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In the two years he had known the Emperor, this was the first time Francesco had seen the potentate taken aback.
With the sun’s pinkish orange light streaming through the tent’s white silken walls and roof, the interior was bathed in an otherworldly glow. The normally earthen floor had been covered in jet-black rugs that left the attendees feeling as though they were standing at the edge of an abyss.
Scientist though he was, Francesco Lana de Terzi had a bit of showman in him.
The Kangxi Emperor stepped forward—unconsciously hesitating as his foot touched the edge of the black rug—then strode to the bow, where he gazed at the dragon’s face. Now he smiled.
This was another first for Francesco. He’d never seen the Emperor without his characteristic dour expression.
The Emperor spun to face Francesco. “It is magnificent!” came Hao’s translation. “Unleash her!”
“At your command, Majesty.”
Once outside, Francesco’s men took their stations around the tent. At his command, the tent’s guylines were cut. Weighted along their upper hems, as Francesco had designed them, the silken walls collapsed straight down. Simultaneously, on the rear side of the tent, a dozen men heaved the tent’s roof backward, which rose up and billowed open like a great sail before being hauled down and out of sight.
All was silent save the wind whipping through the gompa’s turreted walls and windows.
Standing alone in the center of the clearing was the Kangxi Emperor’s flying machine, the Great Dragon. Francesco cared nothing for this moniker; while he of course humored his benefactor, to Francesco the scientist the machine was merely a prototype for his dream: a true lighter-than-air Vacuum Ship.
Measuring fifty feet long, twelve feet wide, and thirty feet tall, the ship’s upper structure was comprised of four spheres of thick silk contained inside cages of finger-thin bamboo braces and animal sinew. Running from bow to stern, each sphere measured twelve feet in diameter and was equipped with a valve port in its belly; each of these ports was connected to a vertical copper stovepipe engirdled in its own lattice of bamboo and sinew. From the valve port, the stovepipe descended four feet to a thin bamboo plank to whose bottom was affixed a wind-shielded charcoal brazier. And finally, affixed by sinew to the spheres above, was the black-lacquered rattan gondola, long enough to accommodate ten soldiers in a line, along with supplies, equipment, and weapons, as well as a pilot and navigator.
The Kangxi Emperor strode forward alone until he was standing beneath the fore sphere, facing the dragon’s mouth. He raised his hands above his head as though he were beholding, Francesco thought, his own creation.
It was at this moment that the gravity of what he’d done hit him. A wave of sadness and shame washed over him. Truly, he had made a pact with the devil. This man, this cruel monarch, was going to use his Great Dragon to murder other human beings, soldiers and civilians alike.
Armed with huo yào, or gunpowder, a substance that Europe was only now using with moderate success and which China had long ago mastered, the Kangxi Emperor would be able to rain fire down upon his enemies using matchlock muskets, bombs, and fire-spitting devices. He could do all of this while out of reach in the sky and moving faster than the swiftest horse.
The truth had come too late, Francesco realized. The death machine was in the Kangxi Emperor’s hands now. There was no changing that. Perhaps if he were able to make a success of his true Vacuum Ship, Francesco could balance out the evil to come. Of course, he would know that only on Judgment Day.
Francesco was shaken from his reverie as he realized the Kangxi Emperor was standing before him. “I am pleased,” the Emperor informed him. “Once you have shown my generals how to build more of these, you will have all you require to pursue your own venture.”
“Majesty.”
“Is it ready to fly?”
“Give the command and it will be done.”
“It is given. But first, a change. As planned, Master Lana de Terzi, you will pilot the Great Dragon on her test flight. Your brother will remain here with us.”
“Pardon me, Majesty. Why?”
“Why, to ensure you return, of course. And to save you when you are tempted to hand over the Great Dragon to my enemies.”
“Majesty, I would not—”
“And now we will be certain you will not.”
“Majesty, Giuseppe is my copilot and navigator. I need him—”
“I have eyes and ears everywhere, Master Lana de Terzi. Your vaunted foreman, Hao, is as well trained as your brother. Hao will accompany you—along with six of my Home Guard, should you need . . . assistance.”
“I must protest, Majesty—”
“You must not,
Master Lana de Terzi,” the Kangxi Emperor replied coldly. The warning was clear.
Francesco took a calming breath. “Where will you have me go on this test flight?”
