The art of SCIENCE!

[allegedprisoner]

Sender: L. Balsa
To: Everyone
Subject: A potential solution

Good afternoon, everyone. As some of you may be aware, a kind of crystal that powers appliances has been discovered. In its current state it seems rather inefficient, as one must provide the crystal a steady source of strong dreammotion energy to keep it charged.

But what if you only had to give it one strong burst?

In the past, I believe I had a fascination with perpetual motion. While this is allegedly impossible due to the first and second laws of thermodynamics, but I don't think that will be much of a problem in these conditions. Allow me to explain through diagrams.
[ Here he sketches out a rough draft. It looks like some weird fusion of a tesla coil, a water wheel, and whatever this is. ]


The machine you see here requires only a single crystal, preferably spherical in shape. Hypothetically, as I have said, you would only need to provide a single burst of dreammotion energy to propel the crystal forwards. This will make the wheel turn, and as the crystal is already energized, the wheel should remain in motion and generate a decent amount of power for your home or business. I realize this is not true perpetual motion, but it should solve our electrical woes.

A special thanks to
[ There's a pause in writing. ]
Ms. Zelda for gifting me that crystal for Christmas. It has proved instrumental for my research. I've already made several prototypes for testing, so if anyone is willing to provide devices or appliances to experiment with I would greatly appreciate it. I'll even repair any damage that may occur in the process.

Comments

Sender: Otto Octavius

[sciencesquid]

[Two days in this world, and at last, Otto comes across something that makes sense. Relatively. The 'dreamotion' aspect of it rubs him the wrong way, but the theory behind it is sound. He knows it well. Never worked on a grander scale, unfortunately.]

How do you plan to convert the kinetic energy of the perpetual motion into electrical energy? Is there a generator involved?

[allegedprisoner]

Technically speaking, this is the generator. The first part of it, anyway. I'm thinking the wheel itself could function as a rotor and build it into either a dynamo or an alternator- Whichever one would prove more useful in this world.

This is all in theory, of course, hence the experiments.

[sciencesquid]

[Oop, he should've specified he meant a turbine generator. But it's fine.]

Ideally, you would want an alternator. A three phase alternating current is more energy-efficient, as it allows for a higher charge rate. Aside from that, an alternator is more durable. It does have a greater risk of overheating, though in modest household usage, that shouldn't be a problem. The grander issue would be that you will need rectifier diodes to convert the alternating current back to direct current.

If you've been preparing for experiments, I assume you already have all the materials, yes?

[allegedprisoner]

I'll keep those in mind, thank you Mr. Octavius.

More or less. I happen to be on good terms with the local hat maker, who graciously lets me use his workspace in exchange for attending his tea parties. Brilliant fellow, that man. Built some incredible machines himself, inner workings and all.

Besides that, I've been working on this project for [ How long was it? Did this place have a calendar? This place needs one... ] a few months now. Why do you ask?

[sciencesquid]

Dr. Octavius, actually.

[Meanwhile, Otto's already taking note that some local hat maker apparently has a workspace full of technical goodies. He'll have to find out where that is so he confiscate materials from there, should he ever need them.]

From what I've seen of this place so far, I've gotten the impression there's a bit of scarcity when it comes to technical materials. Do all the necessary parts even exist here?

[allegedprisoner]

My apologies, Doctor.

[ Good luck with that, Otto. The Hat Maker happens to be inhumanly tall and does not tolerate rudeness.

Not that Luca's concerned about whatever Dr. Octavius is planning that at the moment. ]

Depends on how hard you look. People have come across artifacts that greatly resemble futuristic appliances (or modern appliances, depending on one's perspective) with those gems I mentioned earlier embedded in them. We've also found ourselves bringing back things from the occasional dreamshift.

[sciencesquid]

[At the moment, Otto's not planning just yet, nor even scheming. He's considering. Due to this whole 'other world' thing, he needs to completely reassess his situation and base necessity on that. Options are always beneficial, though.

It takes a moment for his next reply to come, because he's a bit preoccupied trying to remember all the gibberish that he learned (and basically dismissed) on his first day.]

A dreamshift is a collective journey to a very specific dream world, correct?

[allegedprisoner]

More or less. You have to try and blend in with the world, or you risk turning the dream into a nightmare and potentially doing damage to this world.

[ Yeah, that gibberish was important. ]

[sciencesquid]

[... Nope, still gibberish to him.]

What sort of damage?

[allegedprisoner]

Were you told of the nightmare monsters known as noctare?

[sciencesquid]

Vaguely. The explanation was rather unclear.

[Mostly because he dismissed it as nonsense and has come to realize later that it's perhaps not quite as nonsensical as he thought.]

[allegedprisoner]

Then allow me to explain. A noctare is a thing made of concentrated nightmare energy, and since dreamotion seems to be the most effective method of fighting against them having them escape into the waking world would prove troublesome if not disastrous.

[sciencesquid]

[Oh yes. Yep. He hates all of this. And now he's trying to piece the last few messages together.]

In conclusion, if things go awry during a dreamshift, it gives birth to these noctaere things, which will in turn cause damage to this world?

[allegedprisoner]

Yes.

[sciencesquid]

Even so, if a dreamshift is a good opportunity to gain more materials, that's a risk any scientist worth their mettle will need to take.

[No promises that he'll try to blend in.]

[allegedprisoner]

I agree with you on that point, Doctor. Doesn't mean we can't be careful about it, though.

[sciencesquid]

Of course. [There's a long pause before his next few words come, and if it feels like it was added as a last second courtesy... That's because it was.] Thank you for answering my questions. Good luck with your little project.

[allegedprisoner]

Thank you, Dr. Octavius!

[ And with that, Luca goes back to his work... Somewhat unaware of what sort of horrible person that doctor could be. ]