Chapter 58

It was raining.

The idea of running the property in the rain had its appeal, but I decided against it. The treadmill was boring, but I ran with my eyes closed and my mp3 player blasting out R.E.M.'s 'Collapse Into Now'.

When 'Oh My Heart' started playing, I made a mental pause, if not a literal one. I ran and wondered indeed about my heart. Kelli had not stayed the night, and we had not wound up in bed, but we had lingered very close to that threshold before she left. There was a little reluctance on both out parts. For mine, it was just a desire to wind up with something real, not just a momentary passion that quickly faded. I could only hope that her reluctance was grounded in the same sort of concern.

I would call her later in the day. She had to work, and was working longer hours the rest of the week so she could enjoy the weekend without worrying about being on call. She would know more by this evening as well about the kayak trip and what we would need to do. She would call me about that.

I didn't expect to hear from Mitch today, but it wouldn't surprise me if I did. He would probably want to thank me for dinner if nothing else. I wasn't expecting to hear back from either the pool company or ADT today either, but I was thinking it would be a good idea to let them both know I was going to be out of town over the weekend, just in case. I would hear from ADT before the weekend, I knew, but the pool company was less certain.

Bud wanted some time in the cavern too. He'd felt a little frustrated at our lack of activity yesterday, given how much progress we had made the day before. I sympathized; we had really been making strides, but bottom line was that I needed my chances to live a real life when the opportunities arose. I wasn't prepared to give up some sense of normalcy in pursuit of Bud's goals. Harley was definitely on my side on that one too. I don't really think Bud was against the idea either, but he did have his focus more firmly on that single goal than we did.

All else aside though, this morning was his, and during breakfast, he began planning out our morning session, but interrupted himself before he'd hardly begun.

"Cooper, we need to ask Lloyd what they're using at FiberDyne to sew these materials together."

"What? You think they have some special thread or something?"

"More like the 'or something'," he explained. "I anticipate a special bonding agent of some kind."

"You mean like a special sort of super glue?"

"Yes. I doubt that these fabrics are actually sewn, especially when they are combined."

"I'll call Lloyd later. Its a little too early yet."

"While we're waiting for the means to put our pieces together, we can at least cut them out."

So with the necessary patterns placed in my head but Bud, I spent several hours carefully cutting pieces. There were hundreds of them; some much tinier than I would have thought practical. Bud promised me he could remember each piece and where it went, so I didn't worry too much about keeping them separated.

Once that little project was done, I went up and called Lloyd.

"Cooper! What can I do for you?" he asked cheerfully.

"Good morning Lloyd. I've been playing with the Fabrics you guys let me have, and I'm wondering what you guys use to join pieces of this stuff together?"

"We have a special bonding agent that's made up of modified tubular Fullerene. It's great for making seamless joins of all the materials we produce, but it requires pressure and heat to use it effectively. I could give you some, but I'm not sure you would have the equipment to make it work."

"Why don't I come get some anyway," I suggested, trying to sound casual. "If I can't get it to work, its no big loss, is it?"

"No, the stuff would be pretty expensive to buy if it was available, but we make our own and there's always plenty. Its not considered an end product, so you can have as much as you want. Assuming you are able to make it work for you, a little goes a long way, so a 500 millimeter container should last you quite a while."

I did the mental conversion in my head. That was only a little more than a pint. "Wow, it must go a long way indeed."

"What are you trying to make?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, I was thinking of making a scuba diving suit. I was thinking it might make a good shark-proof suit if I layered it right."

"That sounds interesting, and the pseudo Kevlar would work well I suppose. Not cost effective though."

"I'm no scientist Lloyd, and this isn't research. I am a definite water dog by training and inclination, so this is just something to let me play with it and maybe make something for myself."

"Well, be safe, that's all I ask," he laughed.

"Will do. See you in about an hour."

I called Kelli next and we sort of gushed over each other for ten minutes. She promised to call later with more info on the weekend, including what I would need to bring and what I wouldn't.