The casting team produced the parts for joining the bamboos and the others had collected a huge pile of ‘green’ poles of a length that Kal had not seen before.
These were stood up in turn against the scaffolding, while one of the little ones climbed up quickly and dropped a red hot piece of shaped bronze into the top of the pole, whereupon it burned its way through the ‘webs’ and came out of the bottom, when it was returned to the furnace to be reheated for the next pole.
It took several days to get everything prepared for the water supply system to be ready for assembly, and then everyone gathered to see what would happen.
The first task was to join enough lengths of bamboo together to reach from the cave mouth to the pool inside, and then fit an ‘elbow’ of bronze to the end that would dip into the water. Another pipe was then joined to the elbow such that the end of it was below the water level in the pool.
At the cave entrance an elbow was fitted and the bamboos were extended down to the bottom of the cliff where they went into another bend and a short piece of pipe to which the bronze tap was fitted.
Now the tricky bit was about to be performed. Kal had found that the rise in level from the pool’s surface to the point where the pipes left the cave mouth was such that it would be impossible for him, let alone the little ones, to suck the water up to start the siphon action.
He wondered what they would make of the next trick he was about to demonstrate.
Kal had given instructions to the ‘water team’ and drilled them in what to do. The pipe that dipped into the pool was withdrawn, and a bung fitted in its end complete with a cord of tendril attached and a lever system, such that when the cord was pulled, the bung would be released.
The team at the cave mouth disconnected the lower end of the first ‘down’ pipe and swung it up vertically, so that it pointed to the sky.
Armed with pots of water taken from the pool, a group then passed water to the others at the top of the now extended scaffolding, and the water was poured into the pipe until it was full. There was now a solid column of water from the top of the vertical pipe to the end of the pipe which dipped into the pool.
At his command the upright pipe was swung down and quickly plugged into the pipes that ran on down the cliff face, and at the same time the cord was pulled in the cave, and the bung came out.
The upshot of this was that the water in the down section of the pipe tried to fall on down through the lower pipes to reach the ground, but could not do so unless it was replaced with more water drawn from the pool, which is what happened. A few seconds later a fierce jet of water blasted out of the tap at the bottom, and sprayed everyone in its path.
If they could have cheered they would have, but they did their best with the biggest chorus of squeaks and whistles Kal had ever heard. He then showed them how the tap worked, and using the sand drawings, the reason for not having the water flowing all the time, as he didn’t know how much constant drainage the cave pool would take.
He had assumed it was replaced, as it was sweet when he had tasted it, and that meant there was a flow involved. But there was no point in wasting it.
Kal had noticed a small bush like growth that the little people highly prized as a food source. It was a little like a cactus in so far that it produced short lengths joined to each other that rose upwards where they terminated into a seed pod. The sections were broken off before the pod stage was reached, and new sections then grew to replace them.
As the compound was now so much bigger, he thought that a little farming would be a good idea, and to this end, he sent a team out to try and dig up a few of these bushes, and plant them in a section near the wall.
An underground pipe was then run from the tap area down to the bushes, so that any spilled water would find its way down to the plants, and they would have a self replenishing food supply on site.
All in all, things were going very well. They had a good water supply, a series of wagons for moving things around, a foundry to produce a range of bronze tools, food grown on site, to which the little ones had added several other plants which flourished well, and a secure wall to keep out unwanted guests.
Fire and light made a great deal of difference to their comfort and most caves now had their own lamps, as a nut pressing team had gone to work of their own volition and supplied copious amounts of oil. Things had come a long way from the day Kal had landed on the shuttle devouring beach, and he was enjoying himself into the bargain.
Wheel making had been improved considerably when Kal found out that the early ones fell apart after a while, due to the rough ground they sometimes had to travel over.
The inner rim of wood and spokes were assembled along with the central hub, and the outer ‘tire’ of bronze was made slightly small than the rim. The bronze tire was then heated in a circular fire to make it expand and was then dropped onto the wheel assembly, and quickly quenched with water.
The wood creaked and squeaked, which the little ones didn’t like, as the shrinking tire pulled all the sections tightly together. None of the new wheels had failed, and another engineering principle was absorbed by the tribe.
One day, Kal gathered a group of his engineers together and explained to them that he wanted to test the water supply from the cave to see if it would sustain a constant drain on its source.
The reason for this was that he wanted to build a water wheel, which could then power a stamping mill for crushing ore and a hammer mill for beating out the metal they had refined.
The mill wheel was constructed and the water turned on for the first time amid loud squeaks and hand clapping, a habit they had learned from Kal, and which was strictly reserved for occasions like this to show their wonderment and appreciation. It didn’t seem to matter how much water they drew, the supply still provided more.
The stamping mill soon followed as did the ore crusher, and several other useful tools. Kal wanted to build a large bellows to force air into the furnace, so that he could smelt some of the ores that would not respond to the natural draft version they had used up to now. He sketched out the general principle and left them to it to see what they would come up with, and was very surprised indeed. Once they got hold of an idea, there was no holding them, and they were getting better at extrapolating other data from it.
The bellows, when completed, was a work of art. Using the ‘skin’ from some giant tendrils they had found, they had cut them open to make what amounted to a series of leather-like sheets.
These were then stretched over circular wooden frames and the seams stitched and sealed with a sticky substance they had extracted from a plant.
A stack of these frames was assembled and sealed one above the other, and then set in a vertical main frame, the whole contraption being driven up and down by an eccentric cam, which was in turn powered from the water wheel.
Kal wondered how they had managed to stitch the seams, and found that the foundry team had made needles of bronze for the occasion. The method of so doing was a revelation in itself.
They had made a two part clay mould of the shape they wanted, and placed a very fine clay piece in position to represent the eye of the needle. The mould was blackened over a smoky fire to give it a coating of carbon which would help the metal to flow.
A long reinforced clay pipe was connected above the mould and the metal poured in from above. Gravity plus the momentum of flowing metal then filled the mould exactly, and all they then had to do was break out the clay eye hole and polish the casting up to have a very serviceable needle.’
Kal was always being surprised by the things they got up to, but this one shook him to the core. This showed, without any doubt, that they were thinking out their problems in a very efficient manner, and getting it right. He wondered how long it had taken his own people to arrive at this stage in their development, and thought it was probably a lot longer than ‘The Tribe’
It was time to go to work on making cloth. A loom was not too difficult and now that they co
uld cast finely, a heddle for the loom was a possibility. The design for one was sketched out, and the foundry team went to work.
Polishing all the rough edges off it was the most difficult task, but they did it, and the loom slowly took shape.
By now the thread makers had got it down to a fine art, and dyes had been introduced much to everyone’s delight.
Some of the plants produced some astounding colours, and it was interesting to watch the experiments done by the thread makers as they sought new colours.
The loom was finished, and the reels of thread fed through the heddle plate and wound onto a drum. The shuttle was loaded and competition to pass it back and forth was very keen, but orderly.
Before long the first piece of cloth was produced to a round of the usual sounds and a bout of hand clapping. It was not long before a deputation, doing sand sketches, asked if the loom could be powered from the water mill.
‘They’re getting lazy’ he thought, but changed his mind, ‘They were just using their work force efficiently.’
An expedition into the cave complex produced a collection of crystals which were brought back for Kal, as they were still convinced that he liked the pretty colours.
As it turned out, they were very hard and it was not long before they had a drill using one of the sharp ended crystals as a drill bit.
It was crude, but Kal had no doubt that the engineers would soon have it refined to produce an accurate drilling machine capable of drilling holes in the bronze castings before long. With the principle of the drill understood, engineering would really take off.
Kal thought it silly, but he longed to make a steam engine with which to power a vehicle so as to be able to roam about the planet without using foot power. He considered it a bit too ambitious for now, but he liked to dream.
The collection of food plants had grown, and the wall builders had now constructed another section outside the main compound, and the growers were busy stocking it.
It had been a long time since Kal had collected his own food, as they had insisted upon doing the collecting for him.
New types of fruit and berries were offered to him, and they had soon learnt that only the dull coloured ones were acceptable. The variety of his diet was such that it took at least ten days before he had to return to a food that he had eaten before, which made mealtime a lot more pleasurable.
At first, Kal thought that the little people had considered him to be a God, or something like that, but looking back upon events, he was not so sure.
They were too bright to be fooled by mysticism, and although they were in a sorry state when he found them, they had developed in leaps and bounds since, as far as culture and survival were concerned.
The mystery of how they had got there, and why they weren’t able to work things out for themselves in the early days was something he may never know, but it intrigued him all the same.
Kal now felt at home with the little people, and couldn’t imagine life without them, as there was none of the usual human traits to spoil the very pleasant relationship which had grown up between them.
In fact, if he had the choice, he wasn’t too sure if he would return to his own people, such was the co-operation and harmony that existed here.
He sometimes wondered how long it would be before they advanced ahead of him, and he would have to ask them for advice. That was something he was not looking forward to.
The length of time Kal had spent on this planet seemed to be of little interest to him, as he was surprised to find out one day when trying to get things into chronological order.
So much had happened, with so many things having been reinvented and modified, that it was all getting a bit confusing trying to get them into sequence. He gave up in the end, and mentally just sat back and enjoyed the view, as they say.
The weavers had done themselves proud, and most caves sported pretty tapestries on their walls, but as yet clothing had no appeal to the little people.
His own clothes were wearing out, and replacements manufactured from a fine fabric, some of which had been made from fibres he had not seen before, were more comfortable to wear than his old ones.
The population of the tribe had grown to nearly double the size it was when Kal joined them, as there had been very few deaths from animal attacks due to the improved weapons and an understanding of the planet’s dangerous life forms.
The steam engine was still a dream, but he had discussed it with them. They were either unusually thick about the concept, or had little interest in it, for there was none of their usual enthusiasm shown for the new idea, which was contrary to their normal reaction to such things.
The sand drawings had been replaced by a several large sheets of a white slate like material, placed in strategic positions, complete with pencils of very hard charcoal. This made fine detail very easy to accomplish, and the slates cleaned off very easily for reuse.
It was getting more and more difficult to keep up with the newest developments, as they came thick and fast. Kal realized that the little people were now totally self sufficient, and could well do without his help.
Feeling a little left out of the leading edge of technology side of things, so to speak, he realized that it was inevitable, sooner or later.
The tribe had organized themselves into a very efficient hierarchy, with a top council of the best thinkers supported by those who had experience in their own fields.
Everything was carefully talked over, and decisions were based on facts, and facts alone.
Vested interest just didn’t come into any of their calculations, unless it was for the betterment of the whole tribe.
‘We could learn a thing or two from them’ Kal wryly thought, as he watched a meeting taking place to decide where to set up the next garden unit.
Kal considered that he was only invited along to the decision meetings as a courtesy. But he was in for a shock that would rattle him to the core this time.
The little one who came for him and extended the invitation to the meeting looked a little apprehensive, or so Kal thought.
It was difficult to tell how they felt, as their flat faces did not give very much indication of their inner feelings.
He went along to the meeting, and took his usual place of honour among the leaders of the council. The meeting had an unusually large number of members and Kal wondered what was afoot. It didn’t take long to find out.
A drawing slate had been placed before him, and one of the council began drawing. The picture showed Kal on one side of the board, a gap, a selection of the native animals and next to them a group of the little people.
A line was drawn from the top of Kal’s head and extended across the board. The same was done for the other two groups, which indicated that the little people were the smallest group on the board, and planet.
In the gap next to Kal, the leader then drew a ‘person’ which was taller than they were, but not quite as tall as Kal.
The next drawing showed Kal with one of the little people touching each other; a line was drawn from them and pointed to the new person that had been drawn next to the first picture of Kal.
It was blatantly obvious to one and all that they wanted him to mate with one of their kind, and so produce a new race that was taller, and would be more able to survive here. He was shocked to say the least of it, and shook his head.
There was a stony silence, and the leader gravely nodded his head very firmly, looked towards the other members, and they too nodded.
Kal took up the drawing pencil, and tried to show that they were of such different sizes and totally different races, that it wouldn’t work.
He drew frantically, expressing every possible reason why it was not possible, and finally running out of ideas, looked up at the council.
The leader pointed towards the ‘couple’ drawn on the board, and they all nodded again, looking him straight in the eye. This was a tricky one, and Kal didn’t want to insult them, but no way was he going to get i
nvolved in something as outrageous as this.
They were his friends, and he liked them, but he considered them to be nearer the animals than they were to him, until he remembered their learning ability and the things they had produced, albeit with a little help from him.
He didn’t like doing it, but he rose to his feet, shook his head vigorously, and left the meeting. As he walked back to his cave, he wondered what they would make of his refusal, and what action they would now take.
He had long noticed that when a resolution was passed by the council, it went ahead, unless the facts later showed it to have been a mistake. In his case, there was no way of proving it to be a mistake, so he was now looking out for some clever move on their part.
No further approaches were made in the coming days, and there had been no change of attitude towards him, so he was on the point of forgetting the whole unpleasant incident when he received a visit from three of the little people.
One of them was the council leader, but the other two he didn’t recognize, as they all seemed to look the same except for a very few, and that was by bearing and presence rather than physical differences.
They all had a purposeful air about them, and he wondered what they were up to. The little group came closer and Kal was about to rise from his chair, when there was a barely audible hiss, and a fine mist that was only just visible drifted towards him.
As he was on the point of taking a breath, he inhaled a little of the mist before he could stop himself. They had timed it to perfection.
It could have been that they had brought a new perfume for him to try, except that they didn’t use perfume as far as he knew. But it did smell very pleasant. And it had a relaxing effect, so he sat down again as his legs did seem a little unsure of themselves.
Kal smiled at his lovely visitors, as they wavered like ripples on a pond before him.
How kind of them, they must have known that he was rather tired and wanted to lie down for a while.
They were very persuasive, and he could feel the strength in their little arms as they helped him from his chair.
The Inosculation Syndrome Page 11
