Power Base: Book 2 of the Leaving Earth series Read online

  'Vann told Amy, Amy told me, and I…' Stew reached into his pocket for a pen-drive, '…went and had a chat to one of our new friends in the Space Division. Amy reckons that the space habitats are what Vann's most interested in after the AM gennies, right?'

  Grum nodded, not sure where Stew was going with this but sensing a possible light at the end of the tunnel.

  'Well, the AVP I spoke to says that Hank needs engineering resources and Vann has the experience. The fact that she knows the AM technology inside out would probably make the guy positively greedy to have her seconded to his projects.' Stew handed over the pen-drive. 'Now, take this…' Grum humbly did as instructed. 'Go and say you're sorry, take some flowers, chocolates and make sure it's all sorted out by this evening when you come for dinner. I'll finish up here today. Go.'

  Grum went.

  The reconciliation went well. The flowers and chocolate meant little in and of themselves, but the care and attention in the selection of them made a difference. It was the relationship shorthand of choice for admitting guilt and expressing sorrow at the situation. In this case it provided enough of an opening for Grum to speak the words, and to present the idea of Vann being seconded to the Space Division for her consideration.

  It was a decent gambit. It worked. Vann asked for more information about the Space situation, and Grum supplied that it went beyond Hank just needing to find a new Chief Engineer.

  By the time the were ready to leave for dinner at Stew and Amy's place, things were back to normal.

  The next morning Grum sat down at his desk ready to have another go at the knotty problem of Nevada. If he was going to convince Ben Abelson that the full rebuild was the right way to go, he would need to be able to show the reasons.

  He could most certainly simply order Ben to complete the builds, but Ben was worth more than that. Giving him an order like that would undermine him with his staff, and that would make the whole thing a shambles. He had seen senior management do that sort of thing before. Whatever the were in charge of always collapsed in a heap, and usually caused more damage to those under them than to themselves. The old VP had been of that ilk. Grum strenuously wanted to avoid becoming one of those, as well.

  So, the first step was to show what they were trying to achieve. To that end, Grum was sifting through Stew's reports from the various Divisions to find concrete examples of where the new generator sizes — all the way down to the tiny ones — would fit.

  It was not all that hard. Fiddly, yes. Time-consuming, assuredly. Difficult? No.

  He had the big, exciting use-cases, like the Moon-Mars Shuttle. That was always good for an opener. But like he had said to Stew, any profit would be in making products for industrial or commercial consumption. In that, the smaller generators were more important, and they needed to be able to produce those even when they were tying up two thirds of the output for seven months at a time for Space.

  That thought sidetracked him. As things stood, Nevada could produce all the generators anyone could wish, but Hank did not have the resources to design the installations or plan the missions to fit them. The had plenty of money, but getting the quality of engineering staff they needed was difficult at best.

  Strictly, that was not Grum's problem, but he knew that if he wanted to make the most of the output from Nevada, when it was up and running, he would have to help unblock Hank's Division.

  To do that, though, he needed to sort out the problems in Nevada, first. He would have to take that trip down to talk to Ben and the others.

  Otherwise, the builds seemed to be getting under way. It felt like it was being grudgingly done, though. The new assemblies had been given the letters "B" and "C", with the original now referred to as "A".

  One thing of note, to Grum, was that the new apartment complex and supporting "village" was behind schedule. That was not like Ben.

  There were too many little things. Too many inconsistencies. Each individual question could probably be sorted out by phone or email, but it would be far more effective to go there and sort everything out at once face-to-face.

  He could fly down on Sunday and come back on Tuesday. Unless things were really in a mess, then he would stay the week.

  He ran the idea past Vann, and she did not have any problems with him taking the trip to Nevada. She agreed it was the best way to find out what was happening, and he needed to go.

  Chapter 7

  THE first thing Grum noticed when he arrived on site, was a lack of busyness. There was a lot of places which were fenced of for construction or clearance, but little else going on.

  That worried him more than a little.

  He got out of the taxi at the office building and his phone buzzed to acknowledge that the fare had been debited. He strode through the front door and straight past the security desk, waving at the guard there who had jumped up with a half-strangled cry.

  'It's OK, Joe, I know the way.' Not pausing to see if that had been sufficient, he moved as swiftly as possible, without appearing hurried, to his old office. He walked in without knocking.

  Ben bore the appearance of a man on the verge of either rage or despair, but undecided as to which.

  'We'll get this clear from the start,' said Grum, shutting the door behind him. 'Whatever it is, it's my fault.'

  Ben stared for a second, then barked a slightly hysterical laugh. 'Yer damned straight it is!'

  'Now. Can you tell me what it is I've screwed up?'

  'I can't do it, boss. It's too…' Ben pointed a hateful finger at the wall screen, which showed the exact same set of plans and figures that Grum had last seen on his own screen in New York, and snarled, '…complex. No-one gets it. And everyone is just asking questions all the time.'

  And you keep trying to give them full and complete answers, thought Grum. Oh crap. It really is my fault. I made the classic management mistake. I mistook superior competence for leadership ability. 'What's the first thing that needs to be done. Critical path analysis, Ben.'

  'New housing complex, and village.' Ben responded, instantly.

  'Right. Why isn't it being worked on? It look like a ghost town was being deliberately constructed when I came by.'

  'Some of the people say they like their digs and don't want to move. Others are complaining that they've spent money on their current places and don't want to start again.'

  'Know any decorators?'

  'It's not funny, Grum.'

  'I wasn't joking. The place hasn't been built, yet. And certainly not decorated. Get the people involved. Tell them they can have input on the style and finish of their chosen apartment. They can't all want corners.'

  'No, it's not that. I got them involved, but when I set the budget they would get, they baulked. Some of them have already spent more of their own money on their current places.'

  'You mean it's a money issue?'

  'Well, there is a budget…'

  'Ben! You know how often I went over budget!' Well, you know some of it, anyway. 'Getting money out of the boss… Well. Let me tell you something bluntly that we've only skirted around. If this place doesn't get the rebuild completed on time, its usefulness is over.'

  Ben rocked back. 'You can't mean that.'

  'I bloody can! Now. Given that statement — which I admit, I should have made clear to you from the get go — and the size of the budget already committed… Do you think that if you present me a bill which is a couple of million dollars in the red, that I will baulk in the slightest?'

  'Well, no. I guess not. If you were to tell everyone that you authorise it…'

  'No, Ben!' Grum paused. This was a problem of his making. He needed Ben to be a leader, but it looked like he was going to have to teach him how. 'You do it anyway. You tell your inner circle of people how much you're going into the red. For them. And screw the boss. Then you let them know that they can tell only their most trusted people. Human nature being what it is, pretty soon everyone will know, but it'll be on the QT.'

  'You mean… All
those times you told us…'

  'Well, no. The old VP really was a tight arse, and you remember that he tried to have me fired for financial misconduct among other things. This is different, though, Ben.' Grum realised that he was still standing — looming over Ben like some domineering tyrant. Well. He had needed that stance to get this far, but he did not need it any more. He pulled a chair out from in front of Ben's desk and sat down. Fully relaxed, but in the advisory position. Ben had the ball. 'This situation is one where we need you to begin leading your people. I apologise for putting you in this position, Ben. If you want to step down after the rebuild…'

  'No fear!' said Ben, with vigour. 'This is my site.'

  'Right answer.' Grum grinned at the man. 'Look. Let's start with that position. Everyone saw me stride in here looking pretty fierce. Anyone in the outer office has heard mildly raised voices. If I leave, get in a cab, and sod off back to Las Vegas, but you do as we've outlined together. Well, it'll look like you've bested me and your story of the fait accompli, two-million-in-the-red-and-the-boss-can-do-one will hold water.'

  'You don't mind that?'

  'I mind that a hell of a lot less than the alternative.'

  'OK. You're on. Get out of here!'

  Grum grinned, winked, then scowled and stomped out of the office. He pinged the local taxi service to pick him up in an hour and headed for Mack's. He just hoped it was still open. Playing the boss, the sly leader giving hints to the favoured junior, was simple enough — just very, very wearing.

  'How did it go?' asked Grum as he entered Ben's office. He had knocked on the door before opening it, this time, just to keep the tone of an altered power-balance going.

  'I didn't even have time to go and speak to people. I had a constant stream in here for the rest of the day.. There are still one or two sticking points, but I'll get those ironed out today, so the build can start.'

  Everyone came through? thought Grum, but he said: 'I would start the workers on site again even before the details are finalised, unless anything is likely to change the overall structure of the buildings?'

  'Oh, yes. No, the structure won't change, it's just the interiors. OK. Yes. I'll do that.'

  'Cool. You do that and I'll grab a coffee. Then we have some other things to get ironed out, ourselves.' No point in relinquishing all my authority.

  Grum listened in on Ben's side of the conversation with the building contractors while he poured himself a coffee. He approved of the tone. Not overly demanding, but firm. Just right. They had obviously become used to just hanging around, probably bored. It's funny how many people assume that if you pay people for doing nothing, then that's exactly what they will do. It was almost never true. There were a few hardened lazy gits, but they were few and far between. Most people would do something even if you gave them all the money they needed to live on unconditionally. That brought Grum to the next point he wanted to talk about with Ben, just as the latter's phone call finished.

  'They will be getting on with the work, immediately,' said Ben.

  'Excellent news,' said Grum as if he had not just overheard everything. 'So, we can move on. What is next? I have assumed that the medical facilities are included in the village?'

  'Mostly, yes. We will have first-responders stationed at each of the collection sites and the office building, as well. But, yes, those are included in the build work we have been talking about.'

  'Good. Then?'

  'There was something that came up throughout yesterday, and I was reminded when I spoke about it just now. Everyone came to visit me, here.'

  Bingo! thought Grum. 'Does that mean the team has spare capacity at the moment, between builds? Oh, don't look so damned panicky, Ben! You're organising a major rebuild of a large facility and at the very least the new staff coming on board will not yet have much to do. It's expected. But what about it?'

  'Nobody likes being bored, boss. They want to be doing something, but until the builds are mostly done, there is precious little. With the rebuild of "A", we're going to have nearly everything shut down at one point. Probably more than one between switch-overs, and with the joint switch on.'

  'I agree. So you have temporary spare capacity. Can I make a suggestion?'

  'Of course, Grum.'

  'Tell Stew. Give him the number of hours available and when. Tell him the top-level of skills and how much of each is available. Then tell him what inter-departmental, and inter-Divisional consultancy rates you would be willing to hire those resources out for, should anyone else in the company be suffering a shortage of top-notch engineers.'

  'But, if it's inside the company, shouldn't it be free?'

  'Definitely not, Ben. It's still work being done by your people. Never lose sight of that. Other people have to pay for your people to work on their projects. Oh, and Ben, don't be the nice, sweet guy from Brooklyn on this one. Do what the NRA does.'

  'What, scare the shit out of them?'

  'Exactly!'

  'I can do that.'

  'Right. Your people might not exactly want to work on the things that need doing, so you'll probably have to sweeten the deal with them. If it were me, I'd let it be known that a consultancy bonus of, say, fifty bucks an hour is available for anyone willing to take on make-work for other parts of the company. Then you make sure that you add a bit to pay for the extra-special new year's eve party you're going to have to celebrate all the successes this year, and round it up to be sure. That's the figure you give to SyncDep. What SyncDep tells everyone else is up to them, but you and your people are covered.'

  'Holy crap! I never even thought of that!'

  'Think of it as professional services, Ben. And it'll keep people from getting bored and restless.'

  'I think I see where you're coming from. That's why you were so pissed when the old veep gave the first lot of generators away. He was selling us all short.'

  'Right on the money, Ben. Now you shouldn't ever get that from me, but I'm not perfect. If you ever find me trying to sell your people short…'

  'I'll come to New York with a baseball bat.'

  'Good enough!' Grum let out a laugh and immediately smothered it, remembering the image they were trying to portray.

  Ben paused, eyeing Grum curiously. 'Y'know. I don't think this confrontational story is the best way to go from here on in.'

  'No?' Grum tried hard not to get his hopes up. If Ben was going to take the step he hoped, then that would justify — to himself at least — that he really had chosen the best person for the job.

  'No. I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong. I think we can swing yesterday's confrontation story into reconciliation, today. But I can say that you have been giving me a… A masterclass in leadership skills. I think people will buy that better. It won't diminish my authority to say that I'm still new to the role and needed some rough edges knocking off.'

  'Good. In fact, brilliant. I agree. But, I would suggest that you keep the ideas which come out of this office as your own, though. At least until they are all seen to be working. You can have a "revelation" later that I helped lead you to the ideas if you like, that doesn't really matter. For now, though, you had best be the brainchild.'

  'OK. I see the sense in that.'

  'I think that has most of the big problems dealt with. Now we just have the relatively minor ones of the actual production assembly builds to go over.'

  'Minor?'

  'Relatively. The good news is, this is where you get to be an engineer and I get to be a scientist, and we both get to collaborate on a really technically challenging problem!'

  'I do miss those days.'

  'One more hint, then. Don't let them go completely away. No-one outside of this office needs to know if you are taking a few hours of consultancy time, and no-one outside of the facility needs to know if you decide to involve yourself in a particular internal project. So long as you keep it to a sensible amount and don't let it interfere with the running of this place… Even then… You remember that I spent a lo
t of my time working on problems rather than doing the admin, don't you? Add another twenty bucks an hour to the overall service charge and you can get yourself an admin assistant. If things don't slip, I'll never need to even know.'

  Ben was silent for a moment. 'I swear you were not as sneaky as this when you were here.'

  'Oh, I was, Ben. It just never really came up. Not until the old boss started making trouble, anyway.'

  Ben harrumphed. 'OK, then. New builds. Then rebuild of "A".'

  'Agreed.'

  Ben cleared the screen of everything except the one schematic for "B", and they set to work.

  It had been longer than two days, in the end, but not the full week.

  Stew had given him an earful on the evening of the second day about Ben's shenanigans in setting up a professional services group inside Nevada, and how Stew knew exactly who to blame for that idea. Grum just told him to forward the relevant legal materials Ben would need. They had plenty of boilerplates being drawn up from the service catalogue idea, anyway.

  He had made it back to the apartment by just after midnight. As quietly as possible, he checked on Ju — not for any particular reason, but because it was completely impossible not to when he had been away from several days. He slid the still-packed luggage to a wall, then washed and brushed himself as quietly as possible, before taking himself to bed.

  Gratefully, he got under the sheets with Vann, who turned and snuggled into him without properly waking. He kissed her hair, and resting his cheek on the top of her head, fell asleep.

  Chapter 8

  GRUM had his hand on his office door when he heard his name called. Hank Bowers was bearing down on him. 'Hey there, Hank.'

  'Hey yourself! Are you some kind of Djinn?'

  Grum opened the office door and waved Hank inside. 'You'll have to give me a clue, Hank.' He turned to the coffee pot while Hank seated himself. Someone had cleaned and filled the pot so there was fresh, hot coffee already waiting. Grum made a mental note to find out who and give them a raise. He could not suppress a smile as Hank continued.