“Warm, and sunny - just like my favorite daughter.” After chatting about her college and friends, they said their goodbyes.
“I love you a whole bunch, Sweet Pea!”
“Me, too, Dad. See you soon. Bye.”
After swimming a few more laps to cool off, it was time to take a nap prior to flying the red-eye all-night trip back to LAX. As he climbed out of the pool, it seemed there was a group poolside, watching him.
“Are you a professional swimmer, Olympian, or something like that?”
Looking at the middle-aged man who asked him the question, Paul said, “No, I’m just an airport bum who is going to take a nap.”
After yet another refreshing rest, Paul awoke ten seconds before his wake-up call. After packing, and taking a shower, he headed downstairs for their van to the airport. “Sorry, I missed you for lunch, Jerry. I went running, swimming, shopping, and hung out pool–side. Then it was nap time.”
“That’s ok, Paul. I was kind of tired today, and just a bit out of it. It must have been that weird storm.”
“What storm?” Paul said.
“Good answer! Seriously, have you been feeling ok?”
“Jerry, I’ve never felt better. Don’t know what it is, but I feel great, almost like a warm glow has attached itself to my cells.”
It was a quick ride to the airport. They stopped for some fresh flower leis, coffee, and the usual security checks. Janette, the Universal Operations Agent, had all the flight paperwork ready to go.
“What? No joke today, Paul?”
“Of course! How do you keep an operations agent in suspense?”
“Well, Captain Paul… ya’ got me. How?”
“I’ll tell you on my next trip!”
“Very funny! You are looking quite chipper; you must have got some here in Hawaii!”
“Janette, I got something. I’m just not sure what it was.”
With that, Paul was out to the aircraft. A few minutes later they were westbound in the black evening sky.
“No storms on the weather maps, and the satellite imagery Jerry.”
“Yeah, right - just like yesterday.”
“You feeling better, Jerry?”
“Yes, I think a little caffeine helped. I’m pretty much back to normal.”
“You mean normal for you, right, Jerry?”
They both chuckled as they winged their way to the east and up to 37,000 feet.
“San Francisco radio? Universal 298 position on 5547.”
“Universal 298. Go ahead with your report.”
“Universal 298. Erwen at 0910, flight level 370, estimating Engine at 1008, next Etnic, fuel 48.9, met-47, wind 290 at 29, go ahead.”
“Roger, report 297. This is primary, secondary 2809, and I see you already have a SelCal check.”
“Paul, did you log that report on the Airep sheet or just fake it?”
“No, Jerry, the sheet is filled out. It’s in the document folder.”
“So you just did that report from memory. This from the guy who can’t remember security codes?”
Paul Christian smiled and nodded.
“Ok, Paul. What’s the wind and temperature again?”
“You mean what I reported over Erwen or now?”
“Ok, Paul, I’ll bite - now, right this minute.”
As Paul looked at the stars and the moon, touched the cockpit window, and said, “It’s cooled down to -48, and the wind is 300 at 35.”
As Jerry selected page 2 of the progress page on his flight management computer, his eyes opened wide as he read -48 and 300 at 35.
“What, are you a psychic or something?”
“No, Jerry, look at the moon, the stars, and our ground speed verses airspeed; then compare the track against our heading and touch the window, and you can feel the temperature. Pretty simple math, if you ask me.”
“Paul, you are either the biggest bullshitter in the world or an analytic genius.”
“I think you have the bullshitter part right, Jerry.”
The other two reports went just the same. It seemed Paul had developed a keen internal sense of time, space, and position, and as an added bonus, a photographic memory.
“Ok, Paul, what’s 145 times 325?”
“That would be 47,125.”
“How about 75,249 divided by 669?”
“Survey says, 112.47982, or do you need more digits to the right of the decimal point?” And on it went. Paul thought Jerry was getting a bit uncomfortable, or perhaps just irritated, with his human calculator routine.
After they landed, taxied to the gate, and completed the Shutdown checklist, Jerry and Paul shook hands. “See ya next trip, Mr. Wizard.”
“Jerry, enjoy your days off.”
“You, too. Watch out for wayward storms!”
After dropping his flight bag off in operations, Paul went over to the West Coast gate to solicit another ride home. On the flight home, he played with some numbers in regard to options and commodities.
Paul thought that it was nice to be home again, yet this time it just felt different. None of his usual chores or routines seemed all that important. After unpacking and going through his email, he lay down and took a nap, as was his custom after flying the red-eye all-nighter.
Waking up exactly one hour later and quite refreshed, Paul’s run around the neighborhood went well, albeit in 18 minutes instead of his typical 35 minutes.
Paul’s son came home from school as he was working out on the exercise machine in the garage.
“Hey, Dad, how much weight is that?”
“About 100 lbs per side, Dude.”
“Don’t that about double what you usually pull?”
“Well, now that you mention it, yes. Guess I’ve been sandbagging it for a while.”
“Michelle home yet, Dad?”
“Should be home anytime, Dude. In fact, here she comes.”
Michelle gave Paul a hug as she walked into the garage. “Hey Dad, what’s up?”
“Same old stuff, Sweet Pea.”
“Dad, you look really kind of buff.”
“You just saw me two days ago!”
Both kids remarked that he looked different - noticeably lean and muscular.
“Must be all that good Hawaiian pineapple.”
After writing a couple of software programs on the computer, Paul plugged some numbers into it. He didn’t quite understand why he had never written software programs before. It was so easy and better than most of what could be purchased.
“Hey Dude and Dudette, check out what I did on the ‘puter!”
“God, Dad! When did you buy a Computer–Assisted-Design program?”
“Didn’t buy it, I just wrote the program this afternoon.”
“Yeah, right, Dad! You can barely operate a word processing program. Nice try.”
“I wrote a financial one as well - option and commodities trading.”
It was getting late and time for dinner. The kids were happy that Paul had not lost his one great talent - barbecuing. Paul enjoyed cooking burgers for his son and salmon for both.
Once dinner and its cleanup were done, it was time to go back and plan some trades for when the stock market opened in the morning.
The next morning after a run and workout, Paul called his broker and placed his trades. The broker tried to talk him out of such volatile trades, but Paul’s computer analysis was clear. It was quite simple. The leverage was substantial and the upside gain would be well into seven figures, if his statistical analysis was correct.
The next afternoon, the market ran up nearly 350 points. Tracking his account on the computer, Paul saw that he was now a multi-millionaire.
When the phone rang, he knew it was the broker even before looking at the caller ID.
“How did
you know? Do you realize how much money you just made today?”
“Yes, I do, and I’m emailing some new trades for you to execute. What goes up must come down, at least a little.”
As the next trading day ended, he had turned several hundred thousand into several million. Paul’s total by the end of the week was well over ten million and growing. Unfortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission wanted to speak to the broker and Paul.
The two investigators from the Securities office were polite and cordial, but quite direct. They wanted to know where Paul had received his inside information.
When Paul showed them his computer program, the one he had written, they were very skeptical, and so he offered to write another simple program. They both laughed and said, “Go for it.”
“My God, man! How do you type so fast? That has to be over 200 words a minute!”
“Just seems normal and natural to me. Once you have run the program once, it begins to rewrite itself, unless you override the encryption protocol.”
“Incredible! How long have you been writing software?”
“Just a few days.”
“We will let you know when our investigation is complete. You sure you are not with MIT or Rand or some think-tank?”
“Sorry guys, I’m just an airport bum.”
A few days later, the investigation was concluded and closed, with no action against the broker or Paul.
He did receive a call from a Securities and Exchange administrator asking if he would consider working in their technical division, doing analysis and working with software for computers.
For the next few days, Paul turned his attention to his CAD system. He had always wanted his own aircraft, and now with all the money he had made, he could afford to purchase a small jet. Even better, he would design his own.
“Dad, you need to turn off the computer and go on a date.”
“Ok, Dude and Dudette. Why do you want me out of the house so bad? You and your friends already have it to yourselves when I am flying airline trips.”
“It’s been a year since Mom passed away.”
“Guys I have been on a few dates. They didn’t do it for me. Besides, I have my friends and both of you.”
“Dad, even your friends say you need to get a life.”
“I have been keeping this quiet, guys, but in the last two weeks I have made over 20 million dollars in the stock market.”
“Is that why the government guys were here, Dad?”
“Yes, Sweet Pea, that’s it.”
“What are you going to do, Dad?”
“Just fly my airline trips once in a while to keep my hands in. And I am going to build my own aircraft. That’s why I wrote the CAD program. I have already rented a big vacant hanger at Oregon Meadows Airpark. I want you both to trade in your old vehicles and get new ones of your own choice. Here are two new debit cards, and they should cover your monthly expenses and your new rides.”
“Wow! Thanks, Dad! You’re awesome!”
“Thanks, Dad. I love you a whole bunch!”
“Now don’t forget to clean your rooms and take the garbage out!” It was nice to see two happy kids. They were such hard workers in school.
That afternoon they all went out shopping and bought two new sport trucks, a dark blue one for Steve and a dark green one for Michelle. They received a substantial discount for buying two trucks.
When they returned from dining out in celebration of the offspring’s new rides, Paul went back onto the computer and the CAD program.
“Dad, with all that money you made, why don’t you just buy a new plane, instead of building your own?”
“Sweet Pea, this is going to be a special design, with some unique systems and features.”
“How long will it take you to build it?”
“After I am done with the initial design, I want to design the systems, and subsystems, and then have several companies manufacture the raw materials and parts. Next will come construction and harmonization of all the systems and their respective interfaces. Finally - the fun part - firing up all the systems in ground tests, followed by flight testing.”
“Sounds like a lot of work, Dad!”
“Yes, and I figure somewhere between a year to eighteen months ‘til it’s ready for flight testing.”
In Paul’s dreams of late, he had seen the ship, operated its systems, and at times had premonitions of having already flown it.
Steve came up to him at the computer. “Dad, we are charting personality types for a school project. Do you think I am type A or B?”
“Dude, you’re a strong A that can revert to B on occasion.”
“Yup, that’s what Michelle said too.”
“How ‘bout me, do ya’ think I’m a type A?”
“Yeah, Dad. On a slow day, you are a type A+, and then some.”
3
Since that storm in the Pacific, many things had changed besides the obvious improvements in Paul’s sight and other senses. His body was stronger, more fit and felt like it was 20 years younger. There was also his newly developed computer design acumen, as well as other things.
As an airline captain, he needed to take two physicals each year. One physical includes an electrocardiogram (EKG). Paul was eager to see how he would fare in this next physical with his aviation medical examiner, Dr. Lawrence. The tests started with evaluations of near and far visual acuity, hearing, an EKG, blood work, and the perfunctory urine sample.
“Paul, you get Lasik or something?”
“No, sir, Doc. Eyes just got better.”
“I’d say more than just better. Your visual acuity is perfect, better than 20/10, both eyes, near and far. Your hearing and your EKG were also perfect or better, and you look younger then I remember. What kind of vitamins you taking, and where can I get some?”
“Dunno, Doc. Must just be clean living!”
“Well, Paul, keep it up. I can’t wait to get your blood work back.”
With that, Paul paid the bill with his credit card, signed his name, winked at the clerk, and departed.
Back at home, Paul got back on the computer and was working on some ways of combining metal with composites. He applied carbon fiber to lightweight titanium. Seemed like a pretty simple process, but in all his research he was unable to find the like.
To control the systems and subsystems, an advanced form of artificial intelligence beyond a standard computer system seemed to be indicated. Paul thought to himself, “Why not encode information in a very unique manner: synthetic crystalline rectangle modules imbedded with data?”
Just then the phone rang, “Dad, it’s Dr. Lawrence.”
“With apologies to Bugs Bunny, ‘What’s up, Doc?’”
“Paul your blood work is back, and I must say I’m flabbergasted to say the least.”
“What’s that, Doc? Is my cholesterol a bit low?” Paul chuckled.
“Paul your blood tests as type A, B, and O, both positive and negative, and has moderate levels of radioactivity in the theta and gamma range. Your LDL is virtually non-existent and your HDL is the highest I have ever seen, perhaps the highest ever recorded!”
“And that means what to me?”
“Paul it means the CDC in Atlanta is concerned enough to be analyzing your blood further, and they might want to see you at some point. You are now, in fact, medical history. I need to see you for a complete physical as soon as possible!”
“Okay, Doc. I will be there whenever you can fit me in.”
“Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., Southwest Medical Center.”
“I’ll be there, Doc.”
The physical at Southwest was extensive: EKG, EEG, x-rays, treadmills, and a lot of additional tests Paul had never heard of. There were way too many people observing his testing. Some appeared to be medical professionals, others in su
its and they had that “government” look about them.
“The Air Force and NASA would like to meet with you at your convenience, Paul.”
“Doc, I am just a single dad, trying to raise my kids, who happens to fly jets to pay the bills! I would prefer my privacy and to be left alone.”
Numerous contacts had been surveyed and contacted in regard to building the new aerospace vehicle whose specifications had begun to fill up the desktop computer.
Not only specifications of hardware and software, but Paul also designed the specific techniques to structure and modify the new materials.
Fortunately, money talks, and the selected vendors were more than happy to fabricate the components Paul Christian had designed. He even paid in advance for the numerous systems and their components.
“What’s in the boxes, Dad?”
“A fancy high tech computer I’m going to build,” Paul said, with the child-like excitement of a youngster opening a new toy.
“Dad, these parts don’t look like computer parts!” Now the kids were curious and almost as excited as him.
“Well, Dude and Dudette, it’s more like a main frame for artificial intelligence.”
In less than a day, it was assembled and ready to be booted-up. It looked like a very large desktop computer that was modular in design. It had multiple LED type screens, with alphanumeric touch pads and LED screen interfaces.
After downloading tens of thousands of gigabytes of information in mere seconds, it was clear this was no ordinary computer. It was, in fact, as his design specifications indicated, a true artificial intelligence. It was learning as it acquired data.
Paul decided at that moment to call it AIMI for artificial intelligence matrix interface.
“Computer - activate Voice Command and Control mode.”
“Voiz Mode agdiv,” sounded out of the integrated speakers.
The sound was way too artificial and machine-like.
“Computer - modify Voice Command to generic female voice, normal modulation.”
“Generic female voice, normal modulation.”
Paul smiled, as the new voice was reminiscent of an old girlfriend.
Just then the door opened and both of his children gazed at the first computer he had ever built.
The Alpha Premonition: Book 1: A Gathering Storm Page 3
