Chapter 189: Testing the Tower
Albert tied a knot in the elastic bandage, smoothed out the folds of fabric on Iron's ankle, and, pushing off with his hands on his knees, stood up.
“So, Iron,” the doctor raised an index finger, “now listen to me carefully. What you did today is a miracle, but if you decide even for a second that...”
“I get it, I get it!” Iron interrupted, throwing his head back. “You’ve told me that a hundred times, Albert. I’m not getting up again today. Happy?”
Albert froze mid-sentence, blinked, and then exhaled through his nose. The tension in his shoulders finally eased.
“Fine...” the doctor muttered, hiding the ointment back in the wooden cabinet. “This time, I’ll take your word for it.”
Iron tiredly shifted his gaze to the door, where Noah stood, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe.
“Noah,” the engineer called out, nodding at the handrims of his wheelchair. “Take me outside.”
Noah didn't even move. He just shifted his weight from one foot to the other and squinted: “Why should I have to push you? You can do it perfectly well yourself.”
“I’m just exhausted,” Iron hissed. “I simply don’t have the strength to turn these rims right now.”
Noah turned calmly, pushed the infirmary door wide open, and glanced back for a moment. “Well, good luck,” he threw back dryly. “Most importantly—don’t give up.”
With those words, Noah walked out, and his footsteps quickly faded on the camp path.
Iron stared silently at the empty doorway for a few seconds. “Damn...” he cursed quietly.
Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the chair's rims and pushed them forward with effort. Iron rolled up to the threshold but slowed down just before it, turning back to Albert, who was busy tidying up his workbench.
“Albert. Are you going to watch tonight?”
The doctor looked up from his journals and raised his eyebrows in surprise: “Watch what?”
“The Tower. We’ve finished the assembly entirely and conducted the final calibration. Everything is operating normally. All that’s left is to wait for darkness to test it in action.”
“Wait. Why don’t you want to test it right now? Monsters roam the forests during the day too, we all know that perfectly well. Why wait?”
Iron silently pointed to the infirmary's narrow window.
“Well, first of all, it’s more evening than day now,” the engineer explained calmly. “And secondly... Yeah, there are monsters in the light. But you see, if we run tests right now, in relative light, and everything works fine... Hmm, how to explain it. There'll still be a small but very unpleasant chance that something will go wrong during the dead of the night shift.”
“Plus, if we test the system both day and night, the whole effect of surprise will be lost. The psychological factor is also important. If the Tower holds up against a night assault, people will finally be able to sleep peacefully. Without that sense of security, all our calculations are worth nothing. So... are you coming?”
Albert gave a crooked but quite warm smile. “If there’s no work...” the doctor sighed and nodded. “Then alright, I’ll come.”
“Okay,” Iron gave a brief nod. “See you at the square.”
The engineer leaned on the wheels again and slowly rolled out of the infirmary toward the encroaching night.
After some time, Iron rolled out into the open space of Dornheim's central square.
Here, despite the rapidly thickening twilight, life was in full swing. The massive construction project was over, and now the camp was clearing away the aftermath. Marek's workers and Darwin's carpenters were efficiently clearing the site. Everywhere, there was the dull thud of log scraps being tossed into a pile, the rustling of wood chips being swept away, the clinking of metal clamps, and the quiet conversations of tired but satisfied people.
Iron braked at the very foot of the Tower. He slowly tilted his head back and froze. A steel behemoth towered before him. In the twilight, the frame seemed even more massive.
“Looks like you managed to roll out yourself after all,” a familiar voice rang out from behind him.
Iron didn't turn around; he knew who it was. Noah walked past the chair. In his hands was an impressive armful of construction scrap.
Iron followed him with his gaze. “You have no idea what effort that cost me,” the engineer threw dryly at his back.
Noah just gave a short grunt, adjusted the heavy load more comfortably, and marched on, instantly dissolving into the working bustle of the evening square.
About five hours passed. Deep night descended on Dornheim. The time of grueling labor had come to an end, giving way to anticipation. Torches flared up around the perimeter of the central square, casting long shadows on the Tower's edges. Almost the entire camp gathered around the behemoth—people whispered, wrapped themselves in worn-out jackets, and glanced at the top of the structure.
Iron rolled out to the middle of the square, stopping his chair right in front of the crowd. The flare of torches reflected in his eyes. He scanned the gathered people and loudly announced: “Well then, Dornheim! Who wants to see for themselves if this thing actually works? Raise your hands if you’re ‘in’.”
Before the echo of his voice had died down, the square was in motion. In a single impulse, absolutely everyone present threw their hands up. “Well, all in all, that’s not surprising,” Iron thought.
Suddenly, a dull creak was heard from the edge of the square. The infirmary door opened, and Albert stepped out slowly. The doctor adjusted a thick travel cloak on his shoulders and stopped, looking at the crowd.
Iron noticed him and, leaning forward slightly in his chair, shouted across the square: “Albert! So you are coming with us after all?”
The doctor nodded in agreement with a slight squint. Marek, Clara, and Darwin, who had spent the last few days working nonstop on the project, ran joyfully toward the doctor.
“Albert!” Marek immediately squeezed the doctor in a tight embrace, causing him to grunt. “We thought you’d completely molded away among your herbs in there!”
“I’m glad to see you in good health, Albert,” Clara smiled with relief, adjusting her tool belt.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” the doctor grumbled, freeing himself from Marek’s grip.
The engineer turned his head and picked out one of the strong workers from the crowd. “Arden!” Iron called out. “Could you help me and push me to the edge of the zone?”
Arden immediately separated from the crowd and stepped toward the chair with readiness: “Yes, of course, no problem! It would be my pleasure.”
Arden took hold of the chair’s back handles. Iron released the wheel locks, and the entire massive procession of Dornheimers, led by Iron, slowly moved away from the lit square, plunging into the darkness of the forest.
Arden silently guided Iron’s chair forward, bypassing protruding tree roots. The camp moved in a tight group.
Iron focused and mentally activated the interface. Before his eyes, the Lumon diagnostic grid unfolded familiarly, displaying the telemetry of the Tower’s frequency emission. Behind them, a couple of kilometers away, the steel behemoth was emitting a stable, even pulse.
The engineer peered closely at the energy distribution graphs:
Inside the perimeter: Field lines were running absolutely evenly and calmly, filling the space around the people with a barely noticeable bluish background. The field here was stable and safe.
At the border: Exactly at the 1-kilometer and 327-meter mark from the Tower, the picture changed sharply. The lines suddenly compressed into a dense, vibrating neon structure. This was the zone of maximum gradient—a point of sharp potential difference in the field.
Outside: Immediately beyond this pulsating “fence,” the field lines vanished completely, fading to absolute zero.
“That’s it, stop. We don’t go any further, this is the end of the zone,” Iron commanded quietly, and Arden stopped the chair immediately.
The crowd behind them froze, peering into the night thicket. Silence reigned all around—not a rustle, not a sound of wild animals.
“Elyria,” Iron turned to her. “Can you bring some monster here? I need to test the barrier in action.”
“Of course!” Elyria spun in the air and rushed into the dark forest at full speed.
The wait lasted at most a couple of minutes. Suddenly, from the darkness, a distinct cracking of breaking bushes and a growl were heard.
Elyria flew out from behind the trees like a bullet, and right behind her, a large forest monster was rushing—an ugly creature with long front paws and eyes burning in the darkness. The spirit crossed the invisible line at full speed and hovered above the heads of the Dornheimers.
“And now, watch,” Iron said calmly, leaning forward.
The monster was rushing after its prey at full speed, about to cross the boundary of the dome. But as soon as its snout touched the zone of maximum field gradient, the creature screeched wildly and braked sharply, digging its claws into the ground.
The creature rolled on the ground, growling furiously, snapping its teeth, and striking the air with its paws just a couple of meters away from the people, but it was afraid to take even a single step inside the dome.
The people behind Iron froze for a second, disbelieving their own eyes, and then the forest erupted with joyous shouts. Darwin was shouting something enthusiastically to Marek; Elyria began performing victory loops in the air, squeaking happily. Noah, standing a bit further away, smiled faintly, looking at the Tower.
Iron exhaled with relief, feeling the colossal tension that had accumulated throughout the day dissipate. He leaned back in his chair and said quietly: “And yet... it’s damn satisfying when your invention works as it should.”