The age of steam had shaken the Empire.
The age of combustion would redefine it.
Inside a guarded research compound outside Pune—hidden beneath the cover of textile warehouses—Arjun stood before a machine no one in the 19th century should have seen.
A compact internal combustion engine prototype.
Small.
Efficient.
Revolutionary.
Beyond Steam
Steam was powerful.
But it was heavy.
Slow to start.
Dependent on coal logistics.
Combustion, however—
Meant mobility.
Arjun addressed his inner circle.
"Steam gave us deterrence."
He rested his hand on the engine casing.
"This gives us velocity."
Meera tilted her head.
"For ships?"
"For everything."
He unrolled blueprints.
-Lightweight transport vehicles
-Mobile artillery platforms
-Portable generators
-Agricultural tractors
Iqbal stared at the diagrams.
"You're industrializing rural India."
Arjun nodded.
"If villages produce surplus, cities grow stronger."
Britain Accelerates
In London, Lord Alistair Graves reviewed intelligence briefings under dim gaslight.
Reports confirmed experimental combustion research in India.
He immediately contacted research divisions collaborating with British military contractors—organizations that once supplied the British East India Company and now worked directly under imperial authority.
"We must outpace him," Graves ordered.
British engineers intensified efforts in metallurgy and chemical refinement.
Explosive research expanded.
Naval propulsion studies advanced.
The Empire had entered an innovation war.
The First Ignition
Back in Pune, engineers gathered anxiously.
Arjun adjusted the carburetion mechanism manually.
Fuel mixture calibrated.
Compression tested.
He stepped back.
"Start it."
A crank turned.
Silence.
Another turn—
Then—
A sharp ignition.
The engine coughed.
Then roared alive.
Not the hissing rumble of steam.
But a rhythmic pulse.
Controlled explosions converting fuel into motion.
The room erupted in cheers.
Arjun did not.
He watched vibration levels.
Temperature stability.
Fuel efficiency ratios.
He whispered softly:
"We just skipped fifty years."
Mobility Changes Everything
Within months:
-Small combustion vehicles transported goods faster than rail in short ranges.
-Portable generators electrified workshops using experimental dynamos.
-Military scouts deployed motorized reconnaissance units.
India's internal logistics multiplied in efficiency.
British intelligence struggled to track movement.
Where rail once dictated strategy—
Road networks began to matter.
Arjun initiated massive civil engineering expansion.
Stone-paved highways between major industrial hubs.
Drainage systems to withstand monsoons.
Standardized bridge construction.
Infrastructure became weaponized progress.
The Psychological Shift
Villagers witnessed tractors plowing fields once dependent on oxen.
Workshops glowed at night under electric arcs.
Children saw engines where once there were only lanterns.
The revolution was no longer confined to battlefields.
It entered daily life.
Confidence surged.
And confidence was power.
Graves' Countermove
Graves understood something critical:
If Arjun won civilian loyalty through technology—
Empire would crumble without a shot fired.
So he shifted tactics.
Instead of sabotage—
He offered incentives.
Selective industrial privileges.
Scholarships to Britain.
Trade concessions to princes.
Divide progress.
Fragment unity.
If India fractured internally—
Arjun's centralized modernization would strain.
And fractures had already begun.
Some regional rulers feared loss of authority.
Industrial workers demanded representation.
Merchants worried about state control over trade.
Rapid modernization created tension.
Arjun's Dilemma
In a private meeting, Meera voiced concern.
"We're moving too fast."
Iqbal agreed.
"Rail expansion, roads, engines, military upgrades… it's overwhelming local governance."
Arjun stood silently before a map covered in new infrastructure lines.
He knew this risk.
History had shown it.
Industrial acceleration without political reform leads to instability.
He exhaled slowly.
"Then we reform governance."
The Blueprint for Federation
Arjun drafted something radical for the era.
A proto-federal council.
Representation from provinces.
Industrial advisory boards.
Merchant guild seats.
Military oversight committees.
Limited, but structured participation.
He wasn't just building machines.
He was building systems.
Because technology without administrative architecture collapses.
The Hidden Threat
Meanwhile, British research achieved breakthrough in high-explosive artillery shells designed to penetrate ironclads.
If deployed—
Iron Lotus-class ships would be vulnerable.
Graves received the prototype demonstration report.
He smiled faintly.
"Let him race forward."
"Then we break the foundation."
Final Scene
Night fell over Pune.
Arjun stood beside a newly assembled motor carriage.
He placed his hand on its hood.
Combustion.
Electricity.
Steel.
Rail.
Governance.
He had compressed centuries into years.
But compression builds pressure.
In the distance, thunder rolled again—not monsoon.
Naval cannons testing off the coast.
The Empire was preparing something decisive.
And for the first time since his arrival in this era—
Arjun felt uncertainty.
Progress had begun reshaping India.
But could it outpace the Empire's retaliation?
The engines of the future had started.
Now—
They would be tested by fire.
To be continued in Chapter 18: Fractures in Steel