by Karl, Victor
Two days later, we were flying to Newark airport on Southwest Airline flight. I made a giant mistake. I let Bill make the reservations and he booked them on Southwest even though there was a connecting flight through Chicago when there were plenty of other airlines with direct flights. Unfortunately, I did not look at my ticket until we were at the airport and it was too late to do anything. Apparently, the professor loved the people at Southwest and thought the extra time was worth it. It have to admit that the big dude at the gate counter had a great voice and sang 3 or 4 songs while we waited, and a male flight attendant had an excellent standup comedy routine and better than ones I have seen in clubs.
Taking advantage of his captive audience, Bill broke out a series of diagrams that he thought he had been secretly working on. It showed the H2 Hummer with its fossil fuel motor ripped out and in its place were two electric DC motors, although there was a caption to consider AC motors. There were also detailed diagrams of how the Power Pad would be integrated into the engine hood as well as the roof. Off came the chrome roof racks to make room for the Power Pad. Bill had really done his homework. He had separate diagrams on how he would tie one of the motors into the drive train of the front two wheels and the other motor for the rear wheels. There were detailed drawings of how the accelerator function would work from the driver’s seat and a number of electrical pumps controlling all the things that the original motor made happen such as a minor thing like brakes. Left off for now, was heating and air conditioning.
I felt Bill staring at me so I looked at him and he said “well?” “I hope you know that I knew you were going to do this to the Hummer,” I told him and laughed. “Man you did your homework. From what I can see and I do not know a lot about electric cars, but I think this is doable.” “You don’t mind having the company foot the bill on this one do you,” Bill cautiously asked?” “Absolutely not” I responded. “Before we are done, we are going to need a number of different proof-of-concepts and what better way to show the benefits of Electricus than to take such an icon of fuel gluttony like the Hummer and show how it can be resurrected into a mean ass vehicle with little impact on the environment.” “I’ll help you pull the engine when we return,” I said.
For the rest of the flight we talked about how to completely convert our home and shop away from the electrical and gas utility companies. The only bummer item for me was the 16- month old gas furnace I had put in to help keep the cost lower for heating Chez Rico. I already had an electric hot water on demand system in place so that would be easy. They only thing I would need to keep gas for was my stove and grill, because I loved cooking with gas. Since it was a previous machine shop, there were two 200-amp panels for the building. Some simple load calculations should show us how many additional Power Pads to install.
As a joke and for research purposes, we rented a Camry Hybrid at the airport. I was amazed at how quiet it ran when running on the battery and not the gas motor. I planned to drop it off in Manahawkin, New Jersey and use my pickup truck parked in the garage at my house on LBI. My friends and their families regularly used the place and they had looked after it for me for the last 2 years. They were more than happy to do this, because Long Beach Island had the same effect on everyone who relaxed along its beaches and that was to get so relaxed you never wanted to leave. If you left, you could not wait to get back. It took just over 2 hours to get there with moderate evening traffic. As I pulled down the private lane and saw that old Victorian home with the ginger bread trim, I had an immediate flashback to when my parents were alive and how I used to lug my shovel and buckets down to the water. My father loved the water, but my mom was fearful of it. It was always better when dad was there since he would take me out past the breakers and toss me over the wave tops. As I drove up to the front porch amidst the sound of driving over a bed of crushed shells, I actually felt some moisture in my eyes.
We opened the house, killed the alarm and opened a few windows. It was cool still since it was early June but the fresh ocean breeze was a must have. Cracking the fridge open, I could see a good supply of beer and wine but no perishables as expected. There were a good assortment of frozen specialty dinners, but what I really wanted was to go to one of the local restaurants and have a seafood dinner. “Let me check on the truck,” I yelled to Bill who was standing on the back porch looking towards the ocean, “and then let’s head out to dinner.”
I walked out the side door, which in turn connected to the garage via a short porch. The same house key unlocked the garage door. Entering into the cool damp air of the garage, I flicked on the overhead lights to see my way around. The pickup was there and all around the garage hung mementos from the past. The garage was a time capsule from the last 30-years. There were bins of old beach toys, 20 and 30 year old bicycles including a two-seater. Old deflated truck inner tubes that I had ridden high on the waves which were hanging from the overhead rafters. My first surfboard was still standing in the corner where I left it. Nostalgia is a word often spoke but never truly understood. The warm feelings and memories intertwined with pangs of sorrow for missing loved ones and flashes of my life flew by leaving me breathless and longing to turn back time.
Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I pushed the garage door opener and let some light in. Getting into the truck, I was happy that it turned over and started with only the barest of hesitation. I backed out the truck, which had a full tank a gas and pulled it alongside the Camry. I left it idling there since I had no idea how strong the battery was and went back into the house through the garage. Closing the door as I went by, I saw Bill still on the back porch, but now sitting on an old wooden chair with a beer in hand.
Chapter 13: Recruitment
Grabbing the seat next to Bill, I took out my phone and looking at him said, “I am calling Julius and when I do, we are in it for good.” Shaking his head yes, he also gave me a thumbs up and drained the rest of his beer. I dialed Julius’s cell number and waited three rings for him to answer.
“Hello” I heard. “Mr. Filamore, Its Mike Carter.” “Mike how’s it going,” he asked with affection. Julius and I kept in regular touch since he helped me with all kinds of legal advice as well as advice as a friend. “I am actually down at LBI right now and I needed to talk to you about a very, very important topic. Would it be too much to ask you to meet me here? “Mike, I don’t know about that. My week is booked up. Is there a way you could make it up here?” Julius countered.
Mr. Filamore, Julius, what I have to tell you is something so important that I want to ensure the privacy of what Bill and I have to say. You remember Bill, the tall geeky guy hanging out at Nana and Papa’s house all the time. Sure Julius said with a chuckle. “You’ve got my interest,” he said, he continued by saying that he could cancel his meetings, but giving up my tee time was really going to hurt. “It better be good,” he said with a bit of a groan. “I can be there around 11 am if that’s alright with you.” “Thank you so much Julius, I promise that what we have to tell you will rock your world. See you tomorrow and good night.” “Good night to you Mike” he said and hung up.
We decided to head over to a fresh seafood take out place by the Viking Village. It was a longer drive since was at the end of the island in Barnegat Light. Viking Village was where most of the working commercial fishing boats worked from and the seafood at this place was always fresh. As I was eating my fried oysters and Bill scarfing down a fresh Tuna platter we crafted a text message to Fiona, Taylor, Kristen, Steve and Sean. We made the message mysterious but also said how critical it was that they all came down to LBI Saturday and stay over to Sunday. I actually had Bill press the send button and as the phone made a whoosh sound as the message was sent I said, “Game on.”
After a nice meal, we took a detour past Old Barney before heading back to the house. I loved that old lighthouse and all the stories about shipwrecks on the island and liked to come out to the jetty there and just watch the boats going in and out of the inlet. When we got back to t
he house I did my best corporate executive impression and talked about the need put the presentation of our life together for our meeting with Julius and then our buds. We spend the rest of the evening with Bill drinking beer and myself enjoying rum and Diet Pepsi made with my favorite Cruzan Rum. By the time we were done, we were able to run the video from Bill’s PC to the large flat screen and I had a 75-slide presentation highlighting all of the activities to date and future plans. Luckily, I always kept the house cable and Internet ready since we had to grab some supporting documentation off the net. We both crashed around one in the morning. I think being back in this old house helped me to fall right asleep and slept until 9am. Nothing like waking to the sound of waves crashing on the beach.
Right at 11, I heard a car drive up. As I walked outside, Julius stepped out of his car sporting a nice pair of shades, a golf shirt, shorts and sandals. I have to tell you that the legs were not pretty at all. I went up to Julius, shook his hand, and gave him a one armed hug. He smelled as if he had been sitting in cigar smoke for a long time. Julius, your wife is going to kick your but if she finds out you are smoking again. With a conspirator wink, he said, “Now how would she find out?”
“Anyway,” I said, thanks for coming, and I think it will be well worth your trip.” “I am all ears Mikey, all ears.” Walking inside, I showed Julius where the coffee was and fresh bagels and donuts were. Bill had walked about a mile down the boulevard to pick up some necessities. While Julius was filling up his coffee and selecting a Boston Crème donut, I asked him how he and his wife were doing. Mike he said, life has been good to us and we are in good health. I am ready to consider retiring and take Iris on some of those trips she has been plotting for the last ten years. “Well I hope I can tease you to stay in the game a little longer or even take me on as an exclusive account” I said. Mr. Filamore just chuckled and said, “You’re going to have to show me something pretty amazing for that to happen.” “Walk this way and we shall see” I responded.
We headed into what I called the family room, where Bill was performing a few last touches to the presentation. As we walked in, Bill jumped up and said, “Mr. Filamore, good to see you and thanks for coming.” “Call me Julius,” he told Bill, “calling me Mister seems to make me feel older somehow and I am too old for that.” I showed Julius to the prime presentation chair which he sat down in. Bill went to the desk and laptop while I stood in the middle of the floor facing Julius.
Taking a deep breath, I started with “Julius, what we are going to show you may have a profound effect on this planet and inhabitants. In fact, we see danger ahead of us since we believe we are going to piss off the power mongers of this world who deal with fossil fuel energy and the money, power and corruption that go along with this. This is the reason for meeting here and this is the reason that we need you to help us put some structure around what we need to do to protect our interests and intellectual property as we go forward. If after this meeting you want to join us, all we ask is that you keep everything secret until we engage others or make a public statement. If you do not want to get involved, we will need you to honor our attorney client privilege and forget everything you have heard here today. So Julius, do you want me to continue at this point? Some of the good-natured smile had left his face and had been replaced with a more serious look, but he ably responded, “Continue.” “Excellent!” I said.
Right on cue Bill brought up the slide show presentation. I proceeded to make the presentation with Bill adding additional observations and points as needed. We went through the whole discovery process of the organism and its electrical characteristics, resiliency and ability to reproduce. Everything we backed up with charts and breakdowns to show that we were confident that we had accurate results and findings. We then went through a review of the Power Pad and Power Panel design schematics and brainstormed ways to apply to power homes, buildings, cars, boats and many other items. We also touched on some benefits to the military to avoid the logistics of fuel. Through the whole presentation, I had to take some deep breaths to stop myself from talking to fast, which I do when I am excited. Julius did not ask one question during the presentation so at the end of the slide show and before the video; I paused to ask if he had any questions. Before he could ask a question, I told him that we have a video of a working prototype and asked if he wanted to see that before questions. “Please continue,” he said, “I would like to have the big picture before I comment.”
“Roll it,” I said dramatically with an arm wave to Bill. The slide show switched over to a decent quality video with Bill onscreen doing the narration. With close up shots of the Power Pad, Bill went through the design process. Next, he showed the Power Panel innards and pointed out different hurdles overcome and to how we came to design decisions. With the Power Pad and Power Panel hooked together, the video then focused on the readouts of a variety of meters detailing voltage and amperage levels as a DC voltage. Next, he showed how a power inverter changed DC voltage to AC voltage and caught me on the screen cooking up my breakfast in the Microwave oven. I had not realized that he had caught me on camera. The last part of the video showed the final installation on the roof and the wiring that was in place to bring the power down to the shop circuit panels. Finally, Bill narrated and contrasted the voltage and power settings in a low light situation as well as a full sunlight setting. The video ended and we both turned to Julius to see his expression.
As the presentation and the video had progressed, Julius had already determined that this was for real and that the boys may not even realize what a momentous breakthrough this was. They were right on one account, and that was they were going to really piss people off and create a worldwide game changing event. Danger would be around every corner until fully rolled out. In his mind, Julius knew he was definitely in, but he also knew that he would be busier than ever over the next couple of years and those trips to fabulous ports around the world were only a dream for now.
“Gentlemen,” Julius responded to the two very intent faces in the room, you have my complete and undivided attention.” I did notice that throughout the presentation, you had auspiciously left out details regarding, where this organism came from, and details on replication. My guess is that this information is something that you want to keep close to vest, so to speak. There were a few other points in the presentation that were glossed over, so I think you two have a number of ideas on what you want to happen. Before I say anything else, why don’t you both give me your ideas?
Bill, I have been doing the talking so why don’t you talk about the names we came up with and where we might get some of our initial employees. Without hesitation, Bill began to fill Julius in on some of our concepts. We want to form a company as the first step. While we are light on business law and look to you, we want to call the company Efficio, which in translation in Latin means ‘to bring about or produce.’ Mr. Filamore, err I mean Julius you are right on about keeping our ‘secret sauce’ private. The cornerstone to everything is a previously undiscovered water based species that has the unique electrical characteristics we have shown you. We want to protect this at all cost, but do not know what legal direction would be best. For now and pending a future classification by the scientific community, we want to call the organism Electricus Plankton.
Bill continued and added, Rico has agreed to fund the initial operations of the company, but wants it done so that he is protected and for tax purposes. As far as next steps, we will be speaking to a few select friends of ours, who all have a piece of the skills that we need to get the company established. You have probably already met them and have seen them at the house. We also want to protect the secrets of our endeavor and want to have binding legal documents in place before we divulge any information. Lastly, we would like to draw up ownership bylaws. Rico and I will take equal shares of the company however we would like to offer our friends a small ownership stake in the company that is condition based. This will also apply to you Julius. “Bill if I may add one mo
re thing” I interjected, “we will need help at some point finding the money needed to fund factory and production costs and are interested in any ideas that you may have.”
“Mike, why don’t you sit down in my chair since I need to walk around while I speak,” Julius ordered. “First, I think you both are coming at it the right way. You will need to start taking baby steps and make sure you have a solid base as the foundation of this fledgling company. This is not easy by any means and much of this will have to be done through legally binding documents and meet regulatory requirements. Jumping to funding, you will not have any issue finding investors. Your two biggest issues will be to find the right investors and to strike a balance on what level of detail you will need to provide to them to get them onboard. I am very concerned, as I believe you are that if information got out prematurely, people, companies and even countries will come at you fast and furious trying to pressure you for part of the action. This means you two should not give out any more shares of the company than you have to. If this company takes off the way I expect, you could offer limited licensing of the technology up front to the highest bidder and use that money to really grow the company without taking on too many investors or listing the company on the stock exchange and doing an initial public offering better known as an IPO.”
“Mike… Bill, get some professional security people involved now! After this weekend, do not give information out to anyone else until you have you lab, your data, specimens and prototypes under tight security. Guys…you and your initial employees will also need protection. Believe me when I say this, you and your company are a serious threat to the financial well-being of many, many different people across the globe. It is obvious, that fossil fuel is not going to be front and center to the economies and well-being for anyone. If you do not mind, I would like to stay over for the meeting with your friends. I have my PC in the car and can start writing up the confidentiality agreements that you will need your friends to sign. I also need to write a few things up to formalize our relationship. My recommendation is that I act as outside legal counsel initially, but after incorporation, you bring me on as an employee. I would also like to bring my wife Iris in on this since I will need office help big time and she has done that admirably in the past and she is also trained as a legal clerk and a darn good researcher.” Bill and I both agreed in unison to Julius’s suggestions and felt good that it was obvious that he was on board for the long haul. “Julius, there is one other thing that we want to run by you…”