CH74 Plumbing Problems.
Meanwhile, back at the floating island…
"What are you building?" Cosmos inquired of the blue slime girl.
"Meru Meru," Merumeru replied, half-submerged in the creek near her portal pipe. She gestured along the water, explaining her project.
Merumeru had discovered an ideal location for a small dam. While the duck pond might have seemed suitable for plumbing water to the cabin, its lower elevation posed a problem. However, a hundred yards upstream from the portal pipe and duck pond, the elevation was sufficient. Here, she could construct a small dam, similar to those at Bob and Martha's farm. The landscape formed a dirt-shaped V where she intended to build, and since there were no steep walls, the dam would need to be wider.
“I’m not sure what you are trying to do here.” The magical girl furrowed her brows.
Merumeru, using her slime abilities, crafted a stone intake pipe by boring and hardening a hole in the ground. Her initial aim was to connect it to the cabin's existing well pipes, but she encountered an unidentifiable, shiny, and indestructible material. Instead of attempting to break it, she tunneled directly to the metal water tank.
A concern arose about water overflow. The well had a lightning-powered pump, as explained by the magical girl. Cosmos then revealed an even more complex, fluid-burning generator behind the house, which also produced lightning and could fill the tank. However, Cosmos cautioned that the special fluid was scarce, so she used it sparingly. The long-term solution for power was to conserve fuel until a new lightning source for Alex's cabin could be found.
"Meru ru ru ru," Merumeru chirped, confident she could solve their predicament. She assured Cosmos there was no need to burn the fluid. As a "big girl," she knew how to fill the tank by constructing a dam and running a pipe. Fortuitously, an unused pipe extended upward and outward, serving no apparent purpose. Merumeru decided to repurpose this extra opening on the water tank.
“Aww, you are so cute.” Cosmos praised.
Thankfully, the well water didn't drain back down the pipe. The unusual lightning-machine held the water in place when it wasn't running, preventing accidental geysers and flooding.
Merumeru began constructing bricks for a wall. After a day of slow progress, Cosmos looked worried.
“Do you need some more bricks? Are you trying to build a wall? I could probably portal some from another place. I just can’t get them from Terre. That would be a violation of the treaty that the gods made regarding my interference.” Cosmos looked a bit flustered.
“Meru me me,” Merumeru nodded in agreement, thankful for any help she could get.
“Okay, I’ll be right back. When I was looking around for Alex’s cabin I saw a pile of really big bricks. I can just take them and leave something better in return. That way I don’t have to talk to any bill collectors.” Cosmos floated up into the sky and started sparkling.
“Magical Girl Cosmos: Transform!”
Bathed in starlight, her ordinary form rippled, elongating with ethereal energy. A celestial hum filled the air. With a final flash, she was transformed. Her simple clothes became a frilly dress of moonlight and stardust, adorned with lace and ribbons. A galactic circlet graced her head. In her hand, a crescent moon-tipped wand pulsed with cosmic energy. She was Magical Girl Cosmos, protector, beacon, and wielder of starlight.
“Puri Puri Portal!” Cosmos chanted and spun her wand in several circles. A portal formed in the air.
Merumeru clapped and cheered.
Cosmos winked, and from her eye, a shimmering, translucent star floated down towards Merumeru. It shattered into a shower of sparkling, glittery motes that rained down on the slime girl. With a final, graceful flourish, Cosmos flew into the portal, and it vanished from view with a soft pop.
Some time later, the portal opened again with a playful whoosh, and a very large, pastel gray brick plopped down. It was several times bigger than the tiny slime girl and, though surprisingly lightweight, still boasted an impressive size. The block was longer than Alex was tall and much wider than a human, adorned with a tiny, twinkling metal hook in the middle and charming upward notches and concave nooks.
Merumeru gazed in amazement. “Meru!”
“Will this work? Where should these go?” Cosmos gestured to where the stream was, grinning.
Merumeru took a stick and drew a line from the hill that would be the back and a quarter circle to another hill.
“Oh, I see what you are trying to do.” Cosmos thought for a moment. “I don’t think these will work so well unless we place them flat though. Hold on a moment.”
Cosmos floated over the path Merumeru proposed, her eyes twinkling as she nodded, a plan blossoming in her mind. “Puri Puri Paired Portal!” Cosmos chanted, her wand tracing delicate, shimmering circles in the air. With a final, graceful flourish, a verdant green portal spun into existence, facing downwards. A heartbeat later, the tip of her wand bloomed into a cerulean blue portal. Cosmos twirled her wand, as if conducting an invisible orchestra, then descended with a gentle, floating motion. She glided just above the ground, the blue portal at her wand's tip stirring up earth, pebbles, and mud, which then gracefully poured through the green portal above. With a soft giggle, she dismissed the paired portals, and then, with a playful flip, she zipped back into the portal from which she had conjured the massive brick.
The portal vanished after the magical girl left.
Merumeru cocked her head, anticipating the next event.
In quick succession, portals materialized above the leveled ground, and colossal blocks descended into position with a series of dull thuds. These gray blocks, stacked three high, formed a quarter-circle from one end of the hill to the next high point. Though flush, the blocks weren't watertight, allowing the creek to flow through without raising the water level to the cabin's pipe. A tighter seal would be needed to properly dam the creek.
"Me rururu," Merumeru conveyed, indicating she could handle the rest. She had a knack for dissolving various rocks and fusing them together.
After two days of melting the massive rocks, their modest dam was complete. Despite being a larger undertaking than the farmhouse, the construction proceeded more smoothly. Merumeru, being small, worked at a deliberate pace on grander projects.
The slime girl observed as the water levels climbed, eventually submerging the pipe. This was always her cherished moment. Splashing into the water, she stretched to fit into the pipe, riding the current into the water tank. Once reformed into her usual slime girl shape, she floated in the absolute darkness of the tank. The water level steadily rose, pausing just before reaching the top.
“Meru!” Merumeru felt frustrated. Why hadn’t the tank filled all the way up?
The little girl wormed her way around in some of the other pipes but all the other ways were closed. The pump didn’t let water pass through it if it was off. And all of the closed faucets, toilets, and baths wouldn’t let water pass through it either. The only way out was back the way she came.
“Ruuuu.” Merumeru stopped her little feet. The dam had filled up and the stream let water fall over the top and continue down to the duck pond. She had messed things up somehow but wasn’t sure how.
Cosmos hovered over the drain from which the squishy blue girl emerged. "Wow, you really can fit through tight spaces. Did your little project work?"
Merumeru shook her head and toddled back to the water tank, which dwarfed her. Several pipes protruded from it: one leading to the well, equipped with a black box, a valve, and a cylindrical gauge with a pointer and markings; another feeding the house's plumbing; and a third connecting to the newly built dam. The black box had slick string-like material running down the tank to the well pump. She wasn't entirely sure how it functioned, but she knew it likely wouldn't operate without lightning. However, her goal was to make the water work without lightning, so that wasn't helpful.
“Ruu!” Merumeru thumped the dumb tank for being half-filled with air and then stopping. She poked the black box and the cylinder thingy but it didn’t do anything.
“What’s that? It says something. Numbers in a circle and a pointer. I think it is some kind of measuring device. It says PSI in the middle.” The magical girl poked the gauge.
Merumeru couldn’t read. She didn’t know many numbers and had no idea what a PSI was. The slime girl glared angrily at the cylinder with numbers and letters on it.
“I think that I read something in one of Alex’s books about a PSI. It is how much pressure something has.” Cosmos looked at Merumeru to see if she was paying attention.
Merumeru tilted her head, listening.
“You see here on the bottom left that says zero. Then all the way on the other side it says 100. Where this little black needle is pointing is how much pressure this tank has. Right now it says 20 PSI.” Comos pointed at the number that apparently ment 20. “Pressure, that is when something gets compressed. Like if you go to the bottom of the ocean the water there presses down on things a lot harder than at the top. Does that help?”
Merumeru shook her head, considering it. “Me ru ru me.” She explained that there was air trapped in the tank and she wasn’t sure how to get it out.
Cosmos tugged the quarter-turn valve, curious about its function. Water erupted across the room. "Oops, so that's what it does. What a mess." She quickly shut the valve.
Both heard dripping.
This sparked an idea in the plumber slime-girl. Perhaps the solution was simple. Air was trapped due to pressure. The key was to release the pressure, allowing the air to escape the tank. She rushed inside, opening all the faucets, showers, and outdoor hoses. Returning to the tank room, she watched the needle drop.
15 PSI
10 PSI
0 PSI
The water flow significantly decreased. She began closing valves enough for the tank to refill. The kitchen sink sputtered and gurgled as a mixture of water and air emerged. Once the air stopped and only water flowed, Merumeru re-examined the tank. Some air remained, but a significant amount had been expelled. Next time, she’d need to be more precise. She expected it to operate like the plumbing at Bob and Martha’s house and the adventurer’s guild.
However, another problem surfaced. Even with all valves closed and the tanks refilling, the pressure only reached about 5 PSI. Merumeru scowled at the needle. Using the lightning pump and a well felt like cheating. There simply wasn't a high enough location to build a dam that could match the pump's pressure.
“Meru…” Merumeru gave a resigned sigh. This would just have to do for now.
“Why do you look so glum, Merumeru?” Cosmos asked and glanced at the gauge as well. “Do you want that water to have more pressure?”
Merumeru nodded in agreement. “Meru.”
“It just needs more gravity compressing it then. You are in luck. Space and gravity are my specialties!” Cosmos flashed a winning smile and gave a goofy salute. “Here, follow me.”
Cosmos led the slime girl back out to the newly-constructed dam, humming a cheerful tune. With a playful flick of her wand, she chanted arcane phrases that glittered in the air, and a huge, shimmering magic circle bloomed around the landscape. Then, with a joyful thrust of her wand, the ground gave a happy little rumble, and the dam earth, as if eager to play, broke free and floated gracefully into the sky!
As the new sky-island ascended like a fluffy cloud, Merumeru could see where her pipe had broken, with water still playfully dribbling out. She gave Cosmos a tiny, disappointed frown.
“Haha, don’t worry, I’ve got this!” Cosmos giggled, winking. “Puri Puri Portal!” she chanted, spinning her wand in a dazzling flourish. A sparkly portal shimmered into existence at one end of the broken pipe, and another just popped up on the other side, forming a playful waterfall that splashed delightfully near where they were standing. The earth around the dam broke free of gravity and ascended higher and higher into the clouds, finally disappearing from sight with a final magical twinkle. “Let’s go back and see if that fixes the pressure, shall we?”
The pair skipped back to the cabin, and indeed, the pressure rose! It was about 10 PSI now. But then, with a little sigh, it started to drop.
“Hmm, it looks like we’re running out of water,” Cosmos mused, tapping her chin with her wand. “We’ll need some more gravity and a bigger area! I know! I’ll summon an asteroid to make that other island bigger!” Cosmos twirled outside, pointing her wand at the heavens. “Magical Meteo!” A big, fiery streak, like a sparkling shooting star, streaked through the heavens, easily visible even through the clouds.
Merumeru cringed, imagining the flaming rock coming right for them. She felt a shiver, like death was coming for her!
“Oh, don’t worry, silly! I’m not allowed to use these to strike the planet anymore because of the accords,” Cosmos reassured her, giggling. “I’m just doing some little project, nope, not interfering with Terra at all!” Cosmos moved her wand ever so slowly, and the meteor, as if on a gentle leash, slowed down, eventually becoming a quiet little sparkle unseen through the clouds.
Cosmos, with a sweet smile, grabbed Merumeru’s hand, and they floated off into the clouds, Merumeru’s whole body gently buffeted by the soft, magical wind.
“Ruuuuu!” Merumeru squealed with delight.
A moment later, they arrived at the other floating island. “There!” Cosmos announced, with a flourish of her wand. “Now if I just magic the gravity a bit, this island should get rain constantly, like a happy little cloud!”
The hard stone asteroid softly combined with the earthen island floating in the sky. The clouds, as if listening to Cosmos’s wishes, thickened, and when Cosmos cast another spell, they became plump and ready. Cosmos and Merumeru landed on the now cozy, bowl-shaped island. The whole area was covered in a gentle mist, and a light trickle of rain could be felt, like a sweet whisper. The now drained pond seemed to be slowly accumulating water, happy to be refilled.
“It should take a few hours to fill up again. We can check that pressure after and see if it is the right elevation.” Cosos took to the skies once again, carrying Merumeru back to the cabin.
They took some time to clean up and dry off. When the pair checked the pressure gauge again it sat at a nice 20 PSI.
Merumeru felt a surge of something. She didn’t know what it was.
“Oh hey, you are glowing Merumeru. Congratulations on leveling up.” Cosmos clapped for the slime girl.
The slime girl beamed, she’d been making good progress on becoming an amazing plumber.