The Pit (Of Knowledge)

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"But that's not possible!" exclaimed Brand Erzstrafer to his incipient betrothed. "...is it?"

Sieglinda Sachenmacher - //Professor// Sieglinda Sachenmacher - let the question hang in the air while she took another gulp of small-mead and thoughtfully stroked the short-cut beard that framed her devious smile.

"Well, perhaps 'General-Purpose Machine' is a small exaggeration, but I believe I can get very close."

Brand leaned forward, a teasing look of concern furrowing across his brow. "Are you sure all this time you have spent among the //streckenleuten// hasn't twisted your capacity for reason?"

"No, I am not sure of that at all, but I think perhaps it has been a good influence anyway."

"How would this work?" asked Brand, "You are of course the most talented //mechaniker// that I have ever known, but it is simply a logical impossibility. A single mechanism can only do one thing at any one time, yes? So if a mechanism is to do more things, there will need to be at least one mechanism that induces the change in the first mechanism, no? And in order for that mechanism to be able to recognize when the change of function needs to happen, there will need to be an additional mechanism to detect this, and so forth. You would need an infinite number of mechanisms to make a truly general-purpose machine. Even if we accept that you are speaking of a machine that merely has a wide enough variety of functions to possibly //seem// to be a general-purpose machine, you would still require an unmanageably vast system of mechanisms..."

"I believe I've found a viable trick that will make this feasible." she replied, still grinning as the drained her mug.  "Do you think they might have more of this mead, this is very good."

"Please do not tease me by changing the subject after such a dramatic announcement. I must know, what have you found?"

"Well, if you must know, I've been in discussion with professor Fletcher of the summoning department. I believe I have learned enough to make a crude homonculus."

"A homonculus is not really even a mechanism, so it is certainly not a //machine//."

"Oh, no, of course not. It's only the vital first step." she said, and then after a pause, "So, how is //your// project going?"

Brand sighed. "Fine, keep your coy secrets for now, you fiend. As for me..."

Brand glanced around to make sure nobody was paying particular attention to them, and reached up one sleeve to retrieve an unevenly-shaped, metal disk, not much bigger than his thumbnail. It was smooth-sided and a slightly-greenish silvery color. "This has been sitting in a bath of the strongest //schwefelsäure// I could find, and it is hardly touched. It has some other useful properties as well." He lightly threw the disk at the center of the table, and they both watched in fascination as it bounced far higher than it should have, while its forward motion was hardly impeded. Sieglinda managed to adapt to its unusual motion and managed to catch it on the second try. She shook it a bit in her closed hand, then dropped it over her other hand. Instead of simply falling, it settled slowly downward.

"This must be nearly half ornithium." she said, allowing a hint of being impressed into her voice.

"The rest is copper," explained Brand, accepting the compliment. "Not only is my new extraction method for ornithium working better than expected, but this new alloy resists corrosion very well, and has very little weight despite its mass."

"You know, with such material one could make a very large machine that would otherwise collapse under its own weight." 

"Yes, I suppose one could." The two smiled at each other.

"Our //heiratenregelwerkleistungen// will surely impress. Our children shall be well-funded geniuses." Sieglinda stood and leaned forward to kiss Brand's forehead. "But, now I must go, my transportation will be leaving shortly and I will have a very long walk back to Salamander if I miss it."