Over at the Aviation Research Lab, work had reached the stage of processing the parts fabricated the previous day.
Since it was a quarter-scale model, the workload appeared relatively light, moving at a brisk pace that seemed likely to wrap up before the day was out.
"I assume you'll prepare a dock when building the actual aircraft?"
Jin asked, just to make sure.
"Yes, that's the plan."
Hearing that reply brought him some relief.
"For large-scale builds, you have to be careful during assembly, or the frame will warp."
"We'll be careful."
That was precisely why Jin assembled his large spaceships on Uni, where gravity was low.
Two circular wings, each 1.1 meters in diameter, were fabricated and secured vertically with structural members, with Blow Engines mounted beneath them.
At that point, a thought occurred to Jin, and he voiced it aloud.
"Building it at quarter-scale is all well and good, but how do you plan to control it?"
"Ah."
The question struck the members of the Aviation Research Lab like a bolt from the blue.
"..."
"...Did you not think about that, by any chance?"
"...No, we didn't."
Setting aside the lab staff, there was a reason why it hadn't immediately crossed Jin's mind either.
Back on Hourai Island, he had the forty-centimeter-tall Little-Smiths for quarter-scale work, the ten-centimeter-tall Mini-Smiths for one-sixteenth scale, and the twenty-five-millimeter-tall Inch-Smiths for one-sixty-fourth scale.
Below them were even the five-millimeter-tall Milli-Smiths at one-three-hundred-and-twentieth scale, handling micro-machining.
They demonstrated their capabilities not only in manufacturing, but to the fullest extent during experiments and testing as well.
However, he had only just realized that there were no such small assistant automata here in Avalon.
"Wh-What should we do...?"
The members of the Aviation Research Lab paused their assembly work to hold an impromptu discussion.
"..."
Jin offered a suggestion.
"Remote control is an option, though."
The staff reacted immediately.
"Remote control, you say...?"
"How would we even go about that...?"
Oops, Jin thought.
Since he had already hosted a one-meter-class Model Aircraft Competition, he had assumed it was common knowledge, but that was not the case here.
Communication technology was still in its infancy, and multi-channel remote control remained nothing more than a pipe dream.
"The other option would be crafting a small golem."
"That sounds much more feasible..."
The lab members quickly reached a consensus that building a quarter-scale golem—around forty centimeters tall—seemed well within reach.
"In that case, should we ask the Go-lab for help?"
"Sounds like a plan."
With that decided, the deputy laboratory chief, Zora Himmel, was chosen to head over and place a crafting request with the Go-lab.
"I'll come along with you."
Mentioning that he had acquaintances at the Go-lab, Jin decided to accompany Zora Himmel.
At the Go-lab, Laboratory Chief Rasnat Heilbronn received them.
"Aha, a quarter-scale assistant automata, is it?"
"Chief, doesn't that sound interesting?"
"Besides, it seems like it could have all sorts of practical applications."
Go-lab members Kratos and Lagre Gutan chimed in with their support as well.
"...So, when do you need it by?"
"If possible, by the end of the day... No, by tomorrow morning, please."
At those words, the entire Go-lab collectively gasped in exasperation.
"What?! That's asking way too much, no matter how you look at it..."
"Is it really impossible?"
Faced with the petite Zora looking up at him pleadingly, Rasnat hesitated.
"Well, we'd have to look into it first..."
I suppose bringing Zora along was calculated for moments like this, Jin couldn't help but think.
Seeing the impasse, Jin decided to step in with some advice.
"As long as you can make standard golems, making small golems won't be an issue at all."
"Jin-san, really?"
Kachea spoke up.
"Knowing Jin, aren't you just basing that on your own abilities?"
Eira's remark was quite sharp, though it likely hit the mark.
"Not at all....I think. It's simply a matter of whether you can scale it down."
Jin insisted that while shrinking it even further would increase the difficulty, scaling down to half or a quarter actually made it easier.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it."
Eira gave a wry smile.
The other Go-lab members watched with slight envy at how casually Eira could banter with Jin.
"Well then, I'll stick around to help out for the morning," Jin offered, prompting immediate cheers from the Go-lab members.
"All right! Really?!"
"In that case, Rasnat-dono, Jin-dono, I'll leave it in your capable hands. Please bill the invoice to the Aviation Research Lab."
"Understood."
The reply came from Kachea, who managed the Go-lab's finances.
While Jin could have jumped straight into crafting, the Go-lab couldn't work quite so spontaneously.
They had to start by preparing a template for a standard golem, using it as a baseline to determine the materials and dimensions for each component.
Even so, because Jin assured them that the standard control system would work perfectly fine, they were spared that worry, saving a considerable amount of effort.
"Would bronze be sufficient for the material, Jin-san?"
"Hmm, since it's going to serve as a test pilot, using 64 light silver would be better."
"Will a standard magical muscle do?"
"That'll be fine."
"We should probably use an Adriana-style structure, right?"
"Of course. It's for a test pilot, after all."
Exchanging ideas back and forth, they first completed the template for the small golem.
Next, they processed the components using 64 light silver.
With that, the morning session came to an end.
"I'll be heading out to attend a special medical lecture this afternoon," Jin informed them.
Seeing the disappointed looks on most of their faces, he added, "I'll drop by again once it's over."