A large carriage ca to a slow halt at the old Nagpur carriage stop, its wooden fra creaking under the strain. Following closely behind, three to four other carriages rolled to a stop in unison.
A man slowly got down from the carriage with a grunt. He didn't look rich from his attire, but anyone could tell he was practical-minded from the way he dressed. "Is this it?" Sivakumar, an artisan from Cholapuri, got down from the carriage with a curious expression. He had never been to Nagpur, the legendary city of the Bharatiya Empire, which was used as the military forward base in the war against the Mughals.
Just as he got down, the remaining artisans on the carriage started to get down one by one, so talking to each other, while others stretched their backs. They were all similarly looking around in curiosity. The legend of Nagpur as the military heart of Bharat had already spread among specific communities.
Suddenly, a pleasant greeting was heard
"Hello everyone, welco to Nagpur. I hope everyone had a pleasant journey." , the words caused everyone to look at a man standing on the corner of the carriage stop.
The person whom everyone had ignored before suddenly ca forward and spoke to them.
"Now, please, we don't have much ti to waste. We should get going. I will show you all the way to your destination."
Saying that he took out the contract, which contained the nas of all the artisans and their signatures, as a way to prove his identity.
Sivakumar and the others looked at each other and shrugged. "Might as well." Everyone started following the man.
"His Majesty is paying a hefty compensation, after all. I would feel uncomfortable if I didn't do anything."
"Sa. This one task is enough to cover my living expenses for the whole year."
"Right, but I wonder what we will be doing. It is a bit concerning to work on sothing where we don't know what the final product is. What if it is a dangerous weapon?"
"True."
"Hey, stop it, you guys. All of you are overthinking. What does it matter what His Majesty wants us to build? It is His Majesty, after all. Even if he wants to build a military weapon, what's the problem?"
"Right, isn't it? If it was not the Raya machinery that reached out, but another company, I would never have accepted the job."
The artisans nodded in agreent.
Before they realized it, everyone had arrived at a large building complex.
Sivakumar, looking at the buildings, felt weird because the way the buildings were built was not natural. It was not the way they looked, but instead the placent of the buildings on the large tract of land. There was a building in every corner of the complex, everything separated by 100 ters. Who does that?
"Gentleman, please proceed to the centre of the field. This is the furthest I can take you," saying that, under the confused eyes of everyone, the man quickly walked away.
When the artisans got to the centre of the field, they saw a middle-aged man with a tough build and a long beard. He was wearing a wooden mask covering most of his facial features except for his eyes, which looked sharp and piercing like that of the Rakta Asthram of His Majesty.
"Welco, everyone. You will be split into groups of 12, making 4 groups. All of you will be settled in the four buildings you see around you."
"Rember, once the separation takes place now, you will not be able to see each other, and you will not be contacting each other for the next 4 months."
"In the coming days, I will personally provide the requirents. All of you will be responsible for manufacturing the parts according to the requirents. No questions will be asked. You do all this for the next 7 days and don't talk to each other for the next four months, and you should be all good."
"Have I made myself clear?"
Everyone nodded their heads in understanding. They were not new to working on top-secret projects, being among the top artisans of the empire, it granted them benefits. They were often employed by research teams all over the empire. They didn't have to affiliate themselves with a single company or research group; they could help whichever research group paid them best.
Even though the conditions put forward by Kattappa were a bit harsher than they would have liked, looking at the face of the Varaha, everyone agreed.
Well, everyone except Sivakumar. "Sir, the conditions put forward are very reasonable, especially for the price that is being paid, but isn't not talking to each other for the next 4 months a bit too much? From what I can understand, everyone present here is among the top artisans in the empire. It is a great deal that Raya Machinery has brought all of us together. The conversations with many of them here were very enlightening for , and now that I'm working with so of them, it is bound to be even more enlightening."
"So, it's not too much to loosen the restrictions, is it?"
Shivkumar was hoping he could collaborate with a few artisans to form so sort of guild-like organization. But if they were not allowed to see each other for the next four months, how could the organization be ford?
Kattappa stared intently at Shivkumar, which made Shivkumar involuntarily shiver, but in the end, Kattappa shook his head.
"I am sorry, Mr. Shivkumar. It cannot be allowed. One of the reasons all of you have been gathered from all over the empire, and not from the sa state, is to avoid such uncomfortable situations."
"My only suggestion to you is to bear with it "
"Apart from that, there is nothing we can do."
Shivkumar frowned. He wanted to reason so more, but seeing the determination in the masked man's eyes, he beca silent. Although he felt like it was unfair, he still nodded his head in acceptance. He really could use the 5,000 Varaha promised by the Raya Machinery Group.
Back in the research facility, a few kilotres away from where the artisans were settled,
The researchers spent the whole day yesterday familiarizing themselves with various design blueprints Vijay had drawn. Consequently, all the preparations for the building of the atmospheric steam engine were made.
Heyram drew an outline, noting down all the individual small components that would be required for the machine, while Naveen Bhatt outlined the large components and specifications that would be needed.
---
With the morning setting in, the never-ending travel of Kattappa started. He traveled from the artisans' complex to the research facility and from the research facility to the artisans' complex, passing the design drawings from the research facility to the artisans and consequently transporting the manufactured parts back to the research facility. This went on multiple tis as parts were constantly being rejected due to compatibility issues, and the parts had to be redesigned nurous tis, all while keeping an eye on the security of both places and monitoring the researchers who had left the research in the beginning.
It was a tiring job, but he handled it well.
Back in the research facility,
In a large warehouse, a researcher could be seen with his face turning red.
"Goddamn it, these bricks are too weak. We have to use stone."
"Hey, send the ssage to the logistics staff. Have the artisans prepare stone slabs for the foundation."
"Oh, and don't forget to change the design specifications. Don't use the sa as was used for bricks."
The assistant researcher wrote down everything and nodded, "Yes, sir."
The researcher looked at the ground where the bricks had shattered under the weight of 5-tonne .
'Since we are using stone, can we use cast iron beams for the vertical support beams and rocking chanism?' he wondered.
"Hey Chotu, calculate how much a cast iron beam with a length of 20 feet and a cross-section of 12 inches wide and 8 inches thick will weigh."
"Um!" The junior researcher quickly calculated the data on a piece of paper, "It will be around 2.5 tonnes, sir."
"Hmm," the researcher stroked his chin. "Let's do it then. Let's use the iron beam instead of wood."
"Send the information about the change to other teams as well."
"Yes, sir."
At the sa ti, other research groups were also busy constructing their own parts.
A boiler was being constructed by a research team with a weight of over 1.5 tonnes, a diater of 8 feet, and a height of over 6.5 feet.
The cylinder was being constructed out of steel, weighing one tonne. The piston was similarly being constructed with steel, its diater matching the diater of the cylinder, its thickness being around 2.5 inches, and its weight being over 0.65 tonnes. The pump rod had a length of over 30 feet, made of wood due to weight managent, weighing two tonnes, but it was being reinforced with iron by the research team.
The pump cylinder, steam valves, and cold water spray pipe were all being manufactured by a large group of researchers personally, as these were so of the trickiest parts of the build.
Hey Ram and Naveen Bhatt frequently visited the research team to help out as much as possible.
Hours passed.
Hey Ram brought with him a bunch of docunts and placed them in front of Vijay
"Are all the parts researched compatible?" Vijay asked.
Hey Ram nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. Only a few hours ago, comparing the designs of all the research teams after a practical mock trial, part compatibility has been reached. In a few days, every part should have finished its construction, and it should be ready for final Build."
Vijay nodded and took over the report.
To be Continued...
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