Then he went back to telling her about the people of Amsterdam and the siege. I have seen sieges from both sides as besieger and besieged, but in both cases I was in the army and had my duty. Mostly the civilians were just sort of there in the background. But this is different. I think it's because of Gretchen Richter and her CoCs. But the people are involved here. Morale is high on both sides. It is interesting to talk to a Spanish sergeant in the morning and a Dutch CoC guarding the walls in the afternoon. Boredom is a sap on morale, but the CoCs have everyone working on maintenance or repairs. And the Spaniards are sure of their commander and eventual victory.
Johan went on to tell Darlene about several of the people he had met, and about their lives and hopes.
Darlene laid down the letter and considered. She was working in the cafeteria still, but starting to feel a bit guilty about it. There were people under siege in Amsterdam and the New US-or, rather the State of Thuringia-Franconia as part of the USE-was caught in a war and she was, as Brent Partow insisted on calling it, slopping the teens. But the truth was, she didn't like fiddling with little bits of wire and she did like cooking. And, oddly enough, she found cooking for large numbers easier than cooking for one or a few. She wouldn't mind consulting a bit about electric parts now and then, but she didn't want to spend her time hand assembling poor copies of up-time gauges. Still. . maybe she ought to start looking around for something she could do that used a little more of the knowledge she had as an up-timer.
A few hours later, a discussion with Trent Partow added weight to something she had gotten from Johan before he had left, and even a little bit from the down-timers she had trained at the power plant.
"It's not the stuff that we know we know, mostly," Trent said. "It's the stuff we know that we don't even realize matters. Imagine having to build an airplane-or a crock pot, for that matter-just from books. Even good books. Not knowing why any of the parts were needed, not knowing what could be left out or what just looked unimportant." He shook his head. "I've tried to turn it around a couple of times. Imagine trying to shoe a horse from directions in a book. A book will tell you how many nails to use, but it probably won't tell you what is going to piss the brute off and have him kick you through the stall door. A lot of the time a down-timer, even-well, especially-a very smart down-timer, will come to me with something that doesn't work when she is sure it should work, and it's because she knows how water flows but not how water in a channel is different from electricity in a circuit. Or something like that."
They talked about the problems that Trent was having with mass producing electrical components. Basic stuff, like switches and dials. "So," Trent said, a few minutes later, "do you want a job?"
"What?"
"Do you want a job helping us develop cheap, efficient ways of mass producing electrical components?"
"No. I want a job cooking," Darlene said. "I wouldn't mind consulting on components now and then as needed, but I want to cook, not fiddle with tiny little parts."
Trent nodded. "I'll see what I can come up with."
Trent considered the middle-aged woman. TwinloPark had its own power, produced by its own generators, and had natural gas from the well in Grantville in a tank on the premises, but people, if they ate at midday, either brought their lunch or went off to an inn in Badenburg, Bechstedt or one of the other little villages for lunch. It wasn't that far even to Badenburg, and they had some transport. But now that he thought about it, it might be a very good idea to have a cafeteria or restaurant or something out at the park. Besides, she knew her stuff, even if she wasn't all that good at doing wiring, according to her old boss at the power plant. Which didn't matter, really. TwinloPark had craftsmen who could make anything out of copper wire. Anything at all. An up-timer kitchen manager with knowledge of electronics to look at the stuff they made and give opinions. . that might be really valuable. Besides, Johan Kipper was sort of part of the family, anyway.
"Like I said, let me look into it," he finally said to Ms. Myers.
"How about a restaurant?" Trent asked Herr Kunze. Josef Kunze was a cousin of Franz Kunze, the chairman of the board of OPM. Josef had been planted on them by Franz Kunze and their mother, to make sure they didn't do anything dangerous. As nannies went, Josef was all right. He was smart enough to know what he didn't know, and was willing to learn from kids. He kept the books for TwinloPark and charged for their time when they got called in to consult. He paid the salaries of the staff and generally ran the place.
"What about a restaurant? Are you asking about a power plant for a restaurant?"
"No. I mean, what about putting a restaurant here at the park."
Kunze was shaking his head. "There are only twenty employees. That's not enough people to make it profitable."
"No, I mean we could provide meals for the employees."
"Why should we? You know we have dozens of applicants. We don't need to offer perks like that."
Kunze, Trent noted, was quite fond of up-time slang. "I disagree. Part of this place, a big part of it, is the culture. We take care of our people here. That's policy, and you know it."
"And we do. We provide medical and injury insurance. We help our employees find lodging and more. Why have you suddenly decided that we need to feed them lunch too? It is only lunch, you're talking about? Or are you planning on feeding them breakfast and dinner as well?"
"I hadn't thought about it, but yes, breakfast and dinner as well, if they want it. If they are here for breakfast before work, you know they are going to start talking about their projects while they eat."
Herr Kunze stopped to consider, and Trent waited for him to finish.
"That would be a benefit. And if we were to provide a restaurant on the premises, breakfast and dinner might partially pay for themselves in extra work while they are eating. It's how this group works. But that doesn't explain why you have developed this sudden interest in having a restaurant in the park."
Trent grinned. "I need it to tempt in an expert on dials and switches. Johan Kipper's up-timer lady friend."
Johan Kipper was a name to conjure with, Trent knew. As David's man, he sat on the boards of OPM and HSMC, plus at least a dozen other companies in which OPM had a controlling interest. He was very high up in the hierarchy of the Ring of Fire industrial community, at least the down-time side of it. Josef Kunze had gotten this job because he was Franz Kunze's cousin. He was competent and, in fact, good at it, but he never would have gotten it without connections. That was how the down-time world worked, and by now Trent was pretty sure that it was how the up-time world had worked too. Josef wasn't going to balk at giving a job to a friend of Johan Kipper.
"I would be happy to provide any friend of Herr Kipper with employment. However, inventing not just a job, but a whole new department-probably with at least a couple of employees-just to give her a job? Even if she is an up-timer?"
"Remember, she is an expert on dials and switches," Trent reminded him.
"So why not hire her as that?"
"Because she doesn't want that job," Trent said. "She likes to cook."
Josef checked out the woman on his own, then approved the plan. He had several reasons. One was the fact that Johan Kipper was not, in any sense, someone he wanted to get on the wrong side of. Kipper could end your career and, if necessary, your life. He was, to many down-timers, the iron fist in David Bartley's silk glove. But another reason was also because they really did need someone with an up-timer's understanding of electronics. As well, a little research had suggested that providing free meals to the employees would make them more productive. Twinlo Park wasn't quite like an up-time research and development facility. As often as not, families were hired as a unit. Husband and wife both came to the shop and worked together. Sometimes it was men and women who were not yet financially secure enough to marry after all the disruptions of the war. They had three couples, masters at their trades and their wives, who had lost their homes and hopes in the war, and now worked at Twinlo Park as a unit. A restaurant on the premises would be of really great benefit, and not nearly that expensive.