Chapter 34: Pride...

“Jeryl and Paul, welcome to your first red carpet interview,” Stephanie Seymour, the hostess for the ‘red carpet show,’ before the Emmy’s said. “How does it feel to have your show nominated after only it’s first season?”

Jeryl smiled at the camera, and gave me just the slightest tap with her elbow.

“It’s an honor to be nominated, even though I don’t think they really have a category that ‘The Interns’ fits into,” I said.

I smiled and hoped my real opinion of the whole Hollywood spectacle didn’t show.

“I understand you have just finished taping the second season?”

“We have. Everything except the finale is in the editing room.”

“Oh? When will the finale be shot?”

Jeryl leaned in slightly, and took over.

“This year, we’ve decided to hold a live event for the finale. We’ll have all the interns back on the show to unveil a truly amazing breakthrough product.”

“Any hints?”

We both smiled and shook our heads slightly.

“Jeryl, who are you wearing, tonight?”

Jeryl beamed and stepped away from me just enough to be able to spin slowly around. Her mid-length black dress swirled around her and she had a chance to show off the shear lace back.

“It’s Prada,” she said as she turned back to the camera. “I picked it up in Milan a little bit ago.”

“It is spectacular,” Stephanie said. “From their spring collection?”

“Yes.”

“And the jewels?” she asked.

Jeryl smiled at me and said, “You’ll have to ask Paul. He surprised me with them this evening.”

Stephanie was lucky her face was not on camera and she mouthed a shocked “Oh”. Most of the stars had jewels loaned to them for the evening.

“They are custom made through Tiffany’s,” I said.

The cameraman zoomed in on the platinum and emerald necklace. Jeryl had a matching bracelet on her right wrist.

“Well, I must say that they are spectacular and complement Jeryl’s dress so wonderfully.”

There was a little more chitchat before the next celebrity was brought into the interview area and Jeryl and I made our escape. As soon as we were away from the main cameras, Jeryl was asked to pose before the large Emmy backdrop for the print photographers. Based on the volume of flashes, I thought they all liked her looks almost as much as I did. A short while later, we were safely inside and having a cocktail and some light snacks before heading in to find our seats. The spectacle of the day was a little overwhelming.

Tom found us a little bit later. He was escorting Cassandra, the winner of the first season and now the General Manager of Innovative Environs, our shelter building company. Cassandra was grinning ear-to-ear.

“Paul, Jeryl, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be on the show last year. I can’t believe I’m actually at the Emmy’s and have been on a show that has been nominated.”

Jeryl smiled and said, “I think it’s nice, but I’m more impressed and proud of what you’ve done with the company. Sales are taking off and you’ve improved the margins while boosting production. That’s more impressive than being yourself in front of the camera.”

Cassandra blushed.

“Tom tells me that you’re changing up the finale and doing it live this year,” she said to deflect the praise.

I nodded. “Hopefully, it will be something the viewers will enjoy,” I said. “I know the Interns were excited about a trip to Switzerland during the school year.”

“Switzerland?”

“Yes. The finale will be broadcast live from outside Geneva’s International Conference Centre.”

“It’s going to be tough to shoot and produce,” Tom added.

“Why?”

“Think about all the editing we do to put an episode together. We’ll have some parts pre-shot and incorporated into the main show, but several things we want to do will need nearly real-time editing. It’s going to feel a lot more like shooting a news show than part of a TV series.”

“Why are you doing it that way?” she asked.

“The last challenge for the interns was about setting up a product launch from Switzerland. They helped with a ton of logistics planning and then manufacturing processes to enable the launch, but it’s going to take nearly two months for the pieces to come together. Obviously, we could not keep them out of school while materials and products get shipped to Europe and assembled.”

Cassandra nodded.

“I guess that makes sense.” she said and looked at me with a cocked head. “Is that order of a dozen new shelters you gave me part of this?”

I smiled again. “Of course. Make sure the new logo is prominent. You’ll have some free marketing for the colder climate shelters in a couple of months.”

“You never think of just one thing at a time, do you, Paul?”

“I just don’t like to waste opportunities, especially when I’m helping create them.”

“What do you think?” Alison asked as we stepped out of the large Irish estate a short drive outside Dublin.

I took in the broad green lawn and white gravel driveway that curved up from the gate by the road. It was an idyllic setting. I had asked Alison to have her firm find a suitable property for us in Ireland. With our focus on diversifying our production base and building relationships in Europe, it made sense. We had considered opening office directly on the continent, or in London, but finally settled on Ireland. It had less close ties with some of the governments that I felt might want to suppress our soon to be announced technologies.

“It’s definitely peaceful,” I said as I took a deep breath and strained to hear anything besides the wind and a soft chirping in the distance.

“It’s also very secure.”

I smiled. Alison had always been security conscious, but lately had become nearly paranoid. Operational security at the manufacturing plants was very high. We had a small team vetted and protected to conduct final component assembly of the generators in both Switzerland and the Nordic countries.

“Security is important,” I admitted. “At least for the next few months.”

“Years,” she said. “I’ve run the risk models. Even if you triple production capacity, it is going to be at least three years before there is wide adoption of your technology. You are going to very unpopular with the major oil producing nations, including some big companies in your own country.”

“And in England,” I added, thinking of BP.

“And in England,” she agreed. “I think this will be a good purchase. The estate itself is valuable. We’ve got easy access to Dublin as well as the factory location. You’re a short hop from the continent proper.”

I nodded.

“Have the lawyers make an offer. Let’s buy this with my money, not through the company.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. I may live here, but I don’t want people saying I’m moving the company for tax reasons. I’ll get enough bogus PR from the oil companies and their cronies.”

“Very well.”

“We’ll let the company buy the flat in London and the house in Geneva.”

She nodded and we headed toward the black Range Rover her team had brought over to Ireland for us to use.

“Will you be happy to be closer to home?” I asked.

She gave me her arched eyebrow and then a soft, sad, smile. “You and Jeryl and Ali, and Jer, are my home, Paul. I thought you realized that.”

The depth of feeling her comment created floored me. I gave her my own soft smile and nodded. Nothing more needed to be said.

“Stan, Harry, thanks for meeting with me,” I said to Stan Brockman from Gulfstream and Harry Cromwell from Rolls-Royce as Joseph led them into the conference room in California.

Stan chuckled. “Like we had a choice? You call the CEO and tell him you’ve got a new idea and he told me to get on a plane and meet you. The GX-3 is the plane everyone wants, and we’re happy to have an order book over two years long. Of course, I’m coming to meet with you.”

Harry nodded.

“Well, thanks, but I am glad you could come at the same time. I’ve got a few ideas and some things to share, but I’m going to have to ask you to keep them strictly to yourselves for a few weeks.”

Both men frowned.

“The boss is going to want to know what you’ve got in mind,” Harry said.

“Generalities will be fine, but I need you to keep the specifics to yourselves, for a bit.” I went on to explain a significant improvement in engines, without actually saying the word, ‘fusion.’

“That sounds like a rocket, not a jet,” Harry said after I gave him some specific numbers. Stan nodded.

I shrugged and said, “Those are the numbers. We’ve talked about a trans-pacific capability. This could give us that and more.”

“Hell, Paul, this could give you orbital capability if it’s not a jet.”

I kept the smile to myself. Obviously, my generator did not need air to function.

“So, I think I can get the size down, but I want to start kicking the numbers around on what an engine with these parameters could do, and what sort of vehicle we should be talking about.”

Stand gave me a narrow look. “Is it a jet or not?”

I gave the slightest shake of my head and both men gasped before trading a look.

“Sub-orbital?” Stan asked Harry.

“Bollocks. If we’ve got this sort of thrust, it’s just a matter of weight and we could be orbital with ease. There’s a huge market for launch capacity right now. Your blokes’ shuttle is for shit from a commercial perspective.”

Stan nodded and I had to agree.

“What’s the cost?” Harry asked. “If it’s not a jet, do we have to change out motors for each flight? What’s the turn around time?”

I held up my hand to stop him.

“Assume it’s not a rocket. It has full re-start and re-use capabilities. It should have thousands of hours of run-time. I hope to shrink the overall size and increase thrust, but that might take a year or two. I want us to have a plan before then, so I’ve got targeted design goals as I make it smaller.”

“What the hell is this thing, Paul?”

I let my grin slip. These were two solid engineers who could appreciate what I had accomplished.

“Right now, it’s an eight hundred megawatt fusion generator.”

“Holy shit!” Harry said. “In this size of foot print?”

I nodded.

“And you want us to make a fusion powered airplane?” Stan asked.

“Not an airplane. I want a vehicle that can deliver cargo to orbit, or dozens of passengers half-way around the globe in an hour. Are you guys up for the design challenge, or should I be talking to Lockheed?”

“Fuck Lockheed,” Stan said. “With this power plant, the CRP materials, and your computers on a chip from Intel, we can build this faster and better than any big aerospace firm.”

Harry was nodding and had begun scribbling in his black notebook.

“If you get this kind of thrust, we’ll actually have to find a throttling mechanism or think more in terms of specific impulse rather than thrust.”

“We can bleed off excess power to control thrust,” I said. “Right now, I’m dumping waste plasma after extracting about 70% of the total energy available.”

Both men were scribbling now. Stan looked up at Harry for a second.

“Lifting body or delta?”

“Delta, but we’ll need wind tunnel time. A powered lifting body would need too much runway. We’ll need low-speed control.”

“What about VTOL, if we’ve got power to burn?”

I smiled as they slipped into the ‘deep thought zone,’ where I had found myself residing, so many times.

The final scene of interns arriving in Switzerland and breaking into the teams of their last challenge was filmed, and Tom called ‘cut’ for the day, as they headed into the well appointed shelters set up for them. There was good natured joking about wanting to stay in the mountain side villa we had rented for the month, but they were accustomed to ‘roughing it’ after some of the trials we had put them through, over the summer. Tom reminded everyone to get some rest so they could look fresh for the finale. Due to the time difference, we would be up in the middle of the night to hit our prime-time spot on the east coast.

“Are you nervous?” Jeryl asked as we tucked Ali and Jeremy into their beds and then headed down to the sitting room to join our family and friends.

“No, not really. Relieved more than anything. The interns did a good job of getting all of the logistics worked out. That was the hard part.”

“That, and figuring out how to involve them in this without them figuring out exactly what was going to steal the spotlight from them during the finale,” she added.

I grinned.

“The show will still feature them. Tomorrow is when the focus will really shift.”

We entered the sitting room and Philip immediately offered us a drink, and motioned us toward to small buffet he had overseen. I sipped at the well watered scotch, and took a plate of finger food as Jim and Mom hurried over.

“Paul, this is really going to change the world, isn’t it,” Jim asked as Mom just gave Jeryl and me hugs and kisses.

“Without a doubt.”

“But after all the work you’ve done for the country, I still don’t understand why you insisted on doing the finale over here where you’re going to have to film it in the middle of the night,” Mom opined.

Kelly and Matthew joined us. “Remember when I had to get him out of trouble in Detroit?” she asked. Mom nodded. “Something similar is likely to happen with the generator. The U.S. is rightfully building up forces in the Middle East for the sake of Kuwait. Everyone believes that it is as much about the oil as the sovereign rights of the Sheikdom. The generator is going to put a lot of pressure on oil companies and the government and our policies there. We don’t want Paul, or his invention, being caught in that cross-fire.”

Mom nodded and we found seats to catch up with ourselves and the others we had not seen recently. Jordan and Jyl were there, both with their current significant others. Jordan was excited to show off the large diamond and introduce us to Stephen Wainwright, her fiancéŽ. He was a nice man, with a strong jaw and salt-and-pepper hair, even though he was only thirty-one years old. He thanked us for the invitation and first class airfare over to the show. It turned out he was an architect, and was very familiar with what had been written about our unique home at the lab in Nevada.

“You’ll have to come visit,” Jeryl said as she stood next to her big sister. “We’ve got plenty of room.”

“I’d be thrilled.”

“In fact, maybe we should have the bridal shower in Vegas, and you guys could spend a few days with us before or after?” Jeryl asked.

Jordan smiled.

“That would be excellent.” she said. Then she laughed. “Who would have ever guessed we’d be here when Jeryl invited you to a little summer party your freshman year?”

I raised my glass in a toast.

“Thanks for that invite,” I said with a grin.

That led to a circumscribed description of the party that Jyl and her boyfriend of two years, Christopher joined in on. All too soon, it was time for us to think about getting ready for the show.

Jeryl got dressed, and then left with one of the makeup people. I finished tying my tie, only to have Alison enter without knocking and then fiddle and adjust the tie before helping me into my dark gray jacket.

“You look good, even without makeup,” she teased as she had me twirl in front of her.

“You look nice, too,” I said. “Too bad you won’t be on the show.”

She frowned. “If I’m ever on T.V. my reputation in the security world would be trashed. I’m supposed to know which side of the cameras to stay on.”

“Anything to worry about tonight?” I asked.

“No. I’ve got extra personnel assigned. We’ve got things covered for both during the show, and after.”

“After?”

She nodded. “My guess is that within the hour of airing, you’ll have a bunch of European newsies on the road here. I’ve made arrangements with the Swiss. We’ve also got extra security for the motorcades tomorrow as well as at the conference center.”

We had organized an all expenses paid conference of most of the people on Cynthia’s list to begin tomorrow in Geneva. The press was also planning on covering that, but I suspected the people sent to cover it would be quite excited to have a much more exciting story to share.

“Okay. How about the power plants?”

“I’ve reviewed their security. We’ve also put some of our assets nearby, just in case, as you Yanks like to say.”

“Good. I guess it’s time to go get some makeup applied,” I said with a frown.

Alison surprised me by stepping in and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m very proud of you, Paul, and what you have accomplished.”

I smiled and realized that I was, as well. It had been a long road, but I was close to realizing my dream.

“So, once again you all did a fabulous job coordinating the logistics of building the first portions of a global distribution network.”

We had just finished watching the previously recorded efforts of the interns to complete two different, complementary challenges. The first part had entailed the shipping and assembly of manufacturing equipment from my plants in the states, along with CRP in New York, to the new plant in Ireland. Each of the three teams had to deliver, install, and test one of the critical assemblages used in the manufacture of part of the generators.

The second challenge had been to ship the parts of six generators to the locations where they would be assembled for use. One had gone to each of the three Nordic power companies with whom I had crafted a partnership, one had come to Switzerland. One had been shipped to Maui, Hawaii, and the final one had been shipped to Saint Lucia. I considered those two to be spares that I would get around to installing for island power in the near future.

The film of the teams shipping, and then flying to the Nordic countries to receive their cargo had ended with engineers escorting them out of the buildings after they verified receipt of the huge crates of material.

“All three teams completed the challenge, but one team managed to minimize the shipping time as well as deliver their goods for less cost. The members of that winning team are Sally Canter, Kevin Tanner, Samuel Schafer, and Cindy Xavier!”

The team jumped up from their chairs in excitement. None of the twelve interns had been allowed to track their total costs. We had also carefully redacted shipping arrival times from any of the bills of lading they had received.

As the team settled down, Jeryl, Kelly and I smiled for both them and the cameras. “Would you like to know what you worked so hard to ship all around the world?” I asked.

They nodded. I stood up and walked over the black draped generator and control console. Before pulling the cord to drop the curtain, so to speak, I motioned the interns to come up with me. As they made their way over, I turned to speak to the camera.

“Our world has a voracious appetite for energy. We have been doubling our use and generation of energy, roughly every seven years, and we’ve been keeping up with that demand through the construction of oil and coal generating plants. But, our energy growth has come at a stiff price.”

I knew Tom was queuing a graphic insert showing the deforestation and impacts of pollution. The others in our ad-hoc studio could see the images on the monitors.

“Our appetite for energy is driving us to consume resources and destroy ecosystems on a global scale.”

I paused and smiled at the interns before me.

“Your efforts will help us all start changing that trend.”

I pulled on the cord that dropped the shroud from the generator. A stage hand, hidden off camera, pulled the cover from the control console.

“This is one of the generators you helped ship from the U.S. for assembly here.” I glanced down to make sure the starter capacitors were fully charged.

I motioned the four winning interns closer. “This generator will produce eight hundred Megawatts of clean power, with absolutely no pollution, and you all get to help me introduce it to the world.”

I motioned them behind the consoled and had them put their hand atop mine on the starter button.

“Three. Two. One.”

They all pushed down on my hand and the starting sequence began. The cameraman shifted his focus to the dials and meters as the interns looked over their shoulders at the generator.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just helped launch the world into the fusion era!”

The audience clapped and the interns grinned at each other as Tom cut in the feed to the plants in the Nordic countries where engineers were pushing their own buttons. We could hear over the feed as they synchronized the generators to the power grid and began powering the cities they served.

“With the four generators we have just brought online, we are producing three point two Gigawatts of clean power. While you can all be immensely proud of the work you did to bring this about, I also want to share a personal reward with you. As the winners of our final challenge on ‘The Interns’, you will each be given a delightful two week vacation for yourself and a guest in Saint Lucia, with all expenses paid.”

The interns celebrated for the camera as I shook each of their hands.

“You have done a great thing, Paul,” Carl Richter from Mercedes said as he pumped my hand. “Fusion power. It is amazing. As soon as I saw the news last night and this morning, I made some calls. Are you going to be able to produce generators fast enough to keep up with demand?”

I smiled. I had just presented a high-level overview of my generator with some technical details on how it operated to generate clean, safe energy. I had gone to some expense to invite many of the people Cynthia Morgan had identified to attend a two-day symposium in Geneva. Our agenda was designed to get us all talking about how clean energy could affect our world in a positive manner.

“We should be producing two a week at our new plant in Ireland, as soon as we finish training the staff. We’ve also just established a maintenance and operations school at the factory.”

“Two a week is not enough,” he insisted. “Mercedes wants to help open another plant in Germany. We have the space at our motor plant, and can operate under our existing joint venture.”

I nodded. I had planned on expansion, but not quite that quickly.

“We will talk, my friend, but you saw the show last night, right?”

He nodded.

“I have to build up infrastructure first. Our raw materials are being made in Austin, Atlanta, Wales, and Ireland. I’ve got two generator plants, one in Atlanta and one in Ireland. I need more raw materials and sub-assembly production, before I can add another generator plant. Also, I built the Ireland plant to grow. Once I have materials, I’ll be able to double or triple its output.”

“Yes, yes,” he said dismissively. “But we need to start building that infrastructure on the continent, now. I will talk with my government. We will make you an offer you cannot refuse.”

“Careful, Carl,” Another man said as he approached us. “I understand that Paul is taking three percent of net revenue from the Nordic power companies. That would be a pretty hefty price tag for all of Germany.”

I placed the man’s face. It was Jorgen Warnke, the German Minister of Economic Cooperation.

“One percent of the revenue produced by the generator, and no capital costs for its production, assembly, or initial operations,” I corrected. “It’s good to meet you, Minister Warnke,” I said as I shook his hand.

He took my hand and looked me in the eye.

“That sounds like very reasonable terms then,” he said as we shook.

“Once I am able to produce generators more efficiently, I will most likely reduce that rate further.”

“Even at a fraction of a percent, you will be the worlds richest man,” the minister said. “Roughly seven million dollars per generator per year, if the cost is ten cents per kilowatt hour,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s right. The real question is why the cost has to be that high once the generators are adopted.”

“That is a good question. My government has begun looking at the billing practices of this industry as we compare practices across the continent. We have a rate higher than ten cents per kilowatt currently.”

Carl nodded. “We are much higher than that. If oil deliveries are interrupted by the troubles with Iraq, it will go higher still.”

“That’s one reason I announced earlier than I had originally planned,” I said. Both men looked at me.

“I think it is critical that the U.S. and coalition forces clearly understand there are alternatives to fighting and dying over oil. Once Saddam Hussein is dealt with, we don’t need to stay around to make sure the oil flows.”

Both men looked at me in surprise.

Cindy Xavier, the winning intern from the show joined our conversation. All of the interns had been invited to stay for the symposium.

“And lesser need for oil can have other significant benefits,” she added. “Not only can we reduce our environmental impact, with power generation, we can leave so much coal in the ground now.”

I nodded. “We can also use cheap, clean power to provide abundant clean water.”

“And with water, we can start to impact the hydro-cycle in the third world.”

The two men looked at the short, petite Asian woman with her green eyes and easy smile. It was easy to forget that she held a degree in mechanical engineering and was working on her MBA.

“You seem to have thought a lot about this, Miss Xavier,” Carl said.

Cindy smiled. “Ever since last night. I didn’t sleep a wink. I won the show, but was more in shock about what Paul has done. Fusion power. It’s amazing. This will change the world as much as the industrial revolution. Power has been a limiting factor in so many areas.”

Carl nodded. “I understand that in the automotive and industrial arena, but where else?”

“Flight. We have a power source that can dramatically change our thinking about price per kilo to orbit. Once in orbit, with this sort of power plant, we can change how we think about resources. Asteroid mining just became fiscally possible. Ecology. With a fusion generator for power, we could build tugs to move icebergs and impact the whole ecosystem. We could also do something about the pollution levels in the oceans. Maybe reverse some of the damage we’ve done to the reef systems of the world. You just have to look at any idea that was constrained by power, really. It is all now possible.”

Jorgen was nodding now. He glanced at me. “Mr. Taylor, if you don’t hire this young woman, I hope she moves to Germany.”

Carl smiled. “I’ll give her a job if she does.”

Cindy’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

“Sorry, gentlemen, but the winner of this year’s show has a job as soon as she graduates.”

She gave me a brilliant smile. “When do I start? Stanford called; I’ve been told my efforts on the show will constitute my capstone for my MBA. I’m done with classes.”

Jeryl shuddered around my cock as her orgasm washed over her. I paused in my thrusting as she buried her face in her pillow for a minute before resuming her gentle pushing back against me. I resumed my pace and soon emptied my balls into her grasping pussy.

“God, you make me feel good,” she said as we collapsed together. She kissed my neck as I hugged her to me.

“So,” she said with a small smile, “I guess I can say I’ve slept with both the smartest and richest man in the world now.”

“Hah! I’m pretty sure I’m neither.”

“You are and you will be.”

“Well, then I guess I’ve gotten to sleep with the most beautiful and richest woman in the world.”

She smiled and gave me another kiss.

“I love you, Paul.”

“I love you, too.”

We lay together in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the afterglow of great sex.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Jeryl finally said.

“It has. This week has been crazy. The prep for the show, the symposium, the press, the calls from Prime Ministers and Presidents, it has been nuts.”

“Well, soon we can take a little vacation. Maybe go to the house in Hawaii or Saint Lucia or Maine.”

“Hawaii first. The governor called to approve our installation on Maui. He asked that we be there for the initial start up.”

“Election year?” she asked with a grin.

“Who knows,” I replied with a chuckle. “How about we hop to Ireland tomorrow, and you can meet with the decorator for the house there, and then we head to Hawaii. Where are the folks heading?”

Our families had teamed up to take a side trip to Italy after the filming of the show. They were fortunate enough to be able to travel in anonymity, but I had still sent a two person security team with them ‘as guides,’ at Alison’s insistence.

“They were planning on finishing the week in Rome and then spending five days in Barcelona before flying home. Why?”

“Just thinking about some time off for Anna. She seemed a little harried this week with the kids.”

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