With Amy helping out around the Dam, Zahnrad follows Achilles' advice and goes to see if he can help out at the town forge, which is run by the Blacktails.

His cousin Dierdre comes with him, of course, since she's latched onto Roy Blacktail, the blacksmith. Zahn gets a brief tour of the forge, and looks through some of the design work for improvements that his cousin has drawn up. He asks Roy about what he could do to help, and the big Kadie explains about the problems with the power turbine and the need for a proper boiler.

Zahn offers to rebuild the gearbox, and shows Roy samples of the metallic glass, resin and glass fiber material recovered from the underground workshop. Roy recognizes the stuff from his books, and mentions that making the 'glassteel' ceramic requires rapid, controlled cooling. But with the fiberglass to make reinforced pressure tanks, a pneumatic compressor and other things he thinks he could make the stuff, or at least bond glass to iron for a new boiler.

The mention of pneumatics makes Zahn wonder if Roy has been to the underground workshop as well… but the man says he doesn't particular care to be underground.