Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "Spoil sport," he teased, dancing out of her reach with a grin.

  Chapter 5

  Deidra smiled as Doctor Carter checked her over thoroughly. She knew the palace duty nurse could handle taking her vitals and the basic checkup, but they both knew she was reassured whenever the doctor did it.

  "So far so good. I double checked your BP, you are good. You need to reduce your stress level and stay off your feet. You could pop at any time now," Doctor Carter warned as she put the BP cuff and gear away.

  The paramedic pack belonged to Eugene who had held onto it for palace use. They had yet to perfect making most of the gear. For the moment, they were barely past tongue depressor production and simple instruments.

  "Good to know," she murmured, stroking her gravid belly. "I tire of Eugene teasing me about feeling like a beached whale. I don't even know what one is!"

  Sue shot her a startle look and then smiled slightly. "It's a big animal."

  Deidra's eyes flashed. "Is he calling me fat?"

  "I … think he's calling you in an awkward state. And I think that's all I want to venture on that subject."

  "Uh huh," Deidra said, not totally convinced.

  "Easy, remember your breathing and stress. He's just teasing," Sue said, resting a hand on her tummy. "Don't be so prickly, it can affect the pregnancy and the baby."

  Deidra nodded. They knew from the ultrasound that it was a girl. She was still arguing with Eugene over the name though. She wanted to name her daughter after something heroic and inspiring. He wanted to keep her down to earth and name her after one of their late mothers.

  Pregnancy on her world was tricky. She'd initially thought she'd been pregnant when Zara had left. That had turned into a false alarm. They'd gotten it right shortly after though.

  Many women tried to time a pregnancy to end in the ver s, when food was far more plentiful. She was expecting that to happen.

  "Any problems with nightmares, flashbacks?"

  Deidra's face closed briefly. She shook her head mutely. Once and a while a position or movement or heated argument would bring up dark memories of her rape. They were growing fewer though thanks to the counseling sessions and her tender mate.

  He had allowed her to take the initiative in their lovemaking for a long time. She'd been exasperated by it until she'd realized he hadn't wanted to trigger something within her. That had made her care for him even more.

  That had eventually led to her gravid situation. Not that she was complaining.

  Much.

  "All set here?" the doctor asked.

  Deidra nodded.

  "Try to relax as much as possible and conserve your strength. You will need it when it comes time to be in labor."

  "You will be here, right?"

  "I hope so."

  "Don't make me restrict you to the palace or capital, Sue," the queen said.

  Sue looked at her in surprise. She tried to put that simple statement in context. It wasn't just her friend saying that; it was the queen and a worried pregnant woman wanting the best medical care she could get her hands on.

  "You'll do fine," Sue said, resting a hand on Deidra's briefly. "Light exercises, remember the breathing ones. Remember that class?"

  Deidra nodded. She and Eugene had attended one of the doctor's new classes on childbirth. She hadn't understood the need initially, but she did now. She'd been amused that Sue had insisted Eugene go through it with her. She'd been comforted by it, and she had come to realize that her comfort had been part of the goal of the class. Her comfort and his with the process.

  "I'd say a week; the baby isn't quite in position yet. So, we've got time. Try to avoid stairs," Sue warned. Deidra nodded. She'd had a couple near falls and was now very cautious. She wished Eugene would hurry up and figure out how to put an elevator in the palace.

  "I'm going to check on your day nurse and staff and make sure they are up to speed and then go back to my usual schedule. Remember what I said about reducing your stress and staying comfortable, kapish?" Sue asked, waggling a finger at her.

  "Yes, Doctor," Deidra said submissively, lowering her eyes.

  "Right. And I can believe that as much as I can throw you," Sue said as she finished packing up.

  Deidra looked up with a glower. "Was that another fat reference?"

  Sue just shook her head and chuckled as she made her way out.

  ~~~^~~~

  Glass production was important, nearly as important a commodity as metal these days it seemed. Therefore, Cecily was on hand to check in on the shipment when it arrived. The Haiat Duchy had been set up as major glass production facility. They had recently opened up the selling their surplus goods to all in the Imperium.

  Dominus Haiat was still paying off start-up costs and loans so he was pretty eager to prove himself. He occasionally took shortcuts though.

  She checked the shipment carefully. The dominus had learned to not skimp on shipping materials after she'd sent back a load with too much breakage. All seemed okay on the surface though; the glass tubes and containers were packed in hay and other packing materials. They were still not big on producing sheet glass though. She did a count and compared it to her manifest carefully.

  She knew that her people could and did blow glass into a cylinder and then cut it open and then had it lay flat to cool. The river method that Eugene and Max had in mind needed molten tin and a lot of other equipment they didn't have.

  At least, not yet at any rate she thought, tapping her stylus against her lips thoughtfully. She noted the wagon master's nervous look and smiled slightly in reassurance for his benefit.

  They needed energy too, a lot of energy. And they needed it for so many things! There never seemed to be enough energy. Every time they finished an energy project, it was tapped out at near capacity in a short time.

  She knew that Max wanted to work on electronic production, but it wasn't his strong suit. She loved her mate, but he knew his limits. That was probably why he let the king take some of the lead there. Not that the king had time, which was why she was trying to learn some of it in her limited spare time.

  Limited indeed, for she had their growing family to care for as well as all of her duties as Max's second. But they were getting there. Her attention turned to some of the smaller bits.

  She found some of the bulbs had been cracked or broken. She made a note and pointed it out to the wagon master. He grimaced and spread his hands apart. She made sure to make a note of it to the factory. They still needed to improve their shipping methods.

  She checked the wagon and sure enough it was one of the old models; it lacked the leaf suspension that Max had introduced. She shook her head and made a note of that in her report.

  They were steadily upgrading to what the king called the basics. They had produced their first native-built transistors, diodes, and some crude ICs, but again, they were very crude and basic. But they were getting there she reminded herself firmly. One step at a time.

  She was aware of the debates going on between the king and Max over the use of their limited reserve of electronics from Patria. Max wanted to use some of the microcomputers as brains for various projects, but he also wanted to keep a reserve in case of breakdowns. The king wanted to run a small robotics lab, and he was in agreement with Max to expand on their stock of CNC machines, 3D printers, and other things. But there were so many other calls for the devices, to teach in the growing university, to help the doctor with her healing, and so on.

  She turned to the wagon master. "We'll pay for the undamaged products. You'll need to return the broken ones back to the factory for a refund," she said.

  He grimaced but nodded. He knew better than to haggle.

  She tallied it up with her assistant and then signed off on the payment. Then she took a step back to allow her people to proceed with the unloading. She made sure they were doing it carefully. Any packaging that they didn't need would be returned with the wagon load. But most would be kept to protect the material unt
il they were called upon to be used. Other used packing crates and materials were near ready for loading though.

  "Do they still believe that they can make the paper packing material?" the wagon master asked.

  Cecily pursed her lips in thought. She'd heard about that too but had lost track of it. "I can look into it," she said with a nod. "Most likely the pulp mill is overwhelmed with other projects again. I believe we need another mill."

  He blinked and then nodded politely.

  "I'll take it up with the king later when I see him," she said.

  "Please give him and his wife my kindest regards," the wagon master said with a bow.

  She smiled and nodded back.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene checked on some of the castle repairs and upgrades. It was an ongoing project and investment. The burnt tower had been rebuilt but they were still working on improvements. Wiring for instance and chinking the mortar was an ongoing thing in some areas. He'd love to replace the wood shingles and straw roofs with metal.

  One thing at a time he reminded himself. First the mortar and infrastructure.

  Fortunately, the two could be combined. Old mortar could be chiseled out and then wiring and or plumbing could be laid inside the channel and then fresh mortar applied over it. That was helping to reduce the amount of mortar needed a little.

  The new mortar recipe helped too. Hopefully, it would last longer.

  Hopefully .

  Eugene looked over to where the ladies were beginning to gather. He had an ulterior motive to his preoccupation. He was amused by his wife having her quarterly fashion show. Domina Ciara, the fashion and clothing minister, was right there with her.

  They had invited many of the ladies and merchant wives to attend. The chatter of gossip ran thick and heavy as did the giggles and wine. He had no intention of being drawn into it. Twice they'd tried to have a show for men's fashion, and he'd only barely been able to escape those events.

  The two-day event definitely helped the textile industry, which was one of the reasons Deidra did it. They liked to showcase new materials as well as new designs. Deidra was apparently looking forward to designs for pregnant ladies, even though she was due to pop within a week or two.

  It was also amusing to see the ladies go over some of the Terran fashion and materials, looking into the history and wearability of the products. The initial shows had scandalized the old biddies until they'd learned they were being left out. That wouldn't do, so they'd come along, and in time they had begun to adapt and even participate. Some still clung to tradition a bit more than others though.

  The show also allowed some of the subcontractors to show off some of the side technology. Everything from newly-made needles to the first sewing machines, lights, dummies, and fans.

  Some of the new fabrics shown would be used for bedding too. He was appalled by some of the new pastel colors and prints that the natives seemed to be drawn to, however.

  He hoped Deidra wasn't drawn to that. It was bad enough that she'd redecorated their suite twice since becoming pregnant. Nesting he knew, but there was a limit. He tried to be supportive, but he also made himself scarce the moment he could get out of her clutches.

  What can't be cured had to be endured he thought with a snort.

  ~~~^~~~

  Max had a series of visits on his schedule. He didn't care to check on the public works, but he forced himself to do so regularly. First off, they needed them; more importantly, they needed them to work properly. Second, he wanted to make sure they were built right and that the workers were not abused. They had to work safely too, but in a timely manner.

  His latest visit was to a dam half a day's drive from the capital. He had been initially bemused and annoyed by the queen's insistence of a guard, but he'd become more or less resigned to it and even welcomed them when he'd had a couple brushes with bandits. Nothing had happened. They had been too far out from the road to ambush him, and he knew that was in large part to having an entourage too large for the bandits to take on.

  The hydroworks was sucking up a third of their public works funds as well as concrete and steel production. The thing was only a hundred meters across but it might as well be the Hoover Dam. He wasn't a geologist though; he was concerned about what it would do to the land beyond the dam once the lake filled.

  Each of the cells of the dam had wood forms. They were filled with rebar. A pair of cranes fed the job site. One was old school, powered by people in hamster wheels. The other was a new steam model.

  A third crane was to be constructed in the generator house. It would run along a track in the ceiling to move the equipment in and out. It was vital to get the generators installed properly. He checked the generator house and nodded.

  They were almost ready to install the generators, which was something of a relief since the massive generators had been built and were in a warehouse being stored. He'd even been tempted to tear them down and do a rebuild to try to squeeze a bit more points of efficiency out of them but Cecily and Ryans had firmly told him no.

  Besides, he just didn't have the time.

  He had a lot on his plate. With the dam up, they'd have more power. Not enough to run everything, not even close, but it was a start.

  He'd love to convert the coal-fired refineries to electric. Electric induction furnaces for smelting were far more efficient than coal. But that was for the future. For the moment, he had to put up with the small smelting refinery as it was.

  The concrete plant, dam, and smelter were all proof of concepts. It was ironic; they were beating Duluthian swords and weapons of wars into the tools, equipment, and rebar they needed to jump-start the industrial revolution.

  Once he was sure the project was still on track and on schedule, he turned to continue his loop. He made a point of checking on various projects on the way home. Some of it was related to the road works. One stop along the way was for the slowly expanding railway, but the most stops were to the windmills and factories.

  He got a thumbs-up from the crew doing routine maintenance on the largest wind farm. The workers had hard hats and rigging gear on and looked like they were comfortable in them. They'd better be; they had to go up once a month to grease the gears and check the equipment.

  Bird strikes were still common. They had a problem in the west. One of the towers had toppled over in the wind, and the report said it was due to poor footings in soft ground. He hadn't liked taking the construction crew to task over that one, but he'd had no choice.

  Another tower was leaning. He'd thought it had been poor footings as well, but it turned out that a big-ass animal had decided to use the pole as a convenient back and rump scratcher.

  He came over and checked with the crew boss. "So far so good. As long as the winds hold off, we'll get it done today," the boss said pointedly.

  Max smiled at the warning to not take up too much of their time. "Just checking in. If you've got a problem, let me know."

  "So far so good. We're going to work on the transmission lines tomorrow. Are you still planning to add more?" the boss asked, pointing to the wood poles.

  Max shaded his eyes to look and frowned. "We are for the hydro dam. We need another processing station to handle the power load and balance it. And we need another place to store it all. But we're low on copper until we get another shipment in."

  "Ah," the crew boss said. "Well, we've got the knack down, so we are ready when you are … weather permitting."

  Max grunted. Getting it done before the storms was important he knew. "Yeah, I hear you. Let me see if I can move things around. Digging posts in winter is impossible."

  "Yeah," the crew boss said with a nod.

  "And I know you know that, so I'll let you get back at it. Stay sharp," he said, slapping the guy on the shoulder before heading off once more.

  If he was lucky, he'd be home in time for dinner.

  ~~~^~~~

  Once a week Doctor Sue Carter held a free medical clinic in the castle courtyard. Peopl
e had learned to line up at the gates long before they opened so they could be the first to be seen and get out quickly if possible. It was a security nightmare for palace security though.

  It made great training for some people though. And it was an excellent public relations affair for the king and queen. Some of the dominus and dominas were beginning to emulate them.

  Those who had attended before brought copies of their records. Many couldn't read them, but they knew the importance of having them since there were so many people. Some people had come in from the outlying farms and villages with their troubles the evening beforehand.

  The clinic was a good place to train healer interns. The healers tried to cover everything—from basic dentistry to general ailments and vaccinations. Occasionally, they had to reset a bone or deal with a badly healed injury. Anyone who had a special problem, they had to refer for more in-depth medical care.