May 1675
Northampton, The British Empire
A middle-aged man, around 30 years old, got down from his carriage and walked into a small town on foot. On his way in, he greeted several familiar faces, but as he got close to a particular building, he abruptly ca to a halt. The man took a deep breath and removed his hat, showed a slight smile on his face, and entered the compound.
’I’m finally back,’ the middle-aged man muttered as he slled a faint scent of carbon even before he could enter the building, which was completely different from the stench of reagents used for leather outside. The guards who looked to be guarding the building did not even try to stop the man and simply let him go.
Earls Barton was a small village on the outskirts of Northampton, a normal village not standing out for anything in particular, but that changed a few years ago when Emperor Charles vacated the serfs, slaves, and common people of the village to another place and declared the village as a special developnt zone for manufacturing of leather goods.
With this decision, Earl’s Barton saw rapid growth, especially since the village already had so history in leather making and leather goods production. Building upon this existing foundation, it didn’t take long for the village to grow into a town and gain prominence across the English lands as one of the places where the finest quality leather goods are produced.
But what most people did not know was, hidden among the leather-making workshops was a secret research institute set up by Emperor Charles himself, gathering so of the brightest minds he could get his hands on in order to replicate and crack the technology, theories, and manufacturing processes of the Bharatiya Empire.
In hindsight, Earls Barton turned out to be an excellent cover, as it didn’t raise any suspicion about the institute. Smoke from lab testing or prototype testing? Not a problem, since most of the workshops consu a lot of firewood themselves, and the smoke they produce is not much different from the research institute. Frequent supplies? No trouble either, as the workshops in the surroundings were actually busier with their shipnts than the institute, especially with the rising popularity of the leather goods from the town.
Besides, even the elite guards stationed outside the research facility disguised as a leather-making workshop, did not raise any suspicion. They were dressed like ordinary workers and acted the sa way, casually standing at the door more out of formality than duty, just like the doorn at any regular workshop in the town.
As soon as the middle-aged man entered the research facility, he was greeted by the quarrel between Jonas Moore and Alexander Bruce, one a mathematician from Kent, the other a skilled chanical engineer from Scotland.
"What are you talking about, Bruce? This glorious piece of machinery should naturally be nad after His Majesty, the Emperor Charles himself," Jonas Moore growled as he stood up on his feet with an expression of not willing to back down.
Alexander Bruce stood up as well, equally unwilling to give in, "Even though I agree that we should definitely give a new na for this machine, we are not its inventors. The Emperor of the Bharatiya Empire is, so we cannot completely remove the na Devaraya, not unless we have co up with a great improvent to the machine....Which...We...Have...Not"
"You, you, how can this gorgeous machine bear the na of an ungodly blaspher? Are you out of your mind?"
"I’m not out of my mind; instead, it is you who are out of your mind. What do you an, ungodly blaspher? Are you unwilling to admit that it is this ungodly blaspher, a pagan, a barbarian, that you look down upon, who was the one to invent this machine nearly 10 years ago? Tell , are you?"
"Bah! Like I thought, you Scots are all traitors who all deserve to be treated like serfs."
"What did you say? Say it again, I dare you."
Just when the fight was about to go out of control, the scientists who were standing aside and watching the fun saw the sight of a middle-aged man who had entered the research institute.
"Newton, you are back!!!"
Robert Hooke, a fellow scientist from the Isle of Wight, a 40-year-old intellectual specialised in microscopy, physics, and biology, called out with a look of expectation.
Hearing the call, both Bruce and Moore stopped in their tracks and turned their heads towards the middle-aged man who was none other than Isaac Newton, the 32-year-old genius researcher, intellectual, and scientist from Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth.
Newton didn’t feel any panic or burden from being stared at by everyone. His expression remained calm, as if he were used to it.
"I have t up with His Majesty and inford him of our success in replicating the Devaraya Atmospheric Steam Engine. His Majesty will be eting us shortly after handling so affairs."
As soon as the scientists got the answer they had been waiting for, they all laughed out loud. For the past few years, although they had been given so freedom, it was still quite limited, so almost everyone was looking forward to completing the project and taking a long break. When they received confirmation that His Majesty would be coming to inspect the machine they had managed to develop, the entire group was overjoyed; the day they had been waiting for had finally co.
Even the most introverted scientists in the group laughed happily. The sa went for Alexander Bruce and Jonas Moore. Despite almost coming to blows earlier, their moods imdiately llowed when they heard the news. After all, the machine they had worked so hard to bring to life, the atmospheric engine, was finally going to be recognised.
"Newton, tell your opinion. Should we still use the na Devaraya as part of the na, or should we completely give it a new one?" Alexander Bruce enquired. Sadly, even though the anger had mostly subsided, the contradiction was still strong.
All the scientists turned their attention to the youngest—and also the most talented—researcher among them: Isaac Newton.
Despite his young age, Newton had the most achievents of everyone in the room. He was the one who cracked the reflecting telescope technology originally developed by the Bharatiya Empire. He formulated his own laws of motion based on the ancient laws of Kanda. He was also the pioneer behind the law of universal gravitation, sothing even the Bharatiyas had not yet discovered.
He improved upon the calculus that the Bharatiyas had introduced and added several new tools to it. He laid the foundation for optics and colour theory in English academic circles. He proposed the law of cooling, and more recently, he began to explore fraction theory, showing deep interest in the binomial theorem developed by the Bharatiyas.
There was no doubt—he was the brightest mind they had ever seen. Because of that, Newton was held in deep respect by all his peers, even the elderly ones.
Newton thought for a while and responded, "I cannot co up with a solution for this problem. This is, as a mathematician and a physicist, hardly a question that I should put my nose into, so let His Majesty decide for himself when he cos to inspect it."
Newton’s answer left Bruce, Moore, and the other scientists a little disappointed, but at the sa ti, they were already expecting sothing similar, so it can be said that they were not too surprised.
A few days later, Emperor Charles showed up at the research centre personally in a disguise.
"Show the machine," he said.
And everyone imdiately complied.
The coal was thrown into the burner, and it was lit on fire. It took a while for the boiler to reach the required temperature, and finally, when it did, the steam was pushed into the chamber, a chamber within which a piston also existed. As soon as steam pressure increased, the piston was pushed up, after which a few drops of water were led into the chamber, and the contraction happened, bringing down the piston at high speed. The piston, connected to the suction tube, imdiately pulled the water from within the small well that had been dug to conduct the experint.
The piston continued to increase in speed, and it went on to increase until it eventually reached a stable cycle where the water was constantly pumped out of the well.
Looking at the machine working, all the scientists were feeling proud, but not Newton, as he could see that the energy conversion was yet to reach the optimal point. A lot of steam was being wasted due to the parts of the engine not being precise enough. But in the end, he did not say anything, since His Majesty the Emperor looked very satisfied.
Consequently, Charles ordered for all the research materials to be moved into Newcastle for the newly terd Stuart Atmospheric Engine, completely removing the Bharatiya Empire’s connection with it, for it to be mass-produced and to be used in mines across the empire as well as the colonies.
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