Chapter 233 – Prototypes
It was now early winter, and Minsto had called for a meeting after more than a season of hard work. She wanted to show me the finished prototypes.
I met her in the workshop, where she spent most of her time. We started with a hug, a gesture she had grown to like a lot. As usual, I had to be the one to break it, or she would have hugged me forever. After that, we moved to her desk, on top of which the three items were displayed.
“Wow, they looked good on paper, but they’re even better in reality.”
They had sleek lines, together with silver and white colors, giving a clean and refreshing feeling. The most impressive aspect was how easy it was to understand they came from the same brand since they had a similar and distinctive luxurious aura. This was exactly what I was looking for, hoping to create many more different selnics products in the future.
“Let me turn them on.”
She switched on their power one by one, the oven quickly heating up while the fan gave some refreshing air, even though the weather was getting milder as the end of the year approached. I opened the fridge to check that it was indeed cool inside, proof that everything was working as intended.
“They’re so quiet. Perfect as luxury goods. You did an incredible job, Minsto.”
“It’s only the normal result.”
I inspected them in more detail, but frankly, I couldn’t see anything wrong with them as an amateur in the domain. Even trying to find minute defects didn’t get me much.
“I think we can move forward with that. The tricky part will be to plan factory production lines to assemble them efficiently.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Yes. I can do it.”
This made me smile. Something was reassuring about her absolute confidence, especially since she had proven it wasn’t unfounded.
“I completely trust you, Minsto. I’ll leave it to you.”
“That’s what I’m being paid for.”
Now that this was settled, I switched to a different topic.
“How’s your research going, by the way?”
“It’s going slowly. Your phone was a great help.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I’m also in contact with researchers in other domes. We share information and individual progress.”
One of the many elements Suuru improved in the house was to have a phone line set up, which Minsto often used. Some of the cables I had seen when crossing the gates were phone lines, allowing people to phone anyone in any dome. Humanity was instantly connected, at least in terms of information and voice, which proved useful in many situations. Image sharing and videoconferences were still something for the future, though.
“That’s great. Any plans to give me my phone back soon?”
“Not yet.”
Even though her tone was the same as usual, I knew her well enough now to understand this was a strict refusal. It seemed my phone and I would have to live apart for a while longer.
“So, are you building a prototype computer too?”
“Yes, but not here. They’re building one in 8. I’m handling the theoretical parts and the selnic designs.”
“I’m looking forward to good progress on that side. My world changed so much once reliable and powerful computers were introduced.”
“Tell me more about that.”
“Ah… Sure.”
It was my mistake for broaching the subject. Now, she wouldn’t let me go until her curiosity was satisfied. For the next two hours, I spoke about all kinds of things related to computers, like images, videos, software, games, and so on. She listened to it all, only giving small comments like “interesting” or “fascinating” from time to time.
Only after that was I able to redirect the conversation to the main point.
“I guess it’s time for us to look into building a factory.”
“Yes. I should be ready with the assembly line designs by the end of the year, so it’s better to start now. Do you have enough money?”
“Yes, selling water is helping a lot. We should have enough to buy the land and slowly start building the factory while earning more. You’re still fine with having it in dome 2?”
“Yes, I think it’s the best place. You should take me with you when buying the land. I can help.”
“Really? How?”
“I know someone in the city hall.”
All land belonged to the domes. It was only possible to buy it or sell it to the government, and not directly to another person or company. This way, they were able to control who owned what, and most importantly, give permission or refuse a demand as they wished, if the buyer didn’t suit the dome’s vision.
Since we wanted to build a selnic factory in the dome most specialized in selnic technology, we should normally avoid that sort of issue.
“Nice. Let’s go tomorrow morning. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes.”
We chatted a bit more before separating for the day. I still had many daily tasks, which took a certain amount of time. For now, I truly felt like Urtek, my company, fully relied on my existence. Even though it was obvious that a startup needed its initial CEO a lot at the beginning, it was to the point that everything would crumble without me.
The only activity that didn’t strictly need my direct intervention was Minsto’s work. Everything else required my presence and magic. Suuru wouldn’t be able to go to work, my shops wouldn’t have any goods to sell, and Geola wouldn’t have access to the inner world’s vaccines anymore.
It couldn’t be helped for the time being. I hoped to normalize my business sooner or later. Unfortunately, I wasn’t learning the gate spell anymore since I had switched to learning spatial armor. As such, I couldn’t rely on this either, at least not for many years.
I didn’t regret switching to learning it since it could save my life, but I had to admit it was a bit of a shame. I would have to find other ways to fix those issues.
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