Creating an Industrial Empire in 19th Century Parallel World

Two hours had passed and the main office was quite busy as Poul and Amelia worked together reading documents on a file the company had stored for two years, including the new one.

Poul hated reading long texts, especially when he had read them before. But he has no other choice, he has to help Amelia to cross-reference every file, which would take a considerably large amount of time. He took a quick look at Amelia and saw how she was engrossed in doing her work. There were no signs of exhaustion on her face, no there weren't any signs at all. It was expressionless, he couldn't tell whether she liked her job or not.

"Pass me that file," Amelia ordered without batting an eye off the file.

"Here you go," Poul handed her the file, and she took it.

"So this is the financial report you have been doing for Mister Morgan. I must say, the numbers are good, indicating good signs of great development. But as I stated earlier, your inexperience in handling a company could halt it. Where do you see your business five years from now, Mister Nielsen."

"What's with that question all of a sudden?" Poul asked.

"Just answer the question," Amelia replied as her gaze passed by across the page.

"Uh…" Poul pondered over it. "I see that this business becoming one of the richest companies in the world. Supplying domestic and international railroads with our air brakes, locomotive draft gear, our signaling equipment, and our interlocking systems. We would be the main manufacturer and distributor, and then expand to another venture."

"That's quite ambitious," Amelia commented.

"Isn't that how vision is supposed to be?"

"I know, but with your current system, you two won't get anywhere near it," Amelia said. "But now that you have me, we can make your vision into a reality."

'She's so cool,' Poul thought, admiring the way how she is committed to making their company succeed despite having ulterior motives. Though the motives are innocuous, surely she was ordered by Caroline to watch them over but that's only it. He may have a general idea of what their aim is. Since she knew that he and Jonathan came from a modern era with skills and knowledge, she must be waiting for a moment when he decided to build other things than air brakes. Technology that she may think is profitable. Partnering with her would be a good move but Caroline wanted them to work under her, which is not in their vision.

A chemical engineer, and a great one of that, would be a fine addition to the team. After all, most of the technology he had planned to introduce in the future requires her expertise. They can partner but working under someone is off-limits. Poul and Jonathan wanted to create a legacy in this new world, that's their dream, and is what is making them move forward.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Poul answered.  The door slowly opened revealing Timothy who entered.

"Oh, I see that you are quite busy," Timothy remarked the moment he saw the office almost filled with a stack of files. "Miss Weiss, it's nice to see you again."

Amelia only nodded at his polite gesture, her gaze still fixed on the documents.

"What do you need, Timothy?"

"Oh, I have come for the thing I wanted to show you about, Sir Nielsen."

"Ah, I do remember you saying you'll visit the office at five o'clock. Well, as you can see, the office is quite busy, but it doesn't mean that I will not entertain you. Let's talk about this outside. Let's meet in the drawing room."

"Understood," Timothy said before leaving the room.

"Miss Amelia, I'm going out for a moment. Are you going to be fine here alone?" Poul inquired. Amelia gave him a brief nod without looking away from the papers. Poul left and went to another building to meet Timothy in the drawing room.

"So, what do we have here?" Poul asked as he glanced at the blueprint being unfolded in front of him.

Poul perused it, and he saw detailed schematics of a train's wheelset. "What am I looking at?"

"I redesigned the bogie, Sir Nielsen. I'm sure you would notice the difference between the mainstream bogie design and mine," Timothy said.

Poul scanned the schematics and he noticed one thing."It has springs, are you planning on building a suspension system?"

"Oh, you figured that out easily?"

"What do you take me for?" Poul looked at him hotly.

"I meant no disrespect, Sir Nielsen. Well, you are right, I have just designed a suspension system. I got inspired by the inner workings of the locomotive draft gear. It functions by absorbing the pull, push, and stopping force in between carriages. An idea sparked in my mind, what if we can also absorb the up-and-down shock? Making the ride a bit smoother. You are aware that the rail tracks are mostly constructed on the uneven ground right? And on a winding path."

"I am aware of that," Poul said.

"So what do you say? Sir Nielsen? Do you think it's worth a try?"

"It may have slipped out of my mind but I too have thought of inventing a suspension system. I can help you make a prototype, and if it works, then you will have all the credit."

"Credit? I'm sorry, what do you mean by that, Sir Nielsen?" Timothy asked.

"You are the first one who has come up with an idea. If it works you can patent it under your name and you can license it to the company," Poul explained.

"But isn't the employee's invention credited to the company?"

"That is not part of the policy here in my company. Here, if an employee has come up with a technology of their own design, the name of the patent must be that of the employee. I appreciate the sophisticated craftsmanship, and I believe that they deserve to be recognized for their creation."

Timothy couldn't help but smile. "There was so much compassion in those words, Sir Nielsen."

"There will be a lot of adjustments to your design though. For example, the springs should be here, not there," Poul said, his finger moving across the schematics.

"Oh…I see what you are pointing at," Timothy said. "By the way, Sir Nielsen. I'm not the only one who came up with an idea. Walter too."

"Where is he?" Poul asked.

"He was probably presenting it to Sir Axelsen at the construction site," Timothy said. "Sir, there's only three days before Christmas and I looked around the place and it looked dreary. The town has been working day and night, I figured if we can liven up the mood?"

"You are right. Fine, I'll convene a meeting with Jonathan about this matter."

"Thank you Sir Nielsen."