Chapter 578: A train that eats its own tail
Things-Things nodded.
“For so much steel we can’t just slt only the useless things. We can slt a few of the heavier cha-machines. Like the ones for digging. Or we can slt the soldiers’ weapons for steel. Or the good tools of our workers. Not all of them, but… a lot of them!”
I winced and rubbed the bridge of my nose.
Any of these options will be such a severe cut to the Central Region! By the ti we get resources from other places to recover them, this place will have ti to spiral even further down in this logistical ss.
This will an that we need even more resources and perhaps even put other regions into a similar downward spiral. Especially if another disaster strikes, which it could.
There was a hostile hand behind the ash cloud over our heads, after all. It would’ve never reached us without guidance.
But there had to be a way…
“What about humans? They have tons of steel! One of their ploughs will probably be enough for all your needs.”
“But even the closest human village is outside of the Central Region… Hum…” Things-Things tapped her chin. “If we ask for steel from the Krisha village, which is the closest and has a large train going past it, it will take two days to get it.”
I breathed out in relief.
“Ah, two days? Things-Things, you shouldn’t have worried , then. Two days isn’t so much, no? You can just wait a little. Do the living stone parts of these devices first…”
Things-Things didn’t look as relieved as I felt. Not at all.
“I also said that all my little sisters are busy doing things. Lots of things, yes-yes! Most of them are repairing the power stations. If they continue as they are, then next week they should go online. All at once, yes-yes! No turning them on in parts—this will ss up our repairs.”
I nodded.
“You are making good ti on them, and I don’t want you to get delayed… They are affecting the entire Empire. But surely you can spare people from other, less vital repairs.”
Things-Things waved a pair of hands in the air in a vague gesture, at the sa ti clasping the other two in front of her chest.
“The repairs on buildings are the least vital, probably. They aren’t falling apart! But they are done by Workharder’s people. The repairs on art are even less vital, but there are only a few Craftsn helping with them. The repairs on machines are the most vital and have the most people… We can delay them, but then we will have to put so trains into garages. They won’t be able to work without these extra repairs, no-no!”
I let out a breath.
Of course, it made a full circle and went back to trains.
They were affected by the quake as much as everything else, and although most of their parts were too solid to get broken, they suffered a notable amount of cumulative damage. Less than the power distribution system, but still a lot.
Craftsn were busy fixing it so that trains could continue working as they were before the quake. In many cases, especially for smaller trains, this required extra crews of Craftsn to make sure these trains wouldn’t have serious breakdowns mid-journey.
“So let put this straight, Things-Things,” I said, slowly drawing a circle in the air as I spoke. “To prevent trains from getting stuck, I must pull people from the repairs… which will make trains get stuck. Don’t you have anyone else at all to spare for this? In other hives, at least!”
“People in other hives will also take ti to travel here…”
I shook my head and pulled out a clean sheet of paper.
Finally, an idea was gathering in my head. It was far from perfect, but it was going to be better than this train eating its own tail.
“No, look, Things-Things. If we must deliver both the materials and the people to use them, we might as well deliver the items themselves. They are small enough to be carried by a Queen-size train, and there are sub-hives near the Krisha village that can do the crafting.”
As I spoke, I drew a crude sche of this logistical solution for Things-Things to look at. However, she was still frowning.
“Father, but it will still take two days to deliver the ploughs here…”
“But less to deliver them to the edge of an ash cloud. Krisha village is our largest dodo ranch. The dodos and their tars can just take the ploughs and start cleaning from there! With so delay, yes, and the routes far away will start getting cleaned with a larger delay… But better late than never.”
“Ohhh…” Things-Things nodded a few tis. “Yes… Yes-yes… We can ask human smiths to do so parts…”
“If the small trains get stuck, will your people be able to keep the work on existing reserves for a couple of days, dear?”
Things-Things lifted her head from my sketch and bit her lip.
“Yes. We will stretch them. As long as the food’s good, things aren’t too bad, no-no.”
I let out a breath and ntally thanked the Usnea God for their trees. They were a life-saver… With them, I could be sure that food for my girls would be good, no matter what.
My girls could just spit fire on a usnea sapling and turn it into delicious nectar and fruits in no ti. And if they didn’t have ti even for that, most of them could chew usnea needle-like needles. They weren’t delicious, but thanks to the ‘Grass Digestion’ gene, they were edible and nutritious.
After Things-Things left, although the ti was already late in the evening, I went to ask Oracles if there weren’t any more potential logistical problems on the horizon.
In response, Undecided looked at with sad eyes and said that she or her sisters couldn’t see anything like that.
Sohow, his wasn’t very encouraging…
Reviews
All reviews (0)