Chapter 121: Concrete
Percy watched the strange contraption grind the materials into fine powder. They swirled through the long metallic cylinder, its interior filled with steel teeth, rotating thanks to the heat from the furnace. It was actually ingenious how the locals harnessed the movement of the hot air to accomplish tasks otherwise impossible with brute strength alone.
‘I suppose we would have figured this out too, if we spent our whole lives stuck at Red...’
As for the materials Sengo had placed inside the machine – they weren’t anything special. Just some limestone and clay. They had those back on Remior too. In fact, Percy was pretty sure he’d seen both of them in many of the other worlds he’d visited.
A few minutes later, the crushing process was complete. Sengo removed the pipe venting the excess air into the tube, before emptying its contents into several buckets, filling them with an unassuming grey dust.
“This is called cement.” the man explained to his ‘son’ after noticing Percy’s perplexed expression.
And the latter wasn’t faking it either. While Takeo had seen his father work many times before, Percy struggled to find many details in his host’s memories. Evidently, the boy had never helped Sengo much, their relationship having always been rather rocky.
“It’s an important ingredient of concrete, but not the only one.” the man continued, oblivious to his thoughts.
Next, he picked a bucket with each hand, gesturing at Percy to do the same. The young man didn’t miss his ‘father’ wincing as he lifted them, probably suffering from some old injury or ailment.
The two then walked to a different room where a second machine was located. It looked a little like the one from before, though it was wider and didn’t contain any teeth inside. Clearly it was only meant for mixing, not crushing. Sengo placed the buckets on the ground, before picking a different pair up, filled with other materials.