It All Started With Magnets

.13.

"So you want to have an engine that exceeds the parameters I have made for this one?" I asked it slowly as I looked around at the scientists and Loril-ee. The small antwyn's wings were fluttering almost violently as she clasped her hands in front of her chest and bared her sharp teeth at me. We had barely made it into the science-y building, I still wasn't sure of the exact name, before the scientists had descended on me.

Apparently they had spent most of the night studying everything to do with everything with my small engine I made for them. They told me they still had no clue how it worked but that it did. They were able to explain a bit more about the polarity. I was essentially, slowly negating the polarity of one pole of the magnet using an electric current but they weren't able to tell me exactly why. Which I couldn't fault them for. I knew I had been messing with magnetic polarities but I hadn't been sure. So they knew more than I did when I made it.

"Yes, with a stronger engine we will be better able to understand the power it creates and the manipulation of the magnetic polarities." Kai-el-tee said it quickly, his blue wings fluttering just as quickly as Loril-ee's.

"From there we can rate just how effective it is at long term space travel and how fast we would be able to create transport from the other planets. " Hallee-tie's words were said quickly and I rubbed at my forehead. They were really putting it all out there with trying to get me to understand but I did. I understood it quite well.

"If your engines and your journey was correct, we could reduce the length of our space flights from years down to months or even weeks!" Bof'jag sounded more than excited as he boomed the words out and I looked at them all.

"I can't just do that with an engine." I said it carefully as I could. I knew why they wanted to study it more, why they wanted an engine with more power but I felt uneasy, like I had when Nasa wanted one and I hadn't done it for them and I wouldn't do it here. "With more power it becomes exceedingly dangerous. If you let the engine go even for a moment, it could punch a hole through a planet and won't stop moving. I have no clue why it doesn't stop just that it doesn't and wont." I explained it as carefully as I could, I could see them all deflate and even Hallee-tie's ilithari seemed to deflate and stick closer to her head.

"We can build you your own ship that you can study but I won't build you a singular engine. I don't even build singular engines anymore. Especially without the appropriate fail safes." It was just safer that way but they did seem to perk up but they still looked disheartened. I understood why but I wanted them to understand how dangerous a loose, singular engine with the power output of one of the ones on my ship could do. "I don't build those anymore, not since I realized what they can do." The scenarios of me accidentally blasting a hole through a planet were ones that kept me up at night when I first realized how fast and powerful the engines could be. I wasn't going to risk potentially hurting a life bearing planet to appease curiosity.

"We were hoping to study the engine up close before we built a ship for it. It would help us design the outer hull with he appropriate size and shape." Kai-el-tee's wings practically drooped and I felt bad but I was dead serious. I wouldn't build a singular engine without the fail safes I could introduce with a ship set up.

"We need to know just how much thrust and power an engine can produce before we build a ship for it. We want to maximise size of ship of the power output we get. We don't want to waste a small ship on an engine than can move a freighter." Loril-ee's tone let me know just how disappointed she was, even if her wings hadn't went limp. It was in every bit of her tiny body, it oozed disappointment but I was used to that reaction. I wasn't about to give them an over sized bullet that would keep going when they didn't understand how dangerous it could be.

"I just want to see how fast it can go." Bof'jag muttered it out and I pressed my hands to my hips. I understood what they were saying. I got it. Nasa had built a ship using mine as a reference. Six engines, the smoother design, small but not too small. But I could understand them not wanting to waste resources on a ship that wasn't matching the power output.