Calcutta, 1874
Monsoon Season
Rain hammered the city like artillery.
Inside the workshop, the single electric bulb flickered steadily — no longer a miracle, but a symbol.
Arjun stood before a chalkboard covered in equations.
Stress tolerances. Carbon percentages. Thermal gradients.
Harish and five selected craftsmen sat in front of him.
Tonight wasn't about machines.
It was about steel.
The Foundation of Empires
"Britain rules because of steel," Arjun said calmly.
"Railways. Ships. Cannons. Bridges. Factories."
He drew two words:
Wrought Iron
High-Carbon Steel
"Most of what we produce locally is inconsistent. Brittle. Impure."
He tapped the board.
"If we control carbon content precisely, we control strength."
One craftsman frowned. "We are not Sheffield."
Arjun's eyes sharpened.
"We don't need to be Sheffield."
He sketched a converter vessel.
"In a few years, Europe will perfect methods to mass-produce steel cheaply. But the principles are simple."
He outlined air-blown decarburization — a simplified precursor to large-scale converters.
"We don't need massive plants yet. We need small, precise furnaces. Quality before quantity."
Harish crossed his arms. "For what purpose?"
Arjun didn't hesitate.
"Tools. Agricultural equipment. Rail components. And eventually—defensive manufacturing."
He didn't say guns.
Not yet.
The Fertilizer Gambit
A week later, Arjun traveled to a nearby village suffering from crop failure.
The British blamed "poor soil management."
Arjun knew better.
Nitrogen depletion.
He began experimenting with controlled composting techniques, primitive nitrates extraction, and better crop rotation planning.
He introduced a simple concept:
Measure before planting.
He created hand-drawn soil charts.
Explained nutrient cycles.
Within one harvest season, yields improved noticeably.
Word spread.
The British collector dismissed it as coincidence.
But villagers began whispering:
"There is a young engineer who brings prosperity."
Arjun didn't correct them.
Prosperity builds legitimacy.
Legitimacy builds protection.
The Intelligence Officer
Edward Harrington now had a file.
Unregistered technical gatherings.
Unusual literacy meetings at night.
Improved industrial efficiency in Indian-run workshops.
He tapped his pen thoughtfully.
"This is not rebellion," he muttered.
"This is preparation."
His superior laughed. "For what? They lack organization."
Harrington stared at the report.
"Not for long."
Education: The Real Weapon
At night, beneath oil lamps and one hidden electric bulb, Arjun began teaching.
Mathematics beyond rote memorization.
Mechanical drawing.
Principles of thermodynamics — simplified but accurate.
Basic chemistry.
"Why teach us this?" one student asked.
"Because independence without competence collapses," Arjun replied.
He had studied enough history in his previous life to know:
Revolutions fail when emotion outruns infrastructure.
He would not repeat that mistake.
A Dangerous Idea
One evening, Harish locked the workshop door carefully.
"You've been holding something back," he said quietly.
Arjun looked up from a disassembled Enfield rifle.
Slowly, he began sketching.
A breech-loading mechanism.
Improved rifling geometry.
Sealed cartridge design.
Harish's breathing slowed.
"This… this is far superior."
"Yes," Arjun said.
"But we will not use it recklessly."
He tapped the blueprint.
"Technology is power. But power without discipline becomes chaos."
He leaned closer.
"When the time comes, we will not fight like 1857."
He didn't say the year aloud.
But they both understood.
"This time," Arjun continued, "we will fight with supply chains. With logistics. With trained engineers."
"With steel."
The First Network
Within months, small cells formed quietly:
-Metalworkers in Calcutta
-Agricultural reformers in Bengal villages
-Railway mechanics sympathetic to reform
-Scholars hungry for modern science
Arjun insisted on compartmentalization.
No one knew the full plan.
Only he did.
And even he was cautious.
Because the British weren't fools.
They ruled a quarter of the globe.
A Glimpse of the Future
Late one night, alone in the workshop, Arjun unrolled a secret parchment.
Not steel.
Not guns.
Something far more ambitious.
A compact internal combustion engine.
Decades before its time.
He ran his fingers across the design.
"If we leapfrog steam…" he whispered,
"we leapfrog empires."
Outside, thunder cracked.
In Government House, Harrington received approval for expanded surveillance.
In villages, harvests improved.
In workshops, steel quality rose quietly.
And in a dimly lit room in Calcutta—
The industrial revolution of India began twenty years early.
Arjun stared at the map of the subcontinent pinned to the wall.
Rail lines marked in red.
Ports circled in ink.
Resource zones annotated carefully.
"This isn't rebellion," he said softly.
"It's a takeover."
Not of territory.
But of the future.
End of Chapter 3