The next few weeks that led into late summer continued much as the ones prior had, with the higher rate of lost shipments. The Navy’s investigation into the loss of the Etanakayra came to much the same conclusion as Captain Yakyues, that it was a pirate attack, so they increased the number of patrols in that part of the ocean. It seemed like that it had at least worked, as there seemed to be no other ships lost to pirates. The weather had started to turn bit cooler but at sea cyclone season was now in full swing. There had been plenty of jobs related to fans and refrigeration systems come into my shop, as was normal for summer, but those were starting to slow down a little, just in time for the grain dryer motors to start showing up. However, the weather threw a spanner in the form of a remnant of one of the cyclones that passed over the capital and dumped several inches of rain on it along with some high winds. Typically, after a major storm we inspected the castle for wind and water damage caused by it. Due to the size of the Castle, the inspection was divided into sections and since I spent most of my time at the castle in the upper parts, those were the areas I inspected.

I started the inspection right after I finished breakfast in the private dining room. Since I was already there, that room and its kitchen were the first places I checked and there was no damage in either of them. Since they were fine, I went down the main hall of the wing and checked all of the rooms on one side as I headed for the living room area. Each of those was done up as bedroom for visiting nobility with similar types of furnishing to what was in my room, although the style and types of woods varied so that no 2 rooms were the same. When I got to the living room, I saw that everything was fine other than some debris on the balcony. I then checked the rooms on the other side of the hall while I went back to the T junction that was next to the dining area. Finally, I checked the rooms near the T junction and after I saw they were all fine, I continued up the hall toward the top level of the castle. The hall did not seem to have any problems other than 2 or 3 burned out bulbs and I was soon at the top level.

I headed to a large room whose name doesn't have an English translation as its function was similar to a ballroom or throne-room. Basically, it was used for important civil ceremonies, which was why it had massive doors with an ornate frame that I noticed easily as I neared it. Like the doors on the other main top-level structures these were elaborately carved as the main pattern was the royal coat of arms. The main feature of that coat of arms was essentially a phoenix version of the byzantine eagle that stood out in awe as I grabbed the door's handle and opened it. I entered the room as I started to inspect it as it was large space with Gothic looking stained glass windows and carved stone support pillars. The lighting was mostly a large chandeliers as the fans were complicated ornate ones meant look somewhat like chandeliers themselves. Both the lights and fans of course had gold plated metal parts. There did not seem to be any signs of water entry or broken windows, so I left it and headed for the great library.

I entered the library and climbed the main stair in the center all the way up to the observatory level at the top, as the telescope mechanism would be the most likely place for a leak to develop. I thoroughly inspected the seal between the dome and the rest of the library's structure as well as the seals on the doors of the dome as all the seals still seemed to be watertight. Since those were all fine, I started working my down though the various floors of the library as I checked all the walls and ceilings for any sign of water entry. By the time I reached the main level I was starting to wonder if this had really been necessary, as so far there had been no problems. I then went down the main stairs into the archive where the more valuable items and the digital records were kept. This part of the library was underground and had more advanced climate controls systems, which protected more fragile items. I checked the systems for proper operation and looked for any signs of moisture seeping up though the walls or floor. It all seemed fine, so I headed into the room where the digital archives were to look for any problems in there.

The digital archive was divided into 2 main rooms, a magnetically shielded vault that held many data tapes, as well as both optical and magnetic disk packs. The other was the 'server room' that had the computer equipment needed to read the data. The vault room had very sophisticated climate control and was lit almost entirely by glowstones to minimize the amount of electromagnetic fields in the room. For the vault all I did was check the readouts from the environmental control system to be sure they were all in normal range. There did not seem to be any issues, so I started to inspect the server room. As I inspected it, I chuckled a bit at how a human would probably react if they saw it, since many of the drives looked similar to drives for 1970s or 80s Terran mainframe. However, these drives held far more data and were much faster than those old drives. The same applied to the rest of the equipment, much of this had been retrofitted over time with better electronics. In addition, computer tech was another case where elemental energy channeling had heavily influenced how the tech developed. In general, our computers out preformed human ones. However, they tended to be a bit less compact due to more focus on reliability, expandability and upgradeability.

It was in here that I noticed a problem with a ceiling circulation fan near the middle of the room. The fan had developed a loud buzz and was running very slow which suggested an electrical problem with its motor. I made note of the problem while I continued to inspect the area but there were no other obvious problems. With that inspection finished, I headed out of the archive and then exited the library on the east side as that led directly to the chapel entrance. I entered the chapel and started to inspect it for damage as there did not appear to be any broken windows or water stains on the ceiling. As I continued the inspection the priest came out of the sacristy and asked, "Sir thunder, you work on ceiling fans, correct?"
"Yes, that's correct. Why do you ask, all the fans in here seem fine?" I asked as he paused than answered "No, not the ones here, one in my house, can you take a look at it?"

"Yeah, I can, I'm basically done the inspection" I answered, and he smiled lightly as he said, "Then follow me to the house."

"Alight" I said as I followed him out of the chapel and down a path to the parsonage. I entered and followed him into the living room as I asked, "is this one the problem?"

"Yes, it is" he answered, and I nodded as I inspected it. The fan looked fairly old as it was brass with the 4 blades mounted to the side of the motor rather than the more common arrangement of blades on the top or bottom. The way they were attached meant the that whole lower housing, which had grape leaf like pattern to it, would spin when the fan was running. This sort of motor was known in the industry as a spinner motor, over all it seemed to be in pretty good shape. But as soon as I turned it on, I immediately heard the problem. There was a loud uneven hum that varied in time with the rotation of the fan and in addition I heard some faint noise from the thrust bearing, which mean the fan was due for a rebuild. I shut it back off as I said, "Yeah, it's due for a rebuild, got a stepladder?"

"I figured, and yeah I do. Shall I get it now?" he asked, and I nodded as I said, "Yeah, get it now, I need some info off the fan."

"Alright" he said as he walked out of the room, and I took a picture of the fan as I waited. He soon came back and after I set up the ladder, I climbed up it. I then read the data on the nameplate of the motor and noted it all down as I said, "should be a fairly straightforward job."


"So, when can you do it?" he asked, and I climbed back down as I answered, "I can take care of it tomorrow."
"Great, see you tomorrow morning" he answered, and I nodded and said, "see you then, later."

"Later Sir Thunder" he replied as I left and headed back to where my room was. Once I got back to my room, I booted the computer and transferred the image of the fan over to it. I then composed an Email with the nameplate data and description of what parts would be needed and sent the email to the shop, with the image of the fan as an attachment. I then followed that up with text to Firetail just to be sure she would not miss the email. After I did that, I fired off a message to the castle's IT people about the bad fan in the server room. With both of those out of the way, I typed up the damage report and uploaded it to the correct network drive. Finally, with all that done I took a shower and waited for Firetail after I finished. Firetail soon came and sat the parts down on the desk as she said, "got the parts dear, how was the day?"

"Thanks, and the day went well enough, no leaks that I could see" I said as I gave her a hug. She hugged back as she said, "that's good, shall we get dinner after I freshen up?"

"Yeah, sounds good" I replied as she nodded and went into the bathroom. Once she was ready, we left for dinner and then relaxed with a movie in the living room. After that we came back to our room, and I worked on some computer models for about an hour while she did some reading. After that we got ready for bed and soon fell asleep. The next morning started off normal with breakfast in the private dining room. After breakfast I gave Firetail a quick hug before she left. After she left, I went back to the parsonage and knocked on the door. The priest soon opened it as he said, "Good morning, Sir Thunder."

"Morning Father Abhimuel, I'm ready to take care of the fan" I said as he let me in, and I got to work. The blades came off easy enough, then I disconnected the wires and finally I unhooked the fan from the ceiling. Once it was down, I sat all the pieces on a hand cart, that I had grabbed from one of the storerooms on the way up and pushed it back through the halls toward the maintenance wing of the castle. As I neared it, the designs of the halls and lights got simpler, since this area was rarely visited by nobility. The doors also had more rugged construction with iron reinforcing bands as the functions of the rooms were clearly labeled by simple wooden signs. I went into the room whose name roughly translated to electric works and set the fan down on a workbench.

I then drained any remaining oil out of the fan and disassembled the motor fully as many of the bolts were rather stiff. That suggested that this fan had never been serviced before besides oiling. I inspected the motor windings for issues, but they looked ok, so I Just gave the stator and windings a new coat of varnish and put it in a warming oven to dry. While they were drying, I took the shaft and rotor into a room that could best be described as a small machine shop to take care of the bearing replacement. I used a hydraulic press to push the old bearing sleeve out of the rotor and then placed the rotor on a specialized heater to expand the metal some as that would make installing the new sleeve easier. While it heated, I measured the shaft for wear as it turned out to be just a bit undersized. That meant I had a bit of extra work to do, so I removed the setscrew from the main 'spider' the shaft and downrod screwed into. I put some penetrating oil on the old shaft and unscrewed it from the spider as it took quite a bit off effort to get it loose.

"Good thing I told Firetail to bring a new shaft 'just in case' cause that would have been very annoying otherwise" I muttered as I put anti-seize compound on the threads of the new shaft. I then screwed it into the spider and secured it with the setscrew. After that I put the new bearing sleeve in the rotor and allowed it to cool off. Once it cooled, I reamed the new sleeve to have a prefect fit on the shaft and took the parts back into the electric works for reassembly. By now the stator was dry so I reattached it to the 'spider' and fitted a modern, higher efficiency, Elemental Channeling Module to the motor in place of the original one. Then I reassembled the motor and give it a quick test to make sure it ran properly. It worked fine, so I did some final cosmetic work to it and took it back to the parsonage. I knocked on the door and when Father Abhimuel answered I said, “it’s ready.”

“Ah, well come in then Sir Thunder” he said as I went inside and set up the ladder again. I then reinstalled the fan and made sure it had the proper amount of oil before I give it a test run. The fan now ran quietly and smoothly like it was brand new, so I smiled as I said, “it’s all good now, let me know if you ever need anything else.”

“Thank you, Sir Thunder, I will. Later” he said as I left and then I returned the tools. It was now late in the afternoon, so I went back to my room and cleaned up while I waited for Firetail to come back. Firetail came in soon after I had settled, I gave her quick hug and then let her go freshen up for dinner. We had dinner in the normal location and then after dinner we went out for an evening flight. After the flight Firetail and I watched a show that we liked and then we went back to our room and got ready for bed. I slept in some as it was now the weekend and it seemed like it would be a quiet one. Firetail and I got breakfast as normal then went out to one of the balconies as I asked her “so what shall we do with our day off?”
"Well, we could go to the one" she started to say but was interrupted by a loud rumble similar to what would happen in strong storm and immediately after we saw smoke rise in the industrial district. The fire sirens then started up as she exclaimed "what was that?!"

"Must have been an accident, we should probably go investigate" I said as she sighed and said, "Hope no one was killed, so much for the quiet weekend."

"Lord have mercy, now let’s go" I said as I took off in the direction of the smoke cloud as Firetail followed. As we got closer it, I was able to tell that the smoke was coming from the glassworks, so I headed upwind of it and headed for it slowly. Once we neared it, I was able to see the extant of the damage. The loading dock area had been mostly destroyed as there was a large hole in the brick wall and the mangled remains of a truck appeared to be located near the center of the destroyed area. Some firetrucks soon arrived as firefighters got to work putting out the fire that had started in that part of the building. I landed behind the firetrucks and looked around as I saw that there was debris scattered everywhere and that windows on nearby buildings had been broken by flying debris. As I looked around more some reporters landed and headed toward the fire chief. I quickly headed over to them and said, "this is still an active incident! Leave him alone!"

"Sorry Sir, do you have any idea what happened?" one of them asked me as I thought and said, "my only guess right now is a truck had a boiler explosion. There will be an investigation as soon as the fire is out."

"Do you have any statements regarding all the missing shipments?" the other asked and I now looked at both of them rather annoyed as I growled and said, "this isn't the time to talk about that! Now back off!"

"Sorry Sir. We'll let you do your job" The first one said as they backed away some and started filming the incident. While they did that, I noticed a bronze object next to one of the firetrucks' wheels and walked over to investigate. As I got close, I recognized that it was somewhat mangled safety valve and picked it up. I walked over to the chief and said, "I found this next to one of the trucks, and I know who made it. Shall I call the manufacturer now?"

"Yes, go ahead Sir Thunder, we'll take care of the rest, this fire should be out quick" He answered, and I nodded as I got my phone out and look through my directory till, I found the right number. I then called their emergency line as a, clearly female, person answered "does this have to do with the news?"

"Yes, yes it does seem one of your safety valves was on the truck that blew. I'm going to have failure analysis done on it immediately. I need you to get a list of everyone who bought valves of this revision in case there is defect with the design" I said as I gave her the serial number and she then said, "yes, I will get on that right away, should I have our engineer go to the plant?"

"No, have him go to the testing lab, I' m calling there next, talk later" I said, and I hung up the phone. I then immediately called the emergency number for the lab as a technician answered quickly and asked, "I assume this is about the truck?"

"Yes, we need someone at the lab now to see if this was caused by a design flaw with the valves" I said and he said, "meet me there in half an hour."
"Ok, I'll be there no later than that" I said as a hung up the phone again then turned to the fire chief "I have work to do. We will be back."
"Alright, good luck" he said and then Firetail asked, "where are we going now?"

"Over to the regional safety lab to get this valve analyzed" I answered, and she nodded as we took off. The lab wasn’t far away, and we flew fairly fast, so it was only a few minutes before we landed at it. We waited there as the engineer arrived, next followed by the technician and I handed the engineer the valve. While the technician unlocked the door I said, "contact me with what you find right away and send me a copy of the report."
"Yes Sir, I assume a copy to royal engineers also?" the technician asked, and I nodded then said, "and the Royal guard also the military wants to know about any incidents."

"Yes Sir, we will do that" and I finally said, "I will let you two to it, good luck."
"Thank you, Sir," the technician said as he and the engineer went inside. Firetail and I then flew back to the scene of the incident and when we neared it, I saw that the fire was out and I landed near one of the fire engines. The firefighters were loading the last of the hoses back on the trucks and I looked around for the fire chief. Once I found him, I walked over to him and said "seems everything is under control." "Yes, though that wall is going to need to be shored up where the hole is" he replied, and I nodded as I asked, "do you need someone brought in or can the locals handle that?"

"That won’t be necessary" he answered, and I said, "well, if everything is under control here, I will go about my business for the day."
"Yeah, you can do that, thank you for checking back in" he said, and I turned to Firetail and asked, "well, that was bit of an adventure. What shall we do now?"

"Get lunch than watch that new Chapter of Steam Wars, they have a matinee showing today?" she answered, and I nodded as I said, "that works. Let’s go."

"Alright" she replied, and we took off and headed in the general direction of the theatre. We landed at a small, somewhat artdeco looking, diner near it and went in to get some sandwiches for lunch. After we ate, we traveled the rest of the way to the theater. The exterior had a sort of hybrid of artdeco and gothic styling and there was already a small line outside the ticket booth. Fortunately, the booth soon opened, and the line moved rather quickly once it did. After we got our tickets, we went inside and took our seats as it was a rather ornate building on the inside. The movie soon started, and I rather enjoyed it as, like the previous chapters, it was in the science fiction/fantasy genre and they also had steampunk aesthetic to them. After it ended Firetail and I flew back to the castle and headed into our room. We then settled in as I said, "good movie."

"Yeah, it was, I wondered what the hero's next moves will be?" Firetail replied and I just shrugged as I said, "hard to say, but that's what makes these so good."

"Yeah, now let’s relax here before dinner and Vespers" she said, and I nodded as my phone rang. I looked to see who was calling and it was the lab, so I answered "hello, so what's the news?"

"Well Sir, we have good news and bad news" The technician answered, and I nodded slowly as I asked, "well start with the bad news then."
"The bad news is that was no accident someone had brazed up the mechanism to jam the valve shut" he said, and I sighed "great another attack, well at least that means this model of valve doesn't need recalled."

"Yes, that was the good news, no defect with the design" he replied, and I then asked, "well thanks, I assume I'll have the full report soon?"

"That's correct, you best get to the bottom of these incidents soon before they end up killing people" he said and I nodded slowly again as I said, "I know, talk later."

"Later, and good luck" he said as he hung up the phone and I turned to Firetail as I said, "yes more sabotage. I'm starting to think at least one of the Arques is still around."

"That would be awful. Let’s hope this was just some random disgruntled worker or something" she replied, and I nodded and gave her a hug. She hugged me back and then we relaxed for a while in our room. After that we headed over to the private dining room as usual. I was slightly surprised to see the king and queen there but, considering what had happened, it should have been expected. We ended up discussing what had happened while we ate and he had the same concern I did about this, but none of us could figure out why they did this. After dinner we went up to the chapel for the Vespers and once that was over, I went back to my room with Firetail. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing with Firetail and then we went to bed snuggled up together. My concern about what was happening meant that it took longer to fall asleep, but I still did.