A/n: You guys know this type of cat that runs away for a while and then returns home with a few kittens on her tail. Welp, think of me the same way. A few months back, I became the proud father to Aisha, who completely graced this mortal realm with her presence in a cold early morning day just like her father. And since I finally started sleeping properly in the past month, I got my Masters and had some career shifts but yeah… I AM A DAD!
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Director Vivian Moore, General Manager Oscar Mason, Chief of Security Logan Price, Head Technician Jane Smith-Waters, Head Artisan Voros Goldheart, and finally Secretary Esmeralda.
This team of six unique individuals was the real start of ViTech, a company that sets its vision to reshape the world. Their first day at the job was bound to be busy and Vivian dropped the whole gang at the ViTech Headquarters first thing in the morning.
Everyone then gathered at Vivian's office ready for the first official meeting.
Without delving too much into details, each of the six individuals was designated their own assignments. It first started with accepting new employees from the job applicants. Oscar Mason picked a couple of assistants as Vivian instructed while Logan had brought some old soldiers that he knew to work as security for the place. Jane also had a say about the employment of a few assistant technicians but both Oscar and Logan had to meet and do background checks on them since Jane's work, out of all people, would be wrapped in a layer of secrecy.
As for Voros, he was stubborn about hiring assistants as it seemed that he liked to work by his own rules. However, when he went down to the basement where his workshop was set up, he was so overjoyed that he requested to live in that place from now on. As for assistants, he only wanted two individuals, one to work the blast furnace and the other to be an extra pair of hands for him.
The last one was Esmeralda, who was the least enthusiastic about her new job. All she wanted to do was be a maid but Vivian had pushed that other thing on her and she wasn't very keen on it.
In truth, all that Vivian wanted was to keep Esmeralda close without overworking her anyway but she was in for a surprise once Esmeralda took to her new duties in the office. That happened when Vivian was having a financial meeting with Oscar.
"So as manager, my salary will remain the same as my previous one in the Conglomerate, which is 4500 pounds a month, until we start making real profits. My two assistants will receive half my monthly pay. We are paying Mr. Voros the premium of any expert metallurgist of 9000 pounds since we can't announce the fact that he is a master if his records go public." Oscar said.
"He actually didn't want to get paid but I had to force it on him. All the talent in the world and no sense of money to back it up." Vivian commented.
"Well, life is unfair. Anyway, Miss Jane's pay is 3000 pounds since it is her first possession ever but you insisted on raising it to 4000."
"She's doing extra personal work for me."
"Fair. Sir Logan has refused to receive any payment since he receives an immense payment as a Knight from the House so I suggested that we transfer his payment for charity under his name to the orphaned families of old soldiers. This will cover the gap in the books and make some good advertisements for us. The sum is 4000 pounds."
"Make it five, we need good PR."
"Understood. Miss Esmeralda's pay will be 2000 pounds since you decided to remove her salary from the House's books. As for the employees, Miss Jane has hired four technicians who will receive 3000 each as graduates from the third academy, Mr. Voros' assistants are just two small-time apprentices who will receive 1000 each, and our agents whom you personally picked were five who will receive a 2000 pounds each with an extra 500 pounds for each deal they close. The guards hired by Sir Logan were six and will receive 1500 each. Aside from that, we are hiring around 10 independent cleaning and maintenance workers who will receive a total of 7000 as contracted."
"Well, these are agreeable numbers for such a limited number of employees. I imagine we will expand by next month."
"Greatly, we have no clients yet and the payrolls will start to multiply but on the plus side, once we make a successful contract with one of the other branches, we will receive a full share of any assembly line we manage to establish. This will cover most of the costs in due time."
"Splendid. So, how much should I write on the first cheque?" Vivian asked.
"Let me do the math in a min…" Oscar said and started adding up the numbers together but he was suddenly interrupted.
"68,000 pounds." Esmeralda said.
Vivian and Oscar turned to her, who was serving the tea in her black floral dress and laying her single braid over her right shoulder.
"If every agent makes at least one contract in the first month, it is 70,500 pounds." Esmeralda continued while looking a bit hesitant.
"Hmmm…" Vivian hummed and pointed at Oscar without turning to him, "Do the math."
A few seconds passed as Oscar, who majored in advanced mathematics in the academy, added the numbers together and…
"She's correct." He said.
It was impressive that she paid attention to their conversation and managed to calculate the number but that's not really difficult. Vivian, however…
"If we make a single contract with Professor Bellfield, whom we're trying to recruit at the moment, how much will we have to pay?"
"Our current program includes family subscriptions to the best clinics and clubhouses for the professor and his family which will cost us 1500 and 1800 respectively. Add to that the personal carriage and its coachman and horses which will cost 950 pounds for monthly rental. Aside from the professor, we know that his team consists of nine students which we will sponsor. 600 pounds for seven junior students and 900 for the two postgraduate students adding to a total off…"
"9650 pounds." Esmeralda answered.
"Add that to the total employee payments." Vivian pointed to Oscar.
"77,650 pounds… oh, 78,150 actually." Esmeralda replied.
Oscar struggled to keep up but after a few seconds, he added all the numbers up and it was…
"Correct."
Vivian got off her seat and faced Esmeralda. It was time for the ultimate challenge.
"Materials costs." She said.
Oscar took a deep breath and fetched another paper from his budget binder.
"Metal scrap for 1167 pounds per kilo, we got 7.5 of those. Miss Jane ordered a lot of copper wires and equipment that went to a total of 1255 pounds. The paper, ink, and writing tools cost has reached 497 pounds. We acquired some fresh packages of tea leaves this morning imported from Niban that cost us 300 pounds per kilo and we got 3 of them. The charcoal delivery we received this morning amounted to 34 pounds per sack and we got seven of them."
"Which is…"
"11,642.5 pounds." Esmeralda answered.
"How much have we paid so far then?" Vivian asked.
"Oh, a trick question. That would be 79,642.5 pounds." Esmeralda said.
Vivian was almost baffled… almost.
"What's the square root of that number?" Vivian asked the question that she had no answer to.
"What's a square root?" Esmeralda asked.
"It is a value which gives the number in question when it is multiplied by itself." Oscar replied.
"Oh… tricky… that would be 282.21… almost. The tinier numbers wouldn't make sense to me if I go past that point."
"Do it." Vivian turned to Oscar.
Back to his pencil and paper, Oscar calculated the square root of 79,642.5 and then turned to Vivian.
"Say it."
"She's incredible, director."
"Who's she?"
"Your maid, my lady."
"Say her name."
"Miss… Esmeralda."
"You're goddamn right."
If Vivian was to flash out a Tarot card right now and take a look at Esmeralda's profile in the system, "Natural Mathematician" would appear wide and clear in the list of her traits. Even Esmeralda herself doesn't know how good she is with numbers even though she thinks she's just faster than others at counting things.
Just in a single minute, Esmeralda, who wasn't that motivated for her new job as secretary, became the employee of the month from the first day.
***
After she had her morning tea in the office with Oscar, Vivian took Jane and Oscar along with the five recruitment agents, who work in the under-establishment PR department in ViTech and went to visit the third royal academy.
The carriage stopped at the humble entrance of the academy and Vivian stubbornly continued on foot since she wanted more attention as she walked in.
Her appearance in a feminine suit attracted the eyes of the commoner students, who started guessing the identity of the lady who walked in front of the Academy-famed Oscar Mason and an entourage of gentlemen and knights. This attention would later be used to get the word around about Vivian's nature of business.
However, her aim was the faculty wing and from there, she headed directly to the laboratory of Professor Wilhelm Bellfield, the leading researcher on a topic Vivian found most exciting.
Inside his lab, Professor Wilhelm stood in front of a large contraption and seemed to be adding wirings and tightening screws on it. His assistants were following him with readings from various jars that contained several liquids and had a numerical order lined up on their sides as they were connected to the whole circuit.
The scientists kept recording the readings and trying several things before deciding to restart the experiment for who knows how many times now.
At that time, and from a separate smaller room isolated from that one with a layer of glass, Vivian entered the scene and witnessed the marvelous efforts of the scientists as they pushed the limits of what is known to new frontiers. Politely, she waited until the experiment started and a sudden flash of light blinked through the room causing everyone to look away before dying down prematurely and leaving nothing but a burnt centerpiece in the middle of the contraption.
"Ah! Another one goes down… replace the filament. We'll redo the experiment after the break." Professor Bellfield wrapped up the situation and looked back to see that the guests arrived on time.
He walked towards the smaller room and waved for the guests to come into the lab.
"Hello, charming to see you, dear guests. I recognize some faces in the crowd but you must be Lady Moore." The professor spoke.
"Please, call me Vivian." Vivian immediately shook hands with the professor who seemed in his late 50s, "It is an honor to finally meet you in person, sir."
"Honor is all mine, Lady Vivian. Not every day a member of such an esteemed family passes by our humble workshop and offers that much money." Professor Bellfield acted friendly because of the support he was promised but then he turned to the person that truly interested him, "You must be Mr. Oscar Mason, not every day we get to see our valedictorians back at the Third."
"An honor to meet you again, professor. I am terribly sorry for not passing by more often." Oscar replied and introduced the others, "This here Miss Jane Smith-Waters, a graduate of this year and a fellow employee at ViTech."
"A great honor, sir. I'm a big fan of your work." Jane immediately shook the professor's hand.
"Yes, yes. Third of the Technical this year, the pleasure is mine." The professor greeted Jane before turning to Vivian, "Lady Vivian seems to be hellbent on recruiting our best and brightest."
"I'm glad you're catching me red-handed." Vivian said, referring to him.
"Ah, it's flattering of you." The professor said, "Come, let me show you where your money will be spent."
The professor turned to lead the guests into the usual investor tour he always gives to his patrons. This time, however, he found Vivian racing ahead of him to a device that was shaped like a polished metal orb on a pole.
"Is that what I think it is?" She looked at the device in wonder.
"I am not sure what the young lady thinks but this is…" The professor wanted to reply but Vivian was ahead of him.
"An electrostatic generator! Such Marvel, if I touch one of those while it is on, my hair will go crazy everywhere." She said with a wide smile.
"Indeed. That's the electrostatic generator alright. You must have read…"
As the professor was about to explain, Vivian was already somewhere else.
"A capacitor jar. (Leyden jar) I only saw it in illustrations actually. It stores highly intense electrical charges."
"That's true, be careful near it."
The professor became both somewhat impressed by Vivian's knowledge and somewhat bothered by her behavior.
"That's a friction machine over there? I see, that's quite the interesting electrostatic setup." Vivian said before ending the childish act and turning to the center of the lab, "But that over there is the crown jewel of this lab."
The professor looked at where she was looking before asking her. It was a pillar-like object connected to the large contraption he was working on.
"You know what that is?" He asked with a doubtful expression.
"That right there is the peak of electrochemistry, sir. A state-of-the-art Electrochemical Pile (Voltaic Pile). Two layers of copper and zinc, separated and connected by a layer of felt soaked in seawater. The size of the pile is admirable, you shouldn't show people such a large pile, sir. You need to avoid their envy." Vivian said before secretly winking to Jane who caught on to her dirty joke with shocked eyes.
"Lady Vivian, that's… impressive. You seem well aware of the current happenings in our field."
"It is an exciting field, sir. How can I not be an avid fan of this technology? I dare say this research will change the world and take it by storm." Vivian said.
"Thank you for your encouraging words, Lady Vivian. Now, let me show you the latest thing we were working on." He invited her to the center.
"Can you at least let me guess what it is?" She asked.
"Be my guest." The professor said.
"Well… the Electrochemical Pile over here is surely to generate electricity through this circuit. This jar with lines here is the method to use to read the intensity of the electrical current (voltmeter) and this device here is how you control that intensity, a resistor, if I may say?"
"Correct."
"As we entered the room, that piece of charred matter seemed to have been blowing up in a flash of light. I am unaware of the purpose but you are either trying to produce heat or light. Am I right so far?"
"Well, hahaha, that's spot on, Lady Vivian." The professor became pleased with Vivian and introduced his intent to her, "We are trying to make an electrical lighting device but as you said, when we create the light, we also create heat."
"That's why you get that centerpiece charred."
"It is an isolated frame carrying a filament, we are trying to figure out the right material to keep the heat from burning the filament while keeping it for the longest time possible." He said.
"Such a lofty endeavor, sir." Vivian clapped her hand with a wide smile, "You will change the world indeed."
Vivian had a prior idea of what was going on in that laboratory from Jane who had a friend on Professor Bellfield's team of researchers.
The moment she heard a rough description of the ongoing experiment, she realized that Professor Wilhelm Bellfield was after the very same invention Thomas Edison made, the Light Bulb, albeit with a much earlier technology.
Such an opportunity wasn't to be missed and Vivian used all her brain cells to recall all those lessons Nadia took on electrical engineering in college.
Nadia's experience at wiring bombs alone was enough to impress many scientists by today's standards. She had a rough knowledge of how things worked and read a few academic papers to make her homework right.
"As said by our agents who visited you before me, our patronage extends to more than just financial support. We offer personal care as well as many services in exchange for being your first choice of partnership as your work bears its fruits. We extend a similar yet limited treatment to your assistants and we offer the entire team our best technical assistance that we can muster by bringing up brilliant minds together."
"That is a generous offer, Lady Vivian. Enticing like a deal with the devil, if I may say." The Professor said.
"A devil that promotes science is just how I feel every day when I wake up in the morning."
"Hah! Nice one. But here is the thing, I've spoken to my colleagues and as it seems that you have reached some of us, I'll be the first to enter your program, which makes me unable to get that technical assistance you promise."
"That's the price of pioneering with vision, sir. I can't argue with your logic. But let's take your work as an example." Vivian said and pointed at the centerpiece of the professor's circuit, "The problem you are facing is heat. To solve it, you need to isolate the catalyst that helps the heat flare up which is naturally Air."
"In theory, yes." The man agreed with a nod knowing that it was impossible.
"Let's say we can encase your filaments in an isolated glass bubble and artificially create a vacuum inside, what are the chances of the filaments surviving?"
The man blinked a few times and after a few seconds of thinking, he nodded.
"Well, this would improve the results but if it was possible."
"Never say never, professors. What you need is a skilled glassblower and a vacuum pump. Those things exist and ViTech can bring you the best in the Moore Conglomerate. What you need to do is to figure out the best filament for your design and be done with it. How does that sound, sir?"
The man thought and looked at the light arc circuit he made before descending into deeper thoughts.
This could be it, the dream he and many other scientists are striving for. The first electrical arc lighting invention made by human hands.
He looked at Vivian and hesitated but he is no longer a young man who can keep working for hours unending and if he doesn't do it, another will.
But the moment he shakes hands with Vivian, he and his brainchild will be enrolled into the rough current of businessmen and industry. On top of that, all they promise are benefits and business partnerships.
Too perfect, too enticing.
Even he can no longer resist his greed. It's a win-win situation if he looks at it from afar. He didn't know if he would regret this later along the line but it wouldn't hurt to walk a few steps with his latest rich patron.
"Alright, let's see that contract."
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