Looking back at the shore, Madeline Bakinsa's face was full of envy. A Flintstone Knight lifted his mask and pointed at the hatch, motioning her to follow.
It just so happened that Hitzfeld was quite curious, so she first sat carefully at the cabin door, with her shoes on the ladder, then rotated her body 180 degrees in mid-air, turning into a normal posture for going down the ladder, and after a few steps she reached the bottom.
It was very dark at first, but as she stood firmly on the floor, a row of lights suddenly lit up, illuminating everything, including the corners.
Still unable to see Erwin, Hitzfeld first observed the environment: she was standing on a circular platform with a steel floor, surrounded by an arc-shaped outline with four doors - you could also say it was a wall, blocking the connection between the interior space and the corridor.
Seeing that there was an obvious gap at the joint of the floor, she guessed that the observation tower could be folded up and was not fixed and could only protrude on top.
"As you can see, Captain Hitzfeld, the Pierre is powered by electricity, thanks to you, otherwise I would have chosen to use a surface ship for this plan."
The sound came from a horn-shaped speaker above his head. It was a little fuzzy, but enough to distinguish the words and meaning. Hitzfeld knew that this thing was basically one-way, so he didn't try to talk to it. He just stood there, looking around, thinking about which way to go.
"The tower has not yet sunk, and the door to the connecting corridor is locked. If you open it, you can only touch the cold wall."
Elwin's voice continued: "But - see the manhole cover at your feet? That's also the hatch. Turn it eight notches clockwise to open it. Jump down and try it."
Hitzfeld had no choice but to do as she was told, and then she realized that Alvin really thought highly of her. It took a lot of strength to spin this thing, and she used all her might and it took three spins to get it into position.
The hatch door made a "click" sound, and there must be a mechanism inside. She lifted the lid effortlessly.
As for jumping off...
The space below was for lifting and of course it was impossible to install a ladder. Hitzfeld saw a thick hemp rope in the narrow space. It was tied to the bottom of the ladder she was going down. There was welding wire between the ladder and the steel floor, so there was no need to worry about the rope falling off.
But the rope is placed here, which means that Alwin didn't use it when he went down?
The tower is quite high, could she have jumped down directly?
With suspicion and difficulty, Hitzfeld hung on the rope and dangled down from above little by little.
After landing, she looked around in the light from above and confirmed that this was also a circular, cylindrical interior space, which was just enough to accommodate the descent and embedding of the observation tower.
It also had four doors around it, but this time there were no door panels, so she could easily see the four corridors.
There was no need to worry about where to go, because there was a fork in the hallway at the end - about three or four meters away, and Alwyn was standing there, smiling at her.
She was holding a small loudspeaker in her hand, and she must have been using this thing to communicate with her just now.
"Since there is electricity." Hitzfeld walked out of the door frame and asked while observing the equipment and pipelines next to him: "Why not install a telephone here?"
"It happens in other places, but only here, I hope the captain can take the lead in establishing a sense of crisis, and not reflexively reach for the phone when encountering an accident."
Alvin raised the thing in his hand and said, "It's a structural problem. The phone may not work then. It's not as good as this primitive method... Do you think this internal space is big enough?"
"It's bigger than I thought." Hitzfeld nodded. After passing that corridor and coming to the fork in the road, she found that the corridors on both sides were normal.
Not only are there wooden floors on the ground, but the walls have been decorated on both sides, and there are even paintings hung on the wall panels every few steps.
Don't ask, it must be Alvin's personal preference.
"If you don't like it, you can take it off in the last few days." Erwin took her hand and walked forward quickly. "Come on, Captain Hitzfeld, let's get to know the Pierre."
This submarine is really big.
I already had this feeling when I looked at it from the outside, and once I got inside I felt that many of the spaces were designed too delicately.
There is enough space on the ship to accommodate nearly a hundred people, with a restaurant, a kitchen, and even a gym, a shooting training room and a library.
Just being in these places, you don't feel like you are in a submarine. This feeling is especially strong in the library. When Hitzfeld touched the brand new book covers and took out Ocean Currents and Wind Directions, and saw the beautiful illustrations and transcripts inside, she had the illusion that she was still on land, reading books in the library building of the Tree People.
"There are 800 sets of books in total. I've brought you all the ones I think are useful," said Alvin. "Of course I couldn't give them to you originally. These are newly copied, but I promise there won't be a single punctuation error."
Then she reached for the girl's hand again.
"Come, Aisuen, I will show you its lungs."
The Pierre submarine can be roughly divided into several parts, namely "living area", "system area", "storage area" and "thruster working area".
The living area is the part that Hitzfeld saw before, and the system area corresponds to the power generation system, oxygen storage cabin and lifting device. When Hitzfeld saw the system core control room, he understood why Alvin said that he could be the captain, because the power source of this thing was not the scientific product she thought.
It is electricity, but not ordinary electricity. It is not generated by normal generators, but at its core is a strange Rubik's Cube.
"Apis Cube." Alvin pointed out the name of the thing.
They were standing inside the control room, with an operating table in the middle with interlaced gears. The surface of the Apis Rubik's Cube was attached with various cables and was suspended in mid-air. Even the bright lights here could not cover up its flashing white light.
"This thing... is said to be the core of a floating city. But we don't have a floating city now, and it's too difficult to build a submarine capable of ocean voyages in a short period of time. So I suddenly had an idea and asked them if they could use this thing as a power source."
Alvin introduced her proudly.
"I remember you and Russell worked together for a while?"
"Yes, Your Majesty..."
"Do you remember how he introduced and showed you this thing?"
Hitzfeld was a little confused for a moment, because she thought the thing had been destroyed.
"It seems that... the Apis Cube can store memory energy and information?"
"That's right." Alvin clapped his hands again and looked at the Rubik's Cube with longing. "This thing can absorb and store energy of all natures, whether it's steam energy, fuel energy, or even electrical energy. Do you know what this means?"
Before Hitzfeld could think, she shouted out the answer: "It means - it can absorb the friction between the Pierre and the water during its travel to charge itself! It can allow the ship to sail in the sea forever and continuously! You don't need to worry about energy issues at all!"
Opening his mouth slightly, Hitzfeld indeed thought it appropriate to show this level of surprise.
Really awesome.
This should be the crystallization of technology that is far ahead of its time. It is a miracle that can only be achieved by investing in the Apis Rubik's Cube.
Oh...of course, there should also be some influence from her fusion of the sea of time.
If AC power had not appeared, this thing would still work, but it would definitely have more limitations. If nothing else, the size would have been affected, either smaller - it might have been replaced with a fuel engine or larger - because more power generation equipment would have to be installed.
“How can I control it?”
Hitzfeld asked the question that concerned him most.
This is also what she is most curious about. You know, due to technical limitations, the Pierre should not have a sonar system or a monitoring system, which means that it is blind in many cases. How to control it to avoid obstacles at this time?
"Put your hands on the cube," said Alwyn.
Hitzfeld's lips turned down.
It turns out to be fantasy technology...
She carefully put her hand close to the suspended Rubik's Cube, and before she could ask Alwin what to do next, the thing burst out with a huge suction force, sucking her right palm firmly to the surface.
The force was a bit too great, and her palm was even scratched by the sharp corners, but now was obviously not the time to care about the injury... Hitzfeld stayed where she was, and Alwin was satisfied to see a cluster of blue light burst out of her right eye.
She felt that the ship was...alive.
No, it should be said that she had become the ship to some extent. She could sense that she and Alwyn were standing deep in the cabin, and she could also sense the cold sea water around them, as well as the harbor barrier that was so close...
"Huh!" Pulling his hand back forcefully and completely exiting that state, Hitzfeld covered his wrist and gasped heavily.
Alvin looked at her with a smile, as if waiting for her to give her evaluation.
"Very impressive..." Hitzfeld shook his head. "Is this control instantaneous?"
"You can control its propulsion and buoyancy like the fingers of your hands and feet," said Alvin. "Of course, the premise is that the necessary parts are not damaged."
"I have to warn you, this thing can't be used like this without divine blood." Her tone suddenly became serious, "I've heard about your relationship with Xia Sha, and the swordplay of the dancers...right?"
"Your Majesty, those are just some entertainment methods..."
"Anyway, you and her should have established a mysterious connection. I'm not sure if this connection can allow her to control the ship. When she comes later, you can try it together. I'll have Connie and the others on standby."
Alvin waved her off: "The point is - it's just the two of you at most."
"Just the two of you. Only you can play like this. Don't let anyone else try, or I can't guarantee... that you can clean up all the minced meat and blood here within 24 hours."
This was truly an extremely serious warning, and Hitzfeld took it to heart, before being pulled out by the Queen again.
"Okay~ the most important thing is done, let's take a look at other places?"
As for the so-called other places, there are actually not many left.
The largest area on the ship is the living area, and the most important is the system area. After visiting these two places, only the storage area and propulsion work area are left to visit.
Alvin first took her to the storage area, opened some hatches for her, and let her see the canned fruits and vegetables piled up here.
Yes, there are canned foods at that time... One of the most troublesome problems in long-distance sea voyages is the intake and supplementation of vitamins. If meat staple foods can be solved by seafood, then vitamins can basically only be obtained by self-storage.
"Here is rice, flour and oil... There is also a small area here for medicine." Alvin continued to take her to check the space, "It contains synthetic vitamins... an experimental drug, a condensation of alchemical powder. It smells a bit, I don't recommend you try it."
"You've thought it through very carefully." Hitzfeld said comfortingly, and unconsciously clenched his fists.
Before she saw the Pierre submarine, she would have had concerns about the operation.
Because, in fact, many people in this team have no experience in long-distance sailing - in fact, due to the existence of gray fog, there are not many people with such experience in the whole of Sara.
She was also thinking that after confirming the ship, they would have to conduct at least a month of offshore training, otherwise the team would not have the ability to survive at sea, and rushing into the gray fog area would be tantamount to sending food to the dead.
But the Pierre solved this problem perfectly.
They didn't even need to worry about the gray fog anymore! Because that weirdness had no effect on the underwater world. As long as they boarded the Pierre, they could go wherever they wanted, and they didn't need to worry about being discovered by the enemy while floating on the water.
There is everything here. The control system and energy are not a problem. So what does she have to worry about?
She even felt that this was a favor... because her role on the Pierre was smaller than she thought, almost equivalent to a tool to drive the ship, and she didn't believe that Alvin could not find other ways to solve the personnel problem.
For example, draw some of your own blood to feed the Rubik's Cube or something...
In short, this is a precious trust.
She has to cherish it and repay it.
"One last question, Your Majesty."
She turned to the Queen.
"The weapons of this ship...does it have weapons?"
"Of course." Alvin gave her a strange look and said casually, "It can directly emit electric current as a means of attack. The powerful electric current can kill most creatures that approach it. Even deep-sea monsters can't withstand it."
"As for the rest, if you want to try something new, Captain Hitzfeld, you can try the ram on top of it."
Bumping corners?
Hitzfeld frowned slightly.
The Nautilus?
"It's a bit thick, and indeed resembles a bird's beak. This is necessary - there are always some obstacles that you can't easily avoid, and you need it to come out to correct them... and it can't turn around in some special terrains, so we have to forge it as sharp and strong as possible so that it can easily cut those seabed rocks."
"Most of the rocks on the ocean floor are not hard," Hitzfeld added.
"It's because of the salt water soaking." Alvin nodded.
"Any other questions? Do you want to check the oxygen storage tanks and the engine room again?"
"Nothing."
Hitzfeld bowed to her.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"They actually... built such a super submarine for us."
She thought she was confident now.
If she was nervous about this action before, she was now impatient.
The evil followers of Aisha Continent probably never thought that they would have to face this thing.
Chapter 32 Provocation Two-in-One
After further investigation, Hitzfeld learned more information about the Pierre.
For example, its actual length and width were much larger than she had expected. It was not 50 meters to 6 meters, but 160 meters to meters. The length was three times what she had predicted, and the width was twice what she had predicted.
This was quite normal - after all, this thing was an oval structure, with a streamlined shell that was submerged in water. With the lighting at the time, she could only vaguely see the fuzzy black shadows floating in the sea water, and it was impossible to get a glimpse of the whole picture.
Unless it's a cube, then you can really see the end at a glance.
There is more information. For example, in order to build such a giant underwater monster, Alvin asked many people for help. Among them, the most involved and useful ones were the professors of Dream City. Both the School of Physics and the School of Engineering played a huge role in the birth of Pierre.
"All the processes are decentralized," Alvin said. "They are each responsible for a part. Some are calculating the strength of the hull, and some are calculating the internal structure... I guess most of them think they are designing the cabin of a surface ship? This is not surprising, even though the Pierre is not Sarah's first submarine."
This reminded Hitzfeld of what happened in the southeastern sea, at the site of Bartlett Beach. At that time, Sixus also dispatched a submarine to support the seabed, which showed that Sarah had already mastered the manufacturing technology of submarines.
It's just that they hadn't thought of building such a behemoth at that time. Maybe it was originally in Sarah's subsequent plan and had been secretly prepared for manufacturing for many years, but because of its large size, it could not solve technical problems such as energy conduction and could only lie here... Until Alvin suddenly had an idea and tried to activate the Apis Cube as its core, it really came to life and was selected as the best carrier for this operation.
There was nothing to say. In the following days, Hitzfeld often came to the White Shadow Palace to observe and learn about the submarine. Those disguised as decorators also secretly delivered the things she needed according to her requirements and placed them in the bedroom she chose on the Pierre.
