Chapter 18

Just after midnight on the 18th of January, I was standing in the dark and cold with my construction manager, David. He had his own construction business, a significant local company, but tonight he was acting solo as manager of the construction of our first building. Tonight, my people and I were his crew and crane.

Following his directions, I lifted the steel into place, while supersoldiers Mike (what we were calling the Mikhail variant) and Val, were getting bolts started. I had already assembled the steel into larger pieces, and was just lifting them into place, and tightening the bolts down. Once each of the steel pieces was stood up, I attached the cross beams. Using their super strength, they simply climbed up the steel to start the bolts and nuts into the steel, and I tightened everything down.

The whole building went up much faster when I added a second Mike/Val pair so they could work exclusively as a twinned and coordinated pair in the rafters. When it was time to start assembling the outer skin I lifted the sheets to them, and they placed them correctly, while I drove the screws through the steel. With Val working one side, and Mike the other we quickly covered the exterior of the building.

Since this building was just our initial building, we didn’t worry about how secure it would be. It was more like a giant barn that I could use to create the pieces of our first real secure building. Once we were done building the first secure building from Barkley Paper, then this would become a multi use building perhaps for equipment storage or for events.

We finished the structure, including the rolling doors, just after 5am. Everybody headed off to bed, the next step would be to have the electricians install the power and lighting. I conjured a large generator, and two cherry pickers so they would have what they needed. They would begin Monday, and it was projected for them to take a week to complete the power and lighting install.

We hoped to have the inspection and use permit signed off by the end of the month. Water and sewer were still being brought onto the property. For now, a bathroom block was planned behind the new building, but portable toilets were stationed nearby for now.

I conjured myself a cup of coffee, and headed to my office in the underground base. I dropped into the new secure entrance, greeted by an armed and armored Mike and Val. “Master!” they greeted. I rejected salutes and bowing from them, so they just stuck with verbal greetings.

I gave them a wave, and turned to go down the tunnel to the office. Next to the portable above us a very quiet propane generator powered the base. The lighting was minimal LED down the hallway, because we could expand the base, but were limited in power until the electricians finished hooking the new building, and the base to the power grid.

An unarmored Val greeted me with a hug and kiss as I stepped into the office. The twenty meter cube had a lower floor filled with cubicles in its entirety. The entrance was halfway up the side of the cube, with stairs going up and down. A few Vals and Mikes were working already, as this was the only cube with high-speed internet access for now.

I went over the catwalk to my office, it was the middle floor, of the three floors of offices in the cube. Suspended in the middle, it allowed for a balcony around the perimeter of the cube, leading to additional staircases going up and down. The upper floor contained individual offices for workers who needed the quiet for their work, cubicles comprised a typical office maze on the lower floor.

I sat in my big leather chair, behind the desk, looking out at the workers. Setting my coffee down, I got to work reviewing the diamond orders, the world news briefing prepared by the Vals, and the newest Chinese electronics orders. The news brief included a note about this 2019-nCoV virus in China. I wondered if it would spread like Sars had.

I then reviewed the response from Pilatus about our new material, and the wish to build an aircraft. I had requested a cooperative agreement to construct a single aircraft, following the design of the PC-24. They would provide the exact specifications of the airframe, and I would deliver a Barkley Paper airframe of a single composite structure, which they would fit out and test.

The Pilatus plant was only 55km south, I planned on hiring a helicopter to lift it and transport it. I’d probably have to fill one wing with water, and hang it from the other to keep the wind from making it fly around, but that was for the future. If that didn’t work I’d have to ship it in two pieces by truck.

The architect had a preliminary design for the office building. It was going to be three floors above ground, and a single basement. There would be more underground levels, but they would not appear on the architectural plans. They had run with my independent cube idea, designing it using stacked blocks of Barkley Paper that were internally self supporting spaces. Each block was five meters tall, thirty long, and twenty wide.

I’d manufacture them, we would use a crane to lift them into place, and then fill the floor with concrete, and build out each floor. I would have to hire a construction company for the build out. The concrete wasn’t so much structural as additional weight to help hold the building down. I signed off on the preliminary drawings, authorizing the detailed drawings that would be needed to begin the permitting process.

With my work done for the weekend, I headed to the chow hall. It was just a space with 24/7 snack service, and dining tables. I conjured meals for all my people, three times a day. I checked my watch, then Val spoke up, “Nora says 10 minutes.”

I checked the coffee, and supplies, everything looked good. My power roamed thru the complex, looking for something that needed replacement, or trash that needed removal. It was a few days early from my regular schedule, so most everything was good. I did find that the bathrooms in the dorms were low on toilet paper, so I reached out to the underground warehouse where we kept a copy of everything we used. A quick store and conjure, refilled the toilet paper closet, and returned a package to the warehouse.