Chapter 399: Laws of Contagion and Similarity

Chapter 399: Laws of Contagion and Similarity

The final phase of connecting the new teleport stone was underway. The old stone levitated upward and powered down. Ozzy, Jorges, Jon, and Cham each took one side and carefully moved the multi-ton slab out of the way. Four stone supports had been set up nearby to rest it on. Ben checked each support for cracks or shifting and then gave the go-ahead to set it down, gently. "This looks good, gentlemen, we don't want to take a chance on ruining any of the components of the old matrix."

"Or blow it up. Breaking mad scientist shit always causes an explosion. Sooner or later, something goes Boom!" Everyone nodded at Cham's wisdom.

Billy walked over to Ben, "The way I see it, we get two stones for the price of one. I want this thing taken to Gadobhra and set up."

Vladimir was pouring the last layer of bright, molten silver into the channels of the new stone. Delbert was nearby, keeping the temperature of the rock constant so hot spots didn't form and leave a flaw in the metal. Titania had one eye closed and was staring with her evil eye, trying to find any imperfections. To her magical sight and Detect Weakness ability, the stone was disgustingly solid. As the half-elf heard Billy's remarks, he smirked. "Damien, please tell our benefactor why that would be a bad idea."

Damien's face fell. "Darn it, Vladimir. Why do you always insist on warning people about things like that? I was hoping he'd ask to move the old one to his city. I've read all the papers on unbalanced resonance and explosive teleportation loops, but I've never had a chance to create one. Think what we could have learned!"

Jon winked at Cham. "You called it. They're already planning the next big bang."Fôllôw new stories at novelhall.com

Billy scowled at everyone around him. "Explain it to me in small words. Why can't we take this to Gadobhra and have a teleporter there?"

Damien sighed. "It has to do with how one teleportation matrix recognizes another. Each has a separate and unique code that is recorded in the Master Codex in the Emperor's palace. The cursed, secret-keeping Engineers copied the smaller stone's code to the new one. If we move this stone to Gadobhra, it's too far to link the two stones together and set the second one up as a subservient node, similar to the way Wolfsburg has a main stone and four smaller stones linked to it. This would lead to two active stones with the same code and when a person or item teleported to Rowan Keep, they would also be going to Gadobhra, setting up an endless loop as they moved between the two locations and never arrived."

Cham said, "Boom!"

Damien pointed at him. "Exactly! Well reasoned young man. Boom indeed! The building energy held in the loop would continue until the connection became unstable and a large explosion would occur. When that happens, neither area is stable enough to establish teleportation for at least a generation. This is one of the reasons teleportation stones are so strictly controlled, and why I am so happy to help with this project. A few people are going to lose their shit when they find you succeeded."

Milo looked from one stone to the other. "Where does the explosion occur? At one stone, the other, or both?"

Damien grinned. "That's one of the things I'd like to find out. The Boom! is assured, but where?"

Billy looked at the other stone, then at the madmen all around him. "Then that thing is just an accident waiting to happen. Shit."

"Indeed. I would suggest that the stone be moved quite a far distance away, at least seven miles, then destroyed. Residual power could send a pulse to the new stone when the runic matrix is cracked. It shouldn't be anywhere near Rowan Keep when the new stone is activated, although...." Damien's eyes narrowed as he thought of something, but Ben was ahead of him.

"I'll handle that, Your Excellency! I have four strong gentlemen who will assist me in moving this stone away from here, and then I can handle the job of removing the matrix before the stone is reduced to pieces. No sense in taking chances. On three gentlemen, lift and start walking." Before anyone could argue, Ben got the old stone on its way and Billy relaxed.

Vladimir smirked at Damien. "The blood runs thin in the line of your house. Who ever heard of a cautious Franklin?"

Damien watched Ben and his helpers move away, very curious. "Oh, I agree. Such caution is unheard of. But enough about the old stone that will soon be destroyed. How long until the new stone is done?"

Vladimir looked at the silver, then tested it by putting his finger on the area he'd poured last. "Cold as ice, and sucking mana out of me like a hungry lamprey. The runes are hungry and need to be charged. I'm all jittery, Damien, we have done fine work here. I estimate that this stone meets all the requirements for Tier 5. And I've learned so much! I can't wait to apply the lessons here to the stone in Gadobhra. It will be magnificent."

Damien frowned. "Tier 5. Are you sniffing flowers again? You're talking about a mana storage that exceeds one hundred million. And while we did an excellent job here, the stone simply can't hold that much based on its mass."

"Ooooh, I know just the thing. The teahouse has a lovely set of cups with twining branches, we can use that pattern."

Vladimir stamped his foot down hard and clapped his hands while whistling. Sometimes you needed a lot of noise to get their attention. "Not teacups. We have no way of casting identical teacups to take advantage of the Law of Similarity, and the Law of Contagion alone won't suffice. We are talking about mana streams, not delicious brewed beverages. But the idea of using a smidgeon of the Celestial-imbued metal is good. Adding a rune of transference to the objects will connect them."

Titana pulled an old, dog-eared primer from her coat. "Madame Frothington, of the School for Delinquent Sorceresses has a lovely spell in her beginning magic book. Each person holds a similar item in a circle around the mage who is marking an object. We used watercolor paints in her class since they didn't dare give us sharp objects to carve runes. We'd have killed each other with them. Competition was fierce in those days. The exact markings will appear on each object."

Vladimir took a look at the spell. "So intriguing and basic. I will have to be perfect in my execution, and each of you will be drained of a significant chunk of your mana, but we are on the right track. What do we have that would be an appropriate material? Damien?"

"Nope, I took a few choice items and every Magitech component I could fit in my satchels, but in a town where Butchers carry enchanted metals in their pockets and non-stick cauldrons are just sitting around in the woods, I'm willing to bet that someone here will suddenly pull something out of the air that you can carve. All the professors began digging in their pockets, hoping to find something.

"Copper wire? Slightly melted."

"Sassafras Candy, hard as a rock. It will break your teeth!"

"What about my teeth? They're a matched set, except for the cavities."

"Thirteen matched crow beaks, all from the same nest!"

Vladimir was considering taking Damien's teeth suggestion seriously. He was looking for a pair of pliers when his fellow Engineer tapped him on the shoulder. "The crystals in my chest were all from the same Gneiss Lurker nest. The Queen of the nest secrets a substance that hardens into the crystals. They absorb and redirect mana into the nests to help the eggs hatch. Would those do?"

Vladimir smiled at Damien who shook his head and threw up his hands in disgust. Then he brightened, hoping for another look in that chest. Milo snapped his fingers and the chest appeared, opened, and he pulled out a dozen crystals, all a foot long and an inch thick. Vladimir examined them, "Oh, these will do. Let me have six of those. We can link the Shrine, Stone, and each Shield quadrant." Damien was disappointed at the rest of the contents of the chest. "Why do you have seventeen types of cheese in here."

"Because I started with thirty-nine varieties, but Sir Larry and I have traveled far and are low on supplies. But we can eat Sedgewick Stinky Cheese on the journey home. It will tax our willpower to carry so much, but to be Master of the Cheese you must first be Master of your soul. We will be stronger because of our journey." He said it so earnestly that everyone but Damien nodded at the wisdom of the statement.

"Whatever. It's time for Science!"

Titania scowled at him, "You mean High Sorcery!"

"Leave me the illusion that I know what the hell we are doing, woman."

Each person took one of the crystals, held it up, and Titania began her chant. Vladimir carefully carved the rune on his crystal and the other crystals gained a matching rune. Each mage felt their mana draining. Then, taking the small ladle, Vladimir poured far too much molten metal into the crystal he was holding, and the grooves of the other crystals filled as well, just as the coffee cups had filled all at once. The professors and Damien were tired, but Milo seemed on the verge of collapse. He waved off any need for help but did accept a plate of butterscotch cookies from a helpful brownie.

An hour later, four of the crystals had been inserted into places on the walls, equidistant from each other. The Shrine had one attached to the altar, and Damien was connecting the last crystal with a capacitor of the teleporter. As he finished, there was a blue glow that spread from the Shrine to the Teleporter, and the Shield brightened. The runes on the stone grew brighter and brighter as it warmed up, absorbing mana. Billy danced a small jig he was so happy. A moment later, the first group of contract workers lined up to start the process of filling the mana reserves, pouring thousands of mana each into the stone.

As everyone started to relax, Squire Squeak faded into a shadow, and skulked his way out of the keep, unnoticed by everyone. A pocket full of glowing crystals in his pocket.