Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  Eugene and Max called them subcontractors because that was what they were. Getting them to understand the concepts and turning out a consistent quality product was tricky, however. Some tried, but a few tried to get cute and cut corners. For some others, it was hit or miss; their people were untrained after all. Max had learned to sample each shipment and do their own quality control. A couple of rejected shipments had taught the subcontractors valuable lessons about making sure they built the part right or supplied the material according to spec.

  Copper wire production for instance was still an issue; there were so many calls for it. At the moment, supply of raw material was the biggest bottleneck.

  Eugene was on hand with Max as they toured a light bulb factory. It was simple; tungsten wires coiled and placed in a bulb made in the Haiat Duchy and then a vacuum sucked the air out. Small parts were supplied by some of the other subcontractors. There were three different lights being produced in runs. They were very grateful to see the production, but that led to two discussions, one about the power grid, and then another about advanced technology.

  They made a big show out of flipping the switch with the factory owner and supporters. They even posed for photos.

  Eugene and Sue had constantly argued to bypass incandescent in favor of LED. Eugene's argument was that it would make for smaller packages that used a lot less energy. But Max saw things a bit differently and wasn't afraid to call him out on it once they were in his office.

  "Look, Eugene, I like LED; I truly do. But a bulb can be made easier with old tech. We can improve it in time. I'd rather have LED; you and I both know that. But if the choice is another decade with torches or using incandescent …." He spread his hands apart.

  "Yeah, okay," Eugene said with a grimace. "I just don't like it."

  "I know."

  "The waste … the materials … we can do better."

  "And we will, in time," Max said patiently. "For the moment, we need to walk before we can run. Don't expect us to be at where Earth was when we left."

  "Earth was ? Not where it is now?" Eugene asked curiously.

  Max rolled his eyes. "Give me a break! Remember, we left. The world didn't stop turning; they still kept innovating. There is no telling what they've come up with since we left!"

  Eugene nodded. "True." Time marched on with technology on Earth. He remembered how old cell phones were, not to mention the internet! There was no telling what else they'd gotten into. His company might have a hand in energy and transportation with spin-off tech from examining the wormhole.

  Come to think of it, shouldn't they have gotten something back from Perry by now? He was curious about that.

  "And they've got a few thousand years head start. Rome wasn't built in a day. Either there or here," Max said with a snort.

  "Also true," Eugene said.

  "Temper your ambitions," Max said, reaching out and giving Eugene's right shoulder a squeeze. "But, don't give up on them. We'll get there."

  "Agreed."

  Max looked at him and then his eyes narrowed. His hand slipped. "Unless … this isn't a psychological ploy is it?" he asked suspiciously.

  "I don't know what you mean?" Eugene asked, cocking his head.

  "You know. The same shit that businessmen and doctors pull. Aim high, shoot for the moon and see what the other side settles for."

  Eugene frowned thoughtfully. "An interesting idea," he said, rubbing his chin.

  "Uh huh," Max said sourly. "And, given your history of being a businessman, you've got me wondering."

  Eugene snorted. "Now, would I do that to you?"

  Max snorted in disgust. "In a heartbeat."

  "The problem with aiming high is you can go too high. Icarus comes to mind," Eugene reminded him. "A man's gaze must always outreach his grasp. But that doesn't mean you stop trying, you just temper it with a bit of a healthy dose of reality from time to time to stay grounded."

  "Uh huh. And always have a goal to strive for?"

  "Exactly."

  "Well, I do want to point out that we don't have to recreate everything. Some of their stuff they've made works just fine as is. We can adapt it or improve it. But why burn ourselves out re-inventing the wheel?"

  Eugene frowned thoughtfully and then nodded slowly. "Okay, point. Get me a list. We can at least see what we can do to refine those industries further."

  "Agreed," Max sighed. "We've got copper wiring more or less down, but the supply is an issue. We use it for generators and motors too. For the moment, we're limited to hand crank, wind, or water powered. I'd like to expand on that."

  "Agreed. I'd like every government to have radios to keep in contact. They are far better than signal towers."

  "All on their own channels, yes, I know. And the Wi-Fi, we're working on that," Max said, rubbing his chin. "But it's more than that. I've got a list of priorities; I suppose things have shifted when reality came and bit us."

  Eugene rolled his eyes. "More than once," he admitted.

  "I think I've got the old priority list around here somewhere. We can go over it again and then go over what we can achieve and see what we can now farm out to the natives to make on their own."

  "Allowing you and Charlie to focus on chemical batteries?"

  Max made a face. "I hate the things but I suppose I won't have much of a choice any longer. She's been pulled in all sorts of directions. She's finally got assistants trained to handle some of the specialist jobs but still …," he frowned.

  "Don't focus on the big problem. See it, but then break it down into smaller ones we can solve. Build up some headway from there," Eugene urged.

  Max looked at him, remembered the recent discussion of psychology, snorted, but then nodded. "Right. So …"

  ~~~^~~~

  Deidra was amused that Eugene took perverse pleasure in exasperating Max. She ended up a bit annoyed and exasperated though when the duo got together in the lab and worked on various projects for hours on end, ignoring their respective schedules in the process.

  She knew that sometimes Max needed someone to bounce ideas off of and the occasional gentle kick in the right direction, but she resented the interruption to her carefully crafted schedule and plans.

  She'd had plans, She'd wanted to get with him more often since the birth, but they just hadn't been able to connect as she'd hoped. Sure, after his return, but after that he'd been worn out or they'd come in at different times. His daily jaunts hadn't helped any; he was constantly out all day and came back bone weary.

  She knew it was an irrational fear that he no longer desired her, but it would remain until they did something about it. So, she wanted to face it.

  She had candles, a bath, all sorts of plans made. And as she waited, she dreamed up contingency plans. But he didn't show up, much to her increasing ire.

  She eventually had to send a paige to pry her husband and mate away to at least go to bed. He stumbled in, grinning a bit. She smelled his breath; he wasn't drunk, at least not on alcohol. He was drunk on ideas, potential, something she had to admit she didn't mind since it helped them.

  He didn't even notice her linger. That hurt a bit, but there would be other times to get-together.

  "You need to settle down. Sleep," she urged.

  "It's hard," he said, holding his hands up and then letting them drop. His hands were a bit cut up, but he'd at least gotten them clean and most likely treated. He knew the risk of infection. "I'm vibrating with all these things … I mean, I saw the potential and I love that we're moving along. Some things are just taking too long! Too long!" he got up and paced.

  She sat on the bed, watching him. She liked to see him passionate; she just wished it was directed at her at the moment.

  "Vehicles, electronics, medicine, a lot of things are tied together," he said as he paced. "We need electronics to make better equipment for communications, medicine and so on."

  She nodded dutifully, sitting on the bed in a pose to reveal her decoupage. He seemed oblivious though, w
hich was vexing. She knew she'd get him eventually when he calmed down though.

  "With better roads, people and goods can move faster. Food can get to markets with less spoilage. That will affect the economy. And …," he snapped his fingers.

  "Farmers need equipment, better fertilizers, better pest control methods. With computers we can get better prediction modeling. We introduced crop rotation last season; it's been a mixed hit. The new ploughs were a bit of a better hit, plus the combine harvesters, even if they have to be pulled by animals. We really need to push weather monitoring and forecasting," he said, turning on his heel for a piece of paper. "Paper …"

  He scribbled a note for weather monitoring, even if they had to do it by hand with logbooks. When he set the pen back in its holder, she caught his hand and drew him to the bed. "How about we work on something else?" she asked in a husky moment. Her gentle hands began to undress him.

  His eyes cleared for a moment, then he looked confused. That was when she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. She made it a nice hungry kiss and kept going.

  "But … I …," his resistance began to fade as her free hand continued to undress him.

  When the kiss broke, he looked down at her. He saw her troubled look. "I have been a bit distracted, haven't I?" he asked in amusement.

  "Yes," she said, putting on a pouty look. "But you can make it up to me," she said hopefully.

  He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her, fully intent on doing that thing and more.

  Chapter 21

  The Imperium

  As one of the last acts before the fall ended and the snows of the long winter began to fall, Max visited three distant mine sites more than a day's travel away. One was another copper mine, another iron, and the third salt of all things. He had only a short time at each; he had to get back to the capital to put the finishing touches on the Expo booths. The Expo and first session of parliament was turning into one hell of an event. But he'd made a promise to check each mine site, and he intended to keep it.

  He found out when he arrived that, despite the free information provided, the mine's owner had only made minimum updates. They wanted his opinion on what they had and what they could do to improve and therefore compete with the retrofitted mines. Since all three materials were in short supply, Max agreed to check things out.

  Technically, the copper mine was a triple wonder, it produced tin, copper, and arsenic. But it was horribly inefficient and a lot of the workers got sick from arsenic poisoning. That needed to change.

  He noted that the limited gold and rare mineral mines the Imperium had were along rivers leading to some of the mountain ranges. Gold was in just about any patch of ground but in minute traces. It took larger concentrations to get the interest of miners and investors. They needed to get far more out of the ground than the money they put in.

  In order to get to the distant sites, he managed to wangle two of their remaining Terran vehicles. A squad from the Flying Legion played security for Max and his engineering team. If any dominus was interested in harming or kidnapping him, they were quickly dissuaded by the fire power that he brought along.

  He was amused and slightly amazed to see that the copper mine used alien six-legged squat creatures to do a majority of their digging for them. The beasts were like moles, they even had a star-shaped nose and small eyes. According to the keepers, they were near blind and had to have their heads covered when they were in bright areas or outside during the day.

  The keepers guided them with a harness. "We point them in the right direction and they dig," a keeper said proudly.

  Max noted that the beasts were best in soft dirt. Some of the peasants used them at night to draw furrows in the ground as an alternative to ploughing. They were also useful in light digging projects for irrigation. They ate mushrooms and vegetables that the keepers used as an incentive.

  There was nothing wrong with the animals, but he knew they could do better with machinery. And their safety record was appalling; they frequently didn't shore up the mine shafts or cut air holes in their haste to get to the minerals and get out of the mines.

  He worked with the mine owner and his foreman to introduce basic concepts in modern mining safety and technology. The simplest was the introduction of hard hats, reflector vests, and first aid kits, which came courtesy of her majesty.

  The miners were bemused by the gifts but took them nonetheless. Once he showed them how a rock hitting one didn't hurt, they saw the wisdom in using the devices.

  He gently chastised them on mine safety and getting shafts shorn up properly. The mine owner muttered about the cost of wood. "You can use wood or other materials. Wood is coming more and more available but it isn't the only material you can use. It just has to be strong."

  He showed them nets to keep some soft ceilings from dripping rocks down and drilling holes and adding rebar and cement to shore a wall, floor, or ceiling up.

  "It's best to work smarter not harder," he said.

  "What about the wonder machinery you introduced at the Copper River Mine?" the owner demanded.

  Max turned to the owner. "The owner there paid for a lot of it as an investment. He received a tributerium rebate as you could. You said you weren't willing to invest that far," he explained patiently.

  The owner squirmed. He noted his foreman and others looking at him. Some had cold eyes. "Well, not this season," he muttered.

  Max eyed him for a moment. "Well then, I came with simple things you can use now with what you've got on hand. I can leave you with material on what you can get later." he pulled out a pamphlet and handed it over.

  "And how do I pay for the things here?" the owner demanded, flipping through the brochure.

  "Well, I'd say that's your problem but if you can't pay out of pocket, well, I know you can take on investors. Or ask your local dominus for a loan. Or get one from a bank. Or get your workers to invest in the mine for a share of the profits," he suggested.

  The owner blinked, taken aback by those outlandish ideas.

  Max sighed internally and then shrugged. "Continuing on, we have a sample pump here and the directions on how to make more …"

  He let his students show them a pump and then explain how it worked and how it could move water and air. They showed the group a fan and explained ducting and how it could draw bad air out or pump good air in. The pumps and fans were a big hit.

  "But, how are they … powered?" the foreman asked.

  "There are ways to power them without investing in electricity. Obviously, having electricity is best. But, baring that you can set up a steam-powered generator and run belts to the equipment. The belts turn pulleys that turn the fan blades," Max explained. They'd brought a cutaway model. It even worked. He turned the belt, and it turned the small fan blades.

  "Huh," the owner said, clearly unsure of the idea.

  "This is a model, a way to show you without building it full scale. You can have as many fans or pumps as your power can supply. Or you can invest in electric in various ways. But, again, I was told to keep it simple …."

  ~~~^~~~

  "As dense as concrete," Max grumbled once they had left the copper mine. He shook his head and then took apart the encounter and wrote up a report for the king and queen on his laptop. He knew they'd have questions. He wanted to keep a copy of the encounter in case something came back on him.

  He had started to relearn the wisdom of that when some disgruntled customers had come back on him because someone along the way had made promises that hadn't worked out. Or they'd had expectations that hadn't worked out.

  In other words, covering his ass.

  He couldn't help but snort over that thought.

  On their way to the next mine, he had them stop briefly to set up a weather control station and attach it to an existing radio relay station. It was a late addition, but it would allow them to get reports on the weather. Eugene had dug up a computer model, but it needed data. And the native's almanac was som
ething of a joke.

  So far, they had gotten a handful of dominus to agree to take samples.

  He, Duke Haiat, Charlie, and others had worked together to produce simple weather monitoring tools. They had a thermostat with mercury, a barometer, a rain gauge, and a wind speed gauge. The lords had the basic versions; he'd managed to cobble up a couple of electronic versions from their limited supply of parts.

  He let his students check the radio relay and run maintenance on it. They had to clean out some weeds and bugs that had made the equipment box their home. They replaced the seals so the box would hopefully be weather tight. Given the coming winter it'd better be.