Free The Gravity Engine by Kylie Chan

Seasons.’
    Michael didn’t have the energy to fight him. ‘I need a hundred kilos of copper, forty-five kilos of zinc, and ten kilos each of iron and tin.’
    ‘That’s not enough metal to make the huge machine down there.’
    ‘Size doesn’t matter,’ Michael said. ‘Smaller will be easier to make.’
    The King looked sharply from Michael to Semias. ‘If size doesn’t matter then why is the one down there so fucking huge?’
    ‘How do you know how big it is?’ Michael said.
    ‘Fibre optic cameras on the end of a drill,’ the King said.
    ‘What’s that?’ Semias said.
    ‘ It means that they can stick a pole into the earth and see what’s at the end. They know how big it is.’
    ‘So why is that one so big and this one so small?’ the King said, tapping the plans with his finger.
    ‘Aesthetics,’ Semias said.
    The King’s mouth fell open. ‘What?’
    ‘Bigger is more inspiring.’
    ‘That makes no sense at all. You wasted resources to make it pretty ?’
    ‘Making things pretty is the whole point ,’ Semias said.
    The King hesitated, glaring at him, then said, ‘I suppose it is.’ He straightened. ‘You tigers can change one metal to another. What if I gave you a hundred kilos of scrap?’
    ‘It will double the time I take to synthesise the machine,’ Michael said.
    ‘I can wait.’ The King hesitated. ‘ Hold on, how long to make it?’
    ‘With the right raw materials, three days. With scrap, double it.’
    ‘You can’t do it that quickly, lad,’ Semias said.
    ‘If it means getting my family out of here , I’ll work day and night on it,’ Michael said.
    ‘All right. ’ The King nodded. ‘Well done. I’ll have the metal for you within forty-eight hours.’
    ‘I want to see my family.’
    ‘As soon as this is made, Prince Michael, they are yours.’
    ‘Let me speak to them before I start to build anything.’
    ‘I ’ll see what I can do,’ the King said. ‘Rest and eat while I gather the materials for you. Believe me, I would let you go now, but I want this to work and you’re the best way of ensuring it. Humour me and build it.’
    ‘I just want Rhonda and Clarissa free and unharmed,’ Michael said.
    ‘Then we both want the same thing. I’ll be back with the metal.’ He turned and left.
    Semias sat at the table across from Michael. ‘Any word?’
    Michael shook his head.
    ‘Do as the King said. You’ve been working yourself into the ground. I think you’ve had about two hours’ sleep every night. Rest and eat until he brings you the metal.’
    Michael rubbed his gritty eyes. ‘I just want to go home with my family.’
    ‘We’ll get you there, lad. It will happen.’
    Michael didn’t reply. He should have been on the way home with the women he loved, but he wasn’t surprised at having to stay and build the damn thing.
     
    Three days later he was going nearly mad with inactivity, even though he and Semias were evenly matched at chess, when the helicopter thundered overhead. He went to the entry and waited, watching with his Inner Eye as the demons unloaded a crate full of the metal that he required. He wished his Eye could do more damage as the King approached and opened the door.
    ‘ Do you mind? That’s extremely uncomfortable,’ the King said as he came in.
    Michael closed his Inner Eye.
    ‘Thank you,’ the King said. ‘I have the metal, and it’s the right elements as well. You said three days?’
    ‘I want to speak t o my family first. Let me talk to my mother and fiancée and I’ll get right to work.’
    ‘I thought you might say that,’ the King said. He gestured with his head towards the living room. ‘In here.’
    Michael followed the King into the room and watched, standing, as the King pulled a tablet computer out of his laptop bag and flipped it up onto its stand. He placed it on a side table and indicated for Michael to join him.
    ‘We had to set up our own communication network, the logistics were a nightmare,’ the King said as