Raising Steam

by Peter Rhodan

  The man pulled at his chin as he considered what Arturo had described. “So, I make a cylinder and then a second which just fits inside the first. Each about two feet long?”

  Arturo nodded. “Yes, or perhaps a little less. And at the front of the larger cylinder you put one of these lenses.” And he held up one of the large ones. It needs to be held in place quite firmly. I was thinking you could sew strips of leather inside the tube to make a channel the lens could be held in. Or something like that.” He paused and looked at Owyn. “You are the expert. I am far better telling you what I want and letting you do it rather than trying to tell you how to do something you are expert at and about which I know little, I’m sorry.”

  The tanner appeared startled at this apology from Arturo and began to stammer something, but Arturo cut him off. “So, two leather cylinders, yes. At the front one of these convex lenses and then inside the second tube at the other end I want one of these smaller concave ones. At least for this first experiment. Can you do that?”

  The man nodded doubtfully. “Aye. It may take some fiddling to get the method of holding these glass things in place worked out but yes I think I can make what you want.”

  “Good man. Say, in what a week?”

  “Yes Dominus, that will be plenty of time.” Although the note of caution in the man's voice seemed to say that he wasn't sure a week would be sufficient or perhaps he was just doubtful as to what Arturo was trying to accomplish.

  “Excellent. Keep these other lenses for later. We may need to try out more than one version of my idea before we get something that works as I intend. You can keep them safe?”

  “Oh, aye. That be no problem.” The man replied.

  Arturo nodded, held out a couple of denarii. “A down payment for your work. See you in a week then.” Arturo glanced around the room then led the way back out to the horses.

  That evening Arturo asked Dileen if there were any other problems. The man thought for a bit before answering. “Nothing here in town that I can’t handle. There is a growing bandit problem down south but that is more your concern than mine.” Arturo nodded as he was handed yet another matter to be dealt with. “Other than that, the only real concern I have is the Christian priest. He is trying to stir up trouble against the local worshippers of Silvanus the god of the woods, or at least the god which is the local version of Silvanus. They are about the only surviving major pagan group hereabouts who are still prepared to stand by their god. There are a lot of folk who are not totally converted to the Christian god but have kept their observance of the old gods to themselves because the Christians have the authority of the Emperor.”

  He paused obviously considering his next words. “I am not unsympathetic shall we say.” He glanced at Arturo with a look of query and hope.

  Arturo waved a hand to reflect he was okay with that admission. “I am no believer myself and where I come from we have a law that grants all religions freedom to worship, or at least those that don’t involve human sacrifice or such! Religious tolerance is something Melwyn seems to think the old Republic shared by the way. One of the laws I intend to introduce shortly will be one covering exactly that.”

  Dileen smiled. “I see. So, the Christians will no longer be the official religion of the Empire?”

  “No. The Republic will have no official religion at all.”

  Dileen considered this. “You are going to run into problems down south if you extend your control down there. There are lot of true believers in places like Londinium you know.”

  Arturo smiled. “All will be treated fairly by the law. No exceptions. That is the cornerstone of the new Republic you see, laws that apply to all equally regardless of rank or belief. There may well be trouble, but we shall cross the bridge when we come to it.”

  Dileen laughed. “That will be interesting to watch. And you truly think you can make this happen?” He raised his eyebrows.

  Arturo nodded. “Within the areas I control, yes. I have had so much else going on that legal reform has not progressed far as yet, but it is one of the things I will be working on over the winter. Besides I have yet to see a god that can protect his followers from arrows or sword blows."

  Dileen grimaced. “True. Although many truly believe their God will protect them.”

  “Yeah. So I have heard. Well we shall see. I am hoping there will not be serious trouble though.” He stared off into space thinking about religious fanatics. Something he had no experience with, but he had been taught how to deal with other types of fanatics in Military College. He imagined there would be little difference between religious fanatics and political fanatics in practical terms. They no doubt shared the same arrogant belief in their own inevitability and that the end justifies the means.

  “You can hope but I wouldn’t count on it.” Dileen added with a rueful smile.

  Arturo nodded and fell to contemplating all the things he still had to do while he ate the simple but filling dinner that had been placed in front of him while they talked. It seemed like he came up with some new problem or thing that the present was lacking. And he still had no idea on how to produce electricity!

  Chapter 5

  Local matters

  Oween and Briffet were married at the small Christian church established near the edge of Dervent. This small edifice had originally been requested to be built by the priest in Lugowalion due to the growing population of the town and it was hurriedly finished in time for the wedding. That worthy came down to perform the service himself as the priest in Wern had continued to make his disapproval of Arturo quite clear and declined the honour.

  The priest from Lugowalion, one Honorius, seemed a reasonable fellow and he happily discussed the pros and cons of Arturo’s proposed law on religious freedom. Honorius was of middle age, with thin, greying hair and a slight paunch. Arturo still found it hard to judge the age of locals with their much shorter lifespans. He appeared to be far more pragmatic than the fellow at Wern, perhaps because far more of his potential followers were pagans. The people spread along the area south of the Wall were far less Christianised than those to the south. In part this stemmed from the constant interchange of people to and from the north and in part simply because it took time for new beliefs to spread.

  Honorius was also not the least upset by Arturo’s explaining that the new tax system would apply to religious lands as well as secular, an attitude Arturo was surprised by as he had expected to be faced by loud denunciations. Honorius explained that to Arturo that he was not against it for two reasons. One was that Christ himself had said that Christians should render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Therefore the taxes used to pay the army to protect the state and for the construction of roads and other civil works were a due and proper thing the Church should contribute to as they benefitted just as much as everyone else from both the public works and the peace the army ensured.

  The second reason was that he had become concerned with the wealth and privilege that the Church had accumulated in the near century since the reign of Constantinus the First, now being called Constantinus Magnus or the Great. Constantinus had made the Church the official religion of the Empire and the old religions were being suppressed. Honorius explained that he had served in Italia and Gallia before coming over to Britannia and his experiences in those richer parts of the Empire had left him concerned that many in the Church, particularly the senior prelates, were becoming more concerned with the wealth and power of the Church and less concerned with the teachings of God, per se.

  He felt that the great rift between the Arians and the Nicaean Orthodox was in large part fuelled by the struggle for power rather than men’s souls. This same pattern had been followed with the pagan faiths, trying to discredit them first and then to take over their temples and other sites and convert their followers. Yes, there were many priests who saw that as their God given duty and some were quite fanatical like Clodius down at Wern, but there were others who were concerned that this aggressive approach was n
ot what Christ had taught. Had he not propounded the concept of turning the other cheek?

  “At the moment the power mongers hold sway in the Church so that priests like Clodius go largely unchecked in his zealous activities. This is something I am against personally. The Word of God is something one must hear for oneself, not have it thrust down your throat or forced upon you at sword point. In many ways the Church is becoming no better than those heathen Emperors who persecuted the early Christians.” He shook his head sadly at this comparison.

  Arturo nodded, taking in this man’s opinions. He had become aware of how important religion had become throughout the Empire and he had learnt that a large part of the problem with the Vandals in Hispania and the Visigoths in southern Gallia was that they were of the Arrian faith and would not convert to the Orthodox. He liked this priest, the first religious man he had ever really talked with, as opposed to be preached at by. The many religions of Federation were all fairly low key, atheism was by far the most common belief amongst mankind of Arturo’s time and had been for millennia. Buddhism was probably the largest religion in human space, certainly under the old Empire that had been the case, although he supposed that by now there were new ones on planets that had backslid after being cut off from the Empire. Or at least in the timeframe of the future history he came from.

  Honorius was most intrigued by the steam engine which Ceri had moved to a shed near the blast furnaces and it was being used to power the bellows there. The original plan had been to use it to power a better lathe to make machining the cylinder blocks easier had been put on hold till the next steam engine was ready. This was because of the need to produce steel in much greater quantities so that the railroad rails could be upgraded in anticipation of a mobile steam engine. The steam powered bellows combined with a much bigger puddling hearth meant the steel was being produced in quantity previously thought impossible. The water wheels released from bellows duty were now converted to powering more drop forges.

  The steam powered machine was carefully explained to him and then he was taken to the factory where three more were slowly being put together. Being able to see them in various stages of completion helped to give him a more thorough understanding of how they worked and de-mystify the whole contraption.

  The priest looked around at the partly finished projects, the parts lying around, the dirt smudged workers and the air of industry that filled the whole area. “This is clearly the work of man and not Satan despite the smell that pervades your factory.” He pronounced after seeing the workmen labouring on the part-built ones for some time. He shook his head. “Amazing!” He muttered.

  “That is good to hear.” Ceri said with a smile. “Because now I have to show you the real revolution.”

  Honorius inclined his head, but Ceri simply smiled and took them out the doorway at the other end. Here there was another shed with one of the rail road tracks coming around the previous shed having branched off the line to the coal mine that ran by some distance away. Inside the shed stood a metal and wood framework holding a metal chassis resting on four wheels which in turn were standing on the rail road tracks. At the front of the metal chassis there was already in place two of the cylinder and valve combination blocks used on the steam engines being built next door. There was no boiler in place as yet, but the firebox was in pace at the rear. Behind the first machine stood a more normal looking wagon with two water barrels positioned on top of it, side by side lengthways, at the rear and with a metal box type arrangement, open at the front between them.

  The barrel of a boiler was being made alongside the first machine and Ceri led the small party over to it. “This is to be a travelling steam engine. It is the same pattern as those we just looked at but with two of the cylinder blocks instead of one. Instead of driving a gear wheel or pulley like those ones we’re building next door, this one drives the bigger wheel at the back of the frame there.”

  “Oh, ho.” The Priest said apparently grasping what was being shown him immediately. He pointed at it. “This thing here will drive the wheel like the one at the furnace which makes the bellows go up and down yes?” He received a nod. “But instead of powering the bellows it will be sitting on those metal rails and that will make it move along the tracks under its own power. Amazing! And you think this will actually work? The metal wheels won’t slip?”

  “That is the hope, yes. The weight of the engine should keep it from slipping. Hopefully! I anticipate a long period of fiddling and adjusting things and perhaps we may not even get this one working properly, but rather we will use it as the basis for building one that does work. But the Primarius says his people use these machines to pull huge loads along their railways, much bigger loads than a horse can pull and at greater speed as well.”

  The priest turned to Arturo. “You are going to create all sorts of problems with something like this. People will be afraid of it and scared people are dangerous people.”

  Arturo waved his hand. “It may be a problem at first, but people will come to accept them fairly quickly I think or at least they did when these were first introduced by my people. Anyway, the benefits far outweigh the potential problems, as you will see when we have one of them up and running properly. And while you are here Honorius there is another matter I would speak of with you.” The priest acknowledged this inquiry with a nod, a wary expression on his face so Arturo continued. “I have been trying to improve the sanitation of the people around here, with some success, but there is a long way to go. It would help if someone with your influence was, well, actively supporting these improvements.”

  The priest considered him for a moment. “And these improvements are?”

  “The one that is most important is for people treating wounds to wash the wound with alcohol and their own hands in water that has been boiled. They should do the same with any bandages that are needed as well. In fact, the best thing is for the cloth to be washed in the water while it is actually boiling."

  “And the purpose of this is?” The priest asked.

  Arturo smiled. “A lot of diseases, particular those that people get from wounds or women get from childbirth, would be stopped if this practice of boiling water were adopted. I could tell you that the inflammations were caused by tiny devils that sit around and then get into the body and kill people from the inside and that the washing and boiling help defeat them if that helps. Even then it won’t stop all such attacks completely, but it will stop many.”

  The priest studied Arturo for a moment. “It is not really little devils is it?”

  Arturo shook his head. “No, but it is close. There are animals too small to see with the naked eyes which you will just have to accept my word about for the moment. I am developing something that may make it possible to be able to see them but at the moment I cannot prove what I say so the idea of little devils is more likely to carry weight, even with those who are not Christians. You would not really be telling an untruth as such, rather you would simply be describing these nasty tiny creatures in biblical terms. You have all seen someone sicken and die from something as small as a scratch have you not?” They all nodded. “Well then, they really are devilish in their effect.”

  The priest appeared to stare into space for a minute but then nodded. “Yes. I believe what you say Primarius Arturo. This device here.” And he waved at the locomotive that was under construction. “Shows me that your people have discovered more about the world than we have so far. I think the tiny devils idea has merit as well as being much easier for people to understand. I shall personally be very interested in seeing these tiny creatures when you have developed a way of showing them to me.”

  “Certainly. It may not be for some considerable time in the future. There is so much I need to do and so little time to do it in and much of what I wish to do I have no idea how to go about actually doing. With a lot of things that I would like to introduce it is simply that I know what my own people can do, but not how they actually do it unfortunately.”

&nb
sp; “I think I understand. I would not know how to smelt metal although I could describe a furnace to someone who did have an idea. Yes, I think I understand your problems Primarius. Intriguing. I shall look forward to the next revolution you introduce.” The Priest seemed to be genuine in his sentiments. Interesting. And open minded priest.

  Arturo laughed and bowed slightly. “I shall try not to disappoint you. Have you seen one of our new books yet?”

  The priest shook his head. “No. New books you say?”

  “Yes. Something that will revolutionise things even more than this.” He said waving at the locomotive. “You must visit Arcadius this afternoon and ask to see his copy of Virgilius.”

  The priest looked puzzled. “We have a goodly collection of books in our church in Lugowalion. Of course, it has been hard to add to it since Constantius took the field army to Gaul and much of the trade stopped. Plus, the ongoing the feuds between the leaders that seized power after he left has not helped either. “He glowered a little at Arturo at this point before continuing. “I will ask Arcadius if I may see this book seeing you have mentioned it.”

  “Good. Well we had best be going. Thank you for the time to show us around Ceri.” Arturo nodded to the iron master.

  Ceri smiled. “Always a pleasure. Did you hear the Theodorus’s lads have the second bridge nearly finished?”

  “Yes. I expect the rails to reach the fort at Wern before the end of the month.”

  Ceri nodded. “It is amazing how far things have come. And the ideas you have. Mabwhen was over having a look at the engine a few days ago and I mentioned your idea of having it power a circular saw. Well the look on his face. I doubt any tree within ten miles will be safe once he gets hold of a steam engine!”

  Ceri, Arturo and Hernann, who was still being aide to Arturo, all laughed. The Priest smiled as well humouring them as the blank look on his face showed he not really understood what they referring to until suddenly it dawned on him what was being described and he looked startled. “There are many ways of using these things are there not?” He said questioningly.