bravenewworld | "To chart a course into the future"

As high tide approached, Banzu was busy getting ready. The large doors at the end of the drydock were opened, the ship's boiler was stoked, and a final check was made of the exterior of the hull before everything was cleared from the drydock cradle. Seawater was let in to flood the drydock, the ship floated perfectly, and the drydock gates were opened. The moment the water hit the high-tide mark Banzu brought the ship's engine to its lowest setting and the ship began to inch forward. There was a worrisome moment when the ship got stuck on the seabed just outside of the drydock, but bringing the engine to a higher setting got it free and Banzu took it on a graceful arc through the water before pulling up to the end of the pier. Steam shot from the valves into the air as he shut down the boiler and released its stored pressure, dropped the anchors, and tied the ship to the pier. Once the ship was secured he walked to the bow and, in a single smooth motion, lifted the tarp that had been covering the prow and hanging over the sides, revealing the letters painted there:

Pathfinder

Congratulations, Union. You're now a seafaring society.

"...what in every blazing inferno imagined is that?"

Okay, Isabela had to admit, she wasn't prepared for this. Her idea of a ship involved a great deal more wood and canvas and a great deal less wallowing in the tide, and she was willing to admit to ignorance this once if it meant Banzu might explain how that thing was even floating.

The hull was wood, yes, but that was probably the only thing that would've made sense to her, though its shape was strange and a bit too narrow; the "mast" was a single thick metal tube still letting out smoke, the ship's wheel was in a little hut in the middle of the ship rather than the rear where the rudder should be, and there were no holes for oars, just a few portholes filled with glass in the forward half. Just as Banzu had said, it could be operated by a small crew, since the only other person on board appeared to be the sweaty Smeargle coming out of the wheelhouse.

Banzu hopped down onto the pier and picked up the gangplank he had left there, grunting as he lifted it into place to allow for easy boarding. When he turned to her the look on his face was definitely an unasked question about how much she actually know about sailing.

"It's a ship."

Sailing? She knows everything there is to know about sailing. It's internal combustion and machinery that are throwing her off.

"It has no sail, it has no oars, and it's on fire. It's maybe a barge."

"Far as I've been able to tell from reading what the library's got it's only a barge if it's got a flat bottom. This doesn't. And it ain't on fire, the fire's supposed to be there and it's contained in metal so it won't ever spread."

He had to ask now.

"Do you know anything about steam engines?"

"If I admit I don't, will you explain to me how that thing's floating? You've got me curious now," Isabela said, giving the vessel a little bit more of a critical eye.

"It floats because of 'buoyancy' - basically as something pushes on the water the water pushes back, and if something's the right shape and size for its weight the water will push enough that it'll float. It'll work for just about anything if you get it right; I've got a metal model of the ship that floats exactly like the full-sized one does."

It was an overly-simplified explanation, but would hopefully do for now. Then again, Banzu thought, if Isabela knew about sailing she would probably understand the idea of buoyancy even if she didn't know the science behind it, so he might as well go on to the other question she probably had.

"If you're wondering how it moves without any sail or oars..." he paused, then decided not to just explain with words. "Follow me, I'll show you."

He started back up the gangplank.

"I know why things bloody float, this just doesn't look like it should."

Isabela followed Banzu up the gangplank, thankfully wordlessly. The deck hadn't caught fire yet, and she was finding herself unable not to know how this thing was supposed to work.

"Just making sure."

Banzu led her inside, through an open sliding door, past the steep stairs leading belowdecks on the left, and through another open sliding door into the wheelhouse itself, a small room with large windows filling up most of three walls. On the left, facing forward, was a swiveling chair and the ship's wheel, but also a handle in a slot that looked like it could be moved forward and back, several switches like the ones for lights back in Union, some small light bulbs, and a collection of what looked like clocks with only one hand each. The "clocks" had numbers on their dials, but there were no other labels or explanations written anywhere.

To the right of the entrance was a wall that curved away out of sight to the rear of the ship. On the wall, just inside the door, was mounted a bronze plaque:

Banzu started around the curve of the rear wall, but paused for a moment.

"Don't touch anything. This's were I control the ship from."

Without waiting for a response, he continued around the curve of the wall and down a steep set of stairs.

Isabela immediately snatched her hand back from where she'd already started running it over the dials. It's instinctive, alright?

She had the good sense not to play with anything, but she did carefully look over everything in the room and its position. She doubted any of this was stuck in for decoration, even if she didn't understand it, so she carefully filed it away as information for later. Especially how it looked possible to secure the helm here; that was always a problem on sailing vessels, especially for the people whose boats Isabela had decided she'd wanted in the past.

"So what's the big handle next to the wheel for?" she asked as she followed Banzu down the stairs.

Edited 2014-07-05 03:42 (UTC)

"It controls how fast the ship moves, and whether it moves forward or backwards. Don't touch anything metal down here. You might get burned."

The compartment at the base of the stairs was over half the length of the ship, but getting a good sense of its size was hard, considering it was packed with metal cylinders and pipes of various sizes, leaving only a narrow passage around part of the perimeter and a handful of tight squeezes between different components. The whole area was filled with residual heat emanating from most of the metal surfaces, making it a less-than-pleasant place to be.

"This is what moves the ship."

Banzu moved to the forward end of the compartment, where a tiny workbench was built in, and moved aft, pointing out the various components as he mentioned them.

"This chute brings coal or wood from the fuel pile up top. Whoever's down here puts it in here, the firebox. The heat boils water in the boiler and turns it to steam. The steam goes into these turbines. Inside the turbines are a bunch of... they're kind of like the ship's wheel, but the handles are shaped to catch the steam. The steam's got enough force to turn the wheels pretty fast, and the wheels in the turbines turn these, the driveshafts. The driveshafts go through the hull here, and on the other end in the water there's propellers. Propellers are kind of like a bunch of oars put in a circle; they push at the water the same way, just faster and with more strength, and that pushes the ship forward. There's a few more things with the engine too. See this thing connected to this turbine? That's a generator; it uses part of the turbine's power to make electricity. And these pipes leading out of the turbines? They take the steam to the condensers here to turn it back into water that can be sent back to the boiler and start the whole process over again. As long as you keep it hot and add a bit of water to replace what the condensers can't get back, the engine will run for a long time. There's a bunch of little details to how it works, but that's the basics."

Isabela scrutinizes the machinery. It was like looking at a hold full of rowers, but all the shirtless men replaced by gleaming metal. It was a bit of a disappointment in that regard.

"Well, it beats rowing when the wind is calm, I guess," she admitted. "Still seems awfully complicated for moving this tub about, though. How much speed d'you think you can get out of her?"

On the plus side, it probably smelled better.

"Not sure. Done some calculations, but until I open up the throttle tomorrow I won't know for sure. I'm thinking at least [Insert a number that will probably surprise Isabela, enough to get to the island in around 2 hours instead of the 3 that most Pokémon would take. Odds are excellent it's faster than any possible hold of shirtless men could be, and the same for most strong winds blowing in the exact right direction.]."

"All that from lighting a bonfire under her deck?" she asked. "That'll be something to see."

Isabela looked around further. She was smart enough not to tough anything, tempting though it was, but was still more than a little bothered by the difference between this and a proper ship.

"Must be lighter than it looks too, if this much metal is even floating, let alone going to move that fast. What made you decide to use this instead of sails in the first place?"

The real reason was that Banzu had found the plans in the Old City mostly as-is and hadn't considered building something different. He hadn't told anyone that though, allowing people to assume that he'd come up with the idea on his own. He paused for a moment to think of an accurate response, and settled on a fairly obvious one.

"Got more experience working with metal and machines. Union generates its electricity with machines like this too, so there's more up-to-date reference material than there is for sails."

"And so you went from no ships at all to floating machinery. Makes as much sense as anything else in this town."

In other words, very little. Isabela shrugged.

"As interesting as this is, I'm more curious how you sail it. Or...pilot it, I suppose. You've got your throttle and your wheel up there; do the machines handle everything else?" she asked. If they covered the rowing and there were no ropes or booms to speak of, it was a reasonable guess.

"Yeah, pretty much. It needs to be fed fuel, and I need to keep an eye on it so the pressure stays in the right range or things could get messy, but I can pretty much do everything I need to from the wheelhouse. The biggest unknown is going to be how much maintenance I'll need to do on it. I've got an idea based on what they do in the power plants in Union, but the way I'm using this one is different so that might change."

There's a big pile of cut stone to load onto the Pathfinder and it's not going to walk on board and be tied down by itself. Remember to lift with your knees.

[ While curious, Melaka has (obviously) never been on a boat before. As such, she's not necessarily sold on the idea of going on this thing's maiden voyage. Still, she did help with it, and has been making a hobby out of charting a path to the dock on this side. So, as payment for abandoning it to go to Caldera, least she can do is help get the supplies for the other side on. Which is what her, her Toxicroak, and her Donphan are all assisting with before the thing actually takes off.

She'll just go back after that. Or such is her plan ]

[Banzu himself is being kept occupied by his discovery of exactly how complicated it is to load a ship and not have it list to one side, requiring him to focus on securing the cargo to the deck instead of helping load. Fortunately, he has someone to take his place, hence the Golett lugging stone. The Golett who very deliberately glances over at Melaka's lighter load as it passes before looking at its own load and then making eye contact with her before continuing on.]

[ Oh you did not just give her looks that says she's doing too little. In fact, she gives the ghost thing the stink eye back ]

[Not even paying attention~. Too busy hefting this big stack of stone blocks~. Yup, look at how much bigger its load is than hers~. Melaka doesn't seem as strong as Morgiana this probably won't result in Erg KOing itself trying to show off. Hopefully. It found that painful and embarrassing and the boss wasn't happy about it lying around unconscious instead of working.]

[ Probably not quite as strong, no. Mastery of Battle versus Fanalis and all. But Melaka is a fighting type, has her pride, and will not be slowed down by this. So after dropping off her current load, she's going to head back to the pile to go and pick up a significantly larger one for this next round ]

[Erg sees your significantly larger load and on its next trip raises you a slightly larger load.

~~Erg no stop have you learned nothing from the last time you did this?~~]

[ Boo you whore. Though at this point, Melaka hesitates to get on the boat before the Golett, in case he's going to make it sink or something. So she'll just. Wait for him to drop the load.

She assumes it's a him. ]

[The boat does list slightly more than on previous trips, but Banzu's too focused on getting the cargo balanced to notice the slight difference. Erg sets its load down and saunters down the gangplank and along the pier to pick up another load. The new load will be the same size as its previous load; it seems that Erg learned something from last time and isn't going to unnecessarily escalate this competition. ~~The competition is still stupid though.~~

Golett are genderless, but Banzu thinks of and refers to Erg as male, and Erg is acting kind of stereotypically male, so "him" is probably justified.]

[ Well, it didn't sink... So she steps on, a little gingerly, before he comes back. And she'll set down her load not to far from where Erg dropped his. And with that confirmed that it's not going to sink, she's going to try to get more this time around. Maybe.

It still won't be as much as Erg. Lame ghost ]

[That lame ghost robot is still winning this little competition and strutting around with its loads.]

[ WHAT A JERK.

So much jerk.

:T

But yeah he kinda probably is winning here ]

[ Blue's brought a few pokémon for this job, as well for the rest of them once they get out onto the island. Blastoise and Nidoking are helping with larger piles, Blue making sure to watch Nidoking in particular with not having knees quite so human-like before), as well as a second ~~fake~~ Blastoise and a Mienfoo.

She'll direct her pokémon to help with any others that might seem to need or, and help out with the tying business too, once she thinks she's got the hang of it. Though she will double-check with Banzu after her first attempt. ] Is this good enough?

[ She tugs on the rope, feeling for its strength. It doesn't seem loose! ]

[Banzu reaches over and tugs on the rope.]

Seems good.

[He looks up at what's already been loaded.]

Just hope I got this shit balanced or there'll be trouble. Makes sense in hindsight that this'd be a problem.

[A pause where the gears in his head are obviously turning.]

If I built a ship to be the best at hauling shit I'd load everything as low down as I could. No room for a cabin then... And I'd prolly need to have a crane on board to get shit out easier...

The Pathfinder finally pulled out of the harbor, having been kept at a low speed while Banzu got a better feel for how she steered and multiple lookouts made sure that she didn't hit any submerged rocks - this was, after all, the first time that a ship had sailed these waters in centuries, so there were no accurate charts available to reference. Fortunately there didn't seem to be too many hazards, at least not this close to high tide, but Banzu made a note of them regardless; he would need to draw up a proper chart of the waters surrounding Union eventually, but for now this would do.

As the sea floor dropped away beneath the ship, Banzu decided to get the trip started for real and called down to the Smeargle in the engine compartment to start adding more fuel to the Pathfinder's steam engine. He watched the gauge as the pressure built and, when it got high enough, opened up the throttle. The turbines spun up, the propellers turned faster, and Pathfinder gradually went from walking speed to her full cruising speed, exceeding the speed that many Pokémon would be able to Surf at.

Riding a ship is different than riding a Pokémon, and considering that most people in Union have never done the former, some of them may discover seasickness on this voyage. Some may also discover why you must always sit when using the toilet on a moving ship. For both of the above, if you make a mess you have to clean it up.

Morgiana gripped the rails at the bow of the ship, watching the waves splash by. The rocking of the Pathfinder gave her no trouble, so she could concentrate fully on enjoying a novel experience.

[Oh hello human all alone at the bow. You seem to be doing much better at this ship thing than Banzu's Klink is. Leaving the wheelhouse was a bad idea - having no limbs and floating above the deck of a moving ship isn't very fun. It'll just crash into the railing next to you and use it as a brace to take a break before trying to return to an enclosed space.]

She looked at the pokemon with vague concern. A lot of humans and pokemon seemed vaguely ill on this trip, but she had no idea why.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Go nuts! Just make sure to do some work in the meantime.

OPTION A

[Nero's in his Gabite form, celebrating being out of that freaking ship by doing what he couldn't have done onboard-- shoving his nose into the sand to show the ground how much he missed it. The voyage was hell on his nerves because he was part-Ground type with the instinctive urges to dig holes and hoard shiny things, and he'd been grumpy pretty much the entire time.

He resolved to bring home at least one Pokémon and possibly a bunch of shiny things from this island and make it enough of a reason to never come back again.

In the meantime, he, Blue Rose and Pepper worked by digging holes into the ground precariously near the shore for people with opposable thumbs and proper hands to put posts in for the pier. Gabite claws were excellent for that, even if he couldn't actually use the Dig move yet, but it wasn't like he needed it to make holes for stuff to be put in them.

Occasionally he would raise his head and look around for anyone coming, if they had tools or stuff for the pier.]

OPTION B

[Nero was on a break. A break. By stuffing himself into a hole he'd dug for himself in the ground while both a Nidorina and a Charmander sunned themselves near its entrance.

Anyone coming close would be greeted by Blue Rose and Pepper. But if anyone bothered to try and actually peer inside they would be warned by the two Pokémon, and if they persisted they would be treated to the sight of a clawed Gabite arm or large jaws with sharp teeth coming out of the sand.]

[[ ooc: Feel free to move into prose or present tense if you like! I'll change my format to match you. ]]

[Ezreal gives a low whistle as he observes the work]

Nero, was it? Nice job. Hey, help me out with this?

[He and Dragon, his Charizard, are hauling large wooden poles. He's got a big box of tools at his side]

[Nero waggles his arms up and down, trying to decide if he can carry poles with them. ... But obviously not. He needs to be human for this. So he shifts back, and flexes his arms as he approaches the two, his own Pokémon at his heels.

Pepper, for her part, cant stop nattering at him about the Charizard.]

Daddy, daddy look! He's huge. I'm going to look like that, right? I want to look like that!

Later, squirt. I'll introduce you the the big guy later. This is a job for the big Pokémon so scram. [He made a shooing motion with one hand, and both the Charmander and Nidorina scrammed, Pepper pouting all the way. He just rolls his eyes before facing Ezreal again.]

So. Where d'you want me?

[Red is attempting a bit of work on the pier, but of course snags happen, and right now he's resting near his section before he jumps to it again, Abby sunning himself on the sand and his growing collection of Fire Type Pokémon also enjoying the hot sun, Prometheus in fact resting on Red's head while he's reading notes Banzu left him for his part of the job. Though really this is a bit more complicated than the engineer led him to believe when he agreed to help...]

I dunno guys... Maybe we should take a break for today, Banzu said this is one of the last sections anyway, so maybe I can get this sorted by then.

[ Hello hello over there friends and other friends. Here's Blue coming on over, her pokémon elsewhere around on the beach giving their assistance. Seeing her friend looking over the notes with his pansear plonked on top of his head, it seemed like one of the better times to come on over. ]

Hey, Red. How's it going?

[Looking up at her, Red feels a pull as the fire monkey finally slips, taking his hat with it as it lands in the sand with a laugh, getting up and running over to Abby while waving the hat all the while.]

Blue, hi. [He looks down to the notes again, sighing and closing them up so they can't blow away on the wind.] Not great. Banzu says these need to fit exactly or they might come apart in a storm, so I'm feeling pressured. What are you up to?

[ She watches as the monkey goes off, then lowers down into a crouch and tilts her head to try not-so-hard to look at his papers. Hm? ]

My pokémon are still helping around where they can. I just thought I'd see what you were dong. [ She places a finger on top of the papers. ] If you're worried about this, I'm sure Banzu will fine with making sure everything is how he wants it if you ask. I think after all the work he went into putting all these designs together, he'd want to make sure they're perfect out of all of us.

I guess. It's just weird no one else seems to be fretting this.

[Of course, perhaps they are and he just hasn't realized quite yet.]

You're right though. [He then shakes the papers lightly to move her finger.] Still, I think it's time for a break, did you want to do something? [Like stare at the sand, maybe he could show her the volcano, the area around it he liked quite a bit. Abby finally sits up, taking Red's hat carefully from the Pansear and tossing it onto his own head.]

[ Wow, batting away her finger with papers like that! But she rests the arm over her knee. ]

Do you have anything in mind? I have a boy I'm taking care of. [ Who is somewhere around there, and who she looks over for. Red might've seen her with him during the boat ride, with blond hair. ] I brought him with me to help him train. I'm planning to stay behind with him if this project wraps up quickly enough.

[He did, and had been giving her space so she could work out whatever it was she needed to with him. Though mentioning training brings up a familiar gleam in his eye.]

Well hey. We can go to the volcano. There's some fairly strong Pokémon there, like Prometheus, Hadyn, and Titania. Maybe I'll bond with something new this time too. [He rests a hand on hers on her knee.] It's good you're helping someone.

[ She tilts her head, but smiles in particular at the last comment. ] I like him; he's a good kid. [ She scoffs lightly. ] It's funny we can call people that these days, huh?

Anyway, the volcano might be too much for him. He hasn't actually trained that much - even the beach is going to be tough for him. But I guess if he has the both of us with him, I'm sure it'll be okay.

"To chart a course into the future"

Launch - June 16th

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Yes I am aware this is ancient

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Loading - June 16th

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Maiden Voyage - June 17th

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On the Island/Building the Pier - June 17th - ?

open | choose your own landshark adventure!

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