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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

FROM CAPTURED HISTORY TAPES,
FILE 1846583A ca. 1832 a.d.
BUT CONCERNING EVENTS OF UP TO
2000 YEARS EARLIER

Billions for Building 

Again, Duke Kren satisfied the needs of nature, with the pain in his head pulsing. Yet, as he reviewed his memories, he couldn't help but think that those were the great old days! The days of joy and fulfillment!

He lay down, and put the recording helmet back on.

 

Once they were in their private cabin on the train, Dol said, "Kren, just what was all that about?"

"Sorry, but the duke's Keno isn't very good. I just made a deal whereby Duke Dennon will give us all of the machinery that you inspected yesterday, in return for two dozen billion Ke worth of our corporation's shares, which he doesn't expect to make any money off of!"

"How wonderful, sir."

"You don't seem to be very enthusiastic about it," Kren said.

"I'm not! Don't you see that you've just blown me off the board of directors?"

"Perhaps, but not necessarily. The corporation only elects a new board once a year. You have plenty of time to come up with a few dozen billion Ke, and invest it properly in your favorite corporation. Then you can blow Bronki off the board."

"There is that, yes," Dol said.

"And anyway, the corporation is going to need a lot of spending cash."

"I expect that it will get it, since Bronki won't like being pushed out, either. She'll be buying more stock, too. Watch her!"

"Right, she will. Have fun, you two. If you both get really enthusiastic with the competition, maybe you can blow Duke Dennon off the board," Kren said. "Next, I want you to hire a crew who knows how to use our sort of mining machinery, and start them digging three-yard tunnels from the train stations to the wintering centers."

"Oh, we've already got them, sir."

"We do?"

"Duke Dennon's engineers have all been through an extensive course in how to use all the machinery they bought. The original plan was to have them set it up in that old copper mine themselves. They spent a year in mining school, came back eager to work, and the bottom promptly fell out of the copper market. They've all been sitting around for a year now with nothing to do, and getting very frustrated about it. I've already discussed the project with Chief Engineer Dako, and she wants to start immediately," Dol said.

"Then as soon as we get home, phone her and tell them to start on it! Do you think that they would be willing to take company stock for their work, instead of cash?"

"So far, there has been no mention of money. I tell you, sir, these girls really want to get going on something! But if the subject comes up, I'll relay your suggestion to them."

"I suppose that we can take the dirt we remove and load it directly on to railroad hopper cars," Kren said.

"That is the plan, yes. Dako suggested that the best thing would be to just dump it in the Borako Ocean Trench. There's a railroad station built on the grass mat right above it, and everybody within a thousand miles uses it for a dump. That trench is so big that at present usage, it will take three dozen million years to fill it up."

The Mitchegai tend to worry about ecological things in the long term, but not that long.

Dol continued, "That's what they were planning to do with the waste material from the Senta Copper Mine. I'll have to make arrangements with the MagFloat Corporation, for cutting holes in the walls of their loading docks, shipping in and out our equipment, and using their floor space to package the children. And hauling away the dirt, of course. I think that once we get the lighting strung up in the tunnels, we'll be able to buy the electricity for them from the railroad as well. It should be a lot cheaper than putting in our own power supplies."

"So you're way ahead of me on this thing. Good. Do it!"

"Thank you, sir," Dol said. "I'll get on it, directly."

"Right. Next subject. I'd been planning on building conventional buildings, big buildings, for growing grass in, and for feeding the juvenals until they are big enough to eat. I wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to use the big tunneling machines to make underground buildings. We could take these big, metal-lined tunnels and weld floors in them. We could put lights and water sprinklers on the ceilings, and grass on the floors. Then we could have mowing machines running along rails mounted on the side walls. It has the nice advantage of keeping everybody else from knowing what we are doing."

"That's interesting, sir. I'll do some cost analyses in a few days, once I get the tunnels to the wintering centers going."

"Fine," Kren said. "But talk to Bronki about dealing with the MagFloat Corporation. She probably knows somebody on their board of directors, and can cut us a better deal."

"And get herself a kickback in the process."

"Which she'd better invest in company stock. I'm going to take a nap. Fighting in armor is a real pain in the tail, and I think I'll be sore for days. Wake me when we get home."

Kren felt perfectly safe, sleeping in the same room when Dol was awake there. If he was killed, she wouldn't have a sure thing to bet on.

* * *

When they returned home, Dol filled Bronki in, and she agreed to talk to several old friends on the MagFloat board of directors.

"You know, Dol, after five thousand years, one gets to know just about everybody who is really important."

By Monday afternoon, she had struck a deal whereby the Superior Food Corporation had permission to cut tunnels into a dozen and nine of their largely unused stations, provided that they placed a secure and attractive door over the opening when it was not in use. They could use the currently underutilized loading docks to package the children at no cost, provided that they cleaned up after themselves.

Superior Food would then pay normal rates to ship the dirt to the Borako Ocean Trench, to transport their machinery and personnel, and to get the juvenals to market, but these fees would be paid in packaged juvenals at a price of two dozen Ke each. The MagFloat Corporation would then sell these kids at a modest profit to their employees.

MagFloat also had plans to use the juvenals to promote long distance "Party Trips," in the hope of cutting into the long-distance trade, currently dominated by the airlines. The longest possible rail trip took five days. If a customer could enjoy a good party, and then eat a really big meal, she could sleep it off, and would be ready to do whatever she had to do at her destination, without the problems of jet lag.

"But Bronki," Dol said, "how are you going to make your usual kickback on all of this? There isn't any money involved!"

"Well, no, but a certain small number of the packaged children they receive will be delivered to my store. I'll get two per gross of what we pay them. There's always a way."

* * *

On Tuesday, Duke Dennon telephoned Kren, and asked him why all of his engineers were working on getting Kren's equipment ready for shipment.

"Your Grace, I think that Dol and Dako decided that your technical sorts needed something to do, and your engineers all offered to help out. I mean, I never agreed to pay them to do this."

"Well, don't you think that you should have asked me before you made use of my army?"

"I never intended to offend you, sir. Are you offended?"

"Well, not really, but you and I have a business arrangement." The duke said, "If you wanted something else, you should have discussed it with me, and not just let our subordinates go off on their own!"

"You are absolutely right, and I apologize. I'll see that this never happens again. However, it can't be good for morale to have troops who are absolutely bored, and I still could use their services. May they lend Dol a hand?"

"But I am paying each of those engineers a salary. If you want them, you should pay for them."

"Very well. The nature of having an army during peacetime is that you must pay for something that you aren't currently using. What if I were to pay you one third of their salaries, with the understanding that if they were ever needed by you, I would release them to you instantly. You would then still have your engineers when you needed them, but would be cutting your expenses by one third."

"And you would feed them while they were working for you?"

"Assuredly."

"Then make it half their salaries, and we have a deal."

"Excellent. I will of course be paying you for them in corporation stock, since you've already gotten most of my money."

"Humph. Okay, tell me which event you will be winning at this coming weekend, and we have a deal."

"I'll take the distance throw. But please, don't go betting another gross billion."

"I don't have a gross billion free anymore. My wager will be under a dozen billion."

"That won't depress the odds too badly."

"Very well, we have a deal. I'll write it up, and send it along with the deal we made last weekend. My courier will get there tomorrow evening."

"Excellent, Your Grace. Another thing. I'm going to be needing a fair number of unskilled workers, to herd and box up the juvenals for market. Would you be interested in renting me some of your ordinary soldiers, at the same rates?"

"Very well. But in a week's time, I'll expect to know about your next win in advance."

"We have an agreement."

* * *

On Thursday morning, the small tunneler was working on the first connection to a wintering center, which was projected to be completed within the week, being the shortest one.

On Friday afternoon, Kren had completed his sketches of the Research Center, to be placed near a railroad station in the center of his lands, and which had a wintering center near by. Besides the separate growing chambers for the various lines of juvenals, there was the genetic research building, an administration building, and very pleasant housing for twice as many workers as he could imagine needing.

These rather tall apartment buildings were to be equipped with "freight elevators," which were allowed by law, provided they each had a key-operated lock distributed only to certified movers. But since Kren was the law, and he was not averse to some illegal keys being distributed, he thought that the upper floors would soon be thought of as the most desirable. His own apartment would take up the entire top floor of the tallest building, and would be three times as big as Bronki's.

He gave his rough sketches to Dol, to have formal drawings made.

"Do it all to the standard building codes," Kren said, "But we don't have to bother with anybody's approval, since we are the law, hereabouts."

"Yes sir. But I've just completed my analysis of the costs of tunneling out floor space versus conventional construction, and you know? Once we have the tunneling machines, building underground is four times cheaper!"

"Now, that's good to hear. But our research workers are all going to be high-quality, well-educated individuals, and I think that they will prefer living and working aboveground. The shop rats can live and work in the tunnels, but the Research Center really ought to be aboveground."

"As you wish, sir."

"Good. Now, get all of the big tunneling machines working. And then start working on growing a lot of grass, underground."

* * *

The next weekend, Kren won at the distance throw for the second time in a row, on the theory that since they hadn't done this before, the odds should be higher. They weren't. The payoff was only two to one, and following his new policy, he only bet half of his ready cash on it. Nonetheless, he still made a billion Ke on the match. Dol, who was betting everything she had, made much more.

* * *

The week after saw their first shipments of children go out, a thousand to fill Bronki's new store, and three thousand as their payment to the MagFloat Corporation. The cold winter weather was closing in, but the wintering centers were still far from full, and they only had access to one of them. Next week the take would be much better.

They also broke ground on the Research Center. Construction would go on through the winter, with the workers in electrically heated suits. The first isolated breeding unit was to be completed by spring, and the whole complex was to be finished by midsummer.

Below ground, two of the big tunneling machines were in operation, filling hopper car after hopper car with dirt. MagFloat personnel connected them into gross-car-long unit trains, and sent them out at night when the shipping rates were lower.

Two more of the big tunnelers would be brought online each week. Fortunately, the equipment purchased from the duke had included a six-year supply of the metal coils used for making the tunnel linings, as well as the welding wire, and bottled argon used in the MIG welders that put them together, so this would not be a financial burden for a while.

Besides Duke Dennon's two gross of engineers, Kren now had six gross of regular troops on his payroll, in addition to almost two gross of workers that he had inherited from the duke when he had bought the land. In fact some three quarters of the native population on Kren's new lands were workers on his payroll. These workers maintained the wintering centers and the long grass fields above them, and they had to be paid in cash, not with company stock. The same was true for the genetics scientists Kren had hired. By Friday, Kren had to hire an accountant to keep tract of things, and she had to be paid in money, too.

The crews putting in the fencing had to have regular progress payments, as well, and soon they would be paying for the huge number of monochromatic lighting panels that they had on order.

And the Research Center had to be paid for in cash progress payments.

When the buildings that you are putting up are expected to last for many thousands of years without serious maintenance, construction costs are high. Kren was forced to buy stock in his own company with his own cash, to keep it liquid.

Neither Bronki nor Dol was the least bit interested in making any cash investments. Any money spent now on stock was that much less that they could use to bet with next weekend. They were both still saving everything they could, and betting it all on Kren's athletic prowess, in preparation for what they both knew would be a stock fight for membership on the board of directors of the Superior Food Corporation next year. Once that happened, the corporation would be rolling in cash, but until then, Kren saw some lean times ahead.

The next meet was an away game, and Kren won the accuracy throw, not quite breaking his old record. The odds only paid three for two.

Dol said that a billion here, a billion there, hey, it all added up. She now had more than twice the cash that he did.

Kren decided that, computing his projected expenses, he couldn't afford to play it safe any more. He'd have to go back to betting it all on every event, just to break even.

 

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