'Not sure, mate,' said Stew. 'That might set off the resistance reaction, then you'd have hell for the next fortnight.'
'There's only a little time left. I can try to reinforce the concept by asking what he wants to do with Ju and I over the next couple of weeks, but it's the time concept, see. That's a problem.' Grum pulled a twisted expression with his mouth.
'I know. He won't get that we'll be away that long, I don't think.'
'Calendar?' said Vann, then added in a sing-song voice, 'this is when mummy and daddy go away, and this is when we come back! You can mark off a number each day until you see us again!'
'Good idea, that,' said Stew.
'Could be make or break, though. I know Ju could go either way if presented with that kind of thing,' said Grum.
'Gotta do something. Mentioning it doesn't seem to get the concept through. You're right. A concrete thing will definitely help him get the idea, but he might react badly. At this point, we'll have to take the chance, though, I think. Sorry guys,' said Amy, clearly approving the idea.
'We'll cope,' said Vann, taking a quick sip of her drink before adding, 'it's only a couple of weeks, we'll manage.'
'Good enough, then,' said Stew. 'Now, what did I miss while we were away?'
Amy and Vann let out twin sighs of exasperation, so Grum launched into a detailed account of his visit to SyncDep, rather than focus on an actual work update which could wait for Monday.
Chapter 9
GRUM was at his wit's end. Mainly with Ju. Although he was aware that a fair chunk of that frustration were his own displaced feelings of failure as a parent.
The Sunday before Stew and Amy had left for the Orbital had been a delight. Grum had taken the boys swimming and they had been equally as good, or bad, as each other.
By Stew's account during the week, the calendar ploy had worked for about an hour, until it sank in, then there were tantrums, which settled into a sullen mood for a day. Then came the pleas to go with them, the bargaining with the only chips Clait had: behaviour and love. Finally, the pleading for them not to go, and weeping.
That first night, Ju had been brilliant with Clait. Playing with toys near him and trying to get him involved, sharing treats, even though Clait had his own, and generally being a good friend. Grum had been proud of his son.
The next day the change in both boys was marked. Clait was less upset and even initiating play, but Ju was a little sod. Everything Clait wanted to do was something Ju had already done and was bored of, even though both parents knew that – until that point – he could spend hours doing the very same thing by himself, without complaint.
It got no better as time when on, either. Clait was trying to tell Ju about the holiday and all the nice things which had happened, and Ju was being entirely dismissive. Obviously Clait was trying to lessen his separation anxiety by recalling happy times which included his parents. Ju, though, it seemed, was suffering from a serious case of the green-eyed monster. So he was not being understanding as a result.
Hardly surprising in either boy at their ages.
However, when Clait — for the first time — actually asked to mark off the calendar rather than being prompted, Grum and Vann sensed a possible breakthrough. It really did not help, then, that Ju took it upon himself to scribble all over the calendar.
They had sent Ju to his room to "think about his actions", while Grum went out to get another calendar. This calendar was bigger and it had a daily colouring-in picture on each number. Clait was encouraged to colour in the days which had already passed, and told that he could colour a new one in every day until mummy and daddy got back from the work trip. The key dates were outlined in a metallic gold pen which Grum had bought at the same time, because… Metallic gold pen.
When they put it up on the refrigerator, they brought Ju back in from his room and his eyes widened at the much improved calendar. Vann and Grum explained that this was Clait's calendar, and only Clait was allowed to colour it in. If Ju apologised, properly, and asked Clait, very nicely, then Clait might let Ju help sometimes. But only if Ju did not take over.
There were no more "calendar incidents". It seemed to have been a good ploy, but it was wrought in desperation.
Grum's first instinct, quickly mastered, was to smack his son's bum, yell at him — intimidating him with sheer volume — and send him away. He had been appalled at that reaction. It revolted him. The hurried discussion between Vann and himself about what the hell to do next — while Clait was sitting there with the ruined calendar in his hands, sobbing — cascaded through various levels of punishment, most of which would have been incomprehensible to a child. Finally, Vann had said "new calendar" and pointed at the door.
It had been Grum's innovation to get the colouring calendar. And the gold pen. When he returned with it and quickly explained his idea, the look Vann gave him was one to treasure.
There had been a few more squabbles, and usually initiated by Ju. Each time Grum was living in fear of having to come up with another, more ingenious, plan to teach the lesson he wanted Ju to learn. As opposed to just "teaching his son a lesson".
And so, Grum was at his wit's end with his son, but also with himself. For all he had wondered about, and even thought he wanted another child, he was beginning to doubt his capacity for that. All he had read was telling him that kids got all the more frustrating, devious, and — paradoxically — more like friends as they got older. It was the general consensus. In Grum's lexicon – unless incontrovertible evidence presented itself – it was always the best plan to go with the consensus.
Getting his five metre swimming badge that Sunday did help to settle Ju down a bit, but he did take to pinning it to everything he wore.
Due in part to Ju's needling, Clait had not been the vibrant character over the last couple of weeks that he normally was. Grum was hopeful that today would change that.
Today there was to be a video uplink directly to the orbital. As far as USSMC was concerned, this was to be a real-time update on the conclusion of the meetings. As far as the principals on the call were concerned, it was so Clait got to see his parents, and vice versa.
They would all go up to Grum's office for this, and use however many screens gave the best view. Grum suspected that it would be just one, given that his office was not exactly huge.
Clait had brought along his calendar with all the colouring in — which he had graciously let Ju do a little of — and Ju had brought along his five metre swimming badge.
It was a good show-and-tell by the kids, and everyone had a laugh at the near-weightless antics Stew and Amy put on. That took up the first ten minutes of the slot before they had to get on to the reason USSMC was paying for the call. Rather than bore the boys, Vann took them down to the daycare centre, and Hank was called in to get the update with Grum.
The long and short of that meeting was that the teams were happy enough with the initial designs, though each team had alterations they wanted taken into account after practical experience on the moon.
The only major concern everyone had was that the testing for the nuclear reactors was taking too long. The teams did not feel that anything they were doing in regards to the Main UMB build, UMBRA, or the new AM production plant would only be put into use until they were long gone from the programme.
Grum let Hank field that concern, seeing as it had been his notion to build augmented third generation reactors. It was not exactly news, as that had been part of their briefing, but the board approval and official "go" was hot off the press. There was visible relief from both Amy and Stew as they were told that they were now allowed to tell the teams about the new plans, before they all departed.
Stew and Amy would be expected home in a couple of days.
The changing UMBRA plans meant that Grum spent most of the "Steve day" expanding the remit to cover places where technically-third generation reactors already had fourth generation features, or where there were plans to build them. Also, he was of a mind to tel
l Steve Branch that he was willing to look at deals where the deal-breaker until now had been over intellectual property and/or research.
Lastly, he wanted Steve to pull out all the stops in getting the Nevada solar PV going. If there were any roadblocks or delays, he wanted to deal with them in the quickest way possible. He reminded Steve that this was not about getting the best possible deal for any of these technologies or power generation plants. Capacity was key. All the deals he was brokering were aimed at two things: AM production, and UMBRA. Anything he was asked to put on the table was not beyond possibility.
It was a strong statement. When Grum sent the message to Steve, the reply told Grum that Steve took it as such.
Chapter 10
STEW was back in at work after only taking one rest day, despite Grum's assurance that he could take more.
'I had a month's holiday before I left for the orbital, Grum. I'm fine!'
'Just make sure you don't tell Amy different or I'll get it in the neck.'
'As if I would! So, about the boys… They looked like the were behaving like little angels when they were on the screen, but you looked a bit haggard, man. How was it?'
Grum recapped. Not leaving anything out. 'So, when you saw them, they were at the pinnacle of their behaviour. I'm sorry to say that most of the fault between the two of them lies with Ju, and therefore me.'
'Oh, don't be daft. You don't think that Clait can be a little sod? Or that I haven't had the urge to throttle him for a fraction of a second? If you really don't then you are daft.'
'It does make it feel a bit better, although it shouldn't.'
'Don't sweat it. I like the solution you did come up with for the calendar thing, though. I'll have to remember it for later situations.'
'Feel free.'
'So, have you decided about having another, then?'
'I need to talk to Vann, first, mate. Can't make the call until then.'
'Good luck. Whichever way you decide to go.'
Stew looked into his mug, then held it in front of himself, waggling it. 'Refill?'
Grum looked into his own mug, tipped the dregs down his throat and held the mug out to Stew. 'Please.'
Neither spoke until Stew sat back down and handed Grum his refilled mug back.
'Cheers, mate,' said Grum, accepting the mug.
'Now, what's this I hear about you taking the gloves off Steve Branch in his negotiations?'
'Probably all true. He's not really out there to make an extra few cents per kilowatt-hour, no matter what the board think. He's out there to get generating capacity and to enable nuclear power research. That's it.'
'Fair point. Do the board know?'
'If and when the board find out, I'll deal with it. Right now we need him to be making the deals which enable the top priority programmes — a priority also set by the board, mark you.'
'OK. So, I can tell you that we're now involved with most of the third generation builds in the US which incorporate some type of fourth gen tech. We're also well on the way to getting involved with every positive-looking project for fourth gen and upwards in the continental US, and working on the rest of the world.'
'Cool. By the way, I know about the app, you don't have to remember everything before you come in.'
'Also… What? The app? Oh, the app. Yeah, I guessed you'd figure that out after seeing the department.'
'Actually, Steff told me.'
Stew shrugged. 'In any case, it helps me to get things in my head straight if I don't refer to the app while I'm telling you.'
'Fair enough. Go on, then.'
'So… Where was I? Oh, yes, also, the Nevada state government are very happy with the deal you made about technology sharing with them.'
'I made?'
'Through Steve.'
It was Grum's turn to shrug. 'He bet that I would put my money where my mouth is. Good call, I'd say.'
'So you'll honour it?'
'When I've seen the full text of the agreement, probably. I'll trust Steve not to land me completely in it.'
'He didn't, but the board are sure to freak out over this one. We've got ten or fifteen photovoltaics patents that we've held for years involved in this.'
'Were we using them?'
'No, but…'
'Then I don't care. The board can argue all they want, but they'll have to fire me and piss off the Nevada state government if they want to back out of it.'
Stew's eyes widened. 'You're playing hardball, again?'
'Gotta. The board are getting too comfy, and they are being too cautious. They also have the misguided notion that IP in the hand is worth two in the field, which is crap. With this stuff being proven in the field, research can move on rather than stagnating. So can the market.'
'OK. I'll support your play, you know that. You sure, though?'
'Positive.'
'Then you'll enjoy this one. Nevada state government has agreed to buy in extra power incrementally as the new solar arrays come online, with two caveats. One, that the in-state consumption ratio does not drop below twenty five percent renewable. Two, that they will only buy in a matched amount of kilowatt-hours as the arrays are generating.'
'OK. Sounds good. What's the price?'
'That's the "good" bit. They want fee-free access to our IP library on renewables.'
'Has he signed off on this one?'
'Not yet. He sent me a message, saying "find out if he's absolutely sure he wants to pull the trigger on this". So are you?' Stew's expression was decidedly challenging.
'Yep. I'd say that was exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I told him what I needed. Good work.' Grum could not help but feel a frisson of apprehension as he said that.
'You're certifiable, you know that?'
'Thank you, darling. Was that it?'
'One other thing. In response to our unprecedented good will they are going to foot the entire bill for the distribution network.'
'They may think they are,' said Grum.
Stew sighed. 'What now?'
'Standard copper is too lossy. We've already got superconducting cabling to the two nearest substations. I want to push that further. Distribute the load more, and reduce the incoming losses.'
'Why not build our own substation?!' said Stew, sarcasm dripping from his every word.
'If you think that would help.'
'For crying out loud, Grum!'
'Look, Stew, you're not getting it. I don't care what's needed to get this going. It's all small-fry. If we need to develop an entirely new superconducting substation and outfit the whole of Nevada, I really, really, don't care! By comparison to what we're doing this for, it's peanuts!'
Stew rocked back. 'You're right. It's crazy. But you're right.'
'Go do all the things, Stew. I'm going to be hear waiting for the screams.'
There were no screams that day. So either no-one on the board was reading emails, or they were all too shell-shocked to find a response. Or they were having an emergency meeting to figure out how to get rid of him. It did not matter. Everything was on track.
Plus, he and Vann had gone out for lunch together. It started out nervous, but once they both worked out they were nervous over the same thing, everything fell into place. Neither of them wanted another child. Ju was just the perfect amount of joy and hassle.
Chapter 11
THE screams did start, but from an unexpected quarter. He did not know if the board were comatose or were having real trouble finding a way to squash him, but he did not hear a peep out of them. Nor did he get a summons from Kelvin, though he had expected at least an email asking who was going to pay for everything.
But no. None of that. The screams he heard were immediately after the Nevada Antimatter Power Facility announced that they had finished testing and had put collider D into full operation.
The screams which Grum heard was the phrase "WHERE'S MY STUFF?" repeated over and over again from everyone who had outstanding orders. What he found curious and annoyi
ng was that these included external customers like the government. He could suppose that as he was playing fast and loose with the rulebook, so might some of the board members. He thought that a couple of them might just have let slip to a couple of favoured clients that they were "increasing capacity". Fair enough.
Despite the priorities the board had set, Grum knew that they would only see the numbers of units shipped and the margin — both at individual and aggregate. Unless they got other experts in to analyse the numbers, he could probably talk his way round any questions they put, so, he put some thought into what priorities he wanted to set for Ben.
He did not like to micromanage the facility, especially as Ben was doing a fine job on his own. Until now, he had simply passed on the vague directives of the board and let Ben deal with the actual numbers. But he was going to have to play some short term games with Ben's schedule and they were not all going to be completely logical from the perspective of optimum performance.
First: the quotas. The governmental orders had been given around forty percent of the overall capacity, commercial about the same, and the remaining twenty percent going to USSMC internal. That was Ben's entirely sensible interpretation of the board's order to give priority to governmental and commercial orders. Divvy up the collider run time and fill as many orders as possible with that time. No problem with that, as far as Grum could see, except that it did not now meet his objectives. At least one of which was to piss off the board even more.
He thought about the phrasing of the board's directive. It was: "…commercial and governmental confirmed orders be prioritised over USSMC internal ones". He thought he saw some wiggle room, there. His app which calculated pod sizes and costs would also calculate lead times. So if he worked out the lead times for each of the governmental orders, and for each class of commercial order, he should be able to work out how much of the overall backlog was thirty four percent of the orders — still a priority — and schedule that over the year…
Leaving Earth Vol. 1 (Leaving Earth Omnibus) Page 26