The fourth batch failed at ignition.
Skrit held the brass rod steady, touched flame to the surface of Mixture 47-D, and got a slow, sullen burn — orange flame, thick smoke, no pressure. The mixture hissed and spat like wet kindling. Charcoal ratio too high. He'd overcompensated for the blast that had thrown him across the room eight hours ago, and now the mixture was burning instead of detonating.
He scraped the residue into the waste jar. Cleaned the bowl. Started again.
The crescent of unburned 47-C — the original, the one that had worked — sat in a sealed clay jar on the shelf behind him. Maybe two grams. Enough for one demonstration, if he could get someone to watch. Not enough to prove repeatability.
Repeatability was the problem.
47-C had used cinnaite dust heated for thirty seconds. The first replication attempt this morning — 47-C-alpha — had heated it for twenty-five seconds. The mixture had smoked but not ignited. Too cold. The cinnaite hadn't released enough gas.
