Chương 24: Chapter 1.24: Time for Timely Timing

Favius let the pendulum swing back and forth in front of him. With his free hand, he gestured at the device.

"The pendulum has an interesting feature. Depending on the length of the string and—" He swallowed down an explanation of gravity. I shouldn't mention that yet.

"—other factors, the swing from one side to the other always takes the same length of time, even as the oscillations grow smaller." Well, as long as the angle doesn't get too large. His audience studied the device until Serran Vale cleared his throat.

"And how does the young master propose we call this unit of time?"

"It's called a s—" He froze. The second didn't have a clear translation, and he frowned, remembering why the second was called the second. On Earth, hours had been the smallest useful unit of time for a long time, and only in the relatively recent past had minutes and seconds become relevant. But their names were based on mathematical tricks. A minute was a minute division of the hour, and the second… it was the second minute division of the hour. But this is too big a pile of cultural context to translate.

He shrugged.

"Let's call it a tick." Favius paused before continuing.

"Essentially, by tying time to distance, we can measure short intervals with consistent precision." Brutus shook his head.

"The only thing that matters and happens this fast is combat. I fail to see the value of measuring time in a fight." Serran nodded.

"Indeed. The hour is the measure for most tasks." Favius narrowed his eyes. My day has been defined by sunrise, noon, and sundown. He shook his head and shifted approach.

"Imagine a baker making bread, or an alchemist working with a specific reaction. If they can measure their processes, they can identify and repeat the best timings." Brutus hummed through his beard.

"Yes, I have been told that in matters of the arcane, very small intervals of time do matter." Serran grumbled thoughtfully while his two younger siblings observed the pendulum like cats watching a laser pointer. Favius smiled and gestured at the device.

"Small, consistent units of time are essential. But consider that, like the other units, time units are connected to each other. A day has twenty hours." Everyone nodded, and he continued.

"Let us say that an hour, like temperature, is divided into one hundred intervals, each of which is further divided into one hundred smaller units. So there are ten thousand of those smallest intervals in an hour." Urania's eyes lit up, and she murmured something under her breath, while Favius allowed himself a smile. This is the greatest thing about being sent to a technologically primitive world. I can stamp out all that bullshit about sixty seconds and introduce proper decimal time as a cultural norm.

Caliga frowned.

"But how do you know that the smallest unit is equivalent to one swing of the pendulum?" Favius shrugged.

"I do not. No, in fact, it won't be. But with some experimentation, we can figure out the correct length to define the connection of the hour with the interval and the tick. Below that, units can follow the usual system." Brutus nodded slowly before speaking, and Favius blinked three times before repeating the question.

"What do you mean, an hour at which time of the year?" Urania interjected herself into the conversation, a concerned frown on her face.

"Oh yes, didn't you know that the hour changes with the season?" Favius's face scrunched up into an expression beyond confusion.

"How does—" he murmured. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Brutus gave him a smug grin.

"An hour is defined by dividing the time between sunrise and sunset into ten divisions of light and ten divisions of darkness. So obviously, an hour on a winter day is different from an hour on a summer day." Favius leaned against the desk and buried his face in his hands. He groaned while his sisters chuckled. Why is it always some bullshit like this? And here I thought— Favius considered the issue and found the solution. He snapped his fingers.

"Yes, during summer and winter, hours might change, but during the spring and fall equinox, when day and night are exactly the same length, all the hours have the same length. That is the consistent hour we need to use." Caliga scrunched up her nose.

"But that would mean that sunrise and sunset would not fit smoothly with the hours. Isn't that inconvenient?" Surprisingly, it was Brutus who chuckled.

"Well, sunrise and sunset do vary with location. On campaign in the north of Celtia, at the shores of the foggy ocean, days were noticeably shorter. And never mind the southern continent." Favius smiled at the man and raised something they hadn't discussed yet.

"Do you know why that is, Brutus?"

"Well," the man replied, "my childhood tutor told me it is a natural result of living on a sphere that rotates unevenly. But maybe the young master has a differing opinion?" Favius smiled slightly and raised an eyebrow. So they do know about axial tilt and that the planet is a sphere. Well, this thing about Earth being flat is a medieval concept. The ancient Greeks had figured out that the Earth must be spherical, so I shouldn't be surprised. He nodded, but then Caliga spoke up again.

"The pendulum has stopped swinging, so it can only measure, what, thirty ticks?" Serran frowned, but this time Favius turned to Urania.

"Well, that is indeed a problem. Sister, do you think the limited number of ticks makes the pendulum useless?" Urania clicked her tongue before shaking her head.

"No, I— if the ticks are the same, it could be used to—" She stumbled over the lacking word, and Favius provided a term.

"Normalize?" The word came out closer to standardized, but Urania nodded, and Serran followed after a moment.

"Yes, normalize… maybe a water clock?" But Favius shook his head.

"Water clocks have a number of issues." Water pressure, flow rate, and the expansion of the fluid all come to mind.

"I have this idea of making measurements of ticks and intervals easier. Serran, do you think you could get me two connected wooden boxes where each of them has a tight throat, and we could mark them out and fill them with sand?" I have seen the local glass, so I need to make hourglasses without it. Serran slowly nodded.

"You mean to create a water clock that uses flowing sand, so depending on how much sand we fill it with, someone could measure, say, the time it takes bread to bake?"

"Exactly!" Favius snapped his fingers. But Brutus shook his head.

"I know of the issues with water clocks, but won't the consistency of the sand cause issues?" Favius shrugged, gave the pendulum a slap, and set it swinging again.

"That's what the pendulum is for. We use it to normalize the measurements and fix each clock to that standard." They continued discussing it, and Serran quickly warmed to the idea of building timers, just as he had with the mathematics before. Caliga pointed out that using metal or ceramic rings to control the sand flow would avoid the sand smoothing out the wood. As they got ready to leave for dinner, Urania narrowed her eyes. She walked up to Favius while the others filed out of the room.

"I don't get how the time can be consistent over the swings, even though the swings get shorter." Favius looked at her and paused. I might have to explain gravity to her, but acceleration is connected to calculus. And that— Before he could think further, Urania's eyes widened.

"Favius, if the time is consistent, then the speed must change over time, right?" A breath caught in Favius's throat. He swallowed as Urania murmured, "So if speed is distance per tick, then there must be a rate at which speed itself changes." He stepped close to her and hugged her before whispering in her ear, "You're really smart, Urania, but keep this to yourself. I'm going to talk about this soon, but what you are thinking about is dangerous."

She stiffened and pushed him slightly back, her owl eyes wide as she stared into his.

"What do you mean by dangerous?" He sighed again and shook his head.

"You've already stumbled across combining the units, and if you do so carefully, nearly everything you can think of can be measured. But those measurements—if you can measure reality, you can control it, and there are things that might be too dangerous to control." After all, while the world is primitive, the people aren't dumb. I don't want to lose control of scientific progress before I can shape it to benefit me. Urania's eyes narrowed again, and she took a few fast steps back from him.

With a last look, he reached out a hand. I need to say something. But she spun on her heels and left the room. Fuck! That was a step too far. I let something slip that revealed too much. Brutus stepped up to him in the empty classroom and chuckled.

"So she figured out that something's strange about you as well?" Favius groaned and slumped onto the bench.

"It's so— I don't know. It would be easier if I was older, but I don't have that much time."

"You have centuries," Brutus chuckled, squeezing his shoulder.

"Don't worry about your siblings. They will rationalize away anything as long as you don't behave too strangely. After all—" he gestured broadly at all the props, the melting ice, and the pendulum still wrapped around Favius's fingers "—they have accepted that you are teaching them now, so I don't see the problem." Favius groaned loudly and shook his head.

"Very well, nothing I can do about spilled secrets. Time for dinner and…" He studied Brutus's face.

"You really think I won't be able to convince him?" The cultivator gave him a sad look and shook his head.

"He won't bend the knee. I know you find it distasteful, but just get it over with. It's the only language the likes of him understand." Favius pressed his lips together and left his bodyguard behind for the private dinner he had ordered prepared.