Chapter 22

Devnum

After four days of sitting silently next to Lucilla, Ky took his first steps out of her room. His guards had arrived a few days before and were standing watch alongside her guards outside her room.

After the first day, which had been very tense as Sophus tried desperately to fix her most critical injuries before her body reached a point of no return, things had started to improve. That morning, the AI told him that it was certain now she would live. She’d have to remain comatose for a few more days to help the injuries heal faster, but most of the major damage was corrected, and what was left could be done by nanites controlled by the comm unit, which meant Ky wasn’t required to remain next to her to aid in her healing, any longer.

If it was up to Ky, he’d remain next to Lucilla until she awoke, but Sophus reminded him how short on time they were and that there was still much to do. Lucilla had done an admirable job running everything while he completed the conquering of Londinium, and he’d received enough messages from Hortensius while he stood vigil over Lucilla to know the manufacturer was back at work again, but there were some things he would need to do if they were going to have everything ready before the Carthaginians arrived.

So, he’d allowed Sophus to cajole him out of the room, even if it was only going to be for a few hours. Ky still planned to spend his nights sitting next to her bed, allowing Sophus more direct access if he needed it. Also, because he couldn’t bear the thought of being far from her while she was like this.

He felt bad about forcing Hortensius, who was still healing, to meet him at the foundry where the cannons were in production, since he was still in the wheelchair that Sophus had designed for him. As medical equipment went, it was a vast improvement over anything of its type, and there were apparently a couple more already being produced for injured soldiers who were unlikely to ever walk again. They were, however, not perfect and tended to still jostle the user around, which could be fairly unpleasant if they were still recovering.

He had little choice, however. The cannon would be needed soon, and they’d need more than just one working test unit, which meant they needed to begin actual production now.

Although he’d been following the progress through Lucilla’s reports and Sophus had been able to use the drone’s sensors to get a more detailed look at everything, it wasn’t the same as Ky seeing it for himself.

As soon as Ky entered the factory, Hortensius came trundling down one of the walkways, being pushed by one of the assistants. Ky had seen him with Hortensius, before.

“Consul, it’s good to see you. I’m so sorry about Lucilla’s injury and pray to the gods every morning for her swift recovery.”

“Thank you. Her recovery is looking good and she should be up and around soon. How are you feeling?”

“Then my prayers have been answered. I am doing better, although the healers tell me I will need to remain in this confounded thing for weeks more, and constantly chastise me for not getting enough bed rest.”

“They’re probably right,” Ky said.

Although they needed the manufacturer working, he liked Hortensius and did want to see the man recover. Without the nanites that he, and now Lucilla, had protecting them, he still had a long road to recovery. Knowing the man, however, Ky knew he wouldn’t have any better luck that the physicians in getting him to slow down.

“Bah,” Hortensius said, waving the thought away. “Let me show you what we’ve got. We finished the molds and the latest test model of the cannon two days ago, following Lucilla’s instructions. We also made some adjustments to the measurement bases that she suggested, and some alterations to the drill, based on some of the things she said. It was almost as if we had to recreate the entire process from the beginning, so hopefully, we are closer to the result you two are looking for. Although I will say after all that work, we can’t tell any difference between this one and the previous version. I know you and Lucilla are judging them based on things we don’t really understand, but to me, they’re identical.”

“I know, and I appreciate you incorporating all the changes even though it seems pointless. I promise that they are necessary for this project to be successful. Now, let’s see this new cannon. Hopefully, this is the final test version and we can actually begin production soon.”

Hortensius led Ky down to the far end of the factory, where the mold and cannon had been set up for him to examine, much like they’d done for the last version with Lucilla. Ky made a slow sweep across both the cannon and the mold, slowly circling them as Sophus collated the data on them. The drone had excellent sensors, but even without having to use the cobbled-together connection for Sophus to use it, they still weren’t up to the standard of Ky’s artificially augmented eyes which, as a combat pilot, were the most advanced in use in the empire of his birth.

“The material is still not to the level of strength preferred, which will make it more difficult to switch to a steel cannon that can accept rifling, but for the technology we currently have available, this should be fine.”

“I’m not seeing the same imperfections in the pour that you reported observing with Lucilla the last time. Has that been corrected?” Ky subvocalized.

“I believe so. The new mold has been created much closer to the required tolerances, which has limited pooling during the casting stage, allowing a more even structural integrity as the alloy cooled and hardened.”

“Will it withstand the pressures of firing?”

“If we were using more modern forms of gunpowder, no, it would not. However, with the early-stage black powder currently being developed, yes. This should be sufficient. There will most likely be failures, since it is infeasible to check each cannon in the same fashion, but an advantage of using bronze is the failures will not be catastrophic. It is something that will have to be addressed in later models as we progress to the rifled steel versions of the cannon.”

“What about the barrel? Last time, you told Lucilla it had problems.”

“It is surprisingly good and much closer to the required tolerances than I believed we would be able to achieve with current technology. Even using bronze, which is much softer than steel, the horizontal borer does not have the necessary power using water-turned gears. Until we introduce steam-driven power, which is more consistent, reliable, and can generate a higher cutting speed, these will be limited to final shaping and polishing rather than cutting, which will limit the scale of ammunition and charge packs available to us.”

“If it’s that ineffective, how is this ‘surprisingly good’ in comparison to what you saw before?”

“One of the flaws in the last test platform I observed was sagging in the borer as it worked further into the barrel, causing a slight variance from the base of the barrel to the end, which will cause a loss of pressure on one side of the projectile as it is fired, causing a shallow arc to be added into its flight trajectory, which would greatly limit the range. This variance was slight enough that it is unlikely to have been visible to the standard human eye and was included in the notes that Lucilla handed Hortensius’s foreman on the last inspection.”

Ky found himself nodding along as he looked down the barrel of the cannon. He was using the same sensors as Sophus, but he didn’t know what the AI had been looking at specifically to see the change. To him, it read as being surprisingly straight and smooth, considering the technology they were using.

“These look good,” Ky said after one last circuit of the mold and cannon. “We need to set up to test fire it, just to be sure, but if successful, we should be able to put these in production.”

“Excellent. We are still having some trouble with the extra bracing Lucilla asked us to add to the horizontal borer, but I think we should have that figured out soon.”

“From what I can see, what you’ve done already has gone a long way to fixing the problems she saw on her last visit. I’ll have some additional notes for you tonight about what we need to do for the test, specifically the fuses and the sewn canvas sacks that we will fill with measured amounts of gunpowder. These charges will both allow the cannons to fire more rapidly and ensure we don’t load too much propellant into the tubes, which could cause over-pressurization, rupturing the cannon. We also need to build the carriages the cannon will sit in, as well as a method for changing its elevation reliably when aiming it. That is, more or less, simple carpentry and blacksmithing similar to what your people are already doing, so it shouldn’t require any major retooling.”

“If it’s as simple as you’re suggesting, then hopefully we’ll be able to do the test sometime next week.”

“Good. We’re going to need these soon, and we’re going to need enough to stage them at each of the possible points where the Carthaginians might land, since we probably won’t have more than a day’s notice from the time we first sight them.”

“I understand. These are my top priority. Once we test them, I believe I can get enough produced for you in time. The gunpowder will be trickier and it’s unlikely you’ll have more than twenty shots to any cannon, if I’m right about the number of cannons you want. We’re still producing more, of course, but it will probably be another nine months before the nitrate beds start producing enough for us to really increase production.”

“I understand. Do your best. Where are we on the other projects? Last I heard, we were far behind schedule on the semaphore towers.”

“We’re making better progress. We’ve got work crews augmented by some of the forced labor from the prison camps out building at least the basic structures for each tower now. We’re leaving the more complex parts to my teams, but since they now only have to add the winch and pulley system and new braces for flags and lanterns, it should take them only a few days at each tower to get it functional. I believe we’ll have the first chain to Londinium completed within the week.”

“Good. Good. Be prepared to send teams over to Ériunia to begin building a signal system there as well. If they decide to join the Empire, I want to be ready to get to work with as little delay as possible.”

“I’ll see to it.”

“Thanks. I want to get back to Lucilla, but please let me know if you have any questions.”

Emain Macha

Llassar rode into the Ulaid capital for the third time and found the experience very different than his first two. Instead of being led in chains or riding ahead of men fleeing into a city cowering in fear of an army at its doorsteps, he was welcomed into the city as a conquering hero. Or at least the group he was with was welcomed that way.

The prince, who Velius had sent back with Llassar so he could report to his father, took all of it as a sign of his people’s love for him, and was basking in their shouts of admiration and strips of red cloth being thrown at him from the people lining the street to the central meeting hall.

Llassar knew better. They were celebrating being alive and this was their first opportunity to see soldiers, even the small number that had ridden with him and the prince, returning in victory. Llassar knew that people could be fickle. They might have a loyalty to his father, who they had recognized as their king for more than ten years, but princes came and went. All it would take was one defeat or bad harvest for their cheers to change into shouts of anger.

Still, he did prefer this welcome to the other types.

The king was again waiting on the steps as the party rode up to the meeting hall. The prince, seeing his father, leaped off the horse and jogged up to meet him.