by Jeremy Dwyer
“Farley, take note of this transaction,” Governor Lux said.
The courier, Farley, approached with his book open and a pen in hand.
Governor Lux opened his own book and wrote an amount into it, for a total of thirty-two million eight hundred twelve thousand five hundred (32812500) platinum coins, payable in twenty (20) installments, thirty (30) days apart, with the first payment made immediately. He named Fantine as the recipient and signed it, then showed it to Farley, to copy into his book. Governor Lux then handed the original financial transfer document over to Fantine and said: “This payment is in proportion to the size of the city, at the same rate as the Port of Yihartec Island,” Governor Lux said.
“This payment is in installments, Governor. That was not our previous arrangement,” Fantine said after examining the financial transfer document.
“The city’s structural integrity has not yet been proven under continued use, architect. In the event that your unsolicited design or construction innovations prove to be defective, the repair costs will be debited from what is paid to you,” Governor Lux said.
Fantine knew that she had no recourse against the central bank other than to refuse to do further business with them, and she considered doing that for a moment. “Very well, Governor. There’s no more to be said at this time,” Fantine said.
“That is correct, architect. Be on your way. I have matters to attend to,” Governor Lux said.
Ximenez looked over Fantine’s shoulder at the financial transfer document and copied it into his own book. He also recorded the conversation between them.
“Let’s go,” Fantine said. She left the Trading Center One building, followed by Niven and Ximenez. They returned to the docks and boarded the Sandstone Cutter.
~~~
“In my office, Governor,” Duchess Uliana said. She then went to her office, followed by Governor Lux and the Torches of Majesty. She closed and locked the door behind her.
“Yes, Duchess?” Governor Lux asked.
~~~
From under the cover of darkness, Fulvius and Erlend followed Governor Lux.
~~~
“Are you prepared to begin construction of a new city, here? As the Port of Reliance that was recently built was twenty-one (21) square miles in area, this new one should be nine (9) times its size, in honor of the Sky’s Nine (9) Kings. That is one hundred eighty nine (189) square miles, Governor,” Duchess Uliana asked.
“Yes, your arithmetic is correct, Duchess,” Governor Lux said.
“I mean – are you prepared to construct it, Governor? That is what I need to know,” Duchess Uliana asked.
“Yes, I was about to consult with my architect before you called me into your office,” Governor Lux said.
“There are other requirements for the new city, Governor. It will be circular, and surrounded by a wall – one hundred eighty (180) feet in height – higher than any airship can safely rise. There will be nine (9) gateways, through which ships will enter, and these will have gates that can be closed or opened at any time,” Duchess Uliana said.
“You are very cautious, Duchess. Are you concerned about an imminent threat against the central bank?” Governor Lux asked.
“The risk of high tides, storms or unauthorized entry by pirates is always a concern, Governor. The central bank must be properly guarded, as well as being properly fiscally governed,” Duchess Uliana said.
“Are there any other requirement I should know about, Duchess?” Governor Lux asked.
“Prompt completion, Governor,” Duchess Uliana said.
“I will relay these requirements to my architect at once,” Governor Lux said.
Duchess Uliana unlocked and opened the door to her office and said: “Waste no time, Governor.”
~~~
Governor Lux then left the office of the Duchess and exited the Trading Center One building. He returned to his own office in the Trading Center Five building. When he arrived, Fulvius and Erlend appeared out of the darkness, having followed him.
“Erlend, I was expecting you. I trust that you know what to do now, and that you are ready,” Governor Lux said.
“Yes, Governor. I can begin altering the sapphires to meet the design requirements that were stated,” Erlend said.
“Then, make the alterations and begin the construction process at once,” Governor Lux said.
Erlend and Fulvius left Governor Lux’s office and returned to the Diversifier. There, Erlend drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial and was energized. He manipulated the sapphires at the tips of the thirty-four (34) constructor pillars, which were lying on their sides in the cargo hold of the ship. After this was completed, he took the thirty-fifth sapphire and altered it, so that it could send the control signal to the others. He held it under the light of many suns and began to charge it for the work to be done.
The following day, Erlend approached Captain Koloman and said: “Captain, we need you to maneuver the ship around the island, forming a circular pattern forty (40) miles in diameter. We will situate the thirty-four (34) pillars equally around it, each three point six nine five nine nine one (3.695991) miles apart. Keep the ship at a constant altitude of fifty (50) feet,” Erlend said.
“Your calculations sound very precise. However, there’s a problem: where will you place the pillars? There’s nothing but water at that distance around the island,” Captain Koloman said.
“Leave that to me, Captain. Sail the ship and I will guide the pillars into place,” Erlend said.
“You’re the architect. I’m just the captain. I’ll chart the course at once,” Captain Koloman said. He drank anew of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean from his vial and was energized. He listened to the sounds of the stars to learn their positions and movements. He then used this information to chart a course that was a circular path, precisely aligned with a larger solar path and having the required diameter. Haza’Kedro’Maral Island was approximately at the center of this circle. Koloman pulled on levers to pivot the masts and sails to their sides, and then the Diversifier ascended to fifty (50) feet of altitude. He began steering the ship through the air, stopping at each required distance interval.
Each time the ship came to a stop, Erlend drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial and was energized again. He made small modifications to the crystal structure at the base of each constructor pillar, and then the hired workers – who had remained on the ship from before – refreshed themselves with the Nabavodel waters they drank for strength and lowered the pillar into place with strong ropes. Each pillar floated perfectly upright on the surface of the Pirovalen Ocean below them when placed. The low-level structure of the base of each pillar was made to be fluid and buoyant, remaining vertical.
“Every time I see it, I don’t believe it, but it clearly works. Is that another technique you learned from Fantine?” Captain Koloman asked after all thirty-four (34) constructor pillars had been placed onto the ocean water surface.
“Of course. How else?” Erlend said. He learned a lot from that woman’s work, as did many other architects. There was no point in denying it to boost his own ego – she was the best and the most innovative architect, with the highest potential for using the Kazofen waters he had ever seen.
“Now, before the next part, we can bring the ship down to sea level,” Erlend said.
Captain Koloman lowered the Diversifier to sea level on the Pirovalen Ocean and returned the sails and masts to their upright position. The ship was outside the circular perimeter of constructor pillars.
Erlend then drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial once again to be energized for the final stage. He made the necessary alterations to the thirty-fifth sapphire to release the control signal, and a blue beam of light emanated from it toward the sapphires at the tips of each of the thirty-four (34) constructor pillars.
Those thirty-four (34) sapphires lit up and then each emanated a beam of blue light toward the others, forming all fi
ve hundred twenty-seven (527) geometric diagonals. The beams began to rotate and then the mists of the Pirovalen Ocean were drawn up into the air and began swirling around. The mists took the form of ring-shaped city of tall buildings, all glimmering bright blue, even more impressively than the structures in the Port of Reliance. Furthermore, it had a one hundred eighty (180) foot high wall surrounding it, with the nine (9) required gateways equally spaced, each ninety (90) feet wide and high.
The operation – not counting the placement of the pillars – took all of seven (7) minutes. Captain Koloman, Fulvius and even Erlend watched in amazement, surprised that it worked so smoothly.
“You did it! You learned from the master herself and built a city even bigger than the cities she made,” Captain Koloman said.
“Now, it’s time to get back, give a report, and await further orders,” Erlend said.
Captain Koloman steered the Diversifier through one of the gates in the ring-shaped crystal city, sailing along a narrow water channel within it, until reaching the interior waters, between the ring and the island. From there, he sailed back to Haza’Kedro’Maral Island.
~~~
Inside the Trading Center One building, Duchess Uliana, the Torches of Majesty and Nehexalor all watched the rapid construction process through a telescope pointing out of an open window of her office. The buildings and the wall were vast, tall and glimmering blue.
“The city is impressive, Duchess. The bright blue gives honor to the Sky’s Nine (9) Kings. The consecration ritual can begin soon after enough guests arrive with their children. I have the song prepared,” Nehexalor said.
“I will send out the invitations. When the time is right, the architect will close the city gates to turn the guests into permanent residents,” Duchess Uliana said.
~~~
Aura held her son, Arik, tightly in her arms while standing upon the hill on Modajatisk Island in the Pirovalen Ocean. Because those same waters flowed through her and gave her the power of sound, she had sharp hearing even over great distances. By this power, she heard the movement of large masses of water, as if they were rising up and forming a circular pattern, because the shape of any sound revealed the movements of the instrument that formed it. Something on a grand scale was occurring, even though her ordinary eyes could not see it. The immensity of it interested her, and she intended to get closer, to learn its cause and purpose. Aura projected her voice – in a sing-song, melodious, enchanting way – to call out to the captain of a small ship passing by the island and heading in the same direction from which the unknown sound was originating. She then hiked down the hill toward where the ship had docked, in response to her request.
“Thank you for hearing my call, Captain. Would you be so kind as to sail with me and my young son toward the west?” Aura asked as she boarded the ship. Her voice was powerful and beautiful – by virtue of the Pirovalen waters that energized her – and the captain, a man of thirty-six (36) years, could not resist its charm.
CHAPTER 37: Accumulation of Wealth and Power
As Duchess Uliana came out of her office, she met with Governor Lux, who was accompanied by his courier, Farley.
“Governor, you are to officially record the name of the newly constructed city around this island as the Port of Illumination,” Duchess Uliana said.
“Very well, Duchess. I shall have my courier record this at once. However, there is another matter of concern, Duchess,” Governor Lux said.
Farley recorded the official name of the newly constructed crystal city around Haza’Kedro’Maral Island as the ‘Port of Illumination’ by writing that into the book he carried. Seeing how the crystal city was an impressively bright blue, this made sense.
“What is it, Governor?” Duchess Uliana asked, not entirely concerned.
“The fee schedules for the newly constructed cities – both on Yihartec Island and the Port of Reliance – need to be established. Commercial activities in both locations, along with rentals and purchases of real estate, are subject to the central bank’s authority. We must begin collecting the proper percentages on our investments,” Governor Lux said.
Duchess Uliana thought about this for a moment and had an idea: “Very well, Governor. Set those fee schedules as needed, and then set those fees even higher. As this is also a constructed city, set the fees here as well, but lower, to promote activity and residence in this city,” Duchess Uliana said.
“That is an artificial pricing strategy, Duchess. It may not optimize our profits, especially given the activity levels and competition in those regions: lower rates there may yield greater returns through higher volumes,” Governor Lux said.
“I have my reasons, Governor. As long as the central bank is still profitable, you can create that pricing difference,” Duchess Uliana said.
~~~
The Chronicler Silvius walked the perimeter of Haza’Kedro’Maral Island while sketching faint images of the walled crystal city into his book. It was just barely visible in the distance, so he looked through a telescope to aid his vision, but he planned on getting closer. The central bank’s island was approximately circular with a diameter of twenty-six (26) miles, which he knew from checking their records and making his own estimates. The walled crystal city was actually a ring-shaped structure, with a stretch of water between it and the island. Under the authority of the Chronicler’s Oath, he boarded a ship heading east from the island, across those interior waters, to a location along the inside of that ring-shaped structure.
He stepped onto its blue crystalline shores – actually, it was more like the floor of a large building – and began exploring it. He took some measurement tools out of his pockets and used them to calculate, based on a small stretch of distance walked, the curvature of the ring and estimated that the inside diameter was thirty-six point eight six nine four seven (36.86947) miles and the inside circumference of the ring was one hundred fifteen point eight two eight nine (115.8289) miles. While the Chronicler’s Oath forbade inference based on observable facts, it did not forbid direct certain size calculations based on proven instruments. What would be an inference, and he knew this, was to use a subtraction to determine that there was a five point four three four seven three four (5.434734) mile stretch of water between the inside of the ring and the perimeter of Haza’Kedro’Maral Island, so he could not write that down: that would actually assume that the ring-shaped crystal city was concentric with the island. He did not measure the length of the voyage as they traveled, because distances across the ocean waters are challenging to reliably directly measure, and he did not drink the waters of the Lujladia Ocean to visually gauge distances. The Ursegan waters definitely allowed him to slow the flow of time around him and observe the fast moving events in detail – such as the rolling waves where the ship met the waters – and count them precisely. However, that technique had been proven to have a large margin of error.
Silvius walked the streets of the ring-shaped crystal city while looking at the various buildings. He made a point of heading eastward, toward the high outer wall, so that he could measure the width of the ring. Measuring distances on land was reliable, and he found it to be a narrow one point five six five two six six (1.565266) miles wide from the inside edge where the ship landed to the outer wall. Some additional calculations using a scope and trigonometric look up tables revealed the wall to be one hundred eighty (180) feet in height. He then made more curvature calculations and estimated the outside diameter of the ring-shaped crystal city to be forty (40) miles and its outside circumference to be one hundred twenty five point six six three seven (125.6637) miles. Working with the assumption that the ring was shape was consistent, the outer ring’s area could be calculated as one thousand two hundred fifty-six point six three seven (1256.637) square miles and the inner ring’s area could be calculated as one thousand sixty-seven point six three seven (1067.637) square miles, giving one hundred eighty nine (189) square miles as the actual ring-shaped city’s area. He wrote these directly observed
measurements, calculations, and necessary assumptions into his book. Silvius knew that when the Verifiers of the Oath read this account, the observations would be given high confidence, but the assumptions and resultant calculations would be given low confidence until they could be more directly tested. The low confidence, however, was not cause to avoid writing them.
There was a nearby gateway – which he used his scope and trigonometric tables to determine was ninety (90) feet wide and high – that admitted sailing ships. He watched as three (3) cargo ships sailed in. He followed the course of the waters and saw that the waterway cut through the ring toward the interior circular stretch of water leading back to Haza’Kedro’Maral Island. Retractable bridges spanned the ninety (90) foot wide waterway so that people could cross over it when ships were not passing through.
He wrote all of these measurements into his book, along with sketches of the insides and outsides of buildings and notes about the ships that arrived.
~~~
Polyxene created an aperture in her diamond-covering around her mouth and drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from a vial she carried, becoming energized. She then closed the aperture to protect herself from the onslaught of flowing time which perpetually besieged the special diamonds that shielded her. She carefully examined the low-level structure of the one hundred twenty-seven (127) yellow-green gems, finding them familiar and exotic all at once. Their crystal structure was not like that of the ordinary gemstones: sapphire, ruby, onyx, diamond, emerald or topaz. Nor was it like any kind of metal. It was, strangely enough, more like amber or pearl. She began to plan out careful manipulations of these yellow-green gems, but she did not dare execute them just yet. These were purported to have the ability to extract the elemental powers of the Dead Waters, and Polyxene remembered the dangerous energy releases from many of her prior experiments – how could she forget them?
It was time to better shield herself against the potential dangers – and to prevent a repeat of her earlier containment failure of the quartz domes that held the violet stellar cores. She glided across the crystal floor of her fortress until reaching her stockpile of modified diamond fabric from before. She began to manipulate some of the diamonds further, to make them more resistant to the concussive blasts. This was a constant search for improvement, because the cost of failure could be far too high. While she was brilliantly gifted with innate potential for using the powers of the Kazofen waters, she was not all-knowing or all-powerful just yet. An experimental outcome with a high energy yield could be much too costly if it occurred within her fortress. She would have to conduct it outside, so that she did not risk fracturing the quartz domes or, far worse, the ruby spires.