Almost two months later, the day came for the first try at making nitroglycerin. Another worker had been dismissed for marginal hand-eye coordination. The man was diligent and sharp enough, but a little too clumsy for Yozef’s peace of mind. To replace two of the original eight men, at Maera’s recommendation, Yozef had added two bright women known for fine needlework. Maera had argued that for what he described, care and dexterity were more important than muscles or education. Despite his initial reservations, Yozef accepted the two women. They were behind the men in training experience and shopwork but were learning fast, and he expected they might turn out to be the best laboratory staff members. He also hoped none of the eight blew up themselves and their coworkers.
Ten persons carried out or witnessed the initial run of nitroglycerin: eight project workers, Yozef, and Toowin Kales. The presence of one of the Kolsko bodyguards was by order of Maera, whose instruction to Kales was to drag or carry Yozef away forcibly should things go wrong or, if necessary, place himself between Yozef and the danger. Yozef didn’t elaborate that if things went too wrong, no one standing too close would ever know about it.
Foreman Klyndun would oversee the first runs, with the young Farkesher doing the hands-on work and an experienced Stent worker checking every step. The other seven persons would stand behind a sandbag barrier thirty yards away, using a set of six-foot mirrors that gave a view of the reaction. Yozef would join the three men at the reaction for brief inspections only when conditions seemed stable and before moving to the next step.
“For God’s sake, Paramount, don’t get yourself blown up, or I’ll have to leave Caedellium,” pleaded Toowin. “That’s assuming Maera doesn’t gut me.”
In a crushed ice–filled basin sat medium-sized beakers of nitric acid and sulfuric acid, a larger beaker of water, and a smaller beaker of a crude sodium bicarbonate solution. In the nitric acid was a thermometer with five-degree increments notched into the glass. Paramount Kolsko had mandated that all his enterprises use a scale of one hundred degrees between water freezing and water boiling, the same as the Celsius scale on Earth. He didn’t know if he had the authority to mandate universal use of that scale for all Caedellium, but it didn’t matter. If the paramount preferred it, and if all the Kolsko businesses used it, along with use at the growing University of Caedellium, then within a year he believed the scale would spread throughout the island. There were also rumors that the Celsius scale had a foothold on the Landolin continent.
Each thermometer was unique because no reliable method of consistent production existed. Thermometers for most uses were graduated from minus 10 o C to 140 o C, with gradations farther outside the 0 o to 100 o range being more problematic the greater they became. The intermediate graduations assumed a linear rise of the mercury between 0 and 100 degrees. The thermometer in the nitric acid was made specifically for nitroglycerin production and was graduated from 0 o C to 30 o C. By Yozef’s order, if the mercury rose to the 30 o C notch, the beaker was to be immediately dumped into the ice bath, and everyone was to duck.
Yozef made one final check. He would stay watching the first stages of acid mixing but, per Maera’s order, would be behind the concrete wall when the workers commenced adding glycerin.
“Okay, we’re set. Let’s go,” he announced.
Yozef focused mainly on the teamwork of Klyndun, the Farkesh student performing the manipulations, and the Stent worker checking the steps—the latter two men being referred to by their clans. The sequence would be Klyndun reading off the first step, Farkesh repeating the words and carrying out the instructions, and Stent repeating the step instructions and confirming whether they were carried out. They would then move on.
Klyndun: “Pour a small amount of sulfuric acid slowly into the nitric acid, stirring gently.”
Farkesh: “I’m pouring a small amount of the sulfuric acid slowly into the nitric acid and stirring gently.”
Stent: “He’s pouring a small amount of the sulfuric acid slowly into the nitric acid and stirring.”
Klyndun: “Watch the temperature stays below ten degrees.”
Farkesh: “I’m watching the temperature stays below ten degrees.”
Stent: “He’s watching the temperature stays below ten degrees.”
After he finished pouring and continuing to stir with a glass rod, Farkesh spoke when the mixture temperature reached 5 o C. “I’ve finished the pour, and the temperature is at five degrees.”
They repeated the cycle until all the sulfuric acid was added and mixed. Future batches might go faster, but Yozef insisted on being slow this first time to judge how the temperature changed during acid mixing.
When the temperature was down to 5 o C after they’d added the last of the sulfuric acid, Farkesh announced, “All acids mixed, and the temperature is at or below five degrees.”
Okay, here we go , thought Yozef, time for me to get my ass to safety . “Proceed to add the glycerin,” he announced and retreated to behind the barrier, where he and Kales watched via mirrors.
Klyndun: “Add glycerin carefully dropwise to the acid surface and gently stir, watching the temperature stays below ten degrees.”
Farkesh took the small eyedropper and pulled about three drops of glycerin into the glass tube.
Farkesh: “I’m adding glycerin carefully dropwise to the acid surface and gently stirring.”
Stent: “He’s adding glycerin carefully dropwise to the acid surface and gently stirring.”
When finished, Farkesh watched the thermometer for several minutes before stating, “Glycerin was added, and the temperature is now below ten degrees.”
They repeated the cycle until the entire surface was covered and the stirring stopped. Everyone breathed easier. They waited fifteen minutes for the nitroglycerin to finish forming a layer that floated on top.
Klyndun: “Slowly and carefully transfer the acid/nitroglycerin beaker contents to the beaker of water.”
Farkesh: “I will slowly and carefully transfer the acid/nitroglycerin beaker contents to the beaker of water.”
Stent: “He is slowly and carefully transferring the acid/nitroglycerin beaker contents to the beaker of water.”
Three minutes later, Farkesh announced, “The entire acid/nitroglycerin beaker has been added to the beaker of water.”
Then they waited for the nitroglycerin to finish settling to the bottom before siphoning off as much of the top layer as they could without disturbing the nitroglycerin layer. They removed the latter by eyedropper and put it in an alkali solution made from pulverized limestone. The sodium bicarbonate neutralized residual acid. Acidity was checked with a native plant’s dried flower petals which changed colors when exposed to strong acid to strong base. Two changes of the alkali layer were needed to remove all trace of acid.
Klyndun put a small drop of the presumed nitroglycerin on a steel plate and ignited it. The blue flame confirmed nitroglycerin.
“Yes!” Yozef pumped a fist. “It worked, and what you’ve made is nitroglycerin. Now we can move on to gradually increase the batch size and begin testing its potency.
I also need to alert Chief Medicant Tolerez in Orosz City , thought Yozef. He still wished Diera Beynom had stayed as the dean of the Medicine and Biology Department of the University of Caedellium, but Tolerez was as intelligent a person as Yozef had ever met, even if he was abrasive at times. Yozef would arrange to meet with him and explain how nitroglycerin could be used to treat angina, the chest pain caused by insufficient oxygen to the heart. It was up to Tolerez and the other medicants to work out dosages and side-effects. Any lingering reservations about using the scientific method and Yozef’s innovations had finally been wrung out of all but the island’s most hidebound medicants and scholastics.
Yozef’s attention came back to the moment, as the young Farkesher removed the first batch of nitroglycerin by eyedropper to an opaque brown bottle, stoppered it, and placed the bottle on straw in a cellar pit dug fifty yards away.
When the c
ellar door was closed, everyone breathed easier for the first time in four hours.
“It’s not going to be this nerve-racking every time you make the damn stuff, is it?” asked Toowin.
“I hope so,” answered Yozef. “The more nerve-racking, the less chance of someone making a mistake.”
“I’m afraid it’s going to happen anyway,” Yozef told Maera and Anarynd, as they sat together after evening meal. “It’s only a matter of time. As hard as I’ve tried to convince the workers about the importance of safety, one day someone will drop a container of nitroglycerin, a glass vessel will break, or something unforeseen will happen, and then BOOM!”
“I know you say only sufficient shock will ignite the damned stuff but are you sure?” asked Maera. “What about fire, sparks, or a musket ball?”
“As I told you, we set fire to a drop from the first batch to confirm the final product was nitroglycerin. It burned but didn’t explode. The same for sparks. As for shooting at nitroglycerin, the impact isn’t strong enough for ignition.”
I hope , thought Yozef. I think a high-power rifle might impart enough muzzle velocity, but I don’t think Anyar’s black powder muskets and pistols can provide the shock needed.
“Tomorrow we’ll try igniting the little nitroglycerin we made today. Assuming it explodes as expected, we’ll move on to larger batches. I’m hoping for liter amounts within the next two sixdays and ten liters per batch in two months.”
“I worry when I hear you two talking about this,” said Anarynd. Her arms were crossed, hands clutching her upper arms. “Even if you’re careful, all it takes is for someone else to make a mistake.”
He patted her arm. “I’ll only be around the production another few times and then get the workers going on producing the dynamite. Once the nitroglycerin is mixed with finely ground sawdust and pressed into sticks it becomes far more stable, though there are still precautions.”
“Maera,” said Anarynd, “maybe you should talk with Toowin just to be sure . . . you know.”
“Oh, I will,” said Maera, casting a distrustful eye on Yozef.
“Are you sure Toowin will tell you the truth?” asked Anarynd. “Yozef is the Paramount, and Toowin might have been told not to say anything about the danger.”
“You know, I am sitting right here,” said Yozef, exasperated.
Maera snorted. “Toowin didn’t fall far from Wyfor’s branch of the Kales tree. You’ve been around Wyfor enough to know he’s not intimidated by Yozef.”
“You don’t have to be intimidated to do what someone tells you to do,” replied Anarynd. “He’d do anything for Yozef.”
“Possibly, but not if it puts Yozef in danger. Besides, if Toowin is intimidated by anyone, I’ve tried to make it be me .”
One month and five sixdays later, the first practical application of dynamite took place at a rock face in Bultecki Province.
“You’ve explained how this will work, Yozef,” said Teresz Bultecki, “but standing here looking at eighty feet of rock makes me wonder.”
Yozef slapped Hetman Bultecki lightly on the back. “Don’t worry, Teresz. The concept is fine. I’m only worried about the execution. I haven’t actually done this myself, so I’m only guessing at how deep we should drill holes for the dynamite sticks. We’re starting off with only one hole and two sticks to see what happens.”
Bultecki picked up a dynamite stick from the table next to them. “Amazing that something so common looking can be put to such a purpose,” he said, turning the stick over to examine the waryob bush leaf covering. The common shrub had large, waxy leaves that when warmed could be pressed into shapes that retained the form with overlaps that sealed after cooling. Each dynamite stick was sealed by the leaves to increase its stability and provide a layer of cushioning. Added to handling was the mandate to turn sticks weekly to prevent nitroglycerin from weeping out and pooling, and the requirement that sticks be used within two months of production. It all amounted to what Yozef hoped was as much precaution as necessary. If it wasn’t, the lack would eventually make itself known.
Bultecki stuck the little finger of his left hand into a snug cavity on one end of the stick. “And this is where you put the fuse?”
“Right. The plug of gunpowder is shoved in there, then the fuse attached to it is lit. The fuses are long enough that you should have several minutes before the gunpowder goes off and ignites the nitroglycerin in the dynamite, but the men are still ordered to run away once the fuse is lit.”
Yozef pointed to another table twenty yards away. “It’s also why I insist the dynamite sticks and fuses are never in close proximity until the dynamite is either placed in position, or if that’s not possible, then just before placement.”
“All ready, Paramount,” said Klyndun. “The two sticks and fuse are in the hole. We’re ready to light it.”
Klyndun was supervising the first practical tests, but thereafter the tunneling crew would be responsible, once Yozef was convinced they were competent.
“All right, Ser Klyndun, go ahead.” Yozef turned to Bultecki. “We’re far enough away, and it’s a small-enough charge that we’re in no danger. It’ll be a loud explosion, and once the smoke and falling rock pieces settle, we’ll walk over and see the result.”
Klyndun talked to two men, one of whom walked up to the rock face, did something they couldn’t see, then raced away.
Bultecki grunted. “I take it the fuse is lit.”
“Yes,” said Yozef. “Should take about three minutes.”
Five minutes later, nothing had happened, and Klyndun wiped his forehead as he walked over to Yozef. “What do you think, Paramount? Should have gone off a couple of—”
BOOM!
Bultecki fell to the ground, Klyndun crouched, and Yozef appeared unfazed.
“I guess the fuses were a little off,” said Yozef loud enough for all the workers to hear. “Just shows you can’t be too careful. Okay, so let’s go see the result.”
Klyndun led the way, and Yozef touched Bultecki’s arm to signal the hetman to lag behind. When Klyndun was ten yards ahead, Yozef whispered to Bultecki, “I substituted longer-burning fuses just to reinforce that you can’t depend on anything .”
The dozen workers parted when Yozef and Bultecki got to the rock face.
“Worked,” Klyndun announced with a wide grin shared by most of the workers. A three-foot-deep, six-foot-diameter hole had been gouged into the rock. Surrounding rock showed new cracks.
“All right,” said Yozef, turning to the foreman of the tunneling crew and the surveyor chief, “Klyndun will help for another day or two. Let’s experiment with how many holes to drill and how many sticks of dynamite per hole. As soon as you’re satisfied, I leave it to you to finish this tunnel. I’ll come and inspect once you reach the other side.”
“It’s about fifty yards to the other side of this ridge,” said Bultecki. “How long do you think it will take them to get through?”
“I have no idea,” said Yozef. “I’ve never done this or read about it, so we won’t be able to estimate until we have an example. I picked this spot because it’s one of the shorter tunnels we’ll need.”
Bultecki shook his head. “I must admit I’m still trying to visualize this ‘train’ that moves along ‘rails,’” said Bultecki. “If it was anyone but you saying how it works, I don’t know if I’d believe them.”
“Don’t worry, Teresz. Something new is hard to envision for us all. Trust me that a year after the first train delivers Bultecki iron ore to the smelters we’re building in Pewitt and Stent provinces, you’ll have forgotten what it was like before trains.”
“Oh, I doubt that. Some things will never seem commonplace, especially for older Caedelli like myself. I think trains will be one of those things.”
Bultecki took another look at the hole made by the two dynamite sticks. “Do you have any idea when the first trains will be working?”
“I’m hoping for six months, but so many things could slow us
down that it could take a year or even more. At least, we’ve got the roadbed finished, except for the tunnels, and most of the crossties and rails are being laid as we speak. Hardest will be the first few months. Narbor wood is strong, but the trains will wear on the rails something terrible. We’ll be constantly replacing them. It’ll improve once we start producing the steel caps to put on top of the wooden rails. Of course, once we have all-steel rails, most of the wear problems will go away.”
There were other problems that Yozef didn’t elaborate on. The “trains” would hardly have qualified as such on Earth. There was a practical limit to how large the horse teams could be and how much they could pull. The planned rail lines would also be much longer than would have been necessary with steam locomotives, in order to lower the grades for the horse teams. All-steel rails and steam engines were the final goal.
The complicated, interlocking nature of what he planned was an act of faith more than Yozef would admit to anyone, even Maera. The crude rail line between the huge iron ore deposits in Bultecki Province to extensive coal fields in Pewitt, Stent, and Swavebroke would be completed without assurances that the horse-drawn trains would work and before the steel mills in Pewitt and Stent were operational. It was parallel development, rather than serial. Rail lines, steam engines, and steel mills were all necessary to establish a true steel industry. Once the mills were operating, they would work to switch from bronze to breech-loading steel cannon, armor-plated warships, and so much more. Not all the development could be utilized on Caedellium, but the island would serve as a development center for Fuomon and any other allies that were identified and trusted.
Proceeding stepwise would have taken many more years than Yozef feared they had. Word had come from a Fuomi sloop picketing the seas north and east of Caedellium. A Narthani fleet of warships and troop transports had left the Narthani northern port of Ezarkin and was sailing south toward the Landolin continent. Eina Saisannin, the Fuomon ambassador to Caedellium, had speculated that the Narthani’s likely first target was Naskin, the northernmost of the Landolin kingdoms. However, the number of troop ships weren’t enough for a full-scale invasion, so Kivalian suggested that the Narthani intended to first establish a staging base—similar to what they had failed to do with Caedellium. No further information was known. It was good news and bad news; good because it meant the Narthani had bypassed Caedellium for now, but bad news because it confirmed Narthon’s expansion plans. If all of Landolin fell to the Narthon Empire, it would only be a matter of time before the Narthani turned their attention once again to Caedellium.
Tales of Anyar Page 28