Chapter 2

When the men from the network had started handing out the flight suits, Jay and his younger brother Dave had been lucky to be close enough to one of them so that both of them got a box. After pulling their best imitation of young boys on Christmas morning, they had begun trying to figure out how to put the infernal things on. Jay had won the battle first, and already had his on, so he read the instructions and safety warnings while waiting for Dave to finish winning his battle with the harness.

Jay was short with a wiry athletic build, dark hair, a dark tan, and a bushy mustache. Dave, although his younger brother was blonde, over six feet tall, and only resembled his older brother in his athletic build, dark tan and jaw line.

Satisfied at last, Dave's eyes met Jay's, and they both reached down and turned the dials on their belts. With a lurch Jay suddenly felt as if he were falling, and his eyes widened in sudden surprise, his legs convulsed involuntarily, and he found himself drifting slowly skyward. His momentum was carrying him into a slow roll forward, and he waved his arms to catch his balance, forgetting the wings attached in his surprise.

Immediately, he picked up speed and started upward, straight toward a streetlight. Muscle memory braced for impact, but as he pulled his arms forward to cover his face the powerful sweep of his wings brought him up short, now almost motionless.

Taking stock, Jay decided some cautious experimentation was in order. Simultaneously Jay swung his left wing outward and upward to the left, while swinging his right wing across his body, down and to the left. Now, with both wings on one side of his body, Jay was satisfied by the resulting slow pirouette. Next, simply slowly extending his arms, Jay coasted to a stop. Jay noticed that the falling sensation had stopped immediately once he regained control. More comfortable now, even though he was now about twenty feet above the crowd, Jay took in his surroundings for the first time since lifting off.

The crowd was looking up at the two-dozen people now either floating or flying above the street. Jay noticed that more people were pouring from every building, each side street, and that all of the windows in the office building facing the street where filled with people. Jay noticed that only a couple of people seemed to have gotten the hang of the wings and were actually flying. Watching them carefully, Jay tried to mimic their efforts and was rewarded by a halting forward progress towards his brother, still struggling with his equilibrium with a look of near panic on his face.

Extending his wings to bring himself to a halt a dozen feet above Dave, Jay said, "Hey, just extend your arms to stop bro." Seeing his struggles cease, Jay said, "Now try this!" as he swung both arms from a fully extended position, clockwise across his body, which left him spinning counter clockwise at nearly ten rotations per minute, then after completing two revolutions, suddenly extending his arms, reversing his previous motion, and bringing himself to rest facing his brother once more.

With an almost comical look of concentration on his face, Dave tried to repeat Jay's maneuver, doing so for the most part, except that he ended up with a slow head over heels rotation. Laughing until his brother's head was almost upright, Jay's eyes flashed in sibling rivalry, "Now try this!" With that he began to do a slow figure eight with his arms, which sent him upward at a steadily acceleration, until he was climbing vertically from the street at thirty miles an hour.

Looking back over his shoulder, Jay saw Dave doggedly following him. With the wind streaming in his face, Jay exulted as he broke above the skyline, and all of Manhattan laid spread out beneath him. Man! This is Great! Now, I just need to learn control before I break my fool neck, he thought, pulling both wings back hard, and leaving them straight behind him. He extended the wings outward slightly, set at an angle that caused the airflow to strike the top of the wings, and sending him in upward turn, that left him going in the reverse direction, fifty feet above his previous course.

Ok, that's the hard part, now for simple altitude control and turns. Jay thought, and looked back to see Dave again repeating his maneuver. Coasting until Dave caught up to him, Jay said, "Ok lets see if we can learn to fly like birds. Hold out both arms, then rotate your left wing downward." Immediately upon doing so, both men swung into a banking turn towards the Chrysler building.

Landing on one of the steel eagles, the brothers looked around, then at each other. Silently agreeing, they whooped a war cry, and dove towards the crowded street below.

After the show, Gary was waiting just off camera, and swept Troy back to the small, unadorned dressing room the Network had provided amid applause, cheers, and laughter.

"That went well!" Troy said gleefully, "How's the website holding up?"

Looking at his wireless PDA, Gary replied, "Slowing down, but that's to be expected when you get over ten million hits and five million orders in fifteen minutes!" exulted Gary.

"The orders being processed? Oh, and what's the breakdown? I don't expect many to order the generators or air cycles right away, just too high a sticker price for impulse buying. So let me guess, ninety five percent orders for the belts or the wings, right?"

"Right on projections Troy, you were right to have us build stocks up to thirty million units, as much as it hurt to carry that much inventory and forego the immediate income. Still have to see what the saturation point is, some models have predicted fifty million and I know you keep leaning towards ten times that." Closing his mouth with an audible click, Gary suddenly grabbed Troy, lifted him off the ground in a bear hug and whooped, "We did it! We're rich!"

Laughing and disengaging with a lift of one arm, Troy focused on a point in the distance, and in a distracted tone, said, "Rich yes, famous yes, but we have just begun, and were do we end up? What's happening on the NYSE?"

"As expected the utilities and oil stocks and bonds have tanked, down, oh say fifteen percent across the board, and automotive issues are up ten percent." Gary paused and knowing his old friend, decided to ask, "Did you have to give away so much in the first appearance?"

"Did I have to? No. Would it be fair to continue holding all of this back is a better question. Our best advertisement is all those people out there, learning how to fly. Remember what that was like? Except they don't have to do it in complete secrecy like we did, and they get to fly around on the greatest stage in the world! I've never liked New York City, I swear New Yorkers have single-handedly created the image of the ugly, arrogant American that whole world holds so dear. Still, I'll be surprised if half of them don't end up on talk shows either today or tomorrow."

"You ready to call the White House yet?"

"Yes, we best open up communications with the government, I'm sure NASA, Energy, Defense, Transportation and Homeland Security are all clamoring for a briefing and the Intelligence community are looking for their excuses. Make the call, before they track us down through the office and..." Troy broke off as four men, obviously Secret Service, entered the dressing room.

"Mr. Blackdeer, the President of the United States would like to meet you. We have transportation waiting." The oldest of the men offered.

Managing a sickly smile, Troy said, "Never mind Gary, they must be more excited then I thought. Let's go gentlemen. We will be glad to accompany you, agent ah..." He trailed off waiting expectantly.

"Sims, Sir, Special Agent Sims. Excuse me, this is Special Agents Johnson, Herriman, and Jefferson, and I'm sure I speak for all of us, we are both honored and pleased to meet you sir."

"Let me just notify my limo that I have, um made other arrangements." He ended with a smile.

Politely, the agents escorted Troy and Gary to a waiting limousine as Troy called his own limousine. With a police escort they made it through the busy Manhattan streets to a nearby helipad in record time. The waiting Blackhawk helicopter had the great seal of the United States and its blades were already turning.

The men clambered aboard and took seats in the plush interior, whereupon the pilot immediately began preparations for takeoff. "So tell me Agent Sims, why the urgency? I expected it to take longer for the full ramifications to sink in, and for it to have to percolate up through the ranks. All of this," he waved about, indicating the helicopter, "points to urgency from the President himself. What made him decide on such extreme measures so quickly, I mean it is an hour flight from Washington, even in this, and the broadcast only started", checking his watch, "just over seventy-five minutes ago. You've made record time."

"Well I didn't see the entire broadcast, but by the time Al Roecher flew in, every major network had a feed on your little demonstration, and they've had almost continuous interviews with experts and that group of citizens you gave the wings to." He snorted, "The ones they could get to come down long enough that is. I'm pretty sure I heard more 'Holy Shits' today then I've ever heard in the White House. Personally, I'd just like to say Holy Shit and shake the hand of a great American sir." Smiling he leaned over and held out his hand.

Troy took it and smiling proudly, shook his hand, and then looked out the window and watched the coastline below. "I just hope everyone feels like you do, but I'm just afraid the inevitable cries for my head for letting the cat out of the bag this way don't end up winning out in the end. There are going to be some big changes to the economy, and not everyone is going to do well."

"Not your problem sir. The beauty of capitalism is, you only have to worry about your own house. I'm a bit concerned about the changes this means for security and military balance you mentioned, I'm no military expert, but I can see this effecting our duties, we'll now have new threats that we aren't prepared to deal with or even anticipate."

"Just as you came in I was telling Gary to call the White House, I realized I would have to brief the government on what we are doing and what we might do to help the government anticipate and deal with the growing pains. Let me get ready for this briefing with the President, and the inevitable follow on interviews with the Joint Chiefs and Secretaries, it looks like I'm going to have an even longer day than I'd planned." With that Troy leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes. Opening them briefly, Troy asked, "Where are we going to meet the President?"

"The White House sir, why do you ask?"

Settling back in for his catnap, "Just wondering if he was going to invite us in through the front door, or if he was going to try to keep this meeting quiet."

Gary glanced at his friend enviously, too nervous for a nap himself, he watched the thin puffy clouds dance over the ocean, looking vainly for the calm that eluded him.

The President's helicopter settled on the lawn of the White House, and before the engines had even quieted, Troy and Gary found themselves ushered quickly beneath the rotors towards the White House. A large crowd of reporters clamored for attention but with a Secret Service Agent on either arm, Troy just managed a smile and a distant wave before they entered the quiet of the West Wing.

Suffering through a thorough search of their persons and their belongings, and gaining six more stern Secret Service Agents along the way, Gary and Troy found themselves outside the Oval Office in minutes. Catching Troy's eye, Agent Sims smiled and opened the door and led them into a surprisingly small room, now crowded with people. People whom all now turned to look appraisingly at the pair entering.

"Good Morning gentlemen! May I say it's an honor and a distinct pleasure to meet you?" The President said in his distinctive twang, as he rose and strode over to greet Troy, shaking his hand and clasping his shoulder with the other. The warmth of the greeting unfroze the stern group who all waited their turn to be introduced and shake hands. The President first introduced the Vice President, and then in order, the White House Chief of Staff, the Joint Chiefs, the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, Transportation, and the Federal Aviation Authority. Finally introducing the Directors of the FBI and NASA, the President waved everyone to seats, indicating a pair of seats at one end of his desk for Gary and Troy.

"First, I'd just like to say," the President began, looking firmly at several unhappy faces, "this is a great day for America, and for all Mankind. You sir, if all that my analysts have told me is true, have single handedly solved the energy crisis, the pollution problem and will revolutionize transportation. At the same time some of your comments have given Defense and Homeland Security the willies. Further, the FBI feels it should have seen this coming, before it appeared on network television."

"With all due respect Mister President, if I had told anyone in the government yesterday what I had planned for today, if they hadn't thought I was a crackpot, they would have tried to shut me down for reasons of National Security. While I'm as patriotic as the next man, this discovery is just too big even for the United States Government. I knew you gentlemen would have valid concerns, and I have prepared a presentation of what my plans are, how my company is prepared to help law enforcement and the military with the transition, and some speculation on immediate, near, and long term trends. The presentation I've prepared should take about an hour."

"What do you need for this presentation? Is it PowerPoint?" asked the White House Chief of Staff.

"Yes, its in PowerPoint, sir."

"In that case, Mister President, Gentlemen, we should adjourn to one of the briefing rooms." The White House Chief of Staff led them out of the room, and snagging the first staff member he saw, gestured urgently and spoke under his breath as the President emerged from the Oval Office and his Secret Service detachment swung into position around the group.

"I feel like we've stepped through the looking glass." Gary said under his breath as a young immaculately dressed staff member ushered them all into a large conference room. The walls were polished black walnut, the mahogany conference table had twenty leather chairs, and the podium had a plethora of electronic connections and controls. As everyone took their seats in an obviously, long established pecking order, the young man that had led them in assisted Troy in hooking up his laptop for the presentation, and a two carts were wheeled in, one full of drinks and the other heaping with fresh fruit and pastries.

"I had this presentation prepared for you gentlemen, but I didn't get a chance to call you before the President's men came for us. Gary will be distributing copies for you to follow as I go through the slides. Please interrupt me at any time if you have questions."

Troy turned to start his presentation, and was interrupted by the Director of the FBI. "How did you manage to keep something this earthshaking this quiet?"

"Uh, well sir, that was pretty easy really, not like the high temperature superconductor ceramic powders are on any technology watch list, since nobody had found an economically viable use for them, let alone one with military implications. So I was able to order tons of the materials from Russia with no problems from customs. Few of my employees needed to know what they were making, so I just never got around to telling them, and the ones that did need to know, I made very sure that their best interests were tied in with the company." Smiling a bit smugly, Troy asked, "Does that answer your question sir?"

"Yes, but I have a follow on question, when did you have the first working prototype?"

"Almost thirteen months ago, it took a month to come up with a compelling demonstration for the bankers, another three months to finalize the business plan and financing. Three more months to incorporate in Missouri, and acquire the light manufacturing space we needed, three more months to hire and train over five thousand employees, and for the last three months we've be going flat out, three shifts a day, seven days a week to build up our stocks to meet the initial demand. Now, if there are no further questions, I'd like to get started." Troy grinned as the disgruntled head of the FBI leaned back, muttering something under his breath, that sounded suspiciously like, "Five thousand new hires by a new company and it didn't even rate a memo from the field office, Christ on a crutch!"