Chapter 22

By the end of the first month, I had turned down several carefully disguised offers. They would have left me tied in knots, and were not really as good as first glance implied. One of the first things I insisted on, was that I desired to retain my own personal copy of my search engine. I wanted to use as I pleased, for my own surfing. I didn't want to go through or paying for this same engine commercially, from whoever wound up producing it, either.

I had eliminated several companies as they were adamant about unauthorized uses once they had it. I wanted to make sure it was stipulated in the contracts that I was allowed to keep and use my own copy, to use, or not use on any computer I desired. This seemed a sticking point for several of the contenders, and a couple dropped out when it was clear I was unbending in this.

It didn't seem unreasonable to me. I was promising not to develop or research another engine for a specified time period, would not sell or give my copy away to others. I just wanted to be able to use it on any computer I happened to use.

Hell, Tom and his computer didn't need my search engine; they got around and through the net in a different way, apparently. He could always put his version of whatever his computer did into mine. But hell, it was fun dickering and playing with the big boys! A person could get addicted to this kind of life... high finance, and making deals!

I ended up giving Time Warner my final offer, making it clear it was my final offer. Part of the deal was that I would receive five million dollars down, and Time Warner would pay me 1.5 million a quarter each quarter, for five years. I had lost my chance at the bigger deal when I told them I wanted to keep some rights. So, call me stupid, but I wanted something more than money from this.

They had agreed to let me retain a copy of the engine for my own personal use, with the understanding that I not give it, loan it, sell it, or leave it accidentally... in whatever other computer, other than my own, that I happened to use. I would not develop or release another such engine or any other search engine or internet search tool until the company realized certain goals of their own. I would refrain from informing or consulting with any other company, service, or internet provider, regarding the intellectual secrets associated with my search engine. I took their offer home with me, and studied it.

My attorney was there, as was my half sister Debra. They were pouring over the final agreement, and they were taking it line by line. It was couched in the legal language that confused the average person... deliberately, I thought.

They waded through it like champs. They made a list of words found that were obscure, even to them. They had to look them up. Most were harmless or innocuous, but two were positioned and used in such a way as to change a couple of points in the contract at Time Warner's discretion. Hmm, a carefully 'loaded' contract!

Well, well. I smelled a penalty being attached to the sale of my engine, if they wanted it. Meaning, I was going to penalize them!

It took some time to wade through it all, a lot of it, but we finally finished. They already had called a few times. I got on the phone with their rep. I told him point blank, that I would not brook any hurrying of the reading or understanding of the document in question. I told him there were a couple changes I wanted to make, and then hung up on him.

After we checked it, we ran it through Tom's computer, and since it had contract law in its storage, and had connections to the libraries it need to use, it was able to digest it faster and give us a summarized report on what the contract said.

All together, I was getting a total of five million at the signing of the contract, and thirty million paid out over five years. A far cry from the nine figures I had been dreaming of, but still, with this much money, I could buy Tom the helicopter of his dreams if he so desired. Well, within reason. And it was legal money. We were able to show it had been earned. That was the best part.

So that's how I became a millionaire. Tom and the rest counseled me to take the deal, as it was basically free money. Even if it wasn't the original nine figures I had hoped and been led to believe I would get, at first. They had wanted too many restraints on me for the extra money to be worth it.

"All right, people. Let's get this meeting started. It has been brought to my attention, that Tom's computer has found us several likely candidates as talents! One is a young child. We will have to wait until we can even approach him. So far, he shows promise, with a TK ability similar to mine.

"The second prospect is more interesting, but is in prison right now. The question is, do we want to spring him? Do we even want to train a talent who is already a proven felon? His crime is minor, actually, but it was done deliberately. His talent makes him very desirable though. He can camouflage himself in an unbelievable way. He somehow seems to blend in with his background. He disappears totally from sight if he stands still. If he is careful and slow, he can move without revealing himself. He does not actually disappear, it just seems he somehow convinces or encourages people to forget he is there.

"Unlike our Tom's 'almost there' place, this guy is detectable by regular cameras, infrared cameras, and motion sensors. While he has been careful not to reveal himself and his ability to the government or local authorities, some are getting suspicious," I reported to them.

"I want to know what his crime was, before I make any decision," Debra told me.

The others parroted this sentiment, and I continued.

"He was caught breaking and entering into a company that held high interest mortgages, on a lot of people in his neighborhood. The interesting part of this, is that when the police took him into custody, he had several items belonging to the company in his possession. They have proven very incriminating to the company in question.

"Our man, Roger Schmidt, previously had lost his house to these people, when he was laid off, and missed one, just one, mortgage payment. It was theorized at the time of his capture, that he let himself be caught. He received a six month sentence, and he is serving it in the county jail. He will do three years probation when he is released," I said, reading from my notes.

I gave the others some time to talk it over. It didn't take long. If it came down to it, none of us could say we were total innocents. We had kidnapped people and done other things that definitely broke laws. The thing was did you feel justified in doing it? How long do you continue to flaunt the laws you supposedly agree with? How far, is going to far? All good questions, and hopefully there was a philosopher out there that could answer them. I just knew we were in the right each time, so far.

"If that's all he was guilty of, I say we interview him, and then if he satisfies us, we hire him, and send him off to 'La La Land', for training," Debra said with a grin.

"'La La Land'?" Tom asked with feigned hurt.

"You know what I mean... that other world you train us in," Debra said with a wave of her hand.

Tom snorted. Apparently 'La La Land' was not his first choice of what to call his little piece of that other reality. He was very cagey about that, too. I often wondered how he came to be such a bigwig over there. Maybe he would tell me, or the group, someday.