The Thunder of Engines

by Laurence Dahners

  “Wait,” Marks interrupted, “what about electron guns or induction furnaces?”

  “It’s so reflective the electron gun just bounces off,” Lee said. “Absolutely non-magnetic and completely unaffected by the induction furnace.” She pulled out her test specimen on its string, “This specimen spent several minutes mounted inside the combustion chamber of the Z-5.1 test engine at full thrust.” She glanced at her boss, “I didn’t tell Mr. Prakant this, but the mount melted and this specimen got fired out the nozzle and bounced off the blast shield. It was completely undamaged. It did, however, gouge a chunk out of the blast shield. That’s where I came up with the heat tolerance number. From the known combustion chamber temperatures… but I’ll bet it’ll tolerate much higher temperatures than that.”

  Marks studied Lee a moment, then reached for the specimen.

  She held it out, saying, “Its coefficient of friction’s zero. Handling…” she broke off when he grabbed it and his fingers slipped off. “Um, sir, you might want to take it by this string,” she said, holding the end of the string out to him.

  Wide-eyed, Marks gingerly took the string. He stared at the three by six-inch plate as it floated in the air on the end of the string. “Holy crap!” he breathed. Holding it by the string he grabbed the other end with his fingers again, Lee thought just to feel it slip away. Not, as with so many others, because he just didn’t believe what’d happened the first time. His next step was to trap the two ends of it with a cluster of fingers and put his thumbs in the middle so he could try to bend it.

  Marks’ eyes dropped to the datasheet and went over it more slowly. He said, “I’m resisting a powerful impulse to call bullshit.” He looked up at Prakant, “I don’t want to doubt Ms. Lee, but has anyone else confirmed her test results?”

  Prakant nodded at the datasheet, “You’ll see the test facility’s engineers signed off on that. I, ah,” Prakant glanced at Lee as if a little embarrassed, “called them to be sure they had seen the tests and stood behind those results.

  Marks looked up from the sheet. “If this… ‘stade’ truly has these properties it’ll revolutionize the world. Rocketry would benefit immensely, yes, but almost anything could be made better with this stuff. How much does it cost?”

  “Unclear, sir. They’ve said they’ll make rocket engines out of it for two million dollars each. About the same price as our current engines.”

  “Ah,” Marks said thoughtfully, “if it’s that expensive that’ll limit the number of applications where it’ll be cost-effective. How’s it made?”

  “That’s also unclear, sir,” Lee said. “When I visited them, my impression was that they probably don’t have a patent yet. They certainly did their best to keep me from getting any idea how the process works.”

  Marks turned to a table and chairs at the end of his large office. He gestured to the entire group. “Sit down.” To Lee, he said, “Tell me exactly what you did see.”

  Lee carefully described her day with Kaem, Arya, and Gunnar. Marks didn’t interrupt her description, but when she finished explaining everything she thought was important, he had questions.

  “You really think those three people are all the employees they have?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Not having a patent would be insane. What makes you think they don’t?”

  “If they had a patent, they wouldn’t have been so reluctant for me to see the details of their setup.”

  “This fluid they poured in the molds. You said it looked like water?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Clear, non-viscous, no odor, right?”

  Lee nodded.

  “Did you do a search to see what other liquids match those properties?”

  “Yes, sir. Water solutions, some with quite high levels of various chemicals dissolved in them. Some silicone fluids. Some hydrocarbons have low odor. I didn’t get very close, so I might not have noticed the smell from one of those.”

  “Find anything so expensive it’d justify a cost of two million per engine?”

  “No, sir. Um…”

  “Um, what? Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Unless, of course, you’re about to say something stupid.”

  “Sorry, sir. I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but I think they’re starting with rocket engines because they can charge so much and we’ll pay it. I don’t think it costs them very much to make stade. It’s just that they’re trying to accumulate capital so they can develop other products.”

  Marks turned to Prakant, “We’ll just fly out there and buy the whole damned company. Tell your people we’re going to be gone a day or two.” He turned to Lee, “Call… what’s the company called?”

  “Staze, sir.”

  “Call Staze and tell them we’re on our way. Ask if we can meet with them late this afternoon. We’ll talk more on our way.” Marks lifted his phone and told it to connect him to his admin. Once the admin came on, Marks said, “Cancel my meetings for today and tomorrow. Call Cary Lark and Saul Izzo. Tell them I need them to come with me. Have them prep the plane. We’re flying to…?” Marks looked at Lee.

  “Charlottesville Virginia, sir.”

  Marks frowned at her, “Have you already talked to Staze?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Get on it! If they can’t meet, I don’t want to have mobilized all these people for nothing.”

  As Lee backed away to a corner of Marks’ office to call Kaem, Marks turned to Prakant, “We’ll take these junior engineers with us but pick out a couple of seniors too. Will Goran for one. Why is it that I should fire you?”

  Lee shook her head. Marks was famous for making rapid-fire decisions and moving quickly but this was the first time she’d seen it in action. “Kaem?” she asked when her phone made a connection.

  The phone said, “He’s replying by text.”

  She pulled it from her face and looked at it. The text said, “Am in class. Can you text?”

  She entered a text. “Aaron Marks wants to fly out to meet with you. We’ll be there this afternoon. Would you be able to meet?”

  “Yes,” was his only response.

  For a moment she felt surprised. Marks was such a celebrity that surely Seba would’ve recognized the name. If Lee’d gotten a call like that while she was still in school, she’d have been out of class to take the call in a heartbeat. But, then, I hadn’t invented stade.

  ***

  In Space-Gen’s private jet on its five-hour flight to Charlottesville, Marks had Lee review the story of how she’d evaluated stade for the other senior engineers as well as for Cary Lark, Space-Gen’s CFO and Saul Izzo, their chief legal counsel. Lark expressed her doubts about the proposed value of stade, which brought grins to the faces of the other engineers. Marks himself bent over in paroxysms of mirth.

  Lee didn’t like it that Marks had laughed at one of the other two women on the trip—and a senior one at that—but she couldn’t help but find it funny that Lark didn’t see stade’s value.

  When Marks had stopped laughing, he said, “Cary, rest assured it’s worth more than you can imagine. You’re not here to evaluate its financial prospects, you’re here to figure out how we can offer them so much money they won’t be able to turn us down.”

  Lee told them what she knew about how stade was made. The other junior engineers contributed their bits on how they thought they’d be able to fabricate molds and the thinking that’d gone into the small engine and cryotank they’d intended to make as test runs.

  Will Goran said, “Seems like a good idea to me. Why aren’t we proceeding with the test runs?”

  Prakant answered before Marks did, “Will, they didn’t just offer stade to us. Presumably, they sent it to everyone in the space launch business. We know they’ve gotten a call from Orbital Systems. They got one from Martin Aerospace while Lee was out there.”

  “I thought we had some kind of legal agreement that they had to let us bid?”

  “Yeah,” Prakant said, “but i
t’s costing us a million dollars a week just to hold that right to bid against anyone who beats us to it. What we want is to be the first bidder. The one who locks them up before they get any other bids. And, before we spend our second million just holding the rights. I do not want to be bidding against seven other companies!” He rubbed his neck, “What we want are the rights to stade itself. For everything that might ever be made out of it. Because if Lee’s right and it’s cheap… there are so many things it’d be better for than whatever we’re using at present… it-it beggars the imagination. So, everyone should be trying to think of leverage we might use to make that deal.”

  ***

  When Kaem left his last class of the morning, he sat and reviewed his notes, trying not to spiral into worry about his dad. When that wasn’t working very well, he turned to thinking about stade. That worked pretty well until Arya arrived to pick him up. It felt silly, having her once again protecting him everywhere he went. It seemed unlikely that whoever was trying to steal the secret of stade would take a chance on injuring him—as long as he was the only person in the world who knew how to make it.

  But he liked being with Arya. Liked it a lot. So, it wasn’t in his best interest to try to deflect her from her self-assigned mission to protect him.

  Besides, even if the presumed bad guys didn’t injure him, they might still hurt him, trying to make him spill his secrets. Kaem was not fond of pain.

  Feeling antsy, he was glad when she arrived. As they started out the door, he said, “Can we stop by your place and pick up the electronics?”

  She gave him a look—one he interpreted meant she didn’t want him at her place. She said, “I can bring it by your place tomorrow morning.”

  “Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you Aaron Marks is coming. So, I thought it’d be good—”

  “Aaron Marks, CEO of Space-Gen?”

  “Uh-huh, so I—”

  “How could you possibly forget to mention that?!”

  “I, uh, got a text from Lee while I was in class. I was distracted.”

  “When’s he getting here?!”

  “I’m…” Kaem shrank back, knowing she wouldn’t be happy, “not sure.”

  Arya slapped his shoulder, “Well, find out! We are not taking Marks to the damned Cavalier Buffalo.”

  Kaem frowned, “You’re supposed to protect me. Not hit me yourself! Besides, Marks has a down to earth rep. He might like the Buffalo.”

  “Kaem, we can’t take the CEO of a major corporation to a dive bar! Text your little girlfriend and ask her when they’re arriving.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  Arya huffed, “April freaking Lee. Text her!”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kaem said, fumbling for his phone. Once he’d sent the text, he said, “Can we get the electronics? We might need them if Marks wants a demo. Besides, I’ve got some ideas I’d like to try.”

  Eyes straight ahead, Arya said, “I used some of the money Space-Gen sent us to pay rent on Staze’s building.”

  “Good. What about the rack?”

  “I don’t feel good about doing it. I don’t think we should be spending that money.”

  “I’ve heard that one of the first principles of business is that you have to spend money to make money.”

  “The principle right before that one is ‘don’t spend money that isn’t yours.’”

  “Come on Arya. Be bold. Don’t get timid and screw up this deal. Let’s get the rack of gear.”

  She stopped, turned, put her hands on her hips, and glared at him.

  “I like the way you look when you’re being fierce.”

  She shoved him back.

  Kaem stumbled but caught himself. “I’m serious. Save that savage expression for negotiations with Marks. I hear he’s a sharp dealer.”

  She turned and looked away, arms folded over her chest, “Dammit Kaem…”

  Kaem stepped close, “Hey… I didn’t mean to get you upset. You were looking like such a hard-ass… um, I didn’t think there was any way I could throw you off your game.” She didn’t say anything, so he followed that with, “Ms. ‘kick-anyone’s-butt’ Vaii.”

  Her shoulders jerked a tiny bit. Is she crying?! Kaem leaned around to look at her, but she turned her head even farther. Shit! She’s in tears. Saying, “Arya?” Kaem gingerly reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.

  She spun violently away from the contact. “Don’t touch me!”

  “I’m sorry,” Kaem said, surprised to hear a cracking sound in his voice. Then he thought about all the emotions that’d had him crying about his dad last night. That stuff’s probably spilling over into… whatever’s going on here. He dropped his hand to his side and stood stock-still, wondering how he’d messed up this time and what he could possibly do that wouldn’t make things worse. Is she that worried about the money? Afraid of what Martin Aero might do? Despite the way she pushes me away at every opportunity, could she be jealous of “April-freaking-Lee”?

  Kaem’s phone spoke in his earbud, “You have a text from April Lee.”

  Kaem considered checking it. After all, Arya would want to know what it said. He decided now was not the time. But what should I do? I can’t just stand here doing nothing!

  Suddenly Arya spun and put her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulder. Little jerking motions confirmed she was definitely sobbing. Maybe doing nothing was the right answer? He slowly lifted his hands and carefully patted at her back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t…” STOP talking! he thought at himself. It only causes trouble. Instead, he settled for enjoying the sensation of her arms around him.

  After a minute or so, Arya’s arms slipped from around him and her hands went to her face, Kaem thought to wipe at tears. That done, she stepped back and turned. As she started to walk away, she said, “Let’s go get your damned rack of gear.”

  Kaem skipped a couple of steps, almost catching up. “I’m sorry—”

  “Just shut up,” she said hoarsely. “We’re going to get your gear. Be happy with that.”

  “I am happy. Thanks,” Kaem slowed slightly and looked down at his phone. “Um, Marks is supposed to land about four this afternoon.”

  Arya didn’t answer, just walked even faster.

  What’s going on? he wondered. Why didn’t she say anything? He reviewed the last things she’d said. Oh. She told me to shut up and—of course—I didn’t. I must seem like a huge pain in the ass. He followed her silently until she started up a long hill. It wasn’t terribly steep, but he soon felt short of breath. Not wanting to induce a sickle crisis, he slowed down until he wasn’t having trouble, meanwhile, she got farther and farther ahead.

  Arya was a full block and a half ahead when she turned left at a corner.

  Oh-oh, Kaem thought, If she turns again at the next corner, I could lose her. He relaxed; I can always call her if I do.

  However, a few moments after she turned the corner, she reappeared. She stood with her hands on her hips, presumably glaring at him, for a couple of seconds, then suddenly relaxed her stance and started trotting toward him. Arriving, she gave him a quick, intense hug, then let go, leaned back, and said, “Sorry. I’m such an ass. I forgot about your anemia.” She looked intently into his eyes, “Are you okay?”

  Reminding himself to stay “shut up,” Kaem merely nodded.

  She said, “The thought of starting my life a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt to Martin Aerospace has me really scared.”

  Kaem opened his mouth to remind her of all the evidence pointing to the fact that Martin Aero didn’t know how to make stade, therefore must not have a patent or even a valid application for one. Then he forcefully made himself shut his mouth. He swallowed, then softly said, “I understand now. I’m sorry.”

  She hugged him again and whispered in his ear, “Thanks for not saying, ‘don’t worry.’”

  Did I just say the right thing?! Kaem wondered.

  Arya let go and started back up the street at a more measured pace
, asking him solicitously whether she was going too fast or not.

  When they arrived at her apartment complex, she didn’t invite him up, telling him to wait downstairs while she went up to get the electronics. There wasn’t an elevator, leaving him to wonder whether she left him downstairs to keep from stressing him going up the stairs, or to keep him out of her place.

  She’d only been in her apartment a few seconds when she popped out onto the balcony, “Kaem. What time did you say Marks was going to be here?”

  “About four.”

  She studied him for a moment, “You’ve got to change your clothes. Call us an Uber, then tell Gunnar to meet us at Staze. I’ll make us a reservation at Argent for seven. How many people is Marks bringing with him?”

  Kaem shrugged.

  “Find out,” she directed stepping back into her apartment and closing the door.

  Kaem rolled his eyes, then sent Lee another text, asking the size of their party. He ordered an Uber, then called Gunnar. When Gunnar picked up, Kaem asked if he could come to meet Marks with them at Staze. As he’d expected, Gunnar was an admirer of the superstar tech CEO, therefore quite excited. He asked, “Can you bring some aluminum foil and some old drinking glasses so we can make more demonstration stades with cavities in them?”

  “Sure,” the normally crotchety old man said, without complaint for a change.

  He’s gushing like a little girl, Kaem thought.

  It was only about five minutes, but when Arya left her apartment, she looked stunning. She always looked good, but Kaem had no idea what she’d done to make herself look so… put together.

  As the Uber pulled up, he dared ask, “You feel better?”

  She nodded. “Did a brief relaxation-meditation technique my sensei taught me.” She took a deep breath, “You’d probably say I ‘got my shit together.’”

  Kaem and Arya took the Uber to his dorm, where they had it wait while they went up to Kaem’s room so Arya’d be able to be sure Kaem picked out his most suitable clothes.

  As they walked into the dorm dragging the suitcase with the electronics—which they wouldn’t think of leaving in an Uber—Kaem said, “Come on Arya. They won’t care what I’m wearing. They just care what we’re selling.”