Chapter 92: Failure is Necessary Part 4

"So Commander, what's this about?" The Crown Prince leaned forward. "If this isn't worth my time, I'll promote you to Admiral and make you sit through each and every meeting in its entirety."
"Your Highness, may I present Pentam Booksdale?"
"Yes, I remember sea serpents and I crashed your wedding." The prince nodded at Pentam.
"Your intelligence service's attempts to steal an invention from the Zithayan Dynasty caused me considerable trouble." Cal frowned at him. "I'm still annoyed we were used as a cover."
"You can hardly expect us to announce we're sending out spies."
"True, but if other countries start connecting science expeditions with spies, it won't be long before our expeditions aren't welcome." Cal took a deep breath. "But that's a discussion for another day. I have a confession to make, then I will turn things over to Pentam. While in the Dynasty, I happened across a very rough sketch of some kind of machine. I took it from a man who'd probably got it from the dead man at the end an alley in Zithaya, so it's reasonable. It was after that incident the officials decided to do customs inspections on all the ships looking for illicit art, which being paper would allow them to search for plans for a machine they wanted kept secret. I had to burn the original, then when we were at sea, tried to recreate it. I gave that sketchbook to Mr. Booksdale here as the person I trusted the most to make sense of the diagram." Cal bowed to the prince. "If you decide to punish me for my actions, I won't argue, but please wait until Pentam has finished his explanation."
The Crown Prince frowned at her but nodded once.
Pentam stepped forward, unlatched the box and lifted the lid off.
"If you are interested, I can go over the stages by which I arrived at this contraption." He attached the wires to the battery and the magnet began to spin. "What we have here is an engine which runs on electricity. That is the movement of charge from one place to another. The greater the charge, the greater the power. With a sufficiently large source of power, this could be useful for winches and other small tasks where steam engines would be too cumbersome." He took the wires off the battery. "If you are wondering where we would find such a source." Pentam attached the crank and began spinning the magnet. Sparks leapt between the wires in his hand.
"I think I may just forgive you, Commander Shillingsworth." The prince stood up to look more closely at the machine. "How difficult is this to make?"
"Once you know the principles involved, it is very simple." Pentam motioned at the engine. "It is a magnet spinning between coils of copper wire. I could think of ways to make it more efficient, but it is not a complicated machine."
"Gentlemen, I don't see a strategic value in keeping this engine a secret. Releasing it might take pressure off our other project which is of extreme importance." The Prince gave Cal a long look. "I had hoped to hear a report that we had a functioning airship."
"We are very close. We are, in fact, closer than the official reports suggest." Cal steadied herself on the table. "Commanding the Royal Engineers is not nearly as satisfying as getting dirty and playing with ideas, but we need the breadth of experience and vision they bring to the project."
"Why do I get the feeling you are going to say 'but' just about here?"
"I've been working on my own ideas in a space I control. The project goal is a large impressive airship. I'm building something which will hold one or two people and prove our designs will work. As you know, we have been plagued with petty sabotage. Where there is sabotage, there is no reason why there couldn't also be the theft of designs. I expect as we succeed with each step, someone will try to steal the plans, either to sell them or give them to another country."
"So, you're saying we're doing the work for other countries? What about security?" The Vice-Admiral almost banged the table but stopped his fist just above the surface.
"We have dozens of people working on the project, plus as many trying to guard it. Locking everything down tight only made our work more dangerous. So I've been taking another tack."
"Indeed." The Prince leaned back and peered at her.
"All the work from each team is brought to me. They have operational plans which are changed and marked up on a daily basis. I take those plans and make a clean copy for our records, which I get Petty Officer Tallinan to file in the locked room to which only the Chief Petty Officer and I have keys for. Any attempt to steal the plans will focus on that room. So, I leave one or two essential details out of the plans or change something. I keep a record of what those changes are in a secure location in my office which only I know about. If someone were to steal the designs without making the corrections, the results would range from failure to catastrophic."
The prince started laughing.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you. Keep us appraised of your progress, official and unofficial. Intelligence will be instructed to pay close attention to what is going on around your Shed. Maybe we can catch a spy or two." He pointed at Pentam. "Be ready to announce your invention at the Royal Science Society in, shall we say a week? You and Cal can cook up something dramatic to catch the people's attention."
"Yes, Your Highness." Pentam bowed, while Cal nodded. Inwardly, though, she was rolling her eyes. Between balls and this presentation, she wasn't getting much work done in the coming week.