Then she meets with Philip Layland. And now, from the route her car is taking London decided she was heading back to the AJC Fusion laboratory. He had been advised that employees were slowly drifting back to the site and that evidently there was a new operations head directing efforts. The company was beginning to recover from its decapitation. But as Sylvia’s driver got closer to the lab it drove instead to a Claretta’s Restorante, one of the few really decent restaurants in the largely industrial area.
The restaurant was located in a nondescript strip mall, providing no hint or evidence that the owner had moved from Sicily to the United States and chosen this location to open her establishment. Claretta was from the old school. She used only the finest ingredients, with proven recipes from the old country and family members working the kitchen. The waiters were inconspicuous but deliberate and attentive to the slightest sign that the customer needed something. Claretta herself greeted customers at the door. She knew most of them by name.
“Ms. Sylvia. So wonderful to see you.”
“It’s good to be here, Claretta,” Sylvia said exchanging hugs with the proprietor. “I’m meeting a friend. Has anyone asked for me?”
“Oh, yes. You have a nice table in the courtyard. Near the fountain. Very quiet. Your friend is already there.” She turned to attract one of the waiters. “Show Ms. Carlyle to table seventeen, Danny. Grazie. It’s our pleasure, Ms. Sylvia.”
Sylvia followed the waiter to an outdoor portion of the restaurant opening on an enclosed courtyard. It was decorated in a style she used to call Italian tacky, with overdone statuary and several small fountains creating a peaceful yet somehow inauthentic hiss. A little too much, she always thought. If the service were not so gracious and the food not so wonderful, this would not be a place she would recommend. Ambiance is important. Well, it was a strip mall, she thought. What did she expect to find here?
She was suddenly getting hungry, not really having eaten anything for lunch, and it was now time for dinner. And she had not seen James in a couple of days. Dr. Cranshaw and Samuel Berman had come out of hiding and returned to the laboratory. Sylvia had quickly arranged for James to interview Cranshaw to update his readers on what was going on at AJC Fusion. In the hail of events, the eye of the storm had disappeared from the public forum and James was eager to get it back onto the front burner.
After she and James exchanged greetings, settled comfortably in their chairs, and ordered a bottle of Elder’s Estate cabernet, Sylvia recounted her meeting with Philip Layland. James Marshall was stunned. Yes, he knew that neutron radiation could be damaging to metals, but he had no idea the consequences of continued exposure would be so catastrophic.
“Is he suresure that it’s a scam and sure that the damage will be so severe?”
“He seemed pretty certain. He spoke about it as if it were a given. You know, not speculative. At the very least, I think he thinks it’s true,” Sylvia answered.
“Jesus. I never even thought to ask about the metallurgical effects of the heavy neutron radiation. Stupid of me. Now that it’s out I should have thought of it on my own. It makes perfect sense once someone says something about it. Cranshaw must know about this. And probably Berman too,” Marshall said.
“Not to mention the tritium problem.” Sylvia sighed as she said this, weighted down with what was starting to seem like unending complications. “I never thought that far down the road. We were always focused on solving this enormously difficult technical problem of fusion ignition. And then the completely novel and really amazing use of genetically modified bacteria to strip the hydrogen from the synthetic methane. I mean, James, it was all so thrilling. I just never thought down the road. Not about where we would get the fuel from. It’s always been, you know, unlimited.”
Marshall leaned back in his chair with a look of resignation. “Welcome to the club. We’ve all kind of glossed over that problem too. It’s the old limiting reaction problem in high school chemistry. It doesn’t matter how many car parts you have. If you only have one engine you’re only going to make one car. It doesn’t matter how much deuterium you have if you have only so much tritium. How could we all have not remembered that?”
“And suddenly I am the most popular girl in town,” Sylvia added. “General Slaider is cooking up something for me and Philip offered me early retirement on my own continent if I did what he asked.” She found she just couldn’t say the word “spy.” It smacked of gross disloyalty even to be discussing Layland’s offer, much less considering it.
“What do you think I should do?” she asked.
“You could spy for me,” he joked. “I’m so confused at this point. I have no idea what the hell is happening to the country, to this upstart company, to you, to us.” He reached forward and took her hand in his.”I guess you should just go with the flow for the time being to see what else develops.”
The waiter came with a “Specials” white board and explained the day’s special dinner options. After ordering, Marshall said to Sylvia, “Just be careful. Layland is right. Life is cheap in the neighborhood we’re talking about.”
“I’ve got a follow-up meeting with General Slaider Thursday at the Federal Building.”
“Try not to make any commitments to anyone right now, Sylvia. You have to be a little slippery on this, darling.”
“Right now, I just want to enjoy a good meal, a good wine, and a good man. Any suggestions for dessert?”
“Hmm. Your place or mine?”
They both laughed and then Sylvia took James’s hand. “Mine,” she said. He just smiled.
After dinner, Sylvia excused herself to go to the powder room. On the way, another customer getting up from his chair accidentally banged into her, knocking her purse to the floor and almost doing the same to her. The man apologized profusely, as he picked up her purse. He also gathered up the items that fell out when the purse hit the ground. He handed it to Sylvia, still apologizing and asking several times whether she was injured. She assured him she was not, waved off the incident as of no consequence and continued on the restroom.
Teddy London returned to his table.
98
The Geneva sky was a clear, dark blue. The view of the city and the lake had been spectacular even for this city of clear skies and crystalline air. The air was bitingly cold, and Lal’s breath formed an instant cloud with each step as he quickly walked across the tarmac. He moved purposefully through the receiving line, past customs and security, past the eager crowd of reporters and into the waiting limousine. Geneva had been the obvious refuge of the United Nations. Lal had called for a reconvening of the United Nations members in Geneva by the last week in March.
No one had been prepared for a US withdrawal from the United Nations or for the economic warfare initiated against the resisting delegations. And the new announcements by the US Executive Council regarding the successful completion and operation of the fusion/hydrogen pilot plants had staggered the entire world. No one had believed the fusion technology to be as advanced as it now plainly was. Every nation was scrambling unsuccessfully to develop an understanding and establish a position concerning the recent events. For the embattled United Nations, things were no different.
99
“Ms. Carlyle, please have a seat.” General Slaider motioned her to a chair.
“I trust the trip from New Jersey was uneventful. A little easier now than it was a month ago, when we last met,” Slaider smiled when he said this.
Sylvia settled into her chair and smiled at Slaider. “Yes. Exactly how I like it these days. Uneventful.”
“Well, I understand completely. I could use a little bit of uneventful myself. Sylvia. May I call you Sylvia?”
“Of course, General.”
“I wanted to tell you how pleased I am with how you have gathered the forces again, so to speak. How you have injected a sense of mission again that replaced that all-is-lost mentality that had unhappily, but not surprisingly, overtaken your company. I am ready t
o meet with Dr. Cranshaw and Mr. Berman now that they have come out of hiding. Please arrange that, will you? Sylvia, you have done a brilliant job, I must say.”
“Thank you, General Slaider. We’ve worked so hard to accomplish what we have and then for all this to happen, it’s been incredibly unnerving. But there is an amazing sense of community—you know, one big family at AJC Fusion. Actually, Dr. Cranshaw has taken your suggestion about the name and the corporate structure of the company. AJC Fusion will cease to exist and it will be reabsorbed into the parent company, Nova Industries. Working with you Dr. Cranshaw agreed there was no longer the need for corporate separation between the two entities.”
“How is the scaling-up of the pilot plant going?”
“Amazing, General. With the federal people helping instead of getting in the way, things have gone so smoothly. Dr. Cranshaw has raised the energy output target for the commercial plant by 50 percent, since you began providing the funding. He and Samuel have discussed the revenue-sharing arrangements proposed by President Drummond with the board and everyone seems more than satisfied. So that issue is behind us. The methane and hydrogen production processes have been optimized and the fuel cell banks are already in place and waiting for stock material from the nuclear chemistry plant. They have all been tested at over 90 percent efficiency. The DC to AC converters for overland transmission are in place and tested. A full commercial energy production system from start to finish should be online in less than nine months.”
“The gestation period for a human baby. Sylvia, you have exceeded my already high expectations. What can I say? You were the confidence builder I needed. And you have performed brilliantly. I depend on you, my dear. I want you to know that.”
“Thank you so much, General Slaider. I am still in awe of what we have been able to accomplish once fear and uncertainty were taken away. I guess I was the familiar face that made your really breathtaking support real and credible. I really didn’t do much. I was more a symbol of safety and stability for them.”
“Nonsense, my dear. You were brilliant, I say, in getting everyone to see their duty to their company and their country—to see that the team must continue and prosper, will continue and prosperthat is what makes it all possible. The future we all want is within our grasp because of what you have managed to accomplish. So when I give you a compliment, high grades as it were, I mean it. Say thank you, Ms. Carlyle.”
“Thank you, General.”
General Slaider pushed a button under his desk and an orderly entered the room carrying a tray.
“Earl Grey with lemon and a cherry tart. As you like it, am I right?”
“Yes, it’s just fine and, actually, I was desperate for some tea. You must have read my mind.”
“Among my many talents, Sylvia. And how are things going with your young man, Mr. Marshall?”
Sylvia stirred her tea slowly. “Well, he’s a journalist and so he can’t stop working a story he thinks is important. He’s been busy. He’s working on material for several more articles on the work being done at AJC Fusion. Right now he’s doing a series of interviews with Dr. Cranshaw.”
“Your James Marshall is quite a dedicated and resourceful young man.”
“I respect him tremendously, General, even if we may differ in our politics.”
“No doubt, no doubt, Sylvia. A lucky man, if I may say so.” Sylvia nodded her acceptance of yet another compliment.
Slaider came from behind his desk and sat in a leather chair facing Sylvia and motioned to her to take the other leather chair. “I want to thank you for responding so quickly and generously to my request to speak with you today. I know you are very busy. But I am afraid things cannot wait and I need your help, once again.”
Sylvia leaned forward slightly, not expecting to get so quickly to the point of her summons, and she realized full well that her invitation was a summons.
“The council is going to take some pretty dramatic action in the next few days and I wanted, frankly, to fill you in so, one, that you are not blindsided by its actions and, two, hope to persuade you to be a partner in the council’s decisions.” He paused a moment.
“Sylvia, it no longer is feasible to continue with the joint venture arrangement between the United States and the United Nations. The council has decided there is no benefit to the United States in this relationship and will be announcing this evening the abrogation of the business agreement formulated by the late President Drummond.”
“General, I can’t say that I was not expecting some such move, considering the present relationship . . . with the UN I mean. Where does that leave Nova Industries?”
“Well, I’m afraid there really won’t be a Nova Industries after tomorrow. I hope you can see that Dr. Cranshaw’s dream, his entrepreneurial vision, is just not going to happen the way he planned. Oh, he, and all of you actually, will be handsomely compensated, but what you folks have accomplished . . . well, it’s just too big for a private company under any circumstances or arrangement. Nova Industries will be placed under federal receivership. The intellectual property of the company will be essentially nationalized for the benefit of the people of the United States.
“Secretary Llewellyn will make an announcement to this effect tomorrow and he will also announce the creation of a new federal laboratory, the National Laser Fusion Laboratory, that will be responsible for all future research and development of all laser-induced energy production technology. So, I’m afraid, Sylvia, that’s the end of Nova Industries as a private corporation. More or less everything else will stay the same. For the person doing his or her job now, there should be very little, if any, visible difference except the signs and the letterhead.”
Sylvia Carlyle sat stunned. All the struggles, the recent triumphs, the deaths . . . all for nothing. “But you can’t do that General. I mean . . . of course you can do that. But still . . . this is America, private enterprise, initiative . . . America, General. How can the government just take our achievements? It’s not right.”
“Nevertheless, Sylvia, it’s a reality that you and the others at Nova—or I should say at the National Laser Fusion Laboratory, since you will all fall within its jurisdiction, its umbrella as it were—will simply have to accept the reality of the new situation. It is not something to debate. One must simply accept. Believe me, your life will be much calmer and your sense of achievement just as great, perhaps greater, with this new arrangement. Besides, the old vision was Cranshaw’s vision, for Cranshaw’s enrichment. You and all the rest were simply dedicated hired hands. Remember, Dr. Cranshaw shared no ownership even with his trusted employees, the very employees to whom he owed the success of his company.” Slaider paused to give a little time for Sylvia to absorb his rapid-fire revelations.
“Don’t you agree, my dear Sylvia, that this is bigger than simply enriching one man?”
“General Slaider, it was never meant to be just for the enrichment of one man. Don’t insult me, please, by suggesting that I or any of my colleagues were in this so we could make Arthur Cranshaw rich. If Arthur became richer than he already was because of his vision, then good for him. It was his vision, his risk, and his money that was used to create AJC Fusion and everything that you and the government are about to steal. And the people of the world would becomewill becomericher by far by what we have accomplished. Don’t insult the motives of Dr. Cranshaw or me or my colleagues.”
“Quite right, Sylvia. I stand corrected. Forgive my tactless presentation.”
“So why am I here, General? America will get its new agency with or without our consent. What more can you want from us?”
“I said that I need your help. Nova has certain intellectual property that we can appropriate for the benefit of the country, but America needs the energy, the spirit, the enthusiasm, the drive that created that intellectual property, those remarkable successes, to continue.
“America needs the Nova organization to continue, but not for private reward. America needs it to
continue for a higher reason than private gain. America needs Nova to continue as a patriotic venture, not as Nova but as the National Laser Fusion Laboratory. Listen, Sylvia. Instead of working on your own any more, you will have the full resources of the United States at your disposal—the laser technology, the larger community of scientists and engineers who can work with you, who can travel down the road you all pioneered, and a budget that you could never even imagine. What the council is offering the Nova organization is a front-seat ride into the future, assured by the full power of the federal government. What is private profit compared to the promise of assuringguaranteeingthat each and every one of you will, without doubt, bring to fruition—without doubt, Sylvia—what was held so tremulously in the hands of so few?
“I’m offering you a ticket on the train, Sylvia. You and your colleagues. Not working for a CEO, but working for the people of America. Do you understand? This is the opportunity to be an actor in a moment of history. Don’t let me down by keeping to a small vision when the council is offering you a huge vision. Do you see it? Do you feel it, Sylvia? This is not the end. It’s just the beginning for you and your happy band of warriors, you folks at Nova that the future will remember as patriots and heroes . . . if you get on the train. Get on the train, Sylvia, and bring your colleagues on board too. You can do it and that’s what I need from you, what America needs from you. Don’t look at this as a stealing of property. You need a bigger vision. A bigger, more generous, more patriotic vision, Sylvia. Do it! What do you say, Sylvia? It’s America asking you.”
On Deception Watch Page 42