Chapter 20

Arriving in St Andrews, it was a case of trial and error before Donnie eventually recognised the street and the house that Beira had shown him. Parking the car, all three of them made their way up the path and Donnie rang the doorbell. When there was no response, he tried the handle and found the door unlocked, so they entered the house.

Making their way down a hallway, they turned at the first doorway on their right and found themselves in a sitting room. Donnie saw Vivien curled up on a sofa, with an unlikely companion cuddled up beside her.

"How did you get here?" Donnie asked Rory.

The Collie raised his head and looked for all the world as if he was smiling.

"He's been making me feel better," said Vivien, as if that explained how Rory had managed to transport himself all the way from Stirling.

"I'll put the kettle on," Heather announced, and went in search of the kitchen.

"Have you phoned anyone?" Donnie asked Vivien.

Her red eyes made it clear that she had been crying heavily and wasn't functioning properly, which showed, as there was no response to Donnie's question. He tried again.

"Do we need to call a doctor or something? Someone will need to verify your mother has passed away," he said.

"Were you serious when you said that I was to come and live with you?" Vivien asked.

"Of course," Donnie replied. "We need to get things sorted here first though."

"Won't social services want to put me into care?" she asked.

"They might, but we'll have to figure out a way to keep you out of their evil clutches," Donnie tried to joke.

"There's no need to worry about that, Dòmhnall. I've already altered things to put your parents down as Vivien's next of kin. No one will ask any questions about this."

Donnie was grateful that Beira was taking such an interest and that he wouldn't need to work out a way of keeping Vivien with them. Now all he had to do was ensure the arrangements were made for Mrs Dunn's funeral and then focus on helping Vivien grieve over her loss.

Donnie eventually managed to get the number for the family doctor out of Vivien and he phoned the man to explain what had happened. After that, he tried to keep Vivien occupied and unaware of what they were doing to make the final arrangements for her mother.

Heather found a drawer full of what seemed like important papers and documents. She found Mrs Dunn's will and some other key papers such as insurance policies and the title deeds to the house. The will was helpful in identifying the family solicitor and Heather gathered up everything she thought they would need.

"Why don't you take Vivien upstairs and help her pack her things?" Donnie suggested to Katie, as he noticed a car draw up outside. He presumed that this would be the doctor and he wanted to be able to speak to him before Vivien realised he was there.

Katie took the strong hint and led a still numb Vivien upstairs. Rory followed, seemingly determined to stick as close to the grieving girl as possible.

Donnie met the doctor at the door and explained that he was Vivien's cousin and that she had phoned him when her mother had finally passed away.

"Oh, that's good," the doctor said. "I didn't think that she had any other relatives. She seems to have been on her own for so long looking after first her father and then her mother."

The look he gave Donnie was one of disapproval, almost as if he was making a point about the fact that no one had been there to help Vivien when she had needed it most.

"We didn't know how bad things were," Donnie contrived. "Obviously we would have been here for her much sooner if we had known. At least we're here now and hopefully we can make this a little easier for Vivien."

It proved surprisingly easy to get the doctor to verify Mrs Dunn's death and he advised them of what they would need to do to get a death certificate. In the meantime, Donnie found a yellow pages directory and found a number for the local undertaker. He contacted the undertaker and arranged for him to come and collect Mrs Dunn's body.

Katie arrived back downstairs with Vivien and a bag. She confirmed that the bag held everything that Vivien would need for a few days.

"Okay, could you and Heather finish up here?" Donnie asked. "I'll take Vivien to the farm for a few days while we handle all of the arrangements for the funeral and such like. I'll be back in about three hours."

Donnie helped Vivien out to the car and let her sit in the back seat with Rory sticking by her side. He stopped off at a service station so they could grab a bite to eat and he could phone his parents to warn them that they were about to have a visitor. He explained about the death of Vivien's parents and the need to make sure the girl was surrounded by people who would care for her while her affairs were put in order.

When they arrived at the farm, Mairi McGregor took over and led Vivien upstairs to Donnie's old room. It was perhaps only half an hour before she returned downstairs alone.

"She's sleeping the poor wee thing. She must be exhausted," Mairi suggested.

Donnie explained Vivien's immediate past, how she had been virtually a full time carer for her parents and how he was now going to try and ensure she wasn't swallowed up by the faceless, bureaucratic, social services machine.

"Don't ask me how I've managed it, mom, but you and dad are listed as Vivien's remaining next of kin," Donnie told his mother.

Mairi wasn't sure how Donnie knew Vivien, but she knew how difficult things could be for those who became lost in the care system and she agreed to do everything she could to help.

"I didn't expect to have another child so late in life," Mairi laughed. "What about school? She certainly doesn't seem old enough to have finished school?"

"I'll have to speak to her and see about getting her transferred to somewhere closer to my apartment," Donnie agreed.

"Do you think having her with you and Katie is such a good idea?" his mother asked.

"Trust me, mom. That's exactly where she needs to be as she deals with this. It's going to be quite an adjustment for her. She's immersed herself in caring for her parents; it's taken up all of her time until now. With them both gone, she has nothing to focus on and will probably feel that she has no purpose."

Satisfied that Vivien would be fine with his parents and Rory for now, Donnie returned to St Andrews to pick up Katie and Heather. With all of the documentation they would need – including details of Vivien's schooling now – they locked up and headed back to Bridge-of-Allan.

Later, the three friends sat down to discuss what remained to be done to draw a line under Vivien's old life and get her started on a new chapter. Donnie found it strange to read his mother and father's names in Olivia Dunn's will. The goddess had clearly doctored things as she had told him, but to see it in black and white was still freaky. Nonetheless, that and some other documents were what was required to ensure that Vivien wouldn't fall foul of social services.

"Here's her last report from school," said Heather, poring over a document. "She doesn't seem to be doing very well."

"The poor thing probably had other priorities to be honest," Donnie suggested. "We'll just have to help her get things back on track. Each of us can tutor her and hopefully help to get her grades up."

The next day, Donnie took Heather with him for the meeting that had been arranged with Professor White at the Ardbrecknish site. The petite blonde did nothing but rave about the ground-breaking work the Professor was already taking forward and gave her view that he would be perfect for what Donnie was looking for. Katie had already pointed out that White was another of the names associated with the McGregor clan and she knew of course that Beira had already told Donnie that White was the man for the job.

As they drove onto the site, Heather squealed when she saw the first dome in position, marking the completed silo. Further excavation indicated where further silos were already in progress.

"It looks like a huge, see-through, golf ball," said an excited Heather.

"Really? I think it looks more like a high-tech greenhouse!" Donnie laughed.

Carol saw them pull up and strode across to meet them.

"Hi, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked.

"I've arranged to meet someone here that might be working for us soon," Donnie told her.

"Oh? Doing what?" Carol asked.

"I'll let Heather explain that, she's the expert. Be warned though that she is a bit of an anorak once she gets started on this particular subject!" he warned.

Heather proceeded to wax lyrical about Professor White once more and Donnie tried to tune her out. By the time Heather had finished, another car had pulled into the site. Donnie saw that it was an old Volvo and as he watched, a white-haired man climbed out from behind the wheel and crossed to meet them.

"Hello there," Professor White greeted them. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone here – a Mr Donald McGregor?"

"That's me. You must be Professor White. Pleased to meet you," Donnie extended his hand.

The Professor shook hands as he looked Donnie up and down, surprised by how young he was.

"Don't let his age fool you," Heather laughed. "He's already worth several hundred million quid and he's the brain-child behind this entire facility!"

White looked round at the dome and other construction work.

"And what exactly would this facility be?" he asked, clearly intrigued.

"Perhaps it would be easier to show you," Carol suggested.

She led them into the dome and over to a glass fronted elevator. Once they were all in the elevator, Carol pressed to take them to level 12 – thinking that would be low enough for the Professor to get a feel for what they were trying to do.

The first sight of the vast expanse of pods and levels left White speechless for several moments, but he picked up on the heating and lighting equipment and what they signified. Eventually he found his voice.

"But this is incredible! Howe many levels are there?" he asked.

"We stopped at a hundred," Donnie admitted.

"I think I've worked out what you're planning – you're going to grow under lights and by stacking them like this, you'll increase production hugely. How can you afford the power something like this will need?" Bill White asked.

Heather giggled.

"Professor White, meet the inventor of tree energy!" she said, pointing at Donnie.

"That was you?" Bill asked, an incredulous look on his face. "I've had it installed at home to provide the power for my house. A brilliantly simple concept."

Carol pushed the button to take the elevator back to the surface.

"What do you plan to use this space for?" Bill asked Donnie.

"Well, we're going to have plenty of heat coming up from below, so I thought we'd try and grow some other things that need a bit more room – bananas for example and fruit trees," Donnie answered. "We'll also run some livestock."

It was clear that Professor White was now considering Donnie with much more respect than when they had first shaken hands on arrival. Donnie had gone from young man to proven innovator and businessman all in the space of fifteen minutes. That had been the main reason for Donnie suggesting the meeting take place at Ardbrecknish and it had certainly paid off.

"We'll leave you two to talk business now," said Heather. "Carol wants to show me how the accommodation is coming on, but Donnie, remember, I want to work on this project if Professor White will have me."

Left alone, Bill White wasted no time in getting to the part of the newspaper advert that had grabbed his attention.

"Donnie, I'm sure you won't be aware what I'm working on currently, but..."

Donnie interrupted.

"Professor, Heather has been at pains to bring me up to date with your work on depolymerisation! If you haven't already guessed, she's a fan of yours by the way," said Donnie.

"Oh, I see. Well, you can probably see that there are potential synergies in what I'm already doing and what you are looking to bankroll. Can you tell me what the breakthroughs are that have been made?"

Donnie turned to look at the older man.

"Normally I wouldn't even consider telling you that until we had contracts in place and confidentiality agreements signed, but somehow I don't think our relationship is going to be like that," said Donnie.

Bill nodded to show that he understood that such commercially valuable information wouldn't normally be shared so readily. The gleam in his eye showed how keen he was to know what the breakthrough was, but the look of resignation on his face made it clear he understood that safeguards had to be in place.

Donnie saw the look and laughed.

"No, no, I said normally I wouldn't consider it, but I think you and I are going to be important to each other. Let's go to my car and I'll show you what I've done so far," Donnie offered.

Once they were seated in the Polo, Donnie produced a folder containing several sheets of paper. He extracted the first sheet and passed it over to the Professor.

"This is a scaled drawing of what I think the final 'product' will look like," he started. "You can see that there are inlet valves to accommodate a range of inputs into the main body of the design. These outlet valves recognise that there will be a variety of final components to handle separately."

The Professor was already studying the drawing, weighing up each minute detail.

"You've got the key for the scale wrong," he said absently.

"No, I haven't," Donnie responded. "It has to be that big to deal with the volumes I'm hoping to recycle."

Bill looked up in surprise and then returned to studying the drawing.

"In my current work we introduce steam and then also increase the pressure to speed up the reactions I'm looking for. Is this something similar?" he asked.

Donnie thought about how he should answer that question.

"To be honest, I'm a little stuck as to what's inside the guts of this thing," he tried to explain. "I keep having a vision of something like a mass spectrometer only scaled up somehow."