Chapter 35

The workroom was huge.

Two long benched joined on a corner and ran down both walls. Shelving and drawers were above and below the benches. A third bench was set about 2m from them, and it ran towards the doorway that Boyd was just inside of.

On the opposite side of the room were long shelves with metals in sheets of different thicknesses, blocks, ingots, rods and strips. There were caskets of various sizes with lots of other materials one may wish to use when processing the ores.

In the far corner was a massive furnace with four different sized doors in the front. Near it was several tables to work hot metal on and several anvils. Two large tubs were filled with quenching water and one with oil. Boyd was amused to find they were on wheels so he could move them to where he needed them.

The room was well lit, but it wasn’t hot. When he looked back out through the doorway, he realised a different sort of light was coming from that room. He went to investigate.

Boyd stared at the domed cathedral-high roof. It was smothered in crystals that were yellow to light-green in colour. He got the feeling they were not as bright as normal. The platform in the middle of the room suggested why. Boyd walked over to look at the large Book that was open on the stone lectern.

“Greetings, Book,” Boyd said.

“Greetings, My Lord. How can I help you today?” a female voice replied.

“Did Adelia get to her destination safely?”

“Yes, My Lord. Unfortunately, the portal she went to was not in good repair, and it may be some time before she can fix it to come back.”

“Due to the time flux that this world suffers from, it could be many decades before we can connect to that world again. We will monitor for it, all the same. Do you wish me to let you know if it can be done?”

“Yes, thank you. Did you put the locking spells in place?”

“Yes. It is quite common that wizards don’t wish all and sundry to access their private portals. Even so, I’m pleased to be here as I can still contact the other four portals that now have books. We have detected quite a few others on the other islands.”

“How can you detect the other portals?” Boyd wanted to know.

“We have established contact with the ancient satellites to ensure we have got accurate data of this world. Unfortunately, this planet has frequent meteor showers, and some of the satellites have been lost.”

“We are beginning to suspect that a survey ship that was sent here about seventy-thousand years ago may have blown up in the atmosphere. If this happened, it would explain why this world is far more advanced than we believe it should be as it is a young world. The fuel used in the ships has strange effects on the plants and animals when released in the atmosphere.”

“Did other spaceships get here?” Boyd asked in wonder.

“Yes. The data we collected indicates that the ships that arrived here later didn’t all arrive simultaneously due to the time fluxes. The last lot of ships the satellite data said arrive here was about three thousand years ago.”

“The ones that arrived about ten thousand years before those people became war-like. They died out after five thousand years. They didn’t do the atmosphere a lot of good either.”

“It is only in the last two hundred years that the super storms have abated. That should make sea travel a lot easier for the people here. Even so, the islands are still very lightly populated.”

“So, the people here won’t overpopulate this word for a while,” Boyd commented.

“No, the races that are here now don’t seem to expand as fast as the previous populations did.”

“That’s good to know, Book. Hey, I have a map of the planet any chance I can get it updated?”

“Yes, simply tap on it three times and tell it to update.”

“Thanks. Well, it was nice meeting you, but I have a lot to do tomorrow. Oh, Adelia said I needed to collect some crystals. Any ideas how?”

“Yes, place a cloth on the floor and zap them at the base. I wouldn’t touch them with bare hands if they are charged. The darker green, the less charge.”

“Thanks again, Book,” Boyd replied.

He went back into the workshop and rooted around a bit in the cupboards until he found a tarp. He placed it under some crystals near the wall and pointed at the base of a particularly large bunch.

He did the spell he had learnt that would let him release an electric charge. It hit where he aimed, and the bunch came crashing to the floor. Most of the long crystals shattered into square pieces shorter than his longest finger and most even smaller.

Boyd clicked his fingers and headed back to the workshop. He rooted around in the drawers and found a selection of canvas-like drawstrings bags in which he could put two fists if he could put them in on top of each other.