With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

17th February 2013
16:36 GMT

The clay man with the unusually large head and eyes nods slowly.

"Yes, they came here. They purchased a few drops of divine blood from me."

I nod. "What sort of things can that be used for?"

As far as I can tell the majority of his body is made of unfired clay, with fired plates positioned like armour on his larger surfaces. His body is blockier and squarer in proportions than a living human, as if he was some sort of prototype for humans when our shared creator didn't quite know what he was going for.

"It is a powerful way to invoke the power or presence of that god. It has uses in any one of a million magics."

He gestures to a table of alchemical equipment with a sweeping gesture of his right arm, small cracks visible at the joints. The cracks are emphasised in several places by the fact that they're bleeding.

Cernunnos frowns at it.

"These are just a few of the ones I know."

Kon nods. "Did they say which ones they wanted it for?"

The clay man looks at the panther for a moment before returning his attention to us. Yes, he's only talking to us because Bast has okayed it, but I doubt that he's more loyal to one customer than he is to himself.

"Travel. A god of travellers."

"Which god?"

The clay man shakes his head. "An old, forgotten god, nearly faded from existence, little more than a bundle of ideas. Active gods are not so easy to take things from."

"Ghoulish."

"It's an existence."

"Were there any other elves around? White skin, riding insects?"

"Not that I saw." The clay man brings his right hand to his chin in the classical thinker pose. "Though I do remember seeing some large beetles in the area. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Beetle-themes are common amongst Kahndaqi gods, so it may be nothing."

It may have been, if several other interviewees hadn't mentioned it as well, while other merchants who we spoke to didn't.

"Thank you. I believe that's everything we need. Is there anything that we can do to repay you for your help?"

"Oh." He sounds surprised. "I thought that I was answering you under threat of expulsion."

"You are, but I might want to come back here at some point and I'd rather have better relations with people."

"That is wise. There is one thing I would like from you."

"Yes?"

"I am pursuing a project of self-improvement. I believe that your patron's blood would add colour to my life. I ask only for a small amount, and it will be purely for personal use."

"I don't know how to get blood from the Ophidian. But if you'll draw a contract with a personal use limitation you can have a few drops of mine."

"You are not a font of primordial power."

I reach inside and feel the lines and flows. Shapes corresponding to the tattoos on my body and to the power they were designed to evoke appear on my outer surface. And some I don't remember getting or can't identify. That's… I suppose that's working as intended, but it might be worth getting a check-up once this is over anyway.

The clay man's eyes widen further "Oh."

"Acceptable?"

He nods. "I will write the contract and seal it with appropriate blood." He walks over to his counter and takes up a piece of parchment and… He squeezes his right forefinger into a point, the very tip extruding blood as a pen extrudes ink.

I let my tattoos fade as his finger scratches out the terms and conditions. Kon walks over to me with a frown on his face.

"Giving someone your blood?"

"Not a good idea generally, but the contract will be bound with both our blood. The penalties for using it outside the agreed terms will be nasty."

The clay man nods. "My reserves boiling and baking my core from within?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of your reserves denaturing."

"How merciful." He scratches some more, then jabs his finger. "There." He walks over with the contract, and… Yes, plain language, and a quick ring analysis suggests that there isn't anything I'm missing other than the lack of an obvious explanation as to what the personal use is.

But that's his business. I open my snake-mouth and extend my fangs, then raise my right hand and prick the end of my middle finger. One spot of blood goes in the indicated spot on the contract, and-

"Here." He points to his forehead, the hard brow plate merging with the rest of his soft head clay.

I nod and reach out, resting my finger in a shallow divot on his forehead for a moment before pulling it away. The red-orange of my blood marks the centre point for a moment before the clay oozes up to envelop it.

"Aah. Thank you." His eyes shine a weak orange. "You are welcome to return to my shop again. I wish you the best of fortune with your elf-hunt."

"Thank you." I nod, and then lead the way out of the shop.

We convene in a huddle outside.

"Beetles. Cluracan said his sister was taken by insects, and insects were following them."

Kon and I nod.

"Who around here keeps track of insects?"

"They're probably Khepri's thing, and…" Some parts of Ancient Kahndaqi mythology are a little… Confused. "He and Atum are… Related, somehow, and so he'll probably speak to me."

"What about the god-blood? The blood of a god of travellers could be used to access places and bypass guards, but I don't think there's anything particularly terrible it could be used for."

"I'm sure that Mannheim's come up with something. There are all sorts of places we don't want him to get."

Kon nods. "Like the Tower of Fate?"

"Among other places. Ms. Panther, where is Atum's court?"

 

4th Sigmarzeit 2512
Late Morning

"…revolver design doesn't jam, but the automatic and semi-automatic pistol are more popular due to the greater magazine size."

I'm not a gun expert or an American, but I've been able to dredge up enough about gun design to interest a small number of engineers and the Imperial Gunnery School in Nuln. From above I could still make out the damage caused during the attack by the Chaos Lord Tamurkhan two years ago. I've also seen that they've made fairly significant efforts to improve public health, because they know perfectly well that Nurgle doesn't lose just because his war leader dies. Every germ in the world will be his herald and champion given the chance, and Elector Countess Emmanuelle von Liebwitz did not want to lose the peace.

"The great advantage of the cartridge design is that the time-consuming business of loading powder and shot are handled well before the battle starts, leaving the soldier with the simple job of removing one twelve-shot magazine and inserting another one." I have the construct demonstrate, though I can only remember roughly what it looks like myself. Not a lot of guns in suburban Britain. "Even having to slot in individual rounds in a revolver is far faster than using a powder horn."

My audience has grown from the small number of relatively junior engineers who came to listen mostly as an excuse to bunk off work to a larger group including a few more senior men. And they're actually listening rather than just scoffing.

"Now, for long arms, this is the most popular option just about everywhere."

An image of the AK-47 floats at the front of the lecture hall. Thanks to Jeremy Clarkson I do actually know a little about how this one works, though I've never personally seen one.

"Thirty round magazine, and there's a switch on the side to change from single shot to full automatic. The recoil from one shot resets the mechanism to the ready position and ejects the rear part of the round to clear the barrel. Anyone here left handed?"

A slight hesitation, then a couple of left hands go up.

"Do you see the problem?"

"Heh."

One of the senior engineers nods, smiling to himself.

I nod to him. "The problem with the ejection system is that while it throws the spent cartridge free if you're right handed, if you're left handed it ejects it right into your eye."

The sinister members of the audience smile awkwardly.

"Which isn't great, but the aim when they made this was to make it as mechanically simply as possible. A variable ejection mechanism would have been too complicated. Now, as for larger guns-"

I generate an image of a field gun from… World War Two, I think?

"-you can see similar principles maintained. The shells are made in a factory so that the crew can load and fire them faster. The gun has a mechanism for absorbing the recoil, and there are hand cranks for altering the angle and elevation built into the mechanism. Note also the armoured shield for the crew to duck behind and the spades anchoring the gun in place."

A senior engineer points at the image. "What are those wheels?"

"While thin wheels allow better speed over cobble stones, fat wheels of hardened rubber prevent the gun sinking in the mud while also letting them grip uneven ground better."

He frowns. "Rubber?"

I take a rubber ball I acquired in Lustria out of subspace and toss it to him. He reaches out to catch it, then starts in surprise as it bounces over his hand and into the row behind him.

"It compresses and bounces back. Where I'm from we use those as children's toys."

The junior engineer who fielded it bounces it twice, then notices his senior glaring at him and hands it over.

"Of course, heavier versions of the automatic rifle are also used at shorter ranges."

I don't know machine guns well, but I did see a picture of a Maxim gun at some point so I generate an image of that and add one of a Gatling gun.

"These feed rounds in on a belt, which also carries away spent cases. More advanced versions include a water-based system for cooling the barrel, because continuous firing like this causes it to get extremely hot."

That's nothing they don't know, but they're used to thinking of it in terms of warping the interior of the barrel if a cannon fires for hours, or making the impurities of the metal in the barrel cause an explosive misfire. Not in terms of the barrel setting fire to the people operating it.

I'm really not sure how much of what I'm saying is something that they can put into use. The revolver looks a little like Von Meinkopt's Micro-Mainspring of Multitudinous Precipitation of Pernicious Lead, aka the repeater pistol, but that still needs to have powder and shot loaded each time. But they understand the revolving mechanism. The round on the other hand with bullet and cartridge integrated into a single piece of metal is a genuinely new concept but it's one they can grasp. The British Empire started using the Maxim gun in the… Late nineteenth century? But the Empire isn't that far behind in its more advanced places.

I don't know. Maybe they can make it now, and maybe it's something that they can work towards while I check out whatever steam tanks they've got in the workshops. With a little applied ring power I've dredged up memories of how the early steam engine worked, so assuming that they're at least a little like traction engines I can probably talk the engineers through building them.

The door at the rear of the lecture theatre opens, and a few guards, Richilde and… A woman in her… Middle years wearing an excess of makeup and an open-fronted skirt. A prostitute, presumably, perhaps here to service senior engineers during their lunch break? I'd have thought that they'd pop out for that sort of thing, but perhaps they find the cost of delivery is worth it for the time they save?

Richilde beckons me as the prostitute walks to the edge of the upper deck and looks down at the engineers who… Are frantically muttering to one another, drawing diagrams or playing with my rubber ball. "If you gentlemen will excuse me, urgent business calls. I will be available for the rest of the day should you need me."

I dismiss my constructs and fly up-. She didn't get a local prostitute for me, did she? Or a courtesan? I know… In some places those are held in high regard, but I really-.

"Sir Paolo, may I present Grand Countess Emmanuelle von Liebwitz."

…

Seriously? Someone as rich as her should be able to pay someone to attach a drawstring to her skirt. Or advise her that a woman her age shouldn’t show that much upper thigh in public. But I float in front of the railing she's leaning against and bow politely.

"Countess. A pleasure to meet you."

And your horribly horribly ill-advised dress.

"A new generation of firearms, Sir Paolo. I was under the impression that the Bretonni considered such weapons dishonourable."

"Knights of the Lady forswear the use of all ranged weapons, my lady. Fortunately, I have taken no such oath. Otherwise I wouldn't-" I wave my left hand. "-be able to fly."

"My engineers seem quite taken with your ideas."

"I don't know if they'll actually help, or if they'll just tear apart their workshops trying to build them."

She looks away, exhaling sharply. "'Tear apart their workshops'? It must be Bezahltag already. No, don't concern yourself with that. Concern yourself with explaining why you expect me to replace my province's entire road network."

"I would be happy to."