Over the next two weeks, Arthur was inundated with information and plans for the future. He knew that this would be a difficult time, and it was holding up to be exactly that. He was completely caught off guard when he was briefed on the funds available.
"Arthur I have spent the better part of the last fifteen years shepherding the finances that your father had secreted away in the weeks leading up Harold's betrayal." It was obvious that the wound was still very raw and there was clear hatred for Arthur's blood relative. "It has been a pleasure to make hay while the sun shines, as it were. Harold has no idea that there is such a substantial war fund available to us. As well as acquiring certain high profile companies."
"Such as?" Percival asked.
"Well the blue ribband acquisition was EMPG Industries." Gaheris explained to the utter shock and amazement of Percival.
"How did you pull that one off?" He asked.
"Well once Harold took over, he demanded that EMPG supply the government and the military at no charge. This obviously led to an enormous loss of income for the company, that and the restrictions that were placed on export orders, well EMPG was left with little option. We made a very generous offer and we also moved the company north to Scotland." Gaheris went on. "When Harold let the Scots break from the Empire, we were able to negotiate a very comfortable arrangement with their Exchequer. Just to place the cherry on top, I was able to convince Jasper Finn to remain with the company as its face and public spokesperson."
EMPG Industries was the premier power generation company in the world, and one wanted to power a small town or a large ship, or even a tank, one used an EMPG system. It was all based around a perfectly weighted and balanced wheel made from osmium and platinum, this was then fitted to a highly precise machined cradle. A caliper was then fitted to the cradle and with a number of highly secret processes, the caliper would draw power from the wheel as it spun. The average size of the wheel was five hundred millimetres, and this would generate enough power to run a small village of about two hundred people. The wheel was spun up to about twenty thousand rpm's by a small, highly geared diesel motor. The wheel would continue to spin for up to fourteen days, and once the wheel slowed it was simply spun back up to speed and would be checked once every couple of days. The system was extremely low maintenance and allowed the military to power some of the largest and most powerful war machines for indefinite periods.
The system was invented by a London Bobby that had come to the end of his tether with the job and needed to unleash his ideas on the real world. Jasper Sebastian Finn was a brilliant inventor, average police officer, but a brilliant inventor. He had the first prototype, a wheel of about one hundred millimetres ready for field testing in a matter of weeks. The biggest concern he had was he had used every cent of his Police retirement pay to access the rare Earths that he needed to make the wheel. He informed everyone he could think of to come and see the latest in power generation technology. On the day of the test, Finn was shocked to see Captains of Industry, academics and the biggest shock of all, King Uther Pendragon himself. The King was an avid amateur inventor, but his efforts usually did nothing more than scorch off the occasional eye brow.
Finn walked out into the room and looked around, he had to admit that all of these high powered spectators made his blood pressure sky rocket. But his wife whispered in his ear.
"Jas, you have a good invention here, it could help so many people. Don't let these stuffed shirts intimidate you, just do what you have to. If it doesn't work this time, it will the next. I will be here next to you regardless." She kissed his cheek softly and gave him a slight push towards the stage. In his mind he stumbled across the stage like a drunk, but in reality he strode across with purpose.
"Your Royal Highness, My Lords, Ladies and esteemed members of the Manufacturers guild. Today I would like to unveil something that will revolutionize electrical generation and therefore almost all aspects of Industry and the Military." There was a fair amount of murmuring in the crowd, but the King cleared his throat and stood.
"Mr. Finn, I am most eager to see your invention. Please do continue."
"Of course Your Majesty." He walked back to the table that held the proto-type generator and lifted the canvas cover. There was a sudden rumble around the room as he unveiled the EMPG. If truth be told, the small machine was quite underwhelming, but in this case looks were very deceiving. He placed the drive cog into its fitting and started the motor. The colossal diesel cloud was all but ignored by people that had lived their whole lives with the constant smell of diesel in their noses. Finn, smiled as he pushed the drive cog home and twisted the throttle of the motor to get the Generator wheel spinning. He let the motor spin the wheel up to about eight thousand rpm and then removed the motor and turned it off.
The wheel was spinning at about two thirds its maximum recommended speed and Finn could see that the dials to the side were already reading a very healthy thirty thousand volts at eight hundred amps. He checked everything twice then turned back to the crowd. Some of whom were about to leave, but he spoke before they had the chance.
"As you can see the wheel is spinning at about eight thousand rpm and will continue to spin for about six days at that rate" He turned to the dials to the left and point to the first one. "This is the Volt metre and at the moment there is a little over thirty thousand volts being generated at about eight hundred amperes." A sudden hush fell over the skeptical crowd, they were stunned at the amount of power this tiny machine was pumping out, and doing so silently and without spark or flare.
"Mr. Finn," the King spoke. "Are you telling me that you have developed a generator that uses no fuel and pumps out that much power?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes, Your Majesty, would you like to come up and inspect it for yourself?" Finn asked Uther.
"Indeed I would." Uther stood and moved to the stage, much to the consternation of his personal security and Sir Percival Gifford who was sitting next to him. As Uther approached, Finn dropped to a knee in front of his Monarch. "Get up man, if you have done what you say you have I should be bowing to you. Now show me this magic show."
"Certainly, Your Highness. If you come to this point I will show you how the wheel generates the electricity." As Uther leant in, the inventor explained a few of the details of the machine and how it works. But he was careful not to say too much in front of the very men he was looking to sign up as customers. The last thing he needed was for opposition companies to develop their own generators, the copyright and patent laws were far from solid. Finn had built the generator with a completely tamper proof case that would prevent anyone from reverse engineering his design.
"And how long does one of these generators last?" Uther asked.
"That is a question I do not have the answer for, Sire. I estimate that with proper care and maintenance the unit has an almost indefinite life span." Uther just looked at the man with a look of utter shock. "But I would always take into account, poor maintenance and accidental damage, the wheel is highly machined as is balanced to an extremely fine point. Hence the long spin time."
"How big can you make them? And how much power can be generated by one unit?"
"The size is only restricted by the availability of the rare Earth elements that are vital to its construction and ability to generated stable current. But one this size would run the Palace without any strain at all. When it is spinning at its maximum rate, the output would be closer to fifty Thousand volts at fourteen hundred amps."
"Mr. Finn, you have your first customer, do you have an estimated cost of the Generator?"
"Well your Highness, this unit cost me in the area of three thousand pounds to build. This one is five hundred millimetres, so I would think that the price would increase by about one thousand pounds per hundred millimetres." He explained, he was praying that his numbers weren't too steep for the King.
"Sir, I am most impressed and I wish you to meet with my Military advisor, Sir Percival here and discuss the military applications. As for the Palace, I wish to formally order six units, what size would you suggest for my homes?"
"Sire I was planning to make the smallest size seven hundred and fifty millimetres."
"A good plan, I will formally order ten of the smallest with a tentative order for another ten at varying sizes depending on the application. Percival make sure that Mr. Finn is paid up front, I feel confident that the path to his door will soon be crowded."
"Yes Sire, Mr. Finn, what is the expected delivery date?" Percival asked.
"Well Sir, I would expect with tooling up and employing enough quality tradesmen, I expect the first of the units to be available in two months." Finn estimated.
"That is a very ambitious turn-around time Mr. Finn, are you sure that you don't need more time?" The Knight asked him.
"No Sir, I have the equipment to make the Caliper already, it just comes down to the availability and cost of the rare Earth materials." He looked in his little note book." I believe there is well and truly enough available at the moment and the price is quite reasonable. But, of course once word of the EMPG gets out I expect a spike in material costs."
The King smiled at the inventor and turned and left. Sir Percival made a note in his own note book and bid Finn a good day. Once the King was out of sight the industrialists rushed Finn like a tidal wave, most offering obscene amounts of money for the rights to the technology. But Finn refused them all and explained that this was his invention and EMPG Systems would be open for business on the following Monday.