Journey to the Heart of Luna - Andy Frankham-Allen [17]
“No, Prof. I’ve seen me fair share of accidents while working in the Navy, enough to know a second degree burn when I see one.” Boswell let go of the hand, and offered Nathanial a smile. “Superficial. Ah, ’ere comes the wonder of medical science.”
Nathanial looked up from his hand as the engineer returned with a wet cloth. Boswell thanked him for it, and wrapped it around Nathanial’s hand. Immediately the coldness created a feeling of contentment in Nathanial and the pain eased. As a quick-fix it would serve, but he still intended to visit the ship’s doctor at the earliest opportunity.
“Better?” Boswell asked.
“Much. I am in your debt.”
“Aye, lad,” Boswell said, giving Nathanial a hearty slap on the back, “and you will not be the last and that’s a fact. Whatever possessed you to touch the boiler? You’re a man of great intellect, or at least I’ve always imagined the designer of the governor to be so, surely you must be aware of the temperature the water boils at in there?”
Nathanial felt his skin flush under the looks of both Boswell and Stevenson. It was like being back in his father’s study when he had been a child and the twins had told on him for playing with his father’s new telephonic device. “I have always been a tactile man, Chief, as far back as I can remember. Touching things, taking them apart to see how they work.”
Boswell smiled broadly. “Just my kind of fellow!”
Nathanial found himself returning the smile. “And I doubt the thin air helped much.”
Boswell laughed. “You’ll fit in ’ere well enough, Prof, you see if you don’t.”
“Thank you, Chief. So, the governor…?”
Boswell nodded, no doubt impressed by Nathanial’s steel. “Follow me, then.”
Boswell led the way and Nathanial followed, with Stevenson taking up the rear. They passed through the small gap between the two boilers, the heat almost stinging their exposed skin. Even under the damp cloth, Nathanial’s hand throbbed, almost as if it were keeping in time with the gentle vibration of the floor. Nathanial knew, however, that in truth the vibration beneath his feet was a result of their vicinity to the electromagnetic field generated by the aether propeller. The unit which housed the propeller sat behind the boiler on the left; six feet in height and thirteen feet long, it was finished off with a wooden veneer that appeared to be buckling slightly under the intense heat coming from the boiler which was attached to it by a man-sized pipe of brass. The propeller, based on the original design first created by Thomas Edison in 1868, was the most advanced of its kind; a mechanical apparatus that generated an electromagnetic field outwards from the stern of the ship.
Nathanial approached the propeller unit, careful not to fall down the gaping hole in the floor. He glanced down, his eyes following the steel pipe that ran the length of the shaft. Now he knew exactly where he stood. Below him was the antenna, and that pipe channelled the heat generated from the multitude of mirrors that made up the antenna. He stepped around the opening of the shaft. There really should have been some kind of railing around the opening. The thinness of the air could cause someone to lose their balance easily enough, and it was a long way down to the bottom of the antenna shaft.
He walked the length of the propeller housing, feeling ever so nauseous as he did so. He presumed this was from the electromagnetic field. Attached to the far end of the unit was the propeller governor. Nathanial stopped there, and regarded his invention with pride. Outwardly it looked no different than the rest of the propeller unit, except for the excess of gauges and valves; instruments that allowed precise alterations to the effectiveness of the governor. Inside, however, was a very different thing. Although he could not actually see it, Nathanial only needed to close his eyes and he saw it clearly. An intricate lattice work of gears, pulleys, cogs and, at the heart of the governor, which was exposed to the aether itself, three flawed diamonds; serving as lenses by which the