Following up last week’s chapter, we see Yuzuriha, Ukyo and the rest of the Corn City folk work hard at making donuts. Yo is goofing off while doing so, like he does whenever manual labor is involved. In the beginning he used to be opposed to it, one must remember. Seeing him have fun in making something is a nice little detail of change.
Back in India, Sai manages to assemble several adder circuits together, coming up with a 4-bit adder circuit. There are 8 bits for each entrance, meaning overflow is possible. This is a step closer to the ALU, an arithmetic logic unit.
An arithmetic logic unit is what enables computers to perform mathematical operations on binary numbers. It's the most important part of the CPU, which is why Senku says it is level 1 of the computer. Binary is basically the whole premise of the computer, as we learned last chapter with the Gen/Suika/Kohaku demonstrations. Chelsea compares this ALU to a freaky octopus.
Kaseki asks how they're going to communicate the details of the ALU to the Corn City team, considering Morse Code just won’t cut it. This confirms to us that the characters have been communicating in Morse Code this whole time, which is an element of consistency I appreciate heavily. Last chapter’s dialogue with Yuzuriha’s group had me wondering if they were having full blown dialogues, so it’s nice to see that the Morse Code aspect of the story is still in play.
Chelsea says that it would be easier if they could send over a pic, and Xeno chimes in at that point. It's been a while since we last saw him (Chapter 200 was his last appearance), so it’s great to have him back in the story. He suggests a fax machine, which is an invention we have seen in the story before. A crude one though. Analog, as Gen remembers not-so-fondly.
The current fax machine will be an actual machine, using even formulated printing paper. The American group manages to send over a photo of their group through fax, and as expected, the quality of the image is poor, much like the quality of the first fax machines.
This fax machine uses the same principle that was used by the Scotsman Alexander Bain when sending fax images. Bain’s principle also used electrical signals, but with pendulums. The pendulums were fitted with a contact and swung over a copper picture. Each time the contact touched the copper image, it would send an electrical impulse racing over the wire to the identical synchronized pendulum swinging over some chemically treated paper. The chemical in the paper darkened when touched by the energized pendulum. Both the sending picture and the receiving paper moved beneath each pendulum by 1 millimeter following each pendulum swing, resulting in a "scan" of the original and a copy printed on the other end, which eventually resulted in the copper image from the sending pendulum being duplicated on the paper.
A solution of nitrate ammonia and purssiate of potash (Potassium ferrocyanide) is used to treat the paper that receives the picture. When touched by the electrical impulse, the solution decomposed leaving a bluish stain. This created the first fax pages.
With the fax machine ready, giving the group a method to communicate more detailed information, one thing remains -- getting Sai to join. They made him happy by creating an adder circuit for him, but he sees no point in journeying with them. Especially since it's easier and safer staying behind in India to work with his adder circuits.
Ryusui tells him to come along, and Sai is adamant on not leaving. This means this is a job for our mentalist, Gen. He did notice how Ryusui and Sai reacted to the group photo. Sadly, (Or maybe not?), Chelsea beat him to the punch. She outright asks Sai what the deal is with him and photos. Our geographer has always been this sort of person, a personality that spanned all the way back from South America.
He reveals more about his and Ryusui’ past, and we learn that both him and his brother share the same father, but not the same mother. Basically, they are bastard children (Game of Thrones fans, you are familiar with the story of Jon Snow, right?). And because of how overbearing the rest of his family was, Sai thought Ryusui was the same. Someone who only wanted to make use of his mathematical skills and didn't care for him as a person.
In chapter 205, we got a glimpse of this aspect of Sai. When Chelsea says she is okay with having him as a regular friend, he looks relieved. A difference from how he was valued by his family for his brain. Might also be the reason he chose to confide in Chelsea this chapter.
Gen then explains that Ryusui only wanted to spend time with Sai, as a brother. Later that night, Ryusui pays Sai a visit, wanting to play a game of chess with him. He does not force him into it, and for the first time in his life, Sai says yes to his brother.
For a while now, we have not had any emotional/sentimental moments in the story. Science moments, we've had in plenty (I think we're averaging an invention a chapter now). But character moments have been lacking. This chapter had a good number of them. For Gen, we have not seen him make use of his mentalist/people skills in a while, which is something I was admittedly missing as a fan of his. Chelsea too, her being part of the duo to interact with Sai was meaningful since the story tends to emphasize her geographical capabilities all the time. She does not really get many personalized moments, so the one she got this chapter was very well done. We got more backstory on Ryusui, and Sai continues to prove why he will be a stellar addition to the cast.
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