Chapter 7

The rest of the rotary kiln had come in pieces and then the pieces were set up five kilometres from the plant. We made lime the old way because we did not have the fuel yet. The pipe and valves to carry fuel were ready but the final connection was not made.

I needed some pressure vessels and they had to be big. I built a sphere out of segments that had to use a steam hammer that was larger than any we had used so far. The individual segments were heavy in themselves because they had to take over two hundred atmospheres in pressure. The steam boilers got higher in pressure and became a bit more efficient.

There was a steady traffic now to the chemical plant as more and more equipment arrived and was set up. Some of he smaller pieces were still huge. Compressors of all sizes were needed but without adequate electrical power, I had to keep relying on steam.

More and more people were needed and more equipment too. Roads had to be made and this meant a heavy crusher had to be brought. This was the single most heavy object we had moved. The area we used actually began to look like a chem plant when viewed from a distance.

A hundred metres from where the gas had erupted from the earth, we made our well to tap the riches. When we got to bedrock we drilled four metres deeper and stopped. A long steel tube with a flange on the top was put into the hole and then cemented into the bedrock with lime. After this was dried, a slightly smaller drilling head went down the inside of the pipe and drilled into the bedrock. This took a long time to do because we had to keep the boiler upwind all the time. When gas came out we did not want it to erupt in flames. It helped sometimes when we used a sheet metal barrier to deflect the errant gusts of wind around the drill site.

Water was forced down the smaller drill head and the mud was expelled out the sides. This kept the head cool so that it would last. When the mud suddenly shot into the air, we extinguished the fire in the boiler. Now we used grunt work and pulled out the eighty metres of pipe with chainfalls. Gas spewed out and we struggled to get the valve on. We almost froze because lots of the gases were liquified under a lot of pressure.

There was a lot of cheering but I had to treat some frostbite on the drilling crew and myself. The air stunk of hydrogen sulfide. A fifteen centimetre pipe was connected to the valve head. The pipe led through a course filter and then to a tank where the gas and everything in it would be stored. Another valve on the tank allowed the air in the tank to be purged. The tank got very cold but I had to make it even colder. The pipe leading to the tank had frost on it and I knew that the water we were collecting was now quite solid. Usually this pipe was heated with steam but that would come later.

People spent quite a while with their noses trying to detect the hydrogen sulfide that would come out a leak if there was one in the tank. We were fortunate and found none.

The valve at the well was closed and another valve at the top of the tank was opened. The liquids including water, petroleum and various kinds of liquified natural gases were in the lower section of the tank. There was propane, butane, ethane and all their isomers in there too but their density now made them stay in the bottom with the oil. These would be very valuable. In many applications only the heavier gases could be easily and cheaply removed. I wanted them all eventually but I had to crawl before I could walk.

The liquids in the tank were naturally heaver and these were sent through a filter to remove sand and grit then through a pipeline to the cement plant. The pipe was purged of air in front of it. The valve at the far end was closed when the liquids rushed out. Again we went over the entire distance with our noses. Some joints at the flanges had to be tightened a bit.

The valves to the kiln were opened and a torch ignited the liquids as they spurted out. The flow was kept low and the heavy chain driven by a steam engine started to turn the large kiln. When it was warm, dump boxes were hoisted and their contents dropped into the kiln. Lots of it was the slag from our production of iron. The flow of liquids was increased a bit and the process begun.

What I was doing was very wasteful but I could do nothing else. Hot cement eventually came out the discharge chute. The material was put into rail cars with good fitting tops while I made tests. If the tests proved a bad product, it didn't matter too much because it would still be better than strait lime. People had been watching me intently and those that had to run this project knew what was going to happen for months now.

There was so many jobs to do and there was only one of me. The cement looked to be good but not as good as what we had in my time. It was certainly better than anything else available.

This process was worked on and a lot of people listened to every word I said. Notes were made and would be transcribed later because managers and operators had to handle individual parts of the plant for me.

When the people were competent to continue with the cement I had to start in other areas. I bled off some of the gas at the top of our primary storage tank. This had to be cleaned normally but the process of making free hydrogen would still work with the other hydrocarbons. The compounds would still react the same even if they were not the simple methane molecule. The carbon dioxide in the gas would be inert but it would get used in another project.

Steam and the natural gas mixture were heated in a long heavy chamber. The heat was now almost completely generated by gas that came from the well. I showed the new group of people nearby what I was doing though they had been told long ago too. The temperature here had to be around 800 degrees Celsius.

The steam and the natural gas combined to make carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen until only the last two products remained. The products were directed through a heat exchanger to cool them and then to a tank for storage.

The exhaust from the boiler was cooled similarly and directed to another large tank that had previously been filled with the combustion products. There was a diaphragm on the tanks so that we could tell how filled they were. There was very little soot here and we mainly collected carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

Two high pressure compressors took a small amounts of each of the cooled gases and forcing them into a large and very heavy reaction chamber. A catalyst was just iron for the moment. This crude method had to use two hundred atmospheres and the tank was built much stronger because of the inadequacies of my materials. There were better catalysts available that would require far less power and pressure but I did not have them yet.

The other end of the reaction chamber was directed into another storage tank. A valve allowed just a bit of the gasses to come out of the chamber so as to keep the pressure up where I needed it. Though the gases coming out were hot, they expanded and got cool. This receiver was purged and I could easily smell the pungent aroma of ammonia.

Another compressor took the contents of the tank and compressed it again. The heat was taken from the compressed gas and then the gas was allowed to expand back into the tank it was drawn from. The tank was well insulated but it still got coated with ice. Ammonia was a good refrigerant and the liquid had a boiling point of -33 degrees.

We had built very big because I needed literally millions of tonnes of the product and I would have to rely on a lot more wells and a lot more fields to fill the need. Some of the product had to go into making nitric acid. To do this I needed another catalyst but there were a few substances that would work. Vanadium that could be found in magnetite was good but I had only a little of this from the iron ore. The processing of the copper had a lot of heavy metals in the sludge. One of the metals was platinum and other metals from its group.

The impure platinum and all of the similar metals were formed into a sponge and put into another tank. Ammonia and air were introduced. When this was heated we produced nitrous oxide. This reacted with oxygen to make nitrogen dioxide. This gas was cooled and a pump circulated a spray of water through the gas to absorb it. The liquid was nitric acid and it got stronger as it was recirculated through more of the gas.

Ammonia reacted with the nitric acid to neutralise it. The ammonium nitrate now was in solution and the water had to be boiled away. The concentrated solution was then sprayed in a tower with air coming up from the bottom. Small droplets of ammonium nitrate froze out of the solution and were collected. They had a tendency to attract moisture so they went into storage for now. Later I would be able to treat them as they came out of the tower.

We had a lot of valuable carbon dioxide to get rid of. Ammonia again was forced to react with this gas at high temperatures and pressures. The solution was urea and water with anything that had not been consumed was sent back to try again. In fact all the processes required that the unconsumed products were sent back so a portion of them could be converted.

Sulphuric acid could be made similarly and then react with ammonia to form a sulphate fertiliser. I was going to have to wait on this and try to get the processes I had running to do so smoothly.

The sulphuric acid could also be used to dry out the nitric acid to make it close to a hundred percent nitric acid. The dilute sulphuric acid could be used to capture more sulphur trioxide and become stronger again. This meant my supply of sulphuric acid would grow all the time but I had lots of uses for it.

All this did not run smoothly by any means. People were run ragged and I was the one with the most rough edges. We drilled more wells and piped the gas to the refinery but some pipe went much deeper and went into the pool of oil. Here the pressure of the gas above the oil helped push the oil out.

Another large tank collected the petroleum. It did not gush out of the well and a pump had to work for days to fill the container. I worked on this material with a fractionation column to get lubricants and a light oil that would work for my hydraulics. The column had lots of tiers where different fractions settled but it was the little shelves that gave me the problem because the gas bubbled through a sample of the particular material and it was difficult to get the levels right. The lighter constituents were needed so that I could use them to clean the natural gas and extract ethane and propane. I was still mindful of the helium because of its use in lighter than air ships but I was not quite ready to work on this yet.

The three years and more had passed very quickly and my pseudo marriage was just six more months off. The rogue preachers were brought in and told the error of their ways. They were given new duties and because I command this, it happened. The construction of the Discovery was slow because I needed tanks, valves, reaction chambers, burners and pipe much more than I needed the ship. The old open pit iron ore mine on the Rhine was getting to be much more expensive to operate. We were very deep in the earth and now had to get the ore through tunnels. The coal deposit was similar but not as bad.

Most of our cement went a short distance to the Ruhr River and then up it to where our new mine was. Dredging was a major undertaking on this river. I wanted to allow the larger ships to get in. We were just off of a tributary and not a very large one at that. Docks had to be built and the new steel mill constructed.

Our old mill was large but not overly so from the viewpoint of the twenty first century. The new mill was much larger again. The rolling mill was made larger but we figured we could make the new crane smaller without sacrificing strength. Improvements were made so that smaller and much quicker acting hoists would pick up tooling and steel products without having so much overkill.

Sheet steel was now used to package food but it took almost two years to get the canning machinery to work correctly. Can openers would soon be something new on the market.

The new mill would soon start to make rail. When we had been stuck for iron, we picked out some of the less desirable of our rails and used them to make tanks and pipe.

Track now extended from the Rhur to our mill. Another section extended east toward Clovis' land. A section was started at the school and worked this way. Clovis did not have the time to fill in the gap though the road was now complete. He was too busy with his canals.

A third section of track was built across the ridge that separated the Main tributary from that of the Danube. I took some of our ammonium nitrate fertiliser and some light oil and used it to remove a lot of rock that would otherwise be difficult to move. There were almost a hundred thousand people around to view the event. I took advantage of this and set up a large warehouse. I still had plans for a canal in this district and did my best to improve the lakes that would be needed to fill the locks.

People and goods rode the train at a cheap price just so the train would be understood. The people with wagons may bitch but they would still have a job because we were quick and would charge for this service. Some people would just use the old method. They had a good new road to work with to make their life easier.

Electricity would help immensely in my projects and construction. A dam had to be built. I figured we could get fifty to a hundred megawatts from one site if it were used it effectively but I had to look at much smaller figures in reality.

Our boat traffic allowed employees and students to come and learn or to go to other sites to round out their education. I was still making a lot of money and could afford this but I did not have enough trained people to train the swarms of people that came seeking employment.

The new hires were usually sent to work on farms. There they were educated as they worked. Some were then transferred to manufacturing jobs. The farms were now very productive. Julian, Sapor and Clovis were clamouring for more fertiliser all the time. We could only make a hundred tonnes of fertiliser a year but I could sell millions of tonnes if I had it.

Our new home was nearing completion. It was situated on a plateau about twenty kilometres upwind of the steel works. This construction was held off because I did not want it finished before I had to fulfill my promise and I wanted that after the ceremony.

To keep my sanity and my wives, I budgeted my time between all the projects I had to do and all the work I wanted to do. Quality time was usually a time to travel. A long overdue trip to see Clovis' and I guess, my family too, was undertaken.

Instead of going across the land we took three of the Patricia class ships and went east in the German Sea until we came upon the Ems River. Clovis had already shifted from a war footing and bought some of my machinery and tried to tame the river. This was difficult for most of the northern portion was in a swamp. Locks were put in where they were needed and a lot of dredging was done. The scope of this undertaking meant that it would cost a great deal to get this waterway operational.

Clovis could have helped me with the rail system but it was hard enough getting help in making a canal. Germans were very obstinate and Clovis was a good example. He wanted the river for ships and that was that.

At the moment the locks would not handle the Endeavour class ship. One day the Euro class would need the canals too. I had a way of getting this done in an underhanded way. The cadets had made many trips home to visit. The original two Pict boys were now numbered in the dozens and were no different than the other Frisian cadets. I still tried to keep the numbers of each gender balanced and it worked well. There were just shy of four hundred official cadets at the moment. Persia and Rome were well represented.

At the first lock we stopped because there were a lot of people there on horses watching us. Clovis looked much younger because all the healing he had received. His wife, Astrid, was pregnant again with her forth since I came to this time nearly six years ago.

I had seen Astrid only twice since Jón and I were first injured. The first time is when I set up the school and the second time was when she was having pains with one of her pregnancies. Word got to me in time for me to help. Obstetrics were not my forte but some problems I could fix.

When the water filled the lock, I climbed the stone wall and stood before the father of my body.

I looked into the sun and said, "Hello, young man, would you direct me to Clovis?"

Clovis got down and hugged me as if I was his son and when he pulled back he said, "I do look young. I need all my strength though. My wife puts me through my paces."

I hugged and kissed Astrid then helped my own girls up to this level. They had actually seen my family more than me because they could travel while I was tied to what I was trying to do.

I was reacquainted with all my sisters and half sisters. Dagmar was producing an heir for the Franks and especially for Egill. Egill's father was quite frail now. He was hesitant to see me and I thought that was a good idea because when Egill gained his crown, Dagmar would bring some enlightenment to the people.

Brigitte and Gudrun were my sisters and both were now married. Their father and Dagmar made sure they married well but had some influence with their husbands. Elfrieda and Sieglinde were now eleven and twelve but mates were already lining up. Being a Frisian now meant that they were the most influential of the German races. Clovis and his cannon made sure that there was peace. Borders were well defined now but trade between tribes was growing rapidly.

Clovis' children after Brigitte were still infants but I got in there and hugged each of them. It took a bit longer on them to make sure they were healthy and they were. I kept the oldest and my girls kidnapped the others. They liked children and were more than ready to show me what they could do with my own.

German glass was famous throughout Europe and the Middle East. Part of the success was because of Astrid's efforts to produce both beauty and usefulness. They did make custom fitting windows in many colours but they still did not have large single panels.

Our journey was stopped because of our talk. I kicked some of the cadets off the boat and barge and put them on the horses that Clovis and his group had rode here with. Those unhorsed came onto the barge and the Patricia. We were soon on our way and the horses would just stay close or leave. Very few people would dare attack us.

Clovis said, "Why didn't you come overland? It would have been quicker."

"Roughing it is nice but I was bringing things to trade with."

"Hmmm trade. What is it you want?"

"I need to dig for the potash on your land and then refine it. The refining means a large chemical complex. It also means that you have to protect the area and the area you recovered from the Gauls."

"I would give you that land if you asked. I want the fertiliser."

"I figured you would. I want your protection too. One day the Huns will come here and their territory will only stop at the Rhine."

"My cannon can do that."

"They are very numerous and you will need a large standing army and not an unorganised group of farmers and herders."

"You said that the Romans would pay for this."

"They will but you're going to have to get all of the Gauls and other races to keep the peace. Joining the Frisian army would be better."

"That would make me their king. Would Julian allow this?"

"We talked about this long ago. I want you to have everything to the Rhine and then to the east. This may mean you get a bit of Gaul too. Julian needs the help but I do not want you to be a Roman appointed Caesar. You will be large enough to compete with Rome and Persia then later with India and China. You have the smallest territory and the fewest people so you have to be the strongest in other ways. If you cannot control the Germans then you may find it advisable to turn your cannons east and take over the territory of the Huns."

"I like that idea but even if I lived another fifty years then this could all fall apart again."

"That is true but I have fifty years maybe to educate everybody. Educated people can see the future easier."

"Tell me more about the potash."

"The process I will be using will make far more salt than you can use. I also promised something a long time ago that I have not delivered on."

"What was that?"

"Perfectly flat window glass in large sheets."

"Now that we can use though it may cut into our sales of coloured glass windows."

"It may at the start but my glass will be simple while the coloured glass is artistic. After a drop in demand, coloured glass will increase again."

"How does it work? We tried everything to make larger pieces."

"You are the sole manufacturer of black powder. I even buy from you when I want to test weapons. You have to treat this similarly but you will need a thousand workers."

Clovis said, "The secret of the powder is not as safe as it once was but the main ingredient is what keeps people from making it. Is there a way of having only a few do some facet that cannot be copied?"

"You could make glass any place in Germania and then crush the pieces. This anybody could do. One select group could melt the glass and make it flat. Others come and take the glass away. That is the best I can do other than move the entire process to an island."

"I like the island idea."

"I figured you would."

Later I told him in private, "Molten tin is close to the temperature of some kinds of liquid glass. A pool of the metal can have liquid glass float on it. The metal will cool the glass a bit until it gets firm. The flow of more molten glass will push the hardened glass off of the metal and onto a place to cool more. The glass continues on and goes into an oven to anneal, then it is cut to size."

"That sounds easy even for me to do."

"The tin needs to stay molten but cannot have any oxygen from the air touch it. It will oxidise quickly and be useless to you."

"What is your solution?"

"The fire that heats the tin has to be clean burning. That means no soot."

"Your engines do that now."

"Yes, they do. The gases have to then go over a bed of hot charcoal. The charcoal will catch the last of the oxygen. The nitrogen and the carbon compounds will flow over the tin to protect it. When the metal is hot enough you pour molten glass will be poured on it and this covers the tin even better."

"That sounds simple after you mention it."

"Getting that much tin is expensive.

"Is that why you told me to collect this metal?"

"Exactly. We have to make a contract though. You get to sell sheet glass to all of your land and to the east. The Huns to the east will not want your product but you can still go that way. I build my own plant and sell to the rest of the world."

"So I only get Germania and what land I can take in the east?"

"You can have Britannia but you know that there are only barbarians living there."

"That is still a lot but why must we have a contract?"

"Our deal will have to last after you and I are dead."

"You... ok I see now. You still do not want to lead my people after I die."

"I have a lot more people to lead. You have another son and may get a few more before Astrid stops allowing you into her bed. You are a young man again and you will have time to guide your children as they mature."

Our speed was only ten kilometres an hour. Late that night we were as far as we could go with the barges. The ships could proceed alone but there was no use in doing this. The river was just not dredged or widened enough.

The cadets and those on horseback set up camp and we stayed the night. We sat around and just relaxed. I told everybody what had been happening recently though much of it was in our magazines. This required a sermon though and then I checked everybody in our group.

The next day we assembled large carts. Clovis sent out for more help the day before. He knew that what was on the barges was for him even if the heaviest part was track.

We had not got everything unloaded when help arrived. There was little they could do except drive the carts they brought. We loaded the vehicles to make sure they were safe. All of the carts were of the type that I had made before I had left. I was sure that Rudi was now very rich and a well respected man.

The track was dragged out and laid on the grass. There was a lot of it and Clovis said, "What is this for?"

"If you want to sell to the east, you would probably want to use the railway. There are lots of people there, especially the Greeks to the north of the Black Sea."

"You know the trouble I have with Frisians. They do not want to work and would rather fight."

"You still have slaves?"

"They may be slaves but they called their families to join them. They live here like freemen or at least mine do. I changed their status to prisoner of war like you asked."

"I wish you could make a law that would end slavery but it will take years. All that I can suggest is that you hire freemen to work for you. Pay them well. There are a lot of Picts that will do the work."

"They are some of my best workers. I am glad you got them to stay. They are very industrious."

"They were not that way before. They were put in a new environment and had to work to stay alive. They will get lazy in time. They just have to have something they want very much and have to work to afford to buy it."

"What would they want?"

"A city like Toronto." This was the name I chose for my new city in the Ruhr valley. I did not see the similarities too well but this may change as it grew. It was more like Hamilton Ontario because of all the dust and smoke in the air from the steel mill.

"That is not easy. You have work for them. You built those tall buildings. I can't do that."

"Connect up to the Ruhr Valley. We ship out some steel girders and some concrete. You tell the Picts to cut stone for their homes and they will do it."

The barges left. They had to be pulled by horses and men downstream until there was room for the ship to get at the other side of the barge and pull it downstream.

It took a day to get to Hildestun and it looked dirtier than it did before. The shit was still on the streets though I knew that latrines were used. The streets had not been cleaned up or paving stones added. The place stunk and I had to cut back on the feed of information from my nose.

The streets were lined with people though. They were dressed better than they had been. The war was over and there was lots of work. It would be hard to go back to the way I was when Jón was in our head so I acted myself. Even though the city was a dump, it still felt like home.

Fálki and a lot of the others that had not come to the school to live now stood before us. Most were men that were very loyal to Clovis and would never leave. Some of the better dressed men were the Picts from nearby city of Victoria. Another loyal person was Helga the cook and she stood her ground besides the armoured men. She had the awed look in her eyes and I remembered her cooking fondly.

Before greeting the men I hugged Helga in my arms and twirled her around. She squealed like a girl and held on tight. When I set her down it was Patricia that said, "I thought you loved us all the time."

"My stomach loves Helga an awful lot."

"I see that we are going to have to win you back." Helga was aghast at this until she saw the smiles.

We went through the group but the courtyard was too cramped to move much. They were like family in a way but they acted differently than when I was here last. I had been a boy prince then a bright lad, later I was a young warrior then one that was full fledged. Now I was a lot more and they reflected this in their looks.

I looked for Fidelis Marius but I did not see him. The Picts, Cing, Fortrenn and Brude were not here either. In fact none of the mages were present. This disappointed me because I had a lot to talk to them about.

Rudi was dressed in rich clothes and he looked good in them. He was even putting on a bit of weight. We shook hands and I said, "Wagon building seems to agree with you."

"It certainly does and now I am making fine furniture too. The tools you make now are even better than the ones you made with me."

"I have a new home on the Ruhr. I will have to talk to you later about making some furniture."

"I would love to."

Naddoddr was the next man. He was one of Clovis' generals. He looked a lot older than the king because I had not treated him yet. He had an ugly rash on his face that should be treated. I tried to gather strength of those around me but it was like they were far away. I got some of the power but not the usual amount I should before I reached for the man's hand.