Chapter 5

Spring 1993

Well, we finally got the first bottle / reaction / catcher apparatus aligned. Turns out that the way the electricity ‘leaked’ out of the bottle wasn’t as scientifically accurate as Chas had thought. The catcher thingy had to be adjusted, re-adjusted, and re-re-adjusted. Ad infinitum. It was a big thing, made of copper and wires, and it needed to be moved around the expected egress point until the meter on the cables leading out of it maxed out.

I guess this meant that some other devices around the bottle might get shorted out. And that would lead to trouble, to say the least. So we had to have some sort of protective shield around them. No telling where that pesky electricity would want to go. We – actually it was Red, or S2D2 as we were calling him these days – suggested putting protective shielding around every damn thing in sight. Just in case.

Just tap the bank account for some rubber-coated metal things that would have to be specially designed. Good thing that Mr. Traveller had deep pockets, funded from offshore.

So, while getting one generator going was fairly simple, getting a second one was not.

However, getting one going with a feed to Arizona Power actually impressed them. They never thought it would happen. By now, of course, I was a significant owner of their stock, so they had to take a meeting with me. I had to file a gargantuan pile of paper with the SEC and make public announcements of my interest. The Wall Street Journal was ‘concerned.’

“What is your interest in Arizona Power?” Caroline Redthorne asked during a one-on-one interview. Actually it was two-on-one, since my lawyer was there. More like several-on-one, since the SEC / investment guy, that Crying Wolf had suggested, never traveled alone. He had sub-lawyers and assistant sub-lawyers. I could hear the cash register ring every time I needed to talk to him / them.

“My interest in Arizona Power is about 11.6% of the stock as of this morning.” Being twenty-seven years old didn’t stop me from being a smart alec. “But I know what you meant, Caroline,” I smiled at her. “It’s really simple, AP has the electricity distribution network. I have generation capability. It’s a matter of vertical integration.”

“But Arizona Power also generates electricity at its own plants,” she followed up with.

Caroline Redthorne was the reporter that the Wall Street Journal had managed to find: a one-quarter Delaware native person to send out, to ... uh... ‘appease my delicate Native Peoples sensibility.’ At least that’s what my mental search of her mind found out. She was also a good feature writer for the New York Post when the WSJ hired her away. She was smart.

“Of course they do. Mostly coal plants, they burn coal to make electricity. And, of course, they have a tap into the Hoover Dam,” I said, after listening to my law eagles. I call them that because ‘legal scum’ was impolite. “I’m sorry to say that coal-fed generators will become a thing of the past. Navajo Electric has a running cost of essentially zero. There is a large initial cost, of course. But once they’re built, my generators will just put out electricity for free, forever. So, AP will be able to cut their rates significantly. They’ll still have to cover maintenance of the lines, and administrative costs, of course.”

“What about the people who work for the coal industry?”

This one was going to be a problem to answer. I noticed that the law eagles weren’t eager to offer a suggestion, when we discussed it beforehand.

“It may sound callous, but people who worked in the buggywhip industry had to learn new skills,” I said. “And the railroad workers who were put out of jobs when the world started to fly. Or like the folks who work in the gasoline plants, when we all learn to drive electric cars.” I paused. “There’ll still be a need for coal. Steel won’t go out of fashion, after all. We can power the furnaces, but we can’t make the coke. But digging coal for electric generation won’t be an industry within a decade, if I’m right.”

“Is that why you’ve shorted the stock of every coal company you can find?” Caroline asked. Caroline insisted on asking those pesky, uncomfortable questions.

“Uh huh,” I nodded. “And almost every oil and gas producer as well. My financial dealings are well known to the SEC.” Without looking, I could feel my SEC lawyers were cringing at the mere mention of the Security and Exchange Commission. “You could probably get a FOIA request to get their records.” The Freedom of Information Act required the government to reveal all sorts of things. FOIA wasn’t popular with bureaucrats.

“But I made my interest in making electricity known publicly, several years ago. I’ve been active on the short side for a long time,” I explained. “It’s not a secret. I think mining coal is a dangerous and dirty business. Dangerous for the men and women who work the mines, whether they be underground mines or open mines. Maybe there will be far fewer cases of black lung disease in a generation. Coal mining is dirty for the environment. However you want to scrub it, the output of burning coal produces an unbelievable negative effect on the atmosphere.”

“There are other pollution causes also.” What was she? An anti-environmentalist?

“Of course there are. I can’t solve ALL the problems ... But I’m making a dent in this one area. Of course, I’m also invested in finding a way to make longer lasting batteries for ve-hicles as well.” Just for fun, I thought I’d bring out the alternate pronunciation of ‘vehicle.’

I could tell she wanted to ask about the battery business, but she came back to Arizona Power.

“Any plans to expand your Arizona based enterprises?”

“We, at Navajo Electric, are planning on expanding our generation capacity. Right now, we have one fusion reaction up and working. Current plans are to expand that significantly.”

“How much? And how soon?”

“Want to come up and see? You can meet the genius who made all this possible, and see our facility.”

“Of course I do. When can I tour the plant?”

I referred to the computer on my desk. “Well we have an OSHA man coming out on the 10^th, why not come out then. You can at least see the TV images of our reactor grinding out the electrons.”

We ended the interview soon thereafter, and she promised to send me a copy of her story before publication.