Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "So why push this?"

  "I am giving you the idea; it is up to you if you wish to follow through with it. Some of you complained of surpluses and what to do with them. We're working on improvements in transport. That will allow you to move food goods further."

  "But they'll spoil!"

  "Not if they are kept cold. The same in the store. And not if we move them quickly enough," Eugene explained patiently.

  "Ah," a richly dressed merchant said with a nod. The man's fat fingers were covered in gold rings. He probably had a kilo of gold on him—rings, necklaces, and such. "I have heard of your heaters. You have a thing to keep cold? A … fan?" the merchant asked, wrinkling his nose at the foreign word.

  Eugene put up an image on the projector. The projector and his ability to show them Terran technology was another reason he always had a full audience. "A fan just moves air. It dries the skin and makes you feel like you are cooler. But it is a part of a system. Some of you use ice, correct?" Eugene asked.

  A few heads nodded.

  "Now imagine that ice in front of a fan." He switched to an appropriate image. "The cold air is moved to circulate in the room. If the room is sealed, the air stays cold longer. The ice doesn't melt. The food within can stay cold or even freeze."

  A few heads nodded but he could tell they weren't sure about the concepts.

  "We have machines that can make cold. But we're still not able to make them here. That will take time and a lot of changes to industry," he explained.

  A few heads nodded. They understood that at least.

  "Now, I mentioned logistics. Imagine a big place to make meat," he said, nodding to the sausage maker. "A place where you make many varieties of sausage. Kept cool, with vast rooms to smoke and cook your sausages," he said.

  The sausage maker nodded.

  "Some people work on mixing the meat while others pack it." He showed them an image of a massive meat warehouses. "On one end, they deal with the material. They take the meat from a slaughterhouse rather than butcher the animal directly. That way each building can focus on the one job as you do," he said with a nod.

  "They then grind the meat and add ingredients to it," he said, showing a vat. "From there it can be processed into other forms. Sausage for instance."

  "You have a machine for that? Packing it is … troublesome," the sausage maker said.

  "Yes," Eugene said, putting up the image of a machine. The sausage maker and other meat vendors seemed fascinated. "We don't have one here, but we have the plans to make one. And we can do so. The machine lets you make many sausages fast. As fast as you can make vats of meat."

  "Ah," he said eyes bright. "I would like to see this machine."

  "We'll add it to the to-do list," Eugene replied dryly.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene talked with Deidra later when they were alone. She could tell he was not happy that the seminar had gotten mixed reviews. He admitted heavily that they were getting ahead of themselves when mentioning sausage maker tools and others.

  She hugged him and gave him a squeeze to make it clear to him that she understood and supported him anyway.

  "Another day. The legion leaves soon," he said, voice a bit light.

  She turned away, biting her lip over that reminder.

  "Hey, it's okay. We've got this," he said gently, cupping her chin with a curled finger to capture her eyes.

  She looked and then looked away, touching his cheek gently. She eventually settled into cuddling with him for a moment.

  She finally admitted softly that it wasn't the stress of the pirates that had triggered her labor.

  "What then?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation light. He knew something had been bothering him. He was pretty sure he knew but she needed to say it herself.

  "We're going to have to respond."

  "We already have. The word is out, the lords are working on it, and the legion is in motion."

  "No, I mean we," she said, using the royal we. She looked him directly in the eye. "You or me."

  He felt a sinking sensation as he caught on. It was all about public perception he thought as he nodded. "And by we you mean me."

  She stared at him for a long moment and then wrapped her arm around him and hugged him fiercely.

  "Of course I'll go. You know that. And I'll do my best to stay safe," he said quietly, voice a bit rough with emotion as he felt her tremble. "But I don't have to go yet. We've got models to predict them but not a refined list of targets."

  "I know. But it has to happen soon," she murmured in his ear before she kissed him on the jaw and then the cheek, and then the lips.

  They rested their heads together, no more words needed to be said for the moment.

  ~~~^~~~

  Doctor Charlie Therman finished her current project and checked the others that were percolating before she checked her mail.

  The Terrans had their own internet going, complete with email. It was limited to the capital, but it was a secure method for them to communicate without worries of spies.

  The chemist missed Mary and Nate. She only got to see Sue once in a blue moon, it seemed like they were all being pulled in different directions. Not that she hadn't expected it. It was just nice to have a get-together from time to time, especially the girls. She missed the occasional girl's night that they'd had going for them.

  "At least there is no spam," she said quietly as she entered her password. There were a few new emails, some from Max and Cecily, he'd set up an account for her, another from Deidra about her budget request, a thank you from Sue, and one from Eugene.

  She read through them quickly but grew annoyed with Eugene for putting Freon back on the top of the list. As if she didn't have enough to look into.

  "I so need a vacation." She shook her head. "A nice beach vacation, cocktail, suntan, maybe someone to rub lotion in … once I invent it."

  "You don't want to go to the beach, miss; pirates are there," one of her assistants warned.

  "Pirates?" she asked eyes wide.

  "Yes. You didn't hear? The king is taking the legion soon."

  "Oh," Charlie said blinking. "That's all we need, bloody pirates. Okay, beach vacation is o-u-t!" she said firmly, getting back to work.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene and Deidra discussed the situation after Duke Emory brought up the pirate problem again. Duke Haiat pointed out that someone had to go as well.

  "Damn them," Deidra said over and over until he caught her and drew her down into his lap to rock her slowly until she calmed down.

  Her fuse was incredibly short. He sometimes loved to set it off just to see fireworks … as long as it was completely directed at him. She was a force of nature, fascinating to watch from a safe distance. But this was a bit much.

  "We can deal with it. We've dealt with worse," he said.

  "Yes but it is a separation!"

  He cocked his head. Ever since they'd gotten together, they'd rarely been apart for more than a single night. "You'll keep me in touch with the radio. And I'll be back soon enough for you to punch me in the shoulder and growl at me for being gone," he teased.

  "I'll do more than that," she twisted, glaring at him before they kissed.

  The kiss got a little heated but he reluctantly broke it off to rest his forehead against hers. "Down boy," he said, making her giggle. "Evil woman," he muttered. That earned another giggle.

  "The good news is, doc said you'll be up for playing in six to eight weeks. So, absence will definitely make the heart grow fonder," he said wickedly.

  "Letch!" She gasped in mock protest and then poked him a few times until he pinned her arms and kissed her to calm her back down once more.

  Eugene could tell that Deidra was more or less resigned to his going. It wasn't fair; it was her idea after all. But he'd learned to apologize for things that weren't his fault a while ago. She made a point of warning him flatly that he could not go to sea under any circumstances.

  "Yes, dear," he said dutifull
y.

  "If they get away, so be it. There will be other times. The point is to drive them off," she said, resting a hand flat out on the table in front of her.

  "Yes, dear," he said.

  She eyed him sternly, gauging his commitment. "Let me see your fingers," she accused, eyes narrowing. He liked to tease her about not being held to a promise because his fingers were crossed.

  He held up his hands but moved them to fast so she couldn't see them clearly. When she tried to catch them, he tucked them behind him. That turned into a playful wrestling match until she finally stomped on his foot and got him to show her his fingers so that they weren't crossed.

  "I'm not a complete idiot, and I get seasick. I have no intention of going out to sea, so relax," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her gently.

  She snorted. "You did all that to mess with me?"

  "But of course!" he said with a grin. He got poked for his trouble.

  "The doctor said I'm supposed to keep calm. The mood swings are kicking in as my blood chemistry returns to normal. I don't need you causing trouble. It is bad enough that the baby is still having trouble getting on a normal sleep cycle," she growled.

  He smiled and brushed her cheek gently with a fingertip. "I didn't want you thinking I was on eggshells around you. I want to treat you normally. Remember? Get back to normal?"

  She growled a grumble but then nodded, the closest he was going to get to an acknowledgement that he was right.

  He hugged her again.

  ~~~^~~~

  Max made the rounds out of the capital but put off his plan to visit the more distant mines. They had overhauled the closest ones, but not all of them were up to the production levels he'd like to see.

  A part of that was the lack of trained geologists and equipment. They still relied on pickaxes and shovels after all. But they were moving things along.

  He had introduced a steam power plant to move air, power pumps and equipment, and the power plant to a locomotive. The last was a given. He still didn't like it though; he'd prefer electric. He didn't want to fall into the trap of using hydrocarbons.

  When he got back, he checked into the machine shop that was making the next generation of steam locomotives. The mines needed small ones, including steam-powered vehicles like shovels and such. But he was also working on the big boys.

  It still bothered him. He turned to Cecily.

  She took one look and then sighed. "Not this again," she said with a shake of her head. "We've been over this," she said tiredly.

  "Am I that obvious?" he asked in bemusement.

  "When it comes to stuff like this, yes. I know you want to convert to electric. Everyone does. I know the argument that diesel locomotives are actually electric, the diesel motor powers a generator that powers the electric drive motors. I got all that."

  She also knew he had been working on a sideline of railroad toys. Safety was still a concern though.

  "The problem is we don't have the energy grid," Ctesibus pointed out, coming over to them and wiping grease off his hands with a rag. Ctesibus was one of his best native mechanics. He had been the son of artisans who had made everything from intricate jewelry to crude clocks and navigational devices. He'd taken to his engineering studies like a duck to water. He was the supervisor on the machine shops and a lot of the mechanical projects when Max or Cecily were not available.

  "Ah, we don't have the energy grid yet," Max replied as he held up a finger.

  Cecily just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Ctesibus smiled.

  "How goes the turbine production line?" Max asked.

  "We're doing fine. We've upped production by 5 percent. We're still streamlining a few things. Adding power tools has helped a lot."

  Max nodded. Everyone wanted Terran tech, and he was determined to give it to them … within reason. And he wanted to do it in the right way. That meant solar, wind, hydro, or other forms of electrical generation that didn't add a great deal of pollution to the environment.

  He wanted them to learn from the mistakes of the homeworld, not repeat them if possible.

  He winced when the crew began working on driving bolts home to anchor a generator to a platform. They were using an impact gun, and he'd forgotten his ear protection so he ushered them into one of the side labs.

  The lab was set up to work on DC motor concepts. From there they'd made electric tools for use. They'd made some of the initial tools in that lab before moving to subcontractors. He was still working on a Dremel tool clone though. At least he now had a decent drill press.

  "Still primitive," he muttered. "And we still can't cut the cord," he grumbled.

  "We haven't invested enough in batteries," Ctesibus reminded him. Max grunted. He was not strong on chemistry and a bit leery about playing with acid.

  "Aren't some batteries made out of metal?" Cecily asked, still picking up on his thoughts.

  "Lithium Ion is to some degree," he replied with a nod. "If I remember right, they are pretty expensive to make though and hard to get the metal. We're talking paper thin metal, rolled out to tissue thin and then folded and packed in certain ways. We don't begin to have the equipment to handle something that complex."

  "Oh." Cecily looked crestfallen.

  "But we will keep moving in that direction while figuring things out. And if we have to, we'll find an old tech and use that until we can make what we really want."

  "Ah," she smiled.

  "We need a solid reliable power grid first," Ctesibus reminded them.

  "I know, I know," Max said with a hand wave. He looked over to the board. They had a few projects crossed off; a couple circled. The crossed-off ones were either successes or projects that had been tabled.

  He flat-out refused to put off the coffee maker anymore. They could make the pot after all and they had plastics. It was just a matter of creating the electronics and the pump. Who cares if it had a dial? Hell, he'd settle for a mechanical timer if he had to.

  "I've got to check on that generator. And we've got an issue with the fit on the plumbing on one of the shovels. I think something moved after the test fit while they were soldering the joints," Ctesibus said.

  Max grunted. "Metal tends to do that," he said. "Let me muss up my wife a little and then we'll join you," he said.

  Ctesibus chuckled and waved as he opened the door and departed.

  As soon as it closed, Max turned to his amused wife who was looking up at him. "Muss up my wife?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

  "Don't mind if I do," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her over to him. She giggled.

  ~~~^~~~

  By the ten-day mark, Deidra had recovered enough to resume dealing with politics. They still had some issues. The baby wasn't sleeping on a normal cycle yet, but they were adapting.

  She couldn't help but resent having to send Eugene out to deal with the pirates. She hated the interruption and fought the urge to take her ire out on him or others. Doctor Carter had warned her about the extreme mood swings so she tried to keep herself in check.

  They didn't have a choice though. The more they received radio calls for support, the more she needed to make a show of force. She had to constantly stroke the coastal lords to keep them in line. They needed the support, and they had a right to it.

  She tried to put her resentment aside as she worked with Max and Eugene to find a better technological solution to the long-term problems they were facing.

  Max mentioned the need for more long-distance radios along the coast. Eugene agreed immediately. "Eventually, the idea is for everyone to have a radio."

  "That's a lot of radios. A lot of people talking," Deidra said. "How can someone get through to communicate a proper message? And what if others hear messages that you do not intend for them to hear?"

  "They can talk on different frequencies and channels," Eugene explained. "And most radios are short-ranged."

  "But not the one you gave my sister," Deidra pointed ou
t.

  "Well, that's a HAM radio. It can bounce a signal off of the sky and back down to us."

  "Oh."

  He saw her dubious look and wrapped an arm around her in a hug. He squeezed her arm and then rubbed it. "Trust me, its old tech. Not reliable sometimes but better than smoke signals."

  "True."