Chapter 8

I rode back to the Ruhr in the train. The ride was rough because our springs were not good yet. I would try air shocks but I was just now working on making synthetic rubber. I had made some but it was difficult. Much of the difficulties were in the application. It was now used in soccer balls but it would go into tubes and one day tubeless tires. It was now used as seals around moving shafts. Hoses were next on the agenda and eventually those for hydraulic purposes.

When we got to the station, security went out again while I searched again for any threats. The people here knew much more of what was going on but still cheered to see me.

The cargo was taken off the train and the vehicle would return with supplies to the school and people to start working on the bridge that had to span the Weser River.

Getting to the house meant people lining much of the road until we left the area. The girls were still looking for enemies in all the dark areas but I could not blame them because I was doing it too.

We used a portion of the house that was nearing completion. The girls had the guards check out all the rooms and even the basement and attic. Since the house was very large, this took a long time. I had to explain to the workmen and the servants what was happening and why. They seemed to be mollified at our disruption.

I made a personal check of the refrigerator and then the freezer. I came out with a litre sized bottle of beer and then had to go back to get one for my ladies. I tried to get them to settle down and the best way, other than sex, was to get them to discuss the upcoming ceremony. It didn't work this time so I resorted to the other method.

Events did not settle down for me either. I went over why someone might attack me and use mages to do this. I also looked at why mages might want me dead. Money and business sounded like good motives. Revenge sounded good because I had killed a lot of people. Somebody wanting to take over my place was possible but three very powerful people would oppose this unless it was one of them. The list grew in my mind but nothing clear emerged.

The girls got more security and I now considered putting up a wall around the property. I wanted to avoid this at all cost. I was trying to have an open society and a wall was not open. An invisible wall that used proximity detectors may be possible now that I had electricity. An electric fence with a very heavy jolt may work well too.

Making the components for the detectors were impossible if I used solid state devices but tubes were simpler. I knew that the cathode of a tube emitted electrons better if it was coated with rare-earth and I had a supply of this already.

Personal protection became more than a sword or a knife. I would need something that I could use from a distance. A gun would work very well especially with the shock value of the muzzle retort.

My grandfathers gun factory was good training and though the tools now were very inferior, they would still work. A pistol was the best for immediate use but for various reasons, I had to make rifles too. The M16 or an AK47 with a decent caliber would do as well. The sniper rifle I had used just before I was hit by lightning and sent back to this time was still in my head. Making one as good as that may not be possible yet but I could make something that was close.

I shifted residences. My wives and I lived in the lab or the machine shop. There was a house attached to the lab to make this convenient. I could do the work I wanted. The first task to farm out would be to make steel wire, specifically barbed wire. Razor wire would be next after the first variety was produced. These just required a mechanical device to twist the wire and add the barbs and razors.

My time was spent making a heavy die to form the brass cartridge cases. I figured a ten millimetre calibre would be good for a start. I needed case trimmers and another punch to make primer tubes. Trimmers, scales, bullets and I had to fiddle with some powders but they changed depending on what kind of hunting I was going to do. It this case it was man.

Much of this work had to be farmed out but I tried to hide the construction in some of the many other tools I needed built.

A scope was good to have and I too would use the finest spider silk for the crosshairs because I did not have the precision tooling to do anything better.

Other weapons had to be made too and I plucked away at them as I found time or the inclination. The war coming up would be with the Huns and I needed something that would deal with thousands of them running at us on their little ponies. Their recurve bows were very strong and had a good range. I had to find how to kill them from a distance and from close up too.

The girls worked on a lot of jobs but mostly the magazine. They put their perspective on the attack. They asked me to read it and I found it long, factual and a real tear jerker. I loved them more for this and it went out to be published. They made a lot of educational articles that pushed the Greeks to do a very good job of their own.

I farmed out the printing press to the girls. It was time to improve on the quality of my books and our schooling at the same time. I had accumulated a large supply of barium salts. This material was burnt to produce barium peroxide and this led to hydrogen peroxide. Not only was hydrogen peroxide a good oxidiser and bleach but it was now used on the hemp to make acid free paper. All our publications up to this time were on acid processed paper that would cause the paper to breakdown in fifty years or less. The new process would allow the paper to last centuries if it were taken care of.

A much better printing press could be made and only needed the final touches that I could supply. One of the rarest commodities were skilled craftsmen and the machines they worked on. The Germans and the Romans of this time did very good work. The patricians of Rome kept their system of government working well for a thousand years by peer pressure. Now I had awards for excellent work. This seemed to be a good substitute and everybody liked a light slap on the back especially if it was well deserved.

There was a long list of textbooks and more books were based on Wodenism. All these had to get printed by the millions. The girls were put in charge of this. It kept them occupied and they seemed to worry less but I worried for and about them myself.

The schooling system was still hit and miss. We had thousands of children and the majority of them were unable to read. I had grades set up but the subjects and the amount of education was still unknown. Schools were now what they should be especially with the number of students. Paper was made available but a large slate was used too. Having two shifts allowed the children to learn a trade or at least find out how to cook. Boys and girls took all the trades and women were being encouraged to take up teaching. The male teachers didn't like this but there was little they could do.

There were jobs for women too and many mothers worked. This meant daycare but the parents had to support this with me. I was a capitalist with a very strong social conscious but I did not want to get trapped into starting a socialist society.

Besides education, the employees and especially the children were well fed and clothed. This meant uniforms for different types of jobs but as yet this had not gone very far. Land was valuable and services to that land was much more costly if a city took up quite a few square kilometres. I figured high density residential buildings were the best. The ones that would get the top floors would think I hated them until the elevators were put in.

Isobutylene and isoprene were more abundant now. Both materials were polymerised in many different ways and combinations. I had different types of rubber this way. Machinists made the moulds but the men were all newcomers. Very few had enough of a chance to learn the skills necessary before tackling this job. When I could, I brought husband and wife teams in so that the job would be seen as unisexual.

Nylon had only been made in the lab but would come out eventually. Wire was available though and we made bias ply and radial tires. Because of the cost we built small to start. It was not that the tire had a small diameter but that we used little rubber and wire. We made bicycle tires instead. I explained about the bicycle and drew pictures with some rough dimensions. When the machinists were not working on moulds for the tires, they would be making a bike. I had no hope of it being done quickly.

My wish was to have some good roads for the bikes. The sludge from the catalytic cracking unit produced some bitumen which was used to make some tests of road material. We needed rollers, compactors, trucks, spreaders, crushers for the stone and a kiln to heat everything up in. I had stone, a crusher and a wheelbarrow. The result was strong but it looked like shit without a heavy roller to lay it flat.

Steel was coming more freely now and I could make castings easily. Finding machines and machinists to turn some of the large castings was difficult. A machine took a long time to build and a machinist, a long time to train. There were some workarounds where we made a lathe with two bearings and turned the part directly with a leather belt.

Rubber was soon a known quantity and I let the young people work on this, and other projects to find out about it themselves. While they would carry on, I got some additional young men and two women to work on making electronic tubes with me.

A vacuum was fairly easy to produce now and I had some caesium that could scavenge any free oxygen that remained in a tube. Chokes, transformers, capacitors, resistors, insulated wire and a whole raft of Bakelite products including the base for the tubes were made.

We started off with a meter movement of a fixed coil and two pieces of soft iron that repel each other to deflect the needle. This took over a week to build and this was still quick because of its small size. A lead/acid battery provided power and carbon rods acted as resistors.

I had a large number of young people and more were taught by the ones that I taught. The students made lots of batteries then made lots of meter movements. We had to have a standard volt, ohm and amp. Much of these could be deduced. The ohm I remembered being referenced to a column of mercury that was a one square centimetre in cross sectional area. I had only remembered the specifics because of the mercury. Some units could be cross-references from some of the chemical formulas or constants that I knew.

There were a lot of electrical units that had to be remembered and I used their original names. This was more to keep me from being confused than the students. I had a good memory but I had to resort to writing everything down so noting would slip through the cracks.

It was getting very close to our pseudo wedding. People came a month early and I had to put them up. Apartment buildings had been constructed but they were far better than the ones in Rome. There was no shortage of fuel so we made brick and mortar. A steel frame went into each of the buildings. It thankfully took little time to learn to rivet. These buildings took most of my concrete. Conduit was buried in it but it was presently empty.

Those people that came early were given the second highest floor of the newest twelve floor building. I wanted them to be inconvenienced for coming so early. They had to walk up all the steps though there were elevator shafts there if I ever made the elevators. They had to put up with the smell of the paint and the moisture in the concrete. They could not complain too much because the painters were working their way downward. The other nine buildings were done and would hopefully house most of the guests. At current estimates, we figured we would get seventeen to twenty thousand people coming.

Those that came, wanted me to entertain them and I left the job to the girls. They did not thank me for this. A final spurt was put on the house. It was now finished apart from the painting and some of the mosaic floors I wanted. In true Roman fashion I heated the floors but mine had pipe that circulated hot water. A house this size had to have a few boilers and they were all situated far from the house along with the compressors for the large refrigerator and the freezer.

Hydrogen was piped in to illuminate with lime lights. A special key was used to turn the gas on but anybody could turn it off. Mercaptan was added just like natural gas so it could be smelt if the flame went out. I had lots of propane and this was used in a counter a top stove with the exposed flame and a porcelain enamelled iron grid.

I planned on how to educate my own children when they came. The girls liked the idea of making a nursery and then rooms for their children. Though I was not good at music, I did build a music room. I had an organ put in but it was not much bigger than an old piano. The piano too was being worked on but it did not sound very good yet. The girls liked my playing and this was the major reason I got a chance to practice.

The house was set up as five wings. Clovis, Julian and Sapor would have one each that would also hold their security. The other apartments in the city could house fifty people per floor but could be squeezed tighter if they must. The ten buildings would only take care of six thousand people. The ships could handle another two thousand. There was no way I could handle all the people. Those that came uninvited would just have to pitch their own tent. I would supply latrines.

My employees had known this was going to happen for years and I told them how they could capitalise on it. 'Bed and Breakfasts' had been made just for this purpose. Select entrepreneurs had come to me and I suggested all the services a city needed. Good clean restaurants with refrigerators, freezers, sewers and hot running water made money even with only our own people. The neighbourhood pub was common and they too had good rooms.

Brothels were necessary too and they were run by an old Persian eunuch after I explained how he was to run this. The alternative was to leave but it would be under banishment from all of my properties.

The city had police in good uniforms. They were not needed much but would for the next few months. Firemen with pumpers were available. They relied on steam and there were very few hydrants. As the city grew so would the services. What I was most proud of was the pollution control plant that used human waste for methane and then for fertiliser.

The ceremony was now going to be held in the temple even if it was not a legal wedding. The girls got Astrid to make large stained glass panels that were sheathed on both sides with single sheets of glass that were two metres wide and five metres long. Only the train could get it here but I didn't know how it happened with the rough ride. Three windows were sheathed inside and out but there were three others that would have to be done later.

I noticed that the large and very beautiful oak doors of the temple were replaced with ones of thick glass. It looked nice but was not as strong. Again I did not know how this happened. The wedding arrangements were handled by the girls and their friends but I had to ok the major parts first. Nobody asked me about the temple.

An organ had been installed with this in mind when the building was constructed. The instrument was used every day and usually was never quiet. People liked music and there was so much to learn. Iulius spent time here and in his home in Lutetia. There were some talented people there and he made sure that the skills were shared with those that lived here.

The reception was in a large tent near the soccer field. At least here we could accommodate all of the people.

The girls had to have a great deal of help. Claudia came early along with her children. She was put up with us. She had a great house with lots of the modern conveniences. When she saw ours, she was stunned. It was as large as a palace. The outside was stone but the frame was steel and a lot of concrete was used to make it strong.

Patricia took her mother and sibs through the house and showed them the gas lights. This was amazing except there was still lots of daylight. The walk in refrigerator was very large and was four hundred square metres in size. The girls put on jackets to go in and showed them how the food was kept fresh for a long time. The freezer was the same size though normally this size would be too large except at this event. Meat was cut and wrapped in paper with dates and contents. They were all put on shelves and ready to use after thawing.

The girls cooked a stir-fry over the gas stove. The same could be done over the wood but soot would be on the bottom of the pot.

The toilets, sinks, hot tub and showers were nothing new but they liked ours better because of the glass doors and the size.

We had a large laundry with detergent. A large load meant a tonne of clothes because I could not make it small without sacrificing too many features. We had a dryer but it was not used except with it was raining.

The elevator shafts were explained, but like the apartment buildings, the cars and lifting equipment would be constructed when time allowed.

The grounds looked good but the shrubs were few and far between. The house was too new to have all the fine detail finished. The driveway was constructed of interlocking stones that looked better than the standard cobbles. Further back of the house was the areas I reserved for a swimming pool and another for fish that was reminiscent of what the Japanese had. Behind all this was the area set aside for children and other wild animals. Swings, teeter totters, carousels, slides, sandboxes, climbers and an obstacle course. Around this was a lot of places for indulgent parents to watch.

Most of the windows were fitted with removable double paned glass. The edges all had stained glass that would work well to make Astrid's company more profitable. Our home had a lot of mirrors now that we had good glass. In fact the guests would get mirrors as gifts from us. Metal mirrors were good too but only those with a lot of money could afford the ones with no distortion. Astrid had to have the process so that she could make mirrors and I traded her the silver compounds for lots of her glass. This reminded me of early photography too but there were too many other things to do first.

More guests were arriving daily. Mithridates came with one of the loads of sugar. Lazeez was with him. The land and climate was a lot different than they were used to. They wanted to know about the attack on my life and I told them. This would be a good time to try again and I was worried about this to such an extent that I wore armour under my clothes. Tertius was called and he took the two off to show them what he had made recently.

A lot more people had come on the same boat. People were checked off the list and put where they were assigned if invited. Those that were not, were directed to the friendly Bed and Breakfasts.

Clovis came first and I welcomed them to my house with the usual hesitance I had to get close to somebody. Astrid was very gravid and there was a good chance I was going to help with a delivery as well as gaining one more relative.

The girls took my family through the house and Clovis braved the cold of the refrigerator to get two brews. Astrid was put on an alcohol restricted diet but still liked her beer. Clovis loved mine and loved it cold too.

"How much to put one of those in my home?"

"You have to start from the ground and build everything new. You need a new city with wide and straight roads. A septic system has to be put in for the city then water and storm sewers. Electricity will come in time and so will other electrical wires that I talked about before. Plastic pipe has to be laid so that this resource can be used. It is only then that your home can have all the new toys."

"That could take years."

"If you wait years, we will have a smaller refrigerator that is small enough for a family. Larger units can be installed in castles. My unit is very expensive to operate because I have no time to perfect it. Everything I do is roughly done. The cadets are trained so they understand want I am doing and then they have to work on improvements."

"Why do I need a sewer to get that cold room?"

"The cold room needs a building out the back with all the noisy equipment in it. Men have to be stationed there to make sure everything works. When you put your cold room into the castle, the castle will have less room. You have glass in your windows now but the streets are still covered in shit that has been there for years. You will want other improvements as time goes on and your castle will look like a pretty flower growing out of a pile of shit left by an animal."

Clovis paused and said, "We could clean up the city?"

"That would be a good start but then you would have to encourage the people to build new homes. A new start on new ground is best. The whole city is planned out first. You then can sell or give some land near your home to those you want. Your own home can be larger."

"I will have to give some thought to this. If I wait a few years you will have an aeroplane for me and I can fly it from my home."

I had to smile at this and said, "Many homes have their own airstrips but they have lots of land and the neighbours are far away."

The children were getting bored. I took the youngest and lead the rest to the area reserved for children. I put Astrid on the swing and pushed her gently and she whooped in joy until Clovis had to push her more. The rest jumped on the swings and I had to shift the younger ones over to the slide.

All too soon diapers had to be changed. This could be done on the grass but there were change tables in the latrines along with water and a sewer. KhAvar did the honours and Patricia smiled and hurried to the house. When the baby was changed, Patricia was back with a hemp bag with a sturdy shoulder strap. I had coated it with butyl rubber after dying it yellow. The same material was used in the tent that was soon to be set up. Patricia transferred the contents of the hamper into the bag and handed it to Astrid.

Astrid said, "This is beautiful. It feels odd though."

"It has a 'rubber' coating. Jón has been wanting to make this for a long time. Water will not go through it so it will not leak. It will keep the clothes dry if it rains but the flap does not cover the opening well."

Astrid said, "Jón will make this work."

Astrid and her girls got into preparation for the wedding with those of Patricia's family. A lot of other women wanted their input but excuses were made to keep them out. A bunch of old or young hens could drive a bride or two bonkers.

I was anxiously awaiting for some old hens to come so I could talk to them. AsA, HidA, Mehrnoosh and of course Klement though he did not fit that well with the gender. Sapor was a busy man and so was Julian. They both had Endeavour class ships but they did not handle well in the ocean.

Governors, senators and other important officials came. Invitations went out with the room they would get so the number of slaves they could bring would be cut down. This did not effect some people and they did what they wanted. I did the same and shoved them in a room that was large enough for the guests that said they were coming.

There were a lot of people that came that were not important but were still friends. Some had even been slaves before their brands disappeared. These people did not have such expanded egos and they stuck to their original plans.

Four days before the day of the wedding, one of the Endeavour class ships approached. This one though had the flag of the Constantius family. The ship was directed into a place reserved for it and the ship was tied up.

The large doors at the bow opened and the new praetorian guard came out then Julian marched out. I was there to greet him. I quickly noticed that he wore no weapons and not even a small personal knife. The man held up his arms and we hugged each other like friends. He whispered, "You have hard skin Jón."

"Mages, or somebody that pays mages, want me dead. They have methods that the average assassin do not have."

I was introduced or reintroduced to those people that came with Julian. I had a lot of introductions to do myself but not everybody was here.

Julian looked at the tall apartment buildings in the distance and said, "Will I stay in one of those?"

"I have a place in my home for you. There is room for sixty three of your people to stay with you. The rest will have to stay in the apartment building."

"Those buildings look so interesting."

"The are but they are still new and the concrete has not dried out yet. They will be better in a year or less."

"You will have to tell me how you built them."

Clovis was late in coming to greet Julian and I let the two men act as brothers too. Clovis took the honours of introducing his family. I also knew that he would introduce Julian to my cold beer soon enough.

My home was the first destination. Clovis here took the lead in showing how 'his son' had done such a wonderful job of building. The tour brought a lot of compliments and comments and then of course, the wish to have something similar.

Clovis used the bottle opener and gave the open bottle to Julian then one to me before he took one for himself. Julian watched how Clovis drank and tried to emulate him.

"This is amazing. I am here freezing in this room while the weather is so warm. This beer though tastes very good this way."

I said, "Let's let the rest have a few and we can go out the back and watch the children play." I took a few bottles by the neck and Clovis did too in case he ran out. We found some good seats and watched the children play. There were a lot of them but they did play nice.

With the guards near but out of ear shot we talked about our mutual business and what was happening personally with each of us. Julian said, "Have you learned any more about the attack on you?"

"Nothing yet but I expect another attack in the next few weeks."

"Have you deduced a reason for the attack yet?"

"Nothing that I am sure of. It is either revenge for the deaths I have caused or somebody that is afraid of the changes that are coming to the world."

"Not some religious fanatic?"

"That would be a third choice but it is not as likely."

"But possible?"

"Yes, it is possible."

Clovis said, "I do not think that there are many mages that would risk trying to attack you now."

"I think it is a good time. Everybody will be shaking my hand or even giving me a hug. It does not even have to be a person. A group of mages could use a lightning bolt to strike me." Clovis looked at me closely. He knew that a lightning bolt is what got me to this time and continent in the first place.

There were various kinds of wine, some were fortified for our guests. Lucius brought a wide range of his products and had them bottled and I made labels for them. They showed the vineyard and of course the year as of the new reckoning. Brandy was becoming popular throughout the empire and as yet the secret was still kept. I made rum, and although a bit rough, it was still good. It went well straight up or with water as long as it had ice cubes in it. Beer and ale were good cold too and two of the pubs in town had a refrigeration system for their customers' enjoyment.

The freezer had literally tonnes of ice cream. This was saved for the desert at the reception after the weeding. Two grown men could not wait and I was fearful of them freezing their mouths.

Two days after Julian arrived, our last partner showed up. Sapor himself was piloting the ship and he got it into position beside Julian's ship. He didn't do a bad job and I saw him smile widely when he gave the order to shut the boiler down.

The four of us were like old friends. I got nothing but superlatives about everything I was doing. The ships were loved. I knew that Sapor would probably leave his empire for a year to be a captain if he knew it would be safe. He had a large barge built of wood and this was being used to harvest the fish from the Mediterranean. Sugar was a hit and more refineries were built. Mithridates was in charge of all of them and didn't seem to mind leaving his ship as much as he had before.

Just after dusk, I said to my guests, "I have something interesting to show you in the mill. Would any of you like to accompany me there?"

KhAvar jumped up and said, "Yes, you have to see this mother. It is like seeing the power of the gods."

"The gods?"

"You have to see this to believe it."

Julian and Sapor were all for it and Clovis would come because of his curiosity. I had my own private train to get to work. The boiler was already kept warm and ready for this trip.

Just before we boarded the train, I said, "Which one of you are going to be the engineer?"

Julian quickly said, "I will," and his words were stepped on by the others. The cab was not that large and I had to send the fireman into the passenger section. The three men fired the boilers and I then explained the gauges and the leavers. Julian was the one to blow the whistle while I looked out to see that everybody was onboard.