Episode Four - December 13th 2211.

9.30 am.  Almost GreedFest and surprisingly most of the team were there in phis. Maybe because they expected me to take them for a GreedFest lunchtime drink.
 

Loda sputtered into view virtually, on an empty chair. Allegedly she had Birmingham Flu, and she looked slightly green. It was unlike her not to set a really glamorous vSelf, so I thought she was trying to make a point.
 

Dorid shimmered in a second later in shorts - he’d taken an early break on Lunar, so was also appearing virtual. His signal was out of phase, delayed at least a second, and his vSelf hovered a good metre above the table. Apparently Lunar had shifted on its axis because of a recent high-velocity robotruck re-entry crash and the vMeet™ tech hadn’t quite caught up yet.
 

I’d called the meeting. “Hi everyone,”
 

“Hi Art” they chorused in a sing-song way.
 

I paused for dramatic effect “OK guys, we need to get with the new gimmicks in 2212 – We’re going to do print.”
I watched their mixed expressions.
 

(“Hi everyone” said Dorid)
 

“Jeez Art, Print? Aren’t we the trendy one!” said Nepty coyly, with one raised eyebrow.
 

I spread my hands. “Yes we are trendy. And I also understand we'll need to get the latest static apps; our 3D and holo rendering won't work, because the output will be completely different. But if it’s good enough for OggleV, it’s good enough for us.”
 

(“Hi everyone,” said Dorid, his elevated vSelf now with sunglasses – I noticed the rest of the crew had started phasing him out)
 

“But OggleV are top 10 consumer, and we’re mid range B2B?” reasoned Jupe.
 

“Granted, ” I replied, “And there’s no point doing what I believe they call a ‘brochure’ for companies like Plop Technologies who only market to local buyers working for the utilities. But BlastM2bits Security Solutions have a high-expectation corporate client base. Their customers would be excited by turning over glossy pictures of BM2B holoscarers™, vGuards™ and eShock™ grids on real bound pages made of Piper.”
 

“I believe it’s called ‘Paper’ ” corrected Striton.
 

“Whatever, it’s still better than screen grabs or a cheap liser.”
 

“Laser,” corrected Striton.
 

“Anyway, it means we need to find a good ‘lotho-printer’?”
 

Striton crossed his arms and sighed patronisingly, like technical people often do.

“You mean a Litho-printer. - Printing plates are treated to carry an image, in relief, on their surfaces. The printing plates are kept dampened. Coloured ink is applied to the plates, usually 4 of them, but it is repelled from the dampened surfaces, which are the non-image areas.”

He paused, holding a finger in the air for silence, as he drank from his “Tekkies-do-it-on-their-own” SynthiCaff mug. He took a breath and continued,

“As the printing cylinders rotate, the ink is transferred to rubber blanket cylinders. The ink, now on the rubber blanket cylinders, is pressed onto the paper as it passes through the machine. The paper is trapped between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder - these pull the paper through the machine, through all the other coloured rollers, until it’s stacked for finishing and binding, which can include embossing, foil blocking or varnishing. - It’s really very simple.”

By now we were all talking among ourselves, Jupe was looking at 3D pictures of hoverbikes and Nepty was picking out decorated GreedFest pies. I was thinking about lunch.

(What’s Lotho Printing? Asked Dorid)

(to be continued)

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