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Author Topic: Questionable Ethics  (Read 32867 times)

Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #165 on: April 01, 2008, 09:36:00 am »

BQ
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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #166 on: April 02, 2008, 12:28:00 am »

As always, thanks  :p
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Kazo continued down the halls, but was unsure of the whereabouts of the bank. Kazo went to the path leading to the food store, and saw people moving toward it from another corridor. These people also took notice to him. Kazo smiled, and continued in the direction in which the people were coming, moving toward more economically dense regions whenever he could. Eventually, where he expected a storage facility to be he found a general store next to a bank.

Kazo entered the bank. He found himself standing on a wooden floor, a few booths behind a table in the rear, the table and booths blocking off the rear section from the front. Kazo immediately knew which booth to go to when he saw one of the tellers especially surprised to see him. He was considering sneaking behind the teller, but the security measures made it obvious such things would be very unwelcome. This booth was occupied, and the teller, though surprised, continued on. Kazo quietly moved up and waited in line behind the kobold making a deposit.

The kobold seemed sort of surprised at noticing Kazo, curious upon observing him. When she was finished, she turned and spoke, "Hello. I don't think I've seen your kind before!" Kazo replied, "Not that many have! I'd love to talk, but I have a hungry cat to feed." Yeln mewed at her, sitting down. She continued, "Oh, ok then." She then chuckled, "You'd make a good science fiction character." Kazo smiled, "I noticed that myself! Thanks!"

They smiled at eachother, then as she parted, Kazo spoke to the teller, "Why hello!" The teller hesitated, looking right at Kazo, then replied, "Ya know, when I got the message I'd be expecting a blue metal dinosaur with a kitten, I sent him back a message to stop drinkin' the dwarven rum out of the cellars." Kazo laughed, "I seem to have that effect on people here!" The teller continued, pulling up a small bag and setting it down, "Well, I still followed what it said and got the 30 moneys ready, never thought I'd actually be giving it out though!"

Kazo took the bag, and spoke, "So there's no paperwork involved?" The teller replied, "Nope, I trust 'im, no need to make things more complicated than they have to be. Only an idiot would use their position to commit fraud here anyway!" Kazo spoke, "I see! Thanks!" The teller smiled, "Don' mention it, and come again soon, it isn't often I see your type around here, considering you're the first!" Kazo snickered, "I'm my own type! Thanks again! Goodbye!" The teller replied, "G'bye!"

Kazo left, and began to think how he had neglected to investigate the rest of Steelflame and compare this technological world to the magic he was familiar with. He could do this when he wasn't working on his project. He made his way over to the food store, and bought some food. Immediately as he turned around, Yeln began to mew repeatedly, rubbing against Kazo's legs and purring, performing an almost ritualistic dance at the sight of the meat. Kazo used it to entertain Yeln, moving it around while Yeln jumped up to catch it. When Kazo dropped it down, Yeln batted it around and played with it, eventually stopping to tear it apart and devour it. Kazo smiled, and pet Yeln when Yeln finished, the shopkeeper also a bit amused by all this.

Yeln followed Kazo back to the foundry, licking his lips on the way. Kazo stopped to pick up a newspaper on the way, noting useful blank space around the margins. Upon entry to the foundry, Yeln stood by the door, walked in a circle, then curled up. Kazo smiled, but left Yeln there, understanding the cat's need for a quick nap once in a while. There were less workers in the foundry, and some of the furnaces were shut down at the moment. Kazo held the newspaper, but first, looked around the forges for any large mould he could use for hull pieces. The closest thing he found was a piece of rectangular material with a rectangular bay in the middle occupying most of the top. It was very long, but not all that wide. It was likely designed not to work as a mould, but to hold several hot moulds.

Still, it likely could be used as one. Kazo thought he could try it, and see how it would hold. In fact, he found himself eager to see how well such an impromptu mould would work, although he also noted that creating the hull might be a very time consuming process all in all. Kazo did want to read the paper but first felt like drawing out his ideas regarding the pressure hull. Kazo sat near a furnace, and scraped out some of the char from the port. Kazo then reached down beyond the ledge, sending down a line of mana, forming an astral ladle of sorts at the bottom. He manipulated forces to allow it to scoop up water, and brought up some of the water from the forge below. Kazo then mixed the char into the liquid, keeping it a small puddle. When it left a satisfactorily dark mark on the page, Kazo began sketching out the basics of pressure and his ideas on the pressure hull.
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I guess another one where there isn't much happening. Maybe it's because this came after one of the more intense portions of the story. I also should have a better situation in the future as far as time goes. Still, I can't help the feeling this part is turning into a bit of a rut. At least I'll be out of it soon enough.

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Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #167 on: April 02, 2008, 02:53:00 am »

Beyond Quality.
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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #168 on: April 03, 2008, 12:21:00 am »

Thanks  :)

Although it's become part of an endless cycle  :p
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Kazo sketched out the calculations to make the hull properly buoyant. In order for a vessel to be neutrally buoyant, it simply had to weigh as much as the water it displaced. For simplicity, Kazo decided on a sphere with a diameter of 1 meter. The water it would displace came out to be about half of a ton... which meant the vessel and everything in it would need a mass of a little less than half a ton, with room to take on enough water to make its mass over half a ton. This would require quite a bit of steel...

Steel had about 8 times the density of water though. If the hull was just a solid shell, he would need a hull in the range of 1.8 centimeters thick. He would be leaving out portions though for the port and hatch, but these also had mass, along with any equipment he would bring along plus Yeln and Kazo himself. On top of it, the craft wouldn't all be in the sphere. The propeller and fins in the back would need to be balanced out, if the vessel was back-heavy, it would always want to nose up, if it was front-heavy, it would always want to nose down.

Kazo smiled as he thought of different ways to place masses and balance the craft, how to run controls through watertight, the hatch mechanism, everything. He found it to be a unique and challenging puzzle! He transferred his thoughts to paper, and after a while of double checking himself and confirming his ideas, eventually ending up with a compact but functional design. A spherical hull, diameter of one meter, with a propeller positioned behind it, 2 sets of fins, one horizontal, one vertical, behind the propeller. The propeller would be placed far enough back to avoid having the bulk of the hull seriously impede water flow, but not so far as to make it too heavy.

The linkages would be fed through small, water tight openings, the fins operated by lever. Buoyancy would be controlled by 2 water tanks on each side of the hull, also spaced to control the center of gravity of the vessel. Two doors, shut by spring, would be on the bottom of each tank, the tank having an opening to the interior of the hull near the top. One door would let water in, one would let it out, both would be shut most of the time. When the hole was open to flow, water pressure would drive water into the tanks, air into the cabin, allowing the vessel to sink. When air was pumped from the cabin back into the tanks, it would force the water out the bottom, causing the vessel to rise again.

Still, this would require a lot of steel, and there was only so much to go around. Plus, Kazo felt he might want to test these designs before risking his kitten, and as such might need a subject. He decided Nefarious might have recommendations for both issues. Kazo began to read the newspaper as he walked toward the exit of the foundry. A few days had passed since he had arrived, and the month of Slate would be over relatively soon.

The newspaper's main story recounted the events taking place at the base near Endlesslabors, the death of Tok, the disappearance of Milspec, and the disappearance of certain documents. There were several details on the happenings within the base, a few details on what happened with Milspec, suspected to have killed a general, and virtually no details regarding the documents. Kazo heard a familiar sound, "Meww?"

Kazo looked down and smiled upon seeing Yeln, stretching and yawning. Yeln then raised his tail and followed behind Kazo. Kazo made his way toward Nefarious' room, but eventually spotted her on the way there. Kazo hid behind a corner of a T-section, and when she passed, he emerged, sneaking up behind her. Kazo then leapt out in front of her, his tail waving above himself, "Why hello!" Nefarious smiled, still walking, "Hello!" They walked down the corridor, Yeln walking between them. Nefarious spoke, "How've things been?" Kazo replied, "I'm glad to have a peaceful existence for the time being! I do have a couple of questions though. First, would anyone else mind if I used a large amount of steel from the junk pile? Second, do you consider anyone here expendable?"

Nefarious replied, "How much's a large amount? And why do ya need someone expendable?" Kazo replied, "About half a ton. I need someone expendable to serve as a test subject. I don't want to set off in something that might fail at the worst moment, after all!" Nefarious spoke, "Half a ton? That'll take ya a while to get, but go ahead, just have common sense and keep in mind yer not the only one usin' junk. Fer someone expendable, I don't got any in mind yet but when I do, heh, using sharp objects is always fun but usin' someone I don't like for an experiment's got a knowledge bonus!" Kazo snickered, "That might mean you're more scientific! It might mean I'm more demonic! I'm not sure which!" Nefarious smiled mischievously, "Why not both?"

Kazo laughed... although, he nearly felt insulted for a moment. He had always felt a contempt for demonkind ever since the death of his father, although he put that out of the way for certain individuals ever since he met Nefarious. Kazo asked, "So why is the scrap free for the taking?" Nefarious replied, "A few reasons. People goin' in an' usin' the stuff for their own projects basically gives me a recycling plant with almost no running costs. Also, I don't like the idea of giving poor people handouts, so I'll give 'em a way to bootstrap their way out of it." Kazo replied, "I see!"

Meanwhile... Rostus' bunker was being searched. Quite a lot of unusual devices and materials were turned up, but the documents detailing the bomb were hidden away in a drawer. A young, child kobold snuck down past the others, intent on causing trouble. The young kobold snickered, spotted the expensive lab equipment, and snuck into the lab. She heard people searching nearer, and nearer. She thought using a nearby liquid to paint an obscenity on the wall, but before she did, she decided to rummage around in the drawers looking for anything useful. Upon opening one, a certain folder caught her eye. She took it, and slid it under her coat. Just when she finished, an adult male kobold walked in, "Hey, what... erm, are you lost? Is your mommy somewhere outside?" The young kobold spoke, "Ip!... ehm, bye?" She then ran off, past the older kobold, running past several others, finally exiting, and leaving the bunker behind.
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I didn't get as far as I wanted, again, but I was a bit lengthy on the descriptions. I'm hoping the math worked out there.

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Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #169 on: April 03, 2008, 04:41:00 am »

BQ
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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #170 on: April 04, 2008, 12:32:00 am »

A probably now ritualistic Thanks   :p
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Kazo spoke, showing Nefarious his plans, "I don't think it's a good idea to build this in the foundry. So where would it be convenient for you?" Nefarious replied, "Never seen a machine like that before! There's an overhang by the trade depot outside that nobody else's usin'. Go ahead an' use it. Some idiots like to go out there and take stuff from the depot, and you'd probably have someone takin' stuff from your site too." She smiled, "Just get a good description, and you'll have yerself a new test subject!" Kazo returned the smile, "I have photographic memory!"

Maybe it's technically holographic, but that's not the point!

Kazo continued, "So what if my subjects survive unharmed?" Nefarious replied, "Depends on what they did. I might let 'em go, I might find somethin' else for 'em to do, or I might take the fun of testing what would've happened in catastrophic failure." Kazo spoke, "So you'd drown the thieves?" Nefarious replied, "No, that's not anything to kill someone who might be productive, I'd make 'im yer slave for a while, and I'd ask you not be kind to 'im. If it was someone who did something worthy of 'catastrophic failure'..." She smiled mischievously, "Nah, just drowning 'em is boring, I'd have to throw in a piranha or two, or maybe a snake for the fun of it. If the dipsh*t pisses me off more I'll probably toss in a lamprey to make it worthwhile!"

Kazo asked, "You have an assortment of these things?" Nefarious replied, "Not all the critters, I'd have to go find 'em, but I got some good tools, can't have a hobby without tools for it!" Kazo snickered, "Just wondering, are you insane?" She grinned a grin of mischief, but one also of an odd allegiance, "Only a little!" Kazo laughed. Nefarious kept a smile, "People on my bad side 'll call me insane. People on my good side will too, they just mean it a different way."

She continued, "Just a few days ago the farmers were complainin' to me that Leiten ain't fillin' her duty, just gave 'er job to everyone else while she sat on 'er a** and drank for months on end. On top of it, she took her pay and then stole farm revenue! I told 'em to go back and hold 'er there for me. I got my ol' rusty chain and brought a dog with, chained her to the post by the field, and told 'er she wadn't gettin' anything to eat or drink 'till she finished 'er job and the job of 'er neighbors she used to dump work on, an' if she tried to break free the dog'd leave her something to remember. The work got done, an' she's never been late to work since, hasn't stolen a copper piece either. I thought about usin' the one with the collar with the spikes pointing inward, but I figured I'd only use it if the other farmers wanted me to, and they were OK with the regular."

Kazo asked, "What did the farmers think of this?" She smiled, "They applauded and laughed! People love it when I do this stuff 'cause I always do it to the people that piss 'em off!" She yawned as they approached the door to her room, "It's gettin' late. Good luck on that machine 'o yers! I heard about the whole incident at the foundry too. Ya helped out, thanks!" Kazo smiled, "No problem!" She hugged Kazo quite closely, kissed him, then grinned. Kazo hesitated, feeling rather unsure what the wisest course of action would be at the moment. She let go, and walked to her door, "G'night!" Kazo snickered, "Goodnight!" She then crossed through her door.

"Mew!" Kazo twisted around, and upon seeing Yeln, hopped up and landed so that he faced Yeln directly, "Yeln kitty!" Kazo grinned as Yeln ran up, rubbing against Kazo's hands as Kazo pet him. Kazo and Yeln again began moving. Kazo continued down the hall. He still had a lot of work ahead. He continued until he reached the foundry, finding less people there, some of the machines down for routine maintenance. He walked into the junk yard and found he was almost the only person there, some of the scrap having been used.

Yeln happily browsed the scrap, playing with whatever he could find while Kazo scavenged for usable metal. After a while, Kazo stripped quite a bit of metal, enough steel to maybe make one panel. The mould holder which he would be using as a straight mold would create panels that would arc to half the height and a tenth the circumference of the sphere. A total of 20 panels would be needed, and each one would have to be forged to be a proper portion of a sphere as well as be forged to properly interlock with the other panels air tight. Kazo hauled the metal back to a furnace, and retrieved the 'mould' too. He left the metal at the furnace, and stopped to feed Yeln and show Yeln where the water was. Afterwards, he loaded the metal into the impromptu mould, and when there was a break in furnace operations, he attempted to recycle more metal.

It was obvious this was going to take time. Forging it would also take time and fuel. He might need to rent time at the smelter rather than using the unused time of other. If the junk yard ever fell quite low, he might also consider buying the metal, although the junkyard would have to be almost empty for that. He would still have to make some crafts on the side it seemed. Kazo continued working as many of the kobolds sat at home or slept.
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I spent way more time than intended on Nefarious' conversation. That's how it seems to work though.

[ April 04, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]

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Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #171 on: April 04, 2008, 02:39:00 pm »

BQ
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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #172 on: April 04, 2008, 11:47:00 pm »

Thanks for making sure this doesn't count as a double post.  :p

Fixed a mistake in the previous update.
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Kazo kept constant watch of this impromptu 'mould', making sure the heat wouldn't cause it to shatter, sending material and molten metal all around the interior of the furnace. He ran out of time, and had to move to a different furnace. Eventually, he obtained a proper result. Upon tasting it, he found it was a simpler steel, but still retained low impurities. Luckily, he had picked samples that were already clean and weren't painted over. He probably wouldn't be able to be so picky in the future, meaning he would need to clean the metal properly first.

Luckily, what he had at the moment seemed good enough. He brought it to the forge that the previous user seemed to be finished with, leaving time to spare. When he had cooled the metal enough to be properly solid, but still workable, he dumped it out from the mould, having to pry it out slightly. It clanged against the floor. Kazo picked it up and set the large, heavy plate and set it on its side. He projected the image of a wire-frame sphere, clipping it down to one plate and flattening it out for reference. The light show seemed to draw the attention of a good number of the people in the foundry, who occasionally paused from their job to watch Kazo.

Kazo lay the plate flat, then began pounding the sides of the plate down, giving it tabs, the untabbed area having curved sides. He had previously decided the bottom plates would have a tab across the top, a tab across the right side, and a slot across the left side. The top plates would have the same on the sides, but a slot on the bottom. The tabs would fit in the slots, and they could then be riveted together and sealed. He continued until the sides matched the guidelines he projected, flipping it over half way to make sure the tabs were centered properly. This did leave a lot of excess that had to be trimmed though.

A mithril force saw would make short work of this. I wonder what the technological equivalent is!

Kazo looked around, and spotted the destination of the metal, a manufacturing facility that continued down the lower level across from the forges. Kazo temporarily left his work in progress to run over and have a look. Kazo skidded to a stop upon approaching. The kobolds within glanced for a moment, some looking a bit surprised, but none were startled or even really distracted much. Likely it had to do with the heavy machinery being operated. Kazo looked around, not wasting much time as his plate was still cooling. He spotted a device that looked somewhat like a force saw, but was much bulkier than what he was used to, an electric motor driving a large rotating blade at high speed with a belt drive, metal surfaces to align the metal being worked on under the blade, the blade able to be moved up and down to cut with.

Kazo observed for a moment, but immediately after returned. The saw there was in use, and he didn't have time to wait for it to free up. Instead, Kazo channeled his energies to his fingertips, holding the metal down while he not only heated the metal at his claw through energy, he focused himself precisely, creating a line of force under his claw which aided him in cutting through the metal. Cutting off the excess was slow, energy consuming and also required quite a bit of force to be properly done. Half way through, Kazo was interrupted by the next user of that forge. He moved to another forge, reheated the metal, then finished trimming the excess. He then projected his reference again, this timed curved to match the desired sphere. Kazo spent a bit of time forging the plate into a curved shape to match the sphere.

He then cooled it off, and considered it good enough for this stage. The tabs had no holes for rivets, and the surface was a bit imperfect in some areas, but the finishing touches could be applied after all of the plates were done being forged. Kazo picked up the heavy plate, and hauled it from the foundry. Yeln joined Kazo again on the way out. Yeln had likely been making friends with the other kobolds in the foundry while Kazo was working. Yeln mewed happily. Kazo smiled as they continued their way through the tunnels.

They made their way out the exit of the tunnels, passing by the armor-clad snakeman into the badlands outside, the sun burning down quite brightly through clear skies. Kazo made his way to the other side of the ridge bordering the trade depot, finding an overhang placed over dirt. It was quite high up and was fairly large. It appeared by the marks in the dirt that there had once been crates resting at this spot, but not anymore. Kazo set the plate down. That was one, with 19 left to go. And once those were all finished up, holes drilled through the tabs, they could be riveted together. This would finish the basic structure of only the hull. Kazo thought about it... this project might take weeks, perhaps even longer depending on the situation. He smiled. Kazo felt no hurry, in fact, he felt like enjoying Steelflame while he was here whenever he took a break from working. Perhaps this time would pass quickly? Finding out was easy enough.
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Hopefully when I get my schedule back in order I'll start making bigger updates again. It should speed up too.

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Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #173 on: April 05, 2008, 05:04:00 pm »

Nothing happened, a ceremonial BQ anyways.
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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #174 on: April 06, 2008, 12:24:00 am »

Having the end take this long was entirely unintentional. I guess sometimes it just happens.

Previously it was said that as much as possible should be written. I was worried about it getting to be too much, and I guess it did.
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Kazo continued on with this project, and indeed, forging the plates was in and of itself time consuming. He spent the rest of the day building up money through making crafts, which he used to rent time at the forges. Kazo was happy to find that he was returning the favor he had previously taken. While he was checking his product or feeding Yeln, Yeln being asleep a good part of the time anyway, others made use of the forge he had rented. Of course, they moved on when he returned. He found he could clean metal properly well enough to have a good end result when recycling, and he always left quite a bit of the metal for others to use. He also salvaged a large motor, some tubing and plenty of wire from the yard directly, bringing it back.

Often he worked until his portion of the days salvage was gone, spending the rest of the day playing with Yeln and exploring Steelflame, sometimes visiting Nefarious. Sometimes he simply spent the left over hours playing with Yeln in a variety of spots around Steelflame. Though the people were cautious at first, they soon grew to enjoy Kazo's presence, some getting to know him quite a bit. As time passed, Kazo also stopped to observe and occasionally participate in public events as well. Sometimes he would simply read up on the new technologies available to him in this project.

Kazo often engraved the crafts he made, creating various pieces of art from imagined situations, striving to be unique each time. The traders of course saw this as a quality mark. Kazo thought about it... he, a construct, was making art. There once was a day when a construct was simply a device used to automate processes, and here he was, making art from his own imaginings. He was living proof that people needn't be born of flesh to be considered people.

Finally, after many days of, well, mostly waiting for metal, Kazo had all 20 rough panels together. He raised the funds for it, and rented time at the shop, where he ground away some of the imperfections on the panels, resulting in shiny sphere sections. He then drilled the holes for rivets in each one, making sure they line up with eachother. He brought the finished panels out, and then produced the rivets for it. At the end of all this, he riveted the panels together, pounding down the end onto the metal, and welding the rivets down on both sides using an arc off the tip of his claw. There was an opening on top for the hatch, an opening on front for the port, openings on the side for the float tanks, and a set of small openings in the rear for the propeller and control linkages, these small openings lined with rubber to prevent leaking.

Kazo then continued on, attaching the supporting pipe for the propeller to the back, and making the propeller and shaft itself, proceeding to repair the electrical motor and attach it to the shaft as well. He created the fins and linkages as well as the float tanks, pumps, and hatch cover. He then acquired the glass to make the port with, and used a furnace to alter its shape. He attached and welded down all components except for one tank and its pump. Instead, he temporarily mounted the pump on the outside facing in. He set a twig on fire and dropped it into the bottom of the sphere, shutting the hatch. He pumped air into the cabin, checking for any smoke escaping. He spotted a leak, welded it shut, then continued, finding no more leaks.

Air was a primary concern, and it required knowledge of chemistry to take care of. In the days of magic, Kazo remembered, alchemical castings could flood the carbon bonds in carbon dioxide, and peel them apart, leaving carbon and oxygen. Magic was quite versatile for manipulating the structure of compounds through external intervention. In the more physical chemistry, only physical interactions could manipulate the composition of compounds. Luckily, Kazo had read up on this, and with Nefarious' permission, obtained the materials needed to make a scrubber. He proceeded to build and install it.

It had been weeks. The month of Hematite was now beginning, and Kazo had a craft with controls, engines, and a proper hull. Kazo was surprised to find nobody tried to steal from his construction site in that time, a bit disappointed as well that he wouldn't have a proper test subject. As Kazo and Yeln emerged from the tunnels for the final check, they found out why they hadn't been stolen from. Kazo walked to the hill near the trade depot, to the opposite side from the depot, to find a truck parked near the overhang.

A small crane dangled over the truck bed, its cables slung around the entire submersible. Kazo walked, but slowed to a sneak, passing around the truck toward the rear. Kazo spotted the kobold operating the crane, and smiled. He had found a proper test subject! As the kobold attempted to pull the entire submersible onto the truck, Kazo quietly climbed onto the truck bed, sneaking behind this kobold. Kazo tapped on the kobold's shoulder. The kobold turned around, and almost jumped at the sight of Kazo's grinning face. Kazo spoke, "Why hello! I see you've found my vehicle!" The kobold sighed, hesitating a moment in realizing there was no chance of getting out of this one, "Sh*t..."
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Come to think about it, the update before this one was probably completely unnecessary, as well as probably a few others.

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Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #175 on: April 06, 2008, 01:49:00 pm »

BQ

you needn't compress time like that.

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AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #176 on: April 07, 2008, 12:22:00 am »

Thanks.

Yeah, well, I thought I might've overcompensated, but, to make an analogy, it's hard to make a trip to the grocery store sound epic.  :p
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Kazo spoke, "Let's go see Nefarious!" The kobold replied, turning to run, "Let's not!" Kazo snatched his arm just as he was about to run, and began to pull him toward the entrance to Steelflame, "I insist!" Kazo hopped down, pulling the kobold with him toward the entrance. The kobold struggled. Kazo spoke, "Please accept your destiny!... I don't want to have to make you stop!"

Meanwhile, Yeln climbed atop the submersible, and curled up on top of the hatch. The hatch was slightly in the sun. The front of the submersible was in the shade, the rear completely exposed, the metal shining out the sun's reflection, further illuminating a section of the pale green truck. Eventually, Kazo brought the kobold to Nefarious' room. He had been compliant most of the way, but upon seeing her door, he immediately began to struggle again, "No, let me go!" Kazo snickered, and knocked. After a few moments, Nefarious answered, "Hello. That's the a*shole who's been messin' with the freight?" Kazo replied, "I found him trying to commandeer my submersible! That truck of his could probably haul quite a few crates!"

Nefarious laughed, "Have fun with 'im! Heck, I'm gunna go watch!" Kazo smiled, "Sure!" The kobold asked, "What the hell is this?" They began to walk back out. Kazo replied, "A science experiment! I need to test that vehicle you were trying to steal. You're my subject now!" As they made their way out, the kobold began to struggle, "You can't! That's gotta be against some treaty or law or something!" Nefarious smiled, "I say what the law is 'round here, an' Kazo here's got my OK!" Kazo spoke, "Besides, ignoring treaties in the pursuit of science is part of my family tradition!"

They reached the vehicles. Kazo left the kobold for Nefarious to talk to while he moved the submersable the rest of the way into the truck, using the truck to move the submersible, the kobold and Nefarious down to the river. Yeln slept most of the way there, waking up temporarily when the submersible was moved. At the end, Kazo stopped the truck, and lowered the submersible down to the bank of the river. Nefarious smiled, "This should be fun!" Kazo replied, "Absolutely!" Kazo then turned to the kobold, "Use the pumps on the sides to rise, the valves to dive, and use the crank on the glass box to manage your air supply. We're seeing if these things work properly!"

Nefarious had tied the kobold to the side of the cargo bed in the truck. Kazo opened the hatch, Yeln hopping off. He reached in, and retrieved two lengths of rope. He then tied one end of the rope to the hatch, the other to a post. He then tied the other length to the hatch as well, swimming across the river with it to attach it to the other post. Meanwhile, Nefarious could be seen leading the kobold onto the submersible, forcing him in then shutting the hatch above him. She then slid a small metal rod through the latch and handle of the hatch, effectively locking it from the outside.

Kazo returned to the other side, then, together, they slid the submersible into the river. The wash from the dam pushed the submersible backwards. The far rope pulled it out to the side, eventually both ropes becoming taut as ht reached the middle of the river, a wake forming behind it. It float, but only a bit. Just the top of the hull and the hatch were visible.

It doesn't capsize! Good!

Yeln tucked himself away in the truck and began to sleep more. They waited a while, and the submersible never submerged. Nefarious smiled, and treaded into the river. She acted as if she was going to swim out to the submersible. A few moments later, the submersible dropped, disappearing under the waters. A small rift on the surface could be seen for a few moments, then the wake, in essence, disappeared. Nefarious laughed, then returned. Kazo proceeded to make his way into the river, treading along the bottom. He made his way to the submersible, which was pressed down to the bottom. He looked in the port. It was rather dark inside, but it was visible some water spilled into the cabin, likely from leaving the fill valves open for too long. The kobold stopped to look at Kazo, then went back to keeping the air supply in check.

Buoyancy seems to work. I'm eager to see if he runs out of air or not!

For quite a while, Kazo remembered images while he was down watching the kobold, occasionally surfacing to share them with Nefarious. Nefarious had seen Kazo's ability to project images before, and always found herself more and more fascenated with the days of magic. At the moment, she couldn't help but laugh at the kobold inside, his confined state and his rather vulgar speech and gestures. Kazo ended up using the kobold's 'enthusiasm' as a gauge for how viable the air was within the submersible. Eventually, when Kazo was sure the scrubbers had to have been working, he removed the rod locking the hatch, and gestured for the kobold to use the pumps. Kazo climbed out from the river, set the rod down, and watched as the ropes angled upwards, their entry point in the water closing together.

A rift appeared on the surface, and finally, the entry points of the ropes merged as the submersible's hatch pierced through the water, sending a slight mist up as water was sent into the air. Kazo smiled, and reeled the submersible in with the side rope. When it had reached shore, Kazo tied a second tie, holding the vessel in place. Nefarious commented, "No drowning and no suffocation. A bit of a disappointment but I'll live." The hatch opened. Nefarious approached the vessel, and as the kobold attempted to flee, Nefarious tripped him down to his knees, pinning him. Nefarious smiled, "Ya still want 'im Kazo?" Kazo replied, "No thanks, it's time for a field test!"

Nefarious spoke to the kobold, "He's done with ya, but I ain't!" She then spoke to Kazo, "Thank's for bein' an attraction 'round Steelflame!" She chuckled, then continued, "Have fun out there, I'll be here fer when ya get back!" Kazo noticed Yeln sleeping, and left Yeln there as he and Nefarious walked back to Steelflame, dragging the kobold with. Kazo smiled, "Thanks! I shouldn't be gone for too long!" After they reached Steelflame, Kazo acquired a few days of food and for Yeln, and returned back to the submersible. He placed the provisions inside, then waited fpr Yeln to awake, placing Yeln atop the submersible. Yeln hopped in and began sniffing some of the provisions. Kazo shoved the vessel off, then hopped in after it. Kazo made his way back to the vessel, and climbed in. Kazo untied both of the ropes from the hatch, and when he let go of both at the same time, the submersible accelerated in reverse, the wake becoming less prominent as the speed of the craft relative the surface of the water decreased.

The dam and its wash began to shrink away from them. Kazo ducked down into the bluish-lit cabin, and shut the hatch above himself. Yeln mewed. Kazo thought, Yeln probably wouldn't stand being cramped up in a vessel like this for long. He would have to park and let Yeln out once in a while. As Kazo looked out the port, he saw the waters beyond. Another leg of his adventure was beginning, and where it led, only the currents knew. He had seldom ever explored beneath the ocean, and he felt eager to do so in this odd period!
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Hopefully nothing amiss here.

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apache1990

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #177 on: April 07, 2008, 11:21:00 am »

Beyond Quality!  Again!   :D

Armok

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #178 on: April 07, 2008, 02:57:00 pm »

Beyond Quality.
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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
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III...

AlanL

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Re: Questionable Ethics
« Reply #179 on: April 08, 2008, 12:21:00 am »

Thanks to all   :)
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Kazo familiarized himself with the motion of the vessel, then opened the hatch again after confirming he needn't worry about water splashing in. He then began to dump the leaked water from the cabin. Yeln sat atop the motor, waiting for the water to be cleared. Yeln seemed surprisingly calm for being surrounded by water. After a while, the water was cleared, and Yeln lay on the bottom, watching out the window.

Kazo stood, holding himself up on the hatch and looking out as the submersible drifted in the current. The current was rather swift, and as Steelflame disappeared behind them, Kazo looked at the scenery. Yeln seemed more intent on resting than anything else. They drifted quite a ways. The river led south but turned westward toward the ocean. Kazo had looked up the geographic details of the river, and found that there were no dangerous rapids or falls between Steelflame and the ocean. If there were, he might not've used this route with Yeln in the submersible.

Although Yeln slept most of the way to the ocean, when Yeln was awake, Kazo sometimes powered the motor to move the craft to the side of the river, beaching it a bit, then got out and let Yeln have some fresh air. Kazo found Yeln had often suggested various toys for Kazo to play with him with, and Kazo generally obeyed. Luckily, the current in the river was swift, and it was still daylight by the time the ocean was reached.

The ocean lay ahead. Kazo had navigated into the northern branch of this delta, and continued down. Unfortunately, a segment of the stream was very shallow... the vessel got stuck. Kazo hopped out, moved down to stand outside the bottom of the craft, then dug a small channel for the vehicle to slide upon. Kazo then left the water, afterwards channeling his mana to create a force on the vessel, digging his feet into the sand as he pulled it through the soft sand. The vehicle was freed, and Kazo swam to it, emptied himself of water, then entered the vessel again.

A while later, they reached the ocean. Kazo looked around, scanning the blue horizon, land nearby behind him, to the right of the vessel. Above, clouds gathered. It seemed as good of a place as any to investigate. Kazo entered the cabin, and shut the hatch, sealing it tightly. He then opened the inlet valves for the tanks, two at a time, one on each side. He monitored the sound the air made. As the tank filled, he shut the valve to avoid water spilling into the cabin. Kazo felt the vehicle ease downwards. Yeln mewed, looking out the window. Kazo powered the motor, the spinning propeller leaving small bubbles behind it. The glass of the port shined in the submarine light, beams of light illuminating the small particles in the water as the vessel displaced them.

Kazo smiled as the vessel made it's way downward. He looked upwards through the port. Luckily, he only needed one hand to power the motor, the other pole grounded to the hull. Yeln flopped over, pulling on the rivets with his claws, pulling himself forward while resting on his side. Kazo snickered, and scritched Yeln's other side. Kazo grinned at Yeln. He had once received a copy of a picture taken of him and Yeln together. Kazo powered the motor with one hand, alternately steering and operating the scrubber with the other. Kazo smiled at the thought that, albeit indirectly, he had built the first submarine powered by the decay of heavy elements. The light began to dim down quite a bit, scattered within the waters above. Kazo began to pump air into the tanks, forcing water out, arresting their descent. The sea floor was nearby anyway. Kazo smiled, looking around out the port as he moved past coral and fishes on his way down.

He noted that although this wasn't a common sight, the fishes still seemed to respect this vessel. Perhaps they thought it was a very big fish? Kazo snickered. Eventually, the sea floor dropped off sharply, leaving a dark abyss below. Yeln suddenly stood, "Mew! Meww!" Bubbles began to crawl up the surface of the submersible. Kazo spotted bubbles rising around them. Kazo looked down, the bubbles rising up from below. Kazo turned the vessel, but as it turned, he felt the currents shift. A down shift in coastal waters was creating a current that drove him out to sea. Yeln mewed loudly. Kazo had felt oddly alone as he left for the sea. He stopped the motor, and felt around, sensing the astral plane. A large entity had spotted him, and he sensed he didn't want it's attention...

Kazo turned the submersible again, thrusting out to sea. The bubbles intensified. Kazo heard a laugh seeming to come from nowhere... Yeln hissed upward, "Mrrrrh!" There was a sound almost of a distant explosion. The submersible rocked. Kazo began pumping out the water as fast as he could from the tanks, causing the submersible to rise. More and more bubbles sprayed against the bottom of the submersible, displacing the heavy, cold water with light, hot gas. As gas displaced liquid, the effective displacement of the vessel diminished, but it remained just as heavy.

The vessel stopped rising, and began to sink again despite air-filled buoyancy tanks. It began to nose down as water flowed past the tail fins. Kazo powered the motor and attempted to steer his way free from the column of bubbles, but the bubbles seemed to make the propeller quite inefficient as it sliced through the lightly reacting gas. The vessel began to plummet, the bubble-filled waters darkening rapidly. Kazo braced as the vessel nosed down. As a last ditch effort, Kazo tried to push the water back with mana-powered force, pushing himself and the vessel away from it. The bubbles also made it difficult to force water away. Before Kazo could focus himself enough to divert the water... WHANGG!

The vessel seemed to slam down into something, flipping upside down as a result. Luckily, whatever they had hit knocked them free of the bubble stream. Unfortunately, the outlet valves on the buoyancy tanks, once facing down, now faced up, releasing air as a result. Kazo fell backwards, and cought Yeln as Yeln fell. Yeln breathed rapidly, his tail poofed up. Kazo held out one hand, channeling mana to excite the air above it into emitting light. The waters outside were nearly black. Kazo realized, he was far below the depth he had intended to be. The hull was weakened due to the immense pressure. His next thought brought to him awareness of some imminent danger above.

Kazo sensed by the current, and saw by an obstruction to the dim light above, a bounder falling straight down. He sent out pulses of mana to sense it's location. Kazo immediately gathered his mana, and projected his energies out, enveloping the boulder, barely able to fit the boulder in. He then began to push the bolder back up and to the side in an effort to deflect it. The boulder kept going... this only pushed the submersible further downward. WHUMP! The submersible hit a floor. Kazo felt himself pinned to the back of the submersible as he attempted to deflect the boulder, water spraying onto his face... water spraying onto his face? Kazo didn't take long to think about it. WHACK! Another boulder struck the first. THUD! A boulder landed to the left of the submersible, sending up a murky plume of dust into the water. THUMP! The second boulder landed to the right, sending up a few pebbles as well as a plume of dust.

Whatever had happened must've triggered a rock slide... there were more boulders coming down. It occurred to Kazo, maybe the source of the bubbles had nothing to do with it. The spray of water intensified... the pressure and damage together left a panel pulling itself out of its rivets. Yeln purred in an effort of self comfort... then gently nuzzled Kazo, licking him quite a lot, sitting still afterwards. Yeln wrapped his tail around his front paws, head down, pressed against Kazo's arm. Kazo desperately shoved the next boulder into the path of the one behind it, deflecting them both. The third after nearly struck. By the time he could even think about the one after that, it was less than a second away. Kazo sent up a burst of force, 'shutting' his eyes to aid in focus. It was too late. BANGGGGgggg...

Kazo 'opened' his eyes to find himself spinning, drifting in the waters. Bounders were piling up. The hull of his submersible had quite visibly ruptured.

That was just... Yeln?

Kazo swam to the ruptured hull, and began frantically searching.

YELN?!!

Yeln lay motionless, upside down in the torn hull. Kazo immediately picked Yeln up, and swam upwards as fast as he could. He realized... going this fast had detrimental effects, but it was the only way to get Yeln up in time. The waters grew in brightness. Finally, with a splash, he emerged, and held Yeln up into the air. The pressure, the rapid ascent... he dare not consider it. Kazo held Yeln up, and found Yeln wasn't breathing. He forced the water from Yeln's lungs, and blew air into them. Nothing changed. Kazo sensed Yeln was without a pulse. Kazo placed his hands carefully, and shocked Yeln through the chest. It didn't work. He attempted to revive Yeln several times to no avail.

Kazo held Yeln against himself, hands pressed against Yeln's back... he felt very alone. Yeln's soul had already left the body. For an interval of time which he never bothered to measure, Kazo looked down at Yeln's face. Finally, Kazo hugged Yeln's body, slinging it over his shoulder. He began to swim towards shore. He rested his head on Yeln's body, mouth slightly open.

This shouldn't have happened! It couldn't have!

For once, Kazo felt his happiness had left him. He knew the full effect had even yet to sink in. Thinking about it, that laugh... the battle those months ago... he knew who it was, and that entity had been waiting for the right moment. Kazo was the target... but all that had resulted was collateral.

Why did did it have to be kitty? Why Yeln?!

Kazo found that, for once, he had a question he would rather not try to answer. He lacked the drive to think about much at all during those moments... he just wished it could all be undone. Kazo partially 'shut' his eyes as he swam, leaning his head against Yeln's. They had had an adventure together, and had kept eachother company for so long, through thick and thin... and now, Kazo was alone.
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One update I really hope I didn't make any mistakes on... I got emotional here myself when writing this.

[ April 08, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]

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