Coda

The Architect scion finds it difficult to focus, despite how excited he is! Probably because of how excited he is, honestly. The Foreman’s idea, this concrete, the very concept sings to his soul! The kinds of things he could create with it…

The bat shakes his head, refusing to get too far ahead of himself. He and the others have only just started, and there is so much to figure out! The Foreman has only vague guidance for them, but Coda knows they’re on the right general track, as does Queen.

It’s always a bit awkward trying to talk with her about most things, but with this, it’s like they both speak the same language. Forces, mixtures, ratios, reactions… there is so much more going on with the ugly-looking mixtures than meets the eyes!

They have already created their first tests of the concrete, attempting to just follow the sparse instructions from the Foreman to just get an idea of what they’re working with. All of them, even Foreman Thedeim, know it won’t be very strong, but even failures teach how to reach success.

The drying process takes enough time for them to get some testing devices created, too. Queen’s lab was starting to get a bit cramped, until the Foreman had mercy and created a secret workshop for the process. Thankfully, the actual testing equipment is very simple. The first is to test compression: a small divot in the floor with four steel posts around it, and a plate that will slide down the posts. The sample is placed in the divots, the plate placed over the sample, and weights added until the sample fails.

The next is a simple hole in the wall, which a sample can be placed into, several inches left to hang in the air. Weights can be hung from the end, and get its strength from that kind of force. And lastly: a threaded hole in the ceiling. The samples will have to be carved slightly (with Slash’s help) to thread the samples like giant bolts, and weights can be suspended from that, too, until it breaks.

It was such a strange thing to learn, when he was first being directed how to build and carve the stone of the underground, that things have different strengths in different directions. The beautiful slopes and arches the Foreman required were not simply artistic, but carefully designed. Stone is stronger when pressed, and weak when pulled, like the opposite of a rope. Pull a rope, and it will resist. Push a rope, and it won’t resist at all.

If they can get this concrete to work properly, it should be very strong no matter the direction! Yes, it will still be strongest when pressed, but should stand up to pulling and even attempts to bend it, like what will be tested with the hole in the wall!

He shakes his head again, trying to focus on the paper before him, and the charcoal stick in his grasp. The concrete samples should be ready by now, and they’ve received several blocks of various stone to be able to test with, too. Slash has already manipulated them to the dimensions needed, so the testing can begin.

Most of the process isn’t especially interesting, but getting numbers is important to actually knowing they’re making progress. The only real surprise in the first round of testing is that granite is stronger than what they can bring to bear on the test, but more than fifty weights is still a number to keep in mind.

The bending tests go quicker, as everything breaks before they run out of weights, and the pulling test is similar. Then comes the test with the first batch of concrete. Unsurprisingly, it’s weaker than the other samples in all tests. While it did at least set and seemed to be like any other stone, it crumbled pretty easily under the various loads.

Not surprising, but Coda can’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment. That there is no echo of disappointment from the Foreman helps ease the sting, at least. He and the others created it as well as they could, and the Foreman accepts that it won’t be a success on the first try.

So now to get working on other batches. But where to even begin? His Fate affinity and his title both resonate as he tries to think, and both point at the limestone first. He doesn’t need the entire thing, but something in it is core to making this work. He can feel other resonances in many of the other potential ingredients, but they won’t be able to do their job if they can’t refine the limestone somehow.

While Thing and Slash are at a loss for how to actually do that, Queen has a glint in her eyes at the proposition.

“Pieces, components, elements... yes, purify, distill, extract…”

Coda still misses much of the subtlety by not being able to understand her pheromonal communications fully, but he’s hardly alone in that. Besides, she understands what he needs, and is all too happy to run her own experiments to help him find what he needs for this.

Limestone is ground and powdered, sifted, separated, dissolved in water, dissolved in acids, and yet nothing quite feels right. On a whim, he suggests taking some to the furnace. Maybe the limestone is actually like an ore for what he needs, and it just has to be smelted out? Neither he nor Queen are particularly confident in that, but it’s not like they’re short on limestone to try. Slash delivers the samples to be smelted, and even tries different coarseness of grind, from powder to sand, gravel, rocks, and even a single solid piece.

While they smelt, he considers the other ingredients. The sand and gravel feel right, but he also feels there could be something else added, something that doesn’t quite integrate like the various powders are supposed to.

He’s seen flashes from the bond, of concrete being not simply poured into molds, but being poured over lattices of metal. He knows this is important, and he suspects it comes back to strength working in directions. Metal is very good in most directions, but seems to be very good at pulling. If one needs a stronger rope, reach for a chain. But… metals rust.

While the Foreman has a concept of a strong one that doesn’t, none of the ratlings nor ratkin have been able to quite replicate it yet, so perhaps it won’t be the best solution. So what else can he use that could be good at being pulled?

The obvious solution is spider silk. Foreman Thedeim has countless spider denizens to provide it, after all. He chews over that solution, scribbling notes as he thinks. While the silk is very strong for pulling, it also has a lot of give to it. If just put in the mix like the gravel, the concrete will have crumbled away before the silk will actually start providing resistance.

They could try to pre-stretch it? He frowns at that idea as he draws a few diagrams, not liking what he’s seeing. Stretching it would be putting force on the whole thing before anything else, which will be like adding a few plates of weight before even starting the experiment!

erhaps the spiders can make silk with less give to it? Or it can be worked out of it somehow? He lets his gaze drift as he thinks, and his eyes fall on the barrel of metal transmutation elixir. Could that work? Or would it have the same rusting problem of other metals?

Well, either way, he’ll need to get some silk, so he may as well see if he can recruit some of the aranea. It will take time for the limestone to smelt, so talking will be a more productive use of his time. With a nod, he flaps off to the spider lair to see about recruiting some help.

“Not stretch silk?” comes the reply of the first one he asks, looking at him like he’s asked her to walk on only one leg.

“Yes, I need it to not have any give at all, or at least as little as possible.”

The aranea looks askance at him, but calls over a couple others to discuss this strange new idea.

“But bad socks!”

“Help strange job?”

“What can do?”

They take a few more minutes before they seem to get an idea, and the first one Coda talked to returns to him. “Not us. Them,” states the aranea and points at one of the widows. “Bad sock silk. Good you silk?”

“Huh… maybe?” He’d still prefer to have the aranea make the silk, as they’re the experts. Then again, if the experts are pointing at a widow, he should at least give it a shot. He flaps over to stop one before she can go out to patrol, and she regards him with eight curious eyes.

“Can you make silk that doesn’t stretch?” he asks, and her pedipalps twitch as she considers that. Without a word, she weaves a short segment of thread and offers it to him, and he can feel the attention of the Foreman upon them both.

Dragline. Strong.

The two concepts drift through the bond, and Coda is encouraged. He accepts it with a small bow. “Thank you. I’ll test this and get back to you.” He swiftly returns to the workshop, eager to see just how stretchy this silk is, or isn’t. He has a good feeling about this, just as he’s getting a good feeling of the limestone down in the smelters. He doesn’t think these two pieces will be the full solution, but they feel like two of the proper steps to take for this.

He’s heard Tiny say that every journey starts with one step. If he can start this one off with two, he’ll be on a very nice pace.