The Flying Sorcerers

Orbur was having some trouble with his gears. He had dismantled the whole assembly and rebuilt them from scratch. When finished, he had increased the speed of the airpushers so that the boat had to be tied down when he tested them.

He had connected three sets of pulleys to each windmaker in descending orders — Purple called it “high gear”. There was the large wheel which was turned by the man pedaling. The pulley from this was looped around a very small wheel which was caused to turn very fast. On the same shaft as this small wheel was another large wheel. A pulley from this large wheel was connected to the shaft of the bladed airpusher.

Orbur had also changed the pulley cloths, alternating the loops in order to reverse the spin of the airpushers. Now they threw their wind forward, toward the masts.

Purple came to inspect the progress and nodded in satisfaction. Then his eye caught the masts that protruded below each outrigger, and he asked, “What are these?”

“For the sails,” Orbur explained.

“Sails? Are we going to have to start that again?”

“No, but Shoogar —”

“Shoogar. I might have known. Shoogar wants sails, does he?”

“See for yourself. When they’re mounted, the wind from the airmakers will blow right into them. We won’t have to wait for a breeze — if it works. In fact,” said Orbur, “it ought to work for boats too. If —” But he had to stop there, for Purple was leaning against the hull, chortling, while his nude face grew redder and redder.

“You think it won’t work,” Orbur said sadly.

“Yes, yes, I think that. But try it anyway. What harm can it do? There is only one way Shoogar will ever be convinced that we don’t need sails. We’ll have to let him try it.” He turned to go, but turned back. “Just be sure we can remove the sails after we prove they don’t work.”