by MR Shiew
time passed before the woodcutters came back, lugging piles of dead wood on lumber wagons behind them. Some of them had dead branches, some had stumps, and some had big and small logs. None of them were living or had birds nesting in them, as I had ordered. “Now split the logs up and light the fires.” I said, and grabbed an axe. Grabbing a branch, I chopped it into manageable lengths, stuck them under the nearest pot, stuffed a wad of newspaper under the wood, and lit it. After splitting the big logs up and chopping the branches into manageable pieces, we lit the fires and soon had 29 more pots of Greek fire in preparation. “The 99 of you, who are unoccupied, get clay pots and fill them with Greek fire when pots 1 to 21 are ready.” I said. “I’ll stay here and watch over the others- every project needs an overseer.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw a medusa sneaking up on pot 25. I rushed over and stabbed and slashed it to death and returned to my place. Sometime later, the 99 who had been sent to get pots came back with pots and pot covers that could be sealed after the pots were filled. “49 of you, stay behind, rest, and guard the place. Kill any monsters on sight. The other 50 of you, go and get more clay pots.” I said. “You can rest next round- the 49 will go in your places.” Pots 1 to 21 were soon done. I helped them empty the big pots, fill the clay pots, seal them, and put them into crates to be sent to the fronts later on. (so I wouldn’t be accused of being a “lazy overseer”, which I wasn’t.) Each big 200 liter pot made 100 2-litre pots. There were 50 big pots, so one round of 50 pots made 5000 pots. We would make at least 20000 pots (four rounds of the 50 200 liter pots), enough to withstand a long monster siege. And right after the battle finished, I would tell Mr. Matthews to fill the storage room again, as another attack was forthcoming about 1 ½ month later.*( that was a few days after we came out of the Labyrinth). About 1 hour later, pots 22-50 were ready while 1-21 were about 1 hour along (each big pot took about 2 hours to cook.) We poured their contents into smaller pots, sealed, and packed them. Each crate held 20 pots, and we would divide all the people into 8 squadrons (each consisting of 5 siege artillery with 3 controllers each, 5 archers, and 5 swordsmen. Each squadron would have at least 2000 pots of Greek fire to last it throughout the siege, and 50 would be making more Greek fire at the now warkitchen. Greek fire would be delivered to each squadron as needed. We would make 120 siege artillery (to replace any losses) and 40 to be used. But what siege artillery should we make? Mangonel, trebuchet, ballista, onager,counterweight trebuchet, traction trebuchet, or whatever? The mangonel took the least time to build but was inaccurate. The trebuchet was the most destructive but was rather heavy- 4 tons and above- to move around frequently. The onager’s range was too short-the trajectory was curved- but it was moveable.
Now, destructiveness and range were more important then moveability- so the trebuchet was the best. And with only 20,000 pots of Greek fire to use- or 2,500 per squadron- there couldn’t be any mistakes. Not with a million Laysthroghynese giants surrounding us. Each pot could kill about 30 giants and partially disable 1,000 others- if properly aimed. Big if. Generally, cannons were more accurate but the camp didn’t have any of them- neither did we have enough time to bore them from cylinders of metal. That could take up to 10-15 hours and we didn’t have that much time. Seven hours tops until they attacked. So, leaving 50 at the warkitchen to cook the Greek fire, 200 of us went to start building trebuchets. Building a large trebuchet could take 1000 board feet of wood or more, not to mention nails, screws, bolts, or other such things. So we went for the smaller ones- which took less time and effort and could fire faster on moving giants. The large ones were more suitable for destroying fortifications, not killing giants. (basically, the large trebuchets’ specialty was destroying things that didn’t move or that moved very slowly). First to build was the base. As it needed to support 1,000-2,000 or more pounds on wheels even in the smaller trebuchets, it had to be built quite solidly.
Half an hour later(I had split the 200 into 4 groups of 50 each) we had finished 4 trebuchet bases and were starting on the 5th to 8th. Making them that way was quicker than each group making a whole trebuchet before starting on another, as it was based on the “assembly line” system. (I.e: all groups work on same part of different trebuchet at same time) so when group 1 finished a given part, group 5 had also finished the same part, depending on the rate they worked at. If they all worked at the same rate, the ideal system I described just now was reality. But if, say, Group One was a little behind because the wood was too hard, then Groups 2 to 5 would have started making the next part. But still it beat the whole 200 working on the same trebuchet at the same time. But if the giants attacked before we’d readied the trebuchets, well, it would be a catastrophe for us. Really. Before we started making the trebuchets, I had done some research and found out that the best ratio of long arm to short arm was 4 to 1 (i.e 8 ft to 2 ft) and that the best counterweight mass was 133 times the projectile mass. And of course the weight had to pass between the uprights without hitting them The counterweight also had to pass as close to the base as possible without hitting it.. A weight of 800 or more pounds hitting even a 8*8 beam would soon crack it in time. That time might be at a most inconvenient time in the midst of battle-and of course I didn’t want that. Neither did the rest of the camp. One trebuchet lost might be what sent us from overwhelming victory to crushing defeat. And as for the steel rod that connected the arm to the uprights, it had to bear a weight of almost 1000 pounds (half a ton) so it had to be strong enough so, like the uprights,base, and everything down to the littlest wedge, it wouldn’t fail in the heat of battle. The shields in turn had to stand up to 5000 newtons or more per blow of a giant’s club for at least 100 blows so we would be able to take out the giant. That would be quite difficult, as 100 blows of a giant’s club would equal 500000 newtons or more. Not many things could withstand that sort of punishment. Thick 16*16 lignum vitae could, but was astronomically heavy. Perhaps laminated wood could. It wouldn’t be astronomically heavy and would withstand almost everything a giant could dish out except a punch or perhaps falling on it., but giants usually used their clubs, except after they had lost them. Then they used other things. But lignum vitae could withstand all these and more. “I’ll ask Mr. Matthews whether he can get lignum vitae for us. He said he would try to get whatever we needed for us.” I said. And so I went to his office again. “Mr Matthews, can you get at least 120 16*16 lignum vitae beams?” I asked. “Sure.” he said. “But what do you want them for?” he asked. “ I need them as shields for the trebuchets so as far as possible no one’ll be killed.” I said. “I agree.” he said. “I’ll be setting off for South America right away, but continue building the trebuchets while I’m gone. And if you fend off this attack I’ll put you in charge of camp defense with a budget of a million dollars a year.” he said. “Really?” I asked. “Thank you so much.” “But let me catch you using the million dollars for anything else except defense and you’re sacked.” he said. “You won’t catch me embezzling because I won’t.” I said. “Make sure you do that.” he said. “And if you need money tell me- I’ll consider your request.” “Mr. Matthews, you’re really kind. I’ll do my best as the but don’t forget I’m still human and make mistakes.” I said. “Of course you’re human and make mistakes, but try not to botch the job too badly when I hire you. I’ll give you a wage of 2,000 dollars a month.” he said.
“Thanks.” I said. Outside, Clarisse(my archenemy) was listening and getting more and more jealous. She was always a megalomaniac- and this position would give her more power then what one had as a camp resident. “You may hire two people as advisers. Make sure they’re capable of the job.” said Mr.Matthews. “Now I really have to go to South America for the lignum vitae.” he said, escorted me out, locked his office door, and left. When he was gone, Clarisse jumped out from somewhere and threatened me with a dagger “If you don’t give me one of your positions as adviser I’ll kill you.” she said. “You’ll never get that post while I’m alive and after I’m dead. I’ll make sure my ghost
haunts you if you kill me. And I mean it…..!” I yelled, kicking her off me and drawing my sword. CLANG! Dagger clashed against sword, sparks flying. I cut her leg. “Stop fighting me. If you continue I will not hesitate to kill you.” And I meant it. She lowered her dagger and just stood there. “ I knew I shouldn’t mess with you.” she said, and ran off. I re-sheathed my sword and went back to my cabin. It was self-defense, and I didn’t give the post to Clarisse not because she was my archenemy but because she was a poor strategist. I then got out a pen and paper and wrote a message to Clarisse. “To my archenemy Clarisse- My reason for not hiring you was because you were a poor strategist, not because you were my archenemy. Sorry about the cut. If you become a better strategist I might just give you the post- but please don’t become a power-abuser or defector or any such thing. If you don’t do this I might just become your friend again. Yours truly, Emma.I rolled it up, walked to Clarisse’s cabin and
