I was unlikely to ever become as strong as T in regards to Talent, but perhaps I could take a different approach?
Ana Maria’s greeting was quite warm; the hug lasted considerably longer than a simple greeting between friends would have done. We chatted during the meal but when I made an oblique reference to her coming back, she didn’t seem interested.
We finished lunch and made the trip into the center of the city. The old man who owned the shop appeared dubious at first, but when I offered to pay half the cost up front, he brightened. He promised to have my purchase ready in ten days or less, perhaps even a week if he could obtain the materials he needed. Kevlar…that wasn’t readily available now, but if that’s what I wanted, he would do his best to have it ready for me. I handed him six hundred-dollar bills and we left. It was slightly more than half of the thousand dollars we’d agreed on, but I felt good about it. The old man would telephone Ana Maria when he finished and I would meet her before picking up my purchase. She might even decide that she wanted one for herself!
Chapter Twenty
T:
T made a number of contacts at the symposium, as well as sounding out the scientists regarding the conclusions they’d come to. The consensus was that the relatively-sudden spate of activity was worrisome, and that they felt the need for more monitoring stations at various places from Wyoming to Texas.
Unfortunately, they had no money just yet to set up the stations. Would T and R LLC be willing to do some of the work on spec, that is, to speculate on getting paid after the grants were approved? Assuming, of course, that the grants were approved, which the scientists seemed to think was a lock. It only took time, and surely as soon as the government understood the urgency the money would begin to flow.
T finally agreed in principal to do at least some of the necessary work, but balked at agreeing to travel long distances to emplace the monitoring stations. ‘Fuel’ for the ‘helicopter drones’ was a consideration, he said. T and R would need letters of authorization from various agencies, not only the universities involved but government agencies as well. T pointed out that some of the locations might be on military reservations, so they’d need authorization from the Department of Defense and the departments of the Army and Air Force too.
Professor Goodfellow and Doctor Chew would serve as primary contacts for the loose assembly of academics and would pass information back and forth as necessary.
The prospect of entry to various far-flung government installations caused T to barely conceal his satisfaction until he had reached his truck. A number of other locations for prospecting had aroused his interest, but he’d settled on the edge of White Sands because the peak was near the reservation’s boundary. Now, if he were found inside the fence, he had an excuse: “We need to recover our drone. It’s a scientific model, not yet released, and we were using it for geologic surveying. It went down near here, so if you see it, would you give us a call?”
But for now, he had other things to do.
T brought Ray up to date on what he’d agreed to do for the scientists before discussing his next activity.
He came back in a moment.
I read off the altitude reading and coordinates I’d copied from the GPS as T copied them down.
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