Chapter 33: In a Pinch

My eyes teared in the wind, despite my sunglasses cutting the reflected glare of the sun on the white drifts covering the cemetery. Jeryl hugged my side as the minister finished the graveside service for Cynthia Morgan. I returned her hug with one arm, as I held Ali with my other arm.

We had flown in the day before, after getting the call from Janet about Cynthia’s passing. I had not liked Jeryl’s grandmother when we first met, but had grown to respect her for her will and determination, if nothing else. I was sad at her passing.

“Daddy, I wanna’ go to Anna,” Ali whispered.

I shifted her in my arms, and squatted to put her down. I motioned to Sanford, who gently took her hand and let her lead him back to the car where Anna was with Jeremy.

“Thank you all for attending. Please join the family at The Meadows for a luncheon and to share memories of Cynthia,” the minister said.

People began to hurry toward their cars. Jeryl and I stood by Janet and Helen with the immediate family for a few minutes to let the crowd clear. Soon, we were leading the two daughters back to the limos and thinking about getting out of the biting wind.

Janet and Jerry were riding with us. As soon as the door was closed, Janet began to cry openly. Jerry patted her knee, helping little, before Ali climbed into her lap.

“Don’t cry, Nana. Mommy will give you a kiss, and make it better.”

Janet smiled at her granddaughter through her tears and hugged her fiercely.

“Thank you, Ali, but I bet a hug from you would be much better.”

Jeryl wiped her own eyes and smiled at our daughter.

It was a short ride back to the Meadows and soon we were putting brave faces on things once again. Anna disappeared with the kids, including Jonathan, Richard and Trisha’s son. Jeryl, Jordan, and Jyl seemed to congregate together, as strangers came up to express their sympathies. I tried to remain in the background, but it seemed the movers and shakers of Michigan who had been Cynthia’s friends wanted to take the opportunity to meet me.

It was an exhausting afternoon, as I tried to support my wife and her family without showing my anger at the supposed well-wishers inviting me to meet with them after ‘things were settled’, whatever that meant.

Finally, the last guest was gone, and the family adjourned to the large living room. Philip appeared from the kitchen with a tray of drinks and began serving everyone. I was surprised he was there, and that he seemed to know everyone’s drink preference. He handed me a scotch with a splash of water in it and took the same for himself.

He looked me in the eye, tapped his glass to mine, and lifted it to his lips in a silent toast. I drank with him.

“She might have been stubborn and hard hearted when you met her, Paul, but I think she was a great and happy lady at the end. You did that for her.”

I felt tears in my eyes, and nodded before taking another drink. Jeryl moved next to me and I gave her a hug.

“Philip, thank you for coming over and helping out with the catering, today. I know you didn’t need to, and I appreciate it.”

Philip smiled at us as he said, “I liked your grandmother, Jeryl. She used to come into the kitchen and share stories of her life as I cooked and cleaned up, when the family was together. Helping out today was the least I could do.”

We sipped our drinks again in shared silence.

Slowly, the alcohol took affect and the entire family began to let some of the tension out of their bodies.

“So,” Olivia said as she joined us. “How long are you guys staying around?”

I shrugged and looked at Jeryl.

“I’ll see if Mom needs help going through anything. If she does, I’ll stay for a couple of days. If not, I think we’ll head down to Austin, tomorrow,” she said.

Olivia nodded and said, “I need to get back to school. I’ve got a couple of papers to finish up for this week.”

She was finishing up her doctorate while applying for several museum positions around the country.

“Make sure you let us know if you need a lift anywhere for interviews,” Jeryl said with a smile. “What’s the point in having a couple of jets if you can’t help out your family?”

Olivia looked like she was going to say something and then just hugged Jeryl.

“Paul,” Helen said as she came up behind us.

I turned and gave her a smile.

“What can I do for you, Helen?”

“Mother wanted me to give this to you,” she said. “She gave it to me at Christmas when I saw her last. I think she knew.”

Her hand shook as she held out the thick envelope.

I took it and put it into my jacket pocket.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” she asked.

“I will, later. I think we’ve all had enough drama today. It has waited since Christmas. It will wait a little longer.”

Helen nodded.

Later that night, after the kids and Jeryl were asleep, I opened the envelope.

Her handwriting was neat and correct, with letters in precise blue ink written with a fountain pen. I had to admire her penmanship.

“Paul, you gave me back my family and filled a foolish old woman’s heart with joy. I can never thank you enough for that. You have more money than I could reward you with. You have more knowledge than I ever hoped to acquire. You have passion and drive the likes of which I’ve seldom seen in recent years. I know you will change the world to make a better place for everyone. Of that I have no doubt.”

“Once upon a time, you surprised me with a tale of energy consumption and trying to change the world. I did not believe you immediately; but, as time passed, I remembered that conversation. I did some of my own research. You are right about our appetite for energy, but you are wrong about being able to change things on your own. You need like-minded friends of foresight and power to make the changes you dream of. While I can never repay what you have given me, perhaps I can make a small down payment on the debt.”

“Please use the enclosed key to access box 1642 in the local bank. There are other things there for you. As you change the world, please make sure you take the time to enjoy the things that make such dreams worthwhile: your family. Thank you again for all you have done to ensure the happiness and success of my family.”

“With warmest regards, Cynthia Morgan”

I read the letter again and then fingered the stainless steel key. Finally, with a sigh, I put the letter into my briefcase and then climbed into bed next to Jeryl. Time would tell what the morning would bring.

I enjoyed the spring scenery streaming past the window and the smooth, powerful comfort as the newest Mercedes Benz S-Class sedan was expertly navigated through the German countryside. I would have enjoyed the chance to take the wheel, but my host had deftly escorted me to the rear of the car while Alison sat next to the driver.

“So, are you finding the ride comfortable?” Carl Richter, the Vice President of New Product Engineering asked.

I smiled and patted the leather armrest between us.

“I am. It is a fine car. It’s new, I assume?”

He nodded and said, “Very. There have been three made, so far. Your portfolio has made it possible to create this wonderful machine. We have sifted through your ideas and synthesized them with our own engineering and design to make what we hope will be the finest luxury sedan in the world.”

I shifted in the seat and took a closer look at the interior cabin. It was plush, charcoal leather with black trim. The side panels in the door had ebony inlay with more leather.

“It’s very quiet,” I said.

He smiled and nodded.

“Right now, we are running on battery. Your new battery design has allowed us to incorporate significant power storage into the frame of the body, so we can charge when the motor is running. Your software model, the FLO language, and interfaces, allowed us to build intelligence into the control systems. We monitor the battery discharge rate and automatically engage the engine in a variety of conditions. We also have full in-car diagnostics of the motors, suspension, and steering systems so we can continuously tune the performance to match the driving conditions.”

“Impressive. It’s how I dreamed the language interfaces could be used.”

“But you are wondering why I insisted you come visit, right?” he asked with a grin.

“It does make me curious,” I admitted, as they had actually paid my day rate to get me over to visit them.

He nodded again.

“We want you to look at some enhancements we’ve made to your motor design and, if you think it is mutually beneficial, we want to propose a joint venture to manufacture the motors here in Germany.”

That caught me by surprise. They had purchased the most permissive license we offered to our technology portfolios. They could manufacture modified motors using any of our designs within their existing licenses.

I nodded. I was definitely curious now.

“I’d be happy to see what you propose, but surely you don’t need my permission to manufacture the new motors.”

“Perhaps we do not. We would like it, however, since we are using one of your other products in the windings and have leveraged your Dr. McTavish’s research to make a new type of magnetic bearing. We think it is going to be something that a lot of manufacturers will be interested in. If we can agree to build them here in a joint venture, you can then offer them to your other partners more easily. We will handle management, manufacturing, and distribution.”

“It’s your idea, why include me at all?”

He smiled and replied, “Let us enjoy the ride for a bit more, and then we can get into the particulars. I had planned on stopping at a little gasthaus with excellent food. We can discuss it there.”

I saw the set of his jaw, and nodded in agreement. Alison and I had flown over with a brief stop in London. My body clock was telling me it was almost dinnertime, even though it was only approaching lunch. Soon, we were ensconced in a homey German inn with a traditional atmosphere. The waitress had smiled at Herr Richter and I and had immediately brought us two steins of beer and large glasses of water. Carl ordered for us and then raised his glass in a toast.

“To good partnerships,” he said.

I nodded and raised my own glass.

After drinking a healthy sip, he sat his mug down and got a serious expression on his face.

“I am a direct man, and I understand you are of a similar nature. I want a joint venture with you on the new motors, because I want your name associated with them, to speed their adoption in the United States and Japan. I will propose, later today, that we launch the joint venture and offer the motor design and any other joint venture inventions as a special portfolio offering, from PT Innovations.”

“Why do you want fast adoption? If the technology is valued, it will be adopted.”

“Yes, but we face global problems, or will in the future. Germany is already talking about ways to become more fuel-efficient and cause less pollution. The efficiency gains in our motors could speed adoption of your direct drive model, which will have global impacts on our emissions. Your original car was getting seventeen kilometers per liter. By using your new materials in the motors, batteries, and generators, we are getting over twenty-five kilometers per liter on that new car, and it is much larger than your original.”

That got my attention. Twenty-five kilometers per liter was almost sixty miles to the gallon.

“How much over?” I asked.

Carl smiled as he said, “Twenty-seven on a two thousand kilometer test drive.”

I did some math in my head.

“Sixty three miles per gallon?”

He continued to grin and nodded.

“On a luxury sedan that drives that smoothly?”

He nodded again.

It was my turn to smile.

“You’re right. Those sorts of numbers will get a lot of attention in the States. We could cut gasoline demand by a third if we gain adoption, quickly.”

“My thinking exactly. As a boy, I grew up in the country, here. I used to love hiking in the forest with my father and grandfather. Three years ago, I went back to that forest. It is dying from the pollution. We need to do something or we are going to kill our world.”

I nodded again and lifted my glass.

“Let’s eat and talk a bit more, and then go work out a deal. You are a man after my own heart, Herr Richter.”

“What did you think about that car?” I asked Alison as the plane leveled out for our flight back to England.

“It was impressive. Do you know if he is using one of your coatings in the body?”

“He is. Why?”

“Add in bulletproof glass and you would have a more luxurious ride with the same level of security as the Range Rovers have.”

I nodded. I had thought the same thing. Not that I needed another fleet of cars, but sometimes it would be nice to have a little more stylish car to get around in. I thought about Carl for a few minutes and then pulled a small stack of papers from my brief case. I wrote his name on the last sheet, below the ones neatly typed there.

“Alison, can you have someone in your firm examine this list of people?” I asked as I handed the papers over to her.

She arched an eyebrow as she skimmed the list.

“Where did this come from?”

“Cynthia Morgan left it for me. She also suggested that I should try to bring these folks together. A few of them, I recognize, but most of them I don’t. I’d like to understand what she was driving at before making any arrangements.

Alison frowned and pulled out her own notebook. She flipped through the sheaf of pages and jotted down a few names.

“There are some powerful people on this list,” she said. “I wonder if she actually contacted them or just researched them?”

“My guess is she contacted the more local people, such as that Senator from Michigan, but I’d be surprised if she had direct interactions with them all.”

Alison nodded her agreement as she flipped to the next page. Her face paled slightly as she stopped, wrote a name in her book, and then looked up.

“Why would she have a Kuwaiti Prince and the Israeli Secretary of State on the list together?”

I frowned. I had not noticed those names.

“That’s what I want you to try to figure out. The fact that she had Carl’s boss on the list was what made me ask you to look into it. Carl believes in driving environmental change through technology. I’m curious what his boss’s angle is.”

“Can your new PA look into it?”

I scowled and shook my head.

“I think I’m going to have to re-evaluate that hiring decision.”

“Really?

The arched eyebrow was back. Alison had been the only person to caution me against hiring Sarah to replace Donna and Sheryl. She had all the qualifications on paper and interviewed well, but the transition from Donna had been slow and she seemed to need constant reminders on small items.

“I’m using Rose for most of the day-to-day office work. Donna and Sheryl are still handling my briefings, even if they are only once a week right now.”

“I’ll find a replacement,” Alison said. “I’ve got some contacts that I think would fit in well.”

“And will they just happen to be trained in security?” I asked with a smile.

“Of course. Why would I consider them otherwise?” she said with a tight smile.

Jeryl slipped into the shower behind me as I rinsed the shampoo from my hair. I felt her wrap her arms around me from behind and hug me. Her breasts pressed against my back and I felt her cheek on my shoulder.

I enjoyed the feel of her against me for a moment, and then turned in her arms and gave her a kiss. It was gentle, and firm and hot and full of love. When our lips parted, we were both a little breathless.

“Hi, you,” I said with a little smile.

“Hi, you, too,” she said.

“What brought this on?” I asked as she moved under the water, as normally, she was still with the kids when I got in the shower.

“I missed my husband. Anna has the kids, and Alison and I finished our Krav Maga practice a little early. I decided you could start your vacation day by washing my back.”

“Vacation day? I don’t think that’s in the cards.”

“Why not?”

How do you tell your wife that you are working to try and keep a war from happening?

“I’m trying to get something new working.”

She gave me a look I thought she had borrowed from Alison; the arched eyebrow spoke volumes.

“You need a break, Paul. We’re going to hop on the plane and head back up to Park City, today. When we get there, you’re going to take me out on the slopes and do a little spring skiing. There are only a few days left before the lifts stop for the season. When we’re done, we are going to soak in the hot tub, and then have a nice dinner. Tonight, you’re going to ravish me, and then we’re going to do the same thing on Saturday and Sunday.”

I started to protest, but she put her fingers against my lips.

“No arguing, unless you want me to sic Alison on you. A three-day weekend will not put your project off track by that much. You’re probably years ahead of where everyone else in the field is, anyway.”

I looked at her and sighed. In so many ways she was right. I nodded my acceptance.

“Good. Now, let’s finish getting cleaned up. It’s seven-thirty already. If we are quick, we can be in Park City shortly after the lifts open.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a smile.

I was rewarded with another kiss and the comfort of her molding her body against mine. Perhaps a vacation was just what I needed.

“Daddy!” Ali screeched as I came into the house from the lab shortly after lunch a week later.

“Ali!” I called back, throwing my arms in the air as she ran toward me on her short legs. She had on a little yellow sundress with pink flowers on it. Through the kitchen, I could see Jeryl and Anna on the deck with Jeremy sleeping in Jeryl’s arms.

I picked Ali up as she got to me and swung her around before setting her down and walking through the house to the outdoor area. I nodded at Anna, and then bent over to give Jeryl a kiss.

“You’re in a good mood,” she said as I straightened up.

“I am. I’ve got something to show you, if you have a minute.”

She laughed. “I don’t know, I’m pretty busy being a pillow and bed for your son,” she said with a warm smile.

I took Jeremy from her, careful not to wake him, and handed him to Anna. “There you go. It won’t take long.”

Jeryl stood up and gave me another kiss. “Do I need to change?”

She was dressed in loose khaki shorts and a cream blouse. She was barefoot, and beautiful, as always. I shook my head.

“You might want some shoes, but the shop is pretty clean.”

Soon, we were back at the lab and the beast I had been slaving over for the past three months was sitting before us. From the outside, it didn’t look like much: a large pipe about the size of a semi-sized tanker. It was sitting on just enough framing to keep it stable, with several bundles of thick cabling running from it to the control console standing behind a clear safety shield.

“What is it?” Jeryl asked as I began flipping switches.

“The future.” she looked at me. I pointed to three LCD displays and then at a series of edge meters. “It’s a fusion generator. It generates far more power than it takes to run. Watch these screens. The top one is a graph of power over time. The middle is amperage in and out. The bottom is temperature versus pressure. Those edge meters can be set to get readouts at different points in the system for amps, power, frequency, temp and pressure.”

I tapped another meter on the left side of the panel. “This is the capacitor charge I use to initiate the process.”

It was near the top of its scale.

“Is it dangerous to be this close?” Jeryl asked.

“No more than a diesel generator, but without the noise.” I saw her loosen her hold on Ali a little. “Most of the fusion research is focused on very high temperature and pressure to force fusion and then contain the plasma. My approach is different. I’m using the magnetic vortexes within the generator to create a linear stage of compression on the plasma and, ultimately, ignition. The same microscopic magnetic fields then extract the energy from the fused plasma with an MHD generator pulling the remaining energy from the expanding gases. The plasma outlet could then be used in a more normal turbine generator to extract the last bit of power from the system, but I’m just venting it outside, right now.”

I flipped a switch that activated warning lights inside the lab, as well as outside in the venting area I had set up.

I pulled Jeryl closer, and then took her finger in my hand and pushed it against the red button to initiate the start sequence. Almost instantly, the capacitor charge meter dropped to zero, and the input display graph spiked up. The spike declined as the power output jumped. In the space of a few seconds, the two displays oscillated before settling into a stable configuration.

I pointed to the output graphs.

“We’re making clean electricity. About 800 Megawatts with a thermal efficiency around 70%.”

“How big and good is that?” she asked.

“The plant that feeds our local grid is probably around 2000 Megawatts, but covers acres of land and generates tons of pollutants a year.”

“Is it durable?”

“That’s what my next series of test will determine. I need to do timed runs and inspect systems between them.”

Jeryl gave me a strong kiss. “You’re going to change the world again, aren’t you?”

“I certainly hope so.”

“She’s your cousin?” I asked Alison after meeting with her P.A. candidates.

Alison nodded. “Distant, but yes. She joined my firm three years ago in an internal role. She can manage our office effectively, and should be able to keep up with your needs as well. She has been trained to my standards for supplementary security support as well.”

“What about this other fellow, Joseph Lee?”

“Another ex-Marine, but British, this time. He was pushed out due to budget cuts, four years ago. He’s done some contract work for me before landing as an executive assistant at Lloyds. He knows his stuff, and has connections to people you may want to reach out to in the future. He’ll get along well with everyone here.”

“Okay. Work with Kelly and let’s make an offer to them both. I’m getting too busy and need to get back into a greater delegation mode. I also need Donna and Sheryl focused on DigiNet, instead of all the other stuff I hand off to them.

“Very good,” she said with a smile.

I was working at the large workbench running perpendicular to the generator’s control panel as Jeryl worked at another desk we had set up across from me. She was busy collating photos of the parts breakdown, to the diagrams I had created for the patent application.

“It’s almost like old times,” I said as I smiled at her wrinkling her nose as she concentrated on a diagram.

She looked up at me and smiled.

“It is. I didn’t realize it, but I missed working with you like this over the past couple of years.”

“Me, too.”

A flash of light made me look toward the doorway. Jim stepped into the workshop from outside with Alison behind him. They paused to let their eyes adjust to the softer light inside the huge work area.

Jim was smiling as he approached. “You’re creating more work for us, I hear,” he said as he closed and shook my hand.

“Just a bit. I’m surprised Kelly called you.”

“She said this was too big for her to handle along with everything else, and wanted me to help out. Candace indicated you put the kibosh on outside counsel helping with the filing.”

“I don’t want any leaks ahead of time.”

He frowned, as did Alison.

“Why not?”

“How much of the corporate world really wants cheap power?”

He glanced at the generator and then looked back at me. “It works?”

I smiled. “800 Megawatts right now, and has been on the current test run for seventy-two hours straight with no signs of fluctuation. I’ve made fusion practical and cheap. A lot of companies are going to be pissed off.”

“So what are you thinking?”

“File the patents at the same time I publish the findings. Hold a press conference, and tell the world that we have a new way to make electricity.”

He nodded. “And then get tied up in red-tape from the government for a dozen years.”

“Why do you say that?” It was my turn to frown.

“It’s nuclear fusion; the fear mongering will be hidden inside carefully chosen words by the same companies that stand to lose. As soon as you demonstrate it, the EPA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will jump all over you. The DOD will assume there are military applications, even if it is only for powering up their toys, and put you under an export ban citing nuclear safety regulations and export controls.”

Even as he said it, I knew he was right. “Shit.”

He nodded.

“Okay,” I said. “We need to adjust the strategy. Any thoughts?”

Alison stepped closer. “Multiple, simultaneous publications and demonstrations,” she said.

“Internationally?”

She nodded. “Set up generators here, in Canada, Europe and Asia. Make sure the critical materials are produced in multiple countries as well. Make it impractical for any one government or company to squash the technology.”

Jeryl was nodding in agreement. “We can set up material production facilities easily enough. So long as we don’t try and make the stealth coating, the government will just think we’re expanding production for other markets.”

“And turn that off while we do it,” Jim said while waving a hand at the generator. “You don’t want the power company spilling the beans before you are ready.”

“Shit.” I hit the shutdown button on the control console and watched the output meters drop as the system cut off the flow of deuterium.

I sat down in my chair heavily and Jeryl came around to rub my shoulders.

“Look on the bright side,” she said. “We’ll all get to do a little travelling, as we put this all together.”

I smiled at her, but felt like a failure. There was no way we were going to get multiple production sites up and running before the start of the Gulf War. I knew it was going to kick off in less than three months. I had hoped the news of cheap energy alternatives would keep the U.S. from getting too involved. Historically, we always said we did not go to war for the oil, but my history had proven the lie to that myth. We may not have gone for the oil, but we always stayed for it.

“Paul, I really need you to spend more time with the interns,” Tom said as I walked into the California offices on a fine morning in May. I had fallen into the habit of working four days in the lab, one day in California and then the weekend in Park City with the occasional long weekends in Maine or Texas depending on Jeryl’s mood.

“I’m giving you a full day every week,” I said. “And you’re filling those days with nearly fourteen hours of filming.”

“I know, but part of the appeal of the show is you interacting with them.”

Kelly had followed him into my office.

“That’s right, Paul. You also need to spend a little time with the start-ups we’re incubating. It’s part of the agreement we have with them.”

I looked at the stack of papers waiting at my desk and sighed.

“Okay, but I need to involve the interns in some of the lab work then. I want to involve them in the process, even if they won’t know what exactly they’re working on.”

Kelly frowned, and then nodded. “Logistics,” she said.

“What?”

“Logistics. We can make a project around helping farm out the fabrication of components and sub-assemblies. Learning how to manage complex supply and assembly chains is something they should know for business. You fabricated your first two generators by hand, but that will never scale. We can break it down and have them work the process side of things to first define the process, then build the supply-chain. If we have time, we can look at optimizing it for speed and profit before the show ends.”

“And if we time it right, we can use the show as a build up to the final reveal. You’ll have an international audience watching that show. If you reveal what they’ve been working on, there will be no hiding the potential,” Tom said.

It was my turn to nod. We would have our own PR build up thanks to our own show. “Okay, let’s figure out what we can put together for challenges for them.”

“Hang on,” Tom said as he shook his head. “Interns sitting around planning isn’t going to have any audience appeal. We gave them Jeryl hitting you with a bat last year, new product launches, and housing people in distress after a hurricane. Logistics is not going to have enough appeal to keep an audience until the season finale.”

He was right.

“We also need to highlight the process of trying things and failing, and then trying something else until they are successful,” Kelly added. “It’s what the show is really about.”

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