Conrad's Last Campaign (16 page)

The next meeting was a breakfast meeting held in conference room big enough for twice the dozen people present. As they filled their plates at the usual drinks and donuts table, the members tried to ignore the two oversized rifle crates near the foot of the table. Curiosity and surprise were not expressions allowed to military men.

I draped my fancy coat over the back of my chair, to signal that this would be an informal working meeting. The relaxation in the room was audible. “I know that we normally work over food at these morning meetings, but today we are going to see some things that require undivided attention from all of us. I suggest that today only, you chug your food down like hungry beggars while the minutes are being read, get some wine in front of you, and then we’ll start real business. This may be a long day.”

The minutes of the prior meeting were read over the sounds of munching and crunching and then conversation was carefully limited to hunting, wenching, and few feeble jokes between bites. The stewards came in a quarter-hour later to clear the table, pour the watered wine, and refill the sideboard with snacks, cold water, and weak wine before disappearing.

When they were all relaxed and certain that the room was secure, I began the real meeting. “Gentlemen, we have an extraordinary proposal brought to us by Captains Aleksander and Gustav. I believe that Captain Aleksander if going to take the lead this morning.”

In the absence of junior staff, Alexander was already applying a crow bar one of the boxes while Gustav hung a large paper pad on an easel at the foot of the table and flipped up the first page. “The idea we are going to discuss was actually brought to our attention by groups that approached both me and Sir Alexander separately a few days ago. When you see it, you will understand why the first reaction from both of us was to reject the idea out of hand.

“However, we learned that the idea actually came from Lord Conrad. It was something he said to a technician when he was touring our first aircraft engine plant that suggested it. He saw the tech playing with a toy he was making for his son. We have one of the toys with us. In fact, let me show you what sparked the conversation.”

From the crate, Aleksander produced a lamp and set it on the table. The shade was a large bulbous silk shape with a small hole in the top. The light source was a wax candle sitting in a wire basket below the shade. Alexander produced a lighter, lit the oil and stood back while Gustav continued. “Some of you may have seen these before. They’re rare here in Poland, but I hear that they are common in China and thousands have been imported into Constantinople.”

On the table, the lamp began to stir. It shook a little, rattled a little, and then rose off the table and gently bumped into the ceiling. “Cute, isn’t it? Well, obviously we aren’t going to resupply Lord Conrad with silk balloons and candles, but our lord was in a talkative mood when he saw this toy and he informed the tech that it was possible to make huge rigid balloons that held hydrogen or even helium inside in bags and which would fly the sky like ocean liners. He called them
rigidibles
.

“The tech tells me that as soon as he said that, Lord Conrad’s face stopped smiling and he hurriedly added, ‘Of course, we’ll never need to build anything like that because we have ocean liners and we’re going to have huge airplanes pretty soon.’

“As you all know, our leader does have that stubborn streak. Once he says something, he rarely backs down and he firmly refused to talk on the subject any more.

“However, the tech, Captain Lawson, turned out to be also a hot air balloonist. You all remember that before we had airplanes, hot air balloons with varnished cotton canopies and wicker crew baskets were used for military observation. We closed the unit down when we got our first powered aircraft and forgot about them.

“Like most of you, I thought it was a dead field. However, it seems it’s fun and clubs have formed to continue flying them. The reason Lawson was working on that particular toy was that he was member of one of those clubs, and he had even tried at one time to add a pedal powered propeller to a slightly elongated balloon. It was a miserable failure, but when Lord Conrad proposed a rigid skeleton, hydrogen, and an engine, Lawson was set on fire, along with a lot of his club members.

“Lawson
is an engineer of the best, and worst, type. You’ve all met men like him. If weren’t for the intervention of his captain, he would have died an old virgin because, aside from his balloon club, he’d rather spend his time puttering with models and drawing diagrams instead of learning how to get laid. The man had to be physically hauled out of his lab to get to him to his marriage ceremony.

“It was lucky for us. With your permission, I will have him join us to show what he came up with. He is known to me personally to be completely loyal to Lord Conrad and the Christian Army. However, until you all know him and are satisfied with his loyalty, I suggest that we keep the conversation theoretical. He only knows that we are interested in long distance transportation and has not been briefed on our immediate needs.

“Captain Gustav, if you would show in our young captain.”

Lawson must have been surprised when a captain came out to escort him, but he didn’t know that he was the only outsider ever allowed in the meeting. He was tall, thin man who looked like he needed a good meal and some sunshine. His clothes were a little short everywhere and he moved a little awkwardly as if his body didn’t fit well either, but intelligence and confidence showed in his eyes. He may be embarrassed at the dance, but here he felt confident.

Captain Gustav resumed his seat as Captain Aleksander showed Lawson to the easel at foot of the table. “Captain, feel free to drop the dress coat and get comfortable. I’ve shown them your toy, told them about your meeting with Lord Conrad, and opened the first crate for you.”

Lawson pointed at the toy now resting at the other end of the table. “Looks just like a kid’s toy doesn’t it? It’s hard to believe that it can lead to a massive ship with an almost unlimited range.

“I know that you are used to people proposing impractical projects. I’ve heard about flying boats, six engine bombers and steam-powered rolling fortresses that either can’t really be built or would be so expensive only a fool would build one.

“This project is neither. The math has been worked out, the models tested, and the money counted. These ships would be cheap, easy to build, and have a range that would span the world. Let me show you what it would look like.”

The model that he took from the box looked like a cloth-covered signal rocket about two yards long and fatter than the average rocket. It was painted bright red with a Polish eagle blazoned on the rudder and fins. It took a moment after it was placed on the table to realize that the small two-inch high structure running from nose to tail along the bottom was, in fact, a gondola big enough for men to stand and work in. Then the perspective clicked in, and disbelief came with it. Komander Osiol spoke for all of them. “My God, man! This thing is bigger than a battleship. It would take years to build and our entire annual budget to fill it with gas. We’re wasting our time.”

Lawson shook his head, “Give me just a moment to explain. It’s a lot easier and cheaper than it looks at first. It
is
big, literally bigger than a battleship. In full size, this model would be over six gross feet long, but remember that it’s hollow and lightweight and hydrogen is about the cheapest gas there is.

“The cloth envelope in the middle is just tacked down with mild adhesive. If someone on each side of the table will peel back the covering, we can look inside and I’ll show you how it’s built.”

With the center section of cloth removed, the members peered inside at the struts and bags and a few tiny crew members included to help the visual perspective. After a few moments, he resumed the description. “Some air bags have been removed so that you can see the structure. When it’s flying, the entire space above that catwalk is filled with gas bags. The bags are cigar-shaped, tall and skinny and coated with a flame retardant. That way they don’t all explode if one gets punctured.

“The real secret, though, is the shape. The reason that it’s shaped like a bullet is that it only takes one element to build the sides and another to build the catwalks. Every section of the side is one sixteenth of a circle and is identical to every other section. You can have teams assembling the sections on the hangar floor and then just drop them in place in the rigidible and rivet them in. The speed of construction is limited only by how many teams you have room for.

“The horizontal sections are the same. Every element is the same triangular box beam. Make them anywhere, weld or rivet them in, and put planks down for flooring. It goes together easier than a Christmas toy.

“Of course, there is some custom work. The thing needs fins for steering, a pointed bow, engine mounts, a gondola, but all the parts are lightweight by necessity and simpler than what we build now for our bigger aircraft. Building one of these would be a big job, but no more complicated that the tri-motor we’re now working on.

“The important thing to see is if we build this thing, we shrink the world dramatically. The entire world. Since it doesn’t need engine power to stay aloft, the range is measured in thousands of miles instead of hundreds. On engine power alone, this thing could fly non-stop to Brazylport in four days or to the center of the Mongolian steppes in less than two.

“One thing that helps the range is that
this is more an airship than an airplane. We know from our aircraft pilots that there are high level winds flowing west to east at over gross miles per hour and our ships have mapped trade winds in the other direction. This thing flies like an airplane up to about ninety miles an hour and uses any wind that you can find from five hundred to fifteen thousand feet to travel like glider.”

Someone asked, “Aside from the winds and hype, what it the real range and speed of this thing running on its own power?”

“If the first one is built as planned, with existing bomber engines, it may

reach only about eighty miles an hour in calm weather. We can’t tell you
the range exactly. It can easily carry enough fuel for a ten thousand mile trip, but I’m not certain that would leave enough cargo capacity, so let’s say six thousand miles range on the first one.

“The real limit on range is the hydrogen supply. There will be some steady leakage, no matter how well we build the bags and we’re pretty certain that we’ll have to both drop ballast and valve hydrogen into the air to adjust the altitude. You can see on the model that there are those blue tanks along the center ridge. That’s the spare hydrogen supply. My best honest guess is that we can still guarantee that ten thousand mile range without a problem, but we can’t be accurate until we try it.”

Osiol interrupted with a grunt and a gesture toward Captain Aleksander, “This all sounds too good to be true. Have you given any more thought as to why Lord Conrad didn’t want to build these supposedly marvelous machines?”

“Yes, sir. Remember he said that someday we’d have huge airplanes. Right now, our aircraft are severely limited but they constantly improve and eventually, they’ll be five times as large as they are now and there will be airfields and gas all over the world. It will take thirty or forty years, but then the rigidibles will lose most of their advantages. As marvelous as they will be, they will always be more vulnerable to weather and slower than the best aircraft. I think Lord Conrad foresaw this and didn’t want to put resources into a field that would die someday.

“Of course, he never realized that his life and Poland’s future could depend on having something like this in a lot less than thirty years.”

When I looked around the table, I saw uncomfortable faces. “Gentlemen, Captain Lawson’s loyalties are well-known to me personally, and I am comfortable recommending that we address specific issues with the captain.” When there was no dissent, I continued. “Captain, we are facing a specific problem that we need to discuss. While I, and I am certain, others at this table are very impressed with your model, I am not convinced yet that it will help us.”

I saw that Lawson visibly made a decision. He stood taller, his shoulders back and his voice deepened. “Komander, gentlemen, I assume that the most secret and delicate mission that you have in mind is the resupply and rescue of our Lord Conrad. If it isn’t, then I’ve got a lot of useless charts on that stand.”

“Captain! How the hell do you know about this? Who talked?”

“Who talked? No one talked. Everyone knows. Last month you could have made good money at the local Pink Dragon by guessing the exact date that he would attack Sarai. There were also pools on how long the battle would take, the number of casualties, and whether he would turn back or continue on to Mongolia.

“If you weren’t betting, your staff was.”

He looked around the table until he saw the embarrassed smile on Captain Feliks’s face. Feliks shrugged, “I made fifty pence on the pool for the day but Captain Fryderyk made a weeks pay by winning the casualty count pool.”

Lawson continued, “The entire army knew when Lord Conrad went on campaign against the Mongols, and radio silence wasn’t imposed until very recently. Everyone knew about his victory in Sarai, and since radio waves are embarrassingly public and clerks embarrassingly chatty, most knew when he was abandoned by the King and the new Hetman.

“Lord Conrad has many friends, particularly in the Wolves and the Eagles. He is no longer known personally to most of the army personnel, but among the Wolves, many have fought side by side with him or are the sons and bothers of those who did. The Eagles have also remained fiercely loyal.”