Chapter 37: Escalations

“Crap, Paul,” Hunter said as we settled into out seats on the GX-3 in preparation for a flight to Salt Lake City. “Is it always such a hassle dealing with the Pentagon?”

I chuckled. “That was a very pleasant meeting compared to some I’ve had with them.”

“They sure don’t want to take no for an answer.”

“I know. The Navy really wants a fusion powered fleet.”

“It makes a lot of sense from an operational and cost perspective” Hunter said. “I think agreeing to furnish them with some generators operated under our control at selected shore sites will keep them busy for a couple of years, but they are not going to give up on fleet options.”

“I agree. I wouldn’t if I were in their shoes. With the compromise deal we made today, I figure we’ve bought twenty-four months. We’ll slot two testing generators into the production pipeline for delivery in about nine months. That will give them time to prepare facilities and us time to think about next steps.”

“Like what?”

“Like a way to disable the generators if they are being misused.”

Hunter thought for a few minutes, as the pilots closed the door and settled into the cockpit.

“What if we established a handshake of some sort with your network? The operational program and protocols would short out the control system if it did not connect to your servers, on some periodic basis.”

“Do you really think the Navy is going to allow something like that?”

He shrugged, and said, “If they want the generators, they will. We’ll just have to figure out the messaging and security protocols to keep the communications safe. Putting that code into the operating processors would be easy enough.”

“We could use the same approach for some of the more demanding countries, looking to run their own generators.”

“You could even tie it into the generator’s GPS position locator, to disable it if it was moved without authorization for fixed facility generators.”

I grabbed a notebook, and we began sketching out communications interactions we would need to make such a system work. By the time we landed in Salt Lake City, we were fairly confident of our general approach.

Tiffany picked us up at the hangar and drove us to Deer Valley, where we were planning to spend a couple of days working on the engine test plan. We would then be heading south, and meeting the Rolls-Royce engineers at the lab in Nevada.

Mrs. Eccles had a late dinner waiting for us at the house.

“You know,” Hunter said as we ate our fill of homemade soup and fresh baked bread in the kitchen. “When you told me about the engine nozzle design work a couple of weeks ago, I thought you were giving me make-work.”

“And now?”

He shook his head.

“It’s a real engineering problem. I guess I never really thought about the need for variable thrust nozzles when you’ve got that sort of power available.”

“Yep. If they just lit off the generator without the MHD extracting a lot of power, it would take off like a shot.”

“Even with a modest ship, I figured nine gees. No one is going to want to fly in that thing twice.”

“Gulfstream is already increasing the size. Our proof-of-concept design was around a horizontal takeoff and landing configuration, but we’re leaning toward a vertical takeoff and landing now. If we take the mass high enough, we think we can keep the acceleration bearable.”

“What’s bearable?”

“Under three gees.”

“How much cargo with that mass?”

“That’s the tricky part. We’ve got to have acceptable acceleration empty, as well as full. Harry thinks that’s where the variable nozzles will come into play, along with optimization through the changing atmospheric pressure regimens.”

“Not to mention the materials problems we need to solve. The vectoring vanes and nozzles will need to be tough!”

I nodded, and said, “I think the boron doped nanotube coating on the new CRP aerogel formulation will work, but we’re going to have to test that. It’s one of the things we’ll start setting up this week at the lab.”

“Don’t you think some of this could be done on the other side of the pond?”

“It could, but once we get to full static testing, I think we’ll want the wide open spaces.” I notice his look. “Don’t worry, you shouldn’t have to come over more than once a quarter.”

He frowned. “It’s not that, it’s just that there are things I could test and tinker with if the lab was closer.”

“So build a lab in Ireland. Just make sure you talk to Lila and Alison about security.”

He nodded.

“I understand. If people know what you were working on, they’d be trying to steal it, every day.”

He spent a few minutes finishing his soup and then looked at me.

“You know, all the time I knew you in school, I had no idea about your DoD work.”

“Good. It was supposed to be a secret.”

“But you helped change the world! Can you imagine what the Gulf War would have been like if your work on stealth had not happened?”

“We still would have won.”

“Yeah, but at what cost in lives and material?”

I started to make a joke and then saw the serious look in his eye. “Hunter, what I did for the military in high-school and college was a pleasant interlude. I was always working towards fusion. You know that. I’m glad I could help our defense department, but it was not a goal I set out to meet. What we’re working on now, is what I want. Cheap, clean power is the start. How we use that power for the betterment of the whole world, is my focus now. That’s why it is so important that I not get embroiled in DoD politics. I also have no desire to paint myself as a target again. Getting shot at sounds glamorous and exciting, right up until it really happens.”

He looked me in the eye for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, then let’s make sure we don’t put you or me or any of our loved ones in that position again.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

“What’s up, hon?” I asked as Jeryl came into my office in the Lab. She and the kids had joined me in Nevada after the Rolls-Royce team left and Hunter headed back to Ireland. I was working on some additional materials formulations I wanted to test out.

“Do you remember Scott Brown and Don Joy from season one?”

“Sure. Georgia Tech and MIT, right?”

“That’s right. They reached out to me, and asked for some time to pitch an idea to us. Evidently, they teamed up after they graduated to do some design work on a special project of some sort.”

I shrugged. “Send a GX-3 for them. They were both pretty smart. Let’s see if they retained any of the lessons we tried to teach them,” I added with a smile.

Three days later, they were nervously eying our ‘cabin’ set into the side of the red rock that overlooking the desert scenery.

“All those times we saw you leaving the filming, we had no idea you were coming to someplace this nice,” Scott said as he took in the details of the house.

Jeryl laughed.

“We weren’t roughing it nearly as much as you guys, that’s for sure,” she said.

“Oh, they didn’t have it too rough once they built their shelters.”

Both young men laughed.

“I do think that was the only time we managed to surprise you, Paul.”

“But it was a pleasant one.” I decided to get them back on track. “So, do you want us to recreate a review session from the show, or do you guys just want to pitch your idea here on the terrace?”

They exchanged a look and then Don spoke.

“How about we talk to you about it, here. Then, if we need detail drawings, we can go inside.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

Jeryl and I sat forward in our seats a little and waited for them to start.

“Following the work after the hurricane, we saw how critical fresh water was,” Don began. “When you unveiled your generators last year, we were already working on some ideas around large scale desalination.”

Scott nodded. “I was working on a design for my masters that envisioned industrial scale usage, just like we had individual level usage covered in the catchment system on the shelters.”

“When we heard the specs of the generator, we realized there was a real opportunity,” Don said.

I held up my hand.

“I get the utility and possibility of large scale desalination. I get how a fusion generator could help in that arena. What do you have for me that is new thinking?”

“A full-fledged, self-contained design that could start stabilizing the Sahara, and large parts of Africa,” Scott said. “We took a look at the specs of your generator, and designed the whole plant to be roughly four times a generator’s size. It should cost less than a quarter of million dollars to build, excluding the generator, and be capable of providing clean fresh water, at a rate of a couple thousand gallons an hour.”

“So why would Paul want to build this?” Jeryl asked them.

“Power generation is a problem of the first and second world,” Scott said. “His generators are going to saturate the market demand for electricity in less than a decade. The demand for water is eternal. A couple of these plants could help stabilize a coastal desert. Excess capacity of power or water can then be pumped inland to extend the stabilization efforts.”

“We estimate,” Don said, “that with a steady supply of plants, we could stabilize thousands of square miles of what is now arid land.”

“To what end?” I asked.

“Peace and stability,” Scott said. “We read your interview in Playboy last month. You want people to have safe, clean power. If you give them clean, safe water as well, you could reduce the resource loading on some of the most troubled parts of the planet. Peace, stability, better standards of living, and education, are the keys to stabilizing the world.”

I thought about their words and the things I had said in that interview. I then thought about some of the rise of fundamentalism from my first time through. Famine and fear had created fertile lands for the recruitment of terrorists, jihadists and many other flavors of ‘-ists’. Perhaps this was a path to better the future.

“Okay,” I said as I stood up. “Let’s look at the details. If I like what you’ve come up with, I’ll fund it for forty-nine percent ownership.”

Don paled. “Um, we were actually thinking along the lines of you funding for a majority ownership,” he said.

“Why?”

They traded a look. “We’re not sure how to monetize it. We’re not certain it can be a profitable business on its own.”

Jeryl shook her head and said, “We’ll fund for majority ownership. You guys will be the managing directors. I’ll tell you how to make it all profitable.”

“Paul, I’m the one running for office. You can’t expect me to advocate this project of yours and then run as an independent voice for the people, can you?”

Kelly was right, but for all the wrong reasons.

“I get the political dimension and I’m not asking you to advocate for this because it’s me. Water is political in California. I’m going to test a desalination plant on the Pacific coast. I can do that in California, where water is precious, or I can do it in Oregon or Washington or Mexico. It’s going to be barge based to start, so we can move it around, but you could get some mileage out of this, if you play your cards right. I’m really just trying to help you out, Kelly.”

She sighed on the phone. “I know. It’s just Seymour is going dirty already, high-lighting the ties I have to your ‘big-money’ interests. If I try to ride your coattails on this, he’s going to go for the jugular.”

“Okay, how about if I cut him off at the knees?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll get the governor’s buy-in without your involvement. That will get the republicans behind it. Then, if Seymour tries to say anything, he’ll be going against the man who put him in the Senate.”

“What if the governor doesn’t go for it?”

“Then I go to the farmers, or the mayor of San Diego or L.A. You and I both know that California is skirting the border of drought. Water rights are always a topic of debate in non-urban elections, there. It will play with the people.”

“Okay. I’ll respond, if asked, but can’t advocate your plan.”

“Sounds good, sis. How is everything else going?”

“Good. I’m getting good press coverage and people seem to like my positions, and having some television credibility hasn’t hurt with the Hollywood crowd.”

I laughed and said, “That’s good to hear. We’ve picked up a little market share with ‘The Interns,’ this fall, so that should help you out as well.”

“How are Jeryl and the kids?” she asked.

“Jeryl is good. The kids are growing like weeds. Are you going to make it out to Deer Valley for Christmas?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said. “Mom and Dad have already asked me, as well. I’ll miss you guys at Thanksgiving, though.”

“Mom told me. Working a soup kitchen, or so I hear.”

“It’s politics,” she said a little defensively.

“I’m not making fun,” I said. “We’re going to be in Austin if you change your mind. I’d be happy to have the GX-3 fly you down after you finish your duties.”

“Thanks, Paul, but I think I’ll just stay close to home and get a little private time. Give my love to everyone and I’ll see you in a couple of months.”

“Okay. Love you, too.”

I hung up the phone and pulled up my contact list, to look for the governor’s number.

It took me almost ten minutes to get through the bureaucratic screening.

“Mister Taylor, what do I owe the honor to?” Governor Wilson asked when he finally got on the line.

“Thank you for taking my call, Governor. I’d like to discuss an opportunity with you to help the people of the great state of California.”

I went into my sales pitch for a floating desalination plant to test new process for converting sea water to fresh water, at scale.

“It sounds very promising, Paul, but what do you need my help with?” he finally asked.

“Permits. You know the environmentalists are going to complain because it’s got a fusion generator involved. Or they’ll complain that I’m dumping salt back into the water, or polluting the air with the sediment burn-off, or something.”

“I can see that, but I’m not sure how I can prevent their protests.”

“Well, I was thinking that the California Naval Militia could run the barge and desalination testing. I’d carry all of the payroll and benefits aspects, and you establish the unit.”

The California Naval Militia was currently only a handful of military lawyers who advised the Governor on naval matters. They had no current active ships or forces.

“Interesting idea. You say this plant will make thousands of gallons of fresh water for the State?”

“Yes. We could also work with the Army Corps of Engineers and see about piping it inland for use by the farmers. Alternatively, we could run it in San Diego or Long Beach and help out those cities.”

“Would you be willing to do all three?”

“What do you mean?”

“Triple your test. If the plants are mobile, you could redeploy them after you’ve learned what you need to.”

“I could do that; but, I’d want to build them out one at a time. Then we could apply anything we learn to the next plant.”

“That makes sense. I’ll get one of the lawyers from the unit to reach out to you, and help set up the guidelines for you to operate under. Who should they work with on your side?”

“I’ll have to check with Candace Brennan, our General Counsel. She’ll get someone assigned by tomorrow. Thank you, Governor. I really appreciate your help on this.”

“Well, remember that you owe me one. If these plants work, let’s talk about building some for permanent use.”

I smiled. “I can do that, sir.”

“Paul, I think you might want to read this,” Rebecca said as she hurried into my office with Billy and Tom close behind her. She had a piece of paper in her hands.

“What is it?” I asked as I reached for the sheet.

“A press release and story off the wire,” Billy said with excitement in her voice. “You’re going to be given the Nobel in Physics!”

Jeryl and Alison came in as Tom pounded my back and Rebecca beamed.

I was shocked.

I read the announcement and sat heavily in my chair.

“Wow.”

“Wow?” Jeryl asked as she came around my desk and kissed me soundly. “You win the highest award in physics, and all you can say is ‘wow’? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Everyone laughed and I smiled before pulling her into my lap and kissing her. She kept me grounded.

“Okay,” I said. “How about, ‘It looks like we’ll be going to Stockholm in December?’”

“‘Wow,’ you know how to immortalize the moment,” Jeryl teased.

I kissed her again.

“Thanks for all you support that made this possible,” I said as our lips parted.

She smiled. “Now that’s a much better comment.”

Jeryl got off my lap and pulled me back to my feet.

“You need to splash a little water on your face and grab a jacket out of the closet. The news cameras will be here in less than an hour to get some shots for the evening news.

I groaned. While I had gotten used to being on camera, I did not enjoy it.

“None of that,” Jeryl chided. “Billy and Tom, go downstairs and get a makeup kit from storage. I want my man to look good when the cameras get here. Also, Tom, let’s tape it ourselves. I’d like to have a copy of our own.”

They took off almost at a run.

“Alison and Rebecca, can you see to the first floor conference room and send reporters there? I’ll call the stations to make sure they are going to cover it. Come on, folks, this is good for Paul and good for the company. Let’s make sure we are presenting a great face to the country and world.

Everyone moved to follow Jeryl’s directions, including myself. Thirty minutes later, the affiliates from the three major networks were in the conference room with cameras, along with a handful of newspaper reporters. I stepped behind a podium, and read a hastily prepared statement, thanking the selection committee and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel organization. I also thanked my wife, family, and staff for all of their support. We then opened it for questions.

“Paul, you obviously don’t need the money associated with the prize. What do you plan to do with an extra million dollars?”

Jeryl and I had prepared for the obvious question.

“The intent of the prize money is to allow scientists to continue their work without concern of funds. Since I do not have such a concern, I will place the prize money into our scholarship fund for the sciences to help encourage the next generation of inventors and scientists.”

I pointed to the next reporter.

“Paul, is the Nobel prize one of the reasons you chose to initially deploy your fusion generators in Sweden?”

I was surprised by the question.

“Absolutely not. We chose the initial deployment locations based on where the technology would be welcome and a sound partnership could be created. I never imagined I would receive this sort of recognition for the generators. As a point of fact, this prize is being awarded for the theoretical work around the magnetic field phenomena and vortex calculations that makes my linear fusion process feasible. It is not recognition for the actual generators.”

“Paul, the world’s scientific community has now recognized your invention as truly ground breaking. When will you begin deploying your generators more broadly?”

I understood the implied question. Following the union and lobbyist issues, we had diverted almost all of our production overseas.

“We are deploying generators as quickly as we can make them. In the past year we have shipped over four hundred units to locations around the world. While adoption in the U.S. has been slowed by union and political issues, I don’t think you can characterize our distribution as being ‘limited’ or less than broad.”

“But there are only a handful of generators operating here in the States,” the reporter said.

I nodded my head in agreement.

“That is an issue people need to take up with their power companies and politicians. Next question.”

“Paul, you were given this award for your generators. Do you think you should have been considered earlier for your other materials inventions?”

“I have never done any of my work looking for recognition, so no. While some of that work may have been worthy of consideration, the fact is that I was not nominated previously, so obviously it did not deserve consideration.”

The questions continued on for a few more minutes, and then we ended the press conference so they could all get back to their studios, and meet their deadlines for publication or broadcast.

As Sanford drove us home, Jeryl grinned at me.

“You are my Nobel genius, Paul, and I love you.”

It was all the recognition I really needed.

“Paul, you can’t keep shoving extraneous orders into the pipeline,” Cindy Xavier said on our weekly video conference. “We can’t expand production capacity until the materials plants and operator training schools are ramped up, and we’ve already got a backlog three years deep.”

I could tell she was frustrated.

“I understand, Cindy, but these are important units for testing. Also, some of the orders can be six months out, like the three generators for the Navy. They won’t have the physical plant space for them, for at least that long. I do need the other five before then, though.”

“I can get them scheduled, but that is going to delay the German delivery. France has also placed another order. Japan is expanding as well.”

“You’re not announcing shipping dates, are you?”

“No, of course not. Since they are only obligated to take delivery when the generators are ready, I like to keep them loose. I usually give them a six month, and six week notice.”

She must have seen my quizzical look through the video link.

“When we estimate they are six months out, we send a team to verify installation location and hook-ups. At six weeks prior to delivery, the lead operating engineer arrives on site to ensure everything is ready. Sometimes we send some of the operators as well for cultural liaison. Our guys do the installation and testing prior to the generator going online.”

“OK, then no one will know we’re pulling some generators out of the pipeline. How soon can you get me a second unit for testing with Rolls-Royce?”

She looked at something on her computer screen.

“Two months? I can divert the one slotted for Denmark.”

“Good. You can keep the MHD off that one as well. I’ll do the custom generator and plenum in Nevada. The next one I need is for the desalination test. How long for that?”

“Hell, why don’t I give you the stripped down one for Rolls, and then the next two off the line in the U.S.? That way we only have one gap in production, and I can get back to regular deliveries.”

“That will work. I can use the first one for the initial POC of the desalination plant, and we can build out the second plant, right after the initial testing. I will need a third generator for the California project, but I can wait six months for that one as well.”

“Okay, I’ll pencil in six generators for you, starting next May. It will be one every other week until you have what you need.”

“Good. I’m sorry if you feel like you are being jerked around. You’re doing a great job, Cindy.”

“Thanks, Paul. Sorry if I’m a little short. We’re finally stable from a production perspective, and I was looking forward to doing some work with Hunter on tightening up the control systems.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“Every time I think I’ll have a little time, the production schedule gets screwed up by my delightful boss,” she said with a grin.

“Sounds like you need to hire a delivery manager, and make it their problem,” I said.

“I thought that was my job?”

“Your job is to ensure the order backlog is getting filled, not handle every customer directly. Delegate some of the headaches to someone you can trust to escalate when needed. That’s what I do.”

She laughed and said, “I guess you do. Ok, I’ll talk to HR and open a position.”

“Okay. What are the plans for the plants over the holidays?”

“What do you mean?”

“Last year, we were still ramping up. This year we’re at full capacity. I want to make sure you are slowing down and giving people time off over Christmas and New Year’s.”

“How much time?”

“Cindy, I’d be fine if you treat that time as non-production, and do some safety reviews and training. Work the plant half-days, and give folks a break. Hell, if you want to, close the plant for whatever reason you want.”

“What about payroll?”

“They are all salaried, so they still get paid. Our cash flows can cover a little paid time off.”

“Okay, you’re the boss.”

“I am. I want you to take some time off as well. I’ll pick-up first class airfare wherever you and a guest want to go. If you want, you can also make use of any of our company houses. Jeryl will send you a packet with the options.”

“I don’t need a break, Paul.”

“Remember that part about me being the boss? I want you to re-energize and come back from the holiday refreshed. We’re going to have a big year next year.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

“I do. I’ll talk to you next week, Cindy.”

Thanksgiving in Austin was relaxing, with Jeryl’s family joining us in the warm Texas autumn. Ali and Jer had plenty of doting aunts and grandmothers to keep them busy, as we insisted Anna take a break as well. Not having a threat hanging over my head, also helped me relax.

“Am I going to have to pry you out of the lab, again?” Jeryl asked the following week, as we were back in Nevada after the long Thanksgiving in Austin.

“What? I’ve put in five days and been home every night,” I said as I pulled her into my arms for a kiss. “Besides, we have to go to Stockholm in two days. I’m going to lose a week’s work with all those activities.”

“Yes, you’ve been home, but you’ve also put in sixty hours. I don’t want you spending this much time working, every week until Christmas. You’re making your employees take time off. You need to, as well.”

“I’m trying to get things wrapped up, so I don’t have to work over Christmas. Did you see the news, yesterday? They’re getting a good base already. They open the lifts this weekend. Three weeks from now, the runs should be in fine shape. I want to get some of this work done, so I can take time off and chase you all over the mountain.”

Jeryl laughed with me.

“Okay, as long as you’ve got your priorities right. What are you working on so diligently, anyway?”

“Formulations for a new aerogel compound. I’m worried that the boron doped coating will delaminate under extensive use in the nozzles. I came up with a version that embeds the coating in the aerogel itself. If I can get the curing right, it will concentrate the boron in the outer layer of the ceramic.”

She shook her head. “If you say so. Do you have a minute to talk about desalination.”

“Sure. What about it?”

“I’ve got a crazy idea, but I’m not certain on the details.”

“Okay,” I said and waited for her to spell it out.

“We lease the land around the station, and irrigate it to produce crops. As part of the station build-out, we include shelters for staff and a couple of extra for a school and field hospital.”

“Then what?”

“We teach the locals how to farm responsibly and set them up as tenant farmers. I’ve done some rough figuring, and one station should be able to irrigate a several square miles easily with the excess more than sufficient for local use. If yields are reasonable, we take the surplus and sell it on local markets. We should be able to cover the cost of capital and amortize the initial cost over a seven year period.”

“That’s quite a bootstrap plan,” I said in admiration. “Self-funding growth?”

She nodded and added, “If my conservative yields and market pricing are anywhere close to accurate, we should be able to expand nearly as quickly as we can build plants.”

“What will diverting shelters and generators do to our other efforts?”

“That’s where it gets a little tricky. I think we should actually build a separate production plant. That way, we build sustainable jobs someplace, as well as stabilize the areas to be leased and irrigated.”

“If we’re talking Africa, we will have to do a bit of research for where to build it. There is not a lot of what I would consider stable political environments, there, where I would want to build.”

“I’ve started some of that. Tanzania or Kenya seem promising. Tanzania has borrowed pretty heavily from the IMF, but seems to be on a stable growth trajectory. Kenya seems stable, as well. There are some demonstrations for constitutional reform, but they seem to actually be moving towards a more democratic constitution.

“Excess production could be shipped to India, and the Gulf states that are looking to buy generators.”

Kenya was also on the equator, which had some advantages for the GO-X in terms of satellite placement.

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