Grantville Gazette, Volume 40 by edited by Paula Goodlett & Paula Goodlett

Author:edited by Paula Goodlett & Paula Goodlett [Goodlett, edited by Paula & Goodlett, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-22T22:58:07+00:00

"Right. Well, I know Bernhard and he would make a good partner for you. He has some English, though not as much as I do, and he is picking up more. He is on the city council over there this year, but won't be next year and if you set up a deal with him he can run a lot of the business for you and provide you with technical translations for the down-time craftsmen you are going to need."

"What's the catch?" Gordon asked.

"He will want a piece of the business."

"That's actually good news," Dori Ann said. "Look, Mr. Bozarth, if he was charging a straight fee, well, the bank would have problems endorsing such an expense, considering the lack of progress over the last few months. We want you to succeed, but at some point we have to start wondering about throwing good money after bad."

"How big a piece will he want?" Gordon asked.

"I'm honestly not sure," the German said. "Partly, it's a question of likelihood of success. I don't know that much about it, but you aren't the only battery company."

"I know. When Frank Jackson showed up at my trailer, he said they were doing the same thing with car batteries. But car batteries are different. They have to put out a lot more power over a much shorter period of time. If you try and run a powered chair or a forklift with car batteries, they will . . . well, they won't work." By now Gordon knew quite a bit about the difference between a starter battery and a deep-cycle battery. He hadn't been sitting on his hands, even though he couldn't do the negotiating with the down-timers. He had been studying all he could about batteries in general and lead acid batteries in particular, and most especially deep-cycle batteries—the sort that were used for powering golf carts and other electric vehicles.

****

"Well, all right then," Gordon said. "We need to get to Badenburg. If we were still up-time and I still had my chair, I could just ride it for five miles and Elzbeth could walk beside me."

Elzbeth looked at him. "We can get a wagon to take us. I could push the chair that far, but the roads, they aren't paved like Grantville."

Which was what they did. They and the folded up wheel chair went into the wagon. It wasn't difficult. There were horse-drawn wagons that went back and forth several times a day. By this time they were even talking about extending the tram line to Badenburg.

Two hours later they were at the Kunze family home.

Gordon got to sit and listen as Elzbeth explained things to Bernhard Kunze. Bernhard's wife, a plump and pleasant woman in her late thirties, came in while they were talking and joined in the conversation. It was all in German, so Gordon was mostly left out. Then Elzbeth said something and Bernhard started speaking in English.

"My family was in the wool trade for generations, so I speak some English."

"Why?

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