Chapter 37

It was five in the afternoon when the diplomats started to trickle in. I greeted each as they entered and the men they brought with them. Not all of the aides arriving were giving their real name. Germany, the United States, Russia and China were present. The ambassador from France was late so in keeping with my tradition, I started the meeting regardless.

"Gentlemen, I have asked you to come here to hear my plan. I have shown that space can be an environment that is obtainable at a much cheaper price than you thought possible. The Americans and Russians have found it to be very expensive to put a satellite into orbit. I can leave the actual figures to you gentlemen to find out from the parties involved. They will certainly downplay any high costs."

There was some talking between the diplomats and I let it run down before I continued. "My engines can place smaller payloads into orbit or I could have used larger rocket engines to place the entire craft into orbit. I have already travelled around the planet on much smaller craft to insert much smaller satellites. Those simple ships were crude and I had to abandon them because of the danger involved."

The ambassador from Germany asked, "When can we get these engines?"

"There is more work to be done on them. Patents have not been even applied for yet. There are many more improvements that are to be made and I think that three years is not an unreasonable time to wait."

The man agreed and I went on, "The scramjet is a vast improvement and that too has to be patented. It can work on the highly rarefied air far above our planet. The airframe itself is many times stronger than the original manufacture made it and also many times lighter. One product alone can give you access to space. I have made a fibre that can be taken into space and an end lowered to the planet's surface. A small device will climb to the upper terminus dragging a similar fibre with it. Other machines will follow until the group of fibres are strong enough for heavy cargos and men to ascend to the heavens. This will be much like a freight elevator in many ways. Of course the time taken will be in the order of days. The cost of using it will be correspondingly low.

"With space in my grasp I was able to bring together humanity as never before. I have sent books to your governments as a favour. Soon they will be sold throughout the world and nobody will be able to stop them coming. Telephones are the start for they allow us to talk to each other on a personal level. Television will follow so we can all see what it is like in another country and see it less as a threat. Later we will come to an all-in-one unit. You have all heard reports of my computer by your spies or business associates. I have not tried to hide it. The units that I will sell will calculate thousands of times faster than a roomful of mathematicians. Your productivity will go up because you can keep abreast of what is happening.

"The computers will be hooked up to the satellites above and you can instantly send data to each other. The data can be text, graphics, movies, research results, your voice and of course your photograph. This will be the better telephone where you can see and hear who you are talking to."

The French delegation came in and I asked them to just find seats. "I would like to demonstrate this for you if I may." A very large device looking like a television came out on a high stand and pushed by one of the security detail. Next came a small desk with a box on it. In front of that was a keyboard unlike any typewriter in existence. The keys were Latin based but the uppermost row had Greek and Cyrillic letters. The box had a small goose neck like those found on lamps. At the end was a small sphere the size of a plum with a small grill in the lower portion. I turned the desk to face the same way as the audience and nodded my head for the device to be turned on.

The monitor took two minutes to warm up before a picture formed. The computer was ready in less than a second. I proceeded slowly, going step by step. Menus came on the screen in text format and in vivid colour. Their clarity was vastly superior to any black and white television unit that had been manufactured by my competition. I selected video and made a call to my home in Tokyo. A picture immediately appeared of Juni holding a sleeping Sally in her arms. "Hello Shawn," came from a set of speakers, "it is nice to see the meeting is on schedule." She looked up at the audience when I moved to one side. "Hello gentlemen. Thank you for helping us with this test."

"Juni, is the Emperor ready?"

She looked to one side and said, "Yes he is. There are four gentlemen with him."

"You can stay on. Let me coach the people here first." I got a nod and turned. "We are now going to talk to His Majesty, Emperor Hirohito the Emperor of Japan. It is polite to stand now and bow to him as he will bow to you."

The audience got up and I said, "Please group together so you may all be seen." I selected the correct menu options from the keyboard and instantly a crystal clear picture appeared of the official residence of the Emperor. When the man saw that he was live he stood and bowed with the men beside him. The men here did the same thing. I quickly introduced each of the participants even if they were the ambassador to Britain and not Japan.

I introduced the American first and he came forward and was a little unsure of what to do but thought to treat this as if the Emperor was in the room with him. The Russian came next and they were able to converse in English. Each of the other representatives came forward and had his say. When all this was done I said, "This is like Marconi when he first broadcast across the Atlantic. Each of you gentlemen will go down in history in one additional place."

When the Emperor signed off I went back to Juni and discovered that she had found a place for Sally to sleep. Her father and Mary sat quietly as their image came to us. To the men behind me I said, "The gentleman here is Mr. Hitomi, he is my partner in shipbuilding and Juni's father. The other lady is Mary Norton. Both ladies are for the sake of a name, my wives." There was a gasp on both sides of the world and I just let it slide. "My family will be listening in and voicing their own remarks."

I discussed more of the system before me. The clarity was the most notable but the size was a great advancement as well. I went through the units abilities but knew that the men present would not know much about this. I took only an hour to show what I could because they would not be able to recall much.

"Gentlemen, the unit before you is the one I wish to sell to the public. There are many things here that are not patented. If you will grant me the rights under an international patent I will give each of your governments one of these units. The ability to use the telephone is integral and regulatory approval is needed. A list of the patentable items will be issued at the end of the meeting. I will also give you an assistant to show you some of the finer points. You may film this and use it in your own country.

"When we formally agree on the terms for hooking up to the new phone system there will be much more help. This agreement will be based on business decisions between the various countries and my company. I will not be making a deal with a government if they do not allow free access to the general population. Not only profit would be lessened but also understanding. I am in this for more than just a profit though. If we see each other as human beings then the chance of a future war would be greatly diminished."

We talked a bit more and I had the diplomats call home on my unit as it interfaced with the Japanese phone system. The British and every other country other than Japan and Ethiopia were not hooked up together and I could not legally bypass any of the local statutes.

As the men left I handed out the books on the computer and the phone system. Hours before the mail had been swamped with similar items going to others in their government. Next morning bookshops all over would start to receive their allotments for sale.

I stayed a week in Britain, then fuelled up the plane and flew east again toward home. I cruised at an altitude of fifty miles where the engines worked very efficiently and was soon in Japan without having to refuel anywhere along the way.

My family, along with much of Tokyo, greeted me on my return. A month later only some of the countries had decided to consider the telephone integration. Without a majority of the countries or at least the larger ones accepting the agreement my proposal was dead in the water. Some countries tried to get me to sell them part of my system. I knew this was more of a test for I had told them it was an all or nothing deal.

The western powers had patent laws and would honour them but the applications I sent in would be very well scrutinised to find some improvement. When one was found then a new application could be presented and then another company could begin production. This was actually the bait for they would learn a lot but not enough to worry me. It was the basic idea of communication and eventually television that I wanted to happen the most.

Our first tanker was by no means that way though. With newspapers from all over the world invited we staged a gigantic launching. With cameras rolling Juni dressed in the traditional Japanese garb swung a bottle of champagne against the hull. After much clapping we left the stands and Juni turned a giant valve to let water flood into the dry dock. Other valves were opened soon after and the vessel started to rock a bit then floated free.

When the water level was equalized the hawsers were pulled tight and we boarded the ship. Pictures were taken of the ship from the air and sent around the world. Morie had fun as captain for a while as her sea trials began. She performed better than he allowed himself to believe and two weeks later the ship set sail for Indonesia to purchase petroleum. Work had been backed up as the ship was fitted out and we almost had another ship in parts waiting for us. The dry dock was now dry again and the welders were busy fitting the portions together. We had enough cash to pay for this next ship but after that we would have to rely on sales if any more were to be constructed.

A smaller dry dock remained empty where I wanted to build the slightly smaller gas tankers. There was little use yet because the Canadians and the Americans had not yet built their respective pipelines to the coast. I was a minor partner in those ventures and the only buyer as yet. Another agreement in Indonesia was being worked on but I had little resources to spend on it at the moment.

The first trench in Tokyo with the homes and businesses above, was a great success and people were clamouring for more of my 'type one' buildings. We did as the people asked and built more of these to support the fringe railway lines and to satisfy this group. I wanted to work on my own area and it was promising to be a wet time to do so. Not only did my vision require a very wide trench, it had to be very deep as well. These shops and homes would be completely underground leaving open parkland above. There were a few smaller merchants willing to try to locate here but I needed large retail outlets with a known name that would draw people to this area. These crossways were to be major intersections with many people passing through or by each day.

In a second I had it. I couldn't release my technology because it was not patented. It could be physically stolen and eventually a possible threat to mankind. I could have an area where my own devices would be on display and people could come to learn. Security would be tight and patrons could only enjoy and learn what I wished them to learn.

I worked much quicker now and enlarged all the plans of the area. Deliveries and people could only come from some well defended positions. This necessitated that my larger areas be off the main concourse. This would keep the areas much more secure and not disrupt regular traffic.

Men I knew were like children in many ways and I thought of quite a few scenarios where a man can play out his fantasies. These games or lifelike situations would have to be very realistic and then people would spend a lot of their money to play.

War could be used for many scenarios while sports and athletic events could be used for others. Chess came to mind if the players saw lifelike animations that would fight one another and have predictable results. I immediately visualized the images in my mind and added them to the computer. When all the pieces were done I fabricated a board. Making the program was fairly easy and I ran through a few games with myself.

It was almost six in the morning so I waited till Morie arose and came down to eat. When he came in we greeted each other and sat on the mat for our usual small meeting to start our day. "Morie, I predict you will be late for work today."

"Why is that Shawn?"

"Because I am going to play a game of chess with you."

"For an intelligent person, why would you think I would play a game with you? There is no chance at all for me to win."

"I challenge you to a game anyway. I had a small army in Rhodesia and you were former navy. I say that you have to fight me on at least that ground."

Morie agreed reluctantly and all I had to do was tell him the names of the individual squares. He was a little perturbed because chess was played on a board with fingers and a mind hard at work. I spoke out loud to the computer and the game began. He was so shocked at the start with the graphics and sound that he fell back in fright and these were his own men, or perhaps monsters should be the term used. He called out his first move after quite a few minutes of studying what I had done. I played to keep the game going. The snarling, clashing of edged weapons and the cries of anguish brought the rest of the family soon enough.

He decapitated some of my small trolls that served for pawns. My knight came out dressed in ancient Japanese finery on a charger and slashed and killed his general that served as a bishop. Juni came over to my side and watched in wonder. "Take over Juni. The honour of the army is at stake." She fought her father but didn't have the killer instinct and she lost after fifteen more moves.

"Liz come here and fight the navy for me." This game was short too. Mary and Kochiyo fought but Morie didn't lose until he fought Maeko. In a rematch she won again and Morie looked at his watch and said, "I am late for work."

That day I made many more games including the last war. I had to only do some of the work because I had to find all the data on all the ships participating in each major battle. When I told Morie of my latest project that night he was appalled at the thought. He had lost friends and even family in those battles and didn't want anything to do with it. My research did find that some old warriors still clung to the belief that they could win if they had known a particular piece of information.

I contacted Ethiopia and Britain most everyday and so did the rest of the family. They now had the video capability of the telephones working in Africa and we could see one another as if they were standing or sitting in the room with us. Sally had found friends and for hours they would play. The Japanese technicians had arrived and improved on the cathode ray tube factory. Many of the simpler components were farmed out to various suppliers that seemed to sprout up as we needed them. The core products that needed to be kept secret were still only done by family.

There was a need for people to be able to make their own programming so we had made four books at varying levels of difficulty. The other technical books were being purchased as fast as we could print them. More publishers had to be contacted to fill the need. These books too, went to publishers in the United States, Germany, Russia and China. The latter two had been difficult to find but there were enough diplomats I knew that could arrange this work. The orders themselves were very large because many languages had to be covered and I had to alter each book because of the countries it was aimed at.

The next week looked like a good one to start excavating. I had a single rail running on each side of the proposed trench. A thin framework of bamboo supporting a clear plastic film. All this was in a cylindrical section so that water would run off both sides and keep the excavation as dry as possible. The end of the frame work could be added to as could the rails as the trench lengthened. Pumps were brought in when water did manage to seep in.

Inside the canopy, two more rails on each side supported a crane that was like the one we used building ships. It would span the entire width of our excavation.

The giant wheel turned its usual speed and dug a wide swath. When it completed a path it was retracted to start again and again till the full width and length had been dug. This took three days and soon we were back at the start again as we did everything again but went deeper this time. The pile of loose dirt looked like a mountain by the time we were done.

Everything was in readiness. The steelwork went in with the wooden forms that would form the storm and sanitary sewers. When the lower levels of reinforcing rods were completed, I brought forward another idea of mine. A large pump would take the concrete poured into it and the crane would direct the pipe to where it was needed. There was little need for taking small amounts of concrete anywhere.

A sudden storm came up and the plastic covered roof was brought over the work area and the work continued around the clock. The problem was that so did the storm. Water was leaking in, in many places and once the erosion started there would be a lot of damage. I was the proverbial Dutch boy. After two days of constantly being on the job site Mary wanted me home. I refused and only ate what she brought. I had to stay there on a cot and she could not understand why. I was getting more and more fatigued as the battle continued.

Morie came too and wanted me to leave but I could do nothing. A few hours later the storm stopped but I had to hold back the saturated sides for another day until it was firm enough. I just slept there exhausted with my family around me.

On my eleventh birthday we finished the site and were able to back fill. It was tamped down and more fill put in. In all it took another three days to fill around my dream child. The year 1962 looked to be a good start to my business ventures.

I walked with the family through the brightly lit underground. The tracks had been laid but both ends had been blocked off because the line did not reach this area yet. The air was damp from the water still in the concrete but dry air was continually brought in.

Conduits would bring wiring to almost all the points I needed. A sub floor had to be laid yet but I could see the small rooms with holograms allowing the contestants to fight or to play with whomever they chose. I had debated making a series of rooms where some people could allow their baser instincts free reign but decided not to. My name in some quarters was not very good and I didn't need to give them more ammunition.

Security was always a problem but it was becoming even more important. Spies were trying very persistently to get into secure areas of our plants in Ethiopia. Some were employees of the Ethiopian government and were turned away. They had tried to use the army and then the courts. The Emperor had sided with us and placed his own loyal people with their own orders around our plants.

As I predicted the higher levels of management were placed into positions where they could be blackmailed but had steadfastly refused. Then they were offered fantastic sums of money. I was waiting for the extortion and had security on a heightened level. Security itself had to be watched because they too could be attacked.

Here in Japan there were people with parabolic microphones trying to pick up any tidbits of information. They even had people that were able to lip read working for them. People had tried to plant more microphones but had failed. Some of the more notable underworld characters when they turned honest sent me their best men to watch my properties. They found it odd to be working with my uniformed security. Some agents threw small packages onto our properties that were capable of transmitting information out. This failed every time. One enterprising group had run a lead up our sewer pipes.

Another group had crossed an invisible line. A Japanese official had come to our home looking into the possibility or Liz and Sally being used sexually. The man was doing his job but the laws that were being challenged were never used. Later the next day I found this man's boss and followed the trail to Britain. I flew to the country the next day while doing business. I followed the leads to the majority owner of an aircraft engine manufacturer.

This man was far from clean and it was easy to build up a thick dossier. His past showed where he had indulged his tastes in very young flesh. This I followed up till I came to one of the girls that had grown to be a woman. She was now a lonely clerk in a small shop.

I made my complaint to the police and they had a long talk to the woman and she broke down and told them of what had happened to her when she was young. Luckily she had could provide corroborating testimony with similarly abused friends.

The Exchequer got all the information on ways the man illegally evaded taxes. Places where the evidence could be found and people that could be brought in for questioning were added.

Three days later the man was arrested. When he was able to get out on bail, I was on the steps of the jail to meet him. "Hello, I see you are having a bit of trouble. More is coming your way soon." His lawyer was beside him and I added, "Something important happened in Wales in July 1954 that has not been resolved yet. There are three others before that. My security has been able to find an awful lot out in a short time. So far nobody else knows. If you want to fight dirty I am more than happy to play your game."

Before I turned to leave I gave one more shot. "If I wanted to, your company could be attacked monetarily and you would loose the majority of your wealth."

The man said nothing and I was in no mood to listen if he did.

My grandparents were visited and I saw that they were getting much older looking. I asked if they wanted to stay in Japan with me or have an extended visit but they declined. They loved their country even if life was still a bit hard for them.

Another reason for the visit was that I had not received the periodic letter from Demeku or her original name of Marlene. She had a little boy of seven now by the name of Shumetie. They lived in a small town in West Germany. I was beginning to get concerned. From Britain it was difficult to see clearly so I had to get closer.

I took a flight to Nancy in France and took a train until it got close to the border of West Germany. I could cross legally but then people would know that I had done so. I used my phone and talked regularly through the satellite link to home and later to Ethiopia. Luckily it was getting dark and I hung the phone on my jacket and let the others see the area I was seeing too. When I was close to the border I said I needed to turn off the phone and flew across the river at only a few feet. I continued for almost twenty miles till I found a railway station. There was a train going to Marburg in an hour and I waited on a dark bench on the platform.

While sitting I cast my eye to East Germany and saw Brihan or her real name of Ester and her two children sleeping with her family. They appeared well fed but I didn't know how she really felt even if I did get regular letters from her.

The train came and it took three hours to reach my next stop. Bad Laasphe was a small town not too far away that held the woman and child that were dear to me. It was very dark now and I was able to fly the short distance and found the house easily.

Marlene was sleeping alone in an upstairs bedroom. Down the hall her son now named Hans Boz was peacefully sleeping. Marlene had been sending letters to me regularly and for some reason they had not been getting to me.