Chapter 13
Two months went by in what felt like the blink of an eye. During which, I'd spent more time arranging and fixing the computer terminals and servers than I could have possibly expected.
Apparently, the 'modern' security measures didn't have a layer between access states. You either had full access to these systems, or no access at all. According to the techs, I'd have to spend a lot more money and time to get variants that could manage that.
Fortunately for us, one of the things I'd done before AI took over a bunch of our job was programming. Even as far back as old Commodore 64s that I kept in the break room for people to practice on.
So, instead of spending money and time to 'upgrade' to systems that were exactly the same but for the software. I'd started working on writing our own code from scratch for the software. It'd been a decade since I'd worked with servers or tech that operated this way. The GUI needed a lot of work if I wanted someone like Billy or Eddy to be able to reliable and easily grasp the way to use this.
Taking a page out of Microsofts book. (The good one, not the one they started using before I died). I began to build layers of software with a GUI in mind that would resemble Windows XP or 7.
While working on that, I also began working on blocking access on various levels based on authorization. I wanted the right people to be able to access everything they needed, (If only with a key to the server room with the right passwords).
The good thing about these computers, is that they were fast, and could store massive amounts of data. The bad thing was that if I screwed up somewhere, I didn't find out about it through errors popping up. The people who built software and hardware in this universe didn't seem to care or want people developing this sort of thing on their own. So, if I screwed up, the machine crashed, and I had to start over again.
All of this meant I'd spent the last two months holed up in the office trying to block out the noise of construction while keeping my head buried in the computer terminal. Line by line, going over the code and building it out. Then. running the code on the machine for testing, failing, and starting over again.
Once I had the initial environment built, I was going to be able to set aside a GUI for testing that shouldn't crash the basic operating system I was building. Unfortunately, that was still about a month or so of work away.
Despite the setbacks regarding the computers and servers, I was actually really happy with the progress we'd made. While I'd been trying to get the system running, the rest of the crew had been hard at work using the manuals I'd built out to change part of the factory. Medium lasers had been 'easy'. But from an engineering standpoint, it was just as difficult to make a giant chainsaw as it was an autocannon. Easier, even because of the way things worked.
However, because we wanted to make parts maintenance easier, we had to ask permission from a few people before we could fully retool that part of the factory in the way we wanted.
"Thank you for taking my call, Miss Ryce," I greeted the current CEO of Kali Yama.
"Normally, I'd have shifted you off to our CFO or someone else," she replied, and I watched as Sylvie grimaced but kept her mouth shut. "But, I was told you have a good sales pitch for why we should license part of our products to you. So, let's hear it."
"Miss Ryce, we want to begin production of your Big Bore Autocannon for the new Mackielines that we're currently working on. Currently, you only manufacture said autocannon for the Hunchback. A legendary product whose name has spread far and wide through the stars. However, that is the only thing that the Big Bore is made for. While it's reputation is solid, most people do not think of you when they think of autocannons. When I say AC/20, what is the first thing that springs to mind? Outside of the Free Worlds League, the primary thought is the Imperator-D, 'Mech Hunter' from Hesperus, or the Pontiac 100."
"You have my attention," Ryce said, and I heard her shuffle a bit. "Continue."
"We both stand to benefit from this," I remained serious. "By not imposing a heavy license fee on us, you allow us to manufacture more of them to be fit to our Mackies, thus making sure that more of them reach out to the stars. The Mackieis going to be a household name again, and along with that, will be the Kali Yama Big Bore Autocannon. Think of it, Kali Yama, the manufacturers of the Orion, one of the original 'mechs, also being a part of the resurgence of another legendary mythology that continues to this day."
"I'm convinced to let you license the design," She chuckled. "I'm not convinced on the percentage yet. Make me an offer."
"Well, we were hoping to do half a percent on every autocannon," I started out really low.
"As if," Ryce scoffed. "Fifteen."
"I can do one percent," I replied. "We're still a small startup."
"Then why are you attempting to bargain like the big boys?" Ryce taunted. "I can drop it to ten percent."
"Four percent of every autocannon made by Siler's Salvage and Assembly for the next ten years, then it drops to two percent in perpetuity," I countered.
"Done," she replied. "I'll have the paperwork sent over by this afternoon. Thank you, it's been a while since I had someone try to negotiate with me directly. I'll be in touch, Mister Blaze and Miss Siler."
"Twelve thousand C-bills per autocannon?" Sylvie had scratched out the number.
"We both saw the rates other companies license," I replied. "Most people are paying a ten percent fee on everything they manufacture, and they've been locked into that for the rest of the company's life. We managed to undercut them, and it's going to drop as we get older. I'm also going to ensure that we have the option to renegotiate at a later point in time."
"I just don't like seeing that we're going to have to pay someone else for an autocannon design," Sylvie sighed.
"I don't either," I shrugged. "But it's pay licensing fees now and over the long-term, or spend a ton of money researching a new autocannon now that we won't be sure is ready when the rest of the Mackie is ready. Unfortunately, Kali Yama is here right now, and we have that opportunity. If and when we renegotiate, we can spend the money on a new autocannon design. For now, though, it's easier on us to just use what's available."
"That, I understand," She smirked. "Sometimes you use what tools are off the shelf because you can afford them right now. While saving up for the nicer tools later."
"Indeed," I replied. "The danger there, is that most people don'tsave up for the nicer tools. They take their savings and spend it elsewhere. We can't afford to do that. We'll have to put it back into our planned upscaling to a proper battlemech instead of the half-breed we're going to be selling at first, and then work on an in-house design later."
"Plenty of opportunity for that later," Billy said, having remained silent during the call. "I dunno bout you two, but I ain't looking forward to designing a new autocannon. Shit's liable to get someone kilt when we screw up."
"Like you said," Sylvie glanced at him. "That's something we can do later."
"Let me know when the paperwork gets here," I said, standing up and stretching. "I'm nearly done testing this bit of code."
"This seems like a lot of work for something, when we can keep using paper," Billy commented.
"We're going to do both," I replied. "But once this is done, it's going to save us a massive amount of time on our records-keeping and the accounting side. It's just going to take me a while to finish it up Just give me a few more weeks and I'll show you."
"I guess we'll leave you to it then," Billy shrugged, leading Sylvie back out onto the main factory floor where medium lasers were being made.
"Well, we gave you a couple of weeks," Sylvie stood over my shoulder. "Show us your fancy computer system."
I'd not gotten much sleep, but I'd finished the GUI and built a basic accounting software. Sure, it wouldn't beat Excel anytime soon, but anything was better than nothing, and 'd gotten the system to grant different levels of access like I'd wanted. I could spend any time at home refining it from here
"Well, it wouldn't be much of a demo if the person selling the product did all the driving," I grinned, pushing my chair back and allowing her to sit at the access point in my office. "Billy, I've got another station set up here."
Because everything was tied to the servers, I didn't have indivivual computers, just had the GUI create and store data in the same servers from different access points each time. This also allowed me to have two people on it at once.
I'd spent some money and gotten 'fancy' keyboards with a built in trackball, allowing them to explore the interface before directing them to the programs I'd built.
"This does the math for you!" Billy yelled out from the other room. "It's like a calculator, but you can see all the numbers at the same time!"
"I can see that," Sylvie actually looked impressed. "I take it you made this so it can save and store the data from the previous session?"
"Sure did!" I had Billy come in and began walking them through the basics. "There's still some improvements I can make to everything, but for the most part, the basic functionality is there. We can save and recall the previous data sheets, and it'll even check for basic errors in the math. Now, there's a ton I still have to do regarding the finished product. However, when it's done, we'll have another patent to sell and market."
"Would it take months to set it up for someone else?" Sylvie asked.
"No," I shook my head. "Think of this like me having to design the blueprints and prototypes from scratch and then bring it to production on my own. Now that I know how it works and what steps to get there."
"You can just print a guide, or use some sort of data storage to port the program over," Billy put the pieces together. "Just like how we do with combat data for 'mechs and tanks."
"Like I said, there's still some work to be done for a finished product, and I've got to build out the user profiles so that the system knows who is trying to reach certain datasets. But when it's done, we won't have to worry about security breaches as much as others. Unless and until someone learns the way I code, this system isn't going to be comprehensable to others in this field."
"How long?" Billy began fiddling with the trackball, making the cursor move around on the screen.
"One month for something we can use in house. Six to eight before I'd be willing to sell the product to anyone," I shrugged. "I built it, but building and using a program are two vastly different things. I need you and the rest of the office staff to break the program so I know where to fix it."
"Just like what we're going to do with the first few 'mechs that come off the line," Sylvie grinned. "This is going to be fun."
I just raised an eyebrow and closed my eyes for a second. We'd see if she truly found it fun…