Before the war, finding people employment in other dimensions was relatively easy.  With the one the slaves called Sad Lang transporting escaping slaves through the “magic wagon” to Newgate, all that was needed once they reached the town was to shift them to other dimensions.  They were found to be hard-working and ready to learn.  They proved to be more than two-legged animals as their former owners believed they were. 

At the beginning of the war, a few outsiders made their way to the Adirondacks.  But after the war, many who were physically disabled came into the region because they were considered unemployable.  If they were too proud to beg, sometimes they entered the region to die.  If they weren’t torn apart by wild animals, they would die and their decayed bodies wouldn’t be found for years if they were deep enough in the forest. 

Many outsiders discovered Newgate by accident.  They had no idea the city existed.  But within two months of the end of the war, the trickle of outsiders became a near steady stream of people who viewed Newgate as their last choice for starting a new life. 

Former soldiers with missing legs and arms or mental problems would enter the city and receive stares from the citizens.  The police force would find the men and bring them to the station for processing.  Afterwards, they would be sent to the Newgate Community Hospital for help.  It might be the creation of new arms and legs that were either biosynthetic or cloned appendages that were like the limbs that were lost.  But there was one stipulation.  They couldn’t leave Newgate to tell the world what happened.  If they told the world that there was a hospital that could replace missing limbs, hundreds of thousands of people would flood the hospital and overwhelm the staff. 

Many chose to have their memories erased and have them replaced by false memories.  Often it required going back a year or more to make the men believe they were never disabled.  Being prisoners of war was a simple explanation of what happened to them.  Just as long as people who knew them after they lost the limbs didn’t meet them later, they could live out normal lives wherever they wanted to live. 

There were still a lot of former soldiers that wanted to find jobs.  For them, there was a new life shifted to other dimensions awaiting them.  That was why the Interdimensional Employment Agency was established.  The mayor put Horvan Naallin charge of the agency since he was a businessman who dealt with companies in many dimensions.  He opened his agency in one of the office buildings in downtown Newgate Monday June 6, 1865.  People could walk in off of the street, no matter who they were, and be helped to find employment.  A couple of his people worked at the hospital to help former soldiers. 

One of those soldiers was Hiram Penrod.  He was a double-amputee who had lost an arm and a leg in an explosion near Petersburg, Virginia.  The surgeon was torn between sawing off the appendages or just letting him die.  But his will to live was strong and he still had use of his right arm and leg.  So he didn’t need to relearn the ability to write or do normal things that he could do while seated.  He just had his right arm.  If he needed, he could always try his hand at writing. 

At the Newgate Community Hospital, Hiram received two cloned appendages that made him as good as new.  But since his parents knew he only had an arm and a leg, they considered him just half a man.  His father was ashamed of him and told him in a letter he received in the military hospital in Washington that he might as well not return home. 

His father ran a textile company in Vermont that supplied uniforms for soldiers during the war.  In late April, he once again went back to making suits, jackets, and pants for the general public.  He would have given his son a job as a janitor to start him in the business at the bottom.  But after he worked his way up by learning to do all the jobs in the company, maybe in a decade he would be ready to take over the company as the president. 

With job prospects greatly improved now that he was whole, his resentment toward his father prevented him from traveling to Vermont to work in his factory.  He didn’t want lies implanted in his memory that couldn’t be explained.  So he decided to shift to another dimension and start a new life and hopefully do better than he would have done running the company his father had spent 30 years building up. 

Hiram walked into the agency moments after the doors were unlocked and entered the reception area.  The receptionist handed him a long form to fill out which was an aptitude test to determine where he should be placed.  There were 200 questions in various areas that helped the agency determine his talents and abilities.  

One of the questions in the leadership area was: A man who is armed with a rifle aimed at you is approaching you.  He is a farmer living in Alabama who has a wife and three small children.  He is a subsistence farmer that can barely keep his family fed.  He views you as a Yankee who wants to seize his farm and take everything in sight.  What would you do?

Instead of multiple choice answers, they were to be in the form of essays.  That was why the form was so long.  The ones who wanted to determine his ability needed to know more than what could be determined by a few answers.  Besides, the person filling out the form might skew the test one way or another to respond in the way he thought the questioners wanted the questions to be answered. 

Hiram gave this answer: I would tell the man that his farm was not in danger of seizure.  He is too poor to be bothered with.  There are much larger farms and plantations that can supply the soldiers with the needed victuals and not make the owners of the properties destitute.   I would tell the farmer he has been punished enough and once the war is over and the country is reunited, we don’t need people like him angry with the government.  We will need people like him to help rebuild the nation.

From that answer alone, it looked like Hiram might make a good politician in the Republican party since so many of them wanted to follow the example of Lincoln and bind the wounds the war had opened and help the states of the Confederacy reunite with the rest of the nation.  But there were 199 other questions that had to be answered. 

There were questions to determine a person’s mental abilities like this one:  A railroad in California needs a new locomotive that can pull cars up steep inclines in the mountains.  With a lack of refueling and watering stations, the locomotive needs to be able to function long distances between stations without running out of water or fuel.  What types of fuel, engine, and traction systems would you use to meet the needs of the railroad and why?

Hiram’s answers were this:  Since oil has been discovered in California, I would develop an engine which used oil as the fuel.  In time, there should be the discovery of vast deposits of oil in the region since it has been used for centuries by the Indians and Spanish.  One such deposit should be in Southern California since there is a large tar pit there which means petroleum is located there.  Oil can be supplied to the engine by pipe from a fuel tank behind the engine.  A fuel pump could be used to supply oil uphill. 

Before the war, a Frenchman perfected an internal combustion engine which could propel vehicles.  If it can be used to power the locomotive and run on oil as the fuel, I would use that engine.  It would not require an open firebox or water to run.  Water might be used to cool it, though.  That means there would be no need for a fireman to stock a furnace.  The locomotive could also be enclosed so the engineer would not need to be exposed to the elements.  Also, if the engine is placed in the center of the locomotive, a fuel tank could be located in front and behind the engine with vents in the front of the locomotive to cool the engine as the air enters the vents.  If the locomotive is going uphill, the front fuel tank could supply oil to the engine without the need for a fuel pump. 

In order to go uphill better, I would use magnetic wheels that can become magnetized by the introduction of electricity.  That means the engine would have to turn a dynamo to create electric current to magnetize the wheels when needed.  Electricity could also be wired to passenger cars to ignite gas in illumination lamps to provide light.   If electric motors can become more efficient, instead of using the internal combustion engine to propel the locomotive, I would use electric motors to turn the drive wheels directly.  The magnetic wheels could be used for braking purposes to stop the train in a much shorter distance. 

This involved solution required an entire page for Hiram to write on.  But it indicated that he was an imaginative forward thinker that could adjust to new technology in other dimensions.  He was the type of person that could be easily retrained to use what he considered advanced technology.  

It took Hiram four hours to complete the form which he handed in to the receptionist.  She told him to sit down and wait for the results unless he was hungry.  He could eat lunch and check in at the agency later in the afternoon.  A restaurant was a couple blocks away that served meals from 6:00 AM to midnight. 

Hiram noticed that the lunch special was priced at a quarter with coffee and tea served for free.  Beer and spirits cost a nickel per mug or glass.  With wartime inflation jacking prices to above $1 for lunch, a good meal for two bits couldn’t be passed up.  He entered the restaurant and sat at a table near the window.  A waiter approached him and handed him a menu. 

“Your bread with butter or preserves will be brought out promptly along with a tall glass of cold water.  If you know what you want, you can place your order now.”

“I noticed that lunch is only a quarter with coffee or tea served for free.  I see you aren’t profiteering on food shortages like other restaurants do.”

“We have no need for that here.  The prices have remained steady for over a decade.  Would you like to order right now?”

“Is the bread free or included in the price?”

“It is complimentary.  It is baked daily in our bread oven and the butter and preserves are kept fresh in the ice box.”

“I will have the roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a slice of cherry pie for dessert.  And I’ll take coffee with…do you have cream and sugar?”

“Yes we do, sir.  Your server will be out with your water and bread shortly,” he said as he was handed back the menu.  In less than a minute, the young man who was his server brought the bread and water out to the table on a tray which he held in one hand. 

“I saw many young men in the war.  Did you serve?”

“Yes I did.  I saw action in many battles.”

Hiram didn’t realize the young man had served in another dimension preventing various alien systems from taking advantage of the conflict to invade America.  He had served on a starship that defended the Kuyper Belt from penetration.  This was before ACE was founded by President McKinley in 1897. 

“Did you fight for glory or duty to your nation?” Hiram asked him. 

“I love this nation and felt it was my patriotic duty to defend it.”

“Good for you, son.  Thanks for the bread and water.  Are you sure this bread is free of charge?  It is so much.”

“It is free to all who dine here.  I hope you enjoy it.  I’ll be out with your meal shortly after I give you some time to have some bread.”

The server left to bring out his meal a few minutes later.  He cut off a slice of bread and spread the butter on it.  The slice was still warm.  The butter quickly melted into a puddle of yellow deliciousness.  The bread was some of the best he had ever eaten and prompted him to eat half of the loaf before his meal was served. 

The food was some of the best he had ever eaten.  He didn’t realize none of it was natural.  It was all synthetic and simulated the food it imitated.  Even the bread and butter he consumed once was little more than mud, gravel, and grass that had been fed into the hopper of the food and beverage synthesizer moments before he entered the restaurant.  Only the water was natural well water that was purified and chilled to taste better. 

After the meal, the server came out with the bill that was marked paid in full. 

“I don’t understand,” said Hiram.  “Why was my meal free of charge?”

“Compliments of Mr. Naall over there,” he said as he pointed toward a man sitting near the kitchen who was eating lunch.  He waved at Hiram. 

“Tell him thank-you.  I really appreciate it.”

The server walked over to the man and gave him the message.  Horvan smiled and left his table to talk with Hiram. 

He sat opposite of Hiram and said, “I see you want employment with my agency.”

“It is a queer agency.  What does interdimensional mean?”

“It means I can have you shifted to other dimensions which you would consider different worlds.   I deal with over 100 of these different worlds where employment opportunities are abundant.  Tell me about yourself.  Where did you serve during the war?”

“I enlisted in 1862 and saw action mainly in the East.  I attained the rank of colonel.  I lost my left arm and leg in Petersburg when a shell exploded which killed my horse.  Shrapnel tore my arm and leg apart and required amputation.  But they managed to save my life in the hospital in Washington.”

“And you feared the reaction your father would have with his son incapable of working in his textile factory in Vermont.”

“You seem able to read my mind.”

“I can.  But that is neither here nor there.  My duty is to make sure you find employment.  You were told that you can’t return to your family without having your memory adjusted first.”

“Yes I was.  Even though I am whole again, I don’t want to return to my home.  If my father rejected me, I feel he is more interested in the welfare of his company than in showing love toward his only son.  I am willing to go wherever I am needed and can demonstrate my talents and abilities.”

“That is why you were presented the long form with 200 questions to answer.  Tell me about yourself.  What do you like to do in your spare time?”

“I am an avid reader of books and periodicals.  I have subscribed to ‘Scientific American’for a few years to keep up with scientific and engineering discoveries.  That is why I knew about Lenoir and his internal combustion engine and the oil discoveries in California.  I have also been fascinatedwith electricity and magnetism.   I wish there were more efficient ways to employ electricity in industry.”

“There are in other dimensions.  You should do well in them.”

“I also like to listen to concert music.  I went to college in Boston and heard students and faculty members perform the music of Bach, Handel, Beethoven, and modern composers like Liszt and his son-in-law Wagner. Do they listen to their music in those other worlds?”

“Theirs and that of other composers you have never heard of.  But their music is just as fine if not finer.  You should definitelyy enjoy yourself in other dimensions.”

“Thank-you for starting the agency.  I hope it stays open from now on.”

“That’s my intention.”

After lunch, Hiram went back to the agency and found out the results of the form he filled out.  He was ushered into a counseling room at the end of a hall in the office.  He was met by a woman who looked old enough to be his mother and sat at a table where she was seated. 

“Mr. Penrod, your test results were very encouraging.  Your interests and aptitude indicate that you would do well at a high-tech firm in one of at least a dozen different dimensions.”

The woman opened a folder that was to her right and handed some brochures to Hiram to examine. 

“The top one is for a company called Janguan Limited.  It produces private land and air vehicles, kitchen appliances, tools, environmental systems, and private energy systems.  It has a training school to bring people up to speed who want to work for the company.

“The next company is Trangval Manufacturing.  It mainly manufactures vehicles for private use and public transportation systems.   It too has a training school.  Actually all of them do because they want people so badly that they will go out of their way to acquire quality people to work for them.”

“I think I see a trend here.  Do all the companies manufacture transportation systems?”

“Yes.  I think the fifth one might appeal most to you.  It is for Vernmangus Transportation Systems.  It produces ground, water, air, and space transportation systems plus energy systems.  It has a training school that is excellent.  You can take as many different courses as you want to see what aspect of the company might best suit you.  And your education will be paid for.  Also, you can be involved in research and development, if you choose. 

“But the community where you will be living has entertainment and cultural venues that you should enjoy.  I know you like to listen to concert music and go to theater performances.  The cost of living is reasonable and the citizens are very friendly.”

Hiram glanced through the brochure and handed the material back to the woman. 

“I think Vernmangus sounds fine.  When do I start my schooling?”

“As soon as you arrive.  There is a house and vehicle waiting for you and a synthetic who will teach you how to use and do various things and help you adjust to your new dimension.  She can become your personal assistant.”

“She?”

“Yes.  Synthetic entities can be either male of female.  Since you are unmarried, you might enjoy her company.”

“If you say so.  I don’t have any clothes with me except what I carried in my carpet bag.”

“You will have a clothes synthesizer to produce your clothes and a food and beverage synthesizer to produce the food and beverages you want.  It is preprogrammed with well over 300 different dishes you should enjoy as well as over 50 beverage choices.  I’m sorry, but the unit can’t produce alcoholic beverages or foods that have alcohol as one of the ingredients.  Besides that, it should serve delicious foods and beverages you should enjoy.”

“I’m not much of a drinker anyways.  Maybe a beer every now and then.  But I can live without alcohol.  I’ve seen what it can do to people.  I’d rather not end up like them.”

The pair stood and shook hands over the table.  The woman said, “Congratulations, Hiram.  I believe you’ll enjoy living in Strormhaggen.  The climate is temperate and the conditions are pleasant.  Go with my assistant Dran and he will take you to the interdimensional portal facility where you will be shifted to the city.  Good luck.”

The man entered the room and took Hiram to an elevator which brought them to the underground portion of Newgate.   Hiram was amazed at what the people wore.  Almost no man wore a suit and the dresses women wore were looser than the styles the women in the outside world wore.  There was more skin shown too.

Hiram walked through the portal and entered the foyer of a modest house that was going to be his new home.  A woman approached him who was wearing a pants suit that clung to her body to show off her shape.

“I’m sorry if I caught you before you could get dressed,” he apologized. 

“I am dressed.  This is what I normally wear.”

“But pantaloons are worn under the skirts.”

“I don’t wear skirts.  Let me get you up to speed with this world so you won’t seem so strange to the people around you.”

For the next month, thanks to intensive education, Hiram learned a lot and began to adjust to the new world he was living in.  He also developed affections for the synthetic who was helping him.  She seemed human to him and she didn’t discourage his showing of affection toward her.  But his Victorian era Christian upbringing kept him from going too far sexually.  She was more like a housekeeper than a lover.  But he didn’t mind being seen with her in public. 

He joined the R&D department of the company and worked on various projects which allowed him to start a subsidiary company of Vernmangus.  It was called Penrod Incorporated and built commercial air and spacecraft that catered to economy fliers that weren’t wealthy enough to own such crafts or travel first-class.  Also, the crafts proved popular with carriers smaller than the big ones that transported sometimes over a million passengers everyday.  Economy fliers appreciated what Hiram offered and he filled a niche that larger companies didn’t want to fill. 

For thirty years, Hiram built his company from the ground up.  He had an R&D department that often lent its expertise to help different companies.  Thanks to the department, Penrod Incorporated grew fast and by the 1890’swas worth well over $1 billion in ths dimension. 

During that period, his father and mother died.  He attended the funerals but only in the dimension adjacent to this one.   He couldn’t be seen and did manage to speak with their spirits.  They had long changed their attitude toward him.  But by then he was so successful and so busy that he didn’t have time to return home.  He heard his mother say she loved him.  But his father never admitted it even after he was dead.  But Hiram sensed that he was proud of him when he told the dead man that his company was worth more than some of the largest companies in this dimension. 

By 1900, the factory Hiram’s father had started was a museum.  It was sold to the state of Vermont by the person who had bought it from Hiram’s father a couple years before he died.  Hiram visited it a few times and amazed people with his knowledge of the company that at one time produced the uniforms soldiers wore during the Civil War.  He even contributed $100,000 for the upkeep of the museum and established the Penrod Trust to keep it from falling into disrepair.  He may not have been allowed to work there after the war due to his physical condition at the time.  But it didn’t keep him from saving it from the wrecking ball.  Even after he died in 1938 the Penrod Trust kept it open for future generations to enjoy thanks to the InterdimensionalEmployment Agency giving him a chance to make a fortune he shared with the factory museum.