I finished placing the bolt through the plate and gasket and now needed a something to hold it down. I dug into the toolbox in the drawer labeled ‘spare hardware’ and began looking for a three-sixteenths threaded nut. Finishing my search, I twirled it on and finished tightening it down with my torque wrench to one hundred PSI. Now all this vent plate needed was to be connected to a hinge and then have a hook welded to it so that I could attach the spring-
“Adonis, put the welder down while we're flying,” admonished a stern voice.
“Understood, father,” I lamented with a sigh. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do to continue, and I placed the bronze plate into a corner with the other components of my project so that it wouldn’t fall if the airship made a sudden tilt. I would soon make a creation so beautiful it would revolutionize the world, but first I needed to convince the Workshop to hire me.
I walked across the floor, which was a plain brown color. It was made from a powerful epoxy that couldn’t spark or dent easily making it ideal for decking on airships. We sometimes kept explosive chemicals on board for one reason or another, though there was none now, so anti-sparking decking made sense. Fires on airships, and more importantly, spaceships, spelt certain doom to any vessel.
“Father, how close are we?” I inquired as I sat down.
“We’re making our final approach now.”
I peered through the window but could only make out cloud and nitrogen vapors. I stared at the altimeter and watched us descend waiting for a break in the cloud that never came. Instead, we continued to slow, while the low roar of steam from the engine room and the higher pitch sound of the propellers died down. Finally, with a rumble the airship landed, and father ordered me to take the throttle hand wheel, which was about a foot and a half across, all the way to the stop position. I obliged.
“And we’re here, go check the nitrogen plants and heat exchanger while I talk to Alloy. I’ll let you know when it’s time to take off.
“On my way, sir,” I acknowledged before sliding out of my seat, and heading down to the plants to do vitals check on the equipment.
The airship was made up of two levels with the first compartment being cockpit which was directly attached to the workshop. Inside was a ladder that led either up to the top of the ship, or down so that you could exit. In either case you had to open an airtight hatch to get out. The workshop connected to the engine room where you could access the top of a pair of turbine generators that powered the ship. At the aft most you could find a ladder leading to the lower level. From there you would then walk in order of the nitrogen plants, turbine engines paired with condensers, steam generator, GEL reactor, and heat exchangers. Standard issue propulsion plant on most airships.
The exception were tankers. They ran off actual GEL generators which were way smaller as they didn’t require steam piping, condensers, or pumps. They still had nitrogen plants, but these were solely for defense while they were propelled by GEL engines. All the saved weight allowed them to carry a lot more and the only reason all airships aren’t made this way is because refined GEL is hard to come by since we relied on the industrial might of Tartarus, and they were fully aware of its value. This was the purpose of the trip, for father to meet with our contact, Alloy, and negotiate trade-
“Excuse me, are you Adonis?” a feminine voice queried.
I pulled a grenade off my suspenders and got ready to twist the winder on top that would initiate the GEL chemical reaction within. This contained a compartment filled with water and epoxy beads that would heat up from the GEL, and then fragment to lethal effect. An electric charge would be produced chemically in each bead which would perform electrolysis on the saturated steam creating a perfect mixture of hydrogen, oxygen, and heat. The fiery explosion would be several feet in diameter so that a single grenade could cripple a Charlie if placed right.
I turned around slowly and kept my fingers on the winder before responding, “Move and we’re both dead.” The woman was about six foot two and slim. She wore the black field attire of Tartarus and had a bag with her. As I spoke, she held out a hand as if to reassure me, though I could see the alarm and fear in her eyes.
“Hold on. Your father told me to say Helios Chariot,” she gave the passcode.
I responded with mirth, dropping all hostility from my voice, “Oh, should’ve started with that. We store things in the outboards, you can place it anywhere.” I turned back to read the logs while sliding the grenade clip back on my suspenders. The first nitrogen plant was all green readings.
“I’m actually here to talk to you Adonis.”
“Oh, cool. You ever seen a nitrogen plant before?”
“I… can’t say that I have,” she spoke with care, but I could hear amusement and intrigue.
I continued, “Oh, boy are you in for a treat! So over here we have a cryogenic cooler. It has three compartments filled with helium. First one is filled with a solenoid operated piston that compresses the helium pushing it through the inlet plenum into the second compartment.” I pointed at each component as I explained, “While it compresses, the helium heats up from the pressure. There is a heat sink in the second compartment that pulls out all the heat, and the final compartment has another piston that expands the helium causing it to supercool to -330 degrees Fahrenheit. I smiled and looked up at her to make sure she was keeping up. “Cool, right?”
“Pretty cool, Adonis, now-” she paused after my name, and I had mistaken it for an opening to continue. Still, I was too excited to care.
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet! On this side we have an air compressor that goes through the filter here. This removes dust or other solid and liquid particulate out of the air. The dry air passes through this nitrogen membrane which is made from this selectively permeable membrane. Basically, it separates out the nitrogen from oxygen or whatever. Finally, for this part, we get this pure nitrogen air.”
“Uh,” she started.
“So, in this long section here you have a pump that pressurizes the system to-” it was my turn to be cut off.
“Adonis!” She called out with laughter. “I’m here to talk to you about this specifically,” she pulled out a metal construction from the bag as she spoke that I instantly recognized, “But yes, the nitrogen plant is pretty cool, but we can talk about it later.”
I took the thing from her gingerly, and inquired, “Where did you get this?” I was unable to keep the uneasy wobble out of my voice.
“Oh… well I can’t say.”
“He’s dead isn’t he. KR1570FF… is dead,” I said mournfully. I fought the tears away as I placed the automaton on my forearm. It awkwardly latched on and began clumsily climbing about my arm. I kept my eyes focused on it so that my eyes wouldn’t water too badly.
“A-adonis?” I sniffed in response to her voice. She continued, “Adonis. He’s not dead, and he goes by Kristoff. I really can’t tell you more than that.”
I quickly wiped my right eye that had almost released a tear and looked away from the automaton to stare her in the eye for affirmation. “You aren’t lying?”
“No, just, maybe keep it a secret for me that we know who he is. It’s supposed to be classified.”
“Yeah, alright, good,” I regained my composure and smiled. The woman smiled back.
“I did have some questions about that device though. The boys at the Crossroads wanted to dissect your… pet… but I was able to convince them to let us return it to you without opening it up.”
A chill went down my spine as I realized the implications, “Oh no. I… uh, thank you…”
“In exchange I was hoping you could tell me what it is?”
I nodded, somewhat enthusiastically. I needed to keep from getting too excited, even if someone was finally asking about one of my inventions.
“Yeah, alright. So, this here is a rudimentary automaton. We’re not really allowed to bring them down to the surface, but this one is far enough from an actual functioning design that I was able to bring it if I make sure it gets destroyed without anyone getting it.”
“Didn’t you give it to an Atlantean?”
“Oh, yeah, but I needed someone to test the design. Besides, everyone knows that Atlanteans are too stupid to realize the tech that is in here.”
“That… makes sense. And what is an automaton?”
“Oh, that’s easy. So, our historians discovered that they used to cut off some birds’ heads back in the day, except sometimes the bird survived without a brain. It couldn’t form complex thought, but its body could still move, and even more, function. Considering how GEL works, someone figured out you could use spinal tissue to create automatic functioning machines. They aren’t capable of thought, but they are capable of movement. With neural pathway training we can train them to perform basic tasks, and these take care of most maintenance up on Olympus now. Only problem is we have to use refined GEL, but it takes only a couple ounces, and an automaton can run for a hundred years.”
She looked at me with eyes widening, “That’s incredible! It even bypasses the normal limitation of electronics. Honestly, I’m surprised your people haven’t weaponized it.” I was both impressed and glad she was already understanding the implications.
“We thought about it, but the House decided that it would be reverse engineered by Atlas and determined it was better to focus on its main purpose,” I’d begun to talk rapidly and reminded myself not to get too excited. People hate when you get self-absorbed with your own passions.
“That’s really cool, Adonis. Would you be willing to tell me about this one?”
“Oh, yeah! Of course!” She was showing interest, and I was becoming happily jittery.
“So, like I said this one is rudimentary, but it’s just to test a theory I have. So, I attached this chip,” I tapped the head where the chip would be underneath its cranium, “so that I was able to make contact directly with the spinal tissue. See, normally you give GEL an order and it ceases shortly after you stop touching it, but the spinal tissue stays in contact after you release it and keeps the GEL activated. Now to keep an automaton moving you must train it in this facility that stimulates and trains all the required movement into the tissue. Anyway, with the chip it can store the last direction given and the tissue will act out the ordered action.”
I dropped the automaton off my arm on accident and it landed on its back. The bronze legs continued to run uselessly in the air, with its softly glowing blue feet where the GEL was designed to contact the user for control.
“Oh, whoops. Actually, yeah like that. See how it still tries to walk without me touching it. The chip will keep it moving like that for a few minutes. What do you think?”
She smiled at me, “I think you’ve managed to solve time delay for GEL. Adonis, this is an incredible invention.”
She had pieced together the weakness to GEL I had solved on my first explanation. I felt egged on and obliged answering happily, “Oh, this is nothing. I got a whole masterpiece I’m putting together. This thing will be able to clean out debris in the atmosphere, protect Olympus when it comes time to prepare for launch, and help terraform the next planet we go to! This is just the first step in putting it together…” A small realization came to me, “I mean it could have, but now I don’t know if Kristoff will be able to help me.”
She tilted her head as she asked, “Why is that?”
“Well, I still need semiconductors for the final design. I was hoping I could trade inventions for silicon at the very least. They say the reason that Atlantis can fuel their cybernetics is that the last of the silicon is on the sea floor and I was hoping to get him to leave what I need in dead drops, but I guess that isn’t an option anymore.”
She smiled knowingly, “If Alloy and your father have successful negotiations, I think you might find your problems might soon go away.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled again, “Sorry, that’s also classified.”
I tilted my head quizzically, and she started to head to the ladder. Suddenly I remembered that automaton tech was supposed to be hidden from rival cities and blurted out, “Wait, miss, can you keep me telling you about the automata a secret for me, like me staying quiet about Mr. Kristoff?”
She turned back with a warm twinkle in her eyes and regarded me, “Yes, I can. And call me 33. I hope your invention is successful.”
“Thanks, 33!” I finished taking my readings on the other nitrogen plant, and followed her out of the airship, grabbing my goggles and scarf on the way. The ship was propped up on its landing gear and I could see the fog was finally fading away revealing the red light of the sun high in the sky. I wrapped my exposed skin with the scarf after putting on the goggles and unrolled my sleeves buttoning up the wrists. The clothing was heavy and rated to SPF 500 to protect from the harsh light.
My dad and a familiar shorter man, about five foot nine, were chatting. Behind the man was a truck that was about a hundred feet long. It was probably carrying a Charlie and the Alpha that belonged to the individual. I recognized him as Alloy, and he wore the same black field attire as the woman, but also held the handle to a screen that was extended to shield him from the sun.
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As 33 approached she unclipped her screen from her belt and held it out. Pressing a button on the handle it extended and she held it above her head to protect from the sun. “I will be waiting in the truck, sir.” I took a double take at her sudden professional monotone. She didn’t even sound like the same person.
“Well, was it useless shit, like I told you?” Alloy asked with slight annoyance.
“Yes, sir,” she said without missing a beat. On the inside, I was relieved she kept her promise. Father would have lectured me about security and the like if he knew I told her about automata. I had meant to not get excited and chatty, but it was hard with how cool it all was.
She walked by Alloy and my father. The first started to scowl, and then turned around and shouted, “I saw your jaw twitch!” She climbed the three steps into the driver side of the truck without responding and shut the door behind her. You couldn’t see inside due to the blast windows, which were angled slats that made it hard -
“Son of a bitch,” Alloy cursed under his breath interrupting my train of thought as he turned back to my father, “So yeah, that pretty much sums it up V.”
My father, V, or Vitruvius Alexander in full, rubbed the back of his head before replying, “That is one hell of an offer. I will have to pass it in the House first, but if what you are saying is true… this will change everything.”
“That’s kind of the fucking point,” Alloy laughed. He then turned to me, smiling his wry grin, “And how’s my favorite little troublemaker?”
“I’ve been good.”
“Keeping your father busy, I’m sure. What’s it been, a year?
“A year and a half. You have any cool stories?” I asked eagerly. Last time I got to speak to Alloy he had regaled me with stories of him fighting Atlanteans. It was always intriguing to hear the firsthand accounts of his, especially from the perspective of his Alpha. The idea of moving at that speed, fighting dozens of Atlantean soldiers, laser fire bouncing off your hull, all of it was just so exciting.
“Don’t have time today. I have to go home and do back-to-back briefs while I prepare for this hopefully joint operation,” he gave my father a meaningful glance before continuing, “Your brother and sister doing good?”
“My sister is still a mortician. Aeolus got a job at Daedalus Workshop, and just got his third patent through, so that’s exciting.” Daedalus Workshop was where inventors, engineers, and chemists worked together to find solutions for getting off the planet. It was my goal to get hired there too, as it was near impossible to access materials otherwise needed for testing major breakthroughs.
“Good, glad to hear,” Alloy nodded, “Take care, and you as well, V.”
My father responded, “You too.” Turning to me he asked, “The plants and heat exchangers good?”
“I forgot the heat exchangers,” I admitted and hurried inside to verify the landing and startup checks. Afterwards I headed to the cockpit and slid in. Without prompting from father, I opened up the throttles and the propellers whirled up as the steam increased in sound inside the steam generator beneath the workshop to keep up with the load.
“Starting up SFS,” father said as he pulled a lever and spun a hand wheel that controlled auxiliary vents around the outside of the ship to let out the nitrogen vapor. Without cloud coverage the SFS, or steam fragmentation system, let out nitrogen vapor around the airship as it flew. The vapor would lower the effectiveness of laser and plasma weaponry by scattering the light and pulling heat out of the plasma. In addition, we had polished bronze plating that reflected some of the light and had a low heat transfer coefficient so that it would take a lot of energy to melt. The final defense of the SFS was that our bulkheads were hollow with veins of liquid nitrogen piping winding through keeping the ship chilled.
Olympian airships were near impervious to Atlantean assault once they were a hundred feet in the air. Tartarus technology was more effective with their ballistic weaponry, but they didn’t attack unless provoked. Even when they did security detail for Atlantis, they would always give a warning first.
Father flew in silence as we took off into the sky. Once we were high enough in the air, he shut off the SFS and the vapor mostly disappeared with the exception of the propellers. These were powered by nitrogen fed aeolipiles.
Each aeolipile was a sphere with three angled tubes coming out at different points designed to spin it in a linear rotation. The axle it spun on was coupled to the propellers and rotated them. This vapor was adequate once we reached an altitude of eighteen-thousand feet to replace the SFS.
It would be two hours before we reached Olympus, so I went back to the workshop and opened some blueprints I had been working on. I verified my measurements for the ventilation flaps I was working on earlier. I could picture the beautiful symmetry of the wings as I imagined my project taking flight in my head, embroiled in snow crystals like diamonds-
I felt the telltale rumble of turbulence indicating we had reached Olympus, and breaking my concentration.
Locating Olympus was tricky. The city was able to float by hoarding hydrogen into airtight aluminum tanks that could carry millions of cubic feet. These tanks were gilded with a thin bronze plate to provide additional defense. However, thanks to the explosive nature of hydrogen, even with the plating, we needed additional protection from our adversaries. This is where the ZEUS system came into play. We had a fleet of a few thousand airships that could deliver millions of gallons of water a day to the city to be used as coolant for our GEL reactors. We boiled the stuff off providing cloud coverage, while simultaneously taking advantage of existing meteorological phenomenon.
Hurricanes were especially useful, and we used that season to conduct most of our surface scavenging operations. We would collect from the waterspout allowing us to free up our airships to go around the world and do much needed resource gathering. Finally, to protect from lightning we had massive Tesla coils around the city that would raise the voltage of the city and allow us to direct the thunderbolts out of rods hanging from underneath.
Olympus was itself covered by a Plexiglas dome that allowed us to experience a natural day schedule, although we never actually saw the sun. Greenhouses allowed for natural vegetables and fruits to be grown, feeding our vegan lifestyles. We had atmosphere synthesizers-
“Come over and help me with landing,” my father called. I made my way back to my seat.
The key in locating Olympus lied in the dome. Father pulled a lever above his head and three blue tracking lasers appeared in front of us piercing the cloud. He began to rotate the ship until one of the lasers turned green and then focused on that spot until all three lasers turned green, indicating we had lined up with the dome. Next was to find the landing tracks, which used a special reflective material. To do that we needed to strafe-
“So, what did you talk to the woman about?” father pulled me from my reverie.
“I taught her about nitrogen plants. I started by showing her the cryogenic cooler which-” I started excitedly.
My father, who was well trained with my penchant for explanations and analysis spoke over me, which I had learned meant it was time for me to stop, “I see. Anything else you talked about?”
I wasn’t about to out myself, and I decided to take advantage of my lack of social skills, “Something about Atlantis or whatever.” Father would likely believe I had not paid attention if she had asked questions on that subject.
He shook his head as he acquiesced, “Son, one of these days you’ll find someone with the same passions you have.”
“I have Aeolus,” I said quizzically as I thought about my brother, “He shares my passion. The other day he was explaining to me how the clock tower works. Did you know it uses steam released for the ZEUS system?”
My father chuckled. Suddenly there was a break in the clouds as we pulled into the landing bay. The hangar doors opened and functioned by a series of reduction gears connected to a GEL reactor powered steam turbine that was-
“I need you to keep your head out of the clouds today. I have some important business, and I need you to be on your best behavior,” my father spoke candidly. I was surprised to hear him talking as much as he was. Normally he was a very quiet man who left me to my musings. I had learned from my brother that a good way to pass the time was to think about the function of things to traverse the quietness. Doing so allowed you to apply the knowledge more naturally to your own schematics and plans. Yet today father seemed stressed out.
As we were waved in by the flight crew, who wore brightly colored helmets to indicate their role on the landing bay and oxygen masks connected to tanks on their backs, I found myself wondering what Alloy had talked to father about.
We exited through the hatch on bottom and father talked to the mechanics who would be checking over our airship while we went inside. The air was thin, but we would not be staying long enough for it to affect us. Once he was done, I followed him into the air lock that connected to Olympus.
It was a single chamber that contained two hatches. You had to make sure both doors were shut otherwise the safety interlock would keep the unopened door locked shut. Once I closed the first door, father opened the second hatch and my ears popped as I swallowed to equalize my ears. Father, who in his age had begun to struggle, instead held his nose and squinted while he performed the Valsalva maneuver to pop his.
We stepped onto the beautifully manicured grass road and father began heading directly home. As I followed, I looked at a crane automaton that rolled by to perform some sort of construction job elsewhere in the city, I was sure. The clock tower of Daedalus Workshop rang sixteen times indicating it was four in the afternoon.
Father ordered, “Adonis, when we get home, I need you to change to full dress. We’ll be attending the House today to call an emergency meeting.”
“Sir, I believe being undressed is appropriate for our line of work, even considering a visit to the House. At least let me do morning dress, it’s too early in the day for full.”
Father looked to his side at me in unimpressed, “Today’s meeting will be important. I need you to be there representing the family. You will wear the blue vest, dinner jacket, and hat, and I expect you to at least pretend to pay attention to proceedings.
“Yes, Father.”
The residences of our neighborhood had been steeply terraced with small elevators that connected between levels. Thanks to my father’s diplomacy job, he and mother had a house on the first level painted sea blue. After I entered, I headed up to my room to change as mother greeted me when I walked pass.
As I changed, I stared at a model on my dresser of the silver dog automaton. It was one of a pair of automata designs that had been created at the Workshop by my brother. The pair were designed to work in conjunction with each other and could take verbal commands, a rare ability thanks to my brother’s patent. Production was slow, but he had managed to build a hundred pairs already.
The silver dog was of a slim, tall design. It was fast, able to outrun even with the scouts of Atlantis who could run over sixty miles per hour. It had a long snout with sharp bladed teeth. My brother was quite proud of the designs, though they were only used by the bobbies during their patrols. He kept the golden dog model on his dresser at his house, having moved out a couple years ago. This-
“Adonis, quickly. We must get to the House before they adjourn,” my father called waiting for me by the entrance ready to go.
I snapped my last buttons into place, tied my ascot, and came downstairs to my father who hurried me out the door. I notice him pocket two coins, one green and the other red. We walked swiftly on the green roads, and I found myself struggling to keep up and do as I normally do by observing the technology around me.
Finally, we came to the Grand Pavilion, a large architecture with a park built within. In its center stood the House of Democracy, and we hurried to it. The clock rang again, this time eighteen times. It had taken two hours for us to prepare for our arrival, and the House adjourned in thirty minutes.
The doors were open, allowing anyone to enter the large open-air auditorium. It could hold a hundred thousand people, though on the day-to-day meetings only a couple hundred attended at most. All matters of the democracy were held and voted upon here.
Father walked down the rows of seats and hurried up to the Speaker, who as the only official of the House led the proceedings, and whispered in his ear. I sat myself down a few rows back from the crowd. They were currently heatedly murmuring at the sudden interruption to the proceedings, which made me feel awkward and out-of-place. My father spoke for a couple minutes which I took advantage of to begin looking at the chair designs.
The atrium contained folding chairs. They were each built with two legs staked into the ground and the seats themselves operated on spring-loaded hinges. This made them easier to clean, and the fact the seats could not be moved easily meant that you could get exact spacing as well maximizing the auditorium’s capacity. They were, however, uncomfortable making them not suited for something like an airship where you may have to sit for hours. In each arm was a slot for-
Suddenly a series of horns sounded from the Speaker’s podium. Five blasts of the horns to be exact. Father had mentioned an emergency meeting, but this was well beyond what I had expected. Five indicated that the emergency meeting was of the top priority. Five meant the entire city would be descending upon the Grand Pavilion. Not even the auditorium could fit everyone at once, which is why annual debates were held over five days for major legislation.
I noticed father gesturing for me to come up to the Speaker’s podium, which contained ten proper chairs beside it for important speakers. These seats were cushioned and did not fold up. I approached and he said, “You and I are going to sit here. The Speaker will start the session and I will be informing the city of today’s negotiations with Alloy. I need you to pay attention, today you are going to witness history!” He smiled nervously.
“What did Alloy tell you today?”
Father beamed, “You’ll see, and by the end of today I’m hoping that you will have a part to play in this historic moment.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head and began pouring over a sheet of prepared notes that he must have put together while I was preparing to come to the House.
Once the crowds were fully assembled my father was called to the Speaker’s podium. I looked out over the crowd and felt sweat coming down the side of my face. I had never seen such a large crowd. It was like a roiling sea, and I felt a lightheaded dizziness descending upon me. So many expectant eyes on me. Watching. Judging. Each a pit of void filled with the mystery of contempt and disappointment-
“I now present Vitruvius Alexander to the People’s Democracy of Olympus. The floor is yours,” announced the speaker with practiced zeal. My father came to the podium and spoke into the bell-shaped phone on the podium that would deliver his voice to the whole of the Great Pavilion.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today the people of Tartarus have produced an offer for peace that will open the way to the future of humanity. As is their way they have produced a non-negotiable contract that is most beneficial which contains three clauses.
“First, the people of Tartarus have given me a inventory copy of a major resource cache discovered on the surface.. They will share ninety percent of their findings in exchange for air support from Olympus. These resource reserves, it should be noted, cover the deficit needed for us to achieve space travel.
“Second, following a successful recovery operation, Tartarus offers the full manufacturing might of their factories. In exchange they request full access to our intel and technology.
“Thirdly, Tartarus requests that in exchange for our inclusion to this major discovery, that a permanent treaty be established conjoining our two cities in alliance. Upon the day of rapture, they ask for passage from the surface to space itself. That is all. I forfeit the remainder of my time to the Speaker of the House. We have been given twenty-four hours to respond to their offer.”
The atrium exploded in a wave of voices that vibrated and shook me to my core. The Speaker retook the podium and squeezed a diaphragm contained within, blasting the horn in order to silence the crowd. When the people came back under control he spoke into the bell, “People of Olympus, due to the extraordinary circumstances and need for expedited consensus, a vote will be held immediately with a time limit of thirty minutes.” He stepped away from the stand and began excitedly talking to my father, but I could not hear as the audience once again exploded as if a single screaming behemoth, and the cacophony threatened to overwhelm me.
I chose to instead focus on the slots of the chairs. These served as the voting system. One would drop one of two coins into the slot that indicated one’s vote. Green was for yay, and red, nay. The differing sizes of the coin would cause it to follow a track and set off a scale that would turn a gear that was coupled to a counter that was suspended above the podium a few dozen feet so any could bear witness.
The counter had a red and green side. Each vote would cause it to tick clockwise or reverse. This would cause either the red or green side to appear on top as the face rotated. When voting was finished the primary color on top would determine whether a motion was passed. In this case, it fell upon green.
I let out my breath, I had been holding it in from my shaken nerves, and breathed heavily now as I began working through the intricacies of the gears between the chairs and the counter. Don’t focus on the crowd, don’t focus on the crowd. Don’t care about them. They don’t care about you. I reminded myself these things as I drowned out the noise under the clinking of gears in my head.
It was twenty-two rings of the bell when the crowd had dispersed and a small committee of twenty began determining the logistics of our efforts to aid Tartarus. My father told me to come, and I followed as the ladies and gentlemen huddled and discussed their plans.
“Excuse me, but I have a request,” beseeched my father. Nearly as one, the committee turned to my father to listen. He then turned and placed his hand on my shoulder, urging me forward, even with him, “Thank you. I would request my son be our man on the ground to verify the discovery. He has formal training in chemistry and material analysis and will be able to certify the elements on the ground. In addition, Commander Alloy of Justice of the Tartarus military will be leading the operation and has requested that we send someone he has previous correspondence with. My son is a perfect fit, and we of the Alexander family would be grateful for the honors of such a prominent position.”