Rows of tables were set up across the hangar for the staff to sit at, and a sound system was set up to play Christmas themed music. With the recent success of the Sofia rescue and the press photo op that had just taken place, everybody was feeling in buoyant spirits. Judy and John had gravitated to a corner by themselves and were quietly sipping wine and enjoying the ambiance. John said: “The day after tomorrow I am going to drive to my parents’ place near Cedar Rapids Iowa to be there for Christmas. Remember that you already accepted my Mom’s invitation to come and stay over Christmas.”
“How far away is it?” queried Judy thoughtfully. “It’s about 750 miles altogether,” said John. “It will take all day to get there, but it’s worth it because there is no chance to get flights this close to Christmas. I thought of driving back here just before New Year.”
“I’d love to come,” said Judy. “Are you sure they won’t mind having me?”
“Mom and I have already told my Dad about you and he can’t wait to meet you. In fact he almost begged me to bring you,” replied John.
And so it was that John and Judy made the pilgrimage to Cedar Rapids for Christmas. As far as John was concerned it was the happiest Christmas of his entire life. Somehow experiences seemed to have more meaning when he was with Judy, and all their time together was filled with little jokes and merriment. Judy had never experienced life in a small farm house before, and for her it was quite a magical experience especially since there was not that much work to be done around the farm at Christmas, and so John’s parents were able to focus on being hospitable. There were sincere hugs and kisses all around when the two of them left for the long drive down south to Huntsville.
Early in the New Year another round of Delia test flights were planned at Homey airport. Since the existence of the Delias was now public knowledge and their flying capability was well established, for the first time the Delias were flown to Homey airport under their own power. One of the things on the agenda was to try out higher altitude operation in which a Delia was organized to park and gather energy using its solar cells before proceeding on to a higher altitude. Other tests involved running entirely on gen 7 flight control software on both the flight processors, as opposed to having the main one on gen 7 and the backup on gen 6, which had been done up until now.
On the Tuesday of the first week, John and Judy were to take Delia 2 up to 100,000 feet and thoroughly try out the gen 7 software using the hydrazine thrusters. They were both wearing blue astronaut flight suits. John was carrying a briefcase like pilots use for maps and flight papers. Pressure suits were packed in the vehicle in case of emergency, but for these low risk tests there was no intention of using them. Following by now standard procedure, they flew up to 70,000 feet with the APU running, and then used the batteries to climb up to 100,000 feet and parked. John called in on the radio: “Delia two to KXTA – we are now starting the gen 7 software exercises and we shall not be in contact for the next hour unless there is some problem.”
“Roger starting gen 7 tests and no contact for one hour,” came back the succinct reply from Terry who was acting as ground communicator.
John turned to Judy, and said: “Judy, you have made my life so happy in the last year that I would like this to go on forever! Will you marry me?”
Judy looked happy and thoughtful, as she strived to choose the right words from her small but effective English vocabulary. “Yes, I would love to!” she said. “I was honestly starting to worry that you never ask!” They both chuckled.
John dipped into the zip pocket on his flight suit, and pulled out a diamond ring. “I secretly found out your size when you were being fitted for pressure suit gloves,” he said. “Try it on – I hope it will fit perfectly!” With that he slipped the ring onto Judy’s finger. She was feeling taken back to childhood dreams of weddings and families, and was feeling quite emotional. For a moment a tear ran down her cheek.
“Hey, this is nothing to cry about!” exclaimed John.
“I know, but for a woman this is very powerful moment,” said Judy. “Do you realize that I am agreeing to put up with you snoring for the rest of my life?” she chuckled.
“Maybe the doctors can fix it,” said John. “I was anticipating that you would say yes, and I’ve brought along a bottle of champagne – shall we have some?”
“Absolutely!” said Judy.
John pulled out a bottle of champagne from his brief case and after carefully opening it without a pop, he poured out two measures of champagne into the paper drinking cups supplied in the galley.
“Here’s to us and to Electrolev,” he proposed.
“To Electrolev,” replied Judy.
With a grin, Judy looked at John and remarked: “You know, there are lots of things that we have never talked about.”
“Uh, huh?” said John warily.
Judy continued, with an enigmatic grin flitting across her face between words: “One of the traditions in Chinese families is that the parents eventually come and move in with their first married son. In my case my parents only had me and so the expectation falls on me. Of course right now they are happy enough back in China, my Mom has a good job running the restaurant and my father is just drawing the state pension. But some day I would like them come and live with us.”
John reflected for a moment, and then he spoke: “With all the money that we are going to make out of Electrolev stock options, we can easily afford to buy them a house right next to ours. If we are living normally in Huntsville by then, there are some lovely housing areas in the vicinity of Madison. I am sure that eventually we could get two adjacent homes, even if we need to have one built. So I don’t think that is a problem at all.”
“Wouldn’t you rather we returned back to Long Beach?” asked Judy.
“I think we could only do that if we chose to retire,” replied John. “The whole LeviStar activity is only just starting to build right now. Before long there are going to be thousands of people working on LeviStar vehicles, and the whole country is expecting you and I to lead them. Besides that, it is so much fun messing about with LeviStars. You and I really understand how they work and what needs to be done next, but for most people it is like black magic, or at least like what rocket science used to be in the sixties.”
For a moment that quirky smile flitted across Judy’s face: “How would feel about us having some little baby Sykes?”
“That’s great by me!” exclaimed John. “I love being around children, especially so I can have a legitimate excuse to play with their toys!” The pair of them exchanged warm smiles.
Judy once again lifted her champagne, and said: “To our LeviStar future”
“To our LeviStar future,” rejoined John.
Outside the stars were glistening in the jet black skies of near space. Below, the earth’s atmosphere showed luminous blue colors in the distance with white swirling clouds nearer by and the blue color of the Hoover dam below. John reflected for a moment on his journey to this moment. From the laboratory of Lighting Enterprises where he longed for freedom and ogled with frustration a beautiful but unattainable software engineer, to his present position as president of a company about to go public with an anticipated value of over a billion dollars and having as a fiancé the most beautiful girl he had ever met.
Judy finally felt secure and respected knowing that she had found a fiancé who shared her philosophy of life and understood her innermost feelings. She moved over to John’s seat and they embraced blissfully. They had already given birth to LeviStar technology between them and who knows what the future might bring. The sweetness of the moment was matched only by the beauty of the sparkling stars above and the glistening blue atmosphere below. Delia 2 floated silently and serenely over it all.
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CHAPTER 62
Bibliography
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2628
Mentions that the fifth force can be an anti-gravity effect coupling i
n to electrons
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-9126268.html
Contains bibliography of references to the search for a fifth force
http://tech.mit.edu/V105/N58/force.58n.html
re- interpretation of the Eotvos experiment suggests a fifth force opposed to the force of gravity
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/06/science/is-there-a-fifth-force-in-nature-research-struggles-toward-an-answer.html
Description of various experiments to detect a fifth force which repels gravity. Some successful, some not.
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0904&RELTYPE=PSC&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=GA&CommonCount=0
Science finds potential fifth force of nature which affects gravity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_force
Wikipedia article about the fifth force
Also of interest:http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220090214884%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20090214884&RS=DN/20090214884
Patent application US 2009/0214884 A1 dated August, 2009 by Roger Ellman which describes the possibility of an electronically controlled vehicle which levitates itself against gravity.
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of numerous people. First and foremost I wish to thank my wife Mary for putting up with many months of preoccupation during which she provided support and critical reading functions to allow me to make “A Disruptive Invention” happen. Numerous friends and relatives have contributed by reading drafts and suggesting ways to improve the story. Bärbel Dahlmann-Gsänger provided detailed editorial advice and Peter Rosch helped by contributing technicalities on police procedures and with insight on how to structure the story. Michael Shackle was profoundly encouraging throughout the endeavor. Hap Terrel provided invaluable guidance concerning the workings of defense contractors. My gratitude also to Helen Rosch, Christina Gordan, Jim Mindham, Craig Coates and Haidong Wang who worked as test readers and to George Du, Dr. Zhiqing Wu and Lillian Guo for providing insights into the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the USA.
About the author
Peter W. Shackle is a professional engineer and inventor living in Palos Verdes California. He has a Ph.D. in physics from Trinity College, Cambridge in the UK. A life senior member of the IEEE, he has authored 53 United States patents
To contact Peter W. Shackle, visit the website "ADisruptiveInvention.com" which contains more information about the writing of this book.
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