Finding The Soul Bridge (The Soul Fire Saga Book 1) by Zax Vagen Read Free Book Online Page A

difference somewhere. “Fix the problem with the table and go look for your niche.” He told himself.
    Jem returned to his post and started to work. Kelvin noticed that Jem was chewing on his bottom lip, “Don’t think too much.”
    Jem looked up, “How am I supposed to solve this problem?”
    Kelvin moved his hands so quickly between tasks that it was almost a blur. “You think of a solution, and then you implement it by changing something, by either moving something or building something, and if Maxwell doesn’t like it then you will be shovelling coal.”
    “Have you ever shovelled coal?” asked Jem.
    Kelvin nodded, “Everyone shovels coal.”
    “So everyone fails?”
    “No, if you fail then you shovel coal, and if you succeed then you get given a new problem to solve until you fail, then you shovel coal.”
    “Why?”
    “On one hand.” explained Kelvin. “The coal must be shovelled and on the other hand things must be improved, Maxwell says that we are the best because we are always improving.”
    “Have you improved anything?” asked Jem.
    Kelvin pointed down at the rings, “We used to cut every ring to thread it. It took forever times ten to make one ring mail jacket. I came up with a system to speed up production and now I alone can make one vest in the time it used to take five guys.”
    Jem nodded, he grabbed one ring after the next and tried to work them into the flowers that Kelvin was making. His hands were beginning to ache but his mind was working to solve the problem on the table. The problem was that it was disorganized; there was a pile of unruly metal rings on one side and a pile of scantly finished product on the other side. If they could increase production several fold and if Jem could prove himself as the problem solver in the forge then he would never have to shovel coal.
    Maxwell came over to Jem’s table. “Are we shovelling coal tomorrow?” asked Maxwell.
    Jem could see the fury building behind the smith’s eyes as he shook his own head. “What we need here is a dispenser to hold the rings neatly in one place and to dispense them in the right orientation so that the assemblers don’t need to fumble…”Jem paused as he baited Maxwell with the next part, “…we should be able to speed up production several fold with what I have in mind.”
    Maxwell’s face softened into a grin, “Sounds great, what do you need?”
    “Just a couple of thin long metal spikes twisted into spirals and hung from the side. If we can remove and replace them from a pole on the side of the table then we can charge them with rings without wasting time, you just need to twist the spiral spike in a bucket full of rings and the job is done.”
    Maxwell nodded and looked happy, “Leave what you are doing and affect your solution upon this mayhem. Go to the store and request what you need. If you need some skills or tool-time from the other boys, just ask. Any problems, call me.”
    Jem put down his tools and made for the store. He glanced over to where Kelvin was sitting and saw Maxwell lean over the table as he pointed a finger at Kelvin; he turned away and went on with his task without seeing what happened to Kelvin, he was too scared for him.  Jem spoke to the store man who was a thin, older man with a nervous twitch and a chronic stutter. He was very helpful to give Jem what he needed but refrained from giving any advice, except for one thing he couldn’t stop saying. “D-don’t make en-en-emies my boy, don’t make en-en-emies.”
    Jem grabbed what he needed and went back to the ring mail assembly table. Kelvin wasn’t there. Jem glanced around and saw Kelvin outside by the coal pile retrieving a shovel. Jem shook his head, wondering what had happened.
    Jem tried to shake off his thoughts and forged on with his own problems. He took the long straight spikes over to the guy in the corner who was rolling some thin metal plates. ‘What are you making?” Jem asked.
    The guy looked up, he was