Quoted By:
"Please tell me, Captain, do do you spend a lot of time in the air, then?"
"I've been in Don Ortega's employ for ten months now. I've spent six or seven months in the air."
"So you must have travelled far and wide and seen all sorts of wonders!"
"Don Ortega is a man of the world. We travelled as far as Uhlan, the Isles, and even the Avicenes. But most of our flights are short hops over Hadrian's see. That's where his trade interests lie. We hop around between Viginti, Xerxes, and Soledad. One time, we had the honour of entertaining the Emir of Lower Carnassia, and his albino tigers."
"Oh, how dreadful!"
"Not at all. They are very well behaved. I had the honour of petting one. They purr like kittens.
"It's never boring up here, is it?"
He shrugs. "No two clouds are the same. I like being up here. It's quiet. Don Ortega always brings all sorts of gentlemen to keep him company."
"Just gentlemen?"
He gives you a conspiratorial smile.
"I've perhaps said too much."
Well, not like you care, anyway. It's just that jealousy is always a good cover story for a lady's inquisitiveness. It's a ruse, actually. Nothing more. Yep.
"Pray tell, Captain, what is the weight of this ship?"
"In the airship business, we call it displacement. Our displacement is currently... " he consults a gauge. "... 121 tonnes in total."
"So what is the maximum weight we could take on?"
"Our Archimedean is a Zephram-III model, rated at a maximum of 150 tonnes. Oh, but, it's required by maritime regulation to keep a 15-20 tonne safety margin."
"Fascinating! And does the Archimedean expend any sort of fuel to lift us?"
"Well, I would say coal first and foremost. We require a steam engine for the the propellers anyway, but the Aether pumps also need constant mechanickal power. If you look upwards next time you're on the outside observation railing, you can see the axle spanning the length from the steam engine to the Archimedean alcove."
He scratches himself behind the ear.
"Oh, I almost forgot. The Apparatus uses up the Catalyst, too, but we don't concern ourselves with that. Every several months we ship the entire engine to a factory in Altmark and it gets refit and refilled. It's the single largest expense when operating an airship. Followed closely by the Archimedean Engineer salary."
Mental note: Archimedean Engineers are loaded. Good to know.
