Book 4: 3rd World Products, Inc.

by Ed Howdershelt

  "Hm. Say about half. Maybe less, maybe more, but about half. I don't usually bet on pool at all, no matter who's shooting. That kind of thing can cause trouble, you know."

  I couldn't help noting that it took as long to drive the seven miles home as it had to travel from Inverness to Spring Hill by flitter. After greeting Tiger and saying goodnight, I showered and dropped into bed.

  Chapter Sixty

  The next morning I entered the kitchen to make that first, all-important cup of coffee and give some thought to the day ahead. Tiger hopped onto the table to wait by my usual chair, and as I sat down I greeted him with a chin rub and a pat.

  "Hi, Tiger. Gimme a minute and I'll zap you some bacon."

  "Yahhh. Yah."

  He sat more or less patiently on the countertop as I microwaved some bacon under a paper towel. While the bacon was going round and round I cracked four eggs into little micro-safe bowls. When the timer reached two minutes, I opened the microwave and added the egg bowls to the carousel, then hit the ‘resume’ button.

  I felt a sudden extra presence manifest in the kitchen as I unloaded the microwave and set things on the table.

  "Care to join us for breakfast?” I asked.

  Sue appeared in the chair opposite mine.

  Tiger greeted her noisily and she answered in kind, then Susanne turned to me and said, “Hi."

  "Hi, yourself, milady. What did Steph tell you about me and mornings?"

  "Only that you could be cranky until you'd had your first coffee."

  "Hm. Right enough, I guess. Not today, though. Is that why you, um ... invisibly appeared just now?"

  "No. Ed, how did you know I was here?"

  I shrugged rather than try to talk around egg.

  "How?” she asked intently. “I really want to know, Ed."

  "Just did. That's all the answer I ever managed for Steph, too, Sue. I just did."

  "I monitored my fields carefully, Ed. No emanations extended beyond my field matrix. None."

  Swallowing and sipping coffee to wash down the egg, I said, “Maybe it wasn't a field kind of thing, then."

  My answer didn't seem to satisfy her, of course. I looked her over and then let my eyes find hers.

  "Must be nice being perfect,” I said.

  Steph had never known quite how to answer such remarks, and Sue was no different in that regard. She simply smiled wryly and patted Tiger. Come to think of it, that was an answer of sorts, I guess.

  After I'd soaked up the highlights of the Sunday paper and a second coffee, Sue, Tiger, and I took my fabric hang glider to the flight meet south of Orlando.

  As we approached, we could see gliders in the sky and Tiger sounded off as his wings appeared.

  "Tell him to wait,” I said. “We'll be flying later, after I get rid of the other glider. Also tell him to stick close to us, okay?"

  Sue discussed the matter with Tiger and his wings finally disappeared. I knew the meaning of the look he gave me. If he'd been a human, his lower lip would have been sticking out in a major pout.

  We picked an open area near a row of merchant tents and set the flitter down long enough to offload the glider, two folding chairs, and my cooler, then she sent the flitter up about twenty feet to hover above the row of cars behind us.

  When the flitter lifted we became visible. A late-twenties couple in the nearest dealer tent had been discussing one of the kites being carried to the tow-launch lineup. The man had leaned to reach into the cooler behind their chairs as we'd arrived, so he hadn't seen the event, but it must have seemed to her as if we'd suddenly materialized from the ground up.

  The woman froze and her eyes first got very big, then very narrow. She poked the man in the back and he said, “Yeah, hang on. I'm looking for one."

  Still peering at us, she said, “Harry, forget the Coke. Something just happened."

  Harry sat up and looked around as he asked, “What? Somebody crashed?"

  Pointing at Sue and me, she said, “No. Those people ... Uh, they just, uh..."

  He shrugged and started to say something, but her state of startlement made him pause and look at her very questioningly.

  "Annie, what the hell are you talking about?"

  "Them,” she said insistently, jabbing her finger at us again.

  "What about them?"

  "They just ... appeared."

  Harry studied us briefly, then looked back at Annie, who made a sound of exasperation.

  He again looked at us and said, “This is dealer's row. If you just want to set up a day camp, they're all over there.” He pointed across the green open area at a cluster of little tents and people under fly tarps.

  "Nope,” I said. “We're not dealers; I just have this one kite to sell. Do I have to sign up somewhere in order to set it up and hang a sign on it?"

  Before he could answer Annie jostled his shoulder and leaned to whisper in his ear. He turned to look at her skeptically for a moment, then stood up and walked over to look at my kite while taking a closer look at us.

  After a handshake and a few questions about my kite's make, model, and airtime, Harry suggested that we set it up right where it was, hang a ‘for sale’ sign on it, and share the shade of his screen tent.

  Annie gasped audibly when he invited us to visit. I carried our folding chairs to the tent and extended a hand to her. She rather hesitantly took it.

  I softly asked her, “You think you saw us appear out of nowhere, don't you?"

  Her eyes were rather wary as she nodded silently.

  "Well, we didn't,” I said with a grin, “Everybody comes from somewhere.” Gesturing for her to come out of the tent, I asked, “Sue, would you extend the flitter field to cover us all in order to let Annie see how we got here?"

  She smiled and nodded.

  "Flitter?” asked Annie. “Field?"

  "You'll see,” I said, pointing above the cars. “Look over there, just above those three SUV's."

  Harry also looked where I was pointing as we approached. His jaw fell and he stared hard at the flitter. Annie stopped walking and stood staring at it, too.

  "Light bends around the flitter's field,” said Susanne, “When the flitter lifted and moved away we became visible."

  After a moment Harry asked, “Uh ... Why put it up there?"

  "It's too big for a parking space."

  Giving me the same look of disbelief he'd given Annie, Harry said, “I mean; why hide it up there? Why not park it down here? Nobody'd give you a hard time for parking something like that down here. Jesus! A flitter! Some of us have never even seen one up close."

  I shrugged. “It's a glider event, not a flitter event. It might be disruptive. Besides, I came here to sell a kite and relax, not to answer flitter questions all day. If I bring it down here there'll be a mob scene in no time."

  He looked at me again and said, “Yeah. Probably so."

  "Maybe later,” I said. “After I get rid of this kite. Sue, you can retract the field now. Thanks, ma'am."

  She did so, then we assembled the kite and I made a sign by magic-marking “For Sale” on the inside of a cardboard beer case and draping it over the guide bar.

  Someone offered me $1500 for my kite almost as soon as I had it assembled with the orange plastic ‘for sale’ sign on it. Someone else upped that offer by fifty bucks. I said that the best offer by one o'clock would take the kite.

  $1900 seemed to be the best offer over the next two hours, but then some guy offered $1950. About three minutes before one, someone offered $2000. I took his check and made out a receipt as Rich Engles walked over and sat down in one of the lawn chairs. The buyer went to look the kite over some more.

  Although his most obvious attention was riveted on Susanne, Engles shook my hand and said, “You managed to get here after all, I see."

  "Yup,” I said, “Just sold the kite, too."

  "How'd you make out?"

  "Made a few bucks on it. Where's your kite?"

  "I didn't bring it,” said E
ngles. “I don't like to fly unless I'm feeling a hundred percent, and today I don't."

  Glancing at Susanne, he said, “This isn't one of the ladies you were with the last time I saw you."

  "Nope. Susanne, meet Rich Engles."

  They shook hands, then he looked around in a rather obvious manner and asked, “So where's your new kite?"

  "I'll show it to you as soon as I finish this receipt."

  "Did you come here in the flitter?"

  "Yup. It's hanging above the first row of cars. Field's up. Can't see it right now."

  Engles nodded and looked for it anyway, of course. I finished scribbling, checked the serial number again, and handed the receipt to the buyer.

  "Want some help carrying it somewhere?” I asked him.

  He waved at some guy at a nearby tent and pointed down at the kite as he said, “Nah. Got it covered. Thanks, anyway."

  When they'd hauled it some distance away, Engles asked, “So, you were going to show me your new kite?"

  "Yup.” I stood up and moved a few yards away from everybody, then said, “Glider on green."

  When my glider snapped into being, Engles backed up a pace in startlement, fell into his lawn chair, then he and the chair tipped over backwards. People began to cautiously cluster around me almost immediately.

  I told them it was a prototype and that they'd soon be able to buy them, then I said, “Glider off.” A couple of guys who'd been handling the wings yanked their hands back as if burned when the field-glider vanished.

  Tiger dashed out to stand in front of me and spoke.

  Needing no translation, I nodded and said, “Sure. Go ahead."

  He spoke again and his wings appeared. Adopting a smug little expression, he tried to sit down and discovered that—while his wings were extended—he couldn't. People began to examine his wings as they had mine.

  To Sue, I said, “Now we can show the flitter, milady."

  Sue brought the flitter near us in visible mode. I placed Tiger aboard, handed her aboard, then stepped aboard myself. The flitter began rising quickly.

  At three thousand feet I said “glider on red” and ran off the deck. Tiger hesitated only briefly before following me. By the time I'd landed near the dealer tents, a crowd had formed and questions were flying.

  Glancing up, I saw Tiger circling the field. He still wobbled a bit now and then, but he seemed to be getting the ‘hang’ of things well enough.

  Sue had set the flitter down where we'd boarded it. I probably could have sold a PFM to nearly everyone at the meet, but when I keyed my implant and called Steph about preorders, she said that she wanted to handle all orders through her yet-nonexistent company.

  "Ed,” said Sue through my implant, “One of the tow planes has an engine problem. A number of people have asked if the flitter could be used as a tow vehicle."

  "It's up to you, ma'am. If you don't want to, just say so."

  "I don't mind, Ed. I can lift eight gliders at once."

  "Go for it, then. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

  A reporter from the Orlando paper eagerly approached me as I pulled a Dr Pepper from my cooler. I told him only that my kite was a demo unit and that they'd be commercially available at a later date.

  He then tried to approach Susanne, but before he could reach the flitter it lifted. Eight gliders had assembled together as she'd instructed. She hovered above them and field-slung them underneath, then headed skyward.

  Keying my implant, I said, “Steph."

  "Yes, Ed."

  "There's a reporter here. You could probably pick up some good pre-publicity if you dropped in to talk to him."

  "Thank you, Ed. I'll be right there."

  She appeared between two vans and walked toward me in her usual shades-of-green business outfit, looking a trifle formally-dressed for an outdoor event.

  Somewhere around three thousand feet Sue began releasing her passengers one at a time during her ascent. When the last one dropped free she brought the flitter down for another load of gliders. Again the reporter tried to reach her.

  Steph and I stepped aboard the flitter and I told the reporter to join us, then I indicated Steph as the flitter began rising and we all sat down. The nervous reporter's attention was split between us and watching the ground recede.

  "This is Stephanie Montgomery,” I said. “That's Sue at the console and I'm Ed. Ms. Montgomery will be answering your questions concerning PFM's."

  The reporter shook our hands as he introduced himself as Steve Wright and asked if he could take some pictures. I looked at Steph and she nodded. Sue shrugged.

  "Okay, then,” I said with a grin, “As long as the pictures are flattering, of course."

  Steve grinningly looked at Steph, then at Sue, and said, “Not to worry. Any pictures of these ladies will be flattering."

  As he aimed his camera at Steph, I said, “The glider you saw me flying is a product of Ms. Montgomery's expertise with field technology."

  We angled toward Tiger and Sue said something to him in cat. He answered and his wings disappeared as Sue fielded him aboard the flitter. He proudly took his usual place on the dash and began washing himself, probably as a way to relax.

  As Wright's attention was diverted with Tiger, Sue and I sprouted field-manifested PFM's on our arms.

  Steph pointed to them as she said, “Portable Field Manipulators such as these will soon be available to the public, Mr. Wright..."

  "Steve, please,” said Steve, apparently not realizing that we hadn't been wearing PFM's before he boarded the flitter.

  "...Steve,” continued Steph, “The PFM units will have several functions available upon verbal commands and each unit will be keyed to an individual owner. Only the registered owner of a PFM will be able to command it."

  She paused and gestured over the side, then asked, “Will you want pictures of those gliders being released?"

  Steve glanced at a kite slipping away from us and aimed his camera that direction as he said, “Yes! And thanks for reminding me."

  He snapped several frames of the release event. When all the kites had been launched he turned to snap more pictures of the flitter, Steph, and Sue. I was standing at the other end of the deck, and when he turned my way I set my Dr Pepper bottle on the deck and said, “Glider on green."

  My kite snapped into being above me and Steve nearly dropped his camera, then he reorganized a bit and took several quick pictures as I turned and dove off the end of the deck and beyond. As soon as I had air under my wings I cycled the glider through red, yellow, gray, black, and back to green, then keyed my implant to call Steph.

  "Well, milady, he's had a PFM demo. Unless you need me for something else, I'd just as soon float around up here for a while and let you handle the press corps. What are you going to tell him about your upcoming company?"

  "That it's upcoming, of course, and to expect a formal press conference later. I suppose I should leave with you and Sue rather than simply vanishing."

  "Yeah, probably so, unless you want to try to sneak off to someplace fairly private and disappear. There are some portapotties behind the parking lot..."

  Steph laughed. “I think not."

  "Steph, I've been thinking about how I might be able to use my implant to push or pull air. I was thinking of trying to make a field turbine."

  "Would you like me to add one to your implant's capabilities?"

  "No, but thanks. I'd like to see if I can come up with this item on my own. If I can't, I'll holler later or get with Sue about it. How's that?"

  "Okay. This should be rather interesting, I think."

  For a moment I thought there might have been a humorous poke at me in her words, but in reviewing both the words and her tone, I couldn't find it.

  "Yeah, that's partly why I'm doing it, Steph."

  Steph apparently noticed my hesitation in answering.

  "Ed, that wasn't any sort of jibe at all. You tend to do things that interest me fairly often."

 
"Understood, Steph. Sorry the thought even crossed my mind, milady. Could it be that you've become so humanlike that I'm having trouble differentiating? A human might have taken that shot, though, just for a giggle."

  There was definitely humor in her words this time.

  "Oh, I was quite aware of the opportunity, Ed."

  I fussed with various designs until one of them moved a sufficient volume of air and propelled me forward well enough to negate the usual descent ratio. I'd lost a considerable amount of altitude and Tiger wasn't far away.

  A bit of tinkering improved the design until I was able to actually gain altitude slowly. I felt pretty good about my accomplishment as I climbed slowly into the sky without having to find a thermal. When Tiger yelled from below and behind me, Sue said that he wanted me to take him up, too.

  Extending a tendril to Tiger, I towed him upward and released him when I leveled off at around five thousand feet.

  After two more hours I began to wish I'd bothered about lunch as I circled the event at about two thousand feet. It was nearly four, so I asked Sue if she'd had enough of hauling people into the sky for the day.

  "Ed, are you implying that you're ready to leave?"

  "Yeah, but if you and Steph are having fun I'll just grab a burger and stand by a while."

  A full second went by before she answered, “We can leave anytime, Ed."

  "You sure?"

  "Yes, Ed."

  I banked sharply to spill altitude and said, “Well, then, I'll land and grab the cooler. We'll head home so I can clean up, then I'll take you lovely ladies to a nice restaurant if you want. How's that?"

  Laughing, Steph said, “Oh, golly! Oh, gee! Such generosity!"

  Sue said dryly, “Maybe he forgot that we don't eat."

  I nosed the kite downward, aiming at the line of dealer tents as I said, “Well, one of us has to eat. Do you have a better idea that involves food, milady?"

  My kite streaked past the flitter on an angle of about forty degrees. A hundred feet or so from the ground I leveled off, then pulled the nose up a bit to slow down as I approached the tents. Dipping the nose again, my feet came within perhaps a yard of the grassy field. I flared twice to kill speed, said, “Glider off,” and dropped about two feet to the ground almost directly in front of the tent that held our cooler and chairs.