-Aleah slipped into the small auditorium in Nontech headquarters, closing the door softly behind her to avoid drawing the ire of the upper management already in the room. She was one of the last of her department to arrive and judging by the confused looks on most faces and the hushed conversations of her coworkers, she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know why this “all-hands” meeting had been called. She suspected it was something to do with Jason’s situation, and she was more right than she knew.

“Razor has been the leader in simulation development since nanotech was introduced…” the corporate head began. Aleah took the time to glance around the room as he recounted history she was already familiar with. She spotted people she hadn’t seen before who were seated near the small stage. I wonder who those suits are, she thought. She didn’t have a good enough angle to see their faces. Also, the longer a manager takes to butter you up, the more they think you will dislike what they’re about to say. This is kind of starting to worry me.

Returning her attention to the speaker, she heard, “...and there’s no company more familiar with how the nano works than us, other than the company that started this revolution, Nontech, of course.” The emphasis wasn’t lost on the assembled listeners. “Our two companies, together, have ushered in a new age, and we’ll continue to push to the limits of our collective imagination. That is why I’m excited to announce that Nontech will be acquiring Razor, Inc. 45 days from now.”

The roar of the sudden exclamations and conversations that sprang up took the executive some time to quiet down. “The leadership of our soon-to-be-parent company has assured me that they want to continue the good things we have going and don’t want to make any sort of massive changes. They simply want to join us closer together and make sure we have the resources to continue innovating in the future.

“Those of you with stock or stock options will be very pleasantly surprised by the email you just received. And for all employees, I hope you look at this as a guarantee of Razor’s future, and by extension, your own. Together, we’ll continue to be Always Cutting Edge. And with that, I’d like to invite Edward Yates, CEO of Nontech, and the inventor of the nanotechnology we all love. Please give him a warm welcome!”

The applause filtered through Aleah’s thoughts, but her mind was already elsewhere. The timing of this announcement just couldn’t be a coincidence… she hadn’t heard a whisper of a rumor of any potential acquisition deals. Aleah reminded herself to talk to someone a layer or two above her in the corporate hierarchy and try to find out what this meant for Jason. The contracts that Razor had made with Jason would still apply, she knew, but if the people interpreting the contracts changed, they could probably find ways to make life harder for Jason. The sinking feeling in her gut told her that once Yates got his claws in Jason, he wasn’t going to let go easily. Jason was now on a much shorter clock, and he had no idea.

---

Jason inspected the wooden water wheel that a dozen men were struggling to hoist into place just downstream of the millpond. On the other side of the narrow gully, a group of farmers was using picks and shovels to start an irrigation ditch that would head towards new farmland. Jason didn’t envy them their backbreaking labor. Avoiding that was one of the perks of his job that he appreciated the most. The new lord had tried to pick up a shovel and help out but had seen horrified looks, and everyone stopped what they were doing. Tyler convinced him he wasn’t going to help by being “in the trenches”, and it was going to be more of a detriment to morale than a help. People wanted a lord they could look up to, he had explained, and the better their lord was doing, the better off they knew the jurisdiction was. Within reason, of course. A feast in the lord’s manor, while there was famine outside, did no one any favors.

The freshly hewn timbers of the future sawmill had obvious marks of irregular hand tools on each face. A lumber carriage would carry logs through the stationary circular blade that hadn’t yet been finished by the blacksmith. Soon, if nothing went wrong, Jason would be able to multiply their lumber making capabilities by many times, he knew. It was the whole “if nothing went wrong” part that always worried him. There always seemed to be some aspect that he hadn’t taken into account which would bring things to a grinding halt.

The dam for the new millpond had started to wash away when the water had flown over the top, and half of their week’s work had disappeared in an hour. That had been resolved by adding another overflow trench to the other side of the pond and refilling the gap, but it had been rather discouraging for Jason. The rest of the townspeople weren’t immune, either, and while Jason wasn’t sure, he thought he had heard some mumbling about “idotic planning” and “crazy lords”. The disaster certainly didn’t help his image.

I really need the sawmill done. With only hand-hewn lumber, it’s going to take way too long to get all the houses built. Sleeping outdoors or in tents is going to affect morale. Poor morale means less gets done, and there’s more resistance to trying new, crazy things. And those crazy things or what is going to help me build this place into a city everyone wants to move to.

Besides, I have no idea when other powers are going to want to come and take my stuff. When we’re done building houses, perhaps we can get some people working on weapons or defenses, but taking care of our people’s basic necessities is the priority.

---

The scout bowed low to his company leader. “As you ordered, sir, I observed them all the way to the village. It’s… Well, it’s strange, sir. It seems like they have built a second grain mill. I’m not sure what they think we’re going to do with it, but I don’t see how it could affect our objective.

“My recommendation is we return and let his majesty know that there should be no difficulties to the season’s expansion.”