"My dear colleague, it's wonderful to see you! You have no idea how many new ideas I've had, or how delighted I was to hear you were nearby! I simply cannot derive the optimal nozzle geometry for generating the jet! I've had to settle for propulsion propellers for now, but they're only a stopgap! And then there are the blasting-jelly engines we could develop in the future, but they wear out far too quickly, and their reliability leaves much to be desired—one of the test operators nearly blew himself up when the fuel tank cracked after the very first startup!"
"Yes, yes, I'm glad to see you too, Mechanist!" I somehow managed to wedge myself into the engineer's torrent of words. "I'll certainly help however I can, but first, allow me to introduce my companions."
"Ah? Yes, yes, of course! Forgive me!"
And so the introductions began. Everyone was impressed, and when Azula learned that, in addition to the airship, this illustrious gentleman had also invented a self-righting tank that had already entered mass production, while the older models were gradually being upgraded—not to mention all sorts of other useful little things...
Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that the role of "favorite uncle" has now been firmly claimed by the engineer.
Once we went inside the palace and sat down at the table—and poured ourselves some tea, naturally; how could we possibly do without that, especially with Iroh present?—it was time for explanations.
So, almost from the moment the Mechanist built the "second prototype" for me, he and the team of engineers assigned to reinforce him had been racking their brains over what else they could improve in their creation. The prototype I'd sent back, complete with my comments and the flaws I'd identified, served as their starting point. And throughout the entire time I'd spent in the North and later in the Capital, this homegrown genius had been diligently tinkering away at his wunderwaffle.
And he'd actually done it. Just two weeks ago, the "pre-production model" had passed every test and received full approval. The blueprints and practically every specialist involved, from the designers all the way down to ordinary assembly workers, had been sent to the Capital.
In return, the Mechanist received the deeds to a mansion in the Capital and a bungalow on Ember Island, along with an offer to establish a Department of Aeronautics at the Capital Academy of Sciences while simultaneously taking up any position he wanted within said Academy. Even the rector's chair was his for the taking, seeing as the previous rector had apparently been looking for a replacement for quite some time. (And even if he hadn't, I was sure he'd quickly be persuaded that he'd been looking for one all along.)
The Mechanist was inclined to accept the offer. His fellow villagers had been settled quite comfortably, his son was already walking on his own, albeit with the help of a cane for now, and scientific work had always fascinated our engineer.
All in all, he'd already been preparing to relocate when he received my letter requesting an aircraft. So he'd decided to personally deliver my "gift." As for the emblem, along with the extensive collection of tea waiting for me aboard, those were a small present from Morishita, who had also profited handsomely from securing the loyalty of a genius inventor.
At the mention of the tea collection, Iroh instantly perked up and declared his fervent desire to set off in pursuit of the Avatar right this very moment. Zuko covered his eyes with one hand and heaved a weary sigh, while Mai began patting him encouragingly on the back. And I felt my lips stretching into a smile—the good news and the general's simple, predictable behavior were exactly what I needed to regain my peace of mind.
"Well then, let's not waste any time. Everyone aboard!" I ordered the detachment.
***
Unfortunately, we couldn't just "load up and charge into battle" right away, for several perfectly understandable reasons. First, we had a number of orders to give. The lizards alone were an issue—Mai had taken the whole matter seriously, and our "horsies" were already waiting for us, only for it to turn out that we no longer needed them. It wasn't as though we were going to haul them into the sky with us. Besides that, we needed to learn the specifications of the vessel we'd been given and, based on that information, determine what we could take with us and what we couldn't.
Azula could drool over the tanks all she wanted, but what guarantee did we have that the airship could handle the extra four or five tons of a self-righting tank, let alone the twelve to fifteen tons of a regular one? Granted, judging by the gondola's armor and the decorations on the aerostat (speaking of which, we really ought to remove those decorations. Drama was all well and good, but purely by appearance, that stuff looked like metal, which meant it probably weighed about as much as a self-righting tank. And given a choice between Drama and a tank, I'd take the latter.), the airship itself weighed well over thirty tons. But what was its maximum lifting capacity? And I should probably ask the Mechanist about its speed and reliability as well.
Sure, if the aerostat wasn't filled with hydrogen, there was obviously nothing there to explode, and the worst that could happen was a hot-air leak leading to a gradual loss of altitude. But all sorts of things happened in life, and being stranded without transportation in the middle of, say, the Si Wong Desert wasn't much better than blowing yourself up along with a hydrogen envelope.
Besides... the airship had been built by the Mechanist, and underestimating his power could prove hazardous to one's health. And skull.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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