by J M Bannon
“Well then if you two are ready, we will cast off and report back to the Victoria.”
“I’m not leaving without Lorelei,” Preston’s voice rose as he moved to Lorelei’s side.
‘And I am not going with him,” spouted the Doctor as she pointed to Caspar.
Shit, so close to not starting a war.
“Enough of that, nonsense” it was Falk, red-faced and scowling with her finger pointing at Lorelei. “I've lost crew members, a fortune in ship repairs, and I've lost my patience. I want all of you off my ship now!”
"Is that all you're worried about, your silly little ship? Get me a piece of paper and I'll write you a promissory note to repair and refit your airship; so, stop worrying about broken engines when right now my colleague could fire up the crucible," fired back Lorelei then turning to Major Reinhold "and you, you pompous idiot and your zealous pursuit to locate me and protect Prussia! you killed the men that could secure Prussia from the single most terrifying internal threat it has. Why won't any of you listen?"
The cadre of military men were all stunned by the outburst, not knowing what to say. Rose stepped into the middle of the group getting between Lorelei and Reidun. “Captain Falk, be assured everyone appreciates your sacrifice on this expedition; I would not normally ask another thing from you. However, given the number of guns pointing at one other, the last thing we need is for all of these weapons to go off because of frazzled nerves and high emotion.
“And you, Lorelei, for someone with a PhD, you really lack insight; you can't solve this problem on your own, you can't fix it by out-thinking it. The solution requires for us to work together and understand the answer may take compromise from everyone.” Rose wasn’t just talking to Lorelei, it was for everyone in the room and in some respects for herself.
“Preston, I need your objective assessment about the situation with the Emerald tablet,” ordered Rose.
“Ancient myths across several societies have referred to these Outcasts, what they are or where they are from I cannot say. But there are commonalities surrounding cultures that could never have communicated with each other, including use of similar iconography and mythology.
“For example, Hieroglyphics in Egypt and carvings in Peru of similar creatures, called gods or demons…”
“Whoa, Preston stay on track I said a quick assessment,” interrupted Rose.
“The Hermetic Brotherhood captured one of the Outcast and sealed them in the Emerald or Sorcerer’s Stone. It is not a magic stone for transmuting material, rather, it is a prison. Their ritual was to be acted out annually to strengthen the wards. Without those rituals and, if as Lorelei has said the stone has been pummeled with arcane forces it would make sense that the enchantments would fail. If we gain access to the stone, I can channel Azul and he will assess the situation. Perhaps there may be an opportunity to reenact the ritual, however, I won't be able to do it on my own and frankly, Rose is far more qualified than I am with this type of theurgy.” proposed Preston in his usual fashion. Rose gave him a smile.
Rose thought none of this was any of her business until it turned into a real threat, then it could be, would be her problem. “Major could I have my belt and purse you took earlier?” Reinhold called his man over with the confiscated equipment. Rose grabbed her kit and went through the pockets “Here,” she pulled out a small card. “This is the card of Captain Jacob Moore” she handed it to Captain Reynolds “you see on the back, “call if in need.’ You recognize that name, Sir?”
The captain raised a brow, "Miss, not ten year ago, all of us airborne were seafaring, of course I know Moore."
“Here is what I propose: we all travel to Königsberg, with the Peregrine in tow. When we arrive, Captain Falk, you can hammer out a deal with Preston and Lorelei, as both have promised to compensate you for damages. Major Reinhold you can accompany us and present Lorelei to the Alchemists, at which point Lorelei and Preston can assess the Philosopher's Stone and give it a clean bill of health. So, Captain would you be a dear and check with the Secretary of the Admiralty about taking us home with a quick stop in Prussia?”
28
Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
8:30 a.m. The Crucible Building Königsberg Prussia
Doctor Maxwell stepped out onto the observation deck of the Crucible chamber, then down the metal stairs that spiraled along the four-story chamber wall. The cavernous room echoed with his steps. Two stories below, at the base of the chamber, sat the Emerald Tablet. The large translucent- green stone, rectangular in shape and the height of nearly two men, rested on a steel pedestal. When ready, it would be driven up into the reaction chamber, a massive Bessemer steel orb.
In that chamber, accelerated proto-gas is designed to smash into the stone and create the selected pure elements that the Alchemists choosing. Maxwell approached the edifice and translated in his head the Stone’s inscriptions from ancient Greek.
Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing
And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nourse.
The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross sweetly with great industry.
It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth & receives the force of things superior & inferior.
By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world
& thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
So was the world created.
From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (or process) is here in this. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world
That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
Maxwell did not fathom how these cryptic words could help an Alchemist unlock the power of the Stone. He wondered what would be next after they had commercialized the process. James would like to continue his work with magnetic acceleration and explore further uses but was unsure if after this the Alchemists would have an interest in his research.
He was even doodling and playing with the idea of a magnetic projectile launcher. James thought he would discuss funding after signing off today on the Crucible's readiness for production. And if they weren’t interested, his share of profits was bigger than any research budget he could beg for at a University.
“Good Doctor” echoed through the chamber.
He looked up and could see the silhouette of Baron von Traube in the light from the control room. With his entourage in tow, the loud Guildist clamored down into the chamber, his boisterous nature a sacrilege to the eerie silence of the vast enclosure.
“Good Doctor, are we ready to make fifty tons of seureleum mestificatos?”
"Yes sir," answered Maxwell.
“Why so solemn, Doctor? Today is an auspicious day to be celebrated!” exclaimed Traube.
“I am always melancholy when I get to where my work moves from miraculous to the mundane. Two years ago, Lorelei and I had our first breakthrough, now we will turn over that wonder to a bunch of technicians who will commercialize the elemental forces of the universe.”
“It is amazing is it not, what this slab of rock is capable of?” asked the Baron with admiration.
“Baron, how is it your Guild is capable of unlocking the secrets of Alchemy from the stone through that strange saying?”
The Baron chuckled, “Maxwell, until you and Lorelei developed your process, tha
t hunk of rock was nothing more than a mascot for the Guild. An inspiration, and a quest to unravel the riddle in those words. In doing the research to unlock it’s secrets we stumbled upon several other great discoveries such as how to tap alchemical gases from rifts and weaves of the universe, but you are the first to unlock the true magic of the stone.” The Baron marveled.
He continued, “The costs in not having to find rifts and sustain them for eldritch elements will be what makes the Guild the primary supplier of raw materials through Europe. All men will enjoy better quality lives for the work we do here today; it will be safer to create coal, and silver in the chamber than it will to send men down a mineshaft.”
“Shall we begin?” asked James. The group proceeded back up the stairs and into the control room.
“Engage the stone”, Maxwell called out to the technician who threw the lever. A deep thrum of the pneumatic pumps could be heard as they pressurized the piston and lifted the stone up to the chamber.
“The specimen is in place, Professor,” confirmed the technician.
“Engage the locks,” replied Maxwell as he turned to Baron Traube "at this point Baron, say the word and will charge the proto-gas."
" Please continue Doctor," and with that Baron Traube had begun the commissioning of the crucible.
"How does the magnet voltage and temperature look?" asked Maxwell.
"All read within normal ranges, Dr. Maxwell," replied another technician.
Maxwell walked over to the proto-gas control panel, it was to be Lorelei’s role to start the first commercial batch in the crucible. He had watched her do this at the pilot plant dozens of times and knew what to do, his hesitancy wasn't from lack of understanding but rather in hope she might suddenly walk through the door to take over and be part of this momentous occasion.
He stepped up to the panel and twisted the valve that regulated methane from pressurized tanks into the fluidized bed conditioner. The preparation of the proto-gas for the test was to percolate methane through a bed of sulfur then speeding up the elemental energies through heating the feedstock. The heated gas was feed through the proto-stock reticle into the primary magnetic chamber. Here, the magnetic flux repelled the charged particles in the gas through the pilot tube into the next magnet chamber where more flux was applied and the particles continued to accelerate. As the gas spiraled down the curved path gaining unknown speeds in the loop, Maxwell postulated they brought all of the plasma to the speed of light.
Dr. Maxwell called out, “set lens focus at 32 mm.” He paced over to the panel where one could observe pressures and temperatures inside the crucible chamber. He knew from the readings the gas was now a focused plasma stream smashing into the stone. At this point they did not provide an exit for the gas so the crucible pressures continued to increase and balance.
"Continue increasing the current to the magnets and monitor the temperature of the housings, advise me when we reach 300 bar," ordered the Englishman.
At 280 bar of pressure the technician called out the readings. James Maxwell approached Baron Traube, "Baron I’d like to invite you to action the bypass valves and fill the production tanks, officially delivering a synthetic eldritch element to inventory."
"Which one is it?” asked the Baron.
"The green handle, when you hear the technician call 300, throw the valve to the open position," James replied.
"297, 298, 299, 300," announced the technician.
On cue, Baron Traube opened the valve. Maxwell pointed to the gauges slowly moving. "There you have it, Baron! We won't know purity until we test but as of now, we are manufacturing seureleum mestificatos from coal bed methane, sulfur and some electricity," announced Doctor Maxwell with pride.
The Baron gave Maxwell a huge slap on the back along with another to the technician sitting at the control station, nearly knocking the man out of his chair. "Well there you go, Maxwell, now you're not only famous you are going to be rich." James smiled to himself watching the production tank gauges, knowing he was filling the Alchemists and his own bank accounts. "By my calculations Baron we should have those tanks filled in 16 hours,” said the scientist.
Traube put his arm around Maxwell and ushered him towards the door. "You, Dr. Maxwell are coming with me, we must make Klaus aware of our success and open his finest bottle of brandy in a toast to your genius!"
* * *
10:30 a.m. Alchemy Guild Headquarters Königsberg, Prussia
Kiefer heard Traube in the stairwell well outside of his office, his friend was happy and Kiefer knew when he shared the recent wire-type he had received, that Gustavus would be over the moon.
He sat at his desk waiting for the doors to barrel open and the boisterous Baron blast out whatever news he felt was so important that he should deliver it himself.
“Klaus, Klaus, whatever you're doing remember what it was so you can tell the history books about it. This is the moment when you learned your illustrious Guild now commands the power of the Philosopher’s Stone. It is done, my good friend, the Englishman has commissioned the production Crucible; as we speak we are producing eldritch gases from cheap methane,” shouted Traube.
Kiefer arose from behind his desk and shook the hand of Dr. Maxwell, “congratulations Doctor, this is a great day indeed.”
“Klaus, give me the key to your liquor cabinet we need a make a toast to the good Doctor.”
Kiefer reached into the center drawer of his desk took out the key to the cabinet and threw it to Gustavus who caught them in the air then unlocked the latch to the cabinet. “By the way, you old fool, why do you lock your liquor cabinet?”
“To keep this old fool out of the brandy,” the High Elector replied. He then turned back to Maxwell. “Please, Doctor, have a seat, this is a truly great occasion for the Guild,” while Kiefer had equally good news for Traube, he did not want to let this moment go.
The chubby Baron made his way to Kiefer and Maxwell setting down 3 glass tumblers and pouring them all whiskey. “Now, Maxwell, tell the High Elector what your statue should be made out of.”
“I think it would be poetic if it was made of stone,” answered Maxwell. The three men chuckled.
“Well I disagree, it should be made of gold,” replied Gustavus.
“Alright but with the Doctor’s success it sounds like gold isn't worth what it used to be,” replied Klaus.
“Gus, I too have some grand news to share. In fact, I was just getting ready to go over to the crucible building to share this with you, but you’re so damn loud I’ve known you were on your way over 20 minutes ago.
“Gorber cabled me that your daughter is currently en route home, she was rescued by some of his men and is being escorted back to Königsberg, via a fleet of Prussian and British airships,” explained Kiefer.
“Ho ho, today is truly a miraculous day and one that I will never forget. Maybe turning this machine on was just what we needed to do to get that girl to come back to us,” replied Traube.
“Well, let us not drink too much in celebration as you see in the wire here they're expected to arrive in land at the crucible site in two hours’ time,” suggested Kiefer.
Traube finished his glass then refilled it. “Two hours is plenty of time for at least one more.”
29
Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
12:15 p.m. The Alchemist’s Aerodrome Königsberg, Prussia
Behind the Alchemical Werks the Alchemist Guild had built a private airship mooring. Traube, Kiefer and Maxwell, met Gorber inside the waiting lounge of the aerodrome.
Maxwell enjoyed the accolades he was given as Traube and Kiefer updated Duke Gorber on the earlier events of the day. James was also relieved to hear Lorelei would soon be back and had come to no harm.
One of the aerodrome staff approached the gathering, “Excuse me gentleman I wish to inform you that a shuttle boat is landing.”
“Thank you, let us withdraw to the tarmac gentleman as much as I enjoy chatting with you I cannot wait a mome
nt longer to see my daughter,” said Baron Traube.
Maxwell followed the three Prussian aristocrats outside and took in the flurry of activity. The skies were overcast. The thick clouds created a backdrop for the dominant object on the skyline, the British air-dreadnought. Just as James and Lorelei worked together for their success, the British and Prussians worked together to find and rescue Lorelei. Closer to them, a much smaller merchant ship was mooring, the visible damage to the ship likely contributing to its clumsy anchoring.
The four men watched as the small craft began its approach towards them. The vessel flew a British flag but as it landed, it was apparent that a mixture of civilians, British troops, and Prussian troopers were aboard. Ropes dropped from the ship as it hovered just above their heads and the ground crew guided the craft to ground level. The first to disembark, a Prussian officer followed by a British officer. They approached the group but from behind, Lorelei broke through the crowd running to her father. She jumped up into his arms and the big man lifted her up making her look more diminutive than usual.
“I have been so worried Lorelei, are you ok?” asked her father.
“I am fine Papa but the Guild is not. I return with grave news about our work and must insist that the Guild not proceed with the Crucible,” replied Lorelei.
“Well, you're about three hours too late,” interrupted Maxwell.
“Then we need to get over there and shut it down now!” Lorelei said grabbing her father’s hand trying to pull him toward the parked steam carriage.
“Girl, what are you going on about? You disappear and upon your return the first thing out of your mouth is that your project must be stopped?” Kiefer spewed, interrupting the reunion.
“High Elector, do you trust my assessment on the Alchemical Sciences?” asked Lorelei.