The difference between a sovereign government and a corporate monopoly is that a government builds roads, while a monopoly merely charges tolls on the ruts.
In the high council chamber of the Citadel, Giles sat at his wide oak drafting table. His brass measured tongs in hand, verifying the magnetic-pull line reactance of the planned signal line to the Free Barony of Hessel.
Toby Karr stood beside him, checking line flow pushback values against transformer capacity.
“Twenty-two miles of three-ought copper guide-rod will produce about fourteen ohms of magnetic-pull reactance, Lord Croft.
We will need shunt charge banks at the Hessel power yard to maintain a ninety-two percent power factor.”
“Add the charge bank banks to the procurement list,” Giles said, marking the blueprint.
Giles examined the line flow pushback chart on his drafting table, checking the figures against Toby Karr’s field survey.
“The signal hall to Hessel crosses fifteen miles of open agricultural bottomland,” Giles explained. He pointed with his wooden ruler.
