Automata Romana

Chapter 5: The workshop

"Just follow me, we are almost there."

Hadrian had been led by the esteemed professor to a long corridor.

"The ride here wasn't too bumpy, was it?"

"It was fairly bumpy," said Hadrian. "but it wasn't that long a trip."

"Perfect!" Heron announced. "Just a couple more doors down."

Hadrian hadn't gotten too much sleep the previous night. He couldn't stop thinking about what the next day held for him. In fact, he'd sped through his morning routine once the sun touched his face, running at breakneck speed from his bedroom to and from a few brief obligations. Breakfast skipped, his stomach grumbled as his eyes finally laid upon the door to the workshop. But something was off.

"She's a beauty isn't she?" said the professor with pride.

"Yea the doors are cool I guess. Pretty big, definitely. But where are the door handles? I don't see how we are going to get in." Hadrian announced with visible confusion.

"Why my lad, the lever is right there!" Heron pointed to a lever a few feet away, sticking out of the wall.

Hadrian goes to the lever and strains to pull it out of the wall, failing completely to do so.

"What are you doing?" Heron says, chuckling slightly.

"How else are we supposed to use it to pry the door open?" a slightly frustrated Hadrian blurted out.

"Oh, aren't you silly." said Heron. "Here, let me show you how it's done."

Heron pushed Hadrian to the side and grabs the lever, pulling it to the ground with a great huff. With an assortment of creaks of shifting gears, the neigh monolithic structure begins to open. A beam of torchlight breaks through the crack, beginning to light up the room. A room of mechana in various levels of completion revealed itself. Gears on workbenches, piping on every other shelf, and some sort of metal container elevated on struts above a bowl in the center of the room. Hadrian began to walk fourth, hand slightly stretched out, in the direction of the device.

"What are you doing?" Heron asked calmly.

Hadrian didn't answer the question. He merely stood still, staring ahead, jaw agape.

"What is it?" Hadrian asked. "What does that do?"

"I wouldn't expect you to go for the orb on stilts first. Anyways, you see that water over there?" Heron responded.

Hadrian fetched the ceramic pot, bringing it to Heron with an energetic, child-like stride. A bit of water leapt out onto the floor, making a splash.

"Pour it into the opening. Slowly." Heron instructed, before running off to a separate area of the room.

Carefully pouring the heavy container it quickly became evident that the amount was pre-measured, the cauldron filling to the top. Heron walked back with an armful of firewood and some sort of oil, piling it under the chaldron. He poured the oil over the logs and handed Hadrian two rocks, then closing the cauldron.

"Now my boy, strike them together near the logs. Put some fury into it!"

Hadrian struck the rocks together, creating a great deal of sparks that ignited the liquid on the logs. They almost instantly had a great roaring inferno in front of them. A few moments passed with not much happening, but then there was a boil. Then steam began to escape from two bent pipes sticking out of the bottom and top of the orb. The force at which the steam shot out of the pipes quickly increased and the orb soon began to move. Going faster and faster, it was now rotating at a blinding speed, creating a disk of steam around the orb.

"By the gods... What is that thing?" Hadrian said in astonishment.

"That is the Aeolipile." Heron responded. "How would you say it compares to the portable automatic theater?"

"I mean... The theater was amazing, truly a sight to behold. But this, this could do so many things! Just imagine if you attached a rope around that to a wheel, you could make a thing that automatically fans whomever it was placed for. And if it could do that, imagine what else it could do! Oh Tartarus, I'd dare say it could supplant the need for slavery entirely if developed enough!" Hadrian excitedly spat out.

Heron didn't respond.

"Sir?" Hadrian asked.

"Oh, how I wish I still had your enthusiasm. But alas it isn't anything more than a toy, a party trick. I can open temple doors and scam temple goers, but not much more. My works on math and the like are of real benefit to mankind." Heron responded.

"You just need to keep at it!" Hadrian yelled back.

"Don't you remember what the governor said? Everyone thinks these things are toys! Sure I could look into this for more 'practical' purposes, but not a single soul under Zeus's grand sky would care. Not least to mention the inherent cultural difficulty in trying to take away a Romans slave." the old man retaliated.

"I suppose." Hadrian whimpered. "But you might as well try."

"I'm sorry, and I am quite thankful for your belief in my works, but it's a dead end. If by the nature of their existence or ours, they have nothing to offer the world."

Silence struck the room once more. Heron appeared visibly regretful.

"I could tell you a bit more about how the door works if..."

Heron was interrupted by a loud and desperate knocking on the door, which had since closed independently.

"Pull the lever to the side down." Heron screamed. A servant burst through the door soon as he was capable, appearing extremely upset and exasperated. Then he screamed.

"It's Alexios, he's been stabbed!"