by Aaron Pery
"Thank you, Adam. So now you know what's going on here and why I thought of contacting you to help this newest nation in the world."
"Because you still have great need for products and services to help them be what they deserve to be?"
"Exactly. So I'd like you to think of a way to disperse the coins I'd put on the palette with the engines, and once you do I'd like you to procure the items all of the board of directors would like to have so they'll be able to function better in the jobs they'd taken on."
"It'll be an honor for me to do that. But I'm thinking that what you're asking of me might be a bit too much for one person to do, so I may have to hire a few people."
"Of course. Got some of our old comrades in mind?"
"You bet I do. And the way I think the new engines are gonna work and quickly, I will be able to pay them from the revenues rather than from your cash advance."
"That'll be great. So should I take you back to the truck and we'll go load the stuff on it?"
"Yeah. And don't forget to pick up the cooler with the meat, which is almost a whole steer."
"Of course, and thanks."
When they neared the farmhouse, Marty saw Sue and David standing by the fence of the corral where the cattle had been placed and veered over toward it, stopping the car and making the introductions.
"This is our friend Adam and these are Sue and Dave, Adam."
"Well, we finally meet our benefactor from over the far beyond." Sue said with a chuckle as she shook Adam's hand.
"Welcome, Adam." Dave extended a calloused hand to him. "We been looking at your latest delivery and, as I'm sure Marty has told you, we're hoping that the old cattle disease has dissipated by now."
"I hope so too, because these are supposed to be a highly resilient breed."
"We won't be able to tell until after the cows go into heat if they are. But boy, are these creatures ever dumb."
"One of the dumbest animals on earth, which maybe is why we prize their meat so much."
"As opposed to the supposed horses we had?"
"Which Marty told me about, a fact that kind of horrified me."
"And all of us as well. But that's in the past and we need to forget about it."
"It seems that quite a few of your people here haven't because of the terrible looks they'd all given me."
"Which is not surprising since you're the only two-legged creature they'd ever seen other than the Gogians, while Sue and I originally come from London and had lived among your kind of people so we know who you are."
"How long ago was that, if I may ask?"
"Three-hundred years."
"That's a long time ago, but despite great improvements in everything since then, human nature hadn't changed much. Actually, come to think about it, some of my brethrens are just as bad as your Gogians were."
"Quite a philosopher, aren't you?"
"No, just realistic. Anyway, I better get going."
"It was nice to meet you, Adam."
"Now that I met my first adults here, I understand what you were talking about when you said that you're kind of petite." Adam said as they loaded the engines on the truck. "Particularly Dave, who's really huge. But Sue's quite big as well."
"Would you believe that Sue comes from the royal British family?"
"You mean she's a real princess?"
"That's right, of three-hundred years ago. We got quite a few hoity-toities from that period, but none behave as though they were. Heck, we even got us a Marine general among them."
"Sounds like an interesting crowd."
"You'll meet them all eventually. Now, about anyone you recruit, be careful not to reveal anything to them that might compromise us."
"Of course not, General."
"Good." Marty gave him a warm hug before they parted. "Have a good trip back home, Adam."
"Thank you, Marty, for everything."
Marty waited until he closed the overhead door before moving the local tunnel exit to her home, where she carried the cooler to the kitchen and emptied it into the refrigerator.
Chapter 27
As they had agreed upon, Adam reported his activities via teleconferencing two weeks later. This time, since whatever he accomplished concerned the entire board, they ran it from Government House with everyone present after Paula and one of her electronics experts had installed cameras all around the room when Adam contacted Marty.
"Hi, Adam. We're talking today from the Minoan Government House, with our entire cabinet present. So I'll let everyone introduce themselves starting with the president, Ms. Jenny Thompson and then go around the room."
"Good morning to you. It's a pleasure for me to finally meet you, Madam President." Adam said, sounding very officious.
"And mine as well, Adam. And since we don't stand on ceremonies here, you must address me as Jenny. Now let's go on with the introductions."
Once they were done Marty started the conference. "How about our wish list, Adam, any progress on that?"
"Major progress, Marty, because as we'd discussed, I'd hired or contracted a bunch of my old scrounger group across the country to locate and buy everything you'd asked for."
Marty chuckled. "If they are who I think they are, then they must've come up with everything."
"Exactly, Ma'am. From premium roasted Columbian coffee, three tons of, and an assortment of electric and hand-cranked grinders, which I understood your wish for after drinking the chicory ersatz stuff in your cafeteria. Anyway, I got the coffee and two tons of printer paper, tool kits, a huge amount of toiletries, long-sleeved shirts and blouses, and a bunch of other stuff stored in a huge shed that I got on my property. It's fully secured and fumigated, and is ready to be delivered to Baltimore."
"Forget Baltimore for now because we can make a direct transfer between your own warehouse and one we'd assigned here for the purpose. So if you pinpoint me to where yours is located and I'll move the tunnel entrances to both ends as soon as the meeting is over and send a bunch of strong-muscled kids to pick it all up."
"Excellent because the place is literally bulging at the seams. And have it done after midnight my time so no one's around."
"Tonight. Anyway, how is it going with the gold coins?"
Adam chuckled. "What coins? They're all gone."
"How can that be? We gave you a hundred-thousand of them."
"The way it happened was that as soon as I got home I put on an ad on the internet directed to a group of collectors and expected to sell them in small lots as collector's items. Well, to my surprise, I got a visit the next morning from an Indian gentleman who wanted to buy the whole lot, which I was delighted to do."
"How much for each, and in what manner did he pay?" Michael interrupted.
"Well, my dear bean counter, we haggled a bit but in the end we settled on an equitable price of three-hundred and fifty America dollars each. As to payment, he transferred the entire amount into an offshore Cayman account that Marty had me open years ago for some covert operations."
"I remember it well, even its name, which I'd like you to change."
"Already done, which now bears the very lofty name of the Minos Government Settlement Account, from which you can withdraw funds using the same secret code that old Marty had used in the past."
"Which I'd like to have." Michael said.
"Of course, Mike, since that's your job." Marty responded. "I'll give it to you later."
"Thanks, Marty. D'you think your Indian customer will be open to buying more of our gold coins, Adam?"
"He sure would but he'd prefer to buy unminted ingots if we have them."
"We do. Actually, in five-pound bricks. How many would he take if we did?"
"I wouldn't let him have too many at a time because that'll reduce the price."
"Good idea. How about ten bricks at a time, once a month?"
"That should do it, so please send them to me at such intervals."
"How about the US Treasury people, won't they be curiou
s?" Marty asked.
"They already are, and had contacted me about the coins. Which, luckily, by then I had none left so I told them that I only had a few that someone gave me to sell for them on consignment. And that no, I didn't know the source, so they got off the phone and didn't call again."
"What will happen if they see the Indian showing up at your place?"
"He wouldn't ever again because he's a smuggler and will send someone else every time, who'll look and probably will be totally innocent. Are there any marks on the bricks that might identify them?"
"None other than just meaningless numbers." Michael replied.
"I'm glad, just in case these people get caught."
"Okay, Adam, so that's done. What about the new engines, how did that go?" Marty asked.
"It started out a little disappointing, which didn't surprise me since all my claims of having discovered a wonder engine had to have sounded like I was a crackpot even to people who knew me. So after making quite a few calls from the road that amounted to nothing, I decided to wait until I got home where I could take a different tack."
"I'm not surprised that no one would listen to your crazy-sounding claims."
"Which is why I decided to tackle the project by converting a few cars first. So I went to bed after leaving instructions with my service people, and slept for a few hours to clear my mind. By the time I reached my service garage, we had two cars stripped of their engines and my chief mechanic was setting up the new engines I brought to be fitted into a midsize Chevy and a subcompact Ford, both brand new vehicles."
"How did they fit in?"
"Surprisingly easy--we set them up on an X beam fitted on the original motor mounts and then created and reworked a few fittings that were easy to do and took little time install and connect. Imagine mine and everyone else involved big surprise when I started one and then the other, and both fired up easily and ran completely silent. And better yet, when I took them for a road test each proved to have more power than with their conventional engines as they literally glided over the road."
"I'm not surprised since I was impressed when I took one of our converted tractors for a ride and it acted like it was a regular car."
"Exactly. So, in my excitement I called a buddy of mine who manages an NBC affiliate television station in town and invited him to lunch, saying that I'll pick him up in a very unusual car. He was rattled when we reached the restaurant parking lot and I lifted the hood to show him the new engine we'd installed there. To make a long story short, we had a quick meal during which he asked me if I could do the same thing to his army surplus Hummer that has over one-hundred thousand very rough miles on it, to which I quickly agreed."
"What's a Hummer?" Elwood asked.
"A military all-purpose, all-terrain vehicle that's twice as large as any of your jeeps and is manufactured both for military and the civilian markets. Anyway, I was pleased when Ed showed up an hour later, accompanied by a camera crew who filmed us as we tore the worn-out old engine out and replaced it with a new one. His response when he returned from the test drive was amazement and excitement, saying that it rode better than it did before and that he'd like to buy it from me. To which I of course agreed, and he nearly fainted when I gave him the price of one-thousand dollar for the new engine and the replacement work."
"Did he suspect that you might be giving him such a low price as a come-on so he'd spread the word for you at no cost?" Marty asked.
"He did, but I assured him that he can state the price on the news piece that he was going to make and that I'll abide with it for all comers. True to his word, he put it on the evening news with himself anchoring it, announcing that a local Iowa City car dealer had come up with a new engine that will solve the US dependence on oil and will clean up the air as well."
"What were the results of the newscast?"
"Pandemonium, particularly after almost every TV station on the West Coast had picked up the story and broadcast it. And by the next morning every news organization in the country showed not only the news piece but an edited version of the engine exchange and replacement work. Afterwards, most of them carried on shows where financial and automotive experts stated their opinions about the effect that such an invention will have on the United States and world economies. The most fascinating reaction came from the green organizations of every shade, most of whom demanded that the government buy all the patents for the engine so that they'll be able to start manufacturing it immediately and thereby save the planet. Others, though, weren't too thrilled about it because they are afraid that it'll proliferate the number of cars on the road."
"What are the green organizations?" David asked.
"They're groups that claim that the planet will go to hell if we don't drop the pollution considerably. They're so adamant about their demands that they would like to force everyone to divest themselves of all modern conveniences."
"Oh, I see. They're a bunch of well-to-do people with nothing to do but force their opinions on other people?"
"Excellent deduction, Dave, because they sure are."
"So what happened next, Adam?" Marty asked.
"The funniest thing was that I was offered five-billion dollars for the patent by some shyster who pretended to be a representative of a group of investors, which I quickly realized were the oil producers who wanted to squelch the product."
"That was quick."
"They must be scared to death about it becoming the normal transportation method. Anyway, when Ed asked me to give his people an in-depth interview by a panel of experts for the next morning, needless to say I accepted the opportunity. So, rather than tell you about it, I'll show you the interview if you'd like."
"Yes, please, Adam."
A moment later the panel of interviewers popped onto the screen, moderated by Ed, Adam's friend who introduced them as the top news people of every network from NBC to Fox, all of whom faced a jovial Adam. He began by asking Adam for his goals for introducing the engine to the world, and his distribution plans.
"Not to the world, Ed, but to and for the exclusive use of the people of the United States of America and our only true ally for so many years, Great Britain."
"Are you saying, Mr. Marsh, that no other nation in the world will receive the benefit of this invention of yours?"
"Exactly, Ed. And if anyone wonders why, let me state clearly that it's time for all our enemies, who have been vilifying us for the past sixty years in every form and format they could, to pay the penalty for it."
"Why do you say that, Mr. Marsh?" The man from CBS, a dedicated liberal, asked. "When such an invention, if it truly works, will help the global economy recover from its malaises and virtually eliminate global warming."
"Since I'm not a politician but a Joe six-pack as your ilk likes to call the plain folks in this country, let me answer your question in plain English. First, I and all the people of my kind, particularly those who had served in our country's armed forces ever since World War I and helped save the world from a list of tyrants as long as your arm, have been denigrated by you so-called intellectuals and all our enemies alike. And why? Because we're loyal Americans who answered the call of duty whenever asked by our government to do so, from my grandfather in War I, to my father in War II and Korea, to my older brother who was killed in Vietnam, to myself who served as a Marine during Desert Storm."
"I understand what you're saying, Mr. Marsh, but what's your point?"
"My point is that I'm quite tired and I'm sure that millions of Americans are as well, of you and your kind taking the side of our enemies in blaming the US for all the ills of the word. So I and the group who owns the patent rights for this engine, decided that the time has come for us to spit in the eyes of our enemies and tell them to go to hell because one shouldn't extend a helping hand to a poisonous snake."
When the CBS reporter, totally shocked by Adam's words, could not retort to him, the ABC representative jumped in. "I won't try to dispute the validity of your s
tatements, Mr. Marsh, but don't you agree that releasing your invention globally will literally save the planet from all the toxic emissions that are causing the current global worming disaster that's threatening us all?"
Adam burst into laughter, which startled everyone. "Your question, Ma'am has just proved your ignorance about our planet's warming cycle, which has been going on for thousands of years, way before we had started burning fossil fuels. But regardless of that, shouldn't you first demand that New Zealand stop raising sheep, which release a lot more carbon monoxide into the atmosphere via flatulence than the entire US vehicle and industrial emissions? Yet you blame your own country of ruining the world, which to me is traitorous."
"I resent your allegations and name calling, Mr. Marsh." She responded angrily.
"That's your right, which was earned on the backs and blood of people like myself. And I suggest that you take off your liberal blinders and stop parroting their agenda like the fool that you apparently are."
"Please let's get off the insult wagon, everyone." Ed interrupted before any of the panelists could continue the debate. "How do you plan on distributing your products, Mr. Marsh?"
"Product, Ed, because the only part of the new engine my company intends to manufacture is the power pack that runs it. Our plan is to issue production licenses for the engines to any American car manufacturer who's interested, and only sell them the power pack, which is virtually indestructible. We'll only impose only one condition on them in the agreement--that the engines be one-hundred percent manufactured and assembled in the US."