Grantville Gazette, Volume 69

by Bjorn Hasseler

Jason Sr. glanced over at David. "How about you? Are you 'good' like Jason too?"

  David grinned. "Actually, I am feeling a little hungry," he said.

  "Well," Vernon said, "rather than let your apprentices starve, how about we find somewhere we can talk while we eat?"

  Jason Sr. cast an expert eye over the machine room and nodded. "Let's."

  ****

  Jason stepped into the inn just behind his father and Mr. Fritz. The first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. He managed to hold onto his curiosity until they were seated and their orders taken. But once the waiter walked away he lost no time asking. "Why's it so quiet? I would have expected them to have a radio going."

  Vernon glanced around the inn. "There are radios in here." He pointed to several small groups at one the wall end of their tables. "Those people are listening to crystal sets."

  "Crystal sets?" David muttered. "I would've expected an inn to have proper radios."

  "Shush!" Vernon said. He glanced around quickly before turning back to David. "It’s a bit of a sore point with a lot of the public houses. They want proper powered radios, but even those that can afford them are being held ransom by the battery suppliers."

  "Can't they just use some other source of power?" David asked.

  "What?" Vernon asked. "I'm sure that if someone could come up with a viable alternative to the crystal sets the innkeepers will beat a path to their doors."

  Jason stared at Mr. Fritz as the workings of his mind tried to process what he'd said. The only reason he and Mags hadn't seriously pursued the idea of getting married was the inability to afford to establish and maintain their own household. If he could come up with a way of powering radios…But then reality reared its ugly head. There were two insurmountable problems preventing the inns from using radio. Firstly, there was the lack of affordable amplifiers—the only ones available were up-time ones, and then there was the fact radio needed electricity. A crystal set might be able to feed an earphone using just the faintest bit of broadcast energy, but an amplifier needed real electricity, from either a main supply or batteries. He sighed. It had been a nice dream while it lasted.

  That evening, the castle

  Dietrich Bockelmann stopped and pointed to a window set high up in the exterior wall of the Mihulka Tower. "That's the window Liova came flying out of."

  Jason looked up and whistled. The window in question was just below the tower's conical roof, about five floors up. Mags' cat must have fallen at least fifty feet. "How the heck did he survive falling that far?" he wondered aloud.

  Dietrich shrugged. "I'm just glad he did. Can you imagine how Mags would have felt if…"

  There was a lot of body-English in Jason's wince as he hunched his shoulders protectively at the potential repercussions of Liova dying. Mags loved her cat almost as much as she loved him, or at least he hoped it was in that order. "She would have been inconsolable."

  "Yeah, well, fortunately, he didn't die, and the only person hurt was Mags."

  There was something in Dietrich's tone that drew Jason's attention. A quick glance at his face told Jason that Dietrich was still feeling guilty for not being there to protect Mags. "You were at work when those guys broke into Dr. Gribbleflotz' lab, Dietrich," Jason said. "I don't blame you for what happened to Mags, and I'm sure she doesn’t either."

  "I blame me," Dietrich said.

  There wasn't anything Jason could say in reply to that, so he changed the topic. "Shall we go in?" he asked.

  "Sure," Dietrich said before leading the way in.

  They were confronted by a woman the moment they stepped into the building. She looked Jason up and down before turning to Dietrich. "Would this be Mags' young man?" Ursula Mittelhausen asked.

  "Yes, Frau Mittelhausen. Allow me to introduce Jason Cheng." Dietrich nudged Jason towards Frau Mittelhausen. "And this is Frau Mittelhausen, without whom nothing would get done around here."

  Ursula held out a hand, and with a quick glance Dietrich's way for reassurance that it would be correct, Jason took the hand in his and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Frau Mittelhausen. Mags has spoken about you often." Which was true, Mags had, although not always in a complimentary manner.

  Ursula's smile suggested she suspected as much. "I expect you'll want to see Mags. She's up in the workroom." She stared hard at Dietrich. "Dinner will be in half an hour."

  Dietrich grabbed Jason and started to tow him away. "I'll see that they're both down in time," he said.

  Jason cast a despairing look at the fresh bread on the kitchen bench. "What's the hurry?" he demanded.

  "Mags has got something you need to see."

  "What?"

  "She's made something I think has real prospects." He set off towards the workrooms.

  "What?" Jason repeated his demand as he chased after Dietrich. The last thing she'd made was her theremin, which had been adopted by the Prague chapter of the Society of Aural Investigators as the Gribbleflotz Magneto-Etheric Aural Detector. That was a nice little earner. He wasn't sure what the current market price for them was, but he did know the first one sold for thirty Venceslasthaler, or about three thousand dollars. "What's Mags made this time?"

  Dietrich glanced over his shoulder. "Follow me and you'll find out."

  He stared at the Dietrich's departing back for a few seconds before hurrying after him, catching up with him just outside the main workroom in the Mihulka Tower.

  There was sunlight shining through a window, illuminating Mags. Jason just stood there, taking in the vision before him. Meanwhile, Dietrich made their presence known, and Mags' head shot up. She saw Jason, burst out of her chair, flew across the room, and threw herself at him. Fortunately, Jason was able to catch her, even as she swung her arms around his neck.

  "Ouch!" Jason protested when Mags' plaster cast hit his head.

  "Sorry," Mags said before hauling herself up off the ground to kiss him.

  "Hey, Georg, who told you to stop pumping?" Michael Thurn called out.

  To Jason's disappointment the shout by one of the laborants caused Mags to break off the kiss and lower herself to the ground, but not out of his arms. He looked over to where a laborant was starting to pump the treadle of a theremin box. He glanced down towards Mags and was just about to ask what was going on when he heard the theremin's high pitched note turn into music. Hearing it, he realized there had been music playing when he first entered the workroom, and if the music was restarting as Georg pumped the theremin…

  "Is that a radio?" he asked, pointing at the machine emitting the music.

  Mags shook her head, but Dietrich contradicted her. "Yes," he said.

  "But it's not," Mags protested, turning her head towards Dietrich. "It's just a theremin I rewired so that the input is from a crystal set instead of the oscillator."

  "Which makes it a radio." Dietrich looked towards Jason. "I only discovered what Mags had done a couple of days ago, after we heard you were coming to Prague, otherwise I'd have told Herr Fritz."

  "But why would you want to tell Herr Fritz that I'd wired a crystal set to a theremin?" Mags demanded.

  Jason pulled Mags until her back was against his chest, and hugged her. "Because there is a demand out there for radios," he said.

  "Especially ones that don't need electricity," Dietrich said.

  "But it uses electricity," Mags protested.

  "Dietrich is talking about mains or battery power, Mags. And your new radio doesn't need either."

  "Yeah," Dietrich agreed. He turned to Jason. "How do you think it'd work in a bar?"

  Jason thought about for a few seconds before deciding he didn't have enough information. "I think we need to find out," he said. He turned to Mags. "Do you have one we could take to a local inn or tavern?"

  "No, I don't," Mags said. "I have orders for modified theremins for the Society of Aural Investigators to fill."

  "We only need one," Dietrich said.

  "And just for one night," Jason added.

&nbs
p; Mags glared at Jason.

  "Please."

  Mags released her breath in a noisy sigh. "All right. But only for one night, and I go along with you to make sure it comes back."

  "Well of course you'll come along with us," Dietrich said. "We need someone who knows how to set it up."

  "But not until after dinner," Jason hastened to add. He'd already been embarrassed once by his stomach today, and he didn't want a repeat.

  "Sure, after dinner suits me, too," Dietrich said.

  "Men," Mags muttered.

  Later that evening

  "It's just down here," Dietrich said over his shoulder as he led the way along the Loretánská, the main street heading west from the castle.

  "Where are we going?" Jason asked. He was carrying the legs and treadle unit while Dietrich carried the theremin. Mags, of course, with two strong males to do all the heavy lifting, didn't have to carry anything more than the three hand tools she'd need to put everything together.

  Dietrich pointed. "Over there. The Black Ox."

  Jason looked at the sign hanging above the entrance. If he squinted, he thought the animal could be called an ox, and as for the color, given the light, he was willing to call it black. "How do we handle this?" he asked.

  "I go in and ask Pavel if he wouldn't mind letting us test a prototype human powered radio in his tavern."

  Jason noticed the use of the man's Christian name. "Just how well do you know this guy?" he asked.

  "Dietrich moonlights at The Black Ox as a bouncer," Mags said.

  "Ahh!" Jason had no difficulty accepting Dietrich was moonlighting as a bouncer. He lacked the solid, neckless look of the stereotypical up-time bouncer, but at over six feet and two hundred forty pounds he had a more than adequate physical presence. Add brains to that, and he was probably every bar owner's dream bouncer—able to enforce the rules, but smart enough to know he didn't have to actually hit people to do so. "So you don't think there'll be any problem?" he asked.

  Dietrich shook his head. "Nope. Not unless it works so well Pavel wants to keep it."

  "What?" Mags demanded. "I thought this was just going to be a test."

  "It is," Dietrich said, "but Pavel is running a business, and if he can have a proper radio going, he'll get more people buying drinks."

  "We'll cross the bridge when we come to it," Jason said. "Meanwhile, how about getting this show on the road?"

  "Sure thing," Dietrich said, before leading the way into the tavern.

  ****

  "Dietrich!" a swarthy man in a filthy apron called as they entered. "And you have brought friends. Please, introduce me."

  "Pavel Dusek, the proprietor of this establishment," Dietrich said. "And these good people are Jason Cheng and his betrothed, Magdalena Rutilius."

  "A pleasure to meet you," Pavel said. He turned back to Dietrich. "So what brings you around to my humble establishment at this hour?"

  Dietrich grinned. "This," he said as he doffed the theremin radio he'd been carrying strapped to his back.

  Pavel ran his eyes over the wooden box before turning back to Dietrich. His brows rose in question. "And why might I be interested in a Gribbleflotz Magneto-Etheric Aural Detector?"

  "Ahh," Dietrich said, "but this isn't just a Gribbleflotz Magneto-Etheric Aural Detector. Magdalena here," he said, gesturing towards Mags, "has managed to combine the technology of the Gribbleflotz Magneto-Etheric Aural Detector with a crystal receiver to create a human-powered radio."

  Pavel's eyes opened wide. "A what? A radio, you say?" He took another look at the device. "Does it work?"

  "Of course it works," Jason protested. "That's why we brought it here."

  "Actually," Dietrich said, inserting himself between Pavel and Jason, "although we know it works in the laboratory, we don't know how well it works in a proper working environment." He smiled at Pavel. "We're hoping you'll allow us to test it."

  "And how much will this cost me?" Pavel demanded.

  "Not a pfennig," Dietrich said. "After all, you are letting us test it in your bar."

  "Although we would like your honest opinion of how good or bad it is," Jason said.

  Pavel nodded, as if understanding and accepting the conditions. "Where would you like to set it up?" he asked.

  "I'll need access to an aerial and earth," Mags said.

  Pavel nodded again as he surveyed his bar. A few seconds later he pointed towards a table set up against a wall. "Can you set it up over there?" he asked.

  Mags nodded. "Come on," she said to Dietrich and Jason. "Let's get it up and running."

  It took only a few minutes to set up the theremin radio and connect it to the aerial and earth wires that had previously been servicing a crystal set. Then Mags started pumping the treadle. Soon the sound of Radio Prague could be heard coming from the speaker. Around them the bar quietened as customers stopped talking to listen to the radio.

  "Can you make it louder?" Pavel asked.

  Mags nodded and started pumping the treadle harder. The harder she pumped, the louder the radio grew.

  "That's good." Pavel nodded approvingly. "Just keep it at that level."

  Some three hours later

  Mags was still feeling a little confused by events when they finally arrived back at Dr. Gribbleflotz' residence in the castle. They entered to be greeted by Frau Mittelhausen. She looked the three of them over, surely noticing the absence of the human-powered radio.

  "Did Pavel like Frau Rutilius' human powered radio," she asked.

  "He loved it," Dietrich said.

  "He loved it so much he's paying Mags ten dollars a day to keep it," Jason added.

  "Well, of course he is," Dietrich said. "He'll get more than ten times that in increased custom once word gets out that he has a radio you can hear without an earpiece."

  "I thought that might happen," Ursula said. "And no doubt, within days, other bar owners will be beating on Dr. Gribbleflotz' door demanding he make one for them." She smiled. "It'll be just like the Society of Aura Investigators, except there are a lot more bars than there are investigators." She turned to Mags. "I think you need to resign from your position with Radio Prague and start making radios full time."

  Mags stared at Frau Mittelhausen, terrified at what she'd just suggested. "But I can't do that. I can't afford to give up my job."

  "You will have a job, Magdalena, making radios…" Ursula tilted her head as she looked at Mags. "You could call your business Mags Electrical."

  "Mags Electronics would be better," Jason said.

  Mags whirled round to face Jason. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. "I can't just quit my job at Radio Prague."

  "Sure you can." Jason reached out and dragged Mags closer so he could hug her. "You've been on light duties since you broke your arm, so they'll hardly miss you. And, Mags, you could become filthy rich. The Higgins Sewing Machine Company will have nothing on Mags Electronics. The demand for radios must outweigh the demand for sewing machines by a couple of orders of magnitude."

  Mags blinked. That certainly appealed, but she could see a major problem Jason and Frau Mittelhausen were missing. "I don't have the money to start a business like that, and—" She turned to glare at Jason. "—don't suggest that your parents can lend me the money."

  "Mags," Dietrich said.

  She swung round to look at her friend, who was casually leaning against the door jamb. "What?" she asked.

  He gestured towards Ursula. "I think Frau Mittelhausen might be about to suggest that Dr. Gribbleflotz lend you the money."

  "Oh!" Mags swung her attention back to Frau Mittelhausen. "Dr. Gribbleflotz?" she asked.

  Ursula smiled. "Dietrich is right. Not that it'll be the doctor himself putting up the money—he has little interest in anything outside his personal lines of research—but rather the holding company that owns HDG Laboratories. And I'm not thinking of lending you the money. I think we should form a company together. You contribute the knowhow, while we provide the money for facil
ities, materials, labor, and of course, distribution and marketing."

  "And just how much of this company would the holding company own?" Jason asked.

  "Let's be generous and call it a measly eighty percent," Ursula said.

  "EIGHTY PERCENT?" Jason roared.

  Mags turned to her boyfriend. "Settle down. That's just an opening offer."

  "Not only are we offering startup capital, but we are also providing access to the distribution channels we already have in place for the doctor's products," Ursula said.

  Mags nodded. "Yes, but without my knowledge, there's no product to sell." She ran her tongue around her lips. "I might be prepared to go as high as fifty percent."

  "Hold it!" Jason said. "How about I talk to Mom and Dad and see what they think before you sign your life away, Mags?"

  "And you'll probably want to consult a lawyer, too," Dietrich said.

  Mags glared at her two companions. They were ruining her fun with logic. She turned to Frau Mittelhausen. "I guess I'd better see what Jason's parents think."

  "You do that," Ursula said, "but there is no way you're getting to keep fifty percent."

  ****

  Jason drifted into the inn where he and his family were staying while they were in Prague, his mind more on the prospect of Mags leaving her job at Radio Prague and returning to Grantville than on what time it was. That attitude came to a screaming halt when he stepped into the room and was confronted by his parents, his sister, and David Kitt sitting around the table playing a board game in the light of an oil lamp.

  "Did you have a good time?" his father asked in a very conversational manner.

  "Yes," Jason said uneasily as he removed and hung up his coat before changing his outdoor footwear for a pair of indoor slippers. "Dietrich took us to a bar he knows."

  "I would have thought you and Mags had better things to do with your time than hang out in a public bar," David said.

  Jason grinned. "Yeah, well, normally you'd be right," he said. "But when I got to her lodgings I discovered she'd built herself a human-powered radio. Me and Dietrich thought there might be a good market for such a thing, so we all went to a bar Dietrich knows to see how well it works in situ."