The Tinkerer #
In the modern cellar, Lucia paces with her tablet. "They need torque. Constant, high-torque rotation. Water is out. Wind is unreliable. That leaves heat."
She looks at Hero's Aeolipile—a toy that spins but has no power. "We need pressure." She begins to sketch, simplifying the design to a single-acting cylinder and a heavy flywheel.
"Newcomen is too inefficient. Watt is too complex. We need something raw."
"It's a bomb, Ulysses," she warns. "If the casting has a flaw, it kills them. We could be the reason."
Ulysses is resolute: "If they don't build it, they starve."