Balance of Power Shifted

by Karl, Victor

  “We need to manage the situation and not have the situation manage us. By that I mean, no Julius and I mean, that we need to spend time and build up our public image as a company that cares about the individual, the family and the environment so we need to get out there and tell our story. The way we manage that is to carefully select the media we want to communicate through and tell our story the way we want it told.” Julius then stood up with his hand still in a cast and said, “Amy had compiled a list of interview requests and Iris and I believe we should target the five that I have highlighted. With that, he put up a spreadsheet on the overhead screen. The top of the list was a 20-minute segment on a syndicated Economics and Business show called ‘Ed’s WorldView’. The world-renowned economist Edward Renault took a worldview of economics instead of a US specific one. His philosophy was that the world’s economies were so intertwined that failure to look at the big picture would cloud any economic predictions. He also tended to have guest hosts from around the world who openly talked about their countries economic trending. The format presented was a 15-minute live interview and then five minutes displaying our prototypes by a film crew who would tape it in advance. Another thing favorable to using Ed Renault was a personal letter sent by Ed that summarized his view of the impact of Electricus on the global economy and highlighted many positive changes as well as a number of short-term negative repercussions.

  The second item on the list was a Fox Business News segment. They wanted us for a 10-minute interview segment, and the show came with solid reviews and a large viewer base. The third item on the list was to write our own in depth article for a well-respected science journal. The circulation was not large but the circulation audience was mostly academia and scientists. Publishing in The Journal of Discovery was the pinnacle of the careers for scientists and educators, so the fact that they were offering us space was in recognition they recognized the significance of Electricus and were salivating at a first look at the deeper details. We all took a vote and it was unanimous to focus on the three organizations presented. Bill raised his hand for attention and asked, “Would anyone mind if I spoke at a couple of universities, I think that letting our future business and science experts in on it early can change their education focus?” Everyone just looked at each other and said sure. “Thanks, I appreciate it,” Bill said as his face showed that he really did appreciate it. Personally, I thought to myself, Bill would make a great educator. His enthusiasm would be contagious to his students.

  “Well on to the big show,” I said to those in the car as we headed over to the showroom for our 2-day extravaganza. In the car with me were Bill, Sean and our last minute attendee Steve who was able to get away from the Army for a couple of days. The theme seems to be ‘this is so simple’, which the Army staff assigned to the Electricus project surmised early on. The showroom team had done a great job setting up the area as a workshop. We had set up workstations to handle four or five people to learn how the Power Pads worked and an overview of the Power Panel design. The focus would not be on the Power Panel, since most likely the car companies would custom build their own. We did have an animated movie that showed how Electricus self-organized itself so that it formed a positive and negative polarity even when the liquid solution moved when the vehicle was in motion or on inclines. We fully expected a new generation of electric motors based on the elimination of bulky battery systems. A select group of electric motor manufacturers will attend and hopefully get an early jump on development.

  Bill would touch on many of these in a kickoff presentation as well as review the math up front. Electricus’s electrical properties were predictable and consistent and he would show numerous graphs to support those statements. There were already about 25 of the expected 40 attendees in the room identified by their badges. A quick scan told me they were a diverse group with representation from Korean, Japanese, and a few European companies and of course the US companies. We socialized for a half hour until the start time and when everyone took his or her seats, there was not an empty chair on the floor.

  By the end of the day, the energy level in the room was through the roof. If there had been any skeptics in the room about our capabilities, they were gone by lunch. Bill had brought the audience through all the theory and showed the calculations on Electricus. He then showed in detail how the Power Pad engineering created positive and negative poles as well as adjusted for movement of the liquid in the cells. There was an hour of straight questions on this subject alone. After lunch, temperature sensitivity and means to control it led into another broad range of questions. The last topic, which we had to redirect all day, was a discussion about the secret Electricus reproduction process. We were emphatic that Efficio remain the sole producer. Any patents on the Power Pad and Power Panel designs would be free to use or modify as needed by anyone. The ‘Secret Sauce’ as we dubbed it, came on a 50-gallon drum basis, with the pricing to be determined in the future.

  We wrapped up with an overview of tomorrow’s agenda, which included a half hour presentation from two of our invited electric motor companies on how they thought their products could be used to build a variety of electric cars and what changes they saw for the future. We had a catered cocktail hour and buffet dinner brought in, which worked out well as our guests were all very interesting and talked openly about the revolution coming to the car industry. In their eyes, almost every consumer would turn in their cars for a new model or perform a retrofit to Electricus.

  While the guests back in New Jersey were socializing that evening, a smaller more solemn group of men were meeting in a private room in a private club deep in the heart of Houston. Charlie Knight was sitting in an expensive leather smoking chair with a half drunk glass of good scotch on his right and a smoldering cigar on his left sitting in a high pedestal ashtray. Charlie’s evening had just gone from bad to worse as his informant updated him on the day’s event. Hanging up the phone, he looked up and saw that every one of the ten people in the room was watching him intently and the room was noticeably quiet. “Well,” a large man, about six foot five and well over 300 pounds asked. “Big Dog,” generally called Tyree Grant by his momma, “you may want to sit down for this,” offered Charles. With all eyes on him, Charlie relayed the information to the serious looking group. “In my opinion,” he said, “it’s the real deal gentlemen. My source just spent the day analyzing the information provided at the meeting today and frankly, cannot see any exploitable flaws to slow down or halt the progress. Everything works as advertised and the scary part is it is as simple as simple can get and the price points should be very affordable. They are in the final stages of having 100 housing units in a single development up on running on this inferno Electricus crap and have had numerous retro fits on cars, which he will learn more about tomorrow. He sees no reason why his auto manufacturing company will not jump on it the first chance they get. The only mystery to the whole thing is the production of Electricus. Efficio was clear that they would produce and distribute the ‘Secret Sauce’ themselves.”

  How Charlie became the focal point for the rest of the discussion was not clear to him, but the others in the room seemed to have volunteered him. The ‘others’ being representatives from all US oil companies and a couple of big stakeholders. Charlie actually represented his own family’s oil business. By the end of the evening, a number of 20 Billion dollars became the offer amount to Efficio to sell the company to a new legally formed consortium of oil companies. If successful, the consortium would determine what to do with Electricus and could shut it down completely. Everyone in the room was to go back to their organizations and get approval for the funds by close of business next Monday.

  Friday flew by and as the event in the show room started to wind down, many of the participants were coming up to Bill or me to let us know that someone from their companies would be contacting us to determine what the next steps were to start building cars. The test drives and the acceleration and performance of our prototype cars were j
ust icing on the cake and removed any doubt about our capabilities. One woman, Karen, came up to me and showed me some calculations on what the cost would be to retrofit existing cars to Electricus. Using some ballpark figures we had provided, she estimated the conversion cost to be just over $5000. This was a much more prudent investment than to buy a brand new car. Her company specializing in retro fitting cars would make a nice profit. The big cost saving item was the elimination of batteries that currently made retro fitting more difficult and expensive. Karen was very interested in coming up with a more generic Power Pad design to be used on multiple car models and not custom to one. I steered her Steve’s way to give her information on some other manufacturers that could build something to meet her needs. As she was walking away, my phone rang and had Father Zult’s name as the caller ID.

  Migrating to the empty office, I asked Father to hold on until I got to a more private location. As soon as I closed the door, he started to fill me in on some startling developments. “Mike,” he said, “Approval from the highest Vatican levels has come down to assist Efficio. Everyone’s sold on the fact that Electricus would improve the quality of life for almost everyone, and they want to do whatever is in their power to achieve such a lofty goal. They read your proposal and are willing to sign your agreement with minor provisions. I was also told to commend you, Bill and your management team on not falling into the power trap that so many do…no pun intended” he said with a giggle. “They will be sending someone in the next week or so to meet with you to finalize plans and to be educated on what we need to know. Mike, our technology experts can set up secure communication protocols for us to continue to communicate in the future and your visitor will fill you in on that.” “Thanks Father that is a relief off my mind as I am sure will be the same for Bill. Hey Father, I said before he hung up. Fiona and I got engaged while we were in Rome and we want you to celebrate the wedding mass for us… can you?” “You did, that is great! Of course I will, just let me know the date and I can help arrange things and have you to go through Pre-Cana. Talk to you soon.”

  Fiona drove to the showroom to pick up Mike and head to her parent’s house. Her mother was cooking dinner for us, but the evening was set aside to start planning the wedding such as a date, reception hall and so on. Even though Mike had said run with it, she knew he wanted to be part of the process. Since we would probably sipping wine all night, Fiona’s mom had insisted that they stay over, but was adamant that Mike sleep in his own room. Fiona found this funny since her parents knew that they were sharing her Summit place together, but also thought it was cute. Mike when he found out said he would have felt funny sleeping together under the same roof as her parents and would have suggested it himself.

  Finally, Mike exited the showroom and was wearing a dark blue suit tying to look like the big executive, she thought to herself. She was not used to him wearing a suit, but had to admit he looked very handsome and GQ like. Mike did not even bother to ask her to let him drive the Hummer, got right into the passenger seat, and gave her a nice 5-second kiss before sitting back into his seat. Early on we had dispensed with the man must be in control thing. “Did you get my change of clothes for tomorrow’s video crew taping for Ed’s show?” he asked? “Sure did” I responded. “They said they will be here for 2 hours to get 5 minutes of footage to be shown during the interview. I’m glad they agreed to a Saturday since the week is just too hectic,” Mike said with just a little exasperation of finding out his personal time was becoming less and less.

  The dinner was fantastic and Mrs. P really had outdone herself. She served rotisserie Cornish Game Hens cooked on the grill with dirty rice formed into the shape created by a cupcake pan. Everything was drizzled with what turned out to be pureed asparagus with lots of roasted garlic added and a side of homemade Cranberry Chutney. The chutney had a little heat added from a variety of fresh peppers. Dessert was a chocolate torte cake with a white vanilla icing that reminded me of my Devil Dog days. Fiona’s dad Geoffrey and I tried to hang in there with the wedding planning, but only lasted about an hour. We wondered down to the den and were able to catch the start of a Giants preseason game against none other than the Jets. I cannot believe I had totally forgotten about the game! Mr. P was an easygoing person that looked good for being in his late 50’s. He still had all his hair and had that distinguished look where the silver came in gradually on the sides and a little on the top. Before going into banking, he had played some minor league baseball for a Cardinals affiliate and still looked like he could hit a fastball. No wonder Fiona was athletic as she was. She came from a good gene pool. I was drinking a rum and diet Pepsi and was feeling relaxed hanging out with Mr. P. Geof, while sitting with a large goblet of Merlot, was yelling at the Jets every now and then when they did not run the play he wanted. Life was feeling good with the future in-laws.

  When halftime came, Mr. P turned to me and said, “Mike, have you been following the markets?” I just shrugged my shoulders and said “no.” “You may want to start paying more attention he replied.” “Why is that Mr. P I asked?” Well “he said”, over the last few days there has been a downward trend in the cost of a barrel of oil when world political events would normally have a different affect. Even the loss of two gulf coast refineries due to an early hurricane should have driven prices higher.

  The talk around the office and with our affiliated broker division is that your company is driving prices lower.” By now the warm buzz I had just been feeling disappeared and I sat up and moved to the edge of my seat. “Is there any other reason that could cause it?” I asked. “Nope, I think the growing publicity regarding Electricus is making investors nervous” Mr. P responded. “Wow, we haven’t even produced any commercial products yet and this is happening. Bill and I thought this would happen but more like a year from now. I think I will have Kristen start tracking this on a daily basis to see if there is an actual trend as well as any impact from additional publicity.” “Mike, I know I do not have to tell you this, but be careful. There will be many people that are tied into petroleum based energy that will not be happy.” “Thanks Mr. P” I said as I slipped back into my chair and drained the rest of my drink and got ready for the second half.

  After showering and getting dressed, I walked downstairs to see Fiona and her Mom in the kitchen. Geof had headed out to bang a little white ball around in the grass. Mrs. P said good morning Mike as Fiona got up and kissed me hello. She took a plate off the stove, which had a cracked yolk egg on an English muffin and handed it to me saying that I should eat. She then went to the fridge, pulled out an energy drink, and put it down next to me. I figured you would need this today. You and Dad were feeling no pain last night. Grabbing the can, I popped the lid while exclaiming that it was the elixir of life and drank a third of it down. Picking up the egg sandwich, I devoured it in four bites. Seeing the Hummer keys on the counter I quickly grabbed them and gave Mrs. P a kiss goodbye and Fiona and I headed to the office.

  Held in a posh hotel conference room 20 stories up in Dubai, a special last minute meeting ground on. All the members of OPEC sent representation to this mandatory meeting, not held in Vienna Austria, as was the norm. This secret meeting had one major topic and that was Electricus and the impact on OPEC. Abdullah was nervously presenting information to the audience about the efforts to breach Efficio security and steal whatever information was available. He recounted how they had successfully placed an informant in a key position in the company with access to their technology systems. Unfortunately, she was caught after a short period and only stole basic information such as names, addresses and phone numbers of Efficio employees. She also reported that their information security controls, were top notch, and any sensitive data was locked down. Their security was provided by Clavis Aurea, which was a highly regarded firm with the CEO Jeremy Stevens reported to have close ties with military intelligence. She could not confirm it, but it appears that the security guards had previous military experience.

  The ne
xt speaker provided a 10-minute overview of Electricus and detailed potential applications for the product. The people around the table asked a few important questions, but otherwise were generally quiet. The president of OPEC, Nisar Hassan, in his native garb and full dark beard got up to speak. Once the room became quiet, Nisar said, “Gentlemen, we are facing a grave economic crisis for our countries if this Electricus power source is as described by our earlier presenters. I can tell you with some certainty, that the reports we have seen and heard are accurate regarding Electricus capabilities. We have engaged a number of economic analysts to help determine the future of oil if Electricus supplants it globally and I can tell you that the results provided spells the doom of petroleum as the dominant fuel source. In fact, the timeline will be very short since there is no down side to Electricus. We can expect an immediate and steady decline in the price of crude oil. As Board sees it, we have two choices. The first choice would be to raise the price of oil and try to maximize profits for the short term. This choice could however backfire and actually push the conversion to Electricus even faster. The second choice is to go in the opposite direction and significantly reduce the price of oil so that the impetus to change is less and we will receive revenue over the longer term albeit less. This gentlemen, is the vote that we must decide on by tomorrow at 5 pm sharp. Please discuss this with your country’s leaders and be prepared to vote.