The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1) (29 page)

As the couple drove the wagon away Shane just stared at the money in his hand, “I’ve never seen this much money at once in my entire life.”

Roger just patted him on the back and said, “don’t get used to it.  If your damsel cares for you like you care for her you’re going to be married before you know it and then you will wonder where all your money has gone.”

“Yeah and she comes from a rich family so you better start saving,” laughed Ari.  “I hear they’re the highest maintenance.”

Laughing the two older men left Shane alone and perplexed as they walked away laughing towards the dock where their boat was. 

“Hey?” yelled Shane wondering just how much they were teasing and how much they were serious, ran to catch up.

A delicious smell soon had his attention and
Shane skidded to a halt by a cart that sold small meat pies of chicken beef and pork the aroma was over whelming mostly because he hadn’t eaten breakfast and it was now well past noon.  Buying a pair of the chicken, one for each hand, he hurried off again to catch up with Ari and Roger.  Stuffing down the savory pastries as fast as he could the group walked several hundred yards more until the came upon a two mast sloop tied up in one of the furthest distant slips.  “Either of you ever sail before,” asked Shane.

Both Roger and Ari nodded yes.  “Well I haven’t so if there is anything I need to know please let me know.”

Roger grinned, “Well you know all those stories about giant sea monsters and harpies and the like?  Well there’s no such thing as harpies.”

“Very funny
.”

After going through the ship with Ari making a list of stores and equipment Shane took in the ‘lived in’ condition of the boat.  “W
hy don’t you guys go get the supplies and I’ll see about cleaning this thing up a little; maybe adding a few glyphs.”

“Only if you promise not to get stabbed,” said Ari

“Or stick anyone to the top of the mast,” teased Roger.

“I’ll do my best.”

As they were about to leave Shane remembered that the room was sealed and they might need to go back. He quickly grabbed a piece of wood lying on the deck and etched a few glyphs on to it; he handed it to Ari. “Here, if you have to get back into the room, hold this on the door and window to unseal and touch here to deactivate the enchantment.  If you decide to leave again and want it resealed then touch here and place it on the door or window you want sealed.”

With
Roger and Ari were off running errands Shane queried the instructor for any information it had on ocean travel and navigation.  More fairly simple glyph structures were brought to his attention.  The first was a world map that showed his position in relation to the islands and continents of the world.  “How does this work, does a glyph of some sort look down from the sky and show the location to the machine?” Shane queried the instructor.

“The Elios set into motion many large rocks referred to as asteroids in the heavens above the world.  Upon them are glyphs that allow information to
be gathered and distributed over every part of Eliom.  This allows for Instructors to remain connected to the Arc and to follow students at all times.  The glyph structure that you are viewing is strictly an output for the information already available.”

Feeling that he was once again on the verge of something practical Shane queried the instructor on how to make screens like it did whenever he need to view something.  The glyphs were displayed and Shane quickly retrieved his notebook and went to work.

Next to the large wheel that controlled the rudder was large table used for charts and maps.  Using mastery he used his glyphs to produce a large brass metal plate nearly the size of the table. He had to use the lightness glyphs to levitate it and place it on the table.  As soon as it was in position he stuck it fast with the glue glyphs.  When it was fastened he began to inscribe the glyphs as directed by the instructor and soon he not only had the navigation view screen he had a device that could see through fog and at night.

Next he was concerned about the speed and the wind.  He didn’t know much about sailing but he did know enough that if the wind wasn’t blowing the way you wanted it to it made for slow travel.  What
he needed was a propulsion system. As he went through the different water propulsion enchantments he followed a tangent and was reading about self-pumping water pipes.  He read the glyphs and was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity.  All he needed were two massive pipes that would suck the water in one side and push it out the other.

Using mastery so that he didn’t need a substrate he engineered two four hands in diameter four cubit tall steel pipes.  He then etched the water pump glyphs on them and added several large sun glyphs in case they needed extra power. He then placed a variable for stop, slow, medium, and full, for both forward and backwards; the next step was how to make a control.  Locating an open space on the navigation plate he used the scribe and made a control line for each pipe with the circle in the middle where the stop position would be and he marked and glyphed a control for the different speeds for both forward and reverse. The tough part would be how to attach the pipes.

Once he had a way to lift the boat he needed to test his modified pipes or thrusters.  Using the lighter than air glyphs he levitated them across the water and attached them to a nearby semi submerged piling.  With one end of the pipes facing skyward halfway submerged; the inflow end facing down.  He added lumen to all of the glyphs on the pipes and the navigation and control panels. Slowly he pushed the control circle along its lines to the slow forward position.  The pipes immediately shot water nearly six cubits into the air.  Pushing the controller to medium position the water was now shooting thirty to forty cubits into the air.  With a grin Shane pushed them to the max and the water shot a towering column of water well over one hundred cubits high.  He hurriedly put them in the stop position and hurried to switch the pipes so that he could test them in reverse; the reverse testing provided the same results.

Once he had the pipes off the piling and on the dock he set about raising the ship so he could attach the thrusters.  One task led to another and he ended up having to place glyphs that would make the boat lighter than air and with accompanying painstaking task of finding a way to keep it level on all axes as well as equally distribute the weight.  This also meant another control on the navigation panel of which he was running out of room.

At last he levitated the boat out of the water and examined the hull to see where the best location would be to attach the thrusters.  Not sure of the best location he finally chose a location that would place a thruster on each side of the keel located in the spot between where the two masts were positioned up top; hoping that that was the strongest part of the structure.

After lowering the boat back into the water Shane began to
straighten up. As he went below he found all sorts of signs of vermin and trash. He mastered a large metal barrel etched on the fire glyphs and put it on deck.  As he filled it with trash the refuse incinerated almost immediately.  By the time had the next load to put in the barrel there were barely even ashes left.  Eventually he had all of the trash burned and off of the boat, all he had to do is start washing the place.

He went to the lowest deck and lifted up an access board to discover that the bilge area was full of putrid water locating the bilge pumped he gave it a few trial pumps but decided that the hand method would take a long time to clear the bilge.  He decided that he would use the same principle as he had on the propulsion pipes and  he detached the hose from the manual pump and put glyphs on the end that he was going to stick into the filthy water setting it so that it would pump whenever it got wet.  Soon the rancid water was being pumped out of the boat.

Shane then got a bucket and began rinsing off each deck washing away the leavings from mice, birds, and rats.  For most of the afternoon he scoured every inch that he could reach until it looked clean and vermin free. 

Putting away the equipment
he noticed that it was getting dark.  Not wanting a repeat of what had occurred at the hotel, to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him he set a glue trap on the gang plank before moving on to his next project of creating some light crystals.

Once he had s sufficient pile of the light crystals he began
attaching them to various locations throughout the boat putting all the exterior controls in the cabin near the wheelhouse and the cabin controls.

After installing lighting in the cabins and the hold
, as he was coming topside he heard a tumultuous outburst of laughing and swearing.  Carefully he peeked out from the lower deck and saw Roger and Ari on the pier next to a large cart full of provisions and equipment chuckling at the same pair of sailors that had assisted in the unloading of the wagon the previous evening at the hotel. 

The two hired men
were loaded down with boxes and had walked on to the glue trap and were effectively displaying the range of their four letter vocabulary while stuck firmly to the gang plank.

Not wanting them to fall when they were suddenly released Shane hailed them and warned them that they needed to stand steady he was going to release them.

As soon as the sailors were able to, they quickly climbed aboard. “Sorry about that,” apologized Shane helping them place their burdens on the deck.

U
nder Rogers’s direction the sailors, Ari and Shane began to place items in the various cabins stores and the galley.

Ari looked around the boat as any captain would
and gave an approving nod.  “The boat looks good, Shane, I can see you’ve been busy today.  This place was a disaster, now it actually looks livable.  Nice work.”

“Thanks
, it needed to be done.  Wait until you see what ‘other’ improvements I have worked on.”  He added enthusiastically.

“As soon as we get these supplies and gear on board you can give us the grand tour.  Nice job with the lights by the way.”

When the last of the gear and supplies were on board Shane noticed that in one of the cabins his personal items from the hotel were among them.  He went back up on deck to see Roger thanking the two sailors with a handful of money; soon the two young men hurried off into the evening.

With the hired loading crew gone Shane greeted the older men with a thank you for getting his things.  He then led them to the
wheelhouse which was located near the stern and slightly higher than the main deck with windows around the front and the sides.  He deactivated all the lights except for two very dim lights in the Wheel area and then activated the navigation table.

With
appreciative looks, Roger and Ari surveyed the large panel of the many glyphs and screens.  As Shane began to explain the different functions they were equally impressed at the ability that they had to pinpoint their location on a scale as small as the marina to an area as large as their current hemisphere.  He also explained how they could identify every ship in the harbor and beyond.  Next he showed them how to zoom, in and out so that they could navigate tight areas even the docks and small rivers at night and a smaller screen that showed water depth and current flow.  He then showed them the visual screen that they could use to view actual events on boats as well as land masses from afar no matter the weather.  For fun he zoomed in on the hotel where they had stayed the night before and caught a glimpse of the two sailors that they had just paid walk past.

“Now the
best for last,” Shane said.  “Maybe it’s just me, but after today I’d feel a lot safer anchored somewhere out of the marina and the harbor, perhaps somewhere in a cove further out in the bay.  If I told you that we could do that without wind or rowing would you be open to it?”

Roger shrugged and Ari finally said, “
After what I’ve seen you do I think you’ve earned my trust, Ok, why not.”

Shane activated the bright lights on the mast so that they illuminated the area around the ship for a good thirty cubits. 
Roger and Ari cast off the lines and pulled in the fenders.  When they returned to the wheelhouse he moved the thrust controls to just barely into the slow area of reverse and the sloop slowly slid backwards away from the slip.  Once he was backed away he turned the wheel hard to the starboard and put the thrusters to stop and the boat coasted as it slowly moved the stern to the right and the bow moved to the left.  As an experiment he found that he could reverse the port thruster and have the starboard thruster move forward and the ship almost pivoted in place.  Once the bow was clear of the slip Shane spun the wheel to port and set the thrust to slow forward.  With a slight nudge the boat began to move forward and Shane added a bit more wheel to port in order to keep the sloop straight as it headed out into the bay. 

Looking down at the navigation panel he adjusted a set of dots and the world position screen zoomed in and little
white dots began to show up in relation to them.

“What are those,” asked Ari.

“Those are other boats and objects in the water in our immediate area.  The red dot in the center is us.”  Shane killed the mast lights and the area was suddenly very dark except for the dim lights of the wheelhouse and the navigation panel.  “There,” said Shane proudly.  We can see them but they can’t see us.”