One of the first steps in any discovery was usually proving it mathematically. Yes, the loathed subject of many had to be consulted in order to figure out how even everyday principles could be used. Thankfully, Evan had done all this before. In a certain class of university, he chose to create a solar panel from scratch. The only problem was the mathematics behind it all. If not for the workshop being exploded and all, he had to divulge raw theory to build on what his panels could do exactly. He also had to prove the effect worked in this universe.
Oh, and the mathematics hell wouldn't end with the theory or the creation of a successful solar cell. Then he would have to run tests, troubleshoot the design if necessary, and he also had to come up with a cost report on top of having to perform the statistics necessary to prove the theory with a null hypothesis from the tests he would conduct once he finally had a working workshop again. If anything went wrong, he would have to start all over again here at square one to check all of his work. Double check it, reference it to notes and literature, triple check it if necessary, and repeat the process all over again hoping it worked that time.
Needless to say, a certain self-proclaimed genius he made a habit of visiting in the library was looking at his feverish mathematical gymnastics with great interest.
"So…what this is saying is that light, despite being a wave, has a discrete quantized unit of energy."
"Yes, that's proportional to Planck's Constant and the wavelength of the light."
"It's so…small," Skyfire commented as she examined the number. "How many times would you have to multiply it to get a sensible value?"
"More than you could possibly comprehend. Believe me, the science of my world has had to come to terms with some pretty weird facts to comprehend all this."
"Ugh, I haven't been this confused since I tried finding the underlying mechanism to Reed's arts. Are you sure you can solve this?"
"Listen, I've done all this crap before, and I'll do it again. If you want to thank anyone for this confusion, thank Planck and Einstein for getting this theory rolling. Believe me, this is just the beginning."
"You're surprisingly fired up about this."
"Math is frustrating, but exhilarating at the same time. Now then, I have some basic theory to finish before I build a solar panel."
Basic theory being anything but basic to most, least of all someone who studied a strange magic cancer rock. Throughout the session, Skyfire stared intently at the whole process, fascinated as she watched silently. Hell, she even pointed out some basic math errors such as a misplaced number, but she didn't really question anything else. Not that someone capable of hyperfocusing like Evan cared when someone stared over their shoulder, but it was a new experience for him to see someone trying to piece together what he was doing just through observation alone. Of course, describing math without the actual work might as well be giving the answer. Not that Evan was expecting to have a 42 in his work, but he smiled a little thinking about the complexities of this work. With renewed interest he kept going until he of course burned out. This was obvious when he closed the notes and set his head flat on the table.
It was then, in his darkest of hours a light came to him, bearing a minicake. It held it to him and brightly said, "Here you go, Evan-san. Thank you for all your hard work."
He could feel tears start to glisten in his eyes as he stared at the light with its blinding smile. Such kindness, such generosity, he couldn't hold back from immediately giving little Lisa a hug. She did a surprised yelp that almost sounded like a honk, but she didn't back away or protest. He felt small little arms wrap around to start patting and rubbing his back. Skyfire just watched, baffled at the sight of Suzuran smiling gently as she rubbed this grown man's back. The scene was quite nice though, in a sense. They looked like a pair of siblings this way, now if only Evan were a vulpo and not, well, whatever he was.
"Sorry for hugging you so suddenly," he said after pulling back.
"It's fine, I like hugs. Evan-san seems stressed too, so I was glad to help."
"Please, tone down the light before I go blind," he joked, uttering a small giggle from her. She then looked to the scattering of papers and took a careful look at them.
"What is this? It looks difficult."
"Some high level stuff. Don't worry, I won't be teaching any of this. I could, a little, if the age groups were divided better."
"What does that have to do with teaching?" Skyfire bluntly asked.
"Well…it has to do with developmental psychology. Around the age of twelve is when the developmental stage of Formal Operational starts which allows kids to grasp abstract concepts such as justice or loyalty. It's easier to teach them beyond what they can see, if that makes sense."
"Ah, I skipped a lot of my early schooling, so I didn't know that."
"Well that just makes you an exception to the rules, and I have no idea how Schooling in Terra works. Tell me, when does arts education usually start?"
Skyfire paused and thought for a moment then said, "Around the age you mentioned, when kids are roughly twelve."
Just after Skyfire stated that, he felt a chill come down his spine as his sixth sense screamed danger. It came with the sense of being watched, and when he looked to the source, he could see nothing. Writing it off as some kind of fluke, he looked at Lisa to see her staring intently at his math anyways.
"See why I'm as good at math as I am yet?"
"I think so…I can't understand any of it."
"Well it would take a while to explain it to you, so stop staring before you give yourself a headache."
She obliged his request then continued to sit down next to him, earning him another odd glance from Skyfire. With some glucose in his stomach and having seen the light, he silently continued his work. Somewhere along the line, the topic of arts came up and the two girls started talking about Suzuran's progress on developing her arts. It was a somewhat interesting conversation to listen in on. While most of it went over his head, he could pick up some from the conversation.
If not for the fact he had to go deliver his little findings to Closure, he would have happily stayed in the library all day. Sadly, he had to say goodbye to Lisa, and Skyfire too. Lately it started feeling more like Skyfire treated him like a librarian than anything else. It made sense, but he had to wonder if lending her all those books would be a good thing. While most material was common enough, he wondered if one day he would be probing the atomic crystal matrix of Terra's magical element. The thought alone was almost enough to make him shutter.
While he had learned Originium has demonstrated energy limits, that seemed to be less the case with living organisms. As he researched more and more about originium and its role in oripathy, the more disturbed he became with the material. According to the texts he had access to so far, its spread was characteristic of several diseases while its pathology within the body mirrored cancer in a disturbing manner. After the demise of an infected creature, the crystals aerosolized as active originium would, then with time and luck, settle as regular originium dust.
With the fact the particles would become airborne and so on after death and how large chunks could rain from the sky, he had a disturbing working hypothesis about a nasty cycle. He would need to prove aerosolized originium could crystallize in its airborne state. If that was the case, catastrophes could be explained as meteorological phenomena in which large crystals form in clouds like rain droplets or hail.
Speaking of proof, he still had to gain assurance that he could use the same properties from his universe. After all, it would suck if he went through all the trouble to build a functional solar cell or even solar panel only to find out it didn't work. That was why he was off to visit Closure, he had numbers to work with and he sure hoped she was able to do what he asked of her. It was actually Phillip Lenard's photocell apparatus he described to her. A variable voltage supply with some measuring devices connected to a vacuum chamber with two separated plates. The one light would shine on being connected to the positive end and the negative end to the one light would not be shone on. When light shines onto the positively charged plate, electrons should be freed and allowed to leave, allowing electricity to flow. That wasn't what he was trying to prove, however, he also wanted to know if the electrons still got ejected with the same kinetic energy. That's why light would be shone on the positive plate. Since opposites attract, a high enough positive charge would prevent electrons from leaving the positively charged plate. Some simple conversions later and he would have the kinetic energy of those electrons.
Granted, he wouldn't get the exact numbers, so after gathering data he would need to run a statistical analysis to determine it was in an acceptable range, but he was prepared for that. Hell, he was glad he would be able to put his statistics class into practice.
As soon as he opened the door to Closure's workshop, he was greeted by an excited vampire gripping his shoulders and looking into his eyes with a crazed look. Now, in the month or so he's been at Rhodes Island, Closure had yet to make any sort of move on him as a vampire. That seemed to change now as she was smiling with her two pearly whites showing and her eyes seemed to be slightly redder than usual. For a moment, he panicked and thought he was about to get bitten when she uttered two words.
"It works!"
Well, more shouting, but it didn't take long for him to see other signs that she wanted nothing to do with his blood today, although she teased him about it often. She also had dark circles under her eyes and their redness was due to her eyes being bloodshot. Looking past her, he could already see the apparatus doing work as data showed on a little screen she had attached.
"So I take it you've discovered what I mean."
"Yes, yes, and I can already see the applications your proposal mentioned. Haaaaaa~ it's amazing, we can generate power from light, light! Do you have any idea how much this can change small-scale power?!"
He chuckled a little at her enthusiasm, leading to Closure pouting a little, but she then smiled a tiny bit before turning around. This wasn't lost on Evan, but he chose to ignore it. He had something to say in turn to her too.
"Well, if you want it to be small scale, sure it's great, but what about a large scale? Once we start making solar cells, we can connect lots of them to make large solar panels and actually output power on an industrial scale."
"Yeah yeah, I've read your proposal, but here's the thing. Lots of nomadic cities seek to expand upwards. Lungmen's currently investing lots of money in building a second layer of city and infrastructure on the rooftops of skyscrapers. I'm thinking we sell this to Mr. Wei for his little project as a way to produce power in those areas. Completely self sufficient! Ah~, we're going to make so much money!"
The vampire's greed never ceased to amaze him, but at least she used it for the right reasons, or so he thought.
"But do we have the semi-conductor production capability to do what you're thinking? Plus, don't we have to outsource production to Rhine Lab now and split profits with them?"
"Oh yeah…that," she said, her expression falling apart to a dark and gloomy one as her posture slouched. "Our profits aren't entirely ours with this."
"Actually…there might be a loophole with that," a voice sounded from Evan's feet. He swiftly looked down to see a MEEBO of all things speaking to him in Mayer's voice. He raised his eyebrow and Mayer continued, "While you indeed share intellectual property rights with Rhine Lab, there's no clause stating that you can't sell the product. The seller actually receives the larger cut of the profit for reasons of having to pay for production and its profit. If Rhodes Island were the one to make the deal and sell the tech, then Rhine Lab would have no choice but to honor the contractual agreement and give you the fair share you're entitled to."
For all intents and purposes, Evan was surprised to hear this from Mayer of all people. He just stared at the robot, dumbfounded and a little slack jawed, which prompted a response from its owner.
"Why are you looking at me so surprised? Of course I know this stuff, you can't make and sell robotics without understanding how you'll get compensated. Servos and crap aren't cheap you know!"
Seemed even the chaotic otter had her moments too. If not for her tail, he would have mistaken her for a liberi or even a human since the liberi have some form of feathers on their head. For whatever reason, all humans had an animalistic feature in this world. Sure, some were more mythical like Ch'en being a dragon, Hoshiguma being an oni, or Liskarm and Saria being vouivres, but those could be described as mythical animals. Well, maybe not the oni, but it certainly wasn't what he knew as human.
Thoughts and more thoughts coursed through his head until he felt the now familiar sensation of a MEEBO biting his ankle. He picked up Mayer's proxy by its neck and held it up while she made faux biting and growling sounds through the microphone.
"So you're finally out of your head? Good, now put me down!"
Yeah that wasn't happening. Evan just held her as he looked towards Closure who was also deep in thought, just at her desk rather than standing up like he was. Just thinking about different things it seemed since she looked erratic as she tapped her desk and her eyes darted to and fro on the computer, which had a copy of the contract on it for the moment.
"She's right! The contract is worded that way, so if we sell the technology, we'll be rolling in some serious dough. That settles it, everyone's rolling up their sleeves. We're not stopping until we have a working prototype!"
A pint mug slammed on the table, and Evan took a hefty sigh from the drink.
"Jeepers, slow down there, you don't want to get sick now," Grani commented with a worried look on her face. "I may be strong, but I'm not strong enough to carry you all the way back down to the dorms."
"I've dealt with worse, besides…that was just one gulp to start off."
"Alright, what did Miss Closure or Mayer do today?" Grani asked as though she was now used to this.
"I swear the damn otter doesn't listen half the time! I leave her alone for ten minutes and she's already ruined any work on the prototype by trying to buff it with originium. All the wiring and shit burned away, the semiconductors melted, and I swear that anything she makes must explode on principle. Thank god she had enough sense to put a blast cover between her and it, I don't want to lose another workshop."
Grani giggled a little, so quietly that the poor soul couldn't hear it as he closed his eyes and took another swig of beer. He swore, his boss and newfound partner were driving him to alcoholism at this rate, but having someone to talk to really made his troubles lighter.
"So long as you're still sober, want to talk about what I found out regarding Skadi?"
Evan's eyes settled on her and he let go of his mug, showing he had her full attention.
"Turns out, she was actually checking on my room long before yours. I think after you interacted with her, she thought you'd be in danger or something, and stood outside while you were at your most vulnerable. At least, that's my theory based on what I know. You'd be surprised how often she gets up in the wee hours of the morning to make sure everything's ok."
Poor girl, sounds like she must have been through a lot. At least, that's what Evan guessed. Things were making more sense why Skadi said ominous warnings to Evan during their first meeting. In some aspect, it made sense if he thought about the information he had gathered from Weedy. If Abyssal Hunters were essentially black cats in her society, it could stand that she believes any misfortune or tragedy in her life is of her own making. On the other hand, he had no data to dispute the claim as much as he wanted to. Traditional logic had been thrown out the window in this world it seemed, so he could be wrong.
Another drink was taken and Evan felt more of his mind numb pleasantly. Before he could enjoy the buzz however, that sense of dread he felt once before came at him once again. His spine shivered in unease and he rapidly looked to where his sixth sense pinpointed the source, only this time it was right behind him, closer.
"Oh, hey Skadi, care to join us?" Grani greeted the source with her usual cheerful demeanor. Skadi said nothing, opting to stare ominously at Evan for a little longer before the feeling of dread washed away and she silently set her tray down on a table a little ways away from theirs. Grani pouted at this then patted the chair next to her, almost like an owner trying to encourage their pet to lie down at their side. Skadi looked to Evan, the feeling of dread did not re-appear, but remembering it made him wary to see Skadi near him for some reason.
Instead of answering Grani's invitation to sit with them, Skadi just merely picked up her first morsel, a rather large chunk of meat, and shoved the entire thing in her mouth, her jaw stretching wider than Evan thought possible. Grani gave him a 'see what I mean' look before she turned her attention to her chair, twisting it more towards the mysterious abyssal hunter. Shortly after she turned her eyes to Evan.
"So this new invention you're working on, what uses would it have?"
"Well, Closure wants to sell it to Lungmen for their upwards expansion. While this does make sense, I was thinking at first using it as more of a quick deployable small scale energy source to start with. I was actually going over with some field engineers how it can be packed up and folded rather than the hassle of hauling around a complete originium dynamo."
"I can see that, field equipment that needs to be powered with a substantial energy source means you have to account for the logistical challenges of transporting heavy equipment. Since Rhodes Island relies heavily on small maneuverable teams, having to haul around expensive and encumbering equipment can be a disaster in itself."
Grani made a small glance to Skadi who continued to silently eat her food. After she turned back, the two continued to make small talk with the enigmatic force of nature silently listening in to their conversation. At some point, Grani decided to call it quits for their little drinking outing. It would have been a regular stroll back, if Skadi wasn't following them from 2 meters away. Grani just smiled as though it were normal, but something about Skadi's gaze was mildly unsettling to him. She kept staring intently at him, giving him a looming sense of dread and unease in his sixth sense.
"Is there…something you need, Miss Skadi?" he asked as politely as he could. He looked back and the abyssal hunter had stopped in her tracks, prompting him to stop followed by Grani. For a few moments no one said anything, then Skadi walked a couple steps forward and came right up to Evan. He leaned back instinctively as she glared into his eyes and moved her head closer until their faces were inches apart. He could feel her breath and hear air flowing through her nostrils. At some point Grani called Skadi's name and said something about being 'improper' or such, but it was lost on both of them.
Within Skadi's eyes he felt small, insignificant as the brilliant crimson orbs met his own hazel ones. After a solid half minute, she muttered, "What are you…?"
"...I'm sorry?" was all Evan could muster, causing Skadi to sigh then retreat her head and take a step back.
"What are you? You're clearly not Ægirian, yet you have the physical appearance of one of our own adapted for life on land. I ask again, what are you?"
"Skadi!" Grani shouted, finally drawing the stoic bounty hunter's attention. "Can't you tell when you're making people nervous? You're pushing poor Evan too hard, he's not a threat to anyone."
"I'm just curious," Skadi replied, tilting her head a little. "Is that a bad thing?"
Grani groaned and put her hand to her head and looked at Skadi after removing it from her face.
"No, but you really need to word your questions better. No one can tell what you're thinking with that poker face and monotone expression of yours."
"Poker…face…?" Skadi asked, tilting her head again and pausing as though she didn't understand.
"You were a bounty hunter before joining Rhodes, and you don't know that expression?" the horse girl asked with shock evident on her body language and facial expression.
"I've heard it, I just don't understand," Skadi deadpanned. She then shifted her gaze to where Evan was and then swiftly to where he was walking away. "You, we're not done talking."
Evan let out an 'eep' sound before throwing his hands up and turning around. He then walked back to the two. Upon doing so, Skadi spoke to him once more.
"What are you? You still haven't answered that question."
"As far as I know, a regular, unordinary human," he said honestly. To that, Skadi hummed in satisfaction and turned around.
There was a great pause as she thought about his words before saying without turning around, "I was hoping for more, but perhaps I was expecting too much. Perhaps we will see each other again, should tragedy not befall you."
With that, Skadi simply walked the other direction down the hall, leaving Grani and Evan to share a confused look before returning to their respective rooms.
Shouting, the sound of glass breaking, and the blazing of fire sounded in the officer's ears as another molotov slammed into his shield. Behind him a sergeant barked orders in an aging voice about holding the line and about Ursus honor.
Crack
Another molotov hit somewhere along the line, but screams accompanied this one, it had found an unlucky mark.
"Retreat the injured soldier, form up the line! Don't let them through!"
The screams faded in the officer's ears as his comrade was being dragged away, still aflame and howling like a lupo pup getting whipped with hot prongs on the end. Sweat ran down as he shuffled the side, orange light fading from his center to his peripheral vision as the line reformed to compensate for their injured soldier.
"Keep your faces behind the shield and the damn thing on the ground, don't let the alcohol splash you or sneak under you."
Ahead, angry infected with rags and lesions crowded behind the barricades, hurling insults and debris as their torches and molotovs lit up the poorly lit streets around them. Some held scars from their abuses while others had their face or various other body parts greatly mutated and deformed by the accursed disease.
"Body! Fall back!" one soldier screamed as an infected corpse ragdolled off the line. The officers scooted back like mice away from the new infection vector, already spewing dust in the air as the crystals began to rapidly eat away at the corpse. Thankfully it dissipated upwards and the officer breathed a sigh of relief, grateful he wouldn't join the ranks of the detestable protesters he was now keeping in line.
Thunk
A chunk of raw originium slammed into his shield, his eyes met with the instigator and they glared hatefully at each other.
"Murderers, you deserve worse than us!" a voice in the crowd shouted. "First you take our livelihoods, then our power, then our food, then our water, and now you expect us to give you our lives?!"
"Fall back in line vagrants!" the sergeant shouted back, but instead of listening the mob only intensified its barrage of debris and originium.
"I gave you bastards my life to keep this graveyard moving!"
"Damn all of you!"
"Tyrants!"
"My baby died, and you say it's my fault when I couldn't buy basic necessities?!"
"We can't afford medicine, you're leaving us to die!"
"You created this!"
The voices continued to pound on the officer's ears as he tensed at the regular thunks of their infected garbage slamming against his shield.
Somewhere in the crowd, sharp eyes met his own. In a moment, they were gone and a scream erupted behind the line.
The sergeant ripped whatever stabbed his shoulder out then dropped it, officers retreated a safe distance from the object and they stared at it.
An originium shiv.
The sergeant grit his teeth and stared at the crowd.
"That's it, I've been lenient enough! Spears out, lethal force is permitted."
"Butcher!" one of the infected screamed, but he would say no more as his skull was split in twain by an ax flying through the air and embedding itself into his skull. The sergeant's hand sat forward, post throw as he glared a cold stoney glare at the man he just mercilessly slaughtered.
"March, kill them all, men, women, children, if they don't fall back as we order, it's their funeral!"
The officer put one foot forward, and the line advanced.
Unbeknownst to him, or any fellow officer, their sergeant's actions would spell their doom. Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, or this week, nor would it be this month, but it was now set in stone.
Chernobog will burn, as is its fate.
Author's Note
Ok...fack, so I had a full time job for a while before deciding I would spend my summer doing research for my degree. It's amazing what the 40 hour work week does to you in fast food, especially here in America. Anyways, I've got my hands on a Quantum Mechanics and a Nuclear Physics books from the university even though my research is on Radio Frequency Cosmology, fun times.
So, some stuff to mention, Chernobog is now going to descend into rioting following this incident and Reunion will finally make an appearance in the story. Anyways, Evan's next journey will put him back to Lungmen. We get to see more of Lungmen's trio, and we get some proper interactions with the city.
So far, the science described of Solar Panels has been pretty accurate since it's still in the theory area. My knowledge of the engineering aspect of optimizing these things is...limited, even if I do know the basics.
I don't have much more to say or add until the next chapter, but I sure do enjoy writing this still, even if I did hit a block for a bit. Thankfully 2 months isn't too long, I think, so until next chapter.