Grantville Gazette 38

'Where, Willem Krause, is the Elector's airplane?' Karl asked as Willem opened the door.

'What are you doing here?' Krause whispered harshly. Then with almost no pause, 'Come inside, quickly.'

Once Karl was inside and the door closed, he asked again, 'Where is the Elector's airplane?'

'It's sitting in a hanger at the Grantville airport, waiting for an engine,' Krause said. 'Just as I wrote in my last report. Do you want the airplane seized by the up-timers while they decide whether building a plane for John George is abetting treason against the USE? If I understand the laws correctly, I will be exonerated and the plane turned over but not, I am sure, before Gustav Adolph has the Elector's head on a pike. Is that what you want?'

'What I want, Krause, is for you to deliver the aircraft that you promised over a year ago and stop being a drain on the Elector's finances.'

With some difficulty, Willem kept his temper. The fact that he and Karl Gottlieb had never cared for each other was beside the point. It was a safe bet that Gottlieb wasn't here because he wanted to be. 'Then we are in accord. I also want the airplane finished. It is finished, so far as any parts that might be obtained or reasonably fabricated. The issue is engines. I have begged and bribed, but so far have been unable to obtain one.'

'By this time you could have had one made by hand.'

'Yes, I could have,' Willem Krause acknowledged. 'But that would have cost twice as much as the whole rest of the airplane. No. As I think about it, it would be closer to ten times the cost of the rest of the aircraft. Steel is not soft and its shaping is no mean endeavor. To get engines light enough in comparison to their power to allow them true utility in powering an airplane needs careful and skilled shaping so that the loss of weight does not also produce a loss of strength.' Willem shook his head. 'These things are not easily done. Every syllable in each report represents hours or days of labor and, yes, considerable outlay of silver. But look around you. Am I living in luxury?'

Willem waved and then watched without concern as Karl Gottlieb went through his room. For it was true. Willem had spent every pfennig-even every American cent-that was designated for the airplane on the airplane. His room was decent but not large, and located outside the Ring of Fire where the rents were cheaper. That his clothing was clean and of good quality was more a function of washing machines and sewing machines than of extravagance. Nor was the room filled with gewgaws and objects d' art. Instead, there were plans and the wind- tunnel model. Notes and requests for engines and letters of polite refusal, all of which assured him that he was on their list and they would get to him as soon as they possibly could.

It was a clearly irritated Karl Gottlieb who waved him back to his seat on the bed. 'Oh, sit down. When can I see the plane?'

'Whenever you like,' Willem said, then added with a certain malice in his tone, 'And while I am sure that Stearns' Jew spymaster has agents at the airport, who knows? They may fail to recognize you . . . or fail to care.'

****

Karl Gottlieb's lot, over the next couple of weeks wasn't a happy one. He had had hopes on his trip from Dresden that he might find Willem Krause engaged in fraud. But the evidence was to the contrary, and while he was still convinced in his heart of hearts that Krause was somehow cheating the duke, there was no evidence to support that belief.

The one good thing about the trip was sitting in the cockpit of the Arrow. It was a tight fit, but comfortable and as Karl moved the stick he could look out the windows and see the way his actions moved the control surfaces. Finally, he was convinced. Given a power-plant, this would fly and fly well. There was too much care in every detail, too much skill in every piece to allow any other outcome.

****

Regretting the necessity, Karl returned to Dresden with a completely favorable report. 'If an engine can be procured, the plane will fly. Nor is Krause the only one who is having his plans delayed by this bottleneck. Engines are needed by everyone from the army and navy to every industry. Every engine produced by every manufacturer, no matter how poor its quality, has a dozens buyers,' Karl Gottlieb explained to the Elector. But he couldn't explain the why of it, because he didn't understand himself. The world had changed and with it the rules of commerce and needs of production. Those changes were apparent but unnatural to a man born and raised in a world without engines. 'I see no way for us to acquire an engine and without one the Arrow is a useless shell.'

'But I see a way to acquire an engine,' John George informed him. 'In fact, one is already in our city. One of our wealthy merchants bought a steam engine and several other machine tools in Magdeburg, then had them sent here over the last few months. He is now trying to put every craft hall in Dresden out of their livelihoods by underselling them. I have received complaints, but he has stayed barely within the law and he has friends.' Then John George smiled, thrilled with his cleverness. 'The emergency of military necessity will require the loan of his steam engine. Which, just by chance, will give my friends time to acquire their own engines and compete with him on a better footing.

'You, in the meantime, will see to the transport of the engine from Dresden to Grantville by secret means, so that it can be installed in my Arrow-so that a surprise for that arrogant Swede may come from my quiver-all unknown to him.'

****

Arriving back in Grantville with a three-cylinder steam engine and several hundred pounds of boilers and condensers, Karl Gottlieb was subjected to complaints from Willem Krause.

'It's too heavy and not powerful enough. It has only twelve horsepower. I need at least fifty for the Arrow and a hundred would be better.'

'Tell the Elector,' Karl returned. 'I want to watch. It's his idea and our task to make it work, or at the very least make a good faith effort to make it work.'

'But . . .'

'So who can you talk to about steam?'

'I have no idea. The notion of using steam engines in aircraft has come up a few times, to the ever lasting amusement of every up-timer in the Ring of Fire. But we can find out.' It wasn't that easy. It seemed that every steam expert in the Ring of Fire had found lucrative employment elsewhere. Willem applied to Darius and Darius directed them to Vince Masaniello of the Steam Engine Corporation. They didn't, as it happened, talk to Vince.

***

Charles Anthony Masaniello looked at the engine and said, 'That's one of the Schmidt boy's engines. Pretty good engines, well-enough made, too, if not up to our standards. Pretty good tolerances, too. What are you fellows after?'

'We wish to increase its horsepower, Herr Masaniello.'

This wasn't the first time Charlie had heard that. 'Call me Charlie. Why do you want to up its horsepower?' Then he held up his hand. 'I'm not trying to get into your business, but most of the time when folks want to up the horsepower it's because they think a steam engine is the same as an internal combustion engine. And they ain't.' Charlie spoke Amideutch fluently, but with a pronounced West Virginia accent, something he made no effort at all to curb. In fact, he emphasized it, because it made him seem even more up-timer and therefore more expert on steam engines. He was expert. He would have been considered an expert up-time; down-time he was the 'pro from Dover' and knew it.

The guy who had introduced himself as Willem Krause was a little taken aback by the question and Charlie waited for him to decide if he was going to answer it.

Eventually, almost twenty seconds later, Herr Krause did answer his question. 'We wish to use the engine as the power plant for an airplane.'

Charlie grinned and almost laughed. He didn't because it was safe bet that they would misinterpret the laughter. Instead he said, 'Dad would love this. He's been working on steam tugs for years. Look, it's not the horsepower. It's the torque. The . . . well, a big difference between steam and internal combustion is that steam has full torque at zero rpm. An internal combustion engine needs to wind up to get its full torque. Another difference is simply that by upping the pressure you can up the hp, though in this case you may not need to. Just gearing the engine right might get you there. Your real issue is going to be the boiler and condenser, keeping their weight down enough to let you get off the ground. I can, for an agreed-on fee, draw up some specs that can let a