Windmills, Water Pumps, and Theories of Flight

Writers: Yvonne, Eimi
Date Posted: 16th February 2006

Characters: U'kaiah, J'nus
Description: J'nus and U'kaiah do a little polite but manly chest beating
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 2 of Turn 3

A shadow crossed J'nus' book - he looked up to see his Wingleader pass between himself and the glow that he was sitting beneath.
U'kaiah glanced over and caught his eye, so J'nus nodded in greeting.
"Wingleader."

"J'nus," U'kaiah nodded. "What are you reading?"

The older bronzerider flipped his book so that the cover faced the light. "Theranguar's theories on flight."

"Huh," the younger bronzerider snorted his surprise. "I didn't know Theranguar wrote a book on flight. I thought he was mainly interested in the history of the Technician Hall. But I suppose there are mechanics in flight as well."

"He seems to think so." J'nus gave the book a long, unreadable look.
"Apparently the ability to find a dragon to take you where you want to go isn't enough - he spouts a lot of nonsense about building machines to take people into the sky, to bolster the Wings."

U'kaiah chuckled. "Impression envy?"

"Must be," J'nus said. "If you're interested, I'll lend it to you when I'm done."

"That would be fine," the wingleader nodded. Saved him from having to go back into that sharding Record Room for a while.

"Sure. I'll warn you - it's dense." J'nus gave the book another impenetrable look. "Theranguar seems to think that the more technical he writes, the smarter he is."

The wingrider shrugged. "Well, he is thought of as one of the great thinkers of our time. Though I would have to argue he has nothing compared to Ringun as far as practical application of knowledge."

"I haven't read much of Ringun's works," J'nus admitted after a moment. To be truthful, he'd tried - but Ringun was an even more dense author than Theranguar was. He'd come to education late, and he still found learning a little... difficult. But that was hardly something that he'd admit to U'kaiah - especially not after he'd just one-upped the Archivist. "Although I'm impressed with Ringun's windmill modifications to turn it into an underground water pump. I'd like to try to build one of them one day - a miniature, of course. To see if it works outside of his own workshop."

"Interesting. I hadn't heard about that," U'kaiah said. He hated to admit it, though. J'nus wasn't a crafter, and usually the archivist knew more than his wingriders about that kind of thing. "Now is it a siphon pump? Or a cork screw?"

"A corkscrew pump." J'nus was surprised that U'kaiah cared enough to ask.

The only thing that could override U'kaiah's injured pride at not knowing everything was his need to know more. "So then, the wind catches the blades which turns the windmill. The windmill turns a rod that goes down deep in the ground, and the rod in turn turns the screw which carries the water to the surface?"

"That's right. Plus he's redesigned the sail to work better in low wind conditions by increasing the number of sails and changing their angle. Rather smart man, I think."

U'kaiah nodded. "But its similar to the irrigation system at River Valley Hold. Only there they use water power instead of wind."

J'nus glanced at the book in his hands again, thankful U'kaiah hadn't asked anything more probing. "But of course water power isn't a practical solution for arid regions, and digging watering holes and wells isn't always practical. The only reason I looked it up is because Theranguar mentions the sail in his flight discussions."

"It makes sense. We call the webbing of a dragon's wing a sail," the wingleader nodded. "It's the same principle he's trying to use I'm sure."

"As far as I can tell." J'nus suddenly grinned. "Although I can't get Kopth to confirm or deny it!"

"Well, does Theranguar think he can create wings of his own?" U'kaiah laughed.

"Theranguar broke both of his legs last turn doing just that," the older bronzerider said dryly. "Foolish of him. He was riding some contraption with a vertical windmill sail that he propelled using pedals. Apparently he convinced some unsuspecting youths to push it off a cliff for him - while he was in the driver's seat."

"Did they all have firehead?" What a useless notion!

"I think it's like you mentioned before - Impression envy."
Theranguar was too smart for his own good - why try to invent something new when there were dragons already around to fly one place to place - and much quicker, too? Although the idea of a flying _machine_ was intreaguing. "Two broken legs will do him some good.
Sometimes a little pain is better for you in the long run. Teaches you your limits. His is on the ground."

"That man is lucky that's all he broke." U'kaiah was all for the advancement of knowledge as long as it held some kind of purpose and especially if no one got hurt. What why should dragonriders risk their lives to protect people just so they can risk them on idiotic stunts, after all. "Perhaps now he can devote his time to ideas that will actually be useful to people. Like that windmill pump of Ringun's." "Perhaps." Deep down, J'nus understood why the technician did what he did... every child looked up at the stars and dreamed of wings and touching the moons. "Well, I will let you get back to your book then. It was nice chatting with you, J'nus."

The bronzerider nodded and returned to his book. "And you, Wingleader."

Last updated on the February 17th 2006

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Windmills, Water Pumps, and Theories of Flight