Eric Flint: Grantville Gazette.Volume IX

Filip Pavlovich sighed with what he thought was drama. Both Yuri and Boris found it overdone. "It's for the tile field, part of the plumbing system. See the notch half way down the trench? That will be dug deeper for the septic tank."

Boris laughed. "Is Berna still going on about indoor plumbing?"

Filip Pavlovich sighed again, more real this time. "Constantly. Toilets and showers are his constant obsession. When I first saw the design I thought it would take months. Now it seems we will see it begin to work in a few more days."

"So we are presented with a useful device that is to be used for expensive doodads?" Yuri sneered.

"Not entirely." Filip Pavlovich's admission was a bit grudging. He threw a glance at Bernie, who grinned. "Sanitation, from what I have read, is an essential part of preventing the spread of disease. It is a complicated field and I have not studied it deeply yet."

Boris was trying not to grin. Filip Pavlovich's grudging admission meant that there was another use for scrapers. Which in turn meant that the scrapers were still more valuable in terms of favors.

Yuri didn't bother to hide his scowl. "What else have you got?"

Filip Pavlovich shrugged. "There is a report on something called 'macadam style road construction.' We haven't finished translating it yet. It seems to make for good roads that handle the winter freezing well."

New roads and canals would make trade easier and safer. Boris didn't concern himself with the other blocks on trade; they were above his pay grade.

Boris smiled, as Filip Pavlovich explained. "We used the road out front to practice road work, then we used this to test its use in digging canals."

"Canals?" Boris heard the apprehension in Yuri's voice though Filip Pavlovich apparently missed it.

"The scraper works by scraping a thin layer of soil then putting it somewhere else. By going over the same stretch again and again you can go a little deeper with every pass. " Filip Pavlovich waved at the trench. "Roads, leach fields, canals, even cellars. Anything where large amounts of earth need to be moved."

The underchief of roads gave his cousin a sharp look, which Filip Pavlovich appeared totally unaware of. The bureau of canals and river transport was constantly in competition with roads for resources of all sorts. The families that controlled the bureaus disliked each other intensely. The bidding war has begun Boris thought.