Tethering the Sky: III
Tethering the Sky: III
| In-universe date | Era Nova, May–June, Year 6 |
| Real-world date | 2026-10-11 |
| Author | Henry Westcroft |
| Category Type | Character News |
It took two long ladders, a rigged pulley system, and four nervous technicians to finally pry our test canister down from the warehouse roof. Once back on the workbench, the problem was staring us right in the face: raw lift without control is just a very expensive runaway balloon.
If we want to build a real ship, we can't just have it float. We need to steer it.
For the past week, we’ve been testing simple ways to control the lift. We designed a dual-valve system on the metal canister. By turning a hand crank, we can open a set of small vents to bleed off a controlled amount of gas, letting the rig drop. To rise again, a secondary burner underneath warms the core to increase upward pressure.
Next came direction. We built a lightweight wooden frame fitted with a rear rudder and two hand-cranked copper propellers with wool.
Last night, we ran our second tethered test on the floor.
When we opened the throttle valves, the frame rose smoothly to eye level and held perfectly steady. When I turned the hand crank, the small propellers bit into the air, and the rig actually crept forward against its tether line. It turned left, held its ground, and hovered right where we told it to.
The small-scale tests are done. It’s time to start laying down the blueprints for a full-sized frame in the Clockhaven yards.