~~~^~~~
Rows of warehouses of unripen fruit had their owners extremely nervous. It was an outlandish concept, one they were taking on the faith of Terran technology and innovation. Twenty percent of the local harvest had been dedicated to the experiment.
To reassure them Charlie made the rounds and took samples. She then showed the owners how gases from apples and other things, along with a room temperature environment and lighting, were used to ripen the other fruits and vegetables upon demand.
“As long as you keep them at just the right temperature, they will be good for several mens ,” she explained. “Take what you need out to fill an order, ripen them and sell them in the market or to your stores.”
That relieved them. It also got her a couple of marriage proposals, much to her shock and amusement.
~~~^~~~
Max was on hand when the latest fire truck rolled off the assembly line. It was a mark 3 with a hybrid engine instead of a steam engine. It was a pump truck; a ladder truck was on back order.
A new trash truck was also in the production line; he had made a model of it to test it out. His techs were still struggling with it though; it had been in and out of the assembly line twice. It had some hinky engineering issues that caused them to redesign a few parts.
The truck shared the same frame, cab, drive train, and wheels as the dump trucks. The simpler dump trucks were made out of a mix of wood, metal, and plastic and were on the roads. He had six with the construction crews. The same drive train was going to be used for other construction vehicles where possible.
It had been surprising that the natives recycled so much. If something couldn't be mended, it was burned or sold. They didn't have as much packaging as that on Earth. Of course, things were changing in that regard.
“Consumerism. Go figure."
He loved the red fire engine though. He already had a couple people making wooden models of it. The toy makers in town were making them too.
Max and Cecily created dolls, stuffed animals, and learning toys in their spare time. Some of their students helped out. The twins got to test them out. They planned to give them away as Saturnalia gifts.
~~~^~~~
Eugene had taught the technical smiths the trick of preloading sliced models into the sample models in a 3D printer or CNC machine. It meant all they had to do was select it and hit print, then make sure everything was working properly.
Evan selected the file and hit go. He then made sure the device heated up and that the feed was working properly. He loved the device; it allowed him to focus on other projects. He was still learning modeling software and loved that too. He just wished they could add more 3D printers. New slices of models were only needed periodically; they just didn't have the capacity to print some things. There was quite a backlog.
One of the printers was set up to do one off parts for prototyping. Wherever possible they tried to make some parts in wood as replicas or make a mold from the prototype and make parts from that.
Unfortunately, not everything was working as planned. Twenty minutes into a print and the printer went haywire. He reset and tried again, but again, the same result, this time earlier.
“Well! That's not good,” he muttered, shutting the device down until his boss could come around. He tried to run his own diagnostic but couldn't find the problem.
Max came around as usual that day after checking out the welder and torches being made. He had dreams of a new CNC machine. They were momentarily dashed when he heard about the downed printer.
He ran through the diagnostics and noted that data was corrupted. “It's either the memory or the IC,” he said.
“This is in the samples. We've printed hundreds of them before,” Evan said.
“Crap. If it's got an integrated ROM in the IC …,” Max carefully took apart the printer's control box.
“I've heard of this before,” Max said. “Usually it's the memory card; they tend to go after a while, usually after repeated use like we've been doing. Write and read cycles tend to burn things out. But it could be the chip …”
He frowned as he checked it. “Yup, that sucks.” He sighed heavily.
“So, now what? We can't make them,” Evan said, wrinkling his nose.
"Yeah, I know." Max scratched his head. “I think we used all the spare Arduinos. I'll check inventory. If we have, then this one just became a brick only good for parts. A hangar queen,” he grumbled.
“That sucks,” Evan sighed.
“Yeah, I know. But nothing lasts forever,” Max said, patting the kid on the arm. “Wasn't your fault. We've been running them hard. Things break.”
“Yeah, but still,” Evan said, looking crestfallen. He still wondered if something could have been done to prevent it.
“I'll look at the others later. I don't know if adding more cooling or a heat sink or whatever will help long run,” Max said as he shook his head. “Just clear this and we'll store it for later. Maybe we can get it to print simple objects later. I'll run it past Eugene.”
“The king?”
“The one and only,” Max said with a snort. “He is the tech genius. He might know a trick. At the least he can plug into the chip and see what's up.”
Evan nodded. He wasn't holding out much hope for a reprieve however.
~~~^~~~
Sue convinced Deidra and Eugene to allow her to perform a medical air drop. She didn't have the proper sample of the outbreak virus but she was insistent that they needed to get some supplies in.
There was only one medicus in the city who had any sort of training, Val, but the girl was practically overwhelmed.
For once the cold worked in their favor, it allowed the transport and drop of the MMR vaccine to go smoothly. It did clean out the capital's stocks though.
Doctor Carter immediately began to work on more vaccines with Charlie while instructing Val on how to apply the vaccine to first the medicus personnel, and then to others. She put an order in with Max for UV lights.
~~~^~~~
Troy City
The sound of the motor in the air had Val and others looking to the skies as they hugged their fur wrappings and blankets to their bodies.
One of the younger kids spotted the aircraft. It did a figure eight and then ran down the improvised landing strip. The pilot pulled the craft to a stop, waved, and then unloaded the back of the aircraft, stacking boxes for them.
Once he was finished, he waved again and then took off, the aircraft bumping and jolting before leaping into the air.
Val felt her heart in her throat until the mechanical bird was off and headed to the horizon. Only then did she wave for her supporters to get to the supplies and get them inside so they could get to work.
~~~^~~~
The Imperium Capital
Winter had Deidra commission sculptures of animals and people for various projects. Max and Eugene had introduced DC powered chisels and realistic dynamic pose into designs. She commissioned a basilisk sculpture in full anger pose, and a sculpture of her father as a knight.
She also commissioned paintings and murals to replace some of the old works in the castle and to be placed in the new parliament building when it was completed.
She wanted to commission a series of tapestries but decided she should send such work to her sister and Duluth.
~~~^~~~
Max heard about the radio discussion from Cory in the fishing village. He introduced something new to Movie night, shark and horror movies. They got mixed reviews. “Nothing like introducing more psychological scars,” Sue muttered.
“Bullshit,” Max growled. “They have scary stories already. Ever read some of the real Brothers Grim? Or some of the other stories? Beowulf?”
She cocked her head.
“It's one thing for someone to say it,” Deidra said softly. “Another to see it.” She clung to Eugene's arm. “You and I are never going boating,” she said with a shiver.
Eugene snorted.
“I mean it,
” she said so firmly it that earned a soft chuckle from the others.
~~~^~~~
Fishing Village
Cory continued to use the radio from Miss Bliss to stay in contact and get news. Under the guidance of some guy named Max, she rigged a DC motor to be powered by a wind propeller as an improvised generator to power the battery. It wasn't efficient, but it kept the radio running and helped her with her feelings of isolation.
On a good day when the radio signal was clear, she listened and made notes of the news. These she reported to the village.
Her ability to communicate with the outside world got many including the berger interested. She explained how she could contact those in Kent or elsewhere for news, or to exchange information. The berger immediately latched onto the idea. He was still recovering from a slip and fall; the delay had forced him to reschedule time he'd planned to sail to a nearby village and then visit Kent to negotiate on behalf of the village.
She explained that she could get or give weather reports. They could also use the device to receive orders or find out news or movement of shipments, even news of lost or delayed ships. He was deeply intrigued by that. The idea that he wouldn't have to travel twice a year was appealing, especially since no one had come to work on the road.
He authorized a small stipend for her and for workmen to use scrap wood to build a better lighthouse. She talked him into using some of the stone from the avalanche as well. He was amused by that idea but agreed.
Chapter 32
Duluth
Cassius Bellus tried to cross the border river with his beast. The bridge was guarded so he avoided it and found a place to cross the ice.
He thought he was okay on the ice, but the river was swift. It had yet to fully freeze over. He got halfway through and heard an ominous crack before the ice let go and the branack went through the ice with a bawl of terror.
He managed to recover but the beast went under the ice. He was nearly dragged under until he got free of the tangle of the harness.
His legs had been soaked; he could feel the fast movement of the water and the cold numbing his legs. He managed to get onto the ice by pulling out his knife and using it to dig into the ice for leverage.
His teeth were chattering by the time he dragged himself out and back onto the thicker ice. He crawled the rest of the way to the shore and then looked back to see his beast had managed to get to the same shore. She was shivering and shaking. He went over to her and checked her out. He pulled away from the shore and further up. He had to chance it so he stood in the sun with her and used leaves and branches to try to get as much moisture off of her and himself as possible. His spare clothes were all soaked. He took his boots and pants off and tried to get as much of the water out by rolling them over and over into tight cylinders.
He finally decided he couldn't stay there and freeze and led the limping beast. By luck or fortune, he found a farm less than a mile inland. The smoke from the chimney told him it was occupied. The Garmr barked, alerting the owners to his intrusion. He hunkered down in the light woods and watched a child check and then dismiss the noise as an animal.
He was a bit fearful of a predator but pushed himself to the farm when night fell. By that time, he was chattering and the branack was giving off a deep cough.
He got her into barn, the creak of the door hinges making him cringe, then into an empty stable. He snagged a pair of worn overalls and put them on hastily. They were covered in shit, but he didn't care, Warmth was far more important than smell at that point.
The snuffle and shifting about in other stalls told him there were other beasts.
He took his tack off of his beast, rubbed her with some hay and fed her. He was sorely tempted to lay down in the thick straw. The beast did that rather than eat.
He shook his head. He didn't like the sound of her raspy breathing but couldn't do anything for her. Instead he turned and found the farm's beasts.
There were a series of draft animals and then a single runner. He clucked and offered a treat to get the animal to let him in, then petted him. It was a gelding. He put his tack on, added his roll and gear, and then used rags he had found to muffle the gelding’s feet and mouth while he snuck her out.
A ways down the path he mounted her. He tied his boots to the pommel and then clicked her flanks. She took off, responsive to his commands.
He didn't stop until near dawn. When he did, he practically fell out of the saddle. He didn't bother to eat or drink; instead, he loosened the gelding's girth strap and tied him to a branch and then made a quick lean-to and collapsed on his bedroll, spent.
~~~^~~~
Legatus Tycho tried to take his people west to Baron Farragut but found he couldn't, The road was blocked by a couple patrols and then a blizzard. They ended up finding shelter in an abandoned farm for a short time. The barn was in better shape than the other outbuildings and home. The farmhouse itself had been long abandoned; part of the roof had caved in long ago.
A check of the map and some scouting told him that he couldn't go south along the main road either; they would be expecting that. That meant he could go north or southwest. He chose southwest for the moment.
Eudoxia did her best to deal with the wounded. Tacitus hung in there but several others died from their wounds. They were stripped of their belongings, their names recorded, and then placed in the barn. The ground was just too cold to bury them, and there were no shovels or implements to do so. The farm had been stripped, no doubt by the neighbors.
On the third evening, a scout brought back Gunnar and the cheese maker's family. Gunnar was willing to join them despite the risk, but his wife and children were bitter. “We'll get it back and then some; this I promise you.”
Gunnar nodded. “I don't understand what those fools think they'll accomplish,” he said with a shake of his head. “Just more misery.”
“I know. But what is done is done; we just have to survive it.”
Gunnar's involvement as well as picking up a handful of other refugees reminded Tycho and the others that all Duluthians weren't at fault. It warned him to watch out for some of the refugees though; they might tell a patrol of his group in order to save themselves.
He refused to turn the others away though. They brought harrowing stories of survival and of events in the capital. He did his best to listen and take notes on scraps of cloth or paper.
~~~^~~~
Siegfried rode out to his lands with the promise of sending back supplies and a draft of men, weather of course permitting.
He had no idea if he could do it. He had to though; he was committed. He listened to the branack's panting and the crunch of the snow under its hooves and claws and focused on getting to his home in one piece.
~~~^~~~
Domina Rasmussen tried to get things back to what they were. She had been the primary force behind letting Siegfried go; he was too besotted with the girl to do anything but behave. He'd send supplies and men. She knew it wouldn't be much, but something was better than nothing.
To her dismay she found that the hospital had been trashed and ransacked; many of the patients killed. The medicus had fled or died. The medicus that answered to her were old or they refused to learn the new Terran ways. She moved them into the hospital but found that they immediately began to complain and demand supplies. When she had trouble providing them, half of the medicus disappeared, either melting into the capital or leaving it. She ordered a guard to be placed on the remaining medicus. She couldn't afford to lose any more.
The hospital was filled with their injured as well as ill from the capital. She had her people dig up supplies for the medicus to use. Most of the medicus left were barbers and midwives though, with little schooling so she doubted many of the worst hurt in their care would survive.
Another one of her attempts to restore order failed when she pushed for a new sheriff and a cutback on Stephan's antics. He resented her “high-handed interference” into “his affairs.” Percival backed him;
that was their agreement. Stephan handled capital security while the rest of them dealt with the greater picture and the castle.
A third attempt at restoring the school and university failed utterly. The students had fled or been killed, the teachers as well. Their materials were in a sorry state. She raged when she found out that the looters had stolen, defaced, or sometimes destroyed the books, scrolls, and other things. “Who does that?!?”
“They can make more, right?” Percival said with a shrug. “With that … machine?”
“No!”
“No?”
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 43
