Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure (9 page)

One of the Germans went to the door and asked in heavily accented English, “Who is it?”

“It is the minister,” said a strong voice, “we are here as requested.”

The door opened and two visitors – they were two of the three men from the carriage – were allowed in with the door being closed and locked immediately behind them. One of the visitors, the younger one, looked at the two Germans and said, “Doctors, allow me to introduce the Defence Minister, James Sloan.”

Sigmund now knew why he recognized one of the men, he had seen his picture in the newspaper from time to time – he was the Defence Minister! Sigmund had already felt a persistent uncomfortableness about the whole situation, spying on a government meeting along with all the ancillary items to go with this, but he never expected it to include a person of such a high position. The importance and danger of what was happening inside became even more real to him. A mistake would be even more costly than he had believed up to this time.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” said the door answering German. “I am Doctor Steinhauser,” and pointed to his colleague, “and this is Doctor Koehler.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” said the unnamed companion. “It is been quite some time since we last met. I trust you are well?”

“The hour is already later than I would like,” interrupted the minister with an air of impatience, “if we could get to the point quickly, that would be much preferred.”

“Of course,” answered Steinhauser, “and may I apologize for the lateness and the location of this meeting. I think you will see that any precautions that we took were not without reason.”

Sigmund, out on the ledge, was happy the minister spoke up as he was feeling the dampness and chill of the night and the uncomfortableness of his perch grow with each minute. Anything that made his cold stay on the ledge shorter was welcomed. Not to mention how glad he would be to have this whole episode over and done with.

The two Germans sat together on one couch and the two government men sat on the opposite couch with a coffee table between the two groups of men. Doctor Steinhauser reached into his jacket pocket – the minister visibly stirred – and pulled out a small wooden box that was a little larger than a deck of cards. Placing it on the table, he opened the lid and displayed its content – three cubes of about the size of sugar cubes with the color of sandstone. Extracting one of three cubes and placing it on the table, Professor Steinhauser announced, “Gentlemen, this is the reason for the meeting. This cube could revolutionize the world – for good or for bad.”

“I hardly see how anything that small could do anything of the sort,” blustered the minister. He seemed in a foul mood to begin with and seeing what he thought was a waste of time didn’t help. He started to rise from the couch.

“Please!” pleaded Doctor Steinhauser, “give me five minutes and then decide if what I say is accurate. I assure you that you will not be wasting your time.”

“Just five minutes, sir,” said the companion soothingly to the Defence Minister.

Without a word, the minister sat down, scowl on his face, pocket watch exposed. The five minutes had evidently started.

“First, a little background. The steam engine is one of the most useful inventions, allowing us to travel great distances in a fashion never before realized. As we all know, it works by having a heat source turn water into steam, that steam builds pressure and turns a turbine that creates movement. The movement then can be adapted to a wheel, like on a train or steam carriage, a propeller for a boat or a dirigible, or to a generator to create electricity. The fuel that creates the needed heat is primarily coal.”

“Yes, yes,” interrupted the minister, “the clock is ticking.”

Steinhauser nodded and continued, “Coal burns hot and fast and heats the water very well. However, to keep the heat going you need to constantly add coal to the furnace. Are you aware that a locomotive will burn multiple tons of coal in a single hour? So the weakness of today’s steam engines is the limitations of its fuel source – it requires constant feeding and large quantities to be kept on hand.”

“Please get to the point, doctor.”

“Yes, a simple demonstration should suffice to gain your appreciation, I think.” Said Steinhauser and gestured to his associate, Koehler, who produced a small metal device that looked much like a small candle stick but with a battery attached to the base, wires that wound up the short stem to a square holder – currently empty – on the top. Steinhauser took the cube that he had laid on the table and placed it in the square holder of the mysterious device. Addressing the minister, “Herr Minister, please place your hand over the cube and tell me if you feel anything.”

No less impatient, the minister did as instructed and responded with an exasperated sigh, “I feel nothing.”

“Good, that is expected. Now, I would like you both to lean away from this device.” They both did, the minister looking at his watch again. As Steinhauser put on a thick leather glove, the minister looked a little less impatient and a touch more curious. Then the doctor attached the battery to the wires – a wave of heat hit the occupants of the room as the air above the cube wavered – Steinhauser held up a wooden ruler with his gloved hand and held it over the cube. Wide eyed, the minister and his companion watched as the ruler started to scorch and then erupt in flames. Removing the ruler and extinguishing it, Steinhauser removed the wires from the battery.

“What did you do?” cried the minister, “What is that?”

With a slight smile on his lips, knowing that he finally had the appropriate level of attention of the minister, Steinhauser explained, “This is an amalgam cube. It is a compound discovered by Doctor Koehler and myself. It sits at room temperature until a small, constant current is passed through it and then it heats up to amazing levels. Simply put, we believe it is the fuel of the future – the replacement for coal.”

“Doctors,” an astonished minister said, “if what I’m seeing is true and not some elaborate trick, then I congratulate you! But why did you specifically ask for the Defence Minister? Certainly one of our esteemed university professors or an engineer could be of better use to you.”

“Before we finish this meeting, I think you will understand.” answered Steinhauser. Looking at Koehler, Koehler got up from the couch and went over to the steamer trunk on the bed and produced what could only be described as toy steam car. Taking the car, about the size of a loaf of bread, complete with four spoked tires, a brass engine, and a passenger area, Steinhauser said, “In order to see the practical application of the cubes, please watch this simple demonstration. This is of course a steam car. It has a steam engine that uses an amalgam cube as its heat source.” Then taking a cube from the box, he placed it in a small compartment in the engine. He flipped a switch and after a moment the car proceeded to run. “I would like you to note a few things. First, the engine works. Second, there is no smoke stack – no coal is being burned. And lastly, please place your hand in front of the car to stop it.”

Steinhauser picked up the car, placed it on the edge of the table and let it go. Minister Sloan placed his hand in front of the car and found that it had quite some power – he could stop it but it certainly wasn’t a wind-up toy. “Yes, this has some surprising power behind it!” said the minister.

“The engines powered by the amalgam cubes are quite efficient and powerful. Although this is a small demonstration, the power of the cube is exponential,” continued Steinhauser, “The larger the cube the more heat it produces. So a cube that is roughly a little larger than say a grapefruit could produce more than enough heat to power any full size locomotive currently running. We are talking about countless tons of coal being replaced by one single cube.”

“How long will a cube last?” asked the minister.

“We honestly don’t know,” Koehler answered, “We have had the cubes activated for months at a time –”

“Did you say months?” exclaimed the minister’s companion.

Koehler smiled, “Yes, months and we have not found the limit of its duration. We do not pretend to know everything about the operation of the cubes but our tests indicate that these could last over a year. We weigh the cubes before use and then weigh again afterwards, looking for losses or expenditures of some sort. But even after months of use we have detected barely measurable losses.”

As the two guests sat in stunned silence, Steinhauser continued, “The small size of the heating element, the duration, and the efficiency of the engines that can surround it, will allow for all manner of vehicles, some great… but we fear, some terrible.” With that, Koehler went back to the trunk and produced the most fantastic object yet – a small box with a propeller on the top.

Steinhauser continued, “Gentlemen, without the weight of coal, and the more powerful engines that can be used, we believe we can enact heavier than air flying.” Taking another one of the cubes, he placed it in a small compartment of the new device and pushed a button. All watched the box eagerly as its propeller started turning slowly, then faster and faster. Then it happened – the box lifted off the coffee table!

On seeing this, Sigmund nearly fell off the ledge he was on. This was incredible – a flying machine without a balloon attached.

The minister and his companion were also in astonishment. Steinhauser then seized the device out of the air, hit the button again and placed the box back on the table, its propeller coming to a slow stop. “This is a prototype but there is nothing to suggest it couldn’t be scaled up. Imagine, minister, that this was big enough to hold a man, or to hold many men. Imagine that this had weapons attached to it. What kind of effect would that have in battle? Or worse, imagine what a fleet of these could do.”

“It would be an overwhelming advantage.” the minister said simply. Sigmund thought back to the dark stranger using that same phrase.

“Now imagine this technology in ground vehicles. They could run great distances without the need to supply them coal. They could be light-weight and fast, or slower and heavily armored. Imagine the great navy of Britain running with amalgam cubes as its fuel source. Imagine all of this without the tell-tale smoke of a coal burning engine to give away location. Imagine no need for supply ships.”

The minister’s companion, unable to bridle himself any longer exclaimed, “The amalgam cube will change the world!”

“Gentlemen,” the minister said in an authoritative voice, “I think I begin to see why you have chosen to talk to a soldier instead of a scientist. But I have to ask one more thing. Why is it you are coming to Britain? Surely you would be heroes in Germany – or any country for that matter.”

“You are correct, Herr minister,” said Koehler, “Germany would indeed laud our accomplishments but we were afraid for what these accomplishments could really mean. Truth be told, we were so focused on accomplishing our goal that we lost sight of the ramifications of achieving it. There is one more thing that we must show you.” Reaching into his jacket, he removed a piece of folded paper. He placed it on the table, opened it, flattened it out and pushed it towards the minister. “Do you know what this is?”

Looking it over, the minister said, “It looks like a blue print for some kind of armored war machine.”

“You are correct. The scale may not be evident but it is a large vehicle that houses a very powerful cannon. It is designed to be quick and has an armor shell that is thick enough to make it impervious to bullets and all but large explosions. The design is truly brilliant but also terrifying in the efficiency that this machine could be used in battle, to kill. All it needs is an engine that is powerful enough and sustainable enough to make it practical. Our government tasked us with finding a way to make it work. Our first approach was to make the coal burning steam engines more efficient, thereby lessening the need for coal. Although we were able to create some excellent engines, they were not the answer. We could reduce the need for coal by up to a third but it still wouldn’t be enough. It was then that we started to look at things differently – if changing the engine wasn’t the answer, then what about changing the fuel? Doctor Koehler had some experiments early in his career that produced some heat with use of compounds and electricity – that was not his goal, just an interesting by-product of an experiment. Well, we revisited those and developed the amalgam cube before you. Once it was actually created, the repercussions of the military design on these blueprints as well as the potential for many other war machines that could now be invented – land, sea, and air – gave us pause. Imagine, minister, an army of these machines. With your current forces how would you fare?”