Chapter 19: Tatiana

Dave visited the Robotix exhibit diagonally across the aisle from the EneRG kiosk. They had a robot standing and talking to people that walked by. The device stood about five feet tall, looked female, had a long wig and blue eyes, and made Dave think of Nikky. She came over later to look at his recommendation. Dave wondered if Robotix was actually closing in on the sex doll marketplace with their product.

Tatiana introduced Dave to four other people from the company. Dave had multiple impressions. Tatiana was brighter and more fluid in English than the others put together. The others were all men and appeared to excel at being nerds. They also relished the idea of being able to dispense with the power cord and power supply for their robot. One of the geeks proudly told Dave they’d named the robot they’d brought to the show Vega, in honor of coming to Las Vegas.

Vega, Dave learned, had brother and sister robots back in St. Petersburg, however, there was no production or manufacturing facility yet. This first visit to CES was to make contacts and get a sense for how to market some eventual vague product.

After checking with Professor Stephen Reagan at the university and then Alice, Dave arranged for Tatiana to visit the following week. She agreed to even be a guest lecturer for two of Reagan’s classes after he learned of her credentials and research.

The last two days of the CES at the convention center went on without a hitch. Collectively, the six at the show from EneRG had collected about 2,000 business cards. About a hundred had been prioritized as A-list contacts for future business. JR and Larry would follow up with each of those people personally.

Nikky, Jenny, and Deborah had been propositioned so many times, they believed that they had heard every imaginable pickup line known to mankind. When they went out on their own, they held hands and often kissed each other to propagate a sapphic model for their relationship and thereby discourage some of their more ardent admirers. Nonetheless, they did get to dance quite a bit at one of the clubs near the hotel.

Alice and Pam flew the Gulfstream 650LR into McCarran International Airport, which wasn’t that far from downtown. They stayed overnight in the suite with the six other lovers, and had a grand evening going to another show. All eight went by and visited Ashley between shows.

Saturday morning, Tatiana was waiting at Signature Flight Support, one of the fixed-base operators at the airfield. The EneRG crew and their ‘pilots’ arrived in a small bus, mainly because of the need to lug some of the exhibition display equipment back to Sarasota.

Dave made introductions. Tatiana was truly awed that two of Dave’s wives were also jet-rated pilots who would be flying them east to Sarasota during the day.

The nine of them loaded the sleek corporate jet with the luggage and boxes from the convention, boarded, and soon they were airborne and climbing to Flight Level 390. Dave and Tatiana sat across the narrow aisle in the jet so they could talk.

The couple made small talk about the plane as well as Alice and Pam’s qualifications to fly it. Dave knew that Roy, her boss, was very forgiving when she had the opportunity to do a long hop like Sarasota to Vegas and return the next day. Further, Alice had so many vacation days accumulated that she could always find a way to be absent. Dori and few other people at work knew about her aviation ‘hobby’.

“Would it be all right to go and see your wives in the cockpit of the plane?” Tatiana asked as the plane continued to climb.

“Absolutely. It’s up to them and the workload they have up there. Just ask them when you go up to the cockpit. I go up all the time. Please.” Dave gestured to the front of the plane.

Tatiana got a broad smile on her face, not unlike a child who has just been told that they may have some toy they have lusted over for many months. She rose and walked slightly up hill to the front of the plane.

JR looked at Dave, “What’s up?”

“I think our computer scientist and robotics specialist is about to fall in love with the whole idea of personally flying her own jet aircraft.” He laughed.

JR admitted, “I’ve been thinking about it. Tomorrow I’m supposed to have an ‘Acclimatization Flight’ with Pete. It’ll be an overview of the plane and what I’d have to learn to become a pilot.”

Dave smiled, “Make sure he takes you all the way through getting your instrument rating in his spiel. You don’t want to stop at only being a private pilot who can only fly in fair weather. You want the skill and proficiency to be able to fly blind, so to speak, just in case the weather closes in. Otherwise you may find yourself marooned in Two Dot, Montana, waiting days for some weather to clear so you can fly again. Moreover, it’s a safety issue.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow about the whole journey. Realistically, what are we talking about in terms of money?”

“Both the private pilot’s license and the instrument rating will probably run you around $20,000 together. Don’t worry about any of that. EneRG can justify your ratings. I’ve talked to Jenny and Deborah about it.”

JR laughed, “We can take it out of profits, right? Profits on the nonexistent products we aren’t making and selling.”

Dave smiled, “Speaking of that, what were the reports from the field yesterday.”

“Phoenix will be done on time. The equipment is on site and in the building, but set up hasn’t started. At least the place has a roof, but not much else. Portland thinks they’re a week behind original plan and hoping to catch up. Some but not all equipment is on site. St. Paul is on schedule, but that had a longer construction window due to the weather up there for this winter. I believe they reported a high temp yesterday of minus 10ºF. West Virginia lost a week due to snow and ice, too, so they’re also behind; the equipment is in storage at the nearby airport.

“Overseas, the licensing agreement with China is complete and signed as you know. They got their first shipment of Thallium from us and have started to train their workers on how to manage the hazardous stuff and turn it into a catalyst. They figure the first batch of batteries for the next-gen of iPhones will start rolling off the line in a week or two. Their capacity will be low for a while, so we need Phoenix and Portland up and running as fast as possible.”

JR and Dave continued to talk. After about two hours Tatiana finally came back from the cockpit jump seat with a large grin on her face. “THAT is the best thing I’ve ever seen up close. I want to learn how to fly.”

JR asked, “Can you even do that in Russia?”

Tatiana shook her head, “Yes, but it is outrageously expensive. A small used plane might cost two or three hundred thousand U.S. dollars. Fuel is hard to obtain. There are only a limited number of airports, and on and on. Alice and Pam told me to learn here in the United States and then buy a plane and fly home.” She grinned, obviously believing she was talking pure gibberish.

Dave commented, “Small planes do fly back and forth between the States and Europe. There is much in the way of safety equipment you should carry – emergency stuff such as rafts, safety beacons, and floatation gear for you and the plane, but it can be done. A lot of planning is needed ahead of time.”

Tatiana studied him to be sure he wasn’t teasing her. She decided he wasn’t.

JR spoke, “Tomorrow afternoon I’m talking to one of the instructors in our Circle who teaches flying. We’re taking a familiarization flight. Why don’t you come with us and talk to him? I’m sure it’ll be all right. We might find him tonight at dinner so I can introduce you ahead of time.”

“Oh, this is such a wonderful thing that I found you all,” she beamed.

About an hour later the plane’s intercom clicked and Pam spoke. “This is your copilot speaking. We are starting our descent for our landing at Circle Airport in Sarasota, Florida. We should touch down right about five p.m. local time. We’ve called ahead and there will be a reception committee and plenty of golf carts for us to use so have no worries. I also confirmed that we can leave the exhibit and display boxes in the hangar. Owen is flying out tomorrow night with his regular crew so we have to leave the plane in good stead and outside the hangar.”

Tatiana turned to Dave, “What is Circle Airport? Are we not going right to Sarasota? I am confused.”

“Ah, I understand. We have our own airport and hangar where we live – only a few hundred meters away from our homes. The Sarasota airport is about twenty-five kilometers away. We use what we call golf carts to get from where we live to our hangars and planes. It’s very convenient.”

Tatiana rolled her eyes. “You all must be very rich?”

Those within hearing range laughed. Dave said, “Well, we have at least two very rich friends, one of whom built Circle Airport and keeps this plane there for his convenience. If it’s not in use, we can borrow it from time to time.”

“This is expensive to fly, yes?”

“Yes. The owner figures about $5,000 per hour of flight time.”

“OH, DEAR,” Tatiana exclaimed. “So ... this trip is costing us $20,000 U.S. dollars? That is... 1.3 million rubles. That is very costly.” She shook her head in disbelief.

Dave shrugged, “In this case we are amortizing the cost of the round-trip over six people and a lot of equipment that would be expensive to pack and ship by any other method. Yes, it is more expensive than commercial for the passengers, but wear-and-tear is worth something.” He smiled at her.

JR shared her cost estimates for getting a private pilot’s license and instrument rating. She seemed to also know a bit about the various fields of study a candidate for one of the ratings would have to go through. Tatiana was fascinated.

Just as Pam had predicted the streamlined jet touched down at Circle Airport right at five p.m. After back taxiing to the hangar and shutting the engines down Alice opened the door of the plane and deployed the stairs. Everyone filed out with their carry-on bags.

Beside the hangar there were eight golf carts. Cindy Worthington was part of the welcoming committee. Ty and Owen were also there. Owen patted the side of his plane. He teased Alice, “You brought her back all in one piece I see. What a nice surprise.”

Alice teased, “Except for what fell off yesterday when we had a hard landing in Las Vegas, yes.”