Chapter 15

Sixteen weeks later, Drogo and several of our Clovis Class ships arrived in Valencia, returning many of our troops, as well as the deposed emperor, his Palace Guard, the Emperor’s banner for Clovis’ collection, and some surprise guests. We locked up the deposed Emperor and his Palace Guard. Drogo and his surprise guests joined us on the train to Paris.

Our “royal railroad coaches” were four passenger cars made specifically for Clovis or me to use when we took the train. One set of two cars was in Paris and the second set in Valencia. One of the two cars had seating for thirty people arranged so the seats faced what could generously be described as a throne where Clovis or Audoflede could hold court if necessary. The second car had a small kitchen, foldout tables, collapsible chairs to use at the tables, and sleeping quarters for Clovis or me and our entourage. He was currently up to seven wives and six concubines, teasingly claiming that he was trying to catch up with me.

We left for Paris the morning after Drogo’s triumphant arrival in Valencia. We had sent messenger pigeons to inform Clovis of our pending arrival and he greeted us enthusiastically when we arrived in Paris two days later. Clovis was actually waiting for us at the station, reasonably certain that my estimated arrival of shortly after dawn would be accurate. Word of our defeat of the Hephthalites had obviously spread throughout Paris, and thousands of Parisians lined the railroad route and the street from the railroad station to the palace, cheering as we switched to horses for the ride to the palace.

Clovis was surprised to meet the unexpected guests. King Narasimhagupta, of what remained of the Gupta Empire, came to request admission into the Frankish Empire. Hephthalite forces had seized over half of his territory, and the loss of so many troops left them weakened and vulnerable to any other potential attackers. Clovis quickly agreed, even returning the territory captured by the Hephthalite troops as a goodwill gesture.

Clovis insisted that Drogo, King Narasimhagupta, and I ride next to him on the way to the palace. Drogo’s and my wives and our significant others were cheered as well. Most of them rode behind us since everyone was used to seeing women riding horses by now. They did wear silk dresses, but the dresses were really pants with wide legs to give the appearance of being a dress. A panel of cloth covered the split both in front and back when they were standing. Only when they were actually riding was the true form of the “dress” apparent.

Former Hephthalite Emperor Mihirakula did not fare as well. With Drogo’s reports of his unpopularity, Clovis assigned him to me as a slave, along with his Palace Guard. Drogo beamed when Clovis appointed him the new Governor of Kush. It included all or most of the modern countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kashmir.

Drogo was excited when I handed him the lists containing the potential mine sites I knew about in his new territory. I had finished copying the list during the previous several weeks, translating the descriptions of the locations from English into Frankish. One of Clovis’ Lieutenants went with now Governor Narasimhagupta to act as a liaison, to guide the new Governor regarding the Frankish Empire’s laws and policies (few and basic) and to be able to read the list of potential mine sites I would complete for them before they left Valencia to return home. I’d already anticipated that Clovis would accept them and had worked on the list during the two-day trip to Paris.

Poor Narasimhagupta was flabbergasted. The Clovis Class ship to Valencia had stunned him; never had he seen a ship so large or that could sail so fast, although he had seen several of our Capital Class and Duchess Class ships as they plied the waterways of his empire and traded in his ports. He had heard of the larger ships since we traded in their ports, but felt the reports were exaggerations. The sight of the city of Valencia added to his consternation over the new things he’d never seen before, even flushing toilets. The hissing of the steam engine for the train scared him shitless. Seeing women boarding unconcernedly finally galvanized him into getting aboard. For two hours, he stared out of the windows before finally realizing the train wasn’t going to eat him. I explained that it was just a machine, similar to a ship, but built to travel long distances over land to quickly haul passengers and heavy cargo from city to city.

The final surprise guests Drogo returned with were three beautiful young women. One was a gift for Clovis (voluntarily) and the second for me. Both his wives and mine squealed excitedly and hurried their new playmates away to become better acquainted. The third young woman would become Drogo’s third wife. He originally intended for her to be a consort, but with his new position, felt a third wife would be more prestigious.

At my request, Clovis sent emissaries to the Kutrigur and Utrigur Huns, as well as several other tribes in the area, asking if we could pay them for the right to run a railroad through their territory. If they agreed, we would extend the railroad to build an overland route to Persia. Other emissaries went to the tribes beyond that with the same request. If they agreed, we could build the railroad to Kush and Gupta. If only the Huns agreed, we would still build a secondary route to Kush through Persia, but it would be through the mountains instead of the much flatter terrain north and east of the Caspian Sea.

The railroads we were now building through modern Turkey, the Middle East, and Egypt stopped at major ports since there was no land connection to the rest of the Empire. Brunaz did have two experimental barges built that could each ferry four loaded railroad cars across the narrow strait to the harbor in Constantinople where they were lifted off the barges and set on the tracks by giant cranes. I sent a suggestion of using flatcars with removable cargo containers instead, along with a diagram.

When we got back to Valencia, I promoted Lt. Marellus to Captain, and he promoted his replacement from among the men who had made several trips to Ghana and who were fluent in Amazigh, Soninke, and Bantu. Then I returned to put the final touches on my latest project.

I already had the poles installed in anticipation, and wires run along the entire train route to Paris. Six small dams had been completed and had turbines installed to generate electricity and to keep the backup batteries charged. Six weeks after my return to Valencia, several of my assistants traveled to Paris to install Clovis’ telephone in the palace. He was excited when they finished the installation and he made the first “official” phone call to me. After that, the assistants installed one phone at each railroad office along the route from Valencia to Paris. More technicians went out from Valencia to install them at every railroad office in Iberia. We had already built the necessary factories to make the copper wire, insulate it, and roll it onto large spools. Other factories were making parts for the telephones or assembling them.

We provided a demonstration for each governor, but they would have to build the necessary dams to provide electricity and would have to install their own poles for telephone and electric lines. We would sell the turbines, creosote-impregnated poles, copper wire, and glass insulators to them at cost, as well as loan them the necessary technicians for the initial installation. The technicians would train the local men appointed by the governor while they helped install everything. Once electricity was available in each province, we would install phones in every railroad station and the provincial capitol building. They had to purchase any additional phones at cost. We weren’t trying to gouge anyone, but I didn’t want to continue funding every new technology for the entire Empire, especially since the technologies were becoming increasingly more complex and expensive. With the Empire growing so rapidly, the costs had become almost prohibitive.

I’d had nearly a hundred mathematicians and astronomers working on a book for more than three years now and they were finally satisfied with their results. Every calculation had been triple checked for accuracy and then checked again. With our printing presses now working, I had the book printed. The books included longitudinal calculations to 1/128th of a degree, or about half a mile at the same latitude as Valencia.

By viewing the positions of different celestial bodies at specific times and comparing the difference to a known position, like Valencia, sailors could determine their exact longitude. This helped them sail the shortest route to their destination, avoid known dangers like shoals, or determine where they were after being blown off course by a storm.

While others worked on the calculations, and on printing the books, I worked on the other half of the problem. For four years now, with our increased expertise at making springs and small pieces for intricate machines, I worked, off and on, at making a clock. The first one that I felt was reasonably accurate went into a tower in the castle in Valencia where everyone who passed by could see it. It sat only a hundred feet or so from the gorgeous, intricate water clock plundered years ago from Rome.

The second one went in a tower overlooking the port. We installed the third in the Clovis Palace in Paris. While we continued to make the large clocks for towers in other ports, I managed to reduce the size of our clocks to that of a breadbox. We made one, then a dozen, then a hundred, then hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands. Initially, only our biggest ships got a chronometer, along with the book for determining longitude. When their glowing reports began coming in, our smaller ships got the book and the chronometer. Other Frankish ships were soon clamoring for them as we struggled to train more people on their use, as well as to increase our production. The chronometers were accurate to within a few minutes a year, but still needed correction. Big ports were soon clamoring for more of the large clocks like the one at our harbor. When installed, they were set to Valencia time, generally via a phone call to Valencia from the railroad station near the port. In ports where phones weren’t available, they took the most recent or most common time from among any chronometers aboard ships in the harbor.

The intensity necessary to complete each new project was wearing on me more and more, and I still had five projects left that I wanted to finish. After that, I planned to get out of the re-inventing business. To help keep the spirit of invention alive, though, I started the construction of Valencia University. Our trading ships and trains distributed notices throughout the Frankish Empire that classes would begin on September 1 of the following year. I wanted those who already excelled at mathematics, engineering, mechanics, or invention to apply. The school would be completely free with room and board provided for the students and their family if they were married. Those who showed exceptional aptitude would probably end up teaching, which would be a prestigious and high-paying position. Applications had to be in by February 1, more than half a year from now.

I knew the college buildings wouldn’t be anywhere near complete by then and arranged to have two warehouses built to hold classes in while construction began on the university. Once that project was underway, I started on a fun project I wanted to do. Yet again, some of the shipbuilders laughed at my idea. Several caught on immediately, while most deemed it best to reserve judgment. The ones who caught on immediately began to help me design and build my version of this Europe’s first catamaran. Half of the people in Valencia came out to watch as ten of us took Val-Cat 1 out for her inaugural run. Two hours later, we were back, and I spent the rest of the day making my wives, concubines, and children squeal excitedly as we zipped back and forth across Valencia Bay.

After a week of screwing off with the catamaran, I’d worked off enough stress that I was ready to tackle my next project. Using actual horsepower and an auger bit eight inches in diameter, we drilled our first oil well near the oil seep we mined to make petroleum jelly, and the oil tar creosote we used to protect the telephone poles. When we reached two hundred forty feet, we lined the hole with lengths of brass pipe and poured a large concrete pad around the top of the well. Using a narrower auger inserted into the brass pipe, we resumed drilling. I already knew from my notes to expect to hit oil at two hundred fifty-two feet and wasn’t disappointed.

In a much-rehearsed maneuver, we used a crane to swing a four-thousand-pound brass cap over the exposed pipe at the top of the well, maneuvering it into position using brass chains. Once it was in position, we bolted it down using the large brass bolts that we had set deep into the concrete when we poured it. Only then did I spin the large brass wheel on the side of the cap, finally stopping the geyser of oil that had spewed into the air for more than six hours. Needless to say, we were excited, more so after finally washing off the smelly, sticky, gooey oil.

At first, we only shipped small amounts of the crude oil in fifty-gallon stainless steel drums to my new petro-lab. There I experimented. Even though I already knew from the notes in my books what temperatures to use to distill different compounds, I wanted to make sure I had it right. Within a year, our first petroleum distillery opened.

I knew I was nearing the end of my patience for the constant grind involved in re-inventing things I used to take for granted. Rather than re-invent the diesel locomotive, I started classes for the university early. Talking to a hundred assistants who had helped me with various projects up until now, I explained what I wanted to do, finally ending up with forty-six volunteers. A month-long crash course on the basics of diesel engines, since basics were all I really understood, left them excited at the prospect of what they could accomplish.

One of the men did ask me an intriguing question. “If you already know it will work, why do you think it will take you so long to make it?”

“You have seen our rifles, and know that they work,” I replied. “How long do you think it would take you to make one of your own without looking at ours as a guide? Once you have made the rifle, you also need to design the bullets, and even the explosives we use to propel the bullets. It took me three years to make just the rifle the first time, even though I had diagrams and exact measurements. It took two more years to get it to work correctly,” I replied.

“The diesel locomotive is much larger and much more complex than my rifle was. While we have steam engines already, making a diesel engine powerful enough to pull a train, and safe enough to use will take time,” I explained.

Seven years later, I pronounced their sixth iteration of a diesel engine suitable for a locomotive. A year later, they had successfully incorporated the engine into a locomotive body. They also converted some of the old water tender cars to carry diesel fuel.

This time, the inaugural run took seven days instead of eight, even with the additions of Rome and Braga to the itinerary. On flat stretches, we cruised at fifty mph, reaching seventy just one time to demonstrate the engine’s capabilities.

Every town along the railroad now had diesel tanks that we replenished from our growing fleet of tank cars. I built a second refinery just east of Murcia, and a third west of Malaga. They were more adapted to commercial refining than the one near Valencia, which was still my small experimental refinery. Aside from diesel fuel, they provided lamp oil, oil, and numerous other by-products of the distillation process.

My final re-invention was a relatively simple one--the radio. At first, Clovis couldn’t understand how it was better than the telephone. Then I reminded him about ships, trains, and troops stationed where there were no phones. Within two years, every Frankish port and large ship had a radio. We installed antennas and repeaters across the Empire. We even installed them in Amazigh ports and cities and ports and cities in the Ghana Empire, using windmill generators and backup batteries to power them. We then began selling radios to the Amazigh and the Ghana Empire.

Formal classes started at the University of Valencia long before the first of the diesel engines was built. At first, it wasn’t much. I found two men to share the job of teaching math, while I concentrated on chemistry and basic mechanics. The two math teachers were attending my classes, too. I made no pretense that I could teach anything about designing bridges or skyscrapers, but provided an understanding of the basics behind the things I had designed so far, hoping it would help advance the industrial revolution by nearly thirteen hundred years.

The one class I made mandatory for everyone attending the University was one I named “Poisoning the Earth and Its People.” I stressed that everything we did affected the world, starting with the trees we cut down for firewood and for building. I explained about the damage the tiny particles in smoke did to people’s ability to breathe, smoke from burning wood, coal, and now diesel fuel and lamp oil. I warned about polluting the water we needed for drinking with human, animal, and chemical wastes. I insisted that everything possible be recycled.