The deep end
Continued from here.
"OK
Alex
, mun. Nice work. We cun get de wood far de boats fram Sweetsang. Me will work an dat and get the supply tuh Egleron."The assistant of Isonomia nodded. "They are ships Winston, you really should stop calling them boats." The ferret laughed. "But yes, that would be superb. I have begun lining up the funds via the Faction account and so we just need to get started with some raw materials."
With that, the ferret smiled and concluded the call, placing the
Holo-com
back in his pack
.He waded eagerly into the calm sea waters off Faldrass' shore, the odd contraption in his hands tugging at his arm as its weight was shoved about in the waves. Totrial was the big test-run for his latest invention - a pair of magical underwater thrusters. He didn't really know how well moving around in the water would work, but he was eager to find out.
The thrusters had been attached to either end of a bar of alchemical metal, allowing him to hold the middle of the bar while activating the thrusters together to provide propulsion. The property he put into it was the water resistance of oil, to protect it against rusting. Instead of using the Windstars, this time he'd used two CLass 2 Saltenrock wells, one at each end, to express salt water in a propulsive stream.
He looked over his shoulder, where Chest sat and Angela waved. "Don't be too long! And don't go too deep!" She yelled and he smiled and waved back.
The ferret had been dreaming of exploring the ocean after nearly drowning the last time he fell in. The Saltenrock wells would allow this, with their innate gift of breathing under seawater. "Me will beh safe! De
Saltenrock
well's let meh breath undda da sea!" He beamed, as if invulnerable to any mishaps. Truth was, he'd had plenty of avoidable mishaps recently and he planned to have no more.The hand-sized metal thrusters were activated by channeling energy into the devices. Once charged, the thrusters would propel and control his movements through the water. By using his meditation skills to keep energy flowing evenly, the water-bound ferret hoped to be able to cruise beneath the waves to find the wells around the fracture he had seen previously. "Just don't let go of that thing, OK?" Demanded Joe helpfully.
The inventor chuckled. "Don't worry, mun. Me gat a Saltenrock in me belt packet also, jost en case meh need tuh let go af de device... Me will be fine." He was not a terribly strong swimmer, but worst case, he figured he could pick up something heaving and simply walk back to shore along the bottom of the sea.
Winston waded out until the water lapped at his chin. Taking a deep breath and pulling his
goggles
down, he focused inward, directing his energy to charge up the paired thrusters as gently as he could manage. They began softly burbling as water spewed out of them. He gave an experimental push and the thruster tugged him forward through the water!It was a few moment before he realised that he was still holding his breath by reflex... He willed himself to ignore the instinct and took a deep breath of sea water.
Laughing with joy, Winston tried the right thruster with a bit more force. He was thrust ahead in a little burst of speed as he quickly reduced the power again to regain control. Soon he was chugging along, experimenting with rudimentary looping and zigzagging all around the shallows, frightening a school of fish with his erratic movements. Controlling both thrusters' power simultaneously while focusing his ether proved quite tricky and he avoided going to deep until he'd tested this in the shallows and made plenty of notes, visiting the shore to check and tweak the device as he went.
After a break of playfully testing the thrusters' capabilities, the aquatic explorer set off parallel to shore, heading towards the location he had see the glowing. He was searching for an underwater fracture, and the magical Seawells said to be found around them. To get this far, he'd borrowed Wells from what Faith had personally left him to experiment with in his education. For that, they were currently serving very well, but he always felt bad using them for anything that did not immediately benefit other people. That being said, this was teaching him a lot and forming the basis for Isonomia's new ship propulsion and so he were certain that it was fine.
The ferret could hardly wait to study the crystals up close and the seabed gradually fell away to deeper blues as Winston left the sandy shallows behind. Schools of fish still crossed his path here and there, but less frequently now. He had to pause occasionally to re-center his energies, let his ears pop and regain his grip. It was hard to hold on for such long periods of time when moving fast, so he took to tucking his elbows over the bar to place a thruster on each side of his torso and just used a gentle force to glide along.
Suddenly the ocean floor opened up into a shimmering fracture! Though it appeared solid, he knew it was merely an illusion hiding an impassable rift between realms. Minor rifts could not be entered and in fact, this was not likely to even be the same rift, but peering over the sparkling edge, he could just spot a faint azure glow along the seafloor - Seawells!
The scientist in Winston desperately wanted to descend for a closer look and collect samples. But the unstable energies around the fracture made going near it dangerous. With great care, he backed away from the fracture itself and made his way to the seabed.
Settling on the seabed, he stood and began to brush aside sand and seaweed as he searched for anything interesting. Floating beside him,
Smoky
waved at him. "Wish me had magic eyes" Winston said to the Diri of Usefulness with his broken Common Sign."Sorry. I don't have any eyes at all." Came the spectral pair of hands' reply with what Winston was sure was the equivalent of a chuckle.
The search was slow going without any means by which to actually detect magic. This was something he was going to have to improve at some point, but as he search, wells began to collect in his bag. He'd found a Chi stone and no less than a dozen Saltenrocks! He scooped them all into his pack and began to move off.
Just as Winston was about to begin to surface, something huge rammed him hard from the depths! He was sent tumbling uncontrollably by the glancing blow, sending a large number of teh wells scattering to the floor as he tried to snatch the bag shut again. An enormous eel now circled him rapidly, readying another strike. Its sinuous body was easily five times Winston's length! By anyone else's standards, this would be a dangerous but modest creature. For him though, as with most things, it was an enormous sea creature.
Thinking fast, Winston triggered full thrust, blasting a surge of bubbles right into the eel's path as it lunged. The creature jerked aside, surprised by the burst of seawater. The aqua-ferret seized the chance to race upwards on an angle, pushing the thrusters as hard as he could. But the eel was swift...
It circled around and came at Winston again, jaws gaping wide. At the last instant, Winston spun upside down and surged below the eel in a daring maneuver. The predator's bite snatched only water. Before it could loop back, the ferret zoomed straight for the distant shimmering surface as fast as his paws could channel energy to the straining thrusters.
He breached into open air just as the eel closed in for another strike. The creature's hunting ground were nit he depths of the ocean and it's reluctance to surface saved his from pursuit as the creature circled briefly and then went back to its hiding place on the seabed. Laughing in exhilaration, the Cadouri criused for shore with his prize thrusters in paw, already planning improvements. One such improvement being to make them float, as he constantly had to steer them upwards to combat their sinking weight.
Collapsing onto the sand to rest, he went over the trial's events and tols Angela, ins the most trivial of terms, about having made a new friend.
The thrusters had performed decently, though controlling both simultaneously was challenging. And having to grip the units had likely slowed his escape. As he caught his breath, he realized that mounting each one on the side of a boot would grant better control and free up his hands, but would that offer any stability? Even better, attach them to his thighs, to allow them to be stable and maneuverable!
Winston sprang up, re-energized by this inspiration. He just had to get back to his workshop now and start tinkering. As he slogged from the surf lugging the unconventional devices, his mind churned with ideas. He couldn't wait to craft sturdy waterproof housings on articulated mounts to strap to his legs for Mark Two! Better yet.
The design revisions filled Winston's thoughts as he jump into Chest, leaving Angela to enjoy the sun as she planned her latest recipe. No doubt the next water trials would present new challenges. But such setbacks only motivated the ferret inventor further - each failure brought deeper insights to perfect his thrusters. The wonders he'd glimpsed beneath the waves had captivated him completely. The mysteries of the deep called to Winston's inquisitive spirit. And his technology would let him seek out those answers. Where this path would ultimately lead him, only time would tell, but it would be accompanied by AUMOR!
All template credit, love and admiration goes to Kisaik
