by Peter Rhodan
“How do these companies actually work?” Theodorus asked after a moment obviously mentally counting his new-found wealth. Arturo had often read of the literary description of a person’s face taking on a look of avarice, but this was the first time he had ever really seen it in real life!
“Basically, the investors, in both your cases, me, will put up money to form the company in return for shares. Say I put up a thousand solidi as capital. And I get a thousand one solidi shares from doing that. Perhaps there will be other people who wish to invest. Anyway the shareowners own the company and then will appoint someone to run it, in your cases each of you as you have the expertise.”
He paused and they nodded. “The funds the shareowners provide give you the money to operate until you’ve finished your first contract or two. At the end of the year the books are tallied up, income, outgoings, wages and so forth are all balanced and then any profits are distributed proportionally to the shareowners. Actually, normally a fair amount, sometimes as much as nine tenths of the profits, are retained in the company for future growth but that is decided by the owners as well. For the moment that is the basic system. On top of that, down the track there will almost certainly be a market for shares where people can buy or sell them plus you will be able to use them as collateral at the bank if you wish to borrow money” He paused as the two men thought this over and nodded understanding.
“Anyway, there will plenty of time for both of you to get used to the concept of companies. In the meantime I want Theodorus to familiarise himself with the rail road and the route we have roughed out to Wern while you Cambelyn can travel back down there as well and look over suitable ground for a shipyard. You might want to consider looking over the rail line we have as well to get a better idea of what it can do as it will make things much easier in the future if your shipyard has a rail road linked to it.”
Theodorus nodded smiling in anticipation. “I am most interested in getting a closer look this rail road of yours.”
“Good. You can both stay here this evening. I will happily show you round this afternoon and then we can see what you think of our little operation here.”
The next morning both men headed off rather impressed with everything they had seen. Especially the rail road. Theodorus was accompanied by a couple of Ceri’s men who had been responsible for building the rail road to the mine and who had come up with the preliminary plan for the route to Wern, with a couple of soldiers to add support. Cambelyn headed straight for Wern. He had been so impressed that he wanted to catch Largwill and organise for his wife and children to come north and join him at Wern. Whether it was Arturo’s fancy ideas or the promised money that accounted for his enthusiasm, Arturo was not entirely sure. No that it mattered in the long run as long as the ships got built.
Arturo sought out Melwyn who was awaiting the arrival of the three children he had so far attracted to his miniature school and followed by Oween he entered the building and nodded at the scholar. “Melwyn. How goes it?”
Melwyn appeared a little surprised at their appearance but smiled and approached to clasp forearms with Arturo. “It is a start. I have three pupils already, all fairly young unfortunately, but they will grow up.”
Arturo nodded and looked around. “Yes. It will take time for things to develop. Like everything else we are doing, it all takes time.” He stared momentarily off into somewhere the others could not see. He found himself thinking about his home and family far across space and time. He shook his head and came back to the present before the tears came. “What I wanted to suggest was allocating certain time periods each week for adults to come and learn.”
Melwyn cocked his head in query. “Adults?”
“Yes. I feel adults would be uncomfortable being schooled in the same classes as children and I am sure in the future we will have a steady flow of adults wanting to learn how to read and write at least. Many will be prospective officers in the army as part of the criteria will be the ability to both read and write for a start. I was thinking of maybe regular if short late afternoon or early evening classes for those adults who want to learn so they are not embarrassed by being made to sit in class with children.”
Melwyn considered this matter. “That is an interesting idea. Do you really think there will be a steady flow of adults wanting to learn these skills? I thought one of the reasons schooling died out up here was a lack of interest.”
Arturo considered this, glancing at Oween who shrugged minutely to indicate he had no idea. “As to that I don’t know what happened in the past but I do know that there will be a steady stream of soldiers needing to learn the basics of reading and writing even if there is no one else. Even the existing officers will need to acquire basic literacy in order to hold their rank. Plus certain other positions will only be available to ordinary soldiers who can read and write down the track. So that will be a constant source of pupils in the future.”
Melwyn nodded in understanding but refrained from mentioning that such a source of pupils would only apply if Maximus was dealt with successfully. “Let me consider that and come up with something Arturo, How soon do you want me to start teaching your soldiers?”
“There is no rush just yet but I thought it would be wise to let you know my thinking so you could include separate adult sessions in your planning.”
Melwyn smiled. “Yes. Very good. I had not considered such adult education before, nor do I think I would have made allowance for them learning at a different time than the children. Interesting. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.” He bowed his head in acknowledgement to Arturo.
Pleased Melwyn seemed to have taken the idea on board without any problems he mentioned the book Theodorus was after. Melwyn thought that Menio did have a copy so Arturo told Oween to organise a cavalry trooper to head up to Alauna and see if that was so. Arturo and Oween next headed for the ever growing iron works. Entering the now sprawling and smelly industrial site Arturo rode up to where he had spotted Ceri overseeing some men moving a large and obviously heavy object. He reined in with Oween alongside and waited till the operation was over. Ceri had noticed their arrival and once the work was done to his satisfaction left the men to move on to some other task he had given them and came over to Arturo.
"Greetings Primarius" He called, waving his arm.
"Ha! First time you've called me that!" Arturo retorted with a grin.
"Well, you know, got to set an example for all these newcomers." Ceri replied waving at the workmen now doing something near the corner of one of the forges.
“How big is your workforce now?” Arturo asked.
“Well, with the two I put on this week, must be up to twenty or so.” The young man replied with a grin.
“I see. And how is the steam engine coming?” Arturo enquired.
“Not as well as I’d like.” He shook his head at Arturo’s obvious concern. “No, nothing serious, just endless little things. I know you have done your best with the descriptions and the drawings you did but I have to keep solving the problems which you had no idea of and which I can't see in advance of course.” He paused and grinned in a slightly quizzical way at Arturo. “This device will work, won’t it?”
Arturo laughed “Oh, yes it will work right enough. If I haven’t forgotten something important, that is!”
Ceri shook his head. “Ah, well if I get some clear time, I might have the first cylinder block finished the day after tomorrow.”
Arturo thought about this. He figured there was not a lot left to do after that. “You have worked out some way to measure the pressure in the boiler?”
“Yes.” Ceri answered after a moment. “I won’t be sure how accurate it is till the boiler is actually being heated. There is going to be a long period of adjustment and experimentation with this I think.”
Arturo had been bothered by how long it was taking to get to this stage so that was his next line of questioning. “Can't be helped I suppose but is it going to take this long every time? I
mean to build each new engine?”
Ceri laughed. “If this one works I should hope not!” He looked up at Arturo with a bemused look on his face. “Half the time has been taken up trying to work out exactly what you actually meant when describing most of the bits of equipment or realising there was something that you had not mentioned that was needed to make the thing work!” He smiled at Oween. “You know what I mean” He said looking for support.
“Oh, Aye. The Primarius can be a mite hard to follow at times.” Oween said jocularly, emphasising the word Primarius. “Many's the time he's left me scratching my head wondering what the hell he meant!”
“No bloody respect, that’s the trouble with this place.” Arturo said dourly but smiling all the same.
“Do you want to see it?” Ceri asked.
“Not right now. I have to get down to Wern today so I can’t hang around. I will be back in day to two though, so I expect miracles!”
Ceri laughed. “Good luck with that! I still have my doubts about this contraption of yours but so many of your other ideas have worked so well that I haven’t given up hope yet.” Ceri said waving at the water wheel powered drop forge where the men were still working on something Arturo could not make out through their bodies.
“Ha. You wait Ceri. Once we get the problems worked out, this one device will change the world!”
“Sure it will, mister Primarius.” He replied with a grin. “I shall wait until it is working before I believe you.”
Arturo shook his head sadly. “I am surrounded by people of little faith.” He moaned, but then grinned to show his amusement. “Anyway, we have to get to Wern. See you in a day or two master doubter.” He said and waved to Ceri as he and Oween turned their horses and headed back towards the road to Wern.
They detoured off the straight route along the Roman road to catch up with Theodorus who was examining the site of the first small bridge that would be needed on the rail road’s route to Wern. That route took a different path than the Roman road both in order to avoid a couple of steep climbs and also a couple of landowners who didn’t want their paddocks cut in half. The finished line would meander a bit more than it should have besides needing to cross the river a couple of times. Theodorus was setting up a strange device that stood in the ground with several arms and dangling strings attached to them as they arrived.
Theodorus saluted as they rode up, smiling. “You seem happy.” Arturo commented before dismounting.
“Yes. This is the most interesting project I have ever had. The combination of keeping the road level while trying to take the shortest route is a fascinating challenge. These men,” And he paused to indicate the two soldiers. “Tell me you have some prisoners who can be made available as workers?”
Arturo nodded. “Yes. Scotti we captured recently. They are not slaves mind, so are not to be treated like they are. They are more like indentured workers if you will. They are to serve as workers for ten years and then will be released to go home to Hibernia.”
“I see. Interesting idea.” His face gave lie to that observation.
Arturo scowled. “I am not a big fan of slavery as such. It makes for easy inefficiency and favours the rich making it hard for small farmers and businesses to compete with the large wealthy landowners who can afford armies of slaves. And slaves are not generally very efficient workers because they have no real incentive but the rich landowners can compensate for low efficiency with large numbers.”
The change in expression on Theodorus’ face seemed to indicate he was much struck by this point of view. “Hmm. That is an interesting observation. I had not thought about the matter from that angle before.” He nodded. “Yes. Now that I think about it I tend to agree with your observations.” He paused. "Interesting. I know in the old days there used to be lots of small farms from things I've noticed in the books I've read. But these days farming is mostly done by large estates in the settled areas just as you describe. I shall have to ponder this some more."
Arturo nodded. “These prisoners are a poor compromise. They are not slaves so do not contribute to that problem exactly but are instead shall we say forced workers that will enable the government to build certain projects, like this rail road, more cheaply than otherwise. It’s sort of a balancing act for the moment. Trying to make sure things like this rail road or the new dock I want to build at Wern do get built despite a lack of finances while not contributing to the slave problem.”
He smiled at the soldiers. “The men were not entirely happy that these prisoners were not sold as slaves and the proceeds poured into their pouches but they are putting up with it for the moment because I am paying them in coin, something that hasn’t been happening recently.”
Theodorus grimaced at that. “Very dangerous minting your own coins although it was rather clever to copy existing designs.”
Arturo smiled. “You noticed that eh? Expedient is the word. Mind you once we sort things out with Maximus I will start issuing new coins. I have a whole range of new coin designs worked out that we will be introducing once I control the whole area.”
“Ah. Very serious step to take, that is. Coin minting is the emperor's prerogative and they get upset if people step on their toes! Still it is a long way to Ravenna from here. And no doubt your new coins are organised to match this new numbering system of yours?” Theodorus asked.
“You’ve head of that?” He was surprised by this.
Theodorus indicated the two men from Ceri’s ironworks. “These two have been explaining it to me. Or at least trying to. I will need to study it a bit more before I fully understand it I think. I can see the advantages though, if what I gather from their description is correct.” He sounded both interested and doubtful at the same time.
“When you get to Wern, if I’m still there I will try and give you a better understanding of it.” Arturo said then pointed at the contraption Theodorus at set up. ”What is that?” He enquired obviously puzzled.
Theodorus looked at him strangely for a moment before answering. “It’s a groma. You’ve never seen one before?”
“No. Can’t say I have. What is it for?”
Theodorus gestured to one of Ceri’s men who Arturo now realised carried a long pole. “It is used to make sure you are marking out straight lines and also can be used to some extent to help get levels right.” He paused and gestured to the man with the pole. “Celwyn is going to cross the river and help me position the bridge properly. The small bridge we need here is going to be good practice for the larger ones downstream.”
Arturo nodded realising it was some sort of low tech surveyors tool. In the Federation things were done by laser alignment and satellite guidance as to position. “Very good Theodorus. I will leave you to it.”
“Oh. Very well. I should be in Wern tomorrow.” The man commented. Arturo and Oween remounted and headed south. The splashed across the stream a little north of the work site where there was a sort of ford, being followed by Celwyn and his pole. The waved from the far bank and headed south. The stream had a faint septic smell which couldn’t be avoided as yet. Being downstream from Dervent meant that the river was used to get rid of the town’s sewerage. Arturo had started the process of getting the sewerage out of the gutters and not proper drains, but it was a slow process and even where it was working it still just dumped the stuff into the stream downstream from the town. Arturo knew next to nothing about sewerage treatment and wasn’t sure what his next step was but at least the state of Dervent was improving.
Arriving at Wern late in the afternoon the two rode down the street looking around for the signs of growing prosperity. Arturo mentally compared the view of the town to his first visit three months ago and decided the place looked more alive, the people seemed busier. There was not a lot of new growth as yet with the only new building Arturo could see being on the south side of the river. It was in this direction that they headed, having to make their way carefully over the rickety wooden bridge that served as the crossing point from
the fort and old part of town to the new part to the south. The river stank as they rode over it, being the place most still dumped their refuse and sewerage, something that would need to be changed soon Arturo decided.
He reined in as reached the building that Hwillam had purchased to set up the printing shop in. Oween nudged his horse to keep going. “I’ll go and organise our rooms at the hostel Arturo and see about a late lunch at the taverna.” The hostel was really an old barn one of the locals had turned into accommodation for travellers. The accommodation was pretty ordinary but it was the only accommodation available at present.
“Yes. Good idea. I shouldn’t be here too long.” And dismounted as Oween rode off. The front of the building had been cleaned up and a strong wooden door fitted while some of the display area was clearly being rebuilt, although no one appeared to be working at the moment. He dismounted and went to enter the building but discovered by trying to push the door open that it was locked so he knocked loudly and hoped someone would appear in response.
After a few moments, Hwillam's wife Hellwe opened the door cautiously, but seeing who it was she opened it completely and smiled at Arturo. She was a short, mousey woman with sandy coloured hair and a depreciating manner.
"Hello Sir. Hwillam is up at the paper making place. He will back soon though. Would you like to come in and wait for him?"
"Thank you. Will that be all right?" He asked trying to be mindful of local customs that were not keen on non-family men being alone with women.
"Yes, yes." She answered beckoning him in. "My parents are here at the moment so it is fine."
She showed him into a small room with a table and three chairs separated from the rest of the small house by a screen. The table had a couple of sheets of raw paper on them.
"Please have seat and I will bring a drink, wine?" She spread her hand in invitation.
"Thank you." He replied, pulling up a chair and sitting at the table. He picked up one of the sheets of paper and examined it. It was rather coarse and lumpy but better than the last lot he had seen. Hellwe returned with the wine and smiled as he accepted. She had brought a very nice glass cup for the wine. Glass was not cheap locally he had discovered, although that would change with coke fired furnace technology applied to glass making.
