Invading the Past

Chapter 03: Crafting a Door

Colin realized the blacksmith wouldn't be willing to work for nothing as the man had a living to earn, so before approaching him with his ideas, Colin required something to offer in exchange for the man's services. Heading back into town, he found a job available in the stables. It provided lodging in the loft, so he accepted the job keeping the horses' pens clean and well stocked with feed.

It took nearly a month to save enough money to buy the parts he required. When he was ready, Colin rented a horse and cart to transport everything to the blacksmith shop.

"Blacksmith," Colin began. The man paused his work to listen. "I require your services, but I have not the great wealth to pay you. However, I can offer you inventions to assist you in your trade as compensation for your efforts. Give me a moment to set this up, and I will demonstrate."

Colin began to unpack his cart and put together all the various pieces. A small, coal fired boiler was first, and Colin lit the coals to give them a chance to heat while he assembled the rest of the construct. He attached pipes, pressure gauges, valves, and a number of gears on a skeletal framework of metal pipes. Wrapped around the gears was a strong chain, and the chain hung down from a horizontal arm at the top of the framework.

The final component was a tall cylinder of solid metal twice the width of his arm. Because of its weight, Colin couldn't lift the cylinder directly into position. Instead, he placed down a small anvil and lifted one end of the metal column up, resting it on the anvil. Heaving up the opposing end, Colin walked forward, pushing up on the cylinder until it was vertical. Balancing on the edge of the anvil, Colin reached up and tied off the chain to the top of the column. When he activated the gears, they spun and drew up the slack, tightening the chain.

When the heat and pressure were high enough in the boiler according to the gauges he inspected, Colin opened the valves and engaged the gears to draw in and release the chain at the top of the framework. As the chain was retracted, the cylinder was raised, and when the chain was released, the cylinder dropped with a pounding impact upon the anvil. By adjusting the gearing mechanism, Colin controlled the speed of the system.

"Tell me, Blacksmith, how much work could you do if your arm never tired?" Colin asked.

The blacksmith came over to examine the automatic hammer. He took a piece of glowing metal in a pair of tongs and inserted it between the anvil and the hammering cylinder, allowing the machine Colin had built to pound the metal flat. To shape the piece he held, the blacksmith had only to turn it and adjust the angle at which it was struck. Stepping back, the blacksmith dropped the glowing metal into a bucket of water, causing the water to hiss and emit a cloud of vapor.

"What do you want from me?" he asked Colin.

"I have a list of things I need for building bigger and better machines," Colin explained, handing over a folded sheet of paper.

The blacksmith opened the paper and examined the list of requested items.

"Even with this hammer you've made, I wouldn't have the time to make these things," the blacksmith denied. "There's too many."

Colin closed his eyes as his hopes began to wither away.

"However," the man continued, "if you wish to be my apprentice, you can learn the skills yourself and build the list on your own time."

"It sounds good," Colin accepted gratefully and eagerly. He switched off the automatic hammer.

The blacksmith scratched his beard. "What other ideas do you have?"

   ***   

The sweltering months of summer passed by, followed by the months of autumn and winter. The blacksmith, known now to Colin as Fredric Mueller, had wasted no time training Colin in the various skills of the blacksmith profession. Although he was a quick study, he frequently came back to Fredric when his own skills were insufficient for the required piece.

Fredric had suggested the townsfolk might not be understanding when it came to Colin's inventions, and Colin had been forced to agree. Futuristic constructions might be seen as magical or unnatural. Neither Colin nor Fredric wanted to upset the people, so they'd built a warehouse in the forest where they worked on his projects and crafted the technology of the future as best as they could with the resources of the current time period.

The entire length of the northern wall was taken up by the black hulk of a train's steam engine. The train had derailed during a winter storm, and Colin had taken great care in collecting the broken parts and reassembling them in the warehouse for his project. Rather than turning wheels to move a train down a track, the engine was connected into a gearing system at the far end of the warehouse, and the machinery there was designed to change the mechanical energy of the train engine into electrical energy for Colin's teleporter.

Electricity sparked from a pair of connectors where uninsulated wires were joined together. Colin and Fredric stayed well away from the electrical systems when the machinery was active because while they'd been successful in creating the wiring to conduct the energy, the insulation surrounding it in order to keep people from being electrocuted, was still beyond their manufacturing capability.

In the center of the warehouse, surrounded by a carpet of cables and pipes connected to the nearby machinery, a pair of six foot high towers stood three feet apart from each other similar to doorposts. Copper wires had been wrapped around the towers from the bottom to a silver sphere on the top. As the energy was transferred into the towers, arcs of electricity surged over them and crackled outward into the air from the spheres.

"If I'm right, this should open a gateway to my time," Colin told Fredric. With a hopeful smile, he pulled the activation lever.