Chapter 39

The school day ended, eventually. Somehow, my accelerated classes had all been moved to the afternoon for this semester, which meant I couldn't zone out like so many kids do in classes just after lunch. Not that the subject matter was all that hard. I was finding it easier and easier to grasp concepts, and my reading speed was still slowly accelerating as time went on. I wasn't sure where the changes would end.

I had discussed this with Alex, Mom, and the girls after one of our family meetings. The girls said they had noticed the same things, but we all agreed that despite how far we have accelerated, we needed to be seen 'putting in the work' to explain our advanced pace. If we moved too fast or too far, it might draw unwanted attention. So, while the material wasn't daunting, the pace of the in-class work and homework was noticeable ... if for no other reason than it just takes time to write down answers.

As this was my normal Monday schedule, I caught a ride over to work. Since the building where we were building the prototype was somewhat further away, I always got rides to Ted's office. From there, if I needed to go out to the other facility, I could usually find someone willing to take me.

I sat down at my desk in the small office they set up for me at my request. Since I wasn't in the building full time, I didn't think I needed much more than a desk and a file cabinet. I was interrupted by a knock at the door. I pushed aside the stack of papers people had put on my desk, waiting for me to show up, and turned to find Marcus standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Marcus, what's up?"

"I was just checking if you had made it in. There was someone I wanted you to come talk to."

If Marcus said I needed to talk to someone, then that was good enough for me. I got up and motioned that I would follow him. He led me down the hall to an open area, with a series of cubicles. This is where a lot of the junior engineers and technical people were set up.

I was a little surprised when I saw the guy sitting in the cubicle. All of the engineers I had met so far were middle aged or older. This guy seemed much younger than the others. Actually, he seemed to be not that much older than I was.

"This is Ronald Fisher," Marcus said by way of introduction.

"Ted hired him on a few months ago right out of MIT. He has some really interesting ideas about desalination that I think we should explore."

I looked over at the man Marcus introduced for a moment, considering if I wanted to continue this subject in front of a third party.

"Marcus, you know our capital is stretched with the drone project. If we get it off the ground, we can look into expanding, but until then..."

He gave a small sigh before replying, "I know. I was just taken with both what Ronald thinks he can do, and his reasoning behind it."

Ronald half raised his hand and said, "Would it help if I say this won't cost that much ... at least, not initially."

I was surprised to hear the man had a fairly thick Australian accent, mostly because I didn't expect it.

"If Marcus thinks this is a good idea, the least I can do is hear you out. Tell me what you told Marcus, and what you think the early costs will be."

He pulled out some papers and laid them out on the cubicle's desk.

"As Marcus said, my idea is an improvement in water desalination, specifically a way to make it much cheaper. How much do you know about water desalination?"

I thought for a second before saying, "Practically nothing at all."

"Currently, the main method used involves heating the water to remove salt and impurities," he explained. "As the water is heated, it evaporates off and is collected separately, leaving behind salt crystals and minerals. The major problem with this method is the energy needed to heat the water. If you wanted to have the US use only desalinized water for drinking, for instance, it would increase the country's energy consumption by more than ten percent. What I have been working on is a way to desalinize water without that large energy expense."

"Why is desalinization important?"

"In short, because the world needs more drinkable water than ever before and we have less of it. Population is increasingly expanding the need for potable water, and there is only so much that ground water and other traditional sources can supply. Additionally there are areas of the third world where clean water is extremely hard to come by, where the people who live in those areas have to live off of contaminated sources. And finally, there are areas that suffer from extreme drought conditions. My own country, in fact, has been experiencing between forty and sixty percent lower rainfall since last year, while areas like your state of California often experience similar problems."

"The world needs access to clean drinking water badly, and that need is just going to get worse. The major stumbling block to that is cost, as all of the existing methods of reclaiming water, both sea water and sewage, are expensive."

I gave him a nod after his explanation, "Ok, I see the need for desalination. You think you have an idea to change the way things are done?"

"Yes. It was something I started working on when I was at university. Using a series of membranes I believe we can create a form of reverse osmosis that will clean the water of not just salt and minerals, but contaminants. While I am certain this process would make salt water drinkable, I believe it could also be used to reclaim sewage into drinking water as well ... Although I understand most would not want to use that particular feature. Now reverse osmosis isn't new and is being used for water desalination now. The big problem with current methods is the energy cost needed to make the water clean and usable, especially brackish coastal water. What my method does is eliminate the need for heating that current reverse osmosis processes use. My process will use a quarter of the energy traditional methods require, making it a viable option for large scale water projects. The power requirements are low enough that I believe we could even make it work on power supplied from wind or solar power, which would make it viable for areas without energy infrastructure, like the Australian outback or large areas of Africa and the Middle East."

I templed my fingers against my lips in thought before responding, "I can see how this idea could really help the world, and that alone makes me want to support it. But, we also need to look to the financial aspects. Do you think this could be financially viable?"

"In some areas, yes I think it would be very viable. Governments like your own and Australia's will go for it, as they are already concerned with the available water. In other areas, like Africa, the initial build costs will be too much for them, I believe."

"Okay, we can deal with that when we get there. I am sold on the idea. What do you need, to make this happen?"

"Well, at first I need to build a small version of the process, to work out the practicalities in my initial theory. I do not believe this stage would be very expensive. The next stage would be to build a full scale test facility. That would be expensive, but could be used to show our process works."

I turned to Marcus, "Have you talked to Ted about this?"

"Yesterday," he replied, "he said he was on board if you were."

"Ok, I am signing off on stage one. Let's build up the test version of it. If that works, get the patents cleared."

I stood up and reached my hand out to the engineer, "Ronald, I am looking forward to seeing what you can do."

He shook my hand, looking both excited and eager. He was digging through papers as Marcus and I made our way to Ted's office.

Ted looked up when we came in and said, "Cas, good to see you. Did you get a chance to go talk to Ronald?"

"Yep, I sure did. I am on board with doing the initial phase of his project and seeing if it is viable. If he can make it work like he thinks, this could be good for us. Actually, this brings up something else I wanted to talk about."

Ted put down his papers and looked concerned, "Is there something the matter, Cas?"

I held my hands out in stop motion as I said, "No, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to talk about the direction of the company and some other stuff that was going on in my life."

"First off, I love that we managed to get this company started and I have high hopes for our drone project. But this new project, something that could help a lot of people, is really what I am excited about doing. I have started a charitable organization that I hope to use to help people, both in large projects and individuals in a one on one basis."

"Making money is great, and I am all for it. Honestly, I have no problem producing military hardware; but, if possible, I would really like for us to keep our eyes out for projects that will help people."

Marcus looked over at Ted, who was tapping a pen in thought, waiting for him to respond.

Eventually Ted said, "I applaud the idea, Cas, but I am not sure that is practical. It's hard to pick a field and target ideas in that field. You generally need engineers who are expert in whatever that specialty is. It's why my company focuses on such a specific area."

"I get that, Ted, I really do. And I am not saying we should change the direction of the company. But so many engineers have these ideas floating around their heads that they are dying to work on. Look at Marcus and his drones, or Ronald and his desalinization thing. Both are projects divorced from what they do on a daily basis. I think we should foster this, and make it known we are more apt to support projects that have a humanitarian angle. Ted, how much do you know about 3M?"

"Some. We do work with them from time to time; and, of course, we use a lot of their products."

"They have this thing they call innovation time. They let their engineers spend fifteen percent of their time working on their own projects. If those projects seem viable, they often pick them up and take them on as an official project. We have several engineers working on the drones, and if Ronald's thing takes off we will have more. I know it will cost us some money, and slow down some of our work, but I want us to let engineers use between ten and twenty percent of their time working on stuff like this. Getting those ideas they have out into the world. What do you think?"

Ted started tapping his pen again, "I need a little time to digest this, since it is so much different than what I am used to. Marcus, what do you think?"

"I love it. I know I have always had ideas I wanted to work on, but didn't have the time or felt like I should focus on something else. I am completely for this plan," Marcus replied.

Ted stopped tapping and looked back at me, "Ok, I guess I am for it, too. We will let the engineers know about the new policy. They don't have to work on other stuff; but, if they want to, they can spend up to fifteen percent of their time on it. I just hope this doesn't backfire on us."

I shrugged as I agreed, "Me too, Ted ... me too."

When I got home, I was still thinking over stuff at work and it took me a second to notice the collection of people at the kitchen table. I knew they were taking Emily out this afternoon, to do something; but I didn't expect to see my girls, Megan and Emily, all gathered around the table, chatting.

When they noticed me the girls all gave me big grins while Emily stopped talking immediately and looked down at her hands. I was happy to see how animated she looked right before she noticed me, however. As I sat down I saw all three of my girls looking at me expectantly. Clearly they were plotting again.

I reached across the table and put my hand on top of Emily's, getting her to look up at me.

"Did you guys have a good time, today?"

She looked over at Vicki then back at me and nodded. She started to look down at the table again when Zoe nudged her.

She looked back up, seemed to steel herself, and said, "It was a lot of fun. We went to the mall and looked at a bunch of stuff, and we ate at the food court."

By the time she finished speaking, she was smiling ear to ear. This was by far the most exuberant I had seen her, and it looked good on her. I gave her hand a squeeze, and noticed her eyes dart to the clock. She pulled her hands out of mine and jumped up.

"Oh, my god! It's so late. I need to get home, right now."

Megan stood up and put a hand on her elbow, "I will drop you off on my way home."

She got halfway to the door before turning around, and running back to me. She crushed me with a hug. I hugged her back and felt her trembling beneath my arms. She always wore slightly baggy clothes and I had never realized how thin she was. She felt delicate, even fragile. All too quickly, she pulled out of my arms and ran out the door.

I was watching the closed door when I felt arms encircling me from all sides.

"We really like her," Zoe said as she pressed into my right side.

Tami, to my left, said, "You're right, though. She has something bad going on in her life. She wouldn't talk about her family, and when we were trying on clothes I saw some really nasty bruises."

I looked down at Tami, "Do you think she is being abused at home?"

She shook her head yes, "Yeah, I do. Putting together her bruises, how shy she is around guys, and the way she avoids saying stuff about her family, I would bet on it."