Lost in Transit

17

^^ Siren ^^

Repairing my ropes was more difficult that most anything else, to be honest; they were industrial-grade paracord that had been braided to proper width, and as such were rated to hold up to 1200 pounds without any stretching whatsoever. But, if you add a Knot into the mix, things get... very interesting, very fast. So, in the end, I simply set aside the twenty feet of rope that had been around my waist, as I was sure it could be used for something else, and laced a new harness, slowly and carefully.

My fear of heights seemed to make people think that I would be trepidatious about the mountain and hanging in the air 140 feet above solid rock. Hanging from a rope. Alone. And, I mean, they weren't wrong, but so what? Do I just... stay away from heights my whole life? That's stupid. Fear was just an emotion, like all the others, but most of the time it was logical, so you could reasonably be expected to follow it sometimes, but that didn't mean just don't do things that scare you, it means do them safely. So, despite my acrophobia, I simply got back to work, after a day of 'rest'.

I actually managed to finish a rough outline of the entire statue, in about three days more work, and I noticed that the Bottomless Bag did, in fact, have a Bottom, as I could now see the last rocks I put in, and they didn't disappear. "Just in time, I'd say... into the pot you go!" I grinned, and rappelled down, disconnecting myself and heading over to the Silicone Tower.

"How's it going up there, ya fuckin Lunatic?" Rhea laughed at her pun, and then pulled a large tray out, carefully turning the spigot on the tower and filling each of her clay molds.

"Going good, I brought granite stone, if you or anyone else needs it?" I whistled to Johann, who I was sure needed stone for his smithy, and then poured some of stone from the bag out in an open spot of the plateau for anyone who wanted it. "Some will feed the Tower, I believe, so let's see if it can survive on only stone, for now? Set aside all the trash in a compost pit for it, but I'd like to test any changes in the composition of the slime, Okay?"

Rhea shook her head. "Already tried that, actually; needs organic material, or at least Carbon and oxygen, -which organic material is Carbon-Based and oxygen is not difficult to come across,- or the slime stops altogether. But yes, I will feed it the granite, as well..."

"Huh... Alright, good to know." I nodded.

"Also, it seems to separate and purify anything it doesn't need into base components or base compounds, so when we fed it Granite, which is a mixture of Quartz and Feldspar, it kept the Silicon from the Quartz, grew a little, then spat out a variety of crystals and metals; namely: Aluminum, Potassium, Iron, Sodium and Chlorine(salt), Calcium, Cobalt, Barium and Iodine... we need Salt with Iodine, as well as Potassium, Calcium, and Iron in our diets, which will hopefully help keep us a little more healthy, even with a restricted diet like we have for now. The Aluminum and Barium was sent to James for his Thermite Project... but, the Silica actually stuck to the crystal, so I worry about it getting too big for its britches..." she hummed.

"That is worrisome... well have to break off several pieces a day, but honestly that can only help us, considering we need to grow more of it in order to study, and also to power some of our things. Magic Crystals are essentially their Batteries here, so if we can get a reliable source of those, and move away from electricity..." I hummed.

"Why move away from electricity?" She asked, flipping the molds over each other and sliding them into the clay oven she'd had built, powered by induction.

"As a general rule, I don't like to rely on anything that can break, not without several backups." I explained easily.

"You climb mountains with only one rope." She raised both eyebrows at me blandly.