Chapter 17

Aboard Wainwright’s Jet

As the plane climbed for altitude, Jeff’s suspicions became a certainty. “Have you flown much?” he asked Laura, trying to sound nonchalant, but she was sharper than that.

“You know damn well I haven’t,” she replied in a monotone. “What gave me away? My hyperventilating or my white-knuckled grip on the seat arms?”

Jeff laughed while looking over at her. “At least you can joke about it. But I hope you get used to it quickly. I’m probably going to need you to do a lot of flying in the next few months. Some of the equipment can be shipped, but other things are too delicate to trust to regular shipping methods. You’re going to be ‘hand delivering’, so to speak.”

“I’ve only flown twice, and they were ten years apart, and short trips. I’ll get used to it, but don’t count on my liking to fly.”

“I don’t really like to, particularly on a commercial flight, but I certainly have done it enough. I would much rather fly in this plane, not to mention the personal service,” he said, glancing at Kathy, the flight attendant.

“Thank you, Mr. Matthews. And we certainly appreciate you and your family.” Turning to Laura, she continued, “Sometimes flying takes a little while to get used to, but I guarantee we have two of the safest pilots there are anywhere. The captain has thousands of flying hours, and the copilot has a lot as well. Neither of them would even think of taking off if everything about the plane were not perfect. Captain Madison is there for all the inspections and servicing. When the plane is in for maintenance, he’s there every minute. The captain told me that Mr. Wainwright said he wanted to die in bed, not on an airplane, and to act accordingly. The captain gets anything he wants, no matter how much it costs. And he is just as conscientious about flying as he is about maintenance.”

Turning around a little more in her seat, Kathy said, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but since you’re a little uptight about flying Ms. Kinsley, I’m going to tell you anyway.” Laura snorted at the “little uptight,” as Kathy continued. “A couple of months ago, we had someone pretty high up in the government that had spent several days at one of our plants. Captain Madison got a call from Mr. Wainwright saying that this person had to get back to Washington ASAP. We were having thunderstorms, with tornadoes in the General area. Most of the commercial flights were still flying, though, but Captain Madison told Mr. Wainwright that it would be better to wait for a few hours, or better yet, the next morning. A little while later, Mr. Wainwright called back and asked if Captain Madison would reconsider, since this person had to get back to Washington for a very important meeting. Captain Madison still said no. He would not fly.”

“A week or so later, we took Mr. Wainwright to Washington. He told us that this person had tried to get him to fire Captain Madison, but after the government guy got back to Washington, he called Mr. Wainwright and told him that the commercial flight he had taken later the day that Captain Madison refused to fly had been the worst flight of his life. Mr. Wainwright had grinned and said that he had told this person that he (Wainwright) believed in giving a person the responsibility of a job, accompanied by the authority to go with that job. He said that it would be foolish to try to tell the captain how to do his job – that’s what he paid Captain Madison for. Mr. Wainwright says he is going to live to be a very old man. The point being,” Kathy said smiling, “that safety literally comes first with him. You could not be on a safer aircraft.”

“Intellectually, I know that,” Laura said. “And I appreciate what you’re telling me, but the logical part of my mind, and my feelings, seem to be at odds with the concept,” she finished while trying to smile.

A few minutes later as the plane leveled off at altitude, the copilot keyed the PA. “I’m sorry to announce that we will be having a bit of a bumpy ride for the next thirty minutes or so. Please keep your seat belts fastened until we tell you that you can take them off.”

Laura groaned and her face grew grayer.

Jeff decided that he would try to distract her a bit, so he picked up where they left off before boarding the plane. But five minutes later, Laura stopped him. “Jeff, am I going to be able to do this? I’ve understood the overall concepts of what you have been talking to me about during the trip to the airport. At least I think I have. But that’s about all.”

Sighing, he smiled at her. “I’m sorry; I guess I got carried away. I haven’t really had anyone to talk to about this whole thing, except, of course, Mr. Wainwright and his people. And even then, I had to be careful with them until I sold my patent. I’ve been doing some thinking. Obviously, in the beginning, we will both be equipping the lab and setting up equipment. We’re going to have to convert theory, that is, my ideas, into the physical means of attaining the results we’re working toward. In the beginning, we can buy the equipment that we will need for testing, but we’re going to have to build some of it, especially after we get further into the project.”

Laura tried to say something, but Jeff continued, “I know. But, for the most part, I do know how to build the test equipment, and the project will be modular, just as the ‘radar’ was. And you will learn. Just think of it as a lab experiment similar to one you would have in college. I’ll tell you what to do. You will catch on. The programming will come in later, and I’m sure you will be teaching me then.”

“I hope you’re right, but right now, I feel like I’m in over my head.”

“There is another thing. Well, actually several. My wife pointed this out to me when we said something about the girls going to school together. We haven’t decided whether we’re going to send Arlene to public school, bring in a teacher for her, or home-school her. Each has good and not so good options.”

“Jeff, bringing in a teacher would cost...” Laura stopped and grinned. “Yeah, I keep forgetting that money wouldn’t be one of the things that would be influencing your decision.”

Jeff shrugged, “We’re a long way from a school, but I’m told that it is a good one. In the end, it will probably be Arlene who decides, but I want her to take some college courses during the year. That can be done on line. As could yours, or at least a lot of your courses,” he finished.

“So what do you want me to take?”

“How much math have you had?”

“One Calculus course was required, and I took the second one in the series because I like math.”

“Good. How much physics and chemistry?”

“Uh, just an introductory course in each. Not very good, huh?”

“Not very bad, either. If you like math, physics should come easily. A lot of it, until you get into theory, is just applied mathematics, and to me, it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than undiluted math. I’ll get in touch with the woman that was my advisor in college if she is still there. She will know more about how to approach this than I do. But I want you to go far beyond the physics required for an electrical engineering degree. Basically though, we need to get you enrolled in a good on-line college.”

“Jeff, this is a catch twenty-two. I can’t be of much use to you until I learn, and I won’t be able to help you very much if I’m taking classes.”

“Oh, yes you will. Acquiring the equipment, and setting up the lab will take time. There will be some learning even in that process. As soon as we get most of your traveling done, we will get you started on your courses. You don’t have to take a full load, and assembling the equipment will be a lot easier with two of us. I can teach you. Which brings me to the second of Diana’s ideas. Her ‘on-the-job training.’ I intend to build this, generally, the way I built my radar. That is in a more-or-less modular form, as I said before. At least for the prototype. It will be twenty times bigger than the production model, but we will sell the prototype and the related patents. We’ll let some company worry over miniaturizing the production model.”

“So, I’m going to be an electrical engineer?”

“You’re going to be an electrical engineer. And unless I miss my guess, a damned good one.”

“Thanks, Jeff. Oh, not for that last comment; although, I do appreciate the vote of confidence, but I mean for all you’re doing for Ann and me. I know that Diana talked you into this just to get her best friend a job, but if you really think it will work, then so do I. We will make it work,” she said, emphatically, leaning over and kissing him on his cheek.

Jeff couldn’t help but notice that her nipples were making bumps on the front of her blouse, even through her bra. She also caught him looking, and blushed. The plane picked that moment to hit an air pocket, drop for a second and bump hard. At least I got her mind off the plane for a little while. I don’t think she even noticed the bumpy ride until that air pocket.

Laura sat on a stool, fatigued, her mind awhirl. They had spent two hours in meetings. All the technicians and engineers had treated her with courtesy, but they were obviously waiting for Jeff to fix what was wrong. They had their questions lined up – many questions. Hours later, in the lab, Jeff, his voice showing irritation, asked, “But I still can’t understand why you are building a duplicate of my prototype. You were supposed to miniaturize the thing, not make another one.”

A tall, lanky man with glasses was almost as irritated as Jeff. “I can’t miniaturize the damn thing until I understand it.”

“Then why doesn’t yours work. If you copied mine, then yours has to work, too. Is mine still working, or have you screwed that up, too?”

Laura jumped up. “Break time. Break time,” she yelled into the ensuing storm of cuss words spouting from both Jeff and Miller, not to say anything about the racket coming from several of the other engineers. She grabbed someone at random. “Lead us to the break room, I’m not sure I remember the way,” she said, although, she knew exactly where it was.

As they walked through the door a few minutes later, Jeff turned to Miller. “I was out of line. No excuses. I fucked up. I apologize,” he finished, putting out his hand.

Miller glared at him for a moment before taking the proffered hand. “Ah, I was just as much to blame. I can’t figure out what we did wrong, and I was blaming you.”

Laura put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “You guys are trying to solve all the world’s mysteries in one day. I’m tired and I haven’t even been doing anything. All of you people,” she continued, looking around her at the engineers and technicians, “have to be, also. Murphy must love it when we get tired. He gets to screw up lots more things, then.” There were a couple of half-hearted chuckles. “It’s after eight. What’s wrong with calling it a day, get some sleep, and start this thing with a fresh mind tomorrow?”

“Eight,” Jeff exclaimed, looking at his watch. “I haven’t even gotten us a hotel room.”

“Jeff, I may have been yelling at you back there, but we certainly haven’t completely forgotten our manners. The guest suite is arranged for you and Laura. The limo will run you over, and pick you up in the morning.”

“Look, we don’t need a limo. Can’t you just let me drive one of the company cars, the way you did before? I’m not really into limousines and things like that.”

Miller laughed. “Number one, Mr. Wainwright set out instructions after he talked to you yesterday...”

“And number two,” Laura broke in, looking at Jeff, “you’re too tired to be driving in an unfamiliar city when you don’t have to. I know I am. We were up at three this morning if you remember.”

“Yes, Boss,” Jeff kidded.

Laura blushed, starting to say something else when Miller told one of the technicians to escort them to the limo. “See you in the morning. Say about ten. I for one am not coming in early.”

Jeff sat on the couch of their sitting room with his head back, his body relaxed and almost asleep, the remains of their meal on the table. He didn’t even seem to have the energy to push the meal cart back into the hallway.

Laura had circuit diagrams scattered across the floor, trying to compare Jeff’s working prototype with the non-working model that Wainwright’s engineers had built, supposedly copying Jeff’s model. To begin with, they didn’t copy Jeff’s model. Everything is in a different place. If they wanted to build one so they could understand what was going on, then they should have done just that – copied everything exactly. But nooo, they’re men. They had to arrange everything differently – the macho effect. And I just know that they have made changes other than the arrangement. But I don’t know enough about electronics to find out what they changed.

She had taken close-ups of Jeff’s working prototype, and also the unit the engineers had built, then downloaded the photos to Jeff’s laptop. She had made Jeff show her the corresponding circuit diagram for each module.

She reached for her coffee cup – empty. The pot was empty too. And the kitchen closed at ten. Shit! She and Jeff had already gone through the coffee provided in the room, and she had finished off the coffee they had ordered with their meal. Shit!

After dialing the phone, she got the front desk. “Room service is closed. How about sending up a couple of packs of coffee so I can make some with this little dinky coffee maker of yours. Not decaf,” she added, trying not to snarl.

Jeff opened one eye and lifted an eyebrow at her as she hung the phone up, none too gently. “It’s late,” he tentatively said, “We can hash this out at the lab tomorrow.” He noticed her again trying to adjust her bra strap, contorting her arm to reach behind her. “Why don’t you take that thing off? I’ve seen you without a bra before. I don’t understand why you’re torturing yourself.”

“Jeff, I...”

“Laura, I’ve seen nipples before, and titties bounce. There are four teenage girls at the house; one of them is your daughter. There is no one here but us, and I’m certainly not going to rape you. You have had that thing on since the wee hours of the morning. My wife would have been screaming by now. Take it off.“

“Thanks,” she said while blushing for some reason. She did the set of contortions that women do, and seconds later, pulled a bra out of her right sleeve. She immediately tried to scratch her back again.

Jeff chuckled, got up and scratched her back where the bra strap had been, then continued on into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”

A few minutes later, she had a fresh cup of not-so-good coffee in her hand and was poring over the diagrams again. As Jeff walked back into the room, she said, “Jeff. Look at this. What does this symbol mean?”

“Laura, look. It’s late. I’ve already told you what a hundred things mean. And everybody does things a little differently. That’s a filter with a cut out of about 3.5 kHz. I was getting a lot of static, and...”

“Why does theirs say 35 kHz?” she asked, sweetly.

There was a long pause. “They wouldn’t get anything,” he said, stunned. “The circuit would oscillate. The filter would block everything.” He snatched the diagram up. “Shit. They said they didn’t change anything!” he exclaimed.

“They probably didn’t, at least intentionally. Murphy just seized his chance.”

“Why in the fuck didn’t I see this?” Jeff asked, feeling guilty.

“Because you knew what should be there, and...”

“ ... saw what I needed to see,” Jeff finished for her.

“And I,” Laura continued, “Don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground about circuit diagrams, so I saw what was there,” she said laughing.

Jeff was still staring at the diagram as Laura asked, “Have you called Diana?”

Jeff let out a hiss. “Oh, crap. I was so tired, I didn’t even think about it.”

“Here you are, umpteen miles from home, in a hotel with another woman, and you didn’t call your wife,” she mused. “Yeah, well. Guess who is going to be sleeping on the couch when you get home.”

If Jeff heard her, he didn’t say anything, because he was already pushing buttons on his cell. After talking with Diana for quite a while, which entailed a lot of stammering on his part, he handed the phone to Laura with an odd look on his face. Jeff went on into his bedroom but didn’t close the door.

“I heard you just solved their problem,” Diana said as soon as Laura said hello.

Laura laughed, “Well, maybe. Then again, someone could have just left out the decimal on the diagram.”

“Or could have forgotten it when they built the thing,” Diana laughed. “But you know, damn well, that I’m proud of you. Changing the subject. How are you and Jeff getting along?”

“Well, I’ve seen a side of him today that I’ve never seen before. He can really be intense. And he and their engineers had certainly gotten over the friendly stage before we gave up for the night. But he has been really nice to me. Heck, I don’t know enough to argue with him. When it comes down to it, I don’t really know enough about what is going on to carry on a conversation in the lab. I just sit there and look stupid.”

Diana laughed. “I doubt if those engineers will think that after you show them what is wrong with the model.”

“Oh, that’s up to Jeff. I don’t know enough to do that.”

“You still have a lot to learn about my husband, Girl. Trust me. It will be you showing them what you found. He would never take credit for someone else’s work. But that’s enough about that. Has he put the make on you yet?”

“Diana. You know Jeff would never do that. And if you’re joking, it’s not funny.”

“Yeah, that’s about what he said on the phone a minute ago when I asked him the same question.”

“Di, what’s gotten into you? You know I would never do anything like that with your husband.” Thinking Diana may have gotten the wrong idea because she and Jeff were in the same room together, she continued. “Look, Diana, this is a suite and we’re in the living room. We each have bedrooms...”

Diana interrupted, “Laura, you don’t understand. I’m not accusing you of anything. I know it is a suite, or at least thought it would be. What I am saying is this. My husband is currently fucking me, my daughter, and your daughter. He is used to getting his rocks off four times a day, or more. He is probably going to get snarly if he doesn’t get some nooky pretty soon. When is the last time you got laid?”

“Diana, I, uh...”

“A year? Two years? Five? Unless you have quit telling me about your love life, there hasn’t been one.”

“Well, I haven’t been really lucky with the men I have picked...”

“Go take a quick shower. Walk into his bedroom buck-naked. Don’t say anything; just stick a titty in his mouth. Fuck his brains out. You will both sleep better.”

“Diana. I can’t fuck your husband!”

“My daughter just came into my bedroom wearing nothing but a smile, as they say. She has a new pink vibrator that we ordered on the net. I’ll bet we can give each other enough orgasms to get us by until that big-dicked husband of mine gets home.”

“Di, I’ve never heard you talk like this.”

Diana laughed. “Go fuck my husband. I’m going to be pissed if you don’t. We’ll talk when you get home. This is the new Diana. My husband comes first. Uh, no pun intended. I’m surprised he didn’t leave me long ago. There is no telling how many orgasms I’ve missed. Now go fuck his brains out. Welcome to the harem.” Giggling, she hung up.

Laura stood with the phone in her hand. Absently putting it down, she turned and walked into the bathroom. After getting the shower started and the temperature adjusted, she tossed her clothes on the counter and stepped under the warm water. What have I gotten myself into? I can’t screw Diana’s husband. If she knew I have fantasized about him for years, she would ... would ... what? I used to think she would have a fit, maybe never speak to me again. Now I don’t know what to think. I would never even tell Ann, even though she told me she masturbated thinking about Jeff. Laura ran the washcloth across her right nipple, and almost came.