Raising Steam

by Peter Rhodan

  They reached the worksite where a team of labourers were extending the track bed using picks, shovels and simple wheelbarrows. Yet another new device the locals had jumped at. He noted that the working party was composed of two teams, one being totally of captured Scotti who had not joined the army while the other team was apparently composed of hired labourers. It appeared the captives were being treated no different than their fellow workers except they wore the yellow dyed clothes of the indentured labour corps and there were two soldiers on guard keeping an eye on them.

  He had a quick word to the foreman, congratulating him and his men on the progress they were making and pressed on, following the line of wooden pegs that marked where the track was to go. The sound of water heralded their arrival at the first bridge site where another group of men were labouring on building the broad stone bridge. Here there was a stocky, fairly young, dark haired man employing a groma, the sighting device Theodorus had used for surveying the original track route, making sure the levels were correct.

  Arturo was a bit surprised as he had not recalled anything being said about hiring a second engineer so rode over to the man. “Greetings. I am Arturo Sandus, Primarius of the Republic. How goes it.”

  The man bowed, looking a little startled at who the rider was. “Greetings Dominus Sandus. I am Eugenius, manager of the bridge building work gang.”

  “How goes the work?” Arturo asked again looking around taking in the work. It all looked like, well, a lot of hard work, compared to how things were done in his time. Stone blocks were being shaped and positioned as the arched underframe of the bridge was erected.

  The man looked nervous. “It is going all right. It has taken me longer to get the stone work to sit right than Theodorus had estimated it would. No one hereabouts is really used to building this sort of arch work you understand. But it is progressing well now and the next one should be much quicker.”

  Arturo nodded, smiling. “Good. Do you know where Theodorus is?”

  “Yes. He is at Wern supervising the dock construction. He was having problems with certain aspects of the curtain wall he devised to keep the water out while they work on building the stone dock walls. Last I heard he was still trying to find a method that worked properly.” There may have been a note of implied criticism in that sentence Arturo decided.

  “Very well. This bridge looks nice and sturdy. Keep at it.” Arturo tried to put some enthusiasm into his voice as the bridge really was coming along nicely, considering it was all being done by hand without any powered machinery to make the task easier. He had no idea how much time and effort it took to shape those stone blocks by hand and had no real desire to find out!

  “It is certainly sturdy all right. Theodorus ordered me to make it really strong, much more like the bottom course of a really large multi-tier aqueduct than just a simple bridge. The proportions are like the aqueduct I saw in Gallia which had a bottom row of arches even bigger than this but then it had support two more layers of arches above it. Do you know why he wants this is so, well, solid, sir?”

  “Because the trains that will be running over it are going to get much bigger and heavier fairly soon. There are other developments that should be ready next spring that will mean your bridges will be crossed by groups of vehicles each weighing ten, fifteen or even twenty tons individually.”

  The man looked startled at these numbers. “It would take a big team of horses to haul such a load. But if those are the sort of weights that will carried over it I can understand the reasoning behind the over engineering. Theodorus really is quite clever.” Although the way he said it Arturo wasn’t sure if meant Theodorus was a clever engineer or a clever swindler.

  Arturo rather agreed that Theodorus was clever in more ways than one but refrained from saying so to the underling which would undermine Theodorus’ position. At the same time, he was glad that Theodorus had obviously done his own staff hiring with this Eugenius fellow, which showed good initiative. They would need more trained people as the line north to Lugowalion would be a much larger undertaking than the short hop to Wern. A quick wave goodbye and Arturo set out for Wern. Cement! He thought to himself suddenly. He still hadn’t done anything about cement. It would make the railway construction much easier, let alone every other type of building construction generally.

  Wern was reached in good time for Arturo to sit down with Dileen for a hearty if slightly late meal. Hernann was introduced and looked a bit uncomfortable at being included in meal like the officer he now was. Dileen raised his eyebrows at Briana, who stood near the door of the room looking dour.

  “Who is she?” He enquired once he realised she was not going to join them at the table.

  “That is Briana, runaway slave of the Selgovae and self-appointed bodyguard to yours truly.” Arturo replied, tapping himself on the chest.

  “I see. A female bodyguard now. Interesting affectation. Are they common where you come from?”

  Arturo laughed at Dileen's attempt at sarcasm. “Yes and no. Not in the sense you mean though. Where I come from men and women are equal before the law, in all possible ways including serving in the military. Probably a third of the crews on our ships were female. Several of my officers were.” He paused and a thought of all the smiling young faces of his ship’s officers and that of poor Aldershot, still sitting impaled in the shuttle hidden in the lake not far away.

  Dileen must have seen the sadness coming over Arturo because he quickly tried to change the subject despite his surprise at Arturo's statement. “Your engineer fellow seems to know his stuff. Or else he is making the biggest mud pie of all time!”

  Arturo could not decide from his tone whether he was being genuinely critical or just mucking around. “Really?”

  “Oh yes. But I’m not going to spoil it for you. You can ride down there after we’ve finished eating and see for yourself.” He said grinning in manner that Arturo thought was more amused than exasperated.

  He smiled at Dileen and waved a hand. “Now you have me worried my friend. He seemed to know his stuff when I interviewed him!”

  Dileen must have noted Arturo's disquiet for he then said. “Oh, he does that all right. But I don’t think he was ever the man in charge before. Not of a big project like this at any rate. He is being by turn overbearing and snappy or indecisive and unsure. Still his ideas for the large bridge across the river seem plausible enough from what little I know of such things.”

  Arturo scratched his head and glanced in the direction of where the bridge would be. “Well I will be seeing for myself after lunch. And finding out how my ship is coming along as well.”

  Dileen grimaced. “He is not a popular fellow in town, that Cambelyn. Orders people around and acts like he owns the place because he works for you.”

  Arturo frowned at this, not liking what he heard. “Really? I did not realise he was so overbearing.”

  “Well not so much overbearing as full of his own importance. I assume his shipbuilding skills are adequate for the task at hand but not being a nautical person, I have no real idea of how well he is doing.” Dileen explained.

  “I see, I think I will be having a word with friend Cambelyn, while I examine what he has or has not achieved so far.” Arturo nodded at Dileen.

  Dileen nodded back obviously satisfied at having imparted the information he had wanted to get across to Arturo and they finished their meal soon after. The three left the fort accompanied by Dileen and headed to the high ground overlooking the river mouth. The whole right bank was churned up. About ten meters out from what used to be the riverbank ran a long wooden palisade which was being extended even as they came to a halt and watched. A floating barge carried a large wooden framework on it, the centre of which was a large tree trunk, cut smooth. This was designed to drop down from the framework at the front of the barge and be used as a pile driver with the barge being balanced by a load of stone in the rear. Even as they watched it thumped down on the head of another pile being driven into the riverbed ex
tending the palisade further. On the barge there was a crew of men manning a large windlass that would be used to lift the thing up and make it ready for another drop. It looked to be slow and extremely laborious work.

  There was a section of the new metal railway leading gently down the embankment they were standing on before it headed out over the marshy flat to near the edge of the old riverbank. It had obviously been hastily laid on newly piled dirt and dumped stone foundations where it travelled through the marsh. Along this a horse was towing a rail road wagon loaded with cut stone from a quarry inland and laboriously brought down to the coast by horse drawn wagons over the less than stellar local roads, or tracks as they really were. A pile of such stone near the river's edge indicated the destination of the horse drawn wagon on the rails. Two now empty road wagons of moderate size were being drawn away inland to the quarry to bring back more stone for the dock work.

  After studying the scene for some time Arturo led the other two down the gently sloped rail road line and up to where Theodorus was overseeing the pile driving from atop the river bank. The engineer did not actually notice their approach till one of the workmen on the pile driver barge pointed them out and he was somewhat surprised to find Arturo bearing down upon him so suddenly. “Lord Primarius.” He saluted, copying the military style.

  Arturo waved an arm in a casual responding salute because the man was not military and then continued that wave to encompass all the work going on. “Things appear to be going well Theodorus.” He was impressed with the activity and progress that seemed to have been made although the stink was something else. Between the tidal mud, the rotting vegetation from the swampy shore and the river with its burden of effluent form the growing town of Dervent, the aroma was anything but fresh.

  The man smiled. “Yes, they are Primarius. We should have this collar finished in a day or so and then we can drain the water out on this side of it so we can start building the stone walls.”

  “Excellent. I noticed you are using the rail road idea.” He pointed at the horse and wagon. “Where are you getting the stone?”

  “Dileen is allowing us to quarry it a couple of miles over beyond the rise up there. Apparently there is coal in the ground there and he thinks that our taking out the ordinary stone will make it easier to get down to the coal bearing layers.”

  Arturo smiled at the cunning Dileen was displaying, trust him to use a government project to make his own operation, at some point in the future, a bit easier. “So, I follow what you are doing with the collar as you call it. How are the lock gates coming along and do you have an idea to make them work easily?” The lock gates were going to be the hardest thing to get right Arturo believed. He had only vaguest idea of how they should work.

  Theodorus smiled. “Oh yes. One of the men, Corlyn over there on the barge, made a good suggestion.” And he waved at a tall, dark haired man, obviously in charge of the barge pile driving crew. “The biggest problem was always going to be how to maintain the gates when the front will always be facing the bay and the inside will be underwater. Corlyn pointed this out and suggested that we design the entrance way so that the actual lock gates are inset in a channel back from the entrance a little thus giving us room for a temporary wooden door to be dropped into the channel entrance and block the water whenever we wish to pump out the basin and work on the gates.”

  Arturo nodded, impressed with the simplicity of the idea. He also noted that Theodorus was proving to both adaptable and willing to give credit to his underlings where due, a trait a lot of men did not have. Claiming credit for their underling’s work was a common trait among many men in positions of authority Arturo had observed. Back in the Federation. “Sounds workable, although I am no expert on such matters. So, you are going build a stone wall along the river edge?”

  “Yes. I thought of leaving a dirt bank, but the action of the river may well gouge it away. Instead there will be a good stone wall that ships will be able to tie up to on the river side as well if it is needed. The river side will be tidal of course but that can’t be helped. Plus, having a stone wall on this side will provide a firm edge to the dock on the inside. I am going to use the dirt we dig out from the harbour basin to fill in behind the stone wall and also to fill in that area over there on the western side of where the lock will be.”

  He stopped and looked around proudly then he smiled at Arturo. “I was a bit bemused at first, designing such a big dock basin in this out of the way place, but well it was your money after all so I went with the size you wanted.” He paused and pointed across the river to where the shipyard was hidden behind the small point that jutted out. “Then I talked your fellow building the boat over there and his comments on how the ship he is building is more a practice for future bigger vessels and then considered how much these railroads will improve load haulage and thought maybe you were not so silly after all.”

  He pulled on his chin looking thoughtful. “You will be able to carry coal from the local mines down to the dock easily and cheaply, well relatively cheaply. Load it onto some massive ship you will build and sail it to Deva or even Londinium and sell it for a reasonable profit and bring other goods back that are needed here. And that’s just a start as far as I can tell. It’s impressive, your vision that is.”

  Arturo mock bowed. “Thank you.”

  Theodorus smiled a little. “So, what other revolutionary ideas are you going to throw at me?”

  Arturo looked out over the works to the sea beyond. “Well... How about cement? Do you know what that is?”

  Theodorus nodded. “I have never worked with it myself, but I’ve read about it. And I saw some of the stuff they built from it in the old days. It’s made from some special sand found on the side of a volcano down past Roma in Italia I think. Very expensive these days so no one really uses it anymore even if we could organise for some of it to be shipped all the way up here.”

  Arturo considered this information. He knew cement was made by burning or at least roasting limestone although working how that process really worked would almost certainly require some experimentation like all the other ideas he had tried to introduce. Special sand being found on the side of a volcano could indicate that the stuff had been limestone affected by the heat of the volcano at some point. Hmm. That made a kind of sense. He smiled at the engineer.

  “Well my people make it from limestone. I’m not an engineer so have no real idea of the process but I seem to recall that it involves crushing the limestone and then heating it in an oven rather like the coke ovens I have introduced in the iron works. Something you can experiment with on the side if you like.”

  Theodorus considered this idea. “Limestone you say. Interesting. Yes, I think perhaps I will play around a bit. You know nothing more about the process?”

  Arturo shook his head. “Sadly no. I have no real idea of any of it I am afraid. Just that it was roasted then crushed into a powder afterwards. Or crushed then roasted? I don’t know. It may even need some other material added to the mix for all I know, but limestone was the only ingredient I am definitely sure of.”

  Theodorus appeared disappointed but nodded. “Well at least you have given me some idea. I shall have a look at one of those coke ovens you mentioned. I think the local iron works here has one, yes?”

  Arturo nodded. “Yes. Lewarth does his best to keep up with what we develop up at Dervent. Tell him I said to show you round.”

  “Thank you Primarius, I will.”

  Arturo pointed to where Theodorus said the locks would be. “How wide are you making the locks?”

  Theodorus smiled. “Much wider than I originally intended! You said they should half again as wide as the boat building down here so when I spoke to your boat builder I was a bit surprised by how big the ship was going to be. Still they should be adequate for some time, I would think.”

  Arturo looked around the works once more then nodded at his engineer. “I hope so, Theodorus. Anyway, I better go and see how my shipbuilder is progres
sing. Keep up the good work Theodorus.”

  The man beamed and bowed slightly as Arturo remounted and the four rode off. Hernann turned to Arturo as they rode along the riverbank towards where the rickety wooden bridge was still the only way across the waterway. “That is very impressive sir. The finished docks will better than those at Bononia I think.”

  “Is Bononia the biggest port in Gallia?” He still had only the vaguest idea of the local geography, especially that of the continent beyond the island he had landed on.

  “I think so sir. I have not been to any of the others myself but people I know have told me that Bononia is the biggest port in Gallia, at least in the north that is.”

  Dileen nodded agreement. “They don’t get much use these days but yes. Hernann is right about this being bigger than the dock at Bononia. I had forgotten about the dock area over there. Been a few years since I was in Gallia.” He seemed to stare off into the distance seeing things from his past.

  The journey to the shipyard did not take very long and upon approaching where the ship was being built, Arturo was surprised by the lack of any structures around where the hull of the ship was beginning to take form already. He had sort of imagined the gantries and framework that were needed for the construction of star ships or the big ocean going cargo ships of his home world. Their approach to the work area went unnoticed until they were nearly at the ship whereupon they were challenged by a large beefy looking chap in rough wool clothes and wearing a big leather apron covering the front of his body. This worthy appeared out of one of the two small buildings that had been built since Arturo was last here.