Leaving Earth Vol. 1 (Leaving Earth Omnibus) Read online

  'Please, Steve, if you have a few minutes?'

  'Sure…' Steve looked around and caught sight of Stew at the coffee machine. 'If there's another one of those going…'

  'Help yourself,' said Grum, and Stew stepped out of the way, casting a warning glance at Grum as he retook his seat.

  Steve sat down a moment later. 'What's this about?'

  'You may not have noticed, Steve, but there are some potential combinations of the technology we've been developing which could be used in novel ways, not directly to do with creating more antimatter,' said Grum. He realised too late that using such circumspect language was the quickest way to say: "we've been naughty".

  Steve gave him an old-fashioned look. 'You don't say. I knew there was something happening, but didn't know what it was.'

  'Frankly, Steve, yield increases are years away from practical application, even if we were to crack the theory tomorrow. So, while the best scientists we have,' Grum waved a finger back and forth between Stew and himself, 'were working on that, I had some time set aside for looking at making use of the antimatter we have. Steve. We've built generators.'

  'That is certainly not within your remit!' said Steve, his eyes widening. 'It's not even on the roadmap!'

  Stew coughed. 'Actually, Steve, it is. The public one, at least. We — you and I — put it there. Remember? Our first meeting in the pub?'

  Steve sank back in his chair. 'Yes. Oh, yes. I remember. I also remember the timescales we were talking about. I know how much this facility spends on making antimatter and I also remember how powerful you said such a generator would be. Not to mention the size! How on earth do you think that is practical?'

  'We don't,' said Grum. 'Not yet. Not one on its own, and not at the scale we've been able to produce. Its almost exactly the wrong size for everything! However, put a bunch of them together and they could do something for someone. If you have a pricey enough programme that needs a constant supply, no matter the cost, it might be worth it. Space, seems the obvious outlet for these things.'

  'Yeah, but…' Steve wiped his hand over his face. 'Don't you see? Your VP thinks you've had the whole facility turning out AM, or working on greater yield. Nothing else.'

  'We showed you why it wasn't feasible to just lump more "AM",' Grum made bunny ears round the abbreviation, 'into existing cells. The only way to get more antimatter working to one end is to have a bunch of generators hooked up together. That's what we're working on next. Before we could do that, though, we had to have some generators. I'm telling you that we've done it. We'll be making more of them, and we'll be making a way of hooking them together.'

  'I don't think your boss is going to see it like you do,' said Steve.

  'I'm hoping you can explain to him, the way I explained to you, but in a way that he'll understand,' said Grum.

  Steve laughed. 'Really?'

  'Yes. I'll be making the announcement of the first completed generator as soon as we've finished here.'

  'So, you asked me to come here to… Do what?'

  'Mainly to give you a heads-up as to what's coming. If you can make the boss easier to handle, that'll be a bonus.'

  'I can't promise that. Oh well. I guess you didn't actually have to tell me anything before the announcement. I wish you'd trusted me before now, though.'

  'You came onboard just as things were starting to kick off, I didn't really know you. But, I promise to keep you up-to-date on future developments.'

  'Thank you.' Steve stood and turned to leave. 'How long do I have to prep others?'

  'As long as it takes for me to craft the announcement. Call it ten minutes.'

  'Right.' Steve nearly ran out of the door.

  'I still don't trust him,' said Stew.

  'Yes, I noticed you didn't say much. Still think he's spying for the VP?'

  'Yes. If he had been able to work out what was going on before now, I think we'd have found ourselves minus one generator programme.'

  'Even after he's helped out during the pregnancy and everything?'

  'Yes. Oh, I've got nothing concrete. I'll follow your lead. But I don't trust him.'

  'OK. If you do find anything concrete, let me know.'

  'You'll be the first.'

  'Now… I've got to write this email.'

  'See you later.'

  'Pub. At six.'

  'Done.'

  Ten minutes after he sent the announcement, Grum's phone rang. It was the boss. 'Hello, sir…'

  'I hope those prototypes of your really are production-ready.' There was a definite tone of malice in the VP's voice.

  'Yes, they are. Why?'

  'Because I was in a meeting with the CEO when your announcement came in.'

  Grum's heart sank. This could be disastrous. 'Er. What did he say?'

  'He said, and I quote: "That's great! We'll take a dozen for the Tech Centre!". That's the HQ, in case you didn't know.'

  Grum did know. 'Cool. I'll get the facility working on that. We should have the power-plant design by the time they are ready, too.'

  'Just the generators, Hewson. And only those twelve. After that, I'll be taking over any further usage of that technology and any extensions. You are an antimatter production facility. Nothing else.'

  'But, sir! We have everything set up to handle it here.'

  'I know. But you were never requested to do so. You'll have to account for that expenditure at year end, and in your performance review, of course.'

  'Just as you say, sir. Should I have all the research and schematics sent over to you, or would you rather access them directly from the shares?'

  'Both. You collate a report for the whole shebang. Including a justification as to why you prioritised this over the work you were supposed to be doing. That might just mitigate some of the negative aspects of your performance since you arrived.'

  'I have explained, sir…'

  'You can explain again to the review board.'

  The boss hung up.

  'Well, that's me back in my box. I guess that Steve didn't get a chance to explain, either,' Grum said to the room.

  Grum had not enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. He had called Ben back in to give him the bad news. Ben had been OK. It would still take almost a year to produce the cells needed for the Tech Centre generators, so he had that long running his own unit.

  Steve had sent him a message saying that the VP had been in a meeting when he had tried to call and was sorry to hear the outcome.

  After which, Grum just finished up and went to meet Stew at the pub. Only for the one, though. Vann had pretty much moved in, so he was due home.

  Chapter 14

  A few weeks later, Vann found some spots of blood on the tissue after she went to the toilet and Grum panicked. Vann, who had read up a bit more on her condition than Grum had, told him he was overreacting. Grum did ask her to get a doctor's appointment, though, and she agreed that was sensible.

  When the doctor asked her to bring a urine sample with her, Vann complained to Grum that this pregnancy was already getting her to piss on herself more than freshers' week ever did. And it was not even the second trimester, yet!

  Grum was relieved when she returned from the doctor's office with the news that everything was in the normal ranges for a pregnant woman at this stage. The spotting was perfectly normal, and an ultrasound had showed the foetus was as healthy as could be determined. Her blood pressure was slightly over her historical norm, and there was a trace of protein in her urine, but these were still within normal ranges. Just to be on the safe side, though, the doctor had said they would run a lab analysis after the next visit.

  The next normal check up was only a fortnight away and they were happy enough to wait.

  One of the knock on effects from the "back in your box" incident, as Grum thought of it, was that there was a de facto generator assembly plant with a full time staff. Granted, they only had one job: to fulfil the Tech Centre order. But the people were all still in their various floating teams. This
was causing more than one or two tempers to fray at times.

  Ben had been enthusiastic about the setting up the plant and had talk about it with anyone who would listen. The fact that Grum had then gone back on his word did not put him in very good odour with several of Ben's staff. He had explained as much as he could to Ben, and Ben in turn had explained to his people. Every time he visited the workshop, though, Grum could see the dying light of the false hope he had offered in their eyes.

  Worse than that, though was that Vann was disappointed in him. He could not tell, and did not want to ask, if it was disappointment for the false hope, or for backing down. He still felt it was not the right time to go straight to the top. One reason for this was the constant stream of messages he was getting from other departments.

  Steve opened Grum's office door without knocking. Normally, Stew was the only one to do that, but Grum could see that this time Steve was fuming.

  He waved a sheaf of printouts in Grum's face. 'Are you getting any of these?'

  Grum remained calm. 'I am. I take it you would like to discuss something?' Who printed stuff out these days? Especially emails. The only purpose in doing so was obviously so you could storm into someone's office and wave them angrily in their face.

  'Well, yeah! What are you doing about them?'

  'Please sit down, Steve. I gather we're about to have a frank and open discussion. I'd prefer that the door was closed, our hands were empty, and our arses were on seats.' Grum maintained a calm tone, but he let a stern edge temper it.

  Steve must have realised that histrionics were not going to work in this scenario, so he did as he was bid.

  'OK, then. Let's not piss about,' said Grum. 'You're talking about all the emails coming from other departments and even outside the company…'

  'Someone let slip to the Navy and the Air Force. They both want to run ships…'

  'I haven't seen those ones.'

  'No. My boss sent them direct to me.'

  'Well, those ones are actually the easiest to deal with. I happen to know that big ships need tens of megawatts, near constantly. Even the emergency systems run to hundreds of kilowatts. Now, let's say that they'll want the generators to operate over a standard lifetime between refits of about twenty years.' Grum pulled up the figures he had worked out for himself onto a side screen and angled it so Steve could see. 'Look, here. Over twenty years, one of our brand new generators would only produce five hundred watts. So what would they want? Thousands of them? It takes us a year to make a baker's dozen from scratch. Then there's the price! Let's say we were to sell them. We'd want to make a profit on them. Each one costs just over twenty three million dollars to make, so even if we only put a ten percent markup on them they would be north of twenty five million each. If it was just one generator, the military might wear that, but thousands? Delivered over the next hundred years or so? I doubt it.'

  'You're right. We can just show the numbers. They'll lose interest after that. But what about the other departments?'

  'My hands are tied, and I've told them so. I'm allowed to produce twelve generators — in addition to the prototypes — for use in the Tech Centre, by order of the VP. That's it. No more. I'm not even allowed to have the engineers make a safe power plant for them to go in, just got to make them and ship them off.'

  That distracted Steve. 'Safe? The generators aren't safe?'

  'Oh, they are safe enough for prototypes being used singly, but we had intended for that "pod" thing you may have heard mention of? The idea being that the generators can be plugged into something which monitors and regulates the environment they are in and can help mitigate and failures which do occur. And believe you me. Eventually, a failure will occur. There is no technology in existence which doesn't fail sometime.'

  'You told your boss this?'

  'Yep. Just shut me down. He'll handle it, he says. Like he'll handle all further generator builds.'

  'So, you're not going to do anything?'

  'There's nothing I can do, Steve! Honest, mate, if I could take orders for more generators, work out the schedule I'd need to produce them and any new build work which would be needed to accommodate it, that's what I'd be doing. But I can't.'

  'We're not going to hear the end of this.'

  'Tell 'em to talk to the boss. That's what I've done.'

  'They say that he's not taking any orders for generators.'

  Grum raised his hands, palm upwards in an exaggerated shrug. 'Nothing I can do about orders.' Then Grum thought for a moment. 'No. I can't do anything about orders… But my facility will be required to produce sufficient antimatter to keep up with demand. If we can phrase the response to a query about generators, so that it is clear that the boss has the responsibility of making the generators,' Grum emphasised the point with a tap on the desk. 'But that I would like to know what kind and how long for, I can build up a demand portfolio for the antimatter.'

  'Could work. Most of them don't know what they want them for, though. I warn you on that score. They're just new toys.'

  'Yeah, I know. So the question might provide them with their own answers. Anyway. I think that's the best I can do in the circumstances, unless the boss lifts the embargo.'

  'I'll work on the wording, and get back to you.'

  'Thanks, Steve. Glad we talked.'

  'Me too, Grum.' Steve walked out and gently shut the door.

  That was far better than I'd expected, thought Grum. He wished he had thought about the antimatter production angle before, though. Could have saved some hassle. Ah, well.

  Steve knocked on the door, and came straight back in.

  Well, the knock was a nice touch. And it has only been a few seconds, so… What the hell. 'That was quick!' Grum smiled, and waved him back into a seat.

  'Yeah, sorry. Look there was another matter.'

  'What is it?'

  'Well… Even without this extra brouhaha over the generators, we're a couple of months from annual performance review time and admin is going to get heavy.' Steve was actually embarrassed at having to admit that, Grum could see it clearly.

  'I'm sorry, but everyone else is maxxed out. Even Amy.'

  'I know… I want to hire a temp to cover the review period. They can handle standard BAU admin, and I'll handle the rest.'

  Grum sighed. Well. It wasn't as if he really had a quarrel over that. It was true. It was also true that it would be Grum and not Steve who would have to account for any further expenditure on the facility's account. 'OK. Go ahead. Just do it.'

  'You sure? I don't mind asking your VP to sign off…'

  'Nah. He might say no. It's not as if the expense of a temp for a few weeks is going to even signify in what this place costs to run.'

  Steve grinned. 'There, at least, you are correct. You're sure?'

  'Yeah. Go on. You know the agency contacts better than I do, anyway. I even think we still have one or two apartments standing empty at the moment, so they can stay here, if that helps get you a better rate.'

  'It might at that. Thanks. I'll let you know when they are going to arrive.'

  'OK. See you later.'

  'Later.'

  This time the door was shut normally. And so we progress.

  'What do you think you are playing at?'

  Grum had not even had time to say hello. The boss just started as soon as Grum answered the call. 'What do you mean, sir? I have not done anything you have forbidden me to do.'

  'I mean telling everyone to talk to me about generators, and then asking them what they want them for and how long, and stuff.'

  'Well, sir… You did say that you would handle any further use of the technology, so I can't answer their queries and you can, sir. In terms of wanting to know the usage and length of time… This facility will still need to make the antimatter, sir.'

  'And then this new hire…' The boss did not acknowledge any points, he just moved on to a new gripe, Grum realised.

  'Yes, sir. To help Steve with the extra admin being caused by
the queries, and the upcoming performance reviews.'

  'Branch asked for this?'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'Well, all right then. That's allowable. But you stop telling everyone to talk to me about generators. If I hear you've answered another email from another department without going through me first, you're out.'

  'I hear you, sir.'

  'Just you be sure you do.'

  And that was that. The boss hung up.

  Chapter 15

  THE performance reviews were not a fun time. No-one with any integrity enjoys them. The times when you were doing things which were notable you were too busy doing them, and if you had time to note them, they probably were not that notable. So it becomes a hotchpotch of half-remembered deeds and anecdotes. Half the people claiming credit for something someone else thought they did, too. The performance criteria almost never match the job you actually do, and they almost always equate excellence with managerial ability.

  Grum, however, had taken a different approach. It was harder work, as Steve had warned, but it was probably worth it. The work he and Steve had done earlier in the year to match people's strengths to their roles made it easier to say whether they were under-performing, doing it about right, or pushing themselves. As far as Grum was concerned, that was all that mattered. As far as the job for the last year went, anyway.

  They other bit was more messy, but also nicer. Talking about what people wanted to do in the year to come and putting it on their development matrix. At least, it should have been nicer.

  Things had still not completely settled down after the disappointment following the whole Ben fiasco, so Grum was coming in for some flack. Nothing nasty. Nothing even really overt, just a bit of sullen grimness.

  All in all it took a fortnight for Grum to see everyone, except Vann. Steve saw Vann. Grum, naturally, had to recuse himself from that interview.

  Still. It was done and no-one would have to suffer it for another year. Except him. He would have to have his review board by video conference the following week.