a different mechanism, until we got to a viewport, that allowed vision into a huge, underground chamber. When I looked inside, my mind rejected reality for a moment. What I saw, should not be possible. That was my first thought, but quite obviously, reality felt differently. Or, reality was nearby, curled up in a corner, crying softly, that was more likely.
In the middle of the chamber, suspended without any visible means of support was a glowing ball of fire. It looked like the sun, only much smaller, maybe two-hundred meters in diameter, and obviously less hot or we would be very much on fire. But, why would anyone have a brightly glowing ball of fire, or plasma, in their basement? It took me a moment, but then a light went on, literally. What I was seeing was some sort of controlled, hot fusion-reaction but I had not the slightest idea how it would work without giving off more heat than could be managed.
“Is that a fusion-reactor?!” I asked, incredulity straining my voice. Why would anyone even try something this insane? I did not even want to imagine what would happen if there was a containment failure, just by a short estimation, I was pretty sure the Island and quite a bit of continent would be toast. Literally. A better estimation was simply impossible, just like the ball was in the first place. Physics should not work this way.
As those thoughts whirled through my head, Technica answered. “Yes, it is. This powers all of Accord Island, with a lot of power to spare. Sadly, we can’t make more, it was made by my mentor and his wife, she was the previous council-expert when it came to magical questions, just like my mentor was my predecessor.”
“They combined science with magic, whatever that means?” I asked, now questioning the sanity of everyone involved in this madness. If the current science-councillor of the Guild was unable to explain magic to me, was this thing safe?
“Is it safe?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice.
“I maintain the parts my mentor made, Fey takes care of the magical parts. It is quite the feat, according to the notes they left behind, they bound the reaction to the sun itself. Unless we deliberately shut it off or one of the safety-features kicks in, the reactor will run until the sun burns out." Technica explained in a proud voice.
That part sounded quite impressive. But still, continuously running a generator for that long? No matter how well made and designed it was, Murphy would visit them, one day.
“How much power do you draw?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around it.
“The highest we ever had to draw was about twenty gigawatt. But, that is far from the maximum output we could achieve, we only used about forty percent capacity that time. So, theoretically, we should be able to draw about fifty gigawatt.” Technica announced, still very proud of their miniature sun. And I was impressed. That was a lot of power, a whole friggin lot. A short calculation however, showed me that while it was not bad for a earthen power-plant, it paled in comparison to its big sister, up in space. They only got a tiny fraction, less than one billionth of the efficiency the sun itself had. It made the whole thing a lot less impressive, even if it was damn impressive.
“That is... not bad.” I commented, trying to understand the mechanism, until I realised it was pointless, unless someone explained ‘magic’ to me.
“You don’t sound impressed. I mean, that is the most powerful power plant on the planet, based on a unique fusion of science and magic, made possible by two of the smartest Powered who ever walked the Earth.” Technica scolded, clearly annoyed.
“It is big, I give you that. I would make a joke about size not mattering, but I think I will pass. I have better toys anyway and some of them even vibrate.” I joked, completely ignoring the other role the woman next to me had. A second later, when I realised what I had said and to whom, I blushed furiously.
“What do you mean?” she asked, slightly confused.
“Do I really need to explain that to you? Normally, those who say things like ‘Size does not matter.’ are guys, that feel, let us say, inadequate about a certain body part. However, I have zero interest in said body part.” I blushed even further, concealing my slip-up about having my own fusion-generator. I was not quite willing to tell on that one. Not if fusion-power was something I could use as a negotiation-card with the Guild or other interested parties.
“Oh…” she paused for a second, before blushing as well. “Ooooohhhh.”
“But, you know, it is pretty.” I said conversationally, while looking at the ball of plasma in the chamber. It was certainly an incredible impressive feat of engineering. I could respect that, especially if it had been in constant operation for over fifteen years.
We stood in silence for a minute or so, before continuing our tour. There were a few other interesting toys, for example an attack-helicopter that Technica had modified to be explicitly operated by her and even her armour.
After the tour, on the way home, I was pondering what I had seen and what it meant about Technica’s power. Sure, the fusion-reactor was cool, or rather very, very hot, but I was much more interested in the items she had shown me. Or rather, what they told me.
Those items told me more about her power and I felt confused. Her power was just as illogical as most other powers, the best comparison I could draw was with the lightning-power of Voltic. Voltic got energy from somewhere and created lightning with it. Technica got energy from somewhere and was able to convert it into the form of energy required to run a gadget, whether that was straight mechanical energy, electric energy or even heat-energy. Well, all three energy-forms were strictly speaking a sub-category of mechanical energy, but I doubted that she was able to consciously move electrons or speed up atoms.
Sadly, I could not think of a way to reliably test her ability, either by making a device that would only work with gravity or light. But even then, there were the hypotheses dealing with photons and gravitons. So, even if I managed to come up with a device to test her against, I would not be able to reliably deduce if it was her ability that limited her or if it was our understanding of reality that was limited.
Maybe, I could come up with a better understanding how powers worked and where Powered drew the energy they used from. It was an incredibly interesting topic, something I had wondered about ever since I learned that Powered existed. Finding out how my own power worked was at the top of the list, so maybe I should get into a high-resolution neuro-imager and find out what happens. But even if I did, how exactly normal human brains worked was still unknown, so finding out what made mine different and how it interacted with my power would be difficult.
No, if I wanted to understand more, I would need a Powered that produced a well understood phenomenon and try to go from there. I wondered if I could persuade Technica to give a certain Powered a scholarship, under condition to play lab-rat.
By the time I got back to the dorm-cluster, I had a couple ideas for experiments involving Powered but sadly, all those fun experiments would have to wait until I had my body in an optimum state. That meant I would need at least the distributed microwave-emitter and some sort of EMP protection when I was out and about. Some way to, at the very least, make sure that Galatea would not be destroyed if there was some sort of freak accident and all nanites within me were fried. I could not lose my daughter.
As I thought about that, my hand unconsciously moved towards my lower abdomen, where, until recently, my future daughters would have grown. A tear was running down my cheek when I had the idea to take the space where the organs had been, the organs that would have protected my future daughters while they grew, and use it to protect my daughter. It would not be impossible, a small memory-bank, with an internal energy cell and processing, linked to the rest of me with highly responsive breakers, all encased in the toughest shell I could fit there. It would keep Galatea safe.
