The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Larek placed the relatively tiny model ferry boat into the water at the docks, and he winced when the swift-flowing water caused the wooden construction to beat itself against the stone of the dock. Fortunately, the Strengthen Fusion that covered the entire model was strong and effective enough to prevent it from breaking apart into dozens of pieces.

Not that it was a whole lot to look at, as it was basically a watertight box of wood with an upward angled front end and a set of two simple wooden wheels that had slats like paddles on them that were connected to a few pieces of wood that acted as a frame to hold them. The wheels were attached to the frame and a central axle – which was essentially a wooden dowel – running through the middle of each paddle wheel. The two wheels were separated by a simple piece of string wound around the axle in the middle, and the axle itself was greased up with the same grease they used on cart axles and wheels. All in all, it was approximately 2 feet long and about a foot and a half wide, but it was exactly what he needed to test his idea.

On the upper portion of the back side of the box were two slightly different Fusions on the wood itself, each placed so that they would target one or the other paddle wheels they were in front of. It was these Fusions that would determine whether or not this idea was viable or not.

Left Gust of Air +4

Activation Method(s): Activatable

Effect: Forcefully pushes away nearby targets with a strong, continuous directional gust of air

Effect(s): Using non-invasive mental manipulation, activates or deactivates Activatable Activation Method upon detection of mental phrasing by individual in proximity

Input(s): Mental phrasing

Variable(s): Mental phrasing of “Left one”, “Left two”, “Left three”, “Left four”, or “Left stop”

Variable(s): Directional orientation

Magnitude(s): 100%-400% of base gust strength, mental detection up to 40 feet

Mana Cost: 19,000

Pattern Cohesion: 200

Fusion Time: 21 hours

Right Gust of Air +4

Activation Method(s): Activatable

Effect: Forcefully pushes away nearby targets with a strong, continuous directional gust of air

Effect(s): Using non-invasive mental manipulation, activates or deactivates Activatable Activation Method upon detection of mental phrasing by individual in proximity

Input(s): Mental phrasing

Variable(s): Mental phrasing of “Right one”, “Right two”, “Right three”, “Right four”, or “Right stop”

Variable(s): Directional orientation

Magnitude(s): 100%-400% of base gust strength, mental detection up to 40 feet

Mana Cost: 19,000

Pattern Cohesion: 200

Fusion Time: 21 hours

The two different Fusions were necessary because he found that if he only had the one, it was impossible to have a mental component to activating them because they would both hear the command at the same time – meaning that it was impossible to activate one and not the other so turning was out of the question. It wasn’t that big of a deal, at least, because all it really required was a different mental phrasing from “Left” to “Right”, which was easy enough to accomplish.

He also added the ability to change the Magnitude of the air blowing onto the paddles, as it wouldn’t always be necessary to move at a single speed; he could only imagine the disaster that would come from one of these ferries trying to dock when it was moving at full speed.

Thinking about that, Larek smacked himself in the forehead because he just realized he didn’t include any way for the boat to reverse. I’ll add that on to the final boat if this proves to work here. He thought it would be easy enough to add on to the existing Fusions with a “Reverse left one” command linked to a separate directional orientation Variable, so that it would switch from aiming down to aiming straight ahead, which would cause the wheel to rotate the opposite way. Phew! There’s a lot more to consider about these things than I expected.

Thankfully, he’d been able to get this basic model of his proposed ferry the same day he had come up with the idea, especially after talking to the Cartwright – who seemed eager for work after trade in the city essentially dried up with nothing coming in or going out. The cart maker was more than eager to try his hand at something unique, especially as it potentially had the ability to restart the trade system, and got to work on the model for as much his own sake as for Larek’s. After seeing it on a smaller scale, Carven the Cartwright was able to extrapolate what was needed for the larger scale – though he had some concerns.

“Based on what you seem to need, I don’t think it will hold up too well under what you propose,” the Cartwright informed him while working on the model. “The stresses to the wood from turning through the water will rip it and the framing apart without something like iron or steel braces and connections.”

“That was also a concern of mine, considering how much iron seemed to be involved in the previous ferries,” Larek admitted. “I think that my Fusions will be able to strengthen the wood to the point where it will be just as strong as iron or steel.”

He wouldn’t necessarily be able to Strengthen the entire ferry when it was done, as that would likely absorb too much ambient Mana from the environment on a constant basis, but Larek thought that the entire wheel system was more than doable.

“Suit yourself. Don’t blame me if it cracks and splinters within minutes, however.”

“I won’t. And thank you for your help.”

Carven chuckled. “If it gets things moving around here, I’m happy to help – for a price, of course.”

“Of course. Mage Protector Zinnia mentioned that she would be handling that, so I’ll have her talk to you.”

“Fine with me. I’m not going to charge for this model, as it’s kind of fun to see if I can even make something like this and it doesn’t require too many materials. The larger ones, however, are going to cost you.”

Now it was time to see if the cost would be worth it or not. As he watched the model bob in the water and bang against the dock, he started to think about the mental commands he needed before he was interrupted.

“Is it working? Or is it broken?” Zinnia asked from her vantage point near him.

“I haven’t started it yet, but that’s what I’m working on now.”

Without further ado, Larek thought “Left one,” and “Right one,” in rapid succession – and the paddle wheels immediately started to turn as he saw the ambient Mana being absorbed by each Fusion. It was barely a trickle, as the Magnitude being utilized was only at 1, but it was more than enough to start the model moving through the water.

“It’s working! It’s quite slow, though,” the Protector said, bending down to watch it better.

She had a point, as it was just barely moving upstream due to the speed of the water flowing against it. If it were any slower, it wouldn’t be going anywhere. Larek mentally ordered the air to increase to Magnitude 2 with “Left two,” and “Right two,” and he finally saw it begin to move forward with a bit more speed. It was still only at a casual walking speed, but it was enough to show progress.

“That’s a little more like it,” Zinnia began to say, but cut off when Larek increased the Magnitude of both paddles to 3 – and it took off at what was a good running speed for most people.

“That’s… impressive, to say the least. I never thought anything could fight past the current of the Swiftwater like that, but I guess I was wrong.”

Larek acknowledged her statement with a nod, but his concentration was on the model boat. Before it got out of range of his mental commands, which was currently set to a 40-foot radius from the model due to the strength of the highest Magnitude, he tested its turning by reducing the right paddle wheel down to Magnitude 1 while the other was still at 3. It wasn’t an abrupt right turn, but it was still fast enough that he struggled with his mental commands as it turned and then headed straight back toward him with incredible speed which was aided by the current. He ordered them both to stop before it smashed itself into the stone dock, and was just barely able to have the left wheel turn on again for long enough to rotate it so it was facing back upstream. He turned it off again once it was facing the right direction, letting it bump against the dock, before mentally commanding both wheels to start at Magnitude 4.

There was an immediate *crack* that resounded over the water as the wheels began to spin at a blur, but before he could see what happened, the model practically jumped out of the water at an angle, before splashing down at an angle, with its front portion underwater. The wheels, which appeared damaged somehow but were moving too fast for him to see what exactly was broken, were submerged in the process, pushing the boat forward into the water, where it immediately disappeared as it dove straight down due to the angle of its entry.

Shocked at what just occurred, Larek reacted too late, and the model was out of range of his mental commands in no more than a few seconds; he could still feel it down below in the river, growing further and further away, before it disappeared completely. A few seconds later, there was an abrupt upwelling of water from a point about 150 feet away – outside of the dock, thankfully – the result of an explosion as the Fusions on the wooden model were destroyed.

“What was that?” Zinnia asked, her eyes wide as she watched the water that had shot up fall back into the river.

“I guess I overdid it there,” Larek said, slightly perturbed. “Note to self: Start slow before ramping up the speed.” Turning to Zinnia, he answered her question. “The model likely slammed into the bottom of the riverbed at full speed, which broke it apart despite my Strengthen Fusion – which wasn’t too strong, as I didn’t want to steal away the area of ambience the other Fusions required. When the Mana was released, the result was the explosion underwater you saw.”

“Was that… what happened underground with the Underworld Society?”

He nodded. “But the Fusions they broke were much more powerful.”

“I see.” She paused for a moment. “But we shouldn’t have to worry about them exploding on the ferry, do we?”

Shaking his head, he said, “No. I’ll make sure the areas around the Fusions are much stronger, so there shouldn’t be any problems. It would require the full-scale destruction of the entire boat to cause them to fail, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

As he left the docks, happy to see that his idea certainly had merit, he couldn’t help but think about when it was scaled up to match what was being built. Would it require too much ambient Mana to maintain the constant gusts of air? Would the frame or wheels crack and break if too much strain was put on the frame and wheels, like what Carven the Cartwright suggested? Would he have to worry about the full-scale version dipping underneath the water and diving straight down?

Those were some of the questions he needed to answer before he tested the larger version, because he couldn’t afford to have it crash into the riverbed and break apart like his model. Especially since he’d likely be on board at the time.

Fortunately, over the next few days as dozens of dock workers arrived at the dry dock to participate in the construction of the very first Fusion-powered paddleboat on the Swiftwater river, he was able to determine the answers to a few of those questions. The first was whether or not using the gusts of air would absorb too much ambient Mana, and that was as easy as creating a Magnitude 10 version of his new Fusions (with a reverse directional Variation added to it) and testing it out. He actually got his answer faster than it took to create the +10 version of the Fusion, as it required nearly a million Mana to fill it up initially.

What he discovered was that the limit that the Fusion could maintain without actively draining the ambient Mana was a Magnitude 9 gust of air. Considering that he would need a pair of Fusions on the boat, and each of them would be in relatively close proximity, the limit would be around Magnitude 7 for each of them; he also considered that he’d have some Strengthen Fusions on the wood of the ferry to prevent it from breaking apart and to handle the strain, but he thought that Magnitude 7 was still appropriate. He had a feeling that Magnitude 7 would be more than enough to turn the paddle wheels, though just how fast that would be when in the water and with such a large ferry – and loaded with people and goods – was something that would have to be tested later.

The same went with testing the frame of the new ferry and the paddle wheels when used at such a Magnitude, but he was already planning on a Magnitude 10 Strengthen Fusion to encompass all of the moving and structurally thinner parts of the design.

Lastly, he questioned whether the front of the boat would at any time dive under the water, and those he talked to who lived and operated around the river said that it was a distinct possibility, especially if the weight of the cargo on board wasn’t distributed correctly. To counteract this, he planned on putting a few Reactive Repelling Gust of Air Fusions near the front of the ferry, which were essentially inverted forms of the one he’d put on the staves back at Copperleaf when confronting Ricardo, as they targeted the underside of the boat rather than the water. This would essentially push the boat back up at the expense of more ambient Mana, but it would at least prevent the boat from sinking below the waterline.

While thinking about that, he considered if he could’ve done that from the beginning instead of the entire paddle wheel contraption, by pushing the boat from behind, but he realized that the number of Fusions necessary to propel it through the water would be prohibitive considering the available ambient Mana. In other words, it wouldn’t work for long, and he wasn’t even sure it would work at all.

But it did give him a little more insight into what might work for his other, more personal, project he had imagined earlier. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to dig into that any more over the next few days as he was busy with the construction of the ferry, but once he could step away for a moment or two, he was planning on devoting his full attention to it.