Chapter 71: Resort with New Friends

During the remainder of the week, Tamara continued work on one of her dark force experiments but she took some time to meet with a faculty member in the materials science and engineering department. She had originally contacted him when she had gotten an idea about making a flexible polymer to solve a problem she had encountered when building mechanisms that needed to work within G-force fields since magnetic-actuated solenoids wouldn’t work properly in the G-force field. Dr Li Seang was the recommended person to contact.

“Hi again, Dr Li,” she greeted him when she went into his lab.

“Hello to you, Tamara. I told you last time that you can call me Sonny. The name’s Li Seang, so I made it more Western. Okay, I was able to make your polymer stiffer without losing a flexibility, but can’t do much about a compression. It still bulges out, and if constrained by wall, the compressive force directs radially rather than axially. Did you have application in mind for such a material?”

“I’m looking for a non-metallic material to work in a G-force field in a manner like a solenoid. All metals we’ve tried are affected by the field and don’t work properly. I’ve tried ceramics but they have other disadvantages. So do carbon nanotube fibers. So I had my tech try some polymers and the ones we came up with appeared to work but when we tried making them more rigid, the G-force kinda liquified them. That’s when I approached you; you’re said to be the magician with polymers.”

He laughed. “I do have some successes. This is your stiffer polymer.” He took out a thin flexible rod about 1.25 centimeters in diameter and about 15 centimeters long. “See, it bends and stretches easily, but this one will only stretch to about three centimeter longer before it breaking. But it does contract nicely, about four centimeter, about 25 percent. I will show you how it works when power is applied to the leads; I followed your instruction for how to include the tiny chips you provided to be used in the polymer assembly.”

He connected the leads.

“Now I will apply 10 millivolt.”

The rod slowly contracted about a centimeter. When the power was turned off, the rod slowly returned to normal.

“Now 50 millivolt.”

The rod quickly shrunk almost four centimeters.

“Good. Now see the effect when polarity is switched. I will apply 50 millivolt.”

When he did, the rod lengthened a little but bulged a fair amount.

“Now I attach a load to rod.”

The rod had little loops molded into each end. Li attached one end to a stationary hook and took out a small spring gage.

“The scale reads up to five kilogram,” he told her.

Li connected the gage to the other loop and reconnected the power leads.

“I will do 50 millivolt again,” he commented.

The polymer contracted about 3.5 centimeters and the scale read almost 3900 grams. Tamara pulled out her phone.

“Looks like that happened in a second, right?”

Li nodded.

“The rod’s cross-section area is how much?”

“Err, 1.2 or 1.3 square centimeter. Closer to 1.2.”

She pushed some keys. “About 32.5 newtons force developed per square centimeter. Totally excellent. How thin and short can you make these polymer rods? I’d like to have about fifty that are around 7.5 millimeters diameter and 5 centimeters long. And let me know if you need more funds for the work and I’ll add it to this project’s account.”

“Yes, that size is possible. What kind of terminations are needed?”

“The loops should work just fine. I’ve begun to do the writeup for this device, so here’s the part of the discussion section of the paper that covers the theory behind how the G-force works in the polymer. Can you write up the part on the polymer synthesis and assembly with the coils? We’re going to patent this baby and I want you listed as a co-inventor of the polymer used. Then we can get together and plan the rest of the paper, but I’m gonna get started on the patent app.”

“Thank you for honor of recognizing my part in this, Tamara,” Li told her. “This was just interesting side project.”

“It was, and now something useful may come from this,” she answered. “I’ll get back to you soon.”

Mid-July

Tamara and Peter went to Kevin and Denise’s new home in the third week of July to assist them with their moving in. Cynthia and Tom were in North Carolina visiting both sets of parents; Cynthia’s father had recently retired from the Marine Corps and Tom’s mother and step-father were employed at a nuclear power plant near Wilmington. Cynthia’s parents had become fast friends with Tom’s and loved the area around Camp Lejeune, so they decided to remain in the Wilmington area. Also, Cynthia’s aunt and uncle, who had lived in Japan for over twenty-five years where her uncle was an engineer for an electronics firm, were retiring and planned to move there as well.

Tamara found all of that out as she worked with Denise, setting up the kitchen in their wing of the house. The house was a large two-story home with a great view over an expansive lawn. Its bedroom areas were private and there was a nice central kitchen, with a dining room-great room combo that had a giant flat-screen TV and elaborate sound system. Outside was a pool and bathhouse. The grounds contained several gardens and two two-bedroom cottages.

“Whatever are you gonna do with all this space?” Tamara wondered to Denise as they worked.

“Well, we’ll have our three couples living here. I didn’t tell you that Kevin is hiring a housekeeper, cook, and groundskeeper, did I? No? He is. The cook and housekeeper will live on the grounds, but Kevin thinks he found a couple, highly recommended, where the guy is currently working as a handyman and she’s working for a cleaning service. They expressed interest in those jobs.

“For the cook, it’s open what we’ll wind up doing so we’ll wait to see what Cindy and Amelia think. We could have dinners as a communal meal or have the cook make meals for us to eat in our own wings. Or a combination. I don’t imagine there’ll be anyone around at lunchtime while we’re all at school or work and breakfasts ... we’ll need to see how that shakes out. Cindy and Tom are staying in their apartment until their lease ends in December so we’ll have time to figure it all out.”

The four of them spent most of the afternoon organizing the movers. There wasn’t much furniture to move here from Atlanta, Denise having moved out of her mother’s home where she lived with Kevin while going to high school and then university, but Kevin had a lot of stored furniture from his home in South Korea where he had lived before moving to the U.S. for his high school junior year. Much of that furniture had sentimental value and the State Department had it shipped to the U.S. and stored. It was being brought into their new home now.

As the movers began cleaning up and packing away their blankets and dollies, the four of them had more of an opportunity to talk to each other.

“So as I understand it, Tamara, you’re gonna be setting up a program to bring cheap power to third world countries,” Kevin remarked to her as the final moving truck pulled away.

“More than just a program,” she told him. “I’m setting up at least two companies. One’ll be for manufacturing. The first product will be turbines. Different sizes. My idea is to build the turbine components here initially and have them assembled by skilled workers in the countries where they’ll be installed. The first country will be Haiti and I’m setting up both a technical training program and a manufacturing facility there; I hope that within five to seven years, we can do the whole manufacturing job there for Caribbean and South American orders. The other outfit will manage the licensing of the other patents I have, do research and development on other products based on my inventions, and handle any further development of those inventions.”

“Damn, you don’t think small, do you? That makes the Coris Foundation look like small change.”

“Oh no, it doesn’t, Kevin. You concentrate on medical and legal aid assistance, and education too. My goal is to try to kick-start those economies, and that’s lots harder ‘cause of corruption, power-seeking, and graft. And successful foreign industries can become targets for nationalization, but that happens rarely these days because of the internationalization of commerce.”

“Hey—who’s the specialist in international relations here, anyway, Tamara?” Kevin laughed. “This is the realization of a total dream for me: finding someone who has the knowledge, skill, drive, and resources to carry on economic development free of government interference and foreign policy problems while social development can occur as living conditions improve. Aunt Janet told me what your mom is doing in Haiti and I think that her ideas are just marvelous. When I get with Amelia, we’re gonna discuss that Haiti initiative as a model system.

“Anyway, what’s the deal with your resort trip? Who goes with you? Denise said that it’s Peter’s whole family.”

“It is,” Peter answered. “Let me tell you a bit about the history of the resort and my extended family.”

That discussion took over an hour and then the four decided to find a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, at which they traded their university stories—each person trying to outdo the previous one, to everyone’s amusement, they left for their respective homes.

End of July

The following week, Jeremy and Amelia arrived at Dulles International and Kevin picked them up. They had their clothes for a week with them; the balance of their personal effects were arriving by air freight during the next several days. Denise was out shopping for linens and other items to outfit their bedroom until the couple could get their own furniture. Kevin had provided a queen bed and two chests of drawers that the couple would use until they bought their own furniture.

Tamara and Peter weren’t able to take the time for a visit since they were both hard at work now, getting their final projects completed before the month-long vacation period of August began. Tamara, in particular, had two patent applications and three scientific papers in process and wanted them done before the first week of August was over. Virtually nothing would be accomplished at either the APL or at Peter’s or Emma’s Hopkins labs during most of August because Emma took her vacation then as well.

There were a lot of text messages flowing between them, however, so Tamara knew when Jeremy and Amelia arrived, when their new furniture was delivered—with photos—and when Cindy and Tom got back to town. That was just two days before Tamara and Peter got themselves ready to go to the resort. They were both anxious to see Barbara; she had been very busy with her Maryland graduate program classes. Peter had been having lunches with Terence at Hopkins and Tamara joined them on the days that she was working in Emma’s lab, but much of her own work was at the APL.

Arundel Nature Society, Davidsonville, Maryland: August

Peter had decided to get to the resort early on the Friday before the rest of the whole family showed up. He had learned from experience that these chaotic times were best avoided; he preferred to set up in his little cabin quietly, he and his sister helping each other, and stay out of the way while mayhem reigned around them. Of course, now that all the cousins were older, the turmoil shouldn’t be as bad—but why chance it?

When he rolled into the resort at 10:15 am, he found that Terence and Barbara had beaten them by about fifteen minutes, but of course they lived closer. They got a nice greeting from Barbara and Terence, who had already opened and aired out “their” cabin. The rented bunkhouse trailer was already sitting in its designated spot and connected to its services.

“Ron gave me the keys to it,” Barbara told Peter, “but no one locks anything here anyway. When are your friends coming? I can’t wait to see Denise and Amelia. Kevin and Jeremy too, but mostly the gals. God, they’re so nice. And Cindy too. This’ll be a great gathering.”

Peter smiled. “Got a text just as I left the office. Denise said that Kevin was about fifteen minutes out then and she said that Cindy and Tom should arrive just about the same time. Hey, let’s all go to the office to meet them. Give them the nude carpet treatment.”

“Funny guy, y’all aren’t,” Terence grunted. “Ah got my jitters up. Don’t know why.”

“New people, it’s natural,” Barbara said. “Naturally for naturists.”

“Not y’all too,” Terence scowled at her. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Don’t forget—towels,” Barbara reminded them. “Peter and Tamara, sun screen? Terence and I are already done.”

“Sure thing, Mother,” Tamara giggled.

They lathered up and left.

When Kevin and Denise and Amelia and Jeremy opened the doors of their car, they were mobbed by four nude young adults who grabbed their hands and pulled them out and then hugged them fondly.

“It’s wonderful seeing you guys,” Tamara gushed as she hugged Jeremy, and she heard similar sentiments from the others.

She did notice that the guys didn’t hug. She also noticed that no one stared at Terence.

That should reassure him, she thought.

While they were greeting one another, Tom pulled his car into the little parking area next to them and hopped out with Cindy. So the mob moved over there for more greetings and hugs.

Since Amelia and Jeremy hadn’t met Cindy or Tom, they took some time for introductions and Tamara had a hard time prying Amelia away from Cindy; Amelia was gushing about how great the Avery Program was.

Cindy was laughing at the attention. “And I developed the program and missy here got the knighthood for it.”

Amelia looked abashed but Cindy gave her a big hug and smiled at her, saying, “And I think that you well deserved it, honey. Look what you did with it—your changes have made it much more acceptable to schools on this side of the pond and we’re starting to get more adoptions every year.”

Amelia blushed and nodded.

Peter began herding the mob toward the office. “Let’s get you guys checked in—then we’ll have two weeks to talk. You all have good trips? North Carolina and London?”

“Trip was fine”... “No problem”... “Too long,” this from Amelia.

Jeremy just nodded. He was looking around at all of the nudity around the clubhouse area. Amelia noticed and giggled.

“Jeremy, you’re not supposed to stare! With all your experience in a school with lots of naked kids, you should be used to this!” she told him quietly, but Tom overheard her.

“Jeremy, you were in that naked program in England?” Tom asked.

Jeremy nodded. “It was a soddin’ mess, but yeah. All of two days. But I spent a whole school term dealing with seeing humiliated, terrified, and anxious kids there. Here, it’s amazing to see—everyone looks so bloomin’ happy. That’s what I was staring at, not the nudity, Amelia, love. But that bunch of gals over there, now they...”

“Oh, you!” Amelia laughed, slapping him on the arm.

They walked into the office and were greeted by Vicki Allerman.

“Howdy, all of Peter’s friends. What a big group! Ron will be here in just a bit. Michelle’s on an errand, so this’ll take a bit of time to get you all into the system. We need driver’s licenses—is everyone past their eighteenth birthdays? Two of you look younger than the others.”

Denise spoke up, “Amelia is two months shy of her eighteenth, but Kevin and I were appointed as her guardians several years ago. Here’s the court order, my ID, and Amelia’s U.K. passport.”

“Jeez, this is a new one. Peter, you keep bringing in these odd cases,” Vicki complained with a smile.

“What can I say? I got talent,” Peter joked. “Obviously Amelia doesn’t have a driver’s license—nor does Jeremy; they just arrived here in the U.S. two weeks ago to go to college.”

“I got mine now, Vicki!” Tamara shouted at her from the back of the pack, waving her license in the air.

“Oh, my lord,” Vicki moaned. “Everyone, just cool it and let an old lady try to get things done.”

“You’re not old, Vicki,” Barbara sniggered. “Just well aged. You’re doing fine.”

That’s when Ron came in. He stopped, looked around, and turned to go back out. Vicki saw him.

“Hey, where you going?” she called.

“It looked like you have it under control so I was gonna go somewhere to hide out,” he answered and everyone laughed.

Vicki didn’t. “Get your ass back here and help me with this mob, okay?” she demanded.

Ron grinned at everyone as he went behind the counter.

“Has she been in such a bad mood lately?” Peter asked innocently and Vicki snorted.

Ron chuckled. “It’s an act. I hope. How should I help, dear?”

“Get them to sign the waivers first. And get licenses from those who have them. I’ll do those first. Put their phone numbers on the waiver forms and I’ll enter those when this mob leaves.”

She gradually made her way through getting all of the newcomers registered, except for Jeremy and Amelia.

Vicki looked at their passports. “Okay, for Jeremy ... do you have a U.S. address? Is it at the college?”