Vaz

by Laurence Dahners

  Then he got to the part of the summary that reminded him just how impossible it was. He looked back at the screens where the graphs were leveling off. Gettnor sat immobile, watching the screens. Smint’s eyes were focused on Vernor. With a sigh Vernor said, “You really expect me to believe you’re achieving fusion… energy positive fusion?”

  Smint looked a little panicked but Gettnor simply turned his chair to face Vernor and frowned, “Why not? You can see the readings for yourself.”

  Vernor’s brow drew down, “That could be faked.”

  “I thought Dr. Smint told you to bring your own test equipment?”

  Vernor’s eyes widened as he realized that he did have his equipment out in the car. Smint had known he’d react like this. That was why he’d insisted he bring his own equipment.

  Vernor glanced up at his HUD, “Sorry, but my time is up.”

  Smint said, “But…”

  Expressionlessly, Gettnor said, “Dr. Vernon, this device is producing fusion. Someone will license it. We have no reason to care very much who. But if you leave without fully evaluating our claim; you, and your company, will certainly regret that decision.”

  Vernor stared at the bland Gettnor a moment then said, “Sorry.” He turned to Smint, “Jack, I need to get my bag out of the trunk of your car. My taxi should be here by now.”

  Jack’s shoulders slumped and he said, “I’ll walk you out.”

  Gettnor turned back to his screens, then as if it was an afterthought said, “Goodbye.”

  The taxi was pulling up when they got out to Smint’s car. Vernor lifted his bag out and turned to Smint, “Sorry.” He put his hand out to shake.

  Smint said, “Yeah,” as he shook Vernor’s hand. Then he firmed up and said, “You know, don’t worry. Vaz is right. It does actually work. We will be able to sell it to someone else. This actually isn’t a problem for us… Sorry you flew down for nothing.”

  “OK.” Vernor turned and got in the taxi. Then he sat there.

  Eventually the taxi said, “Destination?” A moment later it pulled away from the curb, evidently having been given the airport as a destination by his AI. He said, “Stop.” Shaking his head, he got back out of the taxi and grabbed his suitcase. He dragged it up the walk to Gettnor’s house and touched the doorbell.

  The house AI said, “Yes.”

  “Please tell Dr. Gettnor that John Vernor is back.”

  Two hours later Vernor stretched a cramp in his back and said, “I’ll be damned.” By his measurements the device was consuming 1,250 watts and producing about fifteen thousand.

  Gettnor said that by his calculations a small device the size they were testing should be able to produce up to eighty thousand watts, but he didn’t have any way to dispose of that much energy. The local power company would let him dump fifteen kilowatts onto its grid according to a policy established so that people who had solar roofs could sell their excess energy on sunny days. Knowing that was as much energy as he could dispose of he hadn’t built the coils or the power runs to handle more. “That would have to be the Mark 4 version,” he said. He’d also pointed out that the device would produce that much direct electricity just from the alpha particles, the heat it produced could also produce steam which could be used to create even more power. With the correct set up the x-rays it emitted could also be turned into power. Gettnor calculated that an optimized device should be able to generate a megawatt on a consumption of about 10 kilowatts. The device would be almost the same size though the equipment to harvest the power would be significantly larger.

  As Vernor prepared to leave he said, “I’m going to have to study up on fusion and look over these results. I might want to come over tomorrow and observe another run or ask questions, depending on what I learn. Probably I’ll just head back to New York in the morning though. If so, GE will be in touch. That’s assuming they don’t just laugh at me when I tell them what you’ve got here.”

  Gettnor frowned, “Why would they do that?”

  Vernor and Smint laughed because they thought he still didn’t understand. When they realized that Gettnor actually had a sly grin on his face, they laughed even harder.

  ***

  Vaz made chicken breast stuffed with sundried tomatoes, olives, and cheese for dinner Thursday night. It melted in their mouths and Dante asked for several extra pieces. Lisanne studied Vaz while they ate, desperately wanting to ask him about what happened during the day, as this was the day that someone had been supposed to come by to look at his fusion device. At the same time she didn’t want to ask for fear that his apparent mental stability would come apart at the seams.

  So Lisanne felt a mixture of anticipation and horror when Tiona looked up and said, “Dad, how’s your hydrogen-boron fusion thing going?”

  However, Vaz calmly said, “The third iteration is working well. It performs quite closely to what my calculations had predicted.”

  Tiona tilted her head, “How does it do it without generating billions of degrees of heat?”

  Vaz shrugged, then frowned, “I wish I had a reasonable theory for that.”

  ***

  Friday morning, Vangester stared at Anbala Singh with a smile on his face and hatred in his veins. Phil Dennis had attempted to negotiate several points and she’d shot them all down.

  However, neither Dennis, nor Vangester, objected to the language of the clause of the agreement which stated, “Querx will obtain a patent in Dr. Gettnor’s name for the use of Dr. Gettnor’s boron-vanadium-palladium alloy for hydrogen storage. These rights to the use of the alloy for hydrogen storage follows from the fact that hydrogen storage had been Dr. Gettnor’s assigned research task at the time of the termination of his employment and the alloy’s capacity for hydrogen storage had become evident at that time. Royalties on this patent will be paid according to Dr. Gettnor’s original employment contract.”

  Neither Dennis nor Vangester appeared to notice that this discharged Gettnor’s responsibility regarding the alloy. That it specified that uses known at the time of his departure were covered but that other—non-hydrogen storage—uses of the alloy recognized after his departure would not be covered by the agreement. Anbala slightly regretted the time she had spent preparing arguments regarding Gettnor’s retention of such rights, but was happy that it didn’t become necessary to use them.

  ***

  Lisanne came home early on Friday. Because of the current economic downturn, Radix, where she worked, had had a loss of demand for their prototyping services. Everyone had been running scared at Radix because there had been talk of layoffs, but today the CEO had called everyone in for a meeting and said he didn’t want to lose anyone so he was going to try going to a four day work week for a while until things picked back up. They were to start by all going home at noon that day.

  “I realize,” he’d said, “that some of you won’t feel like you can make ends meet on a reduced salary and may have to look elsewhere. But, I’m hoping we can turn this around, especially if the economy will just bounce back quickly. This way, perhaps it might be possible to keep every single one of you, people who I’ve come to respect and rely on as part of our team here.”

  Lisanne felt panicked. It wasn’t as bad as if she’d been laid off of course, but with Vaz not working, she could hardly afford the reduction in salary. They not only wouldn’t be putting any money away for the kids education, they’d have to start taking it out! She’d need to spend her Fridays applying for other jobs.

  As she rode home she hoped that when Vaz encountered her at home, applying for jobs, that it might light a fire under him so that he would look for work himself. She didn’t intend to announce what had happened. She just hoped that he would ask her why she was home on a Friday so she could then explain it to him in a nonthreatening way.

  However, when she pulled in to the garage, his car was gone. At first she was disappointed, but then she counted it as a plus. When he came in, he’d encounter her immediately. She’d been worried that, as m
uch time as he spent in the basement, it might be several Fridays before he realized she wasn’t going to work. She set herself up on the couch in the family room to begin her job search process. There, Vaz would have to walk past her to get to the basement.

  Lisanne had reformatted and updated her résumé and begun to search the net for possible jobs when the house AI said, “Ms. Anbala Singh is here to speak to Dr. Gettnor.”

  Lisanne frowned and had the AI throw Singh’s image up on the screen in the family room. She was a slender, dark skinned woman of Indian descent wearing a business suit. Quite pretty too, in her early thirties, Lisanne estimated. Why would an attractive young woman like that be visiting Vaz at home during the day?

  Lisanne’s heart skipped a beat. Did Vaz get himself in such excellent physical condition for this woman, who now has the gall to visit him at home during the day! How long has this been going on? She got up and went to the door thinking how unlikely it seemed that Vaz Gettnor, of all men, would have an affair. She opened the door, “Hello,” she said coolly.

  Singh smiled, “Mrs. Gettnor?”

  Singh certainly didn’t look like someone who was nervous to be confronting her boyfriend’s wife. “Yes?”

  “Isn’t Dr. Gettnor here?”

  “No.” Lisanne felt like she had controlled her voice well enough that her hostility hadn’t shown. Well didn’t show until she had cause anyway.

  “Well,” Singh said brightly, “maybe you can give him the good news that Querx accepted all of our requests this morning. I had hoped to give him the good news myself but I’m sure you’ll enjoy telling him just as much as I would, eh? I also need to leave these papers for him to sign, assuming he agrees.” She winked and pulled out a 9x12” envelope and handed it to Lisanne.

  Trying to hide her dismay, Lisanne took the envelope, is Vaz in legal trouble with Querx? “I’ll give it to him, thanks.”

  “Have a great celebration,” Singh said airily as she turned and walked away.

  Lisanne felt a little better that Singh felt they had reason to celebrate. Perhaps whatever problem he’d had there had been resolved by the agreement in the envelope? She retreated to the family room and set the envelope down in front of her. She desperately wanted to know what was inside but thought that, since she hadn’t heard of Singh or of any issues with Querx, Vaz might consider it to be a secret. She fingered the envelope, then suddenly realized it wasn’t sealed, just held shut with a tab. She could look inside and no one would be the wiser. She glanced toward the garage, no sign of Vaz.

  She bit her lip and popped the tab, opening the envelope and pulling out the papers.

  An hour later she was still intermittently re-reading it. She’d read it multiple times, then brewed a cup of tea and come back to it. She kept coming back to the section that said, “Querx agrees, within nine days of the signing of this agreement, to reimburse Dr. Gettnor for the $187,891,752.00 shortfall in royalty payments owed to him over the past nine years. Dr. Gettnor graciously rescinds any claim on interest owed on those monies.”

  That couldn’t possibly mean what it sounded like, could it?

  Lisanne sat trying to decide what it all meant. Her emotions ping-ponged all over the place. To start with she was excited, $188million! Then she fluctuated between being excited, angry that he’d let her worry about money, and then worry that he was keeping it from her for a reason? Did he want to leave her?

  Finally she started to hope that his might mean that he wasn’t delusional.

  Tiona came in, “Hey Mom, how’s Dad?” she asked quietly.

  “Huh? Oh, OK I guess.” Lisanne answered absently.

  Tiona looked curiously at her somewhat dazed appearing mother. “Aren’t you worried because he was still talking about fusion last night?”

  “Uh, I’m… not sure. I’m just pretty happy that we’ve all been getting along better.”

  “But, Mom. Fusion! That’s just crazy talk.”

  Lisanne frowned a moment, then focused her gaze intently on her daughter. “‘T,’ what if… what if your Dad actually did figure out how to achieve low energy nuclear fusion?”

  “Mom!”

  “Seriously, have you ever heard an old saying to the effect that ‘a person is never famous in their own hometown’?”

  Tiona frowned, “No, that seems… ridiculous.”

  “It just means that those who know the person well are the hardest to convince that he or she’s extraordinary.”

  Tiona’s eyebrows ascended. “You’re saying that you think Dad’s extraordinary?”

  Lisanne stared off into the distance, “I know he’s extraordinary.” She shrugged sadly, “but, you’re right I guess… not ‘fusion’ extraordinary.”

  Tiona said, “Meri and I are going to see Tonnisville tonight.”

  “Tonnisville?”

  “It’s a movie Mom,” Tiona said, rolling her eyes.

  “Oh, OK.” Lisanne said, thinking, that’s the teenage girl with the lame mother that I’ve known for so long.

  Tiona went upstairs to study, then came back down to go out with Meri. Lisanne continued to sit on the couch, occasionally opening Vaz’s envelope and rereading the contents, trying to make sense of it.

  Dante came in, declared he was hungry and ate the last two of Vaz’s stuffed chicken breasts from the night before. Lisanne asked him if he had any plans for the evening and he told her no, then went up to his room.

  Lisanne started to feel hungry herself and worry about Vaz. It wasn’t like him to be gone past dinnertime.

  She’d just asked her AI to connect her to him when she heard the rumbling of the garage door. A minute later the door opened and Vaz stepped in. “Hey, Vaz,” she said, so full of questions and so reluctant to ask them.

  He gave her a little wave and a sheepish smile. “Sorry I’m late. I forgot to call.”

  “Did you eat dinner?”

  “No.” He seemed surprised to realize it.

  “I’ll make tacos. Tiona’s out with Meri and Dante’s already eaten, but I’ll bet he’d eat more.”

  “OK.”

  “A lady named Anbala Singh came by this afternoon. She said to tell you the good news that ‘Querx accepted all of your requests this morning.’” Lisanne got up and handed the envelope to him, “She left this for you.”

  Vaz looked upset, “Oh.” He stood unmoving, holding the envelope.

  “She said you needed to sign the documents inside if you agreed.”

  Vaz looked intently at Lisanne, then sat, popped the seal and drew out the papers. Not knowing what more to say, Lisanne went into the kitchen and started cooking hamburger for tacos.

  As she cooked, Lisanne eyed Vaz, wondering what he was thinking. After a bit, he got a pen and signed the documents, then put them back in the envelope and took them as he headed down to the basement. She sighed. So much for her hope that he would explain to her what was going on.

  Once the tacos were done she called down to the basement to tell Vaz to come eat. He arrived as she was setting out plates and she handed him one. “Was the news good then?”

  Vaz nodded, seeming uncertain about something.

  “What’s the deal with Querx?”

  “They’ve agreed to pay the back royalties on inventions that I made while I worked there.”

  “Back royalties?”

  “Originally they didn’t pay me what my contract specified.”

  “And they’re paying that now?”

  “Well, they say they’re going to.”

  Lisanne felt like she was pulling teeth, getting this information out of him. “How many inventions did you have while working there?”

  “Twelve. Well, thirteen, they haven’t patented the last one yet.”

  “Wow! And they’re all patented?”

  He nodded.

  “So do they owe you a lot of money?”

  Vaz nodded again.

  Lisanne grinned, “Enough to send the kids to college?”

  He grinned sheepi
shly and said, “Yeah.”

  Lisanne threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight, “Oh Vaz!” she whispered in his ear. “That’s so great!” She leaned back and looked him in the eye, “How much is it?”

  Vaz turned his head to stare out the window and almost whispered, “One hundred eighty eight million, minus thirteen million to the people who helped me negotiate it.” With dread he waited to hear that she wanted to go on a trip or move to a bigger house or something.

  Lisanne leaned back tight against him and said, “Holy mother of God! Vaz, I’m so proud of you! I’m so glad.” She leaned back and looked him in the eye again, “I guess this means that you should be able to fool around in your basement lab as much as you want without your wife nagging at you to get a job, huh?”

  Vaz turned to look at Lisanne and gave her one of his shy grins, “Uh huh.”

  From the stairs Dante said, “Something smells good. You guys going to invite me to dinner or what?”

  Lisanne laughed, “I thought you already ate, hungry boy.”

  They all sat to eat and Lisanne teased Dante, “If you keep eating this way, you’re going to jump a couple of weight classes in wrestling you know?”

  Dante, surprised that his mother seemed so happy and upbeat for a change, winked, “Well, then I’ll just have to beat even bigger guys, won’t I?”

  Lisanne was just about to say something about his not needing a wrestling scholarship when the house AI announced, “A fault has developed in the fiberoptic connection to the net. The door camera shows workmen at the site where the fiber enters the house so they may have inadvertently damaged it.”

  Vaz frowned and stood, walking to the front door. He looked out and saw a large man with a small power saw cutting a section out of the optical fiber conduit where it ran up from the ground to enter the house. Five other large men stood nearby, one on the porch. Vaz realized that they were wearing latex masks like the man who had entered the house demanding he “go back to work.” He stared at the men for a minute, then turned. Walking back toward the table he said, “House AI, lock all doors. Personal AI, call 911, tell them we are victims of a home invasion.” He stared out the back windows and saw a large man out there as well. To Lisanne and Dante who were looking up in startlement he said, “We need to get down to the basement!” When they stared at him rather than moving, he barked, “Now!” and grabbed Lisanne by the elbow. Dragging her out of her chair, he pulled her inexorably after him. He barked at Dante again, “NOW! A group of men are about to break into the house. We’ll be safer downstairs.”