Chapter 12
Date: January 4, 3027
It'd taken a few months, but I had finally managed to get two computers set up with servers and backups for both the factory as well as to my house. It'd cost more money than I'd thought it should, and I'd had to spend a lot of time convincing everyone that the computer and database at the factory was worth it.
Even though we hadn't finished construction yet, we'd gone ahead with the database and servers because we wanted them built into hardened areas of the facility. After it'd been installed and encrypted. I'd spent a few weeks pulling late nights copying over all the data I'd written down in my notebook into the database. Then I'd catalogued it and began putting in the plans and notes for the factory machines.
How to reprogram, replace, repair, and manufacture new machines was all documented. Then there was the plans for the Mackie we were going to build. For now, we were starting with the industrial skeletal frame and myomers, supplemented with proper weaponry, targeting systems, and fusion reactors.
The latter was the thing that was going to take the most time to construct. Converting a fuel cell manufacturing center into a fusion reactor plant was not an easy feat. But it was possible, and I'd put the documentation on it into our database.
Until then, we were going to have to purchase any spare engines that might be available on world to outfit the machines coming off the floor.
"Hey, Edmund!" Billy caught my attention. "The contractors have some questions about the depth you wanted for parts of the factory. Says they found something to take a look at."
"On my way!" I replied, moving out of the office and heading for the 'rear' of the factory building. The top level, what we had already finished, was responsible for manufacturing armor and mounting the tested weapons. Turns out that medium lasers weren't that difficult to produce, and everyone needed more of them. So, we'd set that up and had it producing lasers inside of the first month before starting to sell them to mercs, KaliYama, anyone who wanted them, really.
The benefit of building the lasers was that it also gave us a good starting point for training people on the factory and the tools. They were simple, effective, and it was something that we could make high quality and test before sending out the door.
"So, what'd we find?" I asked Andrew, the lead contractor on the parts of the factory that were supposed to be buried underground.
"Well, we were drilling down to bedrock so that we could anchor things there in case of nukes," Andrew handed me and Billy hardhats and had us put them on. "That part was fine. When we started widening it out and moving to the south from here is when things get interesting."
We followed Andrew down the lift a few floors and then climbed off, following him on the scaffolding until he pointed up and in front of us.
"It's a fully natural cavern," Andrew said. "And it's still under your property. Our costs'll be cheaper if we reinforce the natural rock there and then build what we need out from there."
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"You're going to have to find a new way to dispose of waste than we originally planned. Which means we're not going to be able to save you money" Andrew turned on a spotlight and shined it down. "There's an aquifer here that hadn't been identified until we dug deep enough. But now that we know it's there, we have to account for it in the plans."
"I'll play devil's advocate here," Billy commented. "What if we act like we didn't find it?"
"Poisoned wells, a bunch of fines if and when it gets found out, lots of other potential issues," Andrew sighed. "It's a pain to deal with, but it's something that we need to figure out now. So, we're going to have to put this section on hold until we've got a full plan on how to avoid poisoning the aquifer."
"I assume you've already started working on a plan?" I asked, following the contractor as he led us back out.
"I'm directing a few people to come up with preliminary plans," he nodded. "There are more than a few steps involved. We'll have to measure the waterway, figure out how deep it is, and how to work around it as well. While the cavern will make things easier to fortify. Working around the aquifer will be offset those cost savings. It might even out, might cost more, might cost less. I'll have to do another cost analysis. The surface buildings should continue on schedule, it's just the underground parts that are going to take a bit longer."
"What about the initial underground bits?" I continued asking questions and taking notes. "Are we good to start moving equipment in on schedule?"
"You're going to have to wait on those parts until we've finished," Andrew shook his head. "Just in case something goes wrong."
Date: February 10, 3027
"It'll be another five months before everything's up and running then?" Sylvie asked.
"Yeah," I sighed, "We'll be keeping afloat with the medium lasers we're churning out. Unfortunately, it's going to be tight until construction is complete."
"If we hadn't found that cavern, we'd still be under construction until '28," I shrugged. "You wanted everything critical in hardened areas. That costs more and takes more time. The Aquifer is a setback, sure. But it's not the worst thing that could have happened."
"Fair," the blond sighed. "Even then, we're not going to be able to start production right away. We've got to train everyone on the different machines, get everything set up for the right tooling for Mackies instead of whatever indy 'mech they were manufacturing before."
"We were able to retool that one line to manufacture lasers in a couple of months," I grinned. "Once we have everything ready, I think it'll be like a switch being turned on. Sure, there'll be a few kinks to work out. That's just the way things are. Until then, we stay the course. Because we have the proof of concept worked out." I jerked my thumb behind me at the Mackiethat we'd fished out of the salvage yard and turned into some sort of unholy mixture of an original and modernized version. "We know that it'll work, we even asked the militia to test it for us. We make them, and there's a market there."
"I'm just not good with waiting," Sylvie crossed her arms. "I've been 'waiting' to do stuff all my life, and now that I'm actually doing things, I have to wait? It's complete and total bullshit!"
"It is," I laughed. "But that's the way the world works. Everything has its own say. From the local government, to the planetary, then the feds. All different regs we have to meet, and if we eventually do want to produce and sell to the FWLM, then we have to meet more stringent security requirements, then there'll be more waiting for clearances if we want to do R&D projects, etc. Building a business with your own hands is a lot of getting everything set up, and then waiting for everything to go through all at once. I keep telling you, just wait. The snowball's already rolling, it's just going to have to pick up some speed is all."
"Maybe that analogy would work better if I'd seen snow that wasn't from a tri-vid," Sylvie glared.
"Well, go take a vacation," I shrugged. "There's some places that get snow around here, right?"
"There's a few resorts in the mountains of Kaleen that offer skiing and stuff," Sylvie nodded.
"Well, you make enough money, go take a break. We'll hold down the fort here and keep things rolling. You guys made me take a break to buy a house I'm making you take some time to enjoy yourself. Sure, there's a lot to be done. Money isn't really worth it if you burn yourself out so much you can't enjoy it."
"If you're sure," Sylvie glanced around the mostly empty office space.
"I'm sure," I smiled. "Go on, we've got things here. If there's something so critical that appears that we need you to help, we'll get in touch with you."
Sylvie just nodded and settled down to finish her paperwork before leaving for the day. Even with a 50/50 split, there was just enough paperwork to keep us in the office at least one day per week. We both preferred to be out on the floor helping everyone out. But supplies, paychecks, and everything in between demanded personal attention.
"Took you long enough to talk her into taking a break," Eddy glanced up from where he'd remained silent. "That girl works too hard."
"I think she's just worried about all of this being for naught," I sighed. "I get it. She's the one in her family to choose to step out of the comfort zone and finish what her grandfather started. That's not an easy thing. I seem immune because I've already lost everything and had to start over again. It's easy to stay calm when you've already experienced rock-bottom."
"I guess," Eddy shrugged. "I just like machines and making them work. As long as you can let me keep doing that, you've got me an Billy."
"You got it," I signed one last line and filed the last document away to be scanned into the database later.
"Eventually, i'll get you trained on this," I gestured towards the central computer that was in the middle of the room. It was built into the pillar and had one monitor in plain view for any authorized employees.
The 'everyday' operations were kept visible to anyone who visited. I didn't see a point in hiding what we were doing. The servers and lone access point to them was where the 'need to know' stuff happeened. Right now, it was just the documentation on the Mackiewe were going to release along with the repair manuals for everything including the factories. But as we expanded, I fully expected us to have patents, licenses, and other documentation to fill our database. It's why I preordered and prepaid for extra storage. Even if it was farcheaper to get terrabytes of on-site information storage here than it was back home, I was just a bit paranoid and had backed up copies to my house.
"I dunno about computers, boss," Eddy rubbed the back of his balding head. "I'll fill out the paperwork you need. But I don't want to break the damned thing."
"I think you're fine," I laughed, knowing that these computers were far more durable than the ones I'd worked with back home. Even if they were radically different in computational styles. "But we can have an intern scan things in later. This just makes it easier to pull something up and make a copy if we can't find it in here," I opened the filing cabinet that Sylvie had slaved over. For all that she enjoyed working on the tanks and 'mechs, she really seemed to enjoy the organizational part of things. She'd spent three weeks finding every document, file, and signature before putting it in date, alphabetical order, and everything going back to when her grandfather had owned Siler's Salvage. It was OCD, but I appreciated it because I could understand it.
Everyone had their own niche. Mine used to be computers, but now, it seemed that whatever had killed me and dropped me here had other plans. Because now when I slept, I dreamed of 'mechs, weapons, factories, and schematics. Random pieces of the information would float through my mind and leave me waking up to scribble into my notebook.
Admittedly, I usually woke up to find that it was nonsense. Still, it might be useful someday; pencils and notebooks were cheap, and I could always pull one out for a quick bit of notetaking.
"Five more months of construction," I sighed. "Then we can move onto the fun bit. Beta-tests."