From the Earth to the Moon Ch. 03

Then there was William Ramsay, the youngest of the group, a Scottish chemist who had been drawn like so many other scientists to St. Lucia because of the scientific opportunities the island represented. Since the discovery of helium during a solar eclipse seven years ago, Ramsay had been fascinated about the prospect of separating the non-reactive gas from nitrogen or cleveite.

The three friends were about to go their separate ways. Tiny had just been hired as the chief field engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway, as it began its project to connect Ontario and Vancouver by rail. Ramsay was heading to Norway to experiment with cleveite, while Walker was going to head to New Jersey, though he would eventually be returning to St. Lucia as the first pilot of the New Jersey-St. Lucia dirigible route. Ramsay had promised he would return to St. Lucia, once he had discovered if it was possible to produce pure helium on Earth. Ramsay was sure that if it was possible, a commercially viable method of producing helium would make helium a safer alternative to hydrogen. Walker had his doubts about this, but kept them to himself.

Teller, though, didn't think he would be back this way again. "Don't get me wrong, gents," he said in that voice that sounded like rocks grinding against each other, "It was an interesting bit of work, but there's nothing left on this island for me to do but nursemaid my tracks and watch young men find new and interesting ways to kill themselves."

Walker raised an eyebrow. "You don't think the Prometheus is going to have a successful launch?"

Tiny shook his head. "Oh, no, I have no doubt that the Prommy will be a grand success. But that's as far as it goes. Mark my words, gents, no good will come out of men going where they weren't intended."

A hint of a half-smile appeared on Ramsay's face. "Some might say the same of traveling behind a Mallet locomotive."

Tiny slammed his whiskey glass down on the table with a force that brought the attention of those sitting around the three. "That is blasphemy, young Ramsay, and I'll be having none of it at this table. Sure and wasn't the first rail moving from one end of the Garden to the other. This ether travel, though, a whole 'nother matter. Take this James Davidson...a good man, a lovely man, who should be paying more attention to the lasses chasing after him here on the island then chasing the stars above. No good shall come from it, I tell you, no good at all. But at least I have had the pleasure of knowing you fine gents while on this island of fever dreams and fanciful pursuits."

The three clinked glasses. "Well, at the very least, you have to come back here in, say ten years, Tiny, to see what's happened here," Walker answered.

"We'll see, Walker, we'll see. First, I have to go about laying steel from one end of Canada to another. Then perhaps I can take a little break to return to this haven of fools."