Rene neatly sat on a bench beside a black door of enormous scale, on which “SUCREASE HALL” was engraved in bold, white lettering.

With his hat slightly tipped over his face, Rene tried to avoid the gazes of the various passers-by. He waited patiently for Stelle, whose return was marked by the familiar tip-taps of her boots.

“It’s as I thought,” She delivered the news, “We can’t go in.”

Rene frowned.

“Is it because the concentration of essence is really high there? Or…”

“No, in fact, it’s perfectly safe there.” Stelle adjusted her gloves, “You stand before Sucrease Hall, the most prestigious lecture hall in the whole of New Cessa. Nearly all of its lecturers are at a rank 5 level, and there have even been cases where an Aspeiral has presented here. Given this fact, all of its viewers are rank 3 sourcerers at minimum; they must also be invited beforehand.”

Rene let out a sigh.

At the end of the department of fire was another door identical to the one at its entrance. Upon passing through it, he entered into a giant room with a colorful, stained glass ceiling. This was where all the strands converged. From where Rene stood, he saw the multicolored exits of the other departments, as well as the white paths that stemmed out of them. The numerous pathways continued on and merged before once again separating and spitting away, exiting the room like rays of light passing through a diamond.

The room was vaguely triangular in shape; the walls slanted towards each other, converging into a giant black door.

Standing up, Rene furrowed his brows and looked at the black door before him, and stared at the pulsing red light which hung past it.

“You mentioned Mr. Siluvar once gave a speech here? Is there nothing we can do?” Rene turned to Stelle who had her hands in her pockets.

“Indeed, it was two years ago.” Stelle nodded as she replied, “He had discovered a method to fundamentally alter the essence of metal from one that is normally stiff and rigid, to one that was soft and malleable.”

“If the lecturer were to give you permission…” Taking one hand out of her pockets, Stelle lightly tapped her forehead in thought. “You’d most likely be allowed in. But it’s not clear when my father’s next major discovery will be. You’d have to ask him for more information.”

Rene didn’t bother to hide the disappointment on his face.

Damn it Saffry, out of all places…

It would appear too odd if he were to push any further, since, to others, he had no real reason wanting to visit besides simple curiosity. The fact that he was chasing after a red light which only he could see didn’t exactly serve as believable motivation.

“While it is disappointing I’m sure, there are many other places we’ve yet to tour. Come, come,” Stelle waved with one hand and pointed towards one of the white pathways that led to the outside, “This path leads to the school of art and design. Would you like to go there first?”

Rene glanced at the entrance to Sucrease Hall, and the glistening ruby that laid past it.

“Please take me back to the manor.” he rudely replied with a weak voice.

********

Back on the carriage, Rene sat with his head against the window, the scrolling scenery of Victorian era buildings were but a blur to his distracted eyes.

Did he really need to absorb it? He reevaluated the red light’s importance.

He would know how to write afterwards, but that was arguably the least important factor in knowing a language. He already had a substitute anyways: The dictionary. It was a slow alternative, but he could always just learn the written language himself.

The other reason, which he had just identified today, was related to the ‘echo’. A ‘superpower’ he suspected was granted to him by the two previous red lights. Absorbing the last light would allow him to confirm whether this was the case; if it was, perhaps he’d even receive a new power. While interesting, it was something that he could live without.

The final motivation was the most important.

Lorn… Why haven’t they come back yet?

Assuming his abandonment was an accident and something had gone awry, the audio recorder, the camera, the book scanner, and most importantly the red lights; they appeared similar to some type of… emergency beacon.

For what little he knew, the red lights were certainly not an indication that the devices were finished deciphering. For one, the book scanner was still scanning the time he got there; also, all three of them started glowing at the exact same time just hours after they were planted.

Speaking of when they started glowing, they appeared at the perfect time. When Rene was at his lowest point and had already given up hope—there they were, breaking the monotonous darkness and reigniting his motivation to carry on. Was it purely coincidence, or were they triggered by the intense emotions he felt back then?

There was also their color: bright ruby red. Very little things in nature were this shade, it was a color that would contrast greatly against nearly every background.

There was so much more to mention: the way they slowly pulsed so they could be seen even on a red background, how they shined through any and all objects to indicate where they were, how only he could see them.

To a member of Lorn stranded on some unknown world, all of these features screamed “Collect me! I’ll help you!”

Rene shook his head to distance himself from the numerous conjectures he made, frowning once a sharp headache he still had his concussion.

The last time he tried to theorize into Lorn, he had somehow deduced that Arthas was a hidden sanctuary of Earthlings.

It’s the concussion… It’s the concussion… I’m not that stupid… Rene lowered the hat over his wincing face.

Recalling the memories made him want to toss himself off a cliff. If there was anything the miserable experience had taught him, it was to not theorize too deeply. Disregarding what the red lights might represent or why they started glowing when they did, Rene focused his attention on what he knew for certain.

They’ve only ever benefited me. In fact, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t absorb them.

With his mind set, Rene began pondering how he could possibly get into Sucrease Hall.

Waiting for Mr. Siluvar is out of the question. I doubt he has the time to work on anything academic when managing a company with a new line of products.

“Stelle?” Rene asked from the backseat, causing a pair of eyes to look at him from the mirror.

“Yes?”

“What exactly are the requirements to speak at Sucrease Hall?”

Stelle paused for a brief moment; her dark eyes in the mirror turned away from Rene and back towards the road.

She spoke with a blank expression: “Phenomenological discoveries that might alter our foundational understanding of a strand; an invention that might redefine lives and shift the markets, research that’ll make authors rewrite textbooks, and abandon drafts.”

“That’s the minimum requirement.” Her eyes once again pointed towards Rene, quickly shifting away as she finished.

Upon hearing that knowledge had to be about ‘phenomenology’, Rene deeply frowned. His plan to plagiarize Einstein’s theory of relativity had ended before it even began.

Crap, a lot of what I know—or could steal—from physics and math are useless since they don't pertain to any specific strand.

Uh… No worries, no worries, you didn’t spend those years in college for nothing…

He had asked Stelle plenty of questions about what strands the various colors represented whilst the two journeyed through the rest of the fire department. But now that he was thinking back on them, Rene realized he knew next to nothing.

Some strands like ‘Annula’, or ‘Mentala’ literally didn’t have a translation in English, and of the strands that did, like ‘Soul’, or ‘Apparition’, Rene didn’t have the slightest clue of how they worked.

His education on Earth guaranteed that he would have a basic understanding of all the elements in nature, but the denizens of this world chose one strand and studied it for life. Someone from the department of fire would base their life around it. Their classes would be purely about fire, their school is literally made of fire, their dreams would consist of fire. Day by day, year by year, fire fire fire. On the other hand, information purely about fire would struggle to fill three pages in Rene’s 1000 page physics textbook.

Rene rubbed his nose bridge, the idea that the most esoteric piece of trivia he knew was something this world taught to high school students made his knees rather weak.

An invention, an invention then—the toilet proved that there are still gaps between Earth and Temperance.

The most influential inventions of Earth came to his mind; things like internal combustion engines, radios, wifi, etc. Since this world had their own version of the latrine before he arrived, something like Earth’s toilet was probably too mundane to get him in; it also wasn’t related to a specific strand.

Engines… I guess you could say they’re related to the strand of fire? Either way, they already have trains and cars, I doubt they care about engines.

One by one, his list got shorter as one thing was eliminated after another.

Of course, Rene also had his own personal limitations, and this list only included the stuff he was confident in recreating. He was too stupid to know how to recreate the cool things: wifi, televisions, computers, or much of anything that used ‘complex’ circuits; after all, he had majored in biomechanical engineering, where people only took courses in electrical engineering for extra credit.

He could list out every individual muscle of the heart, their location, their function, and describe in intricate detail how they unified to form a functioning organ. He knew the names and shape of all 30 bones in the hand and arm, how they interacted as the fingers bent and forearm twisted; if he had the clay, he could even recreate the hand’s skeleton without a reference.

Rene sighed as the tireless nights he spent studying seemed so fruitless in his current situation. He could only rely on the ‘engineering’ part of ‘biomechanical engineering’.

Rene sighed again as he examined the four items that haven’t been eliminated:

1. Guns
2. X-ray machines
3. Nuclear reactor
4. Microwaves

He would’ve retained a longer list if he had more in depth knowledge regarding Temperance's technological level, but due to his ignorance, he could only overcompensate by removing many technologies that had even the slightest chance of already existing in some form.

Rene sighed once more and wiped guns away from the list; ‘Inventor of guns and toilets, father of murder, controller of stools’, would have looked terrible on his resume.

The remaining three items all related to radiation in some way, and either ran on or produced electricity

Radiation… I guess it’s related to the strand of light? As for electricity… It doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere—I wonder if it’s one of these ‘sub-strands’ Stelle spoke of on the way back.

“Stelle,” Rene cleared his throat as he asked, “Could you tell me more about–” Rene cut himself off—no, rather, he could no longer continue speaking.

“Yes? You were saying?” Stelle asked from the front.

Sitting with his mouth agape and lower jaw quivering. Rene found himself unable to finish the sentence he started; there was nothing wrong with his speech, it’s just—he couldn’t find the translation for electricity.

There was a moment of silence before he managed to collect himself.

“Uh… N-nothing.” Rene gave a timid reply, hiding the turmoil of questions which boiled within him.

Electrons are a fundamental particle, I refuse to believe electricity doesn’t exist in some form here.

Either the translation for electricity was never deciphered, or they simply don’t have a name for it. But if that’s the case, how do they describe lightning?

Searching his mind, Rene made a shocking discovery.

What? There’s no translation for lighting either? But I know how to say thunder…

He was becoming increasingly more skeptical, and so he began asking Stelle whether she was familiar with the instances of electricity in nature: bright flashes of light before thunder, the sparks and crackles as electricity builds up in a dust storm, the small shocks and fuzzy sensation caused by static electricity.

Nothing. She was familiar with none of it.

Rene could only guess that, from Stelle’s perspective, he appeared like a madman; instead of broadening his questions once she replied that she wasn’t familiar with the phenomenon he mentioned. He would ask increasingly specific scenarios and questions, then become more and more surprised once the latter refuted it all.

The energy which powered Earth’s civilisations, electromagnetism, a fundamental force of the universe. Erased, and seemingly without consequence.

How could this happen? What did this mean?

Rene didn’t know.

********

Initially, Rene wished to go to the Sublime Symposium to do some more research. But apparently, the last time he was allowed to enter was a one-time instance. He wasn’t allowed back in unless he had something called an ‘identification formation’. Asking further, he determined this ‘identification formation’ was the reason for the papers he filled out, and it was supposed to arrive sometime this week.

The burning questions were a perpetual source of anxiety; essence, or the ‘strange matter’ as Saffry called it, didn’t seem to base itself upon the physical laws Rene knew; he was fine with that, it would be silly to assume the knowledge he held now could account for all of the universe’s mysteries.

Now, the rug he stood on had been abruptly pulled away whilst he was examining the ceiling. Fundamental concepts, such as electrons,and charge, had suddenly vanished. He once like a diver excitedly exploring the undersea ruins, but now, he had just found out he was no longer carrying an air tank.

His entire worldview, one which grounded itself on the interactions between the fundamental particles and forces was quickly collapsing around him. It made him feel the angst and irritability of a meth addict going through withdrawal. Thus, once they arrived back at the manor, he immediately went down to the workshop and began drawing up the designs of a hand crank electric generator he saw online.

The papers were handed to Stelle, who was nice enough to come down to the workshop upon his request.

“This is…” Stelle said, her eyes darting around the blueprint.

“A dynamo, it’s supposed to be able to create the phenomena I was talking about earlier.”

“Create phenomena… Like a source?” Raising an eyebrow, Stelle grabbed a chair from the corner of the workshop, all while not looking away from the blueprint. Unlike last time, she didn’t sit on it in reverse this time, merely crossing her legs.

“Artificial sources, while rare, do exist: a piece of steel may become a source of light if it’s heated up enough. But this—dynamo, I’m supposed to be an expert on the strand of metal, but I can’t fathom how it’s supposed to generate phenomena.”

Brushing away her loose strands of hair, Stelle looked up from her examination of the design. “No matter. I can build this—if it pleases you.” Folding up the blueprint, she carefully slid it in her inner suit pocket. “Let me gather the materials—and yes, ‘magnets’ are the correct name for–” Opening the blueprint to take a glance, “‘Sticky Metal’, as you’ve called it.” With that said, the blueprints once again disappeared into her pocket while the sounds of her footsteps filled the room.

As silly as it seemed, Stelle’s assurance that ‘sticky metal’ were called magnets greatly eased Rene. At least, the magnetism half of ‘Electromagnetism’ still existed.

There was just one more thing, where exactly was she walking to? The exit was in the opposite direction. But before he could ask, Stelle amazed Rene by walking through the wall as if it were water. The silver surface of the wall even rippled as she passed through, and a series of pale silver circles in the corner of the wall illuminated as she entered.

Those circles—formations? So they can do far more than just recreate a source. Now that I think of it, formations powered that bullet train as well.

The circles glowed purple, which represents the strand of space… whatever that means.

Stelle emerged from the wall a mere few seconds after entering.Carrying a metal box and a steel sphere the size of a baseball, she placed them on the table at the room’s center. A heavy thunk sound emphasized their weight.

She’s going to use that?

While perplexed, Rene said nothing. He prepared himself to be amazed.

Like a true artisan, Stelle took no notice of Rene’s gaze, she held the blueprint with one arm occasionally taking glances as she worked. Her other hand hovered over the steel orb as her glove flashed with a silver light.

There were six circles, one on each fingertip, and a larger one that covered the palm area. They shimmered and danced, twinkling like the stars, but with a strange sense of order. Under this subtle lightshow, the orb began to morph; curves became flat, as the solid ball of steel slowly became hollow. The metal twisted and writhed, contorting, and stretching itself to become the thin wires the blueprint detailed.

Small pieces of shrapnel would fall off from the main body, ringing out with a light ting as they hit the metal table. Upon closer inspection, the ‘shrapnel’ were actually the ball bearings and gears needed to complete the generator.

Rene didn’t notice that his mouth had fallen agape. This was faster than any CNC machine, not even a team of machinists with millions of dollars of equipment could achieve even a fraction of Stelle’s speed.

He had modified the design so that it was easier to manufacture, but it still would’ve taken him weeks to build from scratch on Earth. Yet, it had only been around ten minutes, but a collection of components spread around the table indicated the Stelle was nearly done.

The circles on her glove faded once the last of the orb was eventually shaped to form a screw. Exhaling the breath he had held in, Stelle flicked her tired hand in the air as she wiped her forehead with her sleeve; bits of her make-up were smudged away due mixing with her sweat, but Rene was too distracted to notice.

“Those circles on your glove, they’re also formations?”

“Huh? Aye, they are.” Stelle said with a delay, breathing heavily as if she had just run a race. “I need to go and recharge my essence. The box contains the magnets you need; could you start assembling without me?”

Looking around at the scattered bits of screws and metal, Rene realized there was still work to be done. He didn’t have anything like a screwdriver, but he could at least start winding the wires.

“Sure.”

********

A low whirring noise, similar to one made by an electric motor, danced upon the air waves within a room of silver.

Stelle was currently rapidly turning the handle to a silver cylinder, of which two wires extended from; Rene held a wire as he tapped it against the other one, which was tapped to the table.

No sparks.

Did he design the generator wrongly?

Were the wires non-conductive?

Or was it the fault of the magnets somehow?

Bloody hell, nothing is going well for me today.

Rene sighed before an intrusive thought made him realize a way to test every issue.

Looking at the wires again, they appeared ever more tempting… Their tips now seemed so—sweet.

He felt a sense of apprehension: Would the wires discharge their electrons as he placed them upon his supple tongue, or if he would be left with the horror of receiving nothing—part the bare feeling of hollow metal spikes?

Before he knew it, his lips were parted, and the terminals were inserted into his cavern of flesh.

“Ow! Fwuck! Shwit!” Rene slurred his words as his tongue was shocked into submission by a familiar sensation. Covering his mouth, he recoiled backwards, nearly falling on the floor.

“Are you… alright?”

The soft whir of the dynamo had stopped, and once he regained his balance, Rene looked up to see Stelle staring at him with furrowed brows and a skeptical gaze.

Ahem “Y-yea,” Rene spoke with difficulty, his tongue still numb.

He didn’t display it, but inwardly, Rene was exhilarated. That unique sensation he felt was one which he’d never forget: the feeling of being shocked by electricity. Strangely enough, the electric shock that penetrated his tongue had gone beyond the fuzzy feeling of licking something like a 9 volt battery; it was piercing, sharp—and incredibly painful.

Biomechanical engineers certainly weren’t experts when it came to electricity, but the generator he plagiarized was rated for over 100+ volts; car batteries produced sparks at 12 volts.

There should’ve been sparks when I touched the terminals together—the essence of this world is affecting electricity somehow…

“Do you have any of the recording paper the professor at the Academy used?” Rene planned to experiment a little.

“Sure—let me get it.” Stelle replied after a moment’s hesitation, afterwards, she walked through the metal wall once more.

She quickly returned with a pale white box, one similar to what the professor had.

Sliding the lid open, Rene took out one of the many black pages stored within. He noticed that Stelle had hurriedly closed the lid after he left it open, but not wanting to become distracted by his further questions, Rene carried on with his plan: placing the paper on the table then stabbing the terminals into it.

According to my understanding, traces should form, right?

The outcome was far less exciting: absolutely nothing had happened. Stelle was turning the generator as he requested, the wires should have opposite charges.

Rene pressed the wires against his skin, as expected, he also felt nothing.

Recording paper records traces, which are the remnants of phenomenon. But if there aren’t remnants, there won’t be any traces to record.

I felt the effects of electricity through my tongue since it was conductive enough to allow electrons to flow through it. Wetting the recording paper should make something happen.

“Are… you expecting something to happen?” Stelle queried with a skeptical demeanor.

“Err, maybe?” Putting aside the terminals, Rene held up the place piece of recording paper. “Could you tell me where the nearest sink is? I’d like to wet this.”

“Wet? With water?” Stelle asked, the perplexity on her face deepening, “That’s not exactly a conventional way using recording paper.”

It’s not? Uhh…

With nothing to retort with, Rene fell to silence as the room was filled with the whir of the generator.

“Upstairs, on the left.”

“Huh?”

“The closest faucet,” Stelle clarified, “Unfortunately there aren’t any washrooms on this floor.”

“O-oh, yes. I’ll be right back.” With paper in hand, Rene set off to the sink. Just as he was about to leave the workshop however, he paused, and turned back to Stelle.

“Y-you don’t have to keep turning the generator when I’m not here.”

********

********

Damn it, still nothing.

Rene silently grumbled as he prodded the terminals against the soaking wet piece of recording paper, which wasn’t changing in the slightest.

Does wetting it break it somehow?

Besides shocking his tongue, electrons were definitely flowing within the wires; they heated up upon prolonged contact. Current should be going through the recording paper, so why the hell is nothing forming?

Or is the voltage still too low?

“Could you speed it up a bit please?” Stelle left no reply, the whirr of the machine simply became higher in pitch.

Rene tried sticking the terminals in different areas: opposing corners, close together, even on the different sides. It was as he were prodding stone, nothing was happening–

Hold on…

Rene leaned in close. They were faint, but undeniable; Curvy lines, more shallow and light than the veins of a leaf, had spread across the paper in a uniform fashion.

So it needed prolonged contact! I see!

The recording paper had been placed on a plate, Rene held it up excitedly as he showed Stelle.

“Look! Look! Something formed!”

Stelle didn’t appear as excited as he was, her face was expressionless as she took the recording paper with her free hand. Rene cringed a little when he realized Stelle was still intent on turning the generator, but he didn’t want to interrupt.

“As recording paper has no will to resist the environment, if left exposed for long enough, even the ambient essence of the room will leave traces upon it.” Stelle spoke while working the generator on the side.

Handing the recording paper it back to Rene, “Those curvy lines that resemble rivers: they’re traces of water. The rest are traces of metal, due to the high amounts of metal essence in this room.”

O-oh.

Stelle’s words had completely destroyed Rene’s desire to experiment further. His knowledge regarding how this world functioned was too little, perhaps it’d be best to abandon anything involving electricity for now; he could always come back to it when he learns more about this world, and or becomes desperate enough.

He sighed as he placed the recording paper down and carelessly discarded the terminals. "You can stop the machine now.”

Stelle replied with a small nod, massaging her arching arm as the whir of the generator gradually died out.

The generator had taken at least 6 hours to design and assemble; massaging his temples in frustration, Rene urged his mind to think of another way to get into that bloody lecture hall.

Math is supposed to be the language of the universe right? Even though it’s not related to any specific strand, surely they’d appreciate it if I reveal a new theorem or something…

Scoffing at himself, Rene wryly smiled.

Teaching math—I’m becoming the very thing I hated.

“What?” A soft voice from behind startled him. Turning around, he saw Stelle examining the recording paper with intense scrutiny.

How badly did I mess up this time? Rene sighed as he moved closer to see something he didn’t expect. The terminals he haphazardly threw had landed on the recording paper, but now, they were surrounded by a series of lines. Stemming out from the tips of the terminals, the traces of electricity resembled the jagged, branching lines of lightning. Appearing like a piece of fractal burn art, the branches reached towards the opposite terminals, meeting in the middle. A grin unwittingly appeared on his face, he could only praise his own luck for this pleasant surprise.

“I don’t recognise these traces…”

A soft silver light radiated from her gloved hands; Stelle carefully picked up the wires leading from the generator. With delicate care, she followed the wires with her fingers until they ended at the recording paper.

She looked towards Rene with a set of bewildered eyes.

“You can recreate this, yes?”

The traces had only formed due to an accident, “Uhh, maybe?” Rene replied with a tone filled with uncertainty. “Do you know why these traces only formed after you stopped turning the dynamo? Electricity is only generated when the handle is turned.”

“Hmm, it may be due to the conflict of my essence.” Stelle replied while grabbing another piece of recording paper from the pale white box.

“Conflict… Of your essence?” Rene asked.

Putting the recording paper on another plate, “This was created with my essence, and so my will dwells within the steel I shaped.”

“If this phenomenon of ‘electricity’ truly flows through these strands of metal as you’ve said, it would have been suppressed by my lingering will.” Stelle said, passing the wires through her fingers. “Only after I let go of the handle did my essence of will weaken.” She got into position to turn the generator. “I’ll restrict my essence this time, let’s try once more.”

Rene nodded, he eagerly prodded this new piece of recording paper to find—nothing. In retrospect, he should’ve completely expected this result; this new piece of paper was bone dry, zero current was running across it.

Pushing the wires together, there were sparks this time. But they were so small and faint Rene had to lean incredibly close just to be able to notice their existence. On Earth, larger electrical sparks could be generated from a pair of socks and a carpet. Obviously, these “sparks” left absolutely no traces behind.

Is the generator this weak? Upon witnessing such disappointing results, Rene licked the electrodes to his immediate regret. It was much stronger this time; the muscles of his mouth shriveled up and clenched together as if had been prodded with a taser. Well, Rene had never been struck with a taser before but this was probably what it felt like.

Thankfully, the pain was short lived. Wiping away his tears, Rene held his mouth as he mumbled to the baffled Stelle. “Electricity conducts through water, we’ll have to wet the recording paper again for it to experience the phenomenon.”

“When you placed them in your mouth…”

“Oh.. Uh, I was testing the strength of the electricity.”

“Is that so…” Stelle said with an ounce of skepticism, placing the electrodes within her mouth, seemingly ignoring the fact they had just been drenched in Rene’s saliva.

Stelle reacted with a small wince and a subtle grimace, as if she had just tasted some bad food. “What an odd feeling,” She commented while looking at the tips of the wires. “It’s strong enough to be rank 1.”

The whir of the generator ceased as her gaze shifted towards Rene. “What do you mean by ‘conducts through water’?”

“Uh,” Rene strained his mind to think of a suitable analogy, “It’s like how metal transmits heat faster than wood, water transfers electricity more easily than the air.”

Stelle placed a finger and took a moment to think, “We’re only ever after the traces of a single strand, by wetting the recording paper, you’re introducing the influence of another.” Handing him the old recording paper, Stelle continued. “Do you see how the traces overlap? They’re not natural continuations.”

Rene closely examined the old piece of recording paper; she was right. Whenever the electrical traces overlapped with the water traces, the line would sharply bend like light refracting through water.

“Given this level of interference, a formation made from these traces would be useless; no phenomenon would be reproduced even if the outer ring were added.”

Interference, that word again… If interference between different strands affects the phenomenon they produce. Then, when Saffry and I were at the library… Was the teleportation interfered with somehow?

Not wishing to be distracted by further questions, Rene turned his focus back to the task at hand. He mumbled his thoughts out loud: “Electricity has to pass through the paper for its traces to be recorded. Without water to decrease its resistance, we’ll have to increase the voltage.”

“Vol-tage?” Stelle asked, bemused.

“Oh, that’s—we’ll have to increase the power of the dynamo… Right?”

“If it makes the water redundant, then indeed, this is the right approach.” Crossing her arms and glazing at the generator, “Making alterations to this contraption of yours is beyond me however.”

Taking Stelle’s hint, Rene was quick to reply, “Right—yes. Uh, I’m gonna need your help again.”

When the goal was to increase the voltage, there were really only two options accessible to him: either using a transformer or capacitors. But the generator he designed produced DC power, so unless he wanted to build an alternator, he really had one option.

No matter, capacitors are really the better option anyways, they’re much simpler to build and I can always add more in series–no, parallel if the voltage isn’t high enough.

Stelle brought him the metal plates he requested without a word, she stood to the side with her arms crossed, waiting to see what Rene would do next.

Now, for the dielectric…

He looked around, and only saw silver. Apart from a few pieces of graphing paper on a table, the entire workshop was made of metal.

Regular paper would have worked well enough on Earth. But as for the paper here… I can’t be sure of how insulating they are.

Rene’s eyes trailed to the pale box which the recording papers were stored in.

Of course! Either they’re insulating enough for the capacitors to build up charge, or traces are recorded on them when current passes through! Rene thought, as he told his plan to Stelle.

“You want to put a piece of recording paper between two sheets of metal, creating twenty pairs in total?” Stelle questioned.

“That’s right, we might also need more if the voltage is still not high enough.”

“I’m not using them to record anything,” Rene further clarified, interpreting her hesitance as a sign she was still confused. “There isn’t a problem right?”

“I’m rather addled regarding the purpose of all this,” Stelle dropped her crossed arms, “Especially the reasoning behind using recording paper.”

Ah, so she’s curious about how capacitors work.

“Imagine two balloons, with a tube connecting them together. If you injected air into one balloon, the other would also inflate to the same size.” Rene began explaining the concept of capacitors to Stelle, reveling in the feeling of finally knowing more than someone else. “But if you clamp the tube shut, their sizes will soon become disproportionate.”

Stelle listened without a word, Rene took this as a sign to continue.

“Suddenly, you have a source of energy. Once the tube between them is unclamped, or another tube connecting them is added, air will begin rushing from one balloon into the other.”

“In this case, the air is an analogy for electricity, the balloons are the two sheets of metal, and the clamp is the recording paper. In total, they form what’s known as a ‘capacitor’.”

After Rene’s explanation, Stelle looked at him for a solid five seconds then blinked her eyes. “I see. What was it you said you wanted me to do again?”

As expected as Professor Stelle, she understood instantly with a simple analogy.

“Please connect the metal strings to the capacitors with your… formations.”

Stelle quickly finished his request, and after each individual capacitor was charged up, they were lined up in parallel.

He had no idea what would happen however, in fact, he expected nothing to happen. It had been hours, he was already half asleep, so he didn’t do any calculations regarding the total capacitance; seeing how weak the sparks from the generator was, his plan hinged entirely on adding more capacitors if the voltage was still too low.

They looked rather scary, all laid out on the table like that. Since he wasn’t fond of the idea of being shocked by an unknown amount of power, Rene asked Stelle to hold the terminals instead.

“Just push them closer together while they’re touching the recording paper.” Rene instructed Stelle.

With a small nod, Stelle slowly brought the wires together, leaving shallow grooves along the recording paper.

Bang!

The air crackled! Bright sparks of white burst forth from the point where the tips made contact.

Rene smiled upon witnessing what he didn’t expect to see. The electricity produced was unbefitting of what the generator managed to create earlier; was there really this big of a difference?

Something had also formed on the recording paper; the traces resembled the ones formed in the other experiment, but they were much bolder, thicker, and were also without interference. However, he had no idea whether they were considered ‘valid’ or not.

He looked to his side to find Stelle a few steps back from where she was; her lips were slightly parted: a sign of surprise.

“What– was that?”

“A spark of electricity,” Rene casually explained. “Though it was a bit stronger than I expected.”

Pointing at the paper, “How are the traces this time?”

With her face quickly absolved of any readable expression, Stelle swiftly examined the traces. Her eyes darted across the page, faster and faster; eventually, she lifted the recording paper up to analyze the traces closer. Her previously austere demeanor crumbled, and even someone as inexperienced as Rene could tell that she did not believe what she was seeing.

“This… it’s…”

“It’s good, yes? No?” Rene impatient asked on the side, immediately regretting how rude he was being.

Hearing his voice, Stelle looked at him with furrowed brows.

“You…” She muttered under her breath.

“Uh, sorry. Take your time.” Rene lowered his head to avoid her gaze. Stelle's voice interrupted his thoughts of scurrying away.

“This is a much cleaner recording, but it’s still incomplete.” She placed the paper back on the table, “There are two problems with this trace. For one, certain parts of it are missing.”

Observing the newly formed trace, it was obvious what she was talking about. Unlike generally round, uniform traces left behind by the firestone, two-thirds of the traces were missing: it appeared like a piece of pizza with a large slice taken out.

“It might be that the ‘spark’ you referred to simply didn’t contain enough information to describe the phenomenon in full, or that it occurred too rapidly for the recording paper to capture it entirely. Regardless, the solution is simple. We just have to re-record the phenomenon in the same spot until the traces are complete.”

"The other issue is that the rank of the phenomenon is changing as we record it.” Stelle continued, “Line thickness doesn't indicate rank, but the changes in thickness do.” She pointed her finger to the center of the recording paper and slowly dragged it outward following her explanation. “As you can see, the lines start at a certain thickness, then become thinner and fainter before disappearing entirely. If we don't know whether this is the extent of the traces or if they continue further out, we won't know where to draw the outer ring."

It’s changing rank? Oh, that’s right. Just like a balloon, capacitors will output less power as they’re drained over time.

“Are you able to fix the second issue?” Stelle turned to Rene with a set of enthusiastic eyes, “Whatever plan you have, just tell me, I’ll make it happen.”

Stelle’s sudden declaration of support gave Rene an unpleasant amount of pressure. With a finger on his chin, he urged his mind.

Second issue… To maintain a constant voltage, but at the same high level that the capacitor delivers in just a fraction of a second. To achieve such levels, I’ll have to build a transformer then, meaning that the generator will have to be altered to produce AC. But since I need constant voltage, the AC will have to be converted back to DC, so a full-wave bridge rectifier is in order. I’ll have to fiddle with the capacitor to get a smooth power output but… Crap, I don’t know how to make diodes– oh, no, I do know how vacuum diodes work. So each diode would need their own heat source– wait, is the current generator even powerful enough? Do I have to design a bigger one or… Speaking of generators, if the handle isn’t turned at a consistent speed, then the voltage will also differ. So, a flywheel? No, it’ll have to be turned to the same speed every time. Then–

“Let’s try running a few more trials first, maybe we won’t need to change anything.” Stelle’s voice pierced through Rene’s concentration, and he nodded in return.

With Stelle at the generator, they began recharging the capacitors once more.

********

A sprawl of recording paper, all stained with the mark of incomplete traces laid out on the table beside Rene; it was an indication of their success, or lack thereof.

Stelle had initially mentioned that the first issue could be resolved with more trials: like completing a puzzle, the incomplete traces could be filled in by hand if another set of incomplete traces contained the missing portions.

However, they quickly realized that none of the traces matched. They came out like snowflakes, all differing from each other. Their differences were slight, but not negligible. This was true for all of the over twenty trials they conducted.

“The same phenomenon will produce the same traces. The converse is also true, differing traces imply differing phenomena,” Was Stelle’s explanation.

Rene interpreted this as the electricity not being discharged consistently. The myth that lightning never struck the same place was certainly wrong, however, it just might be true that no lightning has ever traveled the same path. This was also true of Rene’s system, the temperature of the wires, the orientation of how Stelle pushed the terminals together, and the spark, especially the sparks—how electricity interacted with the air; they were all factors impacting what was being recorded.

“I’ll try drawing up something tomorrow,” Rene spoke with a tired sigh.

Stelle gave a small nod, “You have the liberty to retire, I’ll take care of the tidying up.”

Only God knew how late it was, Rene instinctively reached into his pocket for his phone to check the time. He found nothing there of course. Disappointed, he waddled upstairs.

“By the–”

While Rene was about to exit the room, a voice gave him pause. He turned around to see Stelle holding the top half of a capacitor, eyes wide and mouth agape.

Such a reaction was unlike her, Rene rushed over and immediately understood the source of her shock.

It was the recording paper he had placed in between each capacitor; the traces adorned on it… were perfect. But it didn’t look like the traces generated by the failed trials. No, there were no jagged edges, not sharp turns. The lines gilded with utmost grace, curving and swaying in an effortless flow that spun and spiraled to form an abundance of mesmerizing circles.

They seemed oddly familiar… No, he had seen them before, they resembled—

Electric field lines…

“This…” Stelle swiftly pried open yet another capacitor, then another, and another, her eagerness palpable. Rene trailed behind, observing that each one was identical to the last.

At last, Stelle murmured under her breath, "It’s enough..."

“Enough? Enough for what?” Rene couldn’t help but ask.

“Enough for you to declare you've discovered a new strand.”

A new strand… So it’s true… Electricity really hasn’t been discovered.

He then remembered what all of this hassle was for.

“Could I get into Sucrease Hall with that?”

Stelle looked up from the recording paper and towards him, an expression of austere certainty.

“Unequivocally.”

********

The opalescent pearl hangs forlorn in the starless night. Moonlight cascades through glass, transforming its pallor into a luminous lore.

Rene lay in bed with eyes wide open, failing to fall to sleep. He exited his room to find the hallway silent and empty; luminescent strips traced the corridor floor, giving him the confidence to continue.

He walked down the stairs and saw a rectangular shadow of light form on the walls: the silhouette of a door; the entrance had been left open.

With a pause in his steps, Rene suffered from a moment of fear before he assured himself no sane person of devious mind would go through the front door, and least of all leave it open.

The cool breeze made his shirt lightly flutter and quickly blew away any thoughts of taking a walk outside. Perhaps he’ll just wander the halls for a bit before going to bed again. Now with the intention of closing the door, he inched towards it.

The flooring was solid stone, his footsteps were silent, with his fingers wrapped around the handle, Rene looked to his right, and saw a figure.

It was Stelle.

She languidly reclined on the wall with her head gently tilted towards the ashen light that illuminated her fair countenance, casting a glow on the shadows under her eyes: the moon. So devoid of color and so empty, it appeared like a void in the sky.

Her gloves were hastily stuffed in her suit pockets, from which their white tips protruded; A small black stick with an orange ember perched between her bare fingers as she had one arm over the other.

As the stick met her lips, the ember transformed into a deep crimson, and a puff of smoke swirled out, dancing with the gentle wind. Her arm goes limp, her eyes slowly fluttered shut, the night's chorus hummed in time with her exhale.

As the moon disappeared behind a smudge of gray, Rene let go of the handle ere his retreat inside, a pair of ebony eyes met his.

“R-Rene.” Stelle uttered with a shudder, adjusting her posture to no longer lean on the wall, “I didn’t expect to see you.”

She tucked away a loose strand of hair, speaking again before Rene could reply. “I’m nearly done with the report—just taking a small break before I finish.”

The cigarette was pressed against the wall behind her, emitting a sizzle of dying cadence.

“Getting some air?” She added.

“Y-yea…”

Taking a glance at the cigarette to see that the tip no longer glowed, Stelle placed it behind her ear before striding towards the entrance.

Seeing she was about to enter, Rene shuffled to make way. Suddenly, he finds a hand on his shoulder and hears a whisper in his ear.

“Rest well.”