The Thunder of Engines Page 4

  This time when Mandel’s eyes widened it wasn’t playacting. “So, you’re thinking…?”

  “I’m thinking this kid’s special. That we should be trying to recruit him into the graduate program.”

  “You think he’d be interested?”

  Turnberry shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think some students don’t try for advanced degrees simply for lack of encouragement.”

  “What kind of career do you think he’d use a Ph.D. for? Industry? Academics?” Mandel asked. “Do you think he has original ideas he could found a research career on, or just regurgitates existing knowledge particularly well?” Mandel had several grants and tended to consider research by far the most important part of an academic career.

  Turnberry said, “From my one experience, I think he could be an amazing teacher.”

  “What if he isn’t an original thinker? Encouraging him toward academics won’t be a kindness if he decides he wants to teach at a major university, then can’t get any grants.”

  Thoughtfully, Turnberry said, “He does ask weird questions. Maybe he’s full of original ideas.”

  Mandel scoffed, “Weird questions are not the same as original thought!”

  Stavros turned around again, “They might be in Seba’s case.”

  “What original thoughts?!”

  “Maybe we think they’re weird because they’re so original we can’t follow what Seba’s thinking.”

  Mandel scoffed again. “I think he’s good at parroting what we teach him but doesn’t really understand it. That’s why his questions are so odd.”

  Turnberry said, “Well, I’m gonna ask him if he’s interested in academics.”

  “Good for you,” Stavros said.

  “I think you’re wasting your time,” Mandel rejoined.

  Chapter Two

  Kaem’s phone chimed with an incoming call. When he looked at it, he saw it was April Lee, the young woman from Space-Gen who’d been pestering him with questions. He told the phone to answer, “Hello?”

  “I’ve arrived. Where should I meet you?”

  “Arrived where?”

  “At the airport.”

  “You’re here, in Charlottesville?” Kaem asked, startled.

  “Yes. Of course. I told you I was coming. Space-Gen’s paying you a million dollars a week for God’s sake. They want me to move as fast as I can.”

  “Well, yes, but I thought you were coming in a few days. Um, what is it you want to do?”

  Impatient sounding, she said, “See your factory. Learn how you cast stade. I need to better understand the parameters of how we should build the molds for our motors. We can’t afford to waste time building unsatisfactory shapes that won’t work.”

  “Um…” Kaem paused, thinking furiously. “We don’t exactly have a factory. We’ve, um, leased some space, but we haven’t moved in yet.”

  There was what Kaem thought was a stunned silence, then she slowly said, “You guys are just a startup? That’s why you don’t even have a website?”

  Kaem wanted to deny it, but it was, after all, true. He thought of saying something pompous about the value of their intellectual property. Anything to keep Lee from thinking they were fly-by-night. He settled for honesty, saying only, “Yes.”

  After another silence, she asked, “Have you made stade for other companies?”

  “No.”

  After another silence, Lee said, “Besides the samples you sent us, what else have you made?”

  “Lots of those samples. Also, some fifteen- by fifteen- by fifteen-centimeter cubes.”

  “So, you don’t even know if you can make complex shapes? Or make something as big as a rocket engine?”

  “We can make them. We just haven’t done it yet.”

  Lee said, “I sure hope you’re right. I need a sit down to talk to you about whether you think our plan for casting the test engine’s viable. And I’ve got to see your setup with my own eyes so I can get a grip on how it all works.”

  Slowly, Kaem said, “I don’t know if I can make that happen today.”

  “We’re paying you a million dollars a week. And, the contract you signed said you’d assist and cooperate. You’d damned well better make it happen!”

  It won’t hurt me to miss a class, Kaem thought. He could watch the recording later, though he liked to ask his own questions of the professors in person—which the recording wouldn’t allow. He said, “It’s nearly lunchtime. I’ll meet you at the Cavalier Buffalo for lunch and to answer your questions. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to some of our people about setting up a demonstration, okay?”

  “Okay,” Lee said, sounding reluctant. “I’ll take an Uber to this Cavalier Buffalo.”

  “Sure, I’ll… I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  ~~~

  As soon as he hung up, Kaem turned toward the Buffalo. As he walked, he called Arya Vaii. “Hey, that April Lee from Space-Gen’s here to look at our setup and get a demo. Any chance they’ll let us into the building we’re leasing ahead of time?”

  “What?! Why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”

  “I didn’t know. I mean, I knew she was going to come, just not that she’d get here today.” He sighed, “I could listen to her messages to see if she did tell me it’d be today, but that won’t solve the problem we have. I-I don’t want to take her to Gunnar’s shop. It looks… it doesn’t look very professional.”

  To Kaem’s relief, Arya didn’t waste time protesting. “I’ll talk to the owners of the space. You call Gunnar and see if he can move his stuff.”

  Of course he can, Kaem thought, it’s only the two mirrored boxes. He didn’t say it though. “Will do. I’ll have to pick up the electronics from my dorm before I meet you there.”

  Without hesitation, Arya said, “I’ll meet you for lunch. Then I can take her to wherever we do the demonstration while you try to get there with your stuff before she does. Where are we meeting?”

  “The Cavalier Buffalo.”

  “Jeez, Kaem, couldn’t you have suggested somewhere a little more upscale?”

  “I don’t know anyplace more upscale.”

  “Ah, yes, sorry... If they’ll let us use the space I’ll probably be late getting to the Buffalo because I’ll want to go look at the place and make sure it isn’t a mess.”

  “Okay.” Kaem hung up with Arya and had his phone call Gunnar Schmidt. “Gunnar, someone’s here from Space-Gen to look at our setup—”

  “What the hell, Kaem? A little warning would’ve been nice!”

  “Sorry, Gunnar, I didn’t think she was coming for a few more days, but she called me a little bit ago to say she’s already here.”

  “I suppose you want me to straighten up my shop,” Gunnar said grumpily.

  “Well, Arya’s trying to get us early admission to the place we’re leasing… but yes. In case we can’t get into the rental it’d be nice if your shop looked… as professional as possible. If we do get into the rental, we’re hoping you can meet us there with the molds?”

  “Molds?”

  “Yeah. The mirrored cavities we’ve been forming the stade in. We’ve been calling them ‘molds’ when we’re talking to the people at Space-Gen. It’s just easier to get the idea across to other people. They understand casting stuff in molds. It’s much harder explaining mirrored cavities with microwaves in the central space and laser light in the surrounding one.”

  “Okay,” Gunnar said, sounding unconvinced. “I’ll start cleaning up. How will I know if I’m meeting you at the rental space?”

  “Arya or I’ll call.” Kaem signed off and looked ahead. It was a few more blocks to the Buffalo. Uphill, so he’d have to walk slowly or he’d get exhausted. He hoped he wouldn’t be too late.

  ~~~

  The Uber dropped Lee off at the Cavalier Buffalo. This looks more like a college dive bar than somewhere you might have a corporate meet! she thought. My kind of place, but…

  She walked inside and her opinion didn’t change. She wondere
d if she should feel disrespected, then thought, How they treat me’s immaterial. They’ve got stade and nothing else matters. We’ve got to have it for our rockets.

  No greeter or hostess met her. She looked around the room, wondering how she was supposed to find Kaem Seba. She didn’t know what he looked like. I should have used a video chat one of the times I talked to him. She asked her phone if it could find a picture of Kaem Seba from Staze.

  It replied, “No Kaem Seba associated with a company named Staze.”

  They not only don’t have a website, she thought, they don’t have anything out there yet.

  She had it search for just Kaem Seba in Virginia. That brought up a picture of a UVA physics student. He’s still a student?!

  There were other Kaem Sebas, but they weren’t in Virginia. To a quick survey, it looked like they were all in Africa. She studied the picture a moment, then looked around the room. What about that guy over there with his back to me? She walked over but it wasn’t the Kaem from the picture.

  Deciding to get a booth for when he did show up, Lee slowly turned, looking for the best location. When her eyes crossed the entrance, she saw Seba standing there, surveying the room. He looked peaked.

  She walked his way, giving him a little wave and thinking, He doesn’t look very healthy. If he drops over dead, I hope someone else knows the secrets of making stade. Arriving in front of him, she said, “Hello Mr. Seba.”

  “Ms. April Lee?”

  She nodded, extended her hand, and said, “Call me Lee. I don’t like my first name.”

  “Call me Kaem,” he said, shaking her hand. “I was just about to call you because I’d realized I didn’t know what you looked like. Where would you like to sit?”

  Lee pointed out the booth she’d had her eye on and they headed that way. She said, “So, you haven’t graduated yet?”

  “Um, yeah. Is that a problem?”

  “No,” she laughed, “I only graduated a year ago. I’m really lucky to be running this project. Through a stroke of serendipity, I was assigned to evaluate the sample of stade you sent us. Our CTO said I could run with it until I screwed up. Hope I don’t screw up too soon.” She glanced at him, “UVA’s got you listed as a physics student. I was thinking you’d be a materials engineer or maybe a chemist.”

  Seba looked surprised, then understanding seemed to dawn. He said, “I guess that’d make sense if stade was a material.”

  What the hell?! Lee thought. She opened her mouth to ask what he meant but a waiter chose that moment to arrive.

  “Welcome to the Cavalier Buffalo,” he said. “Do you already know what you want?”

  Seba looked at Lee, saw the confused expression on her face, and turned back to the waiter, “I think we’ll need menus.”

  As the waiter walked over to get menus, Lee said, “Not one of your regular haunts?”

  “Um, no,” he said. Then to her surprise, he followed with, “I’m really poor so I only eat at places on the university meal plan.” He looked around. “Sorry, I should have suggested someplace nicer than this for our meeting, but even this place is more expensive than my budget can tolerate. I’ve only been in here once before and that was … for a celebration.” He shrugged, “It was nighttime and dark and I was excited, I didn’t realize how shabby it is.”

  Suddenly taking a liking to him, Lee snorted, “The corporate people would probably be offended, but I’m just out of college and I like dive bars. We’re okay.” She looked around, “I’m surprised your Ms. Vaii didn’t suggest someplace more upscale though. When I talked to her I got the impression she’s into that.”

  “Um, maybe.” He gave her a sly grin and lowered his voice, “She was pissed when I told her I said we’d meet here.”

  The waiter had returned to take their orders. Seba quickly selected the cheapest hamburger, so Lee did the same. She’d resolved to put the tab on Space-Gen, but wanted to keep the cost low in case Seba paid for it out of some sense of obligation. Then she had a sudden thought, Wait a minute. If he’s got the rights to stade, he’s gonna be rich as Midas!

  But he’s not now. Doing him a good turn won’t be any skin off me and… he’s going to be someone I’d like to be able to call a friend.

  Deciding she’d better get back to doing her job, Lee said, “What’d you mean earlier when you said, ‘if stade was a material’? Are you saying it’s just a process for binding other materials together?” Struck by a thought, she asked, “Is that why the first set of material properties you sent us declared a density typical of water, then the actual specimens turned out to be the density of air?”

  Seba looked uncomfortable, “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Why not? We’re under an NDA. Your information’s safe.”

  “Yeah…” he frowned, “but our attorney said we shouldn’t tell anyone how this works until we have patent protection—which we haven’t been able to afford yet. So, we can make samples for you and commit to making engines for you if you decide that’s what you want, but we don’t want you to know how it’s done. We especially don’t want to explain the principles behind it.”

  A very pretty Indian looking girl walked up and slid into the booth next to Seba. She frowned at him, “Move over Kaem. There’s plenty of room.”

  Apologizing, Seba scooted over, then said, “Lee, this is Arya Vaii.”

  Vaii leaned forward and scrutinized Lee’s eyes, “Wow! Yellow-green! Your eyes are striking.” She leaned back and studied Lee’s face, “How’d it come about? Asian dad and Caucasian mother?”

  Lee felt stunned, getting hit with such a bald question. “Umm…”

  Vaii waved dismissively, “Sorry, I’m nosy. Too nosy. Ignore that question. What’ve you guys been discussing?”

  Lee snorted, “Kaem was trying not to tell me what stade is. I’m trying to remember if there’re any clauses in the contract you signed that compel you to explain it to us.”

  “There aren’t,” Seba said.

  Vaii said, “Even if there were, Space-Gen hasn’t deposited any money in our account yet. As I read the contract, I don’t think you’ve got an enforceable contract until you do.”

  Shit! Lee thought. I told the people down in finance this was a rush priority!

  Lee opened her mouth to speak, but Vaii had already turned to Seba, “On my way over here I got a call from Orbital Systems. They want to buy stade too.”

  “How much are they offering?” Seba asked.

  Vaii laughed a single “Hah,” then rolled her eyes. “They wanted all rights for ten million. I told them they couldn’t have any rights. They could only bid on having us build them rocket engines and cryogen tanks and that they’d have to bid a lot more than that.” She turned to look at Lee, “Then I realized I didn’t know if we’d received Space-Gen’s money yet, so I checked. We haven’t. We signed that agreement three days ago.”

  Lee consciously relaxed her jaw. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I told them to rush the payment.”

  Seba said, “The way I read the contract, it isn’t enforceable until we receive our first payment. Also, they don’t owe us another payment until seven days after the first one. They may be trying to save money by extending the start date.”

  Lee frowned at him, “Do you have a photographic memory or something?”

  “For things that matter to me.” He lifted an eyebrow but produced a small smile, “Like that contract.” He sighed and turned back to Vaii. “How’d you leave it with Orbital Systems?”

  “I told them that I didn’t think Space-Gen had an enforceable right of first offer yet. The person that called me is getting back with his people.”

  The waiter was arriving with the hamburgers, but Lee got up, saying, “Let me make a call.”

  Seba nodded. Vaii was ordering a fish sandwich.

  Lee asked her phone to connect her to Prakant. She thought she’d need the CTO to light a fire under the CFO. Something she didn’t think she, as a junior engineer could do.

  The ca
ll was answered by Mary Willis, Prakant’s assistant. “Hello, Ms. Lee. Mr. Prakant’s busy. Can I take a message?”

  Lee’s first impulse was to demand her call be put through to Prakant. Instead, she explained what was happening.

  At the end of the tale, Willis said, “Ah, he’ll want to hear this. Let me interrupt him.”

  Mary’s a good person to have on my side, Lee thought.

  After a few minutes, Willis came back on the line. For a moment Lee was disappointed, but Willis set her mind at ease, saying, “He said to tell you he appreciated getting word and he was going to light a bomb under the CFO.”

  “Thanks. I’m going to get back to my meeting. I hope they deposit it in time to hold our rights.”

  ~~~

  When Lee had been leaving the table, Arya had been placing her lunch order with the waiter. That done, she glanced after Lee and then turned to Kaem. “I got a key code to get into the facility so you can do a demo for Lee if you like. I texted the code to Gunnar and he said he was on the way over. I’m assuming you still want to keep all the rights to Stade? We’d only contract with Space-Gen to do things like build rocket engines and cryo-tanks, right?”

  Kaem was chewing, so he held up a hand. Swallowing that bite, he gave a little laugh, “Yeah, though, since we’re having them manufacture the molds and then all we have to do is staze them, I kind of feel like they’re building them.” He grinned, “But we should definitely say we’re building them when we’re talking to companies.”

  “So,” Arya said thoughtfully, “Space-Gen won’t have a contract for anything deliverable will it? All they’ll have is a promise we won’t sell rocket engines to anyone else without letting them know first so they can prepare a counteroffer?”

  “Mm,” Kaem said, thinking, “I think what they’ll want is an exclusive right to buy engines and tankage from us. Space-Gen wants to be the only company that has stade engines. If they had to, they’d settle for being one of the companies that have stade engines. What they don’t want is for Orbital Systems to have an exclusive contract for engines so Space-Gen can’t have any. They wouldn’t be able to compete then.”