Chaz grinned wider, a little more maliciously than usual, and gave Gray a finger-gun gesture.
Riiiiiiiiiiight. I gotcha. He turned away, automatically facepalming. That was really dumb. He shook his head and jumped off the side of a platform, knowing immediately what to do. He worked like a machine himself, barely needing to stop to look at what he was doing, the blueprint in his head the only guide he had. He talked as he worked, idly.
Alright. Given that the metal used to build this thing is probably pretty impure, made by orcs of course, no offense to Kerag, the failure point of the main boiler is prooobably close to four, five hundred pounds per inch, less with extreme heat. I'll stoke the boiler here... He climbed like a squirrel up a ladder and across a pipe, turning a crank set into it downward, dropping off it as he did so.
--close off the exhaust--
He ducked under a mess of pipes, hooking his wrench into a small pipe arrangement and pulling it free, steam streaking over his head. He yelled over the sound, sounding like a kid on Christmas, scurrying off towards another part, completely in his element.
--secondary exhaust gone! Third and forth heat sinks disabled! Nitro dumped! Oxygen timer on....buy us some time....ooh! And look! He picked up a small tubular device, raising his goggles as he did so.
A handheld version! Looks like they used some bastardized Gnomish spot welder and cranked up the settings. Should be salvageable. What....why would they not but safety valves on the air tank? Those second-rate grease monkeys wouldn't know a redundancy if it bit them on the-- He looked around at the heaving machinery, ears flattening.
Maybe not the time. He put the device in his backpack, stuck his wrench between his teeth and dropped to all fours, slipping under a pipe and up a ladder, stopping at the top in front of Grayell, in a sitting position. He grabbed his wrench and looked up at him blankly.
We have three minutes.
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Three minutes... to be as far from this as possible right? Sorry Charles...
Grayell scooped up the Cathian and in an instant slung him over his shoulder. He leaped off the platform and grasped a pipe as they fell, then brought them swinging about to land on a gangplank. Running as soon as they hit, Grayell turned a corner, dropped down a ladder and looked about.
Hang on little buddy...
Grayell broke from the ladder and ran the length of this boardwalk - that went left. He however, did not. He jumped over the rope railing and into the air, before crashing to the ground, hands holding Chaz as delicately as he could manage. He set him down then.
Oop! Chaz didn't expect being picked up bodily, but he was used to it. As small as he was, it happened a lot more than you'd expect. He kept his head low as Grayell navigated the mess of pipes and machinery, and shook his head when set down. He brushed off his clothes and then took off, hopefully in the direction Gray was going.
We'll have to get a few hundred feet out, or find something to hide behind. A rock, a hill, something to block the force. It's not the-- He stumbled, the recovered.
--the fire we're concerned about, it's the concussive blast. Can turn your brain to jelly.
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Chaz had dropped to all fours. Luckily his backpack was tightly closed and strapped to his back, otherwise it might have moved around and clocked him in the head. He seemed a little more comfortable running like that, his slight frame letting him run quickly, slinking carefully over the log, his tail straight out behind him for balance.
And that's not the worst part. If you-- Under a branch.
--don't have ear protection it'll puncture your ear drums, leaving you-- Between two rocks, and over a small stream.
--completely without hearing and bleeding from your ears. You wouldn't get your hearing back without magic-- Around a bush.
--and even then it won't be as good. We have fourty-five seconds, I've been keeping track.
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Twenty one, twenty-- Now covered in mud, he grabbed onto a branch and got on two feet for a moment to wipe off his goggles before dropping again and heading toward a nearby rock.
Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen-- He ducked behind it and covered his ears.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four...
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Grayell slid over the rock, dove into place beside Chaz and threw his arm over the Cathian. He was paying attention to his count... leaned his body on his friend and then covered his ears. His face winced in anticipation....
They could see the light, bright and blinding, a split second before the sound and sheer force of the explosion. It washed over the countryside, instantly flattening trees and even some small hills. It hit the rock in front of them and deflected most of it, but they still felt weak and shaky because of the shockwave. After a moment, Chaz, wide-eyed, got up and peeked over the rock. For a hundred feet out from where the machine had been, there was nothing but charred dirt, in the middle of that a deep crater. He blinked and said nothing for a long, long time. When he did speak, his voice cracked as if completely dry.
Well. It's...gone now. Permanently.
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Grayell sighed long and hard, he'd been holding that in for some time now. He rolled onto his back and looked at Chaz... with a friends look - a stern by not unfriendly stare.
Chaz. Tell me I will never see one of those again. Not by your hand, not through your actions.
Still in a slight state of shock, Chaz gave Grayell a strange, searching look, his brow furrowing. He pulled up his goggles and looked back to the crater.
No. Not...not on this scale. Not like that. He let out a breath.
I could feel it. You know how you can probably look at an animal, like a wolf or something, and feel its soul? I could feel the machine's soul. He seemed distant, his voice monotone.
Machines want order. They're the physical manifestation of the universe's laws. They live on it, they want order, they are order. A machine used for that much chaos and bloodshed...was twisted. Dead. Tortured. It knew, dimly, what it was doing, and hated it. He was quiet a moment.
It was a mercy killing. I would never bring something like that into the world again.
A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.
Well we might disagree on personal philosophy but you're right about one thing - it had to be shut down. As did they. Thanks for your help Chaz, I couldn't have managed without you. Geez - I may have been a crispy critter by now.
Grayell produces a pouch with a grin.
The wheelman had this, nice of him to make a donation eh?
Grayell tossed Chaz the bag of gold, it contained some 250 gold between them. Chaz meanwhile had grabbed the goblin arc welding thingamibob... which was no longer working. Seems the crystal was shattered and of unknown origin.