At that moment, a car’s engine was heard from outside followed by a violent rapping at the entrance.
“Nimya Tchuhachkova. Please open the door. It’s me.”
It was the chief’s voice. Nimya clicked her tongue and pressed the switch beside the desk. The warehouse shutters opened, allowing the sunlight to get in. Footsteps of more than ten people, led by the chief, came in.
“Good afternoon, Chief. For you to pay me a visit… could it be that my appeal was already approved?”
“Of course not. …Oh, traveler, how come you’re here?”
“I invited them out for tea and told them my story. I’m just welcoming our honored guest, am I not allowed to do so?”
The chief made a sullen face, but finally calmed himself after some effort.
“Nimya. There is something I would like to tell you.”
“And what would that be?”
“All citizens are free to do anything they want as long as they don’t commit crimes or create trouble for the community. However, this country’s council has decided that you shall no longer be allowed to waste time and money on this ‘flying machine’ and other worthless matters.”
The chief delivered his speech with a dignified and deliberate tone. Nimya only glared back, though not impolitely, and gave a curt reply, “It’s not ‘worthless’. That’s all I have to say.”
Kino and Hermes could almost hear the molars of the chief grinding in frustration.
A middle-aged man spoke up. “Chief. It’s no use no matter what you tell her. This woman has gone crazy. Just look at this weird machine.”
“Don’t you dare touch it!” Nimya gave a piercing shriek to the man who tried to approach the machine.
Kino stands back as Nimya shrieks at the people approaching the machine, watching impassively - but your character certainly isn’t bound to stay still if they want to take action.
[ just, you know. elbowing her way into the group but in such a way that it seems like she's just always been there? ]
If you don't mind me stepping in as someone who's an outsider, Nimya was just making us some tea. I was wondering, though—speaking as someone who hasn't had this conversation before, if you could tell me about what's troublesome, here?
"Isn't it obvious?! She wants us to move the statues - statues that, may I remind you, display the pride and joy of our country, the people whose work improved our country for generations to come, all for this... this useless contraption!"
"It's not useless!"
[Some of the men chortle at her words, poking and prodding at the machine. It's supposed to fly, but it's so heavy - if something like this could fly, shouldn't they all be floating off the ground? The wings don't even seem to be able to flap!]
Ah, sorry! I wasn't sure. I was just about to tell Miss Nimya about it, a practice from my homeland—using flying craft to more efficiently fertilize crops and introduce pest control.
I don't know if you have devices that can do that already, from the ground...?
Oh, of course not. People can't fly on their own at all, but if you think about how birds or kites work, it's a matter of creating a craft that can successfully catch enough upward force from initial propulsion and wind to sustain it aloft despite the weight.
So, wings the size of a person's arms wouldn't be big enough, but ones as long and broad as the ones on this craft are actually in the right neighborhood, if you do the math. Then, it can just glide for a long distance; a lot longer, if it has an engine.
...well, maybe intermediate physics. I don't have holos or anything, but couldn't Nimya construct a scale model with the right weights as a proof of concept?
"How is that supposed to prove anything? Of course something smaller is lighter!"
[Possibly these men do not know even basic physics. The chief shakes his head.]
"Please, traveler. There's no need to entertain her nonsense. And you, Nimya: tomorrow afternoon, we will come to dismantle this weird machine. I’m afraid to say that as long as this thing exists, you will not be cured of your delusions. This is a final and immediate decision by the council. We will buy the engine and use it for a generator. Do you have anything to say?"
“I have.”
“What is it?”
“Won’t you move the bronze statues?”
“Rejected.”
“……”
“Now everyone. That’s it for today. Go home. We’ll continue this tomorrow.”
[The chief turned away and the rest of the crowd also left the warehouse.]
"I just have to prove I'm right before he has a chance to dismantle it, of course! But that means figuring out an alternative. There's no way I can move those statues alone..."
Bronze is heavy... but you don't have to move them. You just have to turn them sideways, and that's easy enough to accomplish with a lever that can handle enough force. And you've got a lot of scrap metal here.
"Even if I did that, I won't have enough runway to get lift."
What about making a ramp before the statue to jump from? That's what's normally done to clear obstacles in the case of motorrads. This machine should be able to do the same thing... maybe...?
[Kino is like, clearly out of their element here, but Trying.]
"...That’s right. If we do that, we don’t have to move the statues…. That may work! Just wait! I’ll make the calculations."
[Nimya dashes to her desk to run the calculations... before making a frustrated noise.]
Theoretically, any weight we can remove from it will decrease the propulsion requirements, although I don't know if there's any parts that can be modified at this point...
Well you could launch it with a gunpowder explosion, the way bullets are propelled in a persuader. Maybe…
[Nimya glances over at Kino, but shakes her head.]
"That’s not possible. I understand that idea, but to propel something this big, we will need a tunnel just as huge. Besides, even if we do have something like that, the machine will break."
Is that so... [Raising a hand, as though it were a gun, and gesturing:] Bang.
"...Kino. Just now, you were pretending to fire a persuader, right? But you raised your right hand."
Of course. The recoil of this persuader is pretty strong. [Kino taps Canon, the revolver on their thigh, and Nimya freezes. And then:]
"That's it! I don’t need the blast, the recoil would be enough! Just like in a persuader, I’ll put gunpowder inside a pipe, ignite them consecutively to produce a gas at high speeds! If I put several such pipes on the machine, it will be able to dash!” While pointing inside the warehouse, “I have pipes! I have gunpowder! I can do this!"
[Kino clearly has no idea what's going on and has not for the past while.]
The one who greeted the chief with a smile was Kino, who was going through the road placing ropes on the boundary with the walkway. The ropes were wrapped in yellow cloth printed with the words ‘Danger. Please do not go to the road beyond this line’ in black letters.
The chief turned his gaze to the nearest bronze statue. Just before it was a machine, glittering silver underneath the morning light. It was the flying machine from the warehouse. But it had an added touch that was not there the day before – several thick pipes attached below its body. Nearby was the crane truck owned by the Tchuhachkova family.
The chief shook his head several times, and blinked his eyes.
On the opposite walkway, Kino was briskly laying down the ropes. Several people have come out, staring in shock and wondering what was going on. Kino addressed them with a smile.
“Everyone. Please do not go beyond these ropes. It’s dangerous.”
Hermes was parked obliquely in front of the plane. Nimya in her overalls was tying a rope on Hermes’ carrier. The other end of the rope was tied to the tires of the flying machine.
Nimya climbed up the machine and sat in its cockpit. She put on her working goggles and gloves, and fastened the four-point seat belt. Then she waved to Kino who was now sitting astride Hermes, and gave them a thumbs up.
Kino started Hermes’ engine. The boisterous roar of the engine reverberated across the road....
Nimya raised both fists high in the air, and crossed them over her head. Then the moment she opened her arms, Kino quickly launched Hermes. The tirestops of the flying machine disconnected at the same time.
The machine began to slide forward. At the next moment, its engine gave off a roar that seemed three times louder. The pipes underneath its body spouted white smoke with great force.
“It exploded!”
“No. It’s fine.”
The chief shouted and Hermes muttered to no one in particular. The machine accelerated, as if it was kicked by some invisible giant, and sped to the ramp in no time. The buildings trembled with the explosion, and the necks of the onlookers turned swiftly towards one direction.
The machine ran up the ramp in an instant, and leaped against the wind while spouting out smoke from its rear.
Kino lost sight of the flying machine amidst the smoke. By the time the wind cleared up the fumes, they found its tiny form with the blue sky as its backdrop. The pipes that no longer emitted fumes became dislodged and fell away. It fell on the marshland outside the country, piercing into the slushy earth.
When it was almost invisibly small, it made a turn and returned towards the country and became bigger and bigger in view.
Soon, the people craning their necks into the sky gathered on the road. Everyone except for Kino had their mouths wide open in shock. They muttered simultaneously.
“It flew. That heavy thing is in the sky…”
“The machine is flying…”
“I don’t believe this… it’s impossible… but…”
“A human… flying…”
Kino stands nearby, looking up at the flying machine in awe - and in envy, really. But your character is able to look to them - or to the figure up in the sky - or otherwise move as they wish.
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Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
Kino stands back as Nimya shrieks at the people approaching the machine, watching impassively - but your character certainly isn’t bound to stay still if they want to take action.
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[ just, you know. elbowing her way into the group but in such a way that it seems like she's just always been there? ]
If you don't mind me stepping in as someone who's an outsider, Nimya was just making us some tea. I was wondering, though—speaking as someone who hasn't had this conversation before, if you could tell me about what's troublesome, here?
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
"It's not useless!"
[Some of the men chortle at her words, poking and prodding at the machine. It's supposed to fly, but it's so heavy - if something like this could fly, shouldn't they all be floating off the ground? The wings don't even seem to be able to flap!]
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I don't know if you have devices that can do that already, from the ground...?
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Nimya clasps her hands together, holding her breath.]
"Well, of course not. People can't fly."
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
So, wings the size of a person's arms wouldn't be big enough, but ones as long and broad as the ones on this craft are actually in the right neighborhood, if you do the math. Then, it can just glide for a long distance; a lot longer, if it has an engine.
[ welcome to PHYSICS for INFANTS ]
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
"Do you have solid proof this really works? Or did she pay you to give lip-service so she can try out her crazy little scheme?"
[Now Nimya's just making indignant faces behind his back.]
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Well, it's basic physics...
...well, maybe intermediate physics. I don't have holos or anything, but couldn't Nimya construct a scale model with the right weights as a proof of concept?
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[Possibly these men do not know even basic physics. The chief shakes his head.]
"Please, traveler. There's no need to entertain her nonsense. And you, Nimya: tomorrow afternoon, we will come to dismantle this weird machine. I’m afraid to say that as long as this thing exists, you will not be cured of your delusions. This is a final and immediate decision by the council. We will buy the engine and use it for a generator. Do you have anything to say?"
“I have.”
“What is it?”
“Won’t you move the bronze statues?”
“Rejected.”
“……”
“Now everyone. That’s it for today. Go home. We’ll continue this tomorrow.”
[The chief turned away and the rest of the crowd also left the warehouse.]
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"You can say that again."
What are you going to do?
[Kino's finally speaking up, it seems.]
"I just have to prove I'm right before he has a chance to dismantle it, of course! But that means figuring out an alternative. There's no way I can move those statues alone..."
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
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"Even if I did that, I won't have enough runway to get lift."
What about making a ramp before the statue to jump from? That's what's normally done to clear obstacles in the case of motorrads. This machine should be able to do the same thing... maybe...?
[Kino is like, clearly out of their element here, but Trying.]
"...That’s right. If we do that, we don’t have to move the statues…. That may work! Just wait! I’ll make the calculations."
[Nimya dashes to her desk to run the calculations... before making a frustrated noise.]
"It's no good. I still need more speed!"
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
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Well you could launch it with a gunpowder explosion, the way bullets are propelled in a persuader. Maybe…
[Nimya glances over at Kino, but shakes her head.]
"That’s not possible. I understand that idea, but to propel something this big, we will need a tunnel just as huge. Besides, even if we do have something like that, the machine will break."
Is that so... [Raising a hand, as though it were a gun, and gesturing:] Bang.
"...Kino. Just now, you were pretending to fire a persuader, right? But you raised your right hand."
Of course. The recoil of this persuader is pretty strong. [Kino taps Canon, the revolver on their thigh, and Nimya freezes. And then:]
"That's it! I don’t need the blast, the recoil would be enough! Just like in a persuader, I’ll put gunpowder inside a pipe, ignite them consecutively to produce a gas at high speeds! If I put several such pipes on the machine, it will be able to dash!” While pointing inside the warehouse, “I have pipes! I have gunpowder! I can do this!"
[Kino clearly has no idea what's going on and has not for the past while.]
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
[ it's ok kino just sit back and enjoy the ride ]
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
Kino stands nearby, looking up at the flying machine in awe - and in envy, really. But your character is able to look to them - or to the figure up in the sky - or otherwise move as they wish.
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[ she stands there, watching—and then turns to the chief. ]
So—d'you want some instructions on setting up a crop-dusting operation?
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"You... are you a mage? Nimya was a mage all along, and you helped her! Are you a mage, too?!"
[Kino tilts their head as they overhear this and just, ever so quietly, begins pushing Hermes along with them as they shift away a bit...]
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
[ that tone doesn't feel right. hm.
just adjusting her body language to read as a little more unassuming, shifting a little to the balls of her feet. ]
I'm just an ordinary person who's good at mathematics, and comes from... a country with a lot of machines.
Re: “Land of Wizards” ─Potentials of Magic─
"Nonsense! A woman is flying- it could only be great magecraft!"
[Kino helpfully inputs from a distance:]
That "great mage" isn't going to be able to land unless you move the statues and the ramp. Preferably four of them.
[The chief cries out in alarm and sends everyone to help in the effort of clearing the way.]
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she's just going to wander over to Kino. ]
Do you think she's going to be all right, here?
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[People may in fact begin worshipping the ground she walks on at this point.]
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