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Chapter 23
Explosive Developments
“What is this?” asks MaxChaos as he fumbles a greasy, damp, translucent, brown paper bag, the shape and size of an aubergine, “it’s not actually a paper bag is it?”
“It’s a fuel tank,” says HayWire, “flatten it out and hold it open at that end.”
“But what is it? It feels icky!”
“NickTheKnacker got them for me. I’ve only got three, so we’ve got to be careful with them!”
“NickTheKnacker? What am I holding?”
“It’s a goat’s bladder. What else are we going to use to store hydrogen?”
The problem faced by MaxChaos is that he now has to flatten out a goat’s bladder whilst sitting in the middle of a field at the far end of Fairfield Downs, with no proper workbench, nor any useful tools. And there’s no space left on the small canvas sheet on the ground, because HayWire has covered it with materials and various tools.
As an apprentice, HayWire wouldn’t be allowed to work with hydrogen. But in his own time, in the middle of this open field, somewhere far beyond the city, he’s decided that it’s safe enough to try.
“Place it in the palm of your hand, and flatten it with your other hand!” he says pointedly.
Holding back the urge to drop it there and then, MaxChaos does what he’s told, squeezing the bladder between the palms of his hands.
“You handle dead animals all the time don’t you? Just pretend it’s a weird fish!” says HayWire picking up one large brown ceramic jar and one small one. Carefully he pours some hydrochloric acid from one to the other, “there, that’s about 25cc isn’t it?”
“What’s that?”
“Hydrochloric acid. Actually, it’s cleaning fluid! There’s a store at work with all sorts of chemicals in it. I only saw it for
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