By the third hour after midnight, the commoner mechanics in the Iron Ark’s fabrication trailer had completed Arthur’s most unusual building request to date.
Toby Mallow stood back. He wiped metal shavings from his grease-stained brow, admiring their handiwork under the yellow glare of an unshielded work lamp. Bolted to a heavy steel workbench was a tube-shaped aquatic habitat built from tiny curved tough clear glass—the same bulletproof viewport material used on heavy mining submersibles.
“Forty-five liters of capacity,” Toby declared proudly. He tapped the crystal-clear acrylic with a brass measuring tongs. “Equipped with dual recirculating baked-clay filters, an activated charcoal scrubber to strip heavy metals. A closed-loop air-powered aerator. The mounting bracket is lined with four inches of high-thickness hardened rubber to dampen engine shakes.”
Arthur stepped up to the bench. He ran a critical hand along the welds and the rubberized mounting clamps. “And the heating element?”
“Pressure-sparking copper coils,” Toby grinned. He pointed to a pair of padded copper leads extending from the base of the tank. “They hook directly into the backup discharge lugs on Titus’s rear back shell armor scales. Whenever Titus walks or absorbs moving shaking, his shell naturally vents low-voltage azure static. That electricity will run the heater, keeping the water at a steady, tropical eighteen degrees.”
