Gunnar interrupted. “I can see if the Mylar’s been picked up from Space-Gen’s site. Maybe we can just move it directly to GLI’s site without it coming back here to Virginia.”
Arya said, “Good idea. However, we’d not only have to pay to move the Mylar, but we’d also have to send our team there and pay to hire local labor, so I don’t think we should do it unless we can get GLI to give us a fifty percent deposit on the work.” She looked at Norm, “Can you make the ask?”
Norm nodded, “Is it okay if I tell them we have cash flow problems?”
Arya looked at Kaem and he nodded. Turning back to Norm she said, “Sure. Tell them if they want it without a deposit, they’ll have to wait a few months.”
“Okay. How much are we charging?”
“One point two million.” She raised her hand to forestall his protest, “Yes. I know we only charged Space-Gen a million but the cost of the labor crew and shipping the Mylar was more than we expected.”
“If they say they’re going to build their own out of steel?”
“Tell them to go ahead. Point out that it’ll take a lot longer, probably cost more than our bid and that they’ll probably have cost overruns that’ll make it cost even more.”
Gunnar said, “Also point out that, in the long run, a steel chamber’s gonna require a lot more maintenance.”
“Okay,” Norm said, then turned to look at Kaem. “As long as I’m up, shall I give my report on labeling Stades?” Kaem nodded, so he continued. “With Gunnar’s help, I’ve managed to modify a 3D printer so its head pushes a little mirrored socket down against a Stade. That socket welds a one-millimeter dot of Stade to it. We’re able to print bumps on Stade the way one of the first computer printers, one called a ‘dot-matrix printer’ did on paper.” He passed a sheet of Stade with bumpy printing around the table. “We’ll also be able to use it to build small Stade objects if they can be a little bumpy.”
“That’s great you guys!” Kaem said, sounding very impressed. When the sheet got to him, he frowned and asked, “How are you printing a dot right next to a previous one. Doesn’t the edge of the socket hit the previous bump?”
“The genius of Gunnar,” Norm said. “The print head lifts and rotates a variety of different sockets into place. They have defects in their walls that fit up against the different possibilities of neighboring bumps or walls.”
“That 3D printer cost $32,000 by the time they bought and modified it,” Arya grumbled.
Looking abashed, Norm said, “Sorry. I didn’t know… um, about our cash flow problem.”
She waved it away. “We’ll be able to afford that kind of stuff without a problem as soon as Space-Gen or GLI has us build them a rocket.” She turned to Lee. “When’s Space-Gen going to cast its rocket?”
Lee frowned. “I think in the next few weeks. They just have to ship molds to Texas and figure out how to set them up in the vacuum chamber.”
Arya sighed. “I’m longing for that day but praying none of you guys decide to order something because you’re sure the bill won’t come in before Space-Gen pays.”
Lee said, “I’ve got something else we should talk about, but it needs to remain confidential to just this group, okay?”
After collecting nods from around the table, Lee continued, “I was late getting back from Texas because Mahesh Prakant, Space-Gen’s CTO, asked me to hold over until he could get there to inspect the new vacuum chamber. I showed him around, then at the end of our tour, he asked how I liked working at Staze. The upshot of our discussion was that he’d like to come work for us.” She glanced at Kaem. “He knows you’re already the CTO here and that Norm and I are the only engineers he’d have to boss around, but he’d like the challenge of helping develop Stade.”
Wide-eyed, Kaem said, “Oh, wow. That’d be great. I’d love for him to take the CTO label. It’d give Staze more credibility and I’d be happy to get rid of some of the administrative work. When could—"
“Kaem!” Arya said dangerously. “We cannot hire—”
Lee interrupted, “He said he’d work for free until we could afford to pay him.”
Kaem looked at Lee, “Could you call him about how we need to be paid for the vacuum chamber?”
Arya said, “That’d be great and it’d get us out of debt, but we still couldn’t afford to pay him until some other money comes in.”
Kaem put up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. But we could tell him that and get him to fill out an application and forward his information, couldn’t we? Let him come to work as soon as he’s ready as long as he’s truly willing to work for free for a while?”
The group started getting up to go back to work but Kaem said, “Norm, Gunnar, wait a sec. I’ve had an idea for your printer.”
Arya turned back to them and pointed a finger at Gunnar, “Do not let him spend any more money on whatever this idea is until we get some more income!” She walked away with the rest of the team.
Gunnar grinned at Kaem, “When did you two get married?”
Kaem blinked, “Are you saying I’m henpecked?”
Gunnar nodded.
Kaem shook his head, “For God’s sake don’t say anything like that to her! I’m having enough trouble…” He ran down and
