"Commodore, we're delighted to see you again!" My former first mate snapped to attention.
"I'm glad to see you as well, Captain. Esteemed Mechanist." I nodded to the enthusiastic engineer. "Master Lao."
"Master Chan."
"Herald," the inventor and merchant replied with matching nods.
"Hi, Dad!" Toph waved cheerfully as she stepped onto the pier.
"Toph!"
The merchant completely forgot about maintaining a dignified image. He practically launched himself forward and swept his daughter into a crushing embrace.
"Pffh..." the girl squeaked weakly, clearly in need of rescue.
"Ahem." I cleared my throat. "Gentlemen, I believe the pier is not the most suitable place for a reunion."
"Rooms have already been prepared for you at Mayor Morishita's residence, Commodore," Tandao replied. "I suggest we continue the discussion there. We truly have a great deal of news to cover, but..." He glanced toward Beifong.
Indeed, an independent merchant would be somewhat out of place at such a meeting.
Fortunately, freeing ourselves from Lao's company proved remarkably easy. All it required was sacrificing one small, defenseless little girl. The concerned parent immediately began fussing over her like a hen protecting her only egg.
According to our agreement, Toph would either escape after a day or make her break for freedom the moment her father tried to drag her out of Yu Dao. So for now, she heroically endured all that parental affection.
Meanwhile, the rest of us successfully made our way to the mayor's residence. After paying our respects to the man himself, we settled in for a council meeting.
"So then, gentlemen, what good news do you have for me?"
"The Leopard has been fully repaired, Commodore. More than that, the Mechanist proposed a number of upgrades as thanks for relocating him here, and since the power plant was already disassembled, I decided it was a good opportunity. I hope you don't mind."
"Hm. And what sort of upgrades would those be?" I shifted my gaze to the engineer.
"Oh, colleague!" The Mechanist brightened immediately. "Once I no longer had to worry about my fellow villagers, resources, assistants, and all the rest... and after reviewing some of the material from your Academy of Mechanical Engineering... Oh, forgive me, I got carried away. In any case, once I was finally able to focus on my work, I came up with several ideas regarding your power plants. They're quite sophisticated, but they have one major flaw. What do you think it is?"
Gods, he reminded me of my old mechanics professor. That sweet old man who, upon discovering there were still two minutes left before the end of class, would cheerfully announce that "we have an eternity of time remaining" and continue enthusiastically devouring the brains of unfortunate students. Ah, those were good days.
"Relatively low efficiency," I answered. "The boiler produces plenty of power, but we can't transfer it efficiently."
I'd considered the same problem myself and had even seen a few possible solutions. But this was one of those issues where you'd have to bury yourself in calculations for months on end, and even then success wasn't guaranteed. My knowledge in this field was far more theoretical than practical.
Besides, steam engines had been refined for centuries in my previous world, and if memory served, truly dramatic improvements in efficiency had only been achieved when nuclear-powered ships were already crossing the oceans.
"Exactly!" the engineer exclaimed happily. "Water is certainly a versatile working fluid, but its heat capacity is limited, and its transfer coefficient leaves much to be desired! And then I had a thought: mercury!"
"Mercury?"
Was he completely insane?
No, I remembered that mercury-vapor turbines had actually been remarkably powerful and efficient machines, but the idea of using highly toxic substances in close proximity to my beloved body did not appeal to me in the slightest.
"Yes, mercury!" The Mechanist practically bounced in place. "Its boiling point is three and a half times higher than that of ordinary water! At the same time, it can be cooled using the same principles, which means the temperature differential throughout the operating cycle becomes two and a half times greater than with water! That alone increases the engine's efficiency proportionally!"
The engineer was practically climbing the walls by now.
"Of course, given the hazards posed by the working fluid, the entire cycle would need to be converted into a fully closed system, which would reduce efficiency somewhat. Additional armor around the chamber would also be advisable, though that would increase the vessel's mass. Furthermore, a full mercury cycle may prove too demanding for the plant, so it would be preferable to use conventional steam for part of the cycle and mercury for the rest. Naturally, that would introduce additional convective losses, but I can guarantee a one-point-eight- to twofold increase in usable power! And as an added bonus, we could implement a reverse-cycle bleed system and obtain a magnificent refrigeration unit—capable of producing temperatures as cold as the depths of winter itself!"
The lunatic just kept going. His assistants frantically scribbled down the "master's revelations," sweat visibly beading on their foreheads.
Good gods.
What exactly had I brought into this city?
"And how far have you gotten with all this?" I asked, already afraid of the answer.
"Well..." The Mechanist scratched his nose. "I built a prototype aboard your Leopard. It was the only ship in the area that happened to be replacing its power plant at the right time."
"I see. Well... thank you, I suppose." I was suddenly beginning to have certain reservations. "It won't explode, will it?"
"It shouldn't." The inventor-maniac shrugged. "But if it does, I'll improve the design based on the test results."
I immediately came to one conclusion: there was no way I was setting foot aboard that cruiser until it had logged at least a thousand or two thousand miles. Purely as a precaution.
(End of Chapter)
Hey! Don't forget to throw the stone!
🙌Bonus chapter for 500 power stones!
🔥The next bonus chapter will be for 100 power stones.