“Just Daphne?”
“Yes, Daphne, not Daffy, or Dappy, or Ne like in Monte Python. Just Daphne.”
“Unusual name. You don’t hear it much.”
“My parents were Brits, and watched too many old movies.”
“English? I would never have guessed from the accent.”
“Oh, they came over after the Vietnam War. I was born here in Saint Lou. So are you a student?”
“Graduate student in English and you?”
“I’m a journalism major.”
“So Daphne, what do you think is the major story of the year? Politics? The war? Education?”
“Electricity generation.”
He poured two glasses from a dark gallon jug and offered her a plastic cup of the red liquid. “The biggest story of the year is electricity generation? By the way, it’s wine. I have to say that, if only to convince myself.”
Daphne took a sip, it wasn’t too dry and was surprisingly fruity. “Yes, some company in a New York City suburb is almost giving away electricity. Ninety percent off the standard price. They even cut the price from the initial 75% reduction.”
“Sounds like some major con game.”
“That’s what I first thought too. We used the story as a group project in my investigative reporting class. We broke down into various groups. My group worked on the mechanics of it. Another group worked on financing. You know ‘follow the money’. Another group tried getting interviews from the company’s PR.”
Doug got closer, looking deeply into her eyes, and said, “Go on, this is fascinating.”
“Well, I had a great idea. I called the engineering department at Con Ed, the power company in New York and kept on calling until I got to their quality control group. It took me four hours until I finally hit on this electrical engineer. He told me his whole life story. We started off talking about this mysterious method they have of generating power. People have been calling it a perpetual motion machine. I scoffed and asked ‘if anything so preposterous could be true. I mean as a scientist.’ That hit the sweet spot with the engineer, calling him a scientist. He initially said no, but then he said ‘yes’, real quietly like he couldn’t admit it himself. I asked how could that be? He said he couldn’t say, he signed a non-disclosure agreement, but I kept pumping him. He finally told me, it reversed gravity.”
“No shit. Really? How did he figure that out?”
“He jury-rigged a device, he even gave it a fancy technical name too.”
“What?”
“A scale.” Daphne giggled and took another long sip of wine. “He took a bathroom scale and glued a known weight to it. He put it all around the motor that generated the electricity. All was normal on one side, but the other had negative gravity. It caused one side of a cylinder to fall up, making the generator turn. He said it actually was a perpetual motion machine. He wasn’t sure about how it worked, but it produced all this electricity for free. No coal, gas, or oil. No pollution.”
“What about radiation, you know gamma rays and stuff. Could they be using nuclear energy and trying to get away with it?”
“Nah, he tested it for all sorts of things, radiation, electromagnetic fields, hidden wires, and other stuff. They even called in a magician to see if there were any hidden tricks, there were none. Gravity reversal.”
“Did he think it would break down or could go boom.”
“He didn’t think so. But do you realize what this mean?”
“No”
“The end of pollution. The end of energy dependence on fossil fuels. If they can do it, everyone would be flying and using personal airplanes. Buildings could be ten miles tall.”
“Wow, that would be the story of the century. What about the other groups from your class?”
“Well, mine was the most successful. The financial people just said the bank floated a short-term bond, with the owners putting up half the cash as collateral, with the remainder a lien on the gigantic electrical generator. Those suckers cost about four hundred grand for the big one they’re building in Westchester New York. They did find out that other banks are putting up the money for other regions. They’ll have the bond paid off in less than a year.”
“What about the PR group? This gotta be an ‘in your face’ kinda thing.”
“That group, which should have had it the easiest, flopped. C H Electricity gave them a run-around. They couldn’t even find out what the C H of C H Electricity stands for. They never could find out anything about this company. Nothing. Even their web page is almost empty and full of platitudes.”
“I don’t know, it sounds like some kind of con still.”
“If so, they’re a Robin Hood kind of thief. You know, when I said they only charge 10% of prevailing rates. That isn’t entirely true. They have a very extensive network of charities, where the poor don’t even have to pay that. Like I said, Douglas, I think it may be on the up and up.”
“So you think that this gravity reflection is the story of the year, like the personal computer?”
“Initially. Don’t get me wrong. I still think that alone would be a big enough story. In ten years from now, this building could have doors instead of windows here on the fourth floor. The engineer said the only thing connected to the gigantic motor, or whatever they called it, was a board with a small four-inch box next to it. He ‘accidentally’ thumped it a couple of times. It sounded hollow and had no fan or other moving parts – no vibration and it was at room temperature.”
Daphne took another sip. She was beginning to feel mellow. ‘I always was a cheap drunk. It’s time to slow down on the wine,’ she thought. She continued, “This was no simple computer. I think that either the gravity reversal is very simple, or this is a super computer. The same group who invented the gravity reflector also invented this super-duper computer.”
Doug nodded, while smiling, “A cabal of super-geniuses?”
“Or a single super-genius. The fact that they have no PR or are, if anything, hiding from the press raises my suspicious too.”
“You thing it might be the work of a James Bond type of evil genius?”
“Imagine all the OPEC members in perfect sync with one another. All that power in a very, very small number of people. Did I mention that C H Electricity is now international in Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway and other countries? And what happens when one group has absolute power?”
Doug smiled, “You’re certainly passionate about journalism.”
Daphne made believe she took a sip of the wine, while looking into his eyes. She finally smiled and said, “I am Doug.”
***
David and Phyllis were in constant communication with the college. Phyllis had the Teacher help her study the material. She got better grades than ever before. Phyllis received her diploma in her split major. David still participated in the Senior seminars. His alter egos helped the professors write journal articles. Many were breakthrough papers in their respective fields.
David leaked that the source of his free power was the reflection of gravity. Dr. Barnes of Birkhead College became an overnight sensation. He modestly said that the real breakthroughs came from a Dr. Charlie Haines, his coauthor. There was no record of Dr. Haines. A month later C H Electricity let it be known that Dr. Haines was a principal there, but he was a shy and retiring individual. No, Dr. Haines was not interested in any publicity. The newspapers assumed that the C H in C H Electricity stood for Charlie Haines. The Ins knew it was for ComHead.
The next time that Dr. Haines appeared was in a teleconference with Ford Motor Company. Dr. Haines offered to take majority stockholder status in a new subsidiary at a run-down plant in Detroit that was slated for closure. Their purpose was to make emergency vehicles, such as police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. The cars and trucks would immediately lose their gas engines, gas tanks, transmissions and most of the radiator systems. The extensive e
lectrical system was powered by a small generator. One major benefit of these new vehicles was that in emergencies the vehicles could automatically fly 15 feet above prevailing traffic to the accident or from an accident at their top speed of 200 mph. With on-board sensors and GPS antenna, the vehicles could fly to the nearest hospital or their home bases. Police cars now were capable of traveling above the road to monitor traffic. With fewer moving parts, C H Motors manufactured the vehicles for less than half the price of previous vehicles. The C H Motors subdivision of Ford became an instant success story. The only restrictions were a stated inability of the vehicles to operate across international boundaries without authorization and the secrecy provision. Nor was anyone allowed to try to examine the anti-gravity units or computer. The penalty was the immediate and permanent grounding of the vehicle and not allowing the perpetrator to use any C H Motors vehicle again.
One problem David hadn’t anticipated was the number of committees, laws and regulations, Federal, state and local, that needed to be dealt with. Fortunately, many laws were set aside for these emergency vehicles. Nevertheless, lawmakers anticipated wider use of these vehicles. David had no problem with letting the governments sort out these things.
The new company got repeated requests to bid on tanks and other military vehicles. These requests were immediately but politely rejected. An explanation was given that “the vehicles were only usable within the borders of the United States and there is little need for tanks within the country. The press release said, “If the country were every invaded, C H Motors would be more than happy to retrofit any tank to fight the invader. We promise that if such invasion were to take place, we would retrofit 50% of all U.S. Tanks within three weeks. Nevertheless, currently there is little need for us to spend our resources in that area.” The signature of Charlie Haines was on the bottom of it.
***
David added a force field projector to his Fiat. That evening they drove the car to the countryside near Marseilles France. David put the car on and levitated three feet. The first working force field was turned on. The force field stayed on only for 0.3 millisecond. Both David and Phyllis jumped when they immediately heard a very loud crash above them. On exiting the car, they noticed a large tree limb on the road. On closer inspection of the limb, they noticed that the branch was smoothly cut. The tree above them was missing one of its large branches.
David grinned at Phyllis, “I think I can almost cross light saber off my list too.”
YEAR 18.4 WATT DO YOU WANT?
It was their lunch break. Across from David sat the Spanish engineering representative from the Andalucian regional government. David wore a sweatshirt which read, ‘Watt do you want?’ The heavy man leaned back. He broadly smiled as he played with his pure-white handlebar mustache, “Señor Alvarez, I have a wonderful ear for sounds, is that a Barcelonan accent? I also hear a trace of Aragon.”
David smiled, “You are indeed remarkable, my original accent came from Barcelona, but I spent some time in Aragon.”
David: Three days.
Phyllis: Don’t get smart, David.
David continued, “But as we were saying before, I came across a wonderful family café in Granada called ‘Algeria Rises’, off Calle Elvira. It had a delicious Lahm Lhalou, I found it had the perfect amount of sweetness and the lamb was exquisite.”
The engineer took out a small notepad and wrote the name down, “Funny you should mention that, my wife is Algerian and we were going to visit Granada next week. Thank you, we’ll try it.”
David noticed Phyllis sigh then roll her eyes upward.
In a quiet voice the engineer asked, “Are the fantastic claims that Señorita Marks made true?”
“I could hardly believe them myself when I heard them, but you could never trust me, Eh? Call Consolidated Edison in New York City. Ask your brothers there. They just converted six of their new hybrid natural gas power plants over to C H Electricity a total of 1,300 megawatts. Since they had the generator, land, and just needed to replace their turbines for a set $80,000 fee, they are being charged the 10% rate. Since they no longer needed the cooling towers, smoke stacks and the enormous fuel storage facilities they are planning for another six. We also reduced the number of personnel on site to monitor all the equipment from seven to two. And that was fixed by the Union demands.”
“Unbelievable. But this will be the downfall of the Mid-East!”
“According to Charlie Haines, the originator of our unique motor, they’ll have a short term downturn. However, there will be a strong need for oil, especially for clothing and other petrochemical products. But they can use some of the older wells for that. They don’t need the lighter higher grade oil, as they did for gasoline. They will be able to sell oil products for the next two hundred years, rather than the current estimate of 35 before they run dry. The power will shift from the oil sheiks, true. Charlie Haines said that in eleven years, with the Middle East no longer the focus of the Western and Eastern superpowers and companies, the people will be in control of their own government, the first time in a century.”
“Hmm, that sounds simplistic.”
David shrugged as he nibbled on some luncheon tapas. He didn’t bother with explaining the dynamic simultaneous latent-factor time series statistical modeling which went into his calculations. After all, sociology was now an exact science.
***
Phyllis concluded her presentation, “As you observed, the cost of our generators is eleven times cheaper than your wind and thirty times cheaper than your solar generators. That is fold, not percent. The per watt costs will be far lower than ALL by at least a factor of four, and after our initial costs are recouped by a factor of ten. That will be in writing. We don’t suffer from the ecological, safety, maintenance, cloud or wind variability issues. We don’t have any radioactive or any other type of wastes. We are as reliable as the earth’s gravitational pull. In fact, there are no drawbacks to our unique generators. I won’t even mention the obvious benefits over oil, gas, or coal, whose price historically has always increased. Our prices are fixed, pegged to the inflation rate. That will be in our contract. You know the effect that economic stability will have on all of your country’s industries, and long term growth.”
The governmental representative stood, “You’ve answered all of our questions. In fact, you were able to do it from memory. This was a most impressive presentation. We want to thank you both for coming.”
Phyllis shook his hand, “We’ll be in Córdoba for the next week and can meet. Otherwise, we can answer any question by phone. You have my card.”
It was late, 7:30 PM. The meeting had taken much longer than expected. A few of the other attendees were listening to their phone messages or talking as they left. David waived to the old engineer, with whom he talked to over lunch. The engineer, who was glancing in David’s direction, waved a finger as he continued his telephone conversation. David and Phyllis walked past the glass doors to the old elevator. In Spanish David said, “Magnificent job, Phyl.”
Phyllis: I could hardly believe it myself; I think they’re all on-board.
David: Yeah, only that old engineer I was speaking to over lunch was on the fence. His voice was saying yes-yes-yes.
Phyllis chimed in as they both said, “But his eyes were saying no-no-no.” They both laughed. They had met many holdouts from the local bureaucracies. Those holdouts were either too old to consider novel approaches, made their reputation on one mode of energy production and didn’t want to lose their status, or were in the pocket of big energy – an unacknowledged consulting agreement, also known as a bribe. The C H Electricity ‘product’ was so underpriced and superior to all their competition to warrant trying to convince every one of them. David knew that they had made another sale. The engineer waved again as the door to the elevator closed.
David: What about dinner tonight?
Phyllis: David, you mig
ht think me a heathen, but can we do Chinese?
David: In the middle of Spain? Sure.
The elevator stopped on the seventh floor to let in a short man, with a full beard, who also pressed the garage level. The man moved to the rear corner of the car. Hilda stood between David and Phyllis and the man. Hilda sniffed and suddenly lunged at the man’s right hand. David heard the shriek. The man’s hand was oddly bent. Hilda hung on to the arm.
Hilda: Gun oil. Terrorist. Mohammed Surfeit.
The man cursed, as he pulled a pistol out of his belt with his left hand. He moved further back into the corner and whipped the muzzle of the pistol against Hilda’s head. David heard a crunch and the dog fell down, Hilda didn’t move.
In Spanish the gunman shouted, “Don’t move.” He pointed the pistol with the left hand at David. “Any sudden movements and I shoot.”
David: My knees suddenly went dead.
Phyllis: I did it. Watch.
David saw eight half second videos of clerks or bystanders swing a fist or club to thwart a gunman, only to get shot. David deactivated the block put on his leg muscles by Phyllis.
Phyllis: Don’t be a dead hero. I NEED you. You never EVER hit another person. Only in silly fantasy movie can a muscle move faster than a bullet.
David: Martin, we’re at the Córdoba building and there’s a man with a gun.
Martin: Give him your money!
David said, “You want money, let me give you my wallet. I’ll move slowly…”
In a middle-eastern accent, the man said in Spanish, “I don’t want your money, infidels.”
David looked at Phyllis, “What do you want?”
Phyllis: Don’t try anything heroic. You’re too far away. He’s scared.
The gunman said, “Don’t move.”
David looked down at Hilda and saw the dog’s shallow, labored breaths. She was alive.
David repeated, “What do you want?”
“Just your company for a small trip. Your phone señorita, into my pocket.” He slowly nodded his head gestured to his left pocket and pointed the gun at her.
Phyllis slowly took the earpiece off and made a show of turning the phone off. Her phone’s off switch was actually an off switch. She moved slowly and slid the phone into the gunman’s pocket. She then backed up to the door, as it opened.