The construction council met on the Timber Lodge porch with the drawings held down by wrenches.
Austin, Tie Kuang, Jiang Taixu, and Guang Ming stood around four sheets. The tower on the central page was tall, but most of the notes concerned its base.
“Forty shafts,” Austin said. “Ten under each corner. They carry the tower and connect to the balancing loop we used in the workshop. The ground grid and storage banks take opposing core pulses instead of letting them build in one place.”
He pointed to the upper sections.
“Wind is one problem. Core gravity waves are another. The waves will pull and push the frame in quick cycles. Ordinary bolts can lose their grip under that kind of movement. Basic sky physics will snap a bad frame like a dry pretzel. The first dampers I sketched were tuned for wind. They may do almost nothing against the core.”
Jiang Taixu rested a hand on his Frost Sword. “Then you have already designed the answer?”
“No. We have a first design. We build test joints before we trust it.”
That answer disappointed the old sword saint, but Tie Kuang nodded. He had seen enough machines fail to prefer an honest drawing.
