On the Rocks

by Peter Rhodan

  "Will you be all right here? Hwillam should not be long." She hesitated.

  "That will be fine Hellwe. Thank you." He waved her away and she backed out of the room.

  Arturo Spent some time studying the paper some more not overly impressed by the lumpy, fibrous texture. Feeling rather tired he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes to get some rest while waiting. However, he had barely closed his eyes when Hwillam came rushing in, carrying some more sheets of paper.

  "Sir. How are? Have you been here long?" He seemed quite concerned that Arturo had been kept waiting for too long.

  "I only just got here Hwillam. Your wife has looked after me perfectly well. How are you?"

  "Fine, fine." He waved at the sheets of paper on the table. "You saw those?" He barely waited for Arturo to nod before continuing. "Rubbish, rubbish. But these." He waved the crackling, ragged edged off white sheets he held in his hand. "I think these will be much better." He smiled at Arturo. "Care to come and see?" He asked, his manner one of excitement.

  "Certainly." Arturo responded, getting up. Hwillam bowed him out the door he had just entered through and then around the side of the house which led to a small courtyard. From here Hwillam led him through a small opening which took them behind the house to where there was a rectangular outbuilding some distance from the rest of the establishment. A light wooden door was secured at the entrance which Hwillam opened and motioned Arturo to enter. Inside the building the space was divided by a thin wooden partition. The front area held a contraption on a table that Arturo decided was a primitive guillotine. Several piles of miscellaneous stuff filled a couple of the corners. Through the open doorway to the right he could see the side of the printing press looming in the centre of the floor area.

  Hwillam motioned him to a decrepit stool in front of the desk and he sat as directed.

  "Sit, sit. I'll just trim some of these and then we will see." And he laid his bundle of paper on top of a box behind the table and began fiddling with the guillotine. Arturo watched in interest as he moved a couple of metal bars and then laid the first sheet of paper on the flat area. He changed the position of the bars and then leant on the heavy cross member containing the blade. This slid down between the two solid looking cast metal uprights. There was a thunk as the blade bottomed out on whatever he had for it to cut against.

  He quickly trimmed the other three sides, adjusting between each cut and then motioning Arturo to follow, headed through the opening to the inner room. In here he pointed to a stool for Arturo to sit on while he set up the press. The contraption looked a lot like a small wine press, probably because after looking at the drawings Arturo had made, a wine press was the basis of the design they had come up with. The components were readily available in the area and the local carpenter had some idea of how to make one so the modifications they had introduced had not seemed too radical to the fellow. Mind you it had still taken several re-designs and two completely new builds to come up with their current design.

  "I'm still having trouble with the ink but your suggestion of making it thicker seems to have improved the result." Hwillam said as he worked to set the machine up. “I would never have thought of using oil, I have to be honest.” He grabbed an earthenware pot with dark stains around the upper surface obviously contained the latest batch of ink. This was applied by a soft cloth covered paddle like device to the metal type in the box. He then laid one of the new sheets of paper in the special frame and slid that forward under the big square press part. Hwillam screwed the press down then back up and frantically released the sheet of paper as quickly as he could, eager to see the result.

  Arturo got up from the stool to better see what the finished sheet looked like.

  "Hmm." Hwillam said. "Better." Not sounding all that enthusiastic. He held the sheet out for Arturo to get a look at the printed image. The heading at the top of the sheet was clear enough. The body text was a bit blurry but still readable.

  "Looks quite alright, Hwillam." He commented, smiling at the expectant look on the man's face. It might not be up to the sort of standard he was used to, not that there was much printed material around in the Federation, mainly old books in museums, but it was a start.

  "It will do sir." The man said, taking the sheet back. He paused in thought for a moment. "This is amazing sir. No one has ever thought of anything like this, least not so I've heard." He grinned at Arturo who couldn’t help but grin back.

  "It's interesting that no one has thought of this before, but then the paper is the key, I think. Getting it firm but still able to accept the ink is the important factor I believe." Arturo replied and as Hwillam nodded he raised his eyebrows. "And how about the binding?"

  Hwillam went to the corner where there was a rectangular object on a small table. "That went well. This is the test sample I did up." He said handing Arturo the small object. “It is just a small adaption of the codex method people have been using since, well, for ages anyway sir.”

  Arturo took it in his hands and turned it over. It consisted of two harder pieces of paper like material and a thin piece of leather that was glued to the front and back sealing one edge. Inside were several sheets of the lumpy test paper like the stuff out in the house’s front room. He recognised the object in his hand as a primitive book, just like the pictures of ones he could remember from the history course on communications. Not bad, he thought to himself before handing the test book back to Hwillam.

  "Looks good." He said smiling. "Have you spoken with Melwyn about the spelling book?"

  "Oh, him." Hwillam scowled a little. "He does not think much of my printing press." Arturo smiled to himself at Hwillam’s appropriation of their joint project.

  "Yes, yes. He has not seemed to grasp the idea very clearly but he'll see the light soon enough. Still is he preparing something you can use to make a school book for kids?"

  "I think so. He says he will be back with some scrolls by the end of next week. We shall see." He shook his head obviously not enthused with the scholar.

  Arturo nodded. "And you have the text of the Aeneid?"

  "Yes sir. The Mair of Wern has kindly lent his copy to me."

  "Good. Make sure you look after those scrolls and we'll give him the first finished copy." He paused and smiled. "You've done well Hwillam. Is there anything you need?"

  "Hwillam shook his head. "No sir. Not that I can think of. I am sorry it has taken so long to get things working."

  Arturo clapped him on the shoulder. "Not a problem. In fact I thought it take a lot longer to sort the paper problem out. You're done very well my good man." He turned and headed out to the front section. "I'll catch up with you later on. When do you think you will have the first book finished?"

  "Maybe three weeks sir, perhaps a bit longer." He paused then added. "I'm not sure really." He said sheepishly.

  "That is fine Hwillam. It will take as long as it takes. And then we will have a better idea of how long it will take for the next one." He smiled. "Still only want to do twenty books in the first run?"

  Hwillam nodded. "Yes sir. I think that is the right number for my first effort. The paper consistency is still a problem and well, I have no idea of how it will all come together on a real book, if you see what I mean sir?" Arturo raised an eyebrow at the man. “I mean getting the pages set up in the right order sir. It just seems very complicated although I have been working on the problem. Plus, this new ink is going take longer to dry properly so I am going to have to build drying racks or something I think.” He seemed a bit vague on exactly he meant by this.

  “The local carpenter can probably suggest something. Talk to him.” While Hwillam considered this Arturo thought about the page order problem. He only vaguely remembered what little he had ever learned about printing things which did not help. Printing was something not used a lot in his society although he had seen lots of printed stuff on more backward planets they had visited. Which didn’t really help although at least he knew where he was going, unlike Hw
illam. He scratched the back of his neck while he thought. “How much of the text are you going to get on the page size for this?”

  Hwillam thought about that. “Close to five pages per scroll.” He answered after a moment.

  Arturo nodded. “And there are what? Forty scrolls?” Hwillam nodded in agreement. “So we will need roughly two hundred pages. And there will be four pages per sheet printed, yes?”

  “That’s right sir. So we will have to print fifty sheets or twenty five actual sheets of paper if we print on both sides. Which I am still confident will work sir, if we leave them a day or two between print runs to allow the ink to dry.”

  “Yes. So each sheet will have made four pages in the finished book, twice. An upper block of four pages and a lower block of four pages.”

  “Ah... I’m not sure I follow sir.” Hwillam said sounding puzzled.

  Arturo picked up a sheet of the paper and a piece of charcoal that Hwillam used as marker. He made a mental note to come up with a proper pencil design and also an ink for writing while using a sharp point. He remembered the quill pens in the old paintings from earth, images of which had been in the college library mostly in the hand of some famous statesman or philosopher. Taking the sheet of paper he drew a rough line across the sheet horizontally. Then another vertically down the centre line. “So here are our four pages.” He said showing the four rectangles he had drawn up. “If you cut horizontally across the page it will give us two long sheets which will fold into four pages each, front and back.” He roughly folded the sheet. “See, one, two then three and finally four.” Starting with the back of the front half of the folded sheet and finishing with the back of the rear half.

  Hwillam’s eyes opened and he nodded. “Ah, I see sir, I think.”

  Arturo smiled, pleased that his idea had actually worked as he had hoped, rather than leaving him looking stupid. “Yes. Each group of four pages is printed on a half sheet of this so that when you cut across and down the individual pages all back up properly.”

  “Yes sir I can see that! That is brilliant!” Hwillam gushed. “So on this sheet for instance would be pages one to four on the top half and pages five to eight on the lower. Excellent. And it won’t really matter if we finish with a few blank pages. That is really clever sir.” He smiled at Arturo like he had just won the lottery back home.

  Arturo smiled back but waved a hand to calm the man. “It won’t always be this easy to work out. But I think that you will be able to sort it now.”

  “Oh yes sir. This will work very well. It is still going to take some time to make up the text and print all the pages. But I think I should finish this book and then look at the problems I encountered and see what improvements need making. I won’t really know until I actually do it sir.”

  "Yes. I understand. Let me know if you need anything and send me word when they're finished. Oh and can I suggest you hire a helper or two. If this works you’ll be swamped with printing demands so training up some helpers now will be a big help down the track. I'll foot the bill never fear.” He waited for Hwillam to think about the matter and nod then smiled. “Good luck." He clasped forearms with Hwillam and left the shop, his next target being the lunch the pain in his stomach was telling him he was now really late for.

  By the time he and Oween had finished it was quite late in the afternoon. They headed back over the bridge to the fort and looked up Dileen who was busy working in the vegetable garden he had set up in one corner of the largely empty military structure. He came to meet them as they rode in through the south entrance which lacked any form of actual gate and once they had dismounted clasped forearms with both. “So, you two are back already?” He said shaking his head in mock disapproval.

  Arturo smiled, raising a hand in a sign of peace. “Just a social visit this time Dileen. Checking up on a few things and waiting on the arrival of my engineer tomorrow so we can plan out building a proper dock in your harbour.”

  “Yes. And I still think you are mad to spend so much on building a dock for the one cargo ship in the area especially as it has never really needed a dock to load and offload cargo.”

  Oween smiled at this, having given a similar opinion to Arturo himself before being sent south to find a shipwright. “Yes well we shall see. My shipwright should be here somewhere. I will be looking him up in the morning.”

  “Oh him.” Dileen said dismissively. “He is trying to buy up a whole bunch of the foreshore on the south side of the bay to build his shipyard. He says he is going to build big ships unlike anything ever seen before which I presume he has been put up to by you.? What on earth for? There’s hardly enough trade to keep Largwill coming here as it is.”

  “That will change my friend. Already we’re producing more cloth up at Dervent than we can really use. And I understand the new looms are starting to spread down here. Yes?”

  “Aye there is that.” Dileen looked to be considering this aspect of things.

  “Just so. And do you not think that our cloth, which is say only two thirds the price of everyone else’s locally made stuff, will not sell well in Deva, Isca, Londinium and so forth? And that is just one thing. Look at those new ploughs. They are going to be in demand too as people discover their advantages and they in turn will help farmers produce more for less work which will mean more for them to sell. And there will be other things. Metal items and machines. Probably more new farm equipment. Hell, there is a new type of drink I haven’t even started on making yet that will prove very popular I can assure you. And which will need to be shipped in flagons or bottles which will need lots of padded packing materials to keep them from breaking and so form a bulky if light weight cargo." He glanced at Dileen. "Do you want me to go on?"

  Dileen nodded reluctantly. “All right. I am starting to get the idea. And he will be hiring locals to do a lot of the work which will put more of your new coins into local pockets. So that is no bad thing either.”

  Arturo smiled at him. “Just so. And the iron works will get extra trade making fittings as will the carpenters and so on. Now tell me. Do you know of anyone who can make glass? There does not seem to be anyone up Dervent way, the only person I’ve heard of who does appear to make glass lives in Lugowalion apparently.”

  Dileen pondered this. “Glass you say? Hmm...” He squeezed his chin with thumb and forefinger. “Well. There is my wife’s cousin Gilbyn. He lives down the coast a ways and has made a few small glass trinkets now and then as presents and such like for friends and family so he has some idea of how to make the stuff. Where he learned the trick I have no idea though.”

  “Excellent. You don’t suppose he would be interested in making some glass things for me do you? Does he need work?”

  Dileen nodded smiling. “Who doesn't need work? I don’t see why he wouldn't be interested. I’ll get one of my lads to go down there and see if he will come up here tomorrow and talk to you. How would that be?”

  “That would be great Dileen. I will be talking to my shipwright first thing in the morning, then the engineer should turn up so I can talk with your man in the afternoon.”

  “Oh yes your engineer. Oween mentioned something about a bridge here. Is that right?”

  “Yes. The rail road from Dervent is coming down this side of the river and will pass between the fort and the river, you’ve already agree to give up that land.”

  “Aye.” Dileen nodded.

  “Well the line needs to continue south so it will turn and cross the river just north of where the dock is going to be. We can run a branch line to the dock area easy enough. Now the bridge there will have to be pretty sturdy and two tracks wide so it will be a substantial structure. And then I was thinking that while the work crew is around maybe it would not be such a bad idea to replace that wooden death trap you use currently with a nice stone bridge for pedestrian and cart traffic as well.” He paused and eyed Dileen. “Of course a little financial help from the local populace would go a long way to making it happen.” He said quietly.


  “Ah.” Commented Dileen, obviously reluctant to commit himself to such a large project immediately. “I shall have to think on that and talk to a few people. But it is not a bad idea I will admit. This all sounds impressive but it also seems like a lot of very costly work just so that horse can drag a few wagons around easier.”

  Arturo smiled a knowing smile. “Well you might be surprised shortly by what comes down the line. Anyway it’s my money, at least mostly, at this stage. Once I sort things out with Maximus we will see about getting the tax collected properly.”

  “And that is another thing. These new minted coins of yours are nice but you’ll need a lot more to pay for all this work and the army you’ve been building and there are not that many still around. It’s a few years since the last shipment arrived to pay the troops on the wall.”

  “Well yes. But up at Dervent quite a few old coins have come out of hiding of late. Mostly ones people had been hoarding just in case and have now decided to put back into use. We have a long list of the rates for converting old coins into our new ones depending on their metal content. Some we’re leaving in circulation but most we’re melting down and re-casting into new coins that use the designs copied from the more recent Imperial coins. Melting down and producing new coins will become the standard procedure once we introduce our own coinage after Maximus is dealt with.”

  Dileen nodded and looked closely at Arturo. “By your tone you sound a lot less willing to negotiate with Maximus than what you were before. What’s changed your mind?”

  Oween chuckled. “The lot of us have finally made him see sense. That’s what.” Arturo smiled in agreement, making a small wave of his hand to indicate this.