The Thunder of Engines

by Laurence Dahners

  Arya arrived just as Gunnar pulled Kaem away from Prakant, Space-Gen’s CTO. He said, “It’s gone!” He hissed it as if he thought his tone would keep people from hearing, but he was much too loud for that.

  “What’s gone?”

  “The freaking stazer! That’s what’s gone! Someone broke into my truck’s bed-box and took it, forms, electronics, and all!”

  In dismay, Arya thought, Not here Gunnar! And not so damned loud! But it was too late, people were turning to look. They started drifting over.

  Marks appeared at her elbow as if by magic. “Someone stole your stazer?”

  Kaem nodded, managing to look unconcerned. “It’ll be a hassle, but we’ll just build another one.”

  Arya studied Kaem, I think he’s beyond unconcerned and into the “glad” realm. How can that be?!

  Marks frowned, “You had the stazer here? In the parking lot?”

  Kaem nodded. “We don’t like leaving it in the building at Staze. Too easy to break a window.”

  “But here? In what, your car?”

  “Gunnar has a bed-box in his truck. It’s bolted in and pretty secure.” He turned to Gunnar, “How’d they get into it?”

  “Cut the padlock,” Gunnar said grimly. “Must’ve been a hell of a cutter; that was a hefty padlock.”

  “They take anything else?” Kaem asked calmly, leaving Arya wondering why he didn’t sound as frantically distraught as she felt.

  Gunnar said, “No. Just the molds and the electronics.”

  “You had other valuables in there though, right?”

  “Oh yeah. Some expensive tools.”

  “So, this was someone who specifically wanted the stazer. Some kind of industrial spy. Have you called 911?”

  “No.” Gunnar said disgustedly, “The cops never recover stolen goods.”

  Kaem shrugged, “I believe that’s true of ordinary theft, but perhaps when we’re talking about one-of-a-kind industrial secrets they’ll make an extra effort. Besides, we need their help getting the recordings off the Buffalo’s security cameras.”

  Gunnar’s eyes widened momentarily. He turned and started calling the police.

  Marks said, “You seem pretty calm about this.”

  Kaem shrugged. “Not our first rodeo. We’ve been robbed before. Getting upset doesn’t get the stuff back.”

  “What’d they get the first time?!” Marks asked tensely.

  “Someone broke into my dorm room and stole version one of the stazer a few days ago.”

  “Holy shit! So, someone out there already knows how to make stade and you don’t even have a patent yet?!”

  Kaem chuckled, “I don’t think they know how or they wouldn’t be stealing version two.”

  Marks rolled his eyes. “Or maybe someone else stole this version. Even if it’s the same people, now that they’ve got version two, they’re definitely gonna know how to make stade in a few hours.”

  With his inscrutable smile, Kaem said, “I don’t think so.”

  “Come on! They’ve got the machine, don’t they? Don’t tell me they stole a decoy or something.”

  “No. They’ve got the right machine. It’s just that the settings needed to staze something are… complex.”

  “But can’t they just fool around with the settings until they start getting something!”

  Kaem shrugged unconcernedly, “I’m sure they’ll try... I seriously doubt they’ll succeed.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that bit of luck if I were you,” Marks said. “Who do you think it is?”

  “Well, all the major aerospace companies received samples of stade, so any of them might have gotten excited about it.”

  Marks narrowed his eyes. “I hope you’re not accusing Space-Gen.”

  “Not Space-Gen the company, no. It’d be more likely some individual in your company I’d think. Someone who thinks he’s figured a way to make a killing without having to share it with the rest of you.” He sighed, “Though, at present, our most likely suspect is a company. One whose CEO has a… reputation.”

  “Ricard Caron,” Marks said, disgustedly.

  “Ah, you’ve heard of his reputation too?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  To Arya’s utter disbelief, Kaem calmly said, “His people have been calling us and saying they’ve got a patent on stade but—”

  “They’ve got a patent?!” Marks interrupted incredulously.

  “They say they’ve got a patent,” Kaem said in a reassuring tone. “They don’t. They’ve been demanding we turn over all our working models, drawings, descriptions, etcetera because they don’t actually know how to make stade. They’re desperately trying to figure it out in time to modify their patent application so their submission actually works.”

  “Oh… I don’t know about this…” Marks said, looking dubious.

  Arya looked around to take in the reactions of the others. Her eyes caught on an appalled looking Lee.

  Gunnar came over, “Kaem, the cops are here. You wanna help me talk to them?”

  “Why, yes I do,” Kaem said cheerfully. “I’ve got some important info for them.”

  Chapter Six

  Arya woke when her phone started chiming. She had a hangover from overindulging after everything melted down the night before. “Hello?”

  “Hi, this is Rami French, Mr. Branzon’s assistant. I’m hoping to set up that meeting with Staze this morning?”

  “Um…” Arya said, so many questions swirling in her mind. Should I tell them about the theft and Martin Aero’s claims? When could the others be ready? Where would we meet? She checked the time, 9:00 AM! How’d I sleep so late?! Wait, she thought with some relief, that’s late for us, but, having come from the west coast, early for them. She asked, “When did you want to meet?”

  “Mr. Branzon wondered if we could meet somewhere for breakfast? Perhaps here at our hotel, unless you have a place you’d recommend?”

  Glad not to have to recommend a place and hoping breakfast at the hotel would go on Branzon’s tab, Arya readily agreed. They agreed to meet in an hour.

  Arya called Kaem who was sinfully cheerful, then she remembered he hadn’t been drinking. And I’ve probably never had that much. She said, “I just got a call from Branzon’s people. They want to meet. I told them we could be at their hotel in an hour.”

  “I have class,” Kaem said as if surprised she’d agreed to the meeting. “You’re supposed to be picking me up in five minutes.”

  “Kaem! This is Jerry Branzon! Billions of dollars hang in the balance! Watch the video of your damned class later!”

  He sighed, “Okay. But I like asking questions. Getting a degree’s important to me. It’ll make my dad unbelievably prou—”

  “Kaem! Focus! Getting a degree and all is nice, but…” She sighed, “A deal for stade’s starting to seem unlikely, but I don’t want to wonder for the rest of my life whether we could’ve done it if we’d just put in a little more effort. Do you really want me to call and tell Branzon you can’t meet because you have class?”

  “I said ‘okay,’” Kaem said in a surly tone. “Are you getting an Uber and coming by here?”

  “Yes. Should I invite Gunnar to the meeting?”

  “Of course… Wait, why not?”

  “He tends to get excited and say… things I’d rather he hadn’t.”

  With a little laugh, Kaem said, “Like telling Marks our stazer was stolen?”

  “Uh-huh. Like that.”

  “I’d been trying to figure out how to tell Marks about Martin, so I felt relieved when Gunnar opened that can of worms and gave me a way to bring it up.”

  “Could’ve been done more… smoothly,” Arya grumped.

  “Well, there is that,” Kaem said with another laugh. “Maybe you could ask Gunnar to come to the breakfast if he’s not too busy checking with the police about how they’re doing with the break-in to his bed-box?”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to Gunnar. I do think we should ask Morales and Contreras to c
ome.”

  “Agreed. I’ll call them.

  “Should I tell Branzon’s people the Stazer got stolen last night?”

  “Absolutely. Don’t want them asking for a demonstration.”

  ~~~

  It turned out that Gunnar much preferred following up with the cops. He wasn’t as much a fan-boy of Branzon as he’d been of Marks.

  Morales had appointments, but Contreras met them for breakfast. Branzon only had his assistant, Rami French, and an aerospace engineer, George Meade, with him, so there were only six people at the breakfast. Arya thought she was going to prefer that to the circus they’d had the previous night.

  The entire character of the meeting was different. Almost immediately after they placed their orders Branzon turned to Kaem and said, “A little birdie tells me you not only had your stazer stolen, but that Martin Aerospace is suing you for patent infringement?”

  While Arya wondered who the hell the birdie was, Kaem nodded calmly, “Correct on both counts.”

  Looking thoughtful, Branzon leaned back in his chair. “You don’t seem terribly worried.”

  Kaem shrugged, “I can build another stazer and Martin Aero doesn’t actually know how to make stade. This is a setback, yes, but not a very big one.”

  Branzon looked at Sylvia, then at Arya.

  Arya hoped he couldn’t tell how worried she felt.

  Branzon looked back at Sylvia, “How do you feel about this quote-unquote, ‘setback?’”

  “I’ve only known them since yesterday,” she said, “so I’m probably not the right person to ask. But Thomas Morales, the patent attorney who put them in touch with me, feels very confident that they own the rights. If it’s good enough for Tom, it’s good enough for me. He’s very smart about intellectual property law.”

  “Hmm,” Branzon said thoughtfully. He turned to Arya. “I understand that Kaem here’s the inventor, right?”

  Arya bobbed a nod, afraid of tripping over her tongue if she spoke.

  “How confident are you that he’s truly the one who invented it? That he didn’t steal it from Martin Aerospace like Ricard claims?”

  Has Branzon been talking to Ricard Caron? Arya wondered frantically. Nonetheless, she schooled her features to calmness. Taking a breath to relax, she said, “I met Kaem when he first arrived at UVA as a freshman almost three years ago. He told me about his theory, the one stade’s based on, the day he arrived. He wanted to major in physics so he could learn enough to check for flaws in his theory, then was disappointed when none of his professors seemed to have enough expertise in that area of physics to be of help.” She took a breath, “Martin claims they have a patent but won’t give us a number. Our searches of the patent databases don’t turn up a patent in the field Kaem’s version of stade is based on. If Martin has something similar to stade it almost certainly doesn’t have Stade’s phenomenal properties. It seems likely that the best they have is a recent application since apps older than eighteen months are published and searchable. That would mean Kaem has priority.”

  Branzon put his hand out, palm down and waggled it, “Priority of invention doesn’t mean much if he didn’t apply for a patent but they did.”

  “We believe Martin applied for a patent even though they don’t know how to make stade. That they’re hoping to amend the application to one that’s functional as soon as they get our stazer.”

  This time Branzon narrowed his eyes, “What makes you think they don’t?”

  “The fact that they’ve been trying to steal the secret from Kaem.”

  “You’re saying Martin’s the one that stole your stazer?”

  Arya nodded. Their food arrived and there was a break in their conversation as it was distributed and they started eating.

  Branzon looked up at Arya from his omelet, “You realize that blaming your problems on Martin sounds… paranoid?”

  “They’ve stolen stazers from us twice. The first time they just got a bunch of loose components. They obviously didn’t know how to hook those up correctly to make a functioning stazer.” Arya felt surprised to be—she thought successfully—defending Kaem against the same questions that were worrying her.

  After more discussion with Arya, Branzon turned to Kaem, “What makes you think they can’t make stade?”

  Kaem shrugged, “Like Arya says, if they did, they wouldn’t be trying to steal working models from us.”

  “How do you know Martin Aerospace is the one that’s stealing your stuff?”

  “They’re the ones who’re making angry calls about how we’re infringing. They’re the ones who’re demanding we send them all our working models, diagrams, descriptions, and etcetera. They’re the ones who’re panicking because they can’t figure out how to do it. It only makes sense that they must be the ones who’re going a step further and stealing our stuff.” His phone buzzed. He looked at it a moment, then leaned forward and held it out, “And, the tracking device I installed in version two of the stazer says it’s just arrived at Martin Aerospace’s South Texas facility.”

  Arya’s eyes widened in astonishment. Why didn’t he tell me he was tracking it?!

  Branzon’s eyes stared at the phone’s display a moment, then grinned, “Holy shit! That was smart.” He frowned, “Though, I suppose you could be faking this display.”

  “I could,” Kaem agreed equably. He stood up. “I’m sorry. Even though I told the police about the tracker, I’d like to check in with them to make sure they’re paying attention to its current location. Don’t want them to waste so much time the tracker’s battery goes dead. Do you have any more questions, sir?”

  “Sit. We’ll all keep wolfing our food while I ask just a few. For instance, how do I know you can make stade? Maybe you just managed to steal some from Martin Aerospace and sent test samples out to everyone. Now I show up and, suspiciously, you suddenly can’t make any because someone stole your stazer. Do you even have any stade?”

  Kaem turned to Arya, “There were some samples in Staze’s building. If the guy that stole the stazer didn’t also break in there and steal all our samples, maybe you could give a couple of them to Mr. Branzon?”

  Arya said, “Actually, I have some in my jacket.” She looked at Branzon, “Would those do?”

  “Um, sure,” Branzon said, holding out his hand. “I just want proof you have more than a few pieces.

  Arya pulled her jacket off the back of her chair and looked at Kaem, “You have your knife?”

  “You’re going to ruin another jacket?” Kaem asked as he got out his knife and handed it to her.

  Arya nodded, but Branzon looked puzzled, “Why would you have to ruin the jacket?”

  “She made herself a bulletproof vest out of stade,” Kaem said. “She’s offering to cut the vest out from between the shell and the liner of her jacket. But if you’d be willing to go with her to Staze’s building, maybe she could give you one of the samples we have there instead?”

  “Sure. Um,” he said distractedly, “can I feel your jacket?”

  Arya passed it over.

  Kaem stood again and turned to go, “I’m heading to the police station. Call me if you need anything?”

  Worriedly, Arya said, “Kaem, I’m supposed to go with you! Can’t you call Gunnar and have him check to make sure the police are aware of the location of the stazer?”

  “I need to tell the police about another trick I have up my sleeve.”

  Branzon frowned, “Why’s she supposed to go with you?”

  Kaem looked embarrassed, “I’d rather not say.”

  Branzon looked down at the front panel of the jacket he’d been feeling. His engineer, Meade, was fingering the other front panel of the jacket. He looked at the man and said, “It feels like there’s a crapload of plates in this jacket doesn’t it?”

  Meade nodded. “Feeling them through the jacket, they feel slippery like stade.”

  Branzon waved at Kaem’s chair, “One second. We’ll make a nick in the lining of the jacket so I can see
and feel at least one of the plates to be sure it really is stade. If it is, I’ll go with you guys to the police station. A few minutes isn’t going to make a difference. After we see the police, we’ll go over to your building and see the samples there.”

  ~~~

  Arya had been horrified by the way the three men gobbled their food. She, Sylvia, and Rami barely ate half of theirs before everyone was getting up to go.

  It didn’t matter much to her, she wasn’t hungry. Her stomach was too roiled by all the excitement. And by her hangover.

  At the police station, Arya got the impression the presence and fame of Branzon cut through a lot of red tape. Instead of being told to wait—the way she saw happening to other people—a detective was found quickly. From the way one of the uniformed cops had to explain things to the man, Arya thought the burglary of their stazer hadn’t been elevated to the level of a detective until Branzon showed up looking interested. While Kaem brought the police up to speed on what was happening and where the stolen goods were currently located—as they should have known from checking his location app themselves—the police kept glancing at Branzon.

  He nodded wisely but said little.

  When Kaem started angling to have Martin’s Texas facility searched for Staze’s property, Branzon nodded and commented that a search certainly needed to be done because the missing device had a multimillion-dollar value. As they were talking about liaising with a police department near the facility down in Texas, Branzon said, “I’m going that way anyway,” and offered to fly the detective down with him in his private plane.

  To her astonishment, Arya found herself in the plane with Branzon, Meade, Rami French, and several other people she realized she’d vaguely noticed in the background that morning. People that turned out to be Branzon’s security people.

  Kaem, a uniformed officer, and the detective talked to one another near the back of the plane for over an hour. Arya assumed they were getting their ducks in a row for the proposed visit to Martin Aerospace.