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to market," Kren said. "I think that the best way to do it would be to drug them, put them in boxes, and
use material handling equipment from then on. There is a chemical called piperphentamone that is not on
the illegal list, because it has no effect on adults. Injected into a juvenal in the proper dosage, it will knock
her unconscious for a week. Also, there is an antidote, brantadiatol, which can bring them around in a
few minutes, and it too is legal. I want you to find a manufacturer who can produce these for us."
"I'll get on it in the morning, sir."
"Right. Next, we'll need some shipping boxes for them. Find out what the standard sizes are, and what
they cost. Collecting the juvenals up won't be a problem at first, because winter is coming on, and they
will be collecting themselves at the wintering centers. I note that each of these centers is near a train
terminal."
Lacking the human urge for creativity, all Mitchegai train terminals were built the same. Once they had an
efficient design, they stuck with it. Rarely used terminals in the countryside were just as large and well
equipped as those in the cities, although more of them had been added as the cities grew. Since they
were expected to last forever, and had been built before many of the current cities existed, there was a
certain logic to this way of doing things.
"I'm sure that it was simply easier to build the centers where the materials could be easily delivered," Dol
said.
"I expect that you are right, but it is still very convenient for us. I want you to work on some method of
efficiently taking contented children from the center and turning them into boxes of product loaded on a
hovercraft that can deliver them to the train station. Bear in mind that this will have to be done mostly
outdoors, in the wintertime."
"Right, sir. Then there were the buildings you mentioned earlier?"
"That's what I'll be doing, drawing up some rough sketches of what we need. Later, you can do up some
finished drawings on that fancy computer of yours."
"Very well, and I already have a plotter on order, to do proper technical drawings. It should get here in
a week. You really should learn to use a computer, sir."
"Later, maybe. Just now, I don't have time. We'll need the packaging center, to gather juvenals from the
fields and prepare them for shipment. I'll want it built and running by spring, and I'm very eager to start in
on the breeding projects we talked about."
"Not to mention the grass-mowing machines and the business of growing grass under artificial lights."
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"Right. The grass mowing is your project. We'll need it by next summer, I expect. Keep me posted. As
to the artificial lights, I need some research done there. All of the artificial lights I've seen have imitated
the spectrum of sunlight. But plants are most efficient under a particular wave length of monochromatic
red light. Any photons with less energy simply do the plant no good at all. Any energy above a certain
level is wasted, and just goes into waste heat, which has to be gotten rid of. I want you to find me some
inexpensive, monochromatic light sources."
"I'll see what I can do, sir. Do you know the precise wave length we need?"
"No, that slips my memory. I only remember that it was red. Vampire memories are not perfect."
"Or maybe Kodo forgot it."
"That too is possible. Well, you know what to do."
* * *
The next weekend was an away game, and the opposing javelin tennis team had been studying tapes of
Kren's last performance. They all showed up to the meet wearing protective headgear, and they made all
of their shots to the rear of the court, from which Kren could not effectively pole-vault. This made for
some long and boring games. One of them was indeed a world record setter for both length and dullness,
but they didn't give away any platinum medals for that. Kren didn't come close to winning.
Kren had suspected that something like this would happen, and hadn't bet on the tennis tournament. The
odds were too low, anyway.
Instead, he won the javelin distance event, without setting any records. The payoff was only two to one,
and Kren, in keeping with his earlier vows, had only bet half of his purse on the outcome. Bronki had
always been a bit secretive about her betting, but Dol said that she would continue betting everything she
had, since a girl never could tell when she might need another billion Ke.
* * *
"Dol, I've been invited back to Duke Dennon's palace for the weekend. Would you like to come along?"
Kren asked.
"A visit to a ducal palace? Most definitely, sir!"
"Then book us a cabin on an express train on Friday afternoon, and find out from Bronki who we should
contact at the palace to tell them we're coming. Tell her that she's invited along, if she wants, but if she's
too busy, that's okay, too."
* * *
As he and Dol walked into the ducal palace, Kren noted that many small changes had taken place. The
carpeting was new, and of the very best quality, as were the drapes. Minor repairs had been made where
necessary, and the servants all sported new uniforms. Only the very professional guards were unchanged,
although Kren was sure that by now they'd all gotten their back pay.
They were immediately escorted to Duke Dennon's private quarters, which had been lavishly
redecorated. They made the proper bow to His Grace, who stood up to greet them.
The duke said, "Kren! Welcome back! All the more so since you have made me a half gross billion Ke
richer!"
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"I thought that it might have been you who bet a gross billion Ke on that fencing match! Your wager
drove the odds down so low that we almost decided to win the javelin accuracy throw instead!"
"I'm glad that you didn't! But the gross billion Ke you paid me for my land barely covered my debts. The
additional money I made on that wager has given me financial security and permitted me to make some
very needed repairs to my estate. Who is your friend?"
"Your Grace, this is Dol. She's nominally my servant, but she's also on my board of directors, and she
has been acting as my chief engineer, so I suppose that makes her my friend as well."
"Your friends are always welcome," the duke said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]