Spoiler : :
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
Seawater gushed through the tanks that surrounded the core of the Istfel. The water level rose rapidly, and the gauges and instruments that filled the bridge responded to match the change. The needle on the gauge labelled "Water Tank Load" moved to the blue region - optimal capacity for water replacement. Iston Felipp threw open the cover of the speaking tube and announced to the rest of the ship," This is Iston, the tanks are blue. Raise the rods and generate the steam."
The acoustic tubes tunnelled his voice throughout the Istfel, most importantly, to the central core. The group stationed there, so mutated that they barely look human, quietly moved to an array of ropes with clamps fastened to them. A few of them moved to operate the clamps, while the rest pulled on the ropes. The ropes were connected to a complex series of mechanisms which travelled all the way to the rods attached to the reactors in the core. They were designed to be effortless to handle, for the crew had limited strength. The group pulled on a few selected ropes, and the control rods of the nuclear reactors raised slightly. The clamps went back on, and the crew waited.
The control rods reduced their inhibition of the chain reaction, and the heat started to build up. Very soon, the water boiled and the crew begun the blowdown procedure to prevent salt from building up. Their steps also included a procedure to desalinate the seawater for long term use as steam. The different tanks of water were filled with fresh water, and resultant brine was ejected into the sea. The doors from which sea water entered finally closed. With the water in the tanks renewed, the Water Tank Load gauge now showed green - full capacity. The boiler tanks too, were green. Iston Felipp now gave his next order," Our water is renewed, all tanks are green. Time to direct the steam to the fans."
The crew at the steam control room began their work. The steam was redirected back to the reactor via a series of tubes to be superheated. Then, it was directed to all over Istfel to power the various mechanisms of the ship. Most importantly, the main recipient of the superheated steam was the turbines that controlled the ship's fans. Their propulsion quickly lifted the Istfel from the sea.
Iston checked the instruments at the bridge once more. Everything seemed to be in order. Based of the information he had bought from Telesia, the areas with the largest concentrations of artifacts similar to the cores of the Istfel were Eastern Damalace, Western URE and the Eastmost part of Korrin. The easiest to access would be Korrin, and that was his destination. Estimated time to arrival - 2 days at cruising speed. He glanced at his map and checked his coordinates for a few moments, ensuring he was still on course.
All of a sudden, as he operated his sextant to recokon his location, his sighting suddenly swayed and Iston almost dropped his instrument. The bridge's door clicked and flung open. A young woman with a permanent grin on her face burst into the room, holding a couple of blueprints in her hand. "Hey, hey! When are we reaching land? I need to find a suitable person for this new design I have! It's a new and improved version of the design I had previously! You see, it can be controlled by muscles now! Look! Look!"
"Uhh... Calm down Hastelle, we should not be hitting land for another 2 days. So... You said you have a new design now? It's the hand right? Well, let me take a look then. I'll see how safe I can make it." Several years with her and Iston still couldn't be entirely comfortable with her actions. He had given up on trying to stop her. His only respite in dealing with her came from trying to make her insane inventions safer so that she might kill less people. Hastelle laid her blueprints on the large table in the back of the bridge and introduced her design. Her design consisted of attaching multiple fasteners to the arm muscles which would be connected to a mechanism that allowed the prosthetic fingers on the hand to move. It required that at least part of the wrist to still exist for the hand to be fitted.
"So... it connects directly to the arm and wrist muscles? What happens above the muscles?"
"Yes! Well, the whole thing fits over the muscles. I guess I could scrape the skin off for a better fit..."
Well...That wasn't a good question. "Err, how about fitting the mechanism above the skin? It may be weaker, but it should require less maintenance and last longer. Maybe it could be supported by external power, like compressed air or a spring. Then the muscle would only be used for control."
"Hmm, control? I haven't yet found a way to directly connect to the nerves... Using the muscles as a intermediary is great idea! I'll be back!" And with that, she rolled up the blueprints and walked out of the bridge.
Iston gave a sigh of relief and returned to sighting on his sextant. Well, hopefully her next design comes out safer. I'll have to make sure she causes as little trouble as possible at Korrin. ...Speaking of which, I wonder what we'll need in preparation there? We'll be at the primary area of Korrin after all...
