A Disruptive Invention

by Peter Shackle

  “OK, that would be nice,” said Judy. John was observant enough to see a tear run down her face.

  Chapter 58

  The Electrolev staff were allowed to book themselves into hotels of their own taste. John and Judy had chosen the Paris hotel again since they had really enjoyed the romantic ambiance last time and were hoping to repeat their previous delightful experiences.

  A short while after getting back, they met up at Mon Ami Gabi and got themselves seated for dinner. Over a glass of burgundy, John led off the conversation: “I could see that you were pretty upset by this whole episode with the Russians,” he remarked.

  “Well don’t you think I had a right to be?” responded Judy. “I was just starting to feel comfortable and secure in my relationship with Tony back in Long Beach when he was shot by that Russian agent and it simply tore my world apart. So now when this thing popped up it was all brought back to me. Suddenly I relive the worst day of my life.”

  “Why don’t you tell me about your life before then,” invited John. Just then their waiter took their order which momentarily interrupted the conversation.

  “My earliest memories are in a large village twenty or thirty miles outside Beijing. It had a defensive wall round it, kind of like what Europeans call a walled city, but there was nothing but a large village inside it.

  "Our house was just like a hundred others made of brick and beside a concrete paved street. It had a corrugated iron roof and was not much bigger than garage of most homes in Huntsville. We did not have running water inside house. There was a stand pipe in the street outside. Just outside the house was deep drain down which water drained away, and there was a stone cover over it near our door. Just outside of it was flat concrete slab, and there my mother used to cook the most delicious soups over a coal brick stove.

  "She did washing every day, and this was done in a plastic bowl filled with cold water. She would rinse the clothes out and wring them into drain, then hang them up on a clothes line beside house. There were always clothes hanging there, outside our house and everybody else’s too. We had to come out to stand pipe to wash our hands and to clean our teeth, right there in the street in front of house. By American standards of today it sounds strange, but we were so happy there.

  "Sometimes I would go out and wander the country lanes, which were perfectly safe. You might encounter herd of sheep or farmer with a horse drawn cart. This must have been around 1990 that I remember, because I was born 1980.

  "My father was teacher, and he had been banished in the Cultural Revolution to learn from laboring on farms. While he was there he met my mother, a simple country girl, and they fell in love. When the Cultural Revolution finally fell apart in 1976, they came back to village where he had been born, but my grandparents were gone. There had been so much chaos in the Cultural Revolution that nobody even knew what happened to them.

  "My parents managed to settle down again in the village and my father was able to teach again. My mother got job in factory, and then later she worked in fine restaurant in big town nearby. She slowly developed into being the manager of the whole place, where she still works today.

  "I always remember that village in my mind. It represents my roots, where I came from. In the main street there were grocery stores where there were fruits and vegetables piled up high above my size as a child. Stores with wonderful pastries behind glass screens, all set out on the street for everyone to see. By American standards of today it sounds poor, and yet we did not know different and we were happy and proud. We had a roof over our heads, a coal brick stove to keep us warm, and we were all well dressed. Most of all my parents loved me and were so proud of my achievements.

  "When I was about twelve, I was doing so well in school that I was chosen to go to a special school for children who had potential to go to university. At the time it came easy to me, but when I look back it changed my whole life. I did great at school, because for me math and physics were just so easy while all the other kids had to work so hard. Then somewhere around 1995 somebody from the government came round and told everybody that we were to be moved into a giant high rise apartment building. We could already see.it on the horizon, a few miles away through the mist. My parents tried to make it a positive experience and did not complain. Looking back it must have been an awful shock for them. Almost for first time in their lives they had indoor plumbing, a kitchen and central heating. The heat was controlled by the government and was turned off on a certain day in the spring regardless of what the temperature was like outside.

  "As soon as we were moved giant bulldozers came and the old village which must have been there for a thousand years was razed to the ground, removed completely without trace. Everybody thought this was progress, and I guess in a way it was.

  “In the school I was star pupil. I got to go to top university in Beijing, Beijing Tech. I had to stay in lodgings there most of the time. Every few weeks I was able to take a bus home, to see my parents. My parents were so proud of my achievements. Even in university I was soon at top of the class.

  "When it was nearly graduation time I was approached by Professor Wang from the Cal State at Long Beach. He came by looking for outstanding people to be graduate students and to work on his research contracts. I interviewed and was chosen. He organized my student visa and paid for my travel. That fall I was installed in a dorm at Cal State Long Beach as a graduate researcher. You can imagine how I cried when I had to say goodbye to my parents. I have only seen them once since, when Lighting Enterprises wanted somebody to go and visit their factory in Beijing and I volunteered to go.

  “In Long Beach I was studying electrical engineering for a master’s degree and working on research contracts for Professor Wang. I did not have much money. Like several other Chinese there I got a job working for cash in a Chinese restaurant in town. They did not pay much, but there were no questions asked. I can remember once when state inspector of some kind came to restaurant. We all ran out of the back door and hid. There was just the owner left standing there by himself making out he could run this restaurant alone!

  "This was the time when I first met you – do you remember we were in EE classes together. At that time I was a first year graduate and you were a senior year undergraduate. I especially remember Tony’s physics classes. To me he seemed so inspired. I somehow managed to persuade my counselor that I ought to do a practical physics class just so that I would have a chance to meet Tony in person, which I did. We only went out on one date together – I remember it was exhibition of Asian art which meant a lot to me although he was kind of bored.

  "When it was time for me to graduate I saw advertisements for EE people from Lighting Enterprises, and I went and interviewed with old Miller. I must have impressed him I guess because I got job. And of course you were there as well. This was the time when microprocessor control of ballasts was becoming fashionable. I made a place for myself by specializing in the programming of them. I can remember working together with you then, for first time!

  “Then you discovered fifth force. We all started Electrolev together with Tony. I had been on a one year practical training visa at Lighting Enterprises. I had only just got H1B visa going when we started Electrolev. I had to get my visa transferred to Electrolev, which was quite easy, because Steve is so good at that sort of thing. Then when James moved us all to Huntsville in order to get security clearance I had to become Air Force second lieutenant and through that an American citizen. That is a really huge step for a Chinese person because you lose your Chinese citizenship and there is no going back. I really envy Israelis and British who can have two citizenships at once.

  “When we formed Electrolev I started to fall in love with Tony. Those were such happy days for me. Of course I had girl room mates. It is not the same as having a guy to go around with. I felt complete for the first time in my life. Everything I tasted and experienced felt good. It was greatest time in my life. Then you know what happened. Suddenly I was trying to carry on and mak
e out that I was a whole person all by myself, but it was big lie. I missed him terribly, as I think you know.

  “Since we have been in Huntsville you have been so nice to me. I have kind of come to depend upon you. Then when that wretch kidnapped your mother and I nearly lost you, I came to realize how much I had come to truly love you!

  “I love you too Judy,” returned John. “You have come to be the most meaningful happening in my life. Together we have created Electrolev, and people are going to remember us for it centuries from now. I am really worried about your resentment over what the Russians have done. A clergyman who I used to know in Iowa once told me that if you keep that resentment burning inside you then it is going to burn you up from the inside and it will devour all of you. There will be nothing but a hollow mean shell left. What you need to do is to face it like it is as history. Then you say to yourself: “I forgive them.” You don’t have to forget, but if you forgive them then it does not matter anymore and you can get on with your life. You can focus on the present and constructive things like building up a lifetime of love together between us. That will heal you and make you into a whole person again.”

  At that point the waiter came with their entrée. John had chosen the pork tenderloin and Judy the lemon chicken. They both reflected silently over the last few minutes’ conversation.

  Judy said: “I think you are right about forgiveness, John. That is really wise thought. I am going to do that. You have got so many good insights in your character, tell me where you got them all.”

  John almost choked over his pork, however he recovered his composure and tried to carry on. The truth was that John had a leaning towards being a loner geek. Talking intimately to a girl was a strange thing for him. He was much more accustomed to admiring them wistfully from a distance. He was actually wondering first how he was still able to keep going after being without sleep for about thirty hours, and secondly how he could have got himself into the situation of giving advice to a woman as seductive and appealing as Judy. The trouble was, that inside that sensuous woman who he had been ogling for the last few years, he now realized that there was in reality hiding a vulnerable little girl who he felt so sorry for and wanted desperately to help in her hour of need, which was obviously now.

  John started off valiantly: “Well, my earliest memories are on my parents' farm in Iowa. It was a little farmhouse, with just three bedrooms, one for me, one for my parents and another for the odd guest. There were outbuildings where Dad kept the tractor and stuff like that. We mainly grew corn, but just for our own use we had chickens and all kinds of fruit trees and bushes, plus a garden plot beside the house where my Mom grew every kind of vegetable that you can imagine. They all used to harvest at once, and so she used to bottle them and put the bottles away in the basement deep under the house.

  "There was always enough food there so that it seemed like we could have got by for a year just on what she had stored away. The walls were lined with bottles all the way from down here to up there,” he said gesticulating to make his point.

  “Just like you I was a star in school, and because of that I was able to get a scholarship to study at Cal State Long Beach. I was in love with the place because they had a combined physics and astronomy department, and I had always had a leaning towards the stars and space. Once I went there for interview and saw that giant blue pyramid I was totally hooked. My Mom and Dad did not have much money, and I kind of took it for granted that they took out a mortgage on the farm to pay for me to go to Cal State Long Beach. I know that they are still trying to repay it, although the bubble in corn prices caused by the ethanol boom in the last few years has really helped them.

  "While I was studying at Long Beach I was pretty much all by myself. I was so much into physics and circuits that I only socialized with a few other guys who had leanings like me. Needless to say I hardly met more than six girls the whole time that I was there. Even when I did meet one, I used to get so excited that I would not know how to start a meaningful conversation and just stare at who ever it was, quickly frightening her away. The truth is, you are the only girl that I have ever been able to have a real conversation with.”

  Judy’s face softened and she reached out her hand to catch John’s hand across the table.

  “I’m really impressed by that concept of forgiveness that you mentioned when we first sat down,” she said. “I’m determined to do what you say. Let’s build a life together. Electrolev is almost like a child that we have produced between us.”

  “I sometimes have doubts about my current life style,” said John. “I really enjoy tinkering around with circuits and inventing things, and all this President stuff is an awful strain for me. Then I suddenly see how so many other people are depending on me and expecting me to lead the way, and I know that I have got to carry on. I think about it and realize that nobody else could do it as well as I can, so to walk away from it is not an option. Maybe once Electrolev goes public it will be different though. We are both going to be very rich, you know. Incredibly rich, actually.

  "I keep wondering when we can go public, and all the time that LeviStar technology is secret it will be very hard to go public. But now that we have rescued the cosmonauts the whole world is going to want to know what happened, and I think that the government will have to reveal what we have been doing. So things may change very rapidly in the next few weeks.”At that moment the accumulated effect of 30 hours of activity, followed by a delicious meal and half a bottle of wine caught up on John. For a moment his head slumped down on his chest, although he recovered instantly and forced his eyes open.

  “I think we had better get you to your room,” said Judy. “Your philosophy has really changed how I feel about life. I love you dearly. Let’s get you back to your room so you can sleep!”

  John hastily signed off on the check and then with Judy guiding him he staggered back to his room for an amazing, dreamless nights' sleep.

  Chapter 59

  At Homey airport, the test flights continued steadily throughout the week. The gen 7 software was put through its paces in every kind of circumstance. One or two parameters in the software which measured exactly how much banking was produced under which circumstance were adjusted, but basically it worked flawlessly. High altitude operation involving parking at 100,000 feet using the solar cell array was thoroughly exercised, with Terry and Harold spending over 24 hours aloft at one point. The crucial tests using the emergency chute were conducted last of all, and worked just as expected. One feature of the landing was that there was a region which could have been predicted where both the horizontal stabilization loop and the parachute were working together. Delia did not hang quite straight from the cords,, the floor being tilted about ten degrees, but when the power system was turned back on the floor immediately became level again, even though the chute was billowing up above. This was really reassuring for the crew. This particular test session was only scheduled for a week because some new surveillance aircraft from Lockheed had been booked in for the next week a long time before hand. In any case, with Christmas approaching the team was keen to get back home to their families and there were no complaints at all about stopping the testing after only one week.

  The following weekend the Dreamlifter came back as planned, and the team followed the now familiar route back to Huntsville. For John and Judy, traveling together, it seemed such an amazing contrast to go on Sunday from the Las Vegas terminal with slot machines and bars serving liquor, to Huntsville where the local supermarket would not even sell a bottle of wine on a Sunday. Even so they felt a certain sense of returning home and security as they made the short journey from the airport to the Redstone Arsenal. It was now roughly a year since they had moved to Alabama and just seeing the seasons through once gave them a sense of reassurance. Inside the Arsenal they actually felt comfortable knowing that there were armed guards at the gate outside.

  On the Monday morning, Steve was all agog to hear from John the details of the rescue a
nd how it had felt. He had been hearing about it by telephone, but still felt starved of details. “Did you see this morning’s Wall Street Journal?” he asked of John. Steve was holding the paper in his hand and so John did not have to explain that he did not feel he had enough money to manage to make it worth subscribing to the Wall Street Journal. He held the front page that Steve proffered to him and read the column. It was not a headline, but a column on the front page of the Wall street Journal commands attention. He read:

  What is Sofia?

  For the last week air traffic controllers have been receiving a transponder code from an aircraft located at 34 degrees 25 minutes north and 48 degrees 13 minutes west, a location in the middle of the North Atlantic. The transponder code was assigned to the Russian military and was given there the code name “Sofia”. The amazing thing about Sofia is that it is stationary at an altitude of 100,000 feet. Our science reporter observes that this must mean that Sofia is some kind of huge balloon, of a kind that has long been hypothesized as being possible to use for long term surveillance of the ground from near space. The mystery about Sofia is that without the transponder response, nothing is showing up on conventional reflective radar systems. In other words, Sofia is possibly a stealth vehicle. The other possibility is that the huge balloon is itself invisible to ground radar, and that there is nothing but a tiny transponder suspended from the balloon. If so, then the further mystery is why the Russians should have suddenly activated the transponder over the North Atlantic.