Video

[schmott_guy]

[In the background is a research lab, though not Gil's. There's various other people in lab coats swarming around some kind of strange rusted hulk in the background. And he's filming it because RP. Don't ask questions.]

Work continues on the artifact we found in the Old City, but at the very least I think we have a good grip on what it was.

It is a large, motorized vehicle of some kind. The configuration suggests it was built for hauling cargo, probably within the confines of some government facility or one belonging to a powerful corporation.

I can't imagine vehicles like this were very common. The infrastructure you'd need to maintain them and use them would be so immense it boggles the mind. Thousands of miles of high quality roads. Massive refueling stations everywhere. Thousands of mechanics who's whole purpose was specifically taking care of them, for such a large machine would need a lot of care. You'd need to build your entire civilization around supporting these vehicles.

And people said MY ideas were outlandish.

Comments

[schmott_guy]

Hrgh, don't want to leave this thing alone. Apparently we're on a time limit before the guild takes over and gets their filthy mitts all over it.

[He watches the metal move with vague interest.]

I'm guessing liquid. Unless some key parts have completely rotted away, which is certainly possible, it looks like the way its built a gas would escape every time you tried to refuel it.

[outtahere]

Shame it wasn't smaller. Then they wouldn't've had to have found out.

[Said conversationally. It's not like he's ever failed to let anyone know about things he's found before. Certainly not like blueprints for a ship or anything.

He nods at Gil's assessment as he continues his measurements.]

My thought too but again, it's heavily damaged so it's hard to be sure at this point. It almost certainly interacts with those white things that the battery powers, otherwise why have them? So it either reacts to electricity in some way or ignites in the presence of a spark. Igniting seems pretty dangerous, but again, heavily damaged. There could be something missing that'd make that make sense.

[schmott_guy]

The theory is sound. As long as the parts were well made enough, the risk of an explosion seems small.

They must have had incredibly precise manufacturing capabilities. We'll have to really work at it to match them.

[outtahere]

Well...

[He finishes his last measurement and holds the component out to Gil. As soon as Gil takes it, the rod Banzu was holding it by will sever without leaving a trace that it was ever connected.]

Condition of the original makes it hard to be sure, but so far as I can tell that's as perfect of a match to the original as you can get.

[schmott_guy]

Nice trick.

[He turned the bit over in his hands.]

Can you make a thousand more?

[outtahere]

Depends on how fast you want 'em and how much is in your wallet.

[schmott_guy]

Well if this project is successful, it would probably go into mass production, in which case we wouldn't want to have construction rely entirely on you. Bottlenecking problems aside, I'm sure you have more interesting things you could be doing with your time.

[outtahere]

I do.

[It would get tedious incredibly fast.]

But mass production? Other than along Route 1 - and something like this could come in handy for me - where exactly would anyone use one of these? The streets that this would fit on are the ones that usually have the most people. Unless your goal is to destroy every fruit cart you encounter. ...Can't say that couldn't be at least mildly amusing to do.

[schmott_guy]

We probably wouldn't make this exactly, but some manner of motorized vehicle designed more to suit our needs would give us a huge edge over, say, Gigas.

[outtahere]

You think we'll need to compete against them at some point? If we do, we'd need vehicles that can get through the forest, otherwise they're just for show.

[schmott_guy]

Every time we've met them we end up butting heads. It's only a matter of time if you ask me.

Their technology is still miles beyond ours in some areas. I say better to start spreading the technology out now and see what it leads to. Give everyone motorized vehicles and then we have the whole city working on clever new ways to use them rather than just us.

I mean, I'm pretty smart, but...

[outtahere]

So am I, and so are a bunch of other people.

[Most of them, Banzu included, aren't geniuses or Sparks like Gil though, merely smarter than the average Ursaring.]

Personally I might be able to use something like this - even at this size - whenever I need to move stuff between Union and the port, and I'm seeing a use for a small boat with this kind of engine too - there's things I need a boat to do that Pathfinder is too much for. Still, this assumes we can find or substitute fuel for it, and that said fuel is at least vaguely economical to provide.

[schmott_guy]

That's a start.

[outtahere]

That said, I'm closer to one of the groups that probably used these things than most. The average person wouldn't need one, except maybe for fun or... Or...

[He grabs another bar of metal from the workbench and smushes the thin rod he's still holding into it like combining two chunks of clay. The combined block starts changing shape as he continues speaking.]

Bicycles work for small deliveries, but what about larger things? A business wouldn't need something giant like this just for making deliveries, but something smaller could work. Assuming the engine could be miniaturized enough, you'd keep the same basic configuration - a control compartment in front and a cargo space in back - but shrink it so that it can fit down streets. Not sure about the dimensions off the top of my head, but you might be able to squeeze two people in, so the operator has someone to help with loading and unloading - probably why this thing seats two. Other than some really long or wide stuff - you could build specialized ones with larger cargo spaces if you had to - that gets you a decent cargo hauler for transporting most of the things a business produces. Hell, build a little display on the back and you have a tiny mobile shop that you don't need muscle or a strong Pokémon to move around.

[The block finally finishes shifting into a model of what he's describing.]

[schmott_guy]

[Gil took the little model and turned it over in his hands, examining it.]

Interesting. A different take from what I was working on.

[outtahere]

[The wheels on it turn freely too.]

What were you thinking of?

[schmott_guy]

Literally taking a bicycle and replacing the pedals with a motor.

[outtahere]

[He opens his mouth, then closes it, putting a fist to his chin in thought.]

...Huh.

Pretty much sacrifices all cargo capacity, but you'd probably gain an advantage in speed without the extra weight. It'd also get through pretty much the entire forest and handle just about any terrain, assuming the frame was built for uneven ground. Maybe use it for scouting and courier stuff?

...I wouldn't mind trying this out.

[schmott_guy]

Pretty much what I had in mind. I think we can save space on the engines until we learn to miniaturize them more by using rotoms for power, too.

[outtahere]

[He raises an eyebrow slightly.]

I've been kicking around the idea of using Rotoms as a power source myself, actually. I've looked at all the Rotom Cores that've been recovered and built copies, but building a Core that only transfers power rather than converts it isn't quite the same. If we can get a good enough idea of how this engine works though we might be able to combine the two into something functional. This could definitely work.

[A pause, and an annoyed click of his tongue.]

Course, every Rotom I've seen's been an annoying little shit to some degree. Even mine I still have to keep an eye on or it'll fool around and try and scare people. Some kinda safety system to keep it from leaving the moving vehicle it's powering'd be a good idea.

[schmott_guy]

You're not wrong. It would be a stopgap measure until we could come up with something more reliable.

[outtahere]

Stopgap or not, I'd be interested in trying to build one.

[schmott_guy]

Since we're both building something, how about a race?

[outtahere]

Or we could combine our experience and not waste time with one-upmanship.

[He's not a Spark, he knows he'd lose that race. Plus it's more to his benefit if he can make use of Gil's genius along the way.]

[schmott_guy]

[And doesn't it do wonders for Gil's ego to hear it.]

That could also work.