Gal dropped the two Abranel off at the local highschool where Dr.Nichols and his daughter had been keeping an eye on the local sheriff who had a IV bag in his arm but was awake and talking.
While the Tesla group headed back to the estate a meeting was needed to plan around the circumstances that the Tesla family now found itself in.
Passing through Grantville the truck got some odd looks but with the unknown situation the town residents were congregating in their respective safe spaces, like the many churches from a variety of Christian faiths that were all so common in American towns.
All of those people looked for some kind of solace or someone to tell them what was going on as no one outside of those who went to the farm house knew that the town was back in time.
The Tesla estate was designed around the gothic style with its long pointed arches for the wraparound porch, flying exterior buttresses, stained-glass windows that when the sun hit it right made it look like bolts of lightning were coming off the tall spires on the home.
On the second floor where the Chiefs of Security shared an office had already gathered the staff 25 of them from the regular maids that were based off Black Pink and many other famous pop stars, to the more involved in the direct running of Tesla Industries or were before the incident.
All of these women were designed and built around their positions, the two unofficial leaders Adda and Uthgerd sat on each side of Tesla's chair at the head of the table.
The Head of Medical research Angela Ziegler who was connected with Shizuka her direct subordinate, next heads of engineering theoretical and hard, Brigitte Lindholm in charge of hard engineering while Velma Dinckly was in charge of theoretical and the more esoteric side.
The "Political" advisor, Natasha Ramanof who handled the politics that Tesla had no desire to deal with like those in the pentagon.
Last is the Financial Advisor Daphne Blake who handled the financial side of everything making sure Tesla did not end up like his name sake, which she did very well and with an iron First.
"Thank you, Adda and Uthgerd for getting everyone together so fast and apologize for interrupting your research but we may be canceling all of our projects including my own." The researchers in the room grumbled, most of all Angela.
"Sir! My research into cancer has been making great strides and….." Tesla raised his hand for her to stop before the Swiss woman got going as it would be some time before she stopped.
"Please Mercy….. you know I respect your research but I'm sure Shizuka and the others have uploaded their view of the farm house raid and Lydia who has been observing from the balloon has also proven that we now find ourselves in the 1630s and the sack of Magdeburg has recently occurred." All of the women's eyes flash blue for a moment entering their own cyberspace and watch the video from the day catching up.
"Dragon, can you give us a situation report on our resource storage?" Daphne asked the AI that helped her manage the mad house that is the Tesla Estate.
"Of course Daphne." Dragon answered with her slight Quebec accent from the speaker on the table, "Sadly not much, enough to maintain all the staff's bodies, food for some time, best of all with the fusion power plant under the house we will have no power problems and I recommend providing the town with power."
"Thank you Dragon, and I apologize as it will be a long time before you have your own body. Now with this world we now find ourselves in. I plan on continuing our research and goals but how we are doing that will be changing, plan on 1880s in terms of base tech level pretty soon or 1920s at the best for Grantville in the next couple years.
I'll be focusing on my Steam and diesel technology for the most part but I plan on scrapping my more high tech cars and projects to build a handful of spy satellites in Orbit, and updating the balloon to be a high atmosphere version with cameras on different visual spectrums." Tesla continued to lay out his plans and immediate concerns of the future but most of all getting out ahead of the crisis.
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"It's ugly sir." Audrey Ramirez said she was the mechanic that maintained the fleet of cars both high and low tech. She had been mostly out of a job and now was Tesla Direct assistant when she wasn't disassembling the cars.
Tesla waving his hands in the air is a mild dismissal, "It bothers me too Audrey, but we are strapped for good material but while crude it works rather well." And Tesla was right, the mix of both old and advanced tech gave the balloon a weird look.
Built around a group of propane cans, the balloon carried a staggering amount of sensors and cameras that would gather and send data to Dragon to monitor, held aloft via a hot air balloon; the thing was a patchwork of wire and cables that tied it to the ground below.
It took the better part of a day and a half but with most of that time being taken up by scavenging and cataloging the materials available the balloon was already paying for itself as the cameras came online.
Giving at 1,000 feet a wonderful view for the next 50 miles with 4k quality cameras that showed villages and towns that could pose problems for Grantville.
Tesla watched through these cameras while sitting in one of the few remaining vehicles that he hadn't ordered scrapped for parts to make a new production area.
As for where he is heading the local highschool where the Mayor and some of the other civic leaders gathered with the teachers in hopes of figuring out everything.
Pulling into the highschool Natasha and him brought with them a large briefcase, greeting them at the front doors is Mellisa Mailey a woman in her early 60s the local history teacher and very outspoken feminist and radical who had ingratiated herself into the town many many years ago.
"Oh Mrs. Ramanof it a pleasure as always to see you, and Mr. Tesla, thank you for coming to the school once again." She gave the two a smile mostly towards Natasha more than him as the two had formed a respect for one another after the teacher visited the Tesla estate when she learned of the many women that lived there.
"A pleasure as always Miss Mailey." Natasha said as the older women led us into the school to one of the few meeting rooms.
The rather plain meeting room was filled with men and women who looked like they hadn't been sleeping well and smelled like they hadn't showered for a day.
"Mr.Tesla thank you for coming, we're sorry to bother you but interesting times and all of that." Henry Dresdon said the local Mayor who while not hostile did not enjoy having the Tesla estate here in Grantville.
"I understand Mr.Dresden with the situation we find ourselves has changed a lot of our plans at Aperture Science, first before we start my home home has the ability to provide power to the area and if the power plants men haven't already cleaned up the cut power lines we can provide power in a couple hours." Tesla explained and the people in the room looked very relieved at the idea, as even with the nice weather people were missing their AC and modern conveniences.
"Thank you Nikola if I can call you that? Give me a moment to radio Nat the manager of the plant." On a side table a large walkie-talkie with an even bigger antenna sat where the Mayor spoke quietly into it and Nat spoke back quickly.
"Nat says he will need to double check but he says you can send the power to the substation near your home and he will take care of the rest." Giving the mayor a nod in return the mayor continues, "Continuing from what I was saying, do you have any idea of what happened for the town to suddenly appear in the 17th century?" Tesla places his briefcase on the table and flips it open and pulls a collection of computer screens which Natasha passes to everyone in the room.
"Those are wireless computer monitors, they will make sense in a moment. First I and my colleagues have no idea of what occurred but what we can say is that it was a miracle that we are not all dead as the so-called ring of fire cut on the atomic level and could have easily split all the atoms where they cut." The members of the town's council and the teacher went pale at the idea of atomic detonation. Tesla took that moment to turn on the screens showing the view from the cameras.
"That view is from a small high altitude balloon I built over the past day. It gives us a ~50 mile view around the town, as you can tell we are most definitely in the 17th century. Besides that I do not have much to say, but Aperture Science will provide technical or physical support." Just as he said that the lights flickered on from his fusion plant supplying the town's power, a lot of whoops of joy could be heard from the town.
The meeting continued as the town council continued asked what Tesla could do, and eventually they asked him to start using some of the high school's equipment to broadcast weather, and some general movies to help calm everyone down while they continued planning.
During all of this none asked how they were supplying so much power to the town as they were simply relieved at having power.
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In another two days the town council called for anyone who wanted to come to the highschool gymnasium which could hold only 1,500 which was almost double in capacity.
Tesla had after suggesting it set up a camera to televise the meeting so everyone in the town was most likely watching the event.
Tesla sat right in front with a handful of his staff around him acting as security and wanting to watch the meeting as like Tesla they all had become active members of the community like Anglea volunteered for women's health courses.
The mayor started by explaining that yes Grantville had found itself far in the past during one of the bloodiest times in Europe history with a lot of danger around them.
"The town council has decided that we need some form of emergency committee, then once the immediate issues are solved hold some kind of constitutional convention to guide us through this crisis." Mayor Dreeson a man who was well liked by the community and did a lot to help improve the education of the town including the completely renovated highschool they all gathered in.
Someone in the crowd shouted for Dreeson to run the community but he waved them off, "No Thank you! I'm 66 folks and a small town mayor at that nothing more and I'd rather stay being one thank you. I'd like to say I was a good one but I'm not the right man to-" he motioned to the outside world and the crazy circumstances they found themselves in.
A motion at the edge of the crowd drew everyone's attention as .
John Simpson, Mikes sister's new father-in-law, a man that was not well liked by his new extended family and by the knee jerk reaction by the crowd of some hisses they didn't like the obvious CEO either.
He moved with clear and defined purpose to the Mayor's side and with his sheer authoritativeness the mayor handed him the microphone, this is when Tesla recognizes him he has butted heads with the man in the pentagon and in business.
Tesla, a man who was always a big promoter of green and alternative fuels like biodiesel which he proposed to the pentagon to cut supply lines and cost but was cut out via lobbying, not from Simpson himself but he was the opposition's figurehead.
"I agree with Mayor Dreeson, we are in an emergency that calls for emergency management." He said forcefully but many in the crowd just thought he was condescending.
Simpson continued to speak and nominate himself for chairman based on the fact he had been CEO of a major corporation and ex navy officer, which canceled each other out in the opinion of the townspeople.
In this speech he proposed they seal off the town and called the German people outside in the woods hiding creatures and plague carriers.
This angered Mike the head of the Miners Union as Simpson wave in the direction of Rebeca which sent him into rage. Mike then forced the microphone from Simpson's hands, "I agree with the town council's proposal." Mike said to the crowd then turned to Simpson,"And I completely disagree with the spirit of the last speaker's remarks."
Mike gave Simpson a glance, lingering on it long enough to make the gesture public. "We haven't even got started, and already this guy is talking about downsizing."
The gymnasium was rocked with a sudden, explosive burst of laughter. Humor at Mike's jest was made with quite a bit of bite as many of the locals here in town had been affected by companies "downsizing".
Mike continued on drawing the crowd in, "This the worst possible plan, as there are probably the same amount of people if not more in the woods than in town here, women and children most of them." He then turned back to Simpson, "Is that your plan to Mr,CEO to shoot children who are fleeing a war zone and I'm speaking for the MWA here that I'd rather die than kill children.
This was met with whistles and shouts from the crowd as many of the local miners had come, Tesla among them even being a man who developed technology for the military he focused on, medical and armor.
Mike, building on his own anger he drove on, "Sealing off the town, even if we do that how are we going to feed 3,000 people, think people Greg said that the event-Ring of Fire pulled an area with diameter of six miles around us, you think we can farm in these hills?" Mike left that question hanging in the air for the crowd to digest and Simpson red in the face with anger went for the microphone.
Mike just planted his large hand on the man's chest and gave a light push much to the man's shock at being manhandled.
"Don't even think about taking this microphone from me, big shot," growled Mike. He hadn't intended the statement to be public, but the microphone amplified his words through the gymnasium. Another laugh came from the crowd.
Almost a cheer, actuallyâ€"as if they were applauding a dramatic slam dunk by the high school's favorite player.
Mike's next words were spoken softly, but firmly. "Folks, we've got to face the truth. We're here, and we're here to stay. Forever." He paused. "Forever," he repeated. "We can't think in terms of tomorrow, or the day after. Or even next year. We've got to think in terms of decades. Centuries."
The crowd grew somber at the idea many had lost family in the event being separated by centuries now never able to say goodbye.
"We can't bury our heads in the sand and pretend like nothing is wrong, hell we can't take these people away and even if we do what about those who come next." He then pointed a Finger to the history teacher Ms.Mailey,"You heard what Ms. Mailey told us earlier. We're smack in the middle of one of the worst wars in history. The Thirty Years War, it's called. Not halfway into it, from what she said. By the time this war is over, Germany will be half-destroyed. A fourth of its populationâ€"that includes us, now, 'cause we're here in the middle of itâ€"dead and buried. There are gigantic armies out there, roaming the countryside. Plundering everything, killing everybody. We've seen it with our own eyes." He looked over towards Rebeca who was watching intently at Mike.
"Sure we could fight them off first butâ€"Tesla you are providing power for the town how long will that last? And could you make more weapons to fight off armies 30,000 strong." He waves towards Tesla who stands and addresses the crowd.
"Ah, power will be fine as it's a Fusion Reactor, for weapons no, I'm already scrapping my vehicles for electronic parts." Mike nodded and made sure to remember to ask about the reactor sitting on the edge of town.
"Hear that folks our local mad Scientist is already scrapping." That got a chuckle as the local rumors over Tesla were wild just in the year he has been living in town, not that he did anything to stop them.
Simpson at this point threw his arms in the air and moved to sit back down, his wife who did not agree with what he said moved a couple seats away towards Tesla as the only person she recognized beside her son.
Mike suppressed a grin, "Like I said, I disagree with everything about his approach. I say we've got to go at this the exact other way around. The hell with downsizing. Let's build up, dammit!"
Again, he swept his hand in a circle. "We've got to expand outward. The biggest asset we've got, as far as I'm concerned, is all those thousands of starving and frightened people out there. The countryside is flooded with them. Bring them in. Feed them, shelter themâ€"and then give them work. Most of them are farmers. They know how to grow crops, if they don't have armies plundering them."
"We'll protect them. They can feed us. And those of them with any skillsâ€"or the willingness to learn themâ€"can help us with all the other work that needs to be done."
He leaned back from the microphone, straightening his back. "That's what I think, in a nutshell. Let's go at this the way we built America in the first place. 'Send me your tired, your poor."
Angrily, Simpson shouted at him from the sidelines. "This isn't America, you stupid idiot!"
Mike felt fury flooding into him. He clamped down on the rage, controlling it. But the effort, perhaps, drove him farther than he'd ever consciously intended. He turned to face Simpson squarely. When he spoke, he did not shout. He simply let the microphone amplify the words into every corner of the gymnasium.
"It will be, you gutless jackass. It will be." Then, to the crowd: "According to Melissa Mailey, we now live in a world where kings and noblemen rule the roost. And they've turned all of central Europeâ€"our home, now, ours and our childrens' to comeâ€"into a raging inferno. We are surrounded by a Ring of Fire. Well, I've fought forest fires before. So I have lots of other men in this room. The best way to fight a fire is to start a counterfire. So my position is simple. I say we start the American Revolutionâ€"a hundred and fifty years ahead of schedule!"
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause as practically the entire crowd was on its feet for him, not that he was surprised he knew these people a lot better than Simpson did.
Mike then moved to sit back down in the stands when Mellisa Mailey in a voice that had taught most of the people in this room, "Mayor Dreeson, I'd like to nominate Michael Stearns as chairman of the Emergency committee." That stopped Mike in his tracks jaw dropping