Chapter 2 Looking for allies
While Jenny was out and about securing the money and the watermill itself Edmund was on his dual quest to find the right people who could help them in bringing it to life. He was a good choice for the task, he and Jenny knew each other from the university but where she had followed the narrow path towards success, Edmund hat followed down the broad boulevard of academic purity. The most noble of paths for any academic, but also the one framed by private mansions reserved only for the rich, powerful and lucky. He wasn't rich, his family was unremarkable and while Lady Fortuna didn't fancy him all that much. That combined with his adamant pursuit of academic purity made him to one of the most promising people in his field who would never work in it. He loved the platonic ideal of knowing and understanding not only things but also people, which brought him into contact with other driven people and made it easy to get to know them. His acquaintances were legion.
He was determined to do right by Jenny. For one, he loved the project. He had seen the watermill and as Jenny had given him the tour through its decomposing structure, her words had brought the building back to life in many different ways one more beautiful than the other. He had faith in Jennies vision from the very beginning but after she was done with her tour looking at him beaming, smile radiant and eyes shining he had absolute faith in her. The fire in her soul was back, a bright bonfire illuminating her from within. The quality that had drawn him to Jenny when he first met her and kept him at her side ever since.
So the first thing he had done after they had parted ways that morning was to go and get some breakfast. The city was marbled with cafés, bistros, eateries, restaurants, snack-bars in all their possible manifestations giving it its excellent taste for which it was world famous. Its varied delights attracted chefs, critics, writers, bloggers and instagramers, which again lead to more places to open up. The city servants of the city loved it. It made their hive so much more attractive and as the city prospered so did they. Getting a license to sell food was always easy. Where the clerks usually jealously guarded their city against the unwashed and the poor, pretty much everyone was welcome to try to feed the inhabitants.
This made Edmund's first mission simple to start but very hard to get done. So he ate a morsel here, drank an espresso there, drifting through the city getting a feeling for what was working and how. He was also hungry, that helped too. He had started with traditional places serving at least metaphorically the meat and potatoes, switching over to the more out there and exotic and turning back to the outrageously simple. By midday he was stuffed like a Christmas turkey but not one inch closer to knowing what the mill needed to be able to thrive as a café. However he had become acquainted with the terroir and was now near the ivory towers of the university which was integral to finding the right people who could help him with this second quest.
He left the grey of the city entering the hallowed grounds of the university. Everything was more vibrant, more real here. This was a place where people thought about everything and they did in depth and in detail. Outside people just believed things, nothing had to make much sense as long as it seemed to make some kind of sense and the first truth that appeared was usually good enough and cordially invited in into the minds of people. In here things were different. Even ideas that had proven themselves were often invited out for a sound thrashing just to make sure that they still lived up to their promise. Sure even this paradise was unclean as it still involved people and their petty motivations, but they were polluted with a hight degree of sophistication. Edmund felt right at home again, he relaxed and became more like his ideal self. He also became bitter as he was reminded that he would only ever be a visitor in this place and would never get to live here ever again. Before that thought could drag him to far down he reminded himself that it also meant that he was free of the hierarchies that controlled this world. 'Well' he thought to himself 'I will enjoy the virtues and leave the vices behind me.' he shrugged his bitterness off, leaving it to be blown away by the autumn wind while he walked towards the engineering department at a brisk pace.
"Hydroelectric power?" Russell who was slightly nervous as always said looking at Edmund blinking a bit to frequently, "Big style? Like damns? That'll be difficult." His eyes twitched their focus into space.
"No not dams." said Edmund "It's for a watermill. The water turns the wheel and that power is used to make electricity."
"Oh." said Russell his eyes twitching back to Edmund and remain there now calm. "That's actually pretty trivial."
Edmund waited for a moment thinking that Russell would say more, but as he didn't he tried again.
"So there is no on that?" Edmund asked.
"No." snorted his disdain giving him the coolness that evaded him in his normal life. "That would be not much more than a dynamo. That's something your bike can do."
Lesser men would have either run out of idea by now or would have recoiled from the physical force Russell's condescension produced,for Edmund this was a challenge.
"You obviously don't see what is at hand here." Edmund said.
"Nothing which can't be solved by something you could by in any store." Russell said overestimating what a normal store sold.
"I'm not talking about something you could buy in a store." Edmund had to find the spark that would ignite Russell's passion. "I'm looking for something better."
"Better?" Now Russell did not look like a nervous techy any more but more like a predator who was now considering if it was not about time to become hungry. "Better how?"
"Well..." Edmund said "First of all we are looking for a bespoke solution. This is an ancient watermill that we are talking about, the engine must fit the mill."
"Generator" Russell corrected.
Edmund lips moved only the tiniest bit but his eyes betrayed his smile. "Yes, sorry, the generator must fit the mill. An old structure with no technical infrastructure at all. Well apart from the moving parts which might as well still be from the middle ages."
"I can see how that would need at least some proper work done." Russell was now looking inwards visualising the situation throwing around a few variables. Before he he could add anything more to the conversation Edmund added: "And the place needs to be completely self-sufficient."
Russell paused at that. "Self-sufficient? How big is the water wheel?"
"I'm not sure twelve meters perhaps?"
Russell smiled a lopsided smile. "That's difficult."
"It probably won't be possible." Edmund added to the fire he had carefully brought to life.
"I never said impossible." said Russell. "This is nor my area of expertise but I know someone who I'm sure would love to talk to you. "Her name is Linda and she is really into ultra high efficiency energy conversion, she's working on her PhD right now and I think she just might want a project that can bring her work together in a coherent way"
"That sounds excellent." Edmund said. "You can tell her that can discuss the project over dinner. The location her choice." He might as well use the time he would spend talking to this Linda person to keep working on his other assignment. Win win.
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