“I can see that our Benefactors have very substantial facilities. Including sheltered parking. Do you think we should leave the Rolls Royce behind?” Stacy asked.
“What? You are concerned whether to bring the Rolls Royce?” Naz was horrified. “Isn’t this our car?”
“The Benefactors gave it to us to share jointly. Surely we can bring it?” Angel asked.
Angel was very surprised that Stacy would even contemplate not using the Rolls Royce. This was totally unlike how most leaders operated in Russia. Russian leaders typically went for the most expensive and high status items, regardless of need or relevance.
“Um, it’s very heavy. And will add to all the costs of operating our airship,” Stacy pointed out. “The weight will also be a problem in rural areas.”
“You think the weight is too much for the hover transport?” Marilyn asked. “Don’t worry about that, Stacy. As said earlier, airship manual rates the hover transports for over 3 tons.”
“I do remember that the hover transports can take 3 tons,” Stacy said. “That’s more than the Rolls Royce plus four of us inside.”
“Um, I would strongly recommend,” Riley interrupted, “taking a second hover transport. Put the Rolls Royce on a transport by itself. Just in case.”
“As a mechanical engineer, I would also prefer not to operate machines continuously at the limit of their rated capacity,” Naz said. “Some manufacturers rate conservatively and some are irresponsibly liberal. If it’s rated for 3060kg and the Rolls Royce Phantom is 2610kg, the car with half a tank of petrol and one driver will already exceed 90% load capacity.”
Stacy explained that her concern was partly because of the poor state of Russian infrastructure.
“Roads are bad; we’ll get stuck in mud or snow in many places. In fact this is a luxury that really could only work in highly developed, prosperous countries.”
“Yes, that’s why we should go there. Germany or something,” Riley said eagerly.
“Nope. We go where there are stories – mysteries to uncover, injustices to expose, etc. And this part of the world needs us: journalists, researchers, investigators and analysts on site,” Stacy said. “Which is why I have doubts about bringing the Rolls Royce. It’s nice, but too luxurious for the many challenges we are expecting to face.”
“Um, about that, no need to worry,” Naz said. “Mechanical engineer here. And I’m really fond of tinkering.”
“You want to keep digging an RR out of mud? Because that’s likely to happen if we go to rural Russia on field missions.”
“A ride would be far more comfortable in the Rolls Royce than others. Surely you don’t think a Land Rover is going to be all that comfy?”
“But a RR will get stuck.”
“I don’t think you understand what’s so great about a Rolls Royce,” Naz said with a smile. “People think of it as a luxury vehicle. What they don’t understand, is that the luxury lies in the overengineering and the excessive- luxurious – quality. It’s the engine and other mechanical aspects that’s so awesome.”
Rolls Royces had the best engines from day 1. That’s why some were turned into tanks and converted into other types of vehicles!”
Naz continued raving about the Rolls Royce.
“A Rolls Royce is meant to be driven places. Not just on city roads, but to its owner’s ski resort, mountain estates, around their ranch, whatever. The engineering is superb. It lasts. Two thirds of all Rolls Royces ever built are still on the road today!”
Now Naz turned her attention on her teammates. “If I am going to be our designated driver in Rural Russia, I’m voting to bring the RR. I’m not going to drive us around in a crappy Lada or Volga that I have to repair and service after every half day trip!”
Naz’s forceful defense of bringing the RR led Marilyn and Angel to vote with her. Stacy remained cautious.
…
“I also have another concern. Rolls Royces may be common in Moscow, but are actually a very rare sight in most of Eurasia. I don’t want our car to draw attention during our travels.”
At that point, Riley spoke up. She had been quiet earlier.
“I agree with Stacy. The Rolls Royce is extremely visible.”
“It’s matt black, so it isn’t flashy,” Angel commented.
“But it does get noticed no matter what,” Marilyn observed. “And Stacy’s right. This is the type of car people associate with government and powerful people. Which means other powerful people might be asking questions.”
…
“So you also have safety concerns…” Naz mused.
“Can’t be helped. If we’re in a region where no one has ever seen a Rolls Royce, we will get noticed. And that’s going to make it that much harder to operate stealthily.”
…
“All right, how about we only use the RR in a discreet manner?” Naz offered.
“By that…”
“I mean, we do drive around in the RR. But we avoid drawing attention to ourselves, and prioritize using it at night or in major urban areas.”
Stacy inclined her head. “Thank you for understanding, Naz.” To her team, Stacy said, “I know a Rolls Royce is a fantastic ride. I love it too. But we also need to keep ourselves safe. We can bring the Rolls Royce on board. But for our missions, we may have to rent or purchase local Ladas to avoid being noticed.”
“Agreed!” Naz said without hesitation. “I have a mechanical engineer’s love of tinkering with cars. Buy one, I can tune it up, use it for the mission and resell at a higher price!”
“All right, you’ve convinced me Naz!” Riley lifted her hand. “I vote to bring the car too!”
Stacy nodded. “All my objections have been nicely answered, Naz. So I vote yes.”
“5-0, we’ll take the Rolls Royce with us!” Riley concluded.
…
Later as the ZIL members commenced loading the cars into their airship under the supervision of local engineers, Riley got into a discussion with Naz.
Returning – or migrating from Siberia to Lithuania had given Riley the opportunity to observe new things.
“… Soviet stuff was always clunky, heavy, user unfriendly and ugly. And severely undersupplied.”
“… Western stuff is plentiful, light, attractively designed and responds to consumer tastes and needs. But there’s always a problem. The Western stuff is all designed to have problems after a while.”
Riley brought up how her Philips vacuum cleaner was always failing shortly after the warranty expires, and it was almost impossible to get support. Then you couldn’t even recycle the vacuum cleaner bags, the parts for a model because they kept changing models. Nothing could be fixed.
“And the same thing applies to pretty much everything else. Siemens, Bosch, everybody is the same. They all fail with surprising frequency and all have to be thrown away because it costs just way too much to repair or they refuse to produce the spare parts or the spare parts are insanely expensive.
Anyway, I’m kind of ambivalent about this. Ladas are lousy cars, but you can always repair them and they don’t cost much. And they can survive all kinds of really rough conditions.”
Naz smiled. “Looks like you have given thought to my Rolls Royce speech.”
The two women stood and looked at each other.
“I think there are basically only two philosophies worth thinking about here,” Naz said and held up two fingers.
“The best possible car, which is the RR; or the survivor car, which is a Lada.
I think the RR is the type of car that is so well built and engineered that it will survive anything.
The only other alternative when traveling in rural Russia is to use a Lada. Which breaks down a lot but can be easily repaired and sent back to work.”
Naz pursed her lips.
“For sheer quality, the RR will keep going for years and years no matter where they are used and what working conditions they have to be used under. That’s why Rolls Royces hardly ever break down.
Um, correction. Hardly ever ‘fail to proceed’.”