After backtracking to town to show that the second dragon had been dealt with – Egbert had severed the head and packed it for transport – they turned back out over the lake and headed for the far end. Among the supplies they picked up was the cleaned skull of the first dragon, which Peter was a little confused by.
What was reportedly a week or more journey by boat they covered in two days without even landing for the night. Marla admitted that Peter’s ideas were useful sometimes, and that was all that was said on the matter. There weren’t dragons attacking them for being up in the sky.
They approached the other town cautiously, slowing as much as they could. Lowering to just above the waves seemed prudent, if only to appear less strange. Still, they drew a lot of attention. People could be seen staring and pointing, neglecting their tasks. None seemed alarmed, which Peter found strange, but that was to their benefit.
Raising up enough to clear the buildings and trees, Peter brought them in a circle around the town, hoping to find somewhere to land. What he found shocked him.
“Marla? What do you know of the new contraption that we might take from here to the Capital?”
“Not much, to be honest. I’ve only heard rumours it was being built. Why?”
“You’re not going to believe what it is.”
“Why not?” she said, getting to her feet to look over the rim of the basket. “Seriously?”
What she was seeing, what Peter had seen, was a zeppelin that dwarfed the Sky Turtle. Someone had figured it out without even hearing of his. The crews on the ground seemed to feel the same way, pointing at the Sky Turtle and shouting in confusion.
Someone below took charge and Peter found they were being pointed at a field, and he gladly landed. Most of the workers were shooed off to their responsibilities, but a contingent of important looking people waited. Turning off the heat and dropping anchors, the three clambered out to meet them.
“Where have you come from?” the one in charge said slowly and clearly. The one on his left smacked his shoulder and gestured towards Egbert, likely recognizing the uniform. “Whose airship is this?”
Marla and Egbert both looked to Peter. “When we found the ferry not running, I built some toys that fly enough to prove a concept. The townsfolk helped build one big enough to ride in. As far as I’m concerned it belongs to the town, but it seems others believe it is mine.”
“You went straight from novelties for amusing children to a successful prototype complete with controls?”
“Yeah, I don’t know how we managed that. Enthusiastic assistance from talented individuals, I guess.”
“What was causing the shipping disruption? The captains are all refusing to leave port.”
“A mating pair of young dragons had moved in. The male was taunting the lake serpents for fun. Ships were collateral damage. The dragons are dead now.”
“This story is getting too hard to believe.”
“Don’t I know it. That’s just the last couple weeks. For me it’s been months of this chaos.”
“You’re not planning on staying in town long, are you?”
“I don’t think so. We’re trying to get to the Capital as fast as possible.”
“How long did it take to cross the lake?”
“Two days.”
“Your airship is faster, though at the moment that isn’t hard. Ours is grounded for the foreseeable future.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”
“Sure,” Peter agreed, looking to Marla and Egbert after the fact.
While the officer was horrified that the Sky Turtle relied on a large, hot, fire to become airborne, he was impressed with the rest of the vessel. The larger airship was constructed of materials Peter hadn’t known existed on either world. As amazed as he was, he was still equally horrified by what gave the vessel its lift.
Safely in a laboratory on the ground, he was shown what the big balloon was filled with. “This machine, when you turn it, summons lightning. The lightning travels through these wires into this salty water, and a gas is given off that is lighter than air.”
“You fools,” Peter said as he was handed a balloon. They were confused, understandably, which suggested they had been lucky so far. Carrying the hazardous balloon outside, Peter found a cookfire and carefully took a burning log out to a cleared area. Placing the balloon on the ground, he said “plug your ears,” to Marla and Egbert, quietly. Tossing the burning log at the balloon, he leapt back and plugged his own.
Finding himself lying on the ground with ringing ears, Peter realized he had underestimated the potential of the hydrogen and oxygen mix in the balloon. Getting to his feet, albeit unsteadily, he helped Marla and Egbert up.
“We might have to make a quick getaway,” he said, but they couldn’t hear him. Peter tried three more times before they understood. Together they made their way to the Sky Turtle, but guards were already blocking their access.
Egbert approached and said something, making them look a little uncertain. They didn’t move aside.
“How did you know that would happen?” shouted the officer, having recovered enough to follow them.
Peter wilted, hunching forward, and scrunched his eyes closed. Taking a deep breath through his nose, he straightened up and opened his eyes, smiling and turning. “Electrolysis rips apart the hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is essential for processes like oxidation and combustion. On its own, hydrogen is fairly harmless, but when it is allowed to mix with oxygen it is extremely dangerous. Contain it, add some heat, and you have a loud explosion, even a shockwave. Given that it is oxygen that is the gas present that our lungs filter out of the air so we can live, anywhere we are is a bad place to have hydrogen. Still, if you separated the two gasses, one would be more buoyant and safer, while the other would make any fuel, any flammable item, capable of spontaneously combusting with the slightest addition of heat.”
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you!”
Turning to Marla, Peter asked “think you could write all that down for me?”
“You’ll have to repeat it,” she answered.
Peter mimed writing at the officer, who smiled and nodded.
They went to an office, where paper and pen were put in front of Peter, who shoved them over to Marla. It wasn’t easy, but he thought she understood well enough to translate to a writing system they would understand. He tried to avoid unnecessarily alarming language, but he wasn’t sure how it actually came across.
Once Marla finished, Peter handed it to the officer, who quickly read it and frowned. Reading it a few more times, he started nodding. “Oh, thank you. But how do you know about this?”
“How do I explain this without causing this to drag out,” Peter asked Marla.
After a night in a proper bed, they were airborne and following directions for the Capital. The terrain quickly changed to mostly farmland, roads became more defined, and towns got closer together. It took four days, thankfully uneventful – unless you counted the crowd they drew when they set down for the night. The closer they got to the Capital, the harder it was to find unoccupied spaces large enough to land.
“Any ideas where to land? I hadn’t considered this part. The Sky Turtle is significantly bigger than a wagon.”
“I’ve been to the Capital before, but I’m not that familiar with it,” Marla said.
“Same,” added Egbert.
“In theory, there should be an airfield on this end as well. The zeppelin would need a place to land.”
“We’ll see when we get there, I guess. It won’t be long, look,” Marla pointed to the horizon.
Peter was not prepared for the size of the Capital. It sprawled over such a large region it likely could have rivaled the largest cities on Earth a century or two ago. As the neared, the scale of some of the buildings became apparent, too. While none would be noteworthy where he came from, they were beyond impressive here. The closer they got, the more details Peter could make out. It was clear that there were many architectural styles present, and some buildings were quite elaborate.
“It’s bigger than I expected,” was all he said.
Even the Sky Turtle wasn’t an impressive sight to the locals. Hardly anyone did more than glance up.
The airfield wasn’t hard to locate. It was sensibly placed on the side of the city that the zeppelin would be approaching from. Confused crew hurried out to help them land, and there was a very similar exchange they had had four days ago.
“Well, that’s unexpected,” said the officer on duty. “You’re welcome to anchor here while you conduct business in the city.”
“Once we secure accommodations, we’ll be back to unload. You don’t mind watching over it?”
“The lads need something to do. This delay has them starting to get lazy.”
“Then it’s settled. Thank you, we’ll be back soon, I hope.”
Peter followed Marla and Egbert to the gates, where bored guards took one look at Egbert and waved them through. Instead of hunting down an inn, they went straight to the nearest guard barracks. Sitting there bored, Peter listened without paying attention while Egbert reported to the Captain. Then it was Marla’s turn to pass on some messages.
“You’re welcome to make use of our spare bunks. It will take a week or so to arrange an audience, but it will happen, don’t worry.”
Peter didn’t like the sound of that, but gladly climbed onto the wagon they were borrowing to fetch their things.
It was three days before Peter left the barracks, preferring to remain in his bunk amid the ridiculous pile of cargo they had amassed. He was legitimately tired, but he also just didn’t like how many sounds were out in the city.
He only left because he wanted to visit a bathhouse. He got lost on his way back, of course, but given how many guards recognized him now, Peter had no difficulty getting back on the right track. Afterward, he decided the city was quite so bad, at least for short periods of time.
For such a large and busy city, there was little to hold Peter’s attention. More of the same he had encountered in the other towns he had visited, really. At least, he hadn’t found anything yet.
When word came that he had an appointment, he was relieved to finally have something to do. Even if he had to wait two more days.
It was only as Marla was leading him to the meeting that Peter thought to ask what sort of government he was meeting with. It took a few tries to get the question right.
"Oh. It’s an empire, so there is technically an emperor, but these days that is more of a figurehead position. Each community gets together and chooses a representative. All the representatives for a region get together and choose another representative. This is done again to form our parliament, and parliament chooses the Emperor from among them. Other members of parliament are chosen to take charge of a department. We’re meeting with the Parliamentary Member of Magic today.”
“Why?”
“That’s who makes the decisions about opening portals to other worlds.”
“Oh. Okay. Is there anything I should know before we go in?”
“Not really, no. You might already know too much. The more ignorant you are, the more convincing you’ll be.”
“If we wanted me to be convincing, shouldn’t I be wearing the clothes I arrived in?”
“I had thought about it, but I believe it would draw too much attention to you trying to get to the palace.”
“We’re going to a palace? Not some government office building?”
“Well, yes, but no, they are the same thing here.”
“Okay. What are we going to do?”
“We sit down with this representative and tell your story. He makes a decision, though it might take a few days of deliberation and further conversation.”
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It should be. There are some stories that make me a little uncertain.”
“Might as well get it over with, I guess.”
The meeting was just a boring one in a generic office talking to a completely average man with no curiosity or excitement, telling the story he was too familiar enough with for it to not be boring. Peter did not leave hopeful.