Pentam's presentation of what he'd taken to calling the electric engine was a huge hit. When he offered free instructions for anyone to make their own, playing with electricity became an obsession with people through the city.

One evening a few days after his talk, a visitor appeared at the door of Cal's home.

"This one heard the inventor of the lightning engine is staying here." The speaker's clothes reminded Cal of the people of the Zithayan Dynasty. An oddly shaped coach had ...