3rd World Products, Book 17

by Ed Howdershelt

  Eyeing the board, he snapped, “What the hell is that thing?!”

  I shrugged. “You told us to wait here. There weren’t enough chairs, so I improvised.”

  Someone snickered, which didn’t improve his mood. Jameson came closer and rapped his knuckles on the board, then stepped back and eyed it from end to end.

  Behind him, Leitman and Toni appeared. She grinningly quickened her pace toward us and I got off the board just in time to be hugged hard.

  I asked, “You ready to go home, ma’am?”

  “Yes! Absolutely! Yes!”

  “Then sign out and grab your gear.” Nodding toward Marie, I added, “That’s Marie. I’ll introduce you later.”

  Jameson snapped, “Okay, she’s here, now get rid of that thing.”

  Raising his voice, he again told everyone to get back to work, then he stalked back to his office. I let the board vanish, which created another stir in the audience. Toni turned to Leitman and he shoved a big envelope toward her as he showed her where to sign.

  I said, “Check your stuff first,” and earned a dim look from Leitman, but Toni ripped open the envelope and took inventory.

  Linking to my core, I had it find and destroy the DNA swab they’d taken from Toni. I don’t think it’s right to collect DNA samples before someone’s conviction.

  Toni crammed her stuff into her pockets, signed the form, straightened and faced us, and said, “Ready. Very ready.”

  Looking at Leitman, I asked, “Is Jameson still listening?”

  I knew he was, but I wanted to aim my next remark at him.

  Leitman glanced at his phone, then nodded. “Yes.”

  “Good. I just wanted to say thanks, and I’m not being sarcastic. I appreciate your cooperation.”

  With that, we headed for the doors.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  We had an audience both indoors and out as we crossed the parking lot and passed through the flitter’s shining hull field. Confrontation charges people up a bit; Tanya hopped aboard without waiting for me to offer her a hand.

  Toni had stepped through the hull field, seen Susan, and stopped in startlement, but I’d given her a nudge. She’d also hopped aboard and rushed to give Susan a hug and showed none of her usual trepidation about flying.

  Marie gave me a small grin as she took my hand and gracefully stepped up to the deck. “Not bad,” she said, “Getting her out of there was fairly quick and relatively painless.”

  Quietly sending probes to check Toni and her gear for tracking bugs, I replied, “Thank you, milady. You know I was just trying to impress you, right?”

  She laughed, “Yeah, sure you were,” just as the probes let me know they’d found trackers in Toni’s phone and her MP3 player.

  As I had Galatea lift us away from the cop shop, Toni startled again and spun to face me angrily as she yelped, “You were going to trade her for me?!”

  I asked Tea to go to stealth mode and had the probes disable the trackers as I said, “Only because I couldn’t trade her for a good horse and a saddle.” Looking at Marie, I said, “Those were the good old days, y’know. You could trade off your excess women for all kinds of cool stuff.”

  Marie rolled her eyes and laughed, “I ought to hit you again for that, but I’m still too busy being impressed.”

  I chuckled and fed her words back, “Yeah, sure you are.” Turning to Susan, I asked, “So why’re you on the lam from the NIA? Did you send the president a dirty email?”

  Toni subsided a bit and took a seat by Susan, who gave me a flat gaze and said, “I invented something. They want it.”

  “Uh, huh. You have a degree in physics, ma’am. Could whatever you invented blow up? Make a big radioactive mess?”

  That got me another fisheye and a flat, “No. It isn’t a weapon.”

  “Does it seem likely anybody here could invent one or copy it?”

  Glancing around, she shook her head.

  “I don’t think so. Maybe someone you know could. Not them.” She quickly added, “No offense.”

  “Do you have a patent?”

  Becoming a bit more animated, Susan replied, “No. They wouldn’t issue me one, and applying for it is what got me into this mess.”

  Looking somewhat enlightened, I said to Marie, “I’ll bet they quoted the Invention Secrecy Act if they said anything at all.”

  With a fisheye of her own, Marie said, “If you say so. Is there such a thing?”

  “Yup.”

  Tanya asked, “What’s the Invention Secrecy Act?”

  “Something they cooked up in 1951. It says the government can block patents and confiscate inventions it views as a threat to national security.” Looking at Susan, I said, “You’re fairly good at math, too. Is it something to do with cryptography? Code-cracking?”

  Susan shook her head. “No.”

  “That means it’s about power. Generating or controlling it.”

  She didn’t reply, but her gaze narrowed.

  Toni snapped, “So what if she did? What gives the government the right to take something that isn’t dangerous?”

  “The government, of course.”

  “What?”

  “It gives itself the right. That’s what governments do.”

  Sipping coffee to create a pause, I linked to my core and had it scan Patent Office records for the name ‘Figler’. It quickly found her application had been refused, classified, and passed to Homeland. I looked at the complicated device she’d submitted.

  It was altogether mystifying, but the accompanying text described it as a means of focusing and directing the energies of gravity to create electrical power. According to the documentation, she’d been able to produce enough electricity to spin a 24-volt motor at over ten thousand RPM.

  I linked to Athena and said, “I think you should see this, ma’am. I’d also like you to eavesdrop for a while.”

  After the tiniest pause, she replied, “Okay, I’ve seen the papers.”

  Sipping again, I said aloud, “Yeah, that’s it. Power generation. Free or cheap. A gadget that would run stuff without burning something. Prob’ly small enough to fit under a car’s hood. And there’s reason to believe it would work. That’s why the feds freaked out.”

  Susan had a kind of ‘cornered rat’ look as she tensed up and chewed her bottom lip.

  I gestured at the console and asked, “What powers a flitter?”

  She glanced at the console, then replied, “I don’t know.”

  “It doesn’t burn anything, ma’am. It collects field energy and ambient energy, then converts or redirects that energy as required. So why haven’t the feds gone after 3rd World Products like they came after you?”

  “I… I guess they made some kind of deal. I doubt they could have forced 3rd World Products to give up anything.”

  “Right you are. They couldn’t just take, so they had to negotiate. Now, why aren’t there cars powered the same way as flitters? I’ll give you a hint; it’s about national security because it’s about money.”

  Susan just sat there looking frumpy.

  Marie said, “Free power would destroy the economy. So would super-cheap power if it were introduced too quickly.”

  Susan flared, “The Amarans have been here for over a decade! If they could make cars like that, why haven’t they?”

  Tanya said, “Governments and societies aren’t about altruism, they’re about control and money. Remove coal and oil and you remove a hell of a lot of ongoing income with it.”

  I nodded. “Exactly so, ma’am. Now, Susan; are you sure your gadget doesn’t run on field energy? I’ve seen the math for it and it looks a helluva lot like gravity on paper.”

  Peering starkly at me for a moment, Susan asked rather archly, “Would you actually know the difference?”

  Looking at Marie, I said, “I think she just insulted me.”

  Marie grinned and replied, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe she just questioned your talent for mathematics.”

  �
��Same thing, isn’t it? She thinks I’m some kind of hick.”

  Tanya said, “Maybe it’s your wardrobe. The shirt. Or that hat.”

  I stood up and declared, “Then her judgment is altogether superficial and can’t be trusted.”

  Calling up a field screen, I linked to my core for the most basic equations relating to field energy conversion. The screen expanded to about five feet square, startling the hell out of all the ladies. The display was filled with quarter-inch-tall lines of esoteric math.

  Turning to Susan, I asked, “Any of this look familiar?”

  She hadn’t recovered from the magically-appearing screen, but I saw her eyes move as she studied the display. Her expression morphed to almost nothing for a time, then again became shocked. Standing quickly, she pointed at the lower middle of the screen.

  “That’s my formula! I mean, part of it!”

  Sipping coffee, I said, “Nope. This stuff’s been making flitters flit for hundreds of years, ma’am. You just figured out the math on your own.” Shrugging, I added, “Hey, at least you didn’t reinvent the wheel. That’s been done way too often.”

  Poking the ‘off’ icon, I sat down and leaned toward Marie to ask, “D’ya think she still thinks I’m a hick?”

  Marie gave me a fisheye, then said, “Maybe not, but I think you may have just shattered her dreams.”

  Susan just stood there looking stricken for a time, then went back to her seat. Resting her elbows on her knees, she clasped her hands together and stared at the deck for a while. When her tears started, Toni put an arm around her and shot me a glare.

  Oh, well. Things might seem crushing to Susan now, but I expected her mood to improve quickly. I sipped coffee and gave her some time to compartmentalize her feelings.

  After a few minutes, Susan looked up at me, cleared her throat, and asked, “So what now?”

  I shrugged. “Well, let’s see… The feds will quickly discover your gadget would violate Earth’s field technology treaty with Amara. It would also collapse most of the world’s economies. The last time that happened we had World War Two, so whether they buy or steal it from you, they’d bury it. If you ignored all that and gave it away, they’d make an example of you. If some oil baron didn’t simply have you killed, you’d very likely get life in prison.”

  Sipping coffee, I said, “So as I see it, if they’re willing to pay for it, I’d take their money, clam up, and invent something else.”

  Tanya stood up saying, “Wait, wait, wait! How come they didn’t make an example of you when you invented PFMs and boards?”

  Susan asked, “He invented what?”

  Calling my board up, I had it ease over to Susan and said, “These. They’re flying surfboards.”

  Eyes wide, Susan at first recoiled a bit, then leaned forward to study the board. Running her hands over it, she asked, “And what was the other thing?”

  Tanya said, “PFMs. Things you stick on that give you protection fields and…” she looked at me and said, “And other stuff.”

  Susan looked at me very obviously skeptically and asked, “You invented these?”

  The ladies chortled and cackled.

  I turned to Marie and said, “She did it again, dammit! Go hit her for me, will you?”

  Marie laughed, “No. I had exactly the same reaction.”

  Tanya chuckled, “I told you it was the shirt. Or maybe the hat.” Holding out her arm, she pulled her sleeve up and showed Susan the silver disk on her arm, then said, “This is a type of PFM. It lets me control my board.”

  “You have a board?!”

  I sighed, “Damn. Now she’s doing it to everybody.”

  Marie snickered, “No, it isn’t quite the same.”

  Looking at Susan, I said, “The hell it isn’t. How much do you think we can get for her on the open market?”

  Marie smacked my arm and said, “I warned you. No trading, no selling. It just isn’t done anymore.”

  Tanya chuckled, “You tell him, Mom.”

  Toni asked, “Why do you call her ‘mom’?”

  “Because she’s my mother.”

  Laughing, Toni asked, “No, really. Why?”

  “Because she’s my mother. Really.”

  Toni looked flabbergasted. “Are you serious?!”

  Marie said, “I had some work done.”

  Toni stood up and came closer to study Marie’s face and hands. She blurted, “Well, whoever did it was a friggin’ genius!”

  Marie replied, “Thank you. But enough about me.” She looked up at me and asked, “What about Susan?”

  Raising an index finger as if I’d had an idea, I suggested, “Well, we could feed her. And us. It’s long past dinner time.”

  Tanya said, “Good idea. I only had a salad for lunch.”

  Nobody dissented, so we headed for a buffet restaurant across town. Once everybody had settled at a big table and begun to eat, I said to Toni, “By the way, the introduction I promised. Toni, this is Marie. We used to work together in Germany.”

  Toni froze in the midst of forking up some corn.

  “You mean way back in… uh… I mean… Oh, hell. You’re saying she’s your age?!”

  “She looks pretty good, huh?”

  “Hell, yes, she looks good! Are you kidding me? She’s really… uh… How old are you, anyway? Sixty?”

  “Sixty-three.”

  “Jesus!” After another look at Marie, she asked, “So… How come she looks so much better than you?”

  “Ha, ha, sweetie. Maybe she just looks better to you because you like girls better than guys.”

  Toni froze again and fixed me with a narrow look, but Marie smiled and said, “No problem. I already had that figured out.”

  “You’re cool with it?”

  “It isn’t any concern of mine, but I’m curious to know how you, Ed, and Tanya came to know each other.”

  Around some green beans, I said, “Toni and I had a friend in common, but she took a job up north when she graduated.”

  Beyond Marie, I saw Tanya had stiffened and blushed a little, but the pink faded quickly and she continued eating. Toni had noticed, too, but her eyes moved to focus on something elsewhere for a moment, then she also continued eating.

  Marie’s eyes flicked from Toni to Tanya, then to me. I gave her a mildly questioning look and she busied herself forking up some corn.

  Susan had caught Marie’s glance at me and looked puzzled for a moment, then shook her head slightly and continued eating. After a bite of meat, she cleared her throat gently.

  “Again,” she said softly, “What now?”

  “Well,” I said, “I’d say to push for some compensation.”

  Marie asked, “Using what as bargaining power? She already sent the application to the Patent Office. Now they have the plans. They could tell her to shut up and get lost.”

  Tanya said, “She could call them from a place without US extradition and say she’d release the plans to the media.”

  Snorting a chuckle, Marie said, “Right. They’d send a hit team.”

  I said, “Very likely, if only to scare her into keeping quiet.”

  Susan put her fork down and said firmly, “The government doesn’t really do things like that. That’s just in movies.”

  Toni gave her a disbelieving look and said, “The hell they don’t. Look what happened to Bin Laden.”

  “He was a terrorist. I’m not.”

  Marie said, “The hell you aren’t. You could put the energy companies out of business. To the government, that’s a lot worse than any number of homicidal Muslims.”

  I said, “And that makes me wonder something. With this level of importance, why was it so easy to get Toni out of jail? Why didn’t the NIA have her?”

  Toni said, “Because I don’t know anything. I didn’t know where Susan went and I didn’t know she’d invented anything.”

  Marie said, “Not even close to good enough. You should have disappeared for interrogation.” Turning to me, Marie aske
d, “Find any bugs? Trackers?”

  “Yup. Two on her. Disabled since we left the cop shop.”

  “Excellent. I won’t ask how.”

  “Tell you anyway. Field probes found and zapped ‘em.”

  Toni and Susan had been listening to the quick exchange, their heads turning back and forth as if watching a tennis match.

  Susan hurriedly reached to put a hand on mine and hissed, “Bugs?! What bugs? Where?”

  “In her phone and her MP3 player.”

  “But they’re off? You’re sure? Absolutely sure?”

  “Yup.”

  Toni had her phone out. She slipped the back cover off, pried the battery out, and muttered, “Oh, my God.”

  Turning the phone over let a small disk drop out and dangle from a wire. She plucked it loose and set it on the table, then fished her MP3 player out of her shirt pocket.

  After examining it for a moment, she said, “I don’t know how to get this goddamned thing open.”

  Marie chuckled, “You can bet they did.”

  Tanya said, “If Ed says it’s off, it’s off. We can do something about it later. The question is, what do we do now?”

  As the ladies looked at me, I shrugged. “Finish dinner, then go for a flitter ride. Bugs don’t work on a flitter anyway.”

  Toni set the player on the table and said, “I’ll leave this here.”

  “No need. I can take care of it in the air.”

  She brightened and grinned. “Yeah! Throw it at the flitter’s field! Watch it go boom!”

  I shrugged. “Suit yourself. I was just gonna take the bug out.”

  “Oh. Well, then. Okay.”

  I chuckled, “You sound so disappointed, ma’am. You could always throw something else and watch it go boom, y’know.”

  She gave me a droll expression, said, “Gee, thanks,” and began putting her phone back together.

  Susan looked first at Toni, then at me, and asked, “How did you know there were bugs? And how did you disable them? And what’s she talking about; throwing her player at the flitter’s field?”