Mansion Tour Part 7

Yuri led the group down to the the next level of the basement, making a comment there was one more level to the basement after this floor. He led them to a room on the left; they found a collection of six odd machines in cages made from the strange glass, standing on platforms made from a springy green material. The machines made Althana’s eyes sparkle for a moment. The rest of the party was a bit more cautious.

“What is this place,” inquired Althana excitedly.

“I like to call it the ‘Fabrication Room,’ and I’ll explain the reason for the name I have here,” said Yuri, “each of the units in this room are device called a ‘Three-Dee Printer,’ the devices are designed to make items and materials exactly to the specifications and rules you give them; you also basically need to have raw liquid material for it to work with. Each of the units is hooked up to a different set of tanks and calibrated for working with that sort of material. At best, the quality will be on par with a slightly above average crafter; it’s difficult to get a machine to generate a high-quality work that can compete with a master of their craft.”

“I’m sorry,” said Inoshana, “I am unfamiliar with that turn of phrase; what does ‘on par’ mean?”

“I don’t think you’ve shared that expression with us until now either,” said Thelsia.

After a moment to think about how to word it, Yuri said, “The term means to meet the challenge within the limits set or match the expectations given. The term is taken from a game called golf,” after taking a moment to think about it a bit more, “I’ll explain the game more when we have something to work with in a more physical sense; once I start showing you around the outside perimeter, that should be a bit easier.”

“It’s impressive you have devices like this,” said Althana with fascination!” She paused for a moment before saying, “Can I use these devices to make components for machines I’m working on?”

“Yes,” said Yuri, “provided you feed the system the specs for what you’re trying to make.”

“What about the material the machines are sitting on,” inquired Usagi.

“It’s a material called rubber,” said Yuri, “it’s the processed sap of a tropical tree we called the rubbery tree back home; the native people of the part of the world that occupied its natural habitat had been using the raw sap to insulate their feet for many generations before the more industrialized world came and found the material then decided to try turning it into something like this with various processing methods. It’s primarily used to insulate materials against vibrations, mostly due to its ability to absorb and lessen forceful impacts. It can also be used to insulate against electrical shocks, because the material inhibits electrical activity, instead of acting as a carrier. It can also float, which is why it’s used to make things like emergency life rafts and some life jackets. Those are both intended to be used in emergencies where you are literally surrounded by water. That said, they usually tended to have thin walls, so they were easy to pop. A rubber-like latex material was used to create things like party balloons, but I heard that some of the more heavy-duty balloons were made with rubber.”

“What’s a balloon again,” inquired Alma, “I remember you using the term a few times before, and we mostly got an idea from the context, but I don’t think you’ve actually explained what it is.”

Since it had been some time since he had heard such a request, it took Yuri a moment to think how to respond with a definition he could be reasonably sure would get across to his audience; “Well,” said Yuri, “I guess the most basic definition I can give is that a balloon is a bag, of sorts, that can be any color and is made of rubber or some other kind of light material that can be filled with different kinds of air, and occasionally different kinds of liquids, and expands when the gas or liquid is delivered into it. You need to be careful with a balloon, mainly because if you overfill it, then it will burst in a motion referred to as ‘popping,’ and that’s usually not fun,” he made an explosion motion with his hands when he said this, “mostly because the parts of the balloon explode all over the localized area and when it happens you hear an explosion that kind of sounds like the term I used for it exploding. A larger version can even be used for some form of limited flight, but that needs some prep work,” he took a quick look at Althana before telling her, “I’ll give you the details on that later, well after the tour has concluded, just file it under things to discuss later for the time being. Now, let’s check on the other room for the floor.”

Yuri led the ladies out of the room into the room across from it, this one also had some strange devices on rubber platforms colored blue and yellow. These devices were more self-contained and seemed to hook more intimately into their neighboring walls. All four of them seemed to have different designs, and each took up almost a quarter of the room on their own. The party looked about at them with confusion.

“What are these,” inquired Lithira.

“The mansion’s emergency generators,” said Yuri, “these are some of the more compact industrial models I was able to procure. They’re quite efficient, each and can power the mansion in its entirety for around sixteen days.” He cocked his head in confusion, “and they each of distinctive sound that tells you they are active and running, but I’m not hearing any of them; so, that begs the question of where the power for the mansion is coming from currently. Because I’m pretty sure there’s no power grid to tap into, and the solar panels on the roof aren’t nearly enough to power the facility to the extent we’ve seen so far; even if they are some of the more commercially efficient that I managed to procure.” He took a quick look at Inoshana, “I’m guessing your goddess gave the mansion a loan on power from herself, I do hope set a timer on that, or she could be needlessly taxing herself.”

“After you are done showing us around,” said Inoshana, “I’ll see about talking to her about the subject.”

“Much appreciated,” said Yuri. “Now, we have one more floor after this, and then we’ll be looking at what the exterior has in store. The front and back yards each have different aspects to them that I drew up.”