Chapter 38: A New Threat
"Belk...what the hell is this?!" Astra gasped as she took a look at the mechanism before her, gears upon gears turning at the spin of the wheel, forcing pumps of air into the machine at record pace with only a pair of hands. To the average eye it was an unholy monstrosity of complex machines, to a scientist, it was a wet dream.
"You did all this in one night?" she questioned, walking over to take a closer look at it all, all the while the scientist grins goofily, his arms crossed as if to hide the effect of her flattery.
"Yup! I had a thing for gears in my early science days, no big deal," He gloated, rubbing his finger under his nose, unable to wipe that smile off his face.
"Alright then!" Astra practically giggled, stepping back with an extra pep in her step before grabbing the sample of Ironsand once more, putting it within the machine. "Tanaka, if you would?"
"As you wish!" Tanaka huffed, gripping the wheel as he spun it with measured force. The gears caught momentum, setting the crankshaft in motion. A connecting rod transferred the energy, driving a piston within the sealed wooden chamber. The vacuum formed, pulling in air with rhythmic precision, feeding life into the mill. The creation buzzing to life once again, feeding smoke to the skies.
"It’s alive!" Astra squealed, hugging Belk tightly. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you!"
Belk ran stiff under her grasp, his face slightly red at her appreciation, before letting go a breath he didn’t know he held once she let go.
"Now we can really start!" She grinned, watching as the Iron sand slowly liquidized, The glowing goo slowly taking on the shape of its container. "Perfect!"
"Glove!" She stretched her hand backward impatiently, not even bothering to look behind her. Sylvi dropped them within her hands—which she put one without a moment’s hesitation, her eyes fixed on the prize as she dug into the furnace and pull out the liquidized iron, watching as it slowly hardened under the soft glow of the sun.