“We contract with Space Guard,” Elaine answered. “We propose to retrain these people to Anglic Union American standards, bring them up to speed an American procedures, and prepare them for promotion; they are mostly non-commissioned officers and lower-grade warrant officers. Parliament notwithstanding, the Guard still has a lot of ranks with fine divisions between them. However, we are training them, so the Guard pays the salaries, the Guard pays for the training materials, and we provide the practical work experience. Oh, and we get paid overhead as a private contractor.”
“How many of these people are there?” Smith asked.
“Perhaps a hundred,” Elaine answered. “Many of the rest prefer other lines of work at this point. The limit is training – someone has to supervise the training. Many of these people are good. Some learned China Yards work habits – the old English word is ‘slothful’. At some point Parliament decides it needs a reduction in force on the Space Guard, again. This program lets us identify which are the best of these people, so we offer them jobs, money permitting.”
“Board will need details,” Chelan said. “We re-evaluate hires when the electric firms actually pay for things. How did you get around the barricades and enter the buildings? Aren’t there motion detectors inside?”
“Fire Department reporting system,” Elaine answered. “The one we don’t have for our active buildings. Plug into the building external port, a distance back from the building, and it interrogates the building’s equipment and reports everything with an internet connection. That’s not everything, but close.”
“At some point we need to get those up and running,” Chelan said. “Our competitors are by and by going to want things made there. Are these gadgets what we need to replace the graving dock dome?” “Indeed,” Bell answered, “but we need the manpower for which we need the money for which we need the ships working for which…this goes on for a while. I recommend staying focus laser-sharp on getting the freighters up and running.” She received approving nods from the rest of the Executive Committee.
