Chương 102: Book 4 - Chapter 1 B

As soon as I got into the waiting limo, Matt handed me a shirt so I could pull off the entirely too tight and short t-shirt and put on the dark blue three-button polo.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Okay. She thought the shirt was hilarious."

"I'll make sure it gets put safely back into your luggage."

"Thanks. Is everything ready at the plane?"

"All set. Me, you, three pilots, four stewardesses, one chef and five security guards. Not a lot of people for a plane that can seat sixty."

"I think they are called flight attendants now."

"Who?"

"The stewardesses. Wasn't one of them supposed to be a guy?"

"His Mom got sick so the service sent a replacement."

"Great. I'm looking forward to being able to travel farther and faster."

"I'm looking forward to showering on the plane. Remember how bad we smelled when we took that flight to Kiev?" Matt asked, wrinkling his nose at the memory.

"It has my water filters installed so nearly unlimited water for the showers," I agreed.

"I got the tour yesterday. I'm liking the increased size as well. I could barely fit in your Grandpa's Gulfstream."

"I don't think the Gulfstream was made for people who are six-foot-eight," I said chuckling. The limo pulled up to the plane and I got out, leaving the luggage to Matt. I looked up at the large twin engine plane. The 767-300ER had been under renovation for much of 1988. The ER stands for extended range and it was originally supposed to be ready in time to take my family on a nonstop flight to the Olympics in Seoul this last September.

It had just finally finished renovations and flight worthiness certification and I eagerly climbed up the stairs to the open rear hatch.

"Welcome aboard, sir."

"Thank you. Where should I go?" I asked as I took in the open space.

"I'd recommend the seating area, mid-plane."

"Okay, I want to take off as soon as we can." I thumbed back down the stairs, "We'll need him too," I said pointing as Matt and the limo driver struggled with the luggage. She smiled broadly.

"Yes, sir." I went forward from the rear seating area and rear bathrooms, past the two bedrooms with full baths and the mobile office. In the center of the plane was a seating area offering seating for twenty. Better than first class chairs and couches, as well as tables making it a small lounge area. The smell of the new leather seating was a sharp contrast to the hint of ozone coming from the vents above. Another flight attendant was there to get me buckled in and I asked her, "Where are the security guys?"

"Three are up in the front seating area. The other two will board just before take off. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"I'm trying to cut back on Dr Pepper so I'll have orange juice with breakfast," I joked. She nodded and headed forward. I knew up front there was another twenty similar seats, a match to the twenty at the back. There was also a kitchen and a dining room that could double as a meeting space, a flight crew bunk room and more bathrooms. Every bathroom was equipped with a shower. Matt sat down next to me.

"It's huge!" he said with a grin.

"It is. Now next stop on our way to Olympia, Washington is San Diego, California."

"Wow, that's a terrible flight route and layover stop," he teased. I laughed in agreement, feeling the stress knot in my stomach unwind a little.

"It's our hub, we have to go there first." He chuckled as the pilot confirmed the rear cabin doors were shut and I heard the engines spool up. Once we were up and leveled off, the pilot came over the intercom.

"Welcome aboard," he said.

"It will be about three hours to our first destination, San Diego. Weather looks good and I'm expecting a smooth flight. You are now free to move about the cabin, but if possible please be seated. If you are seated, it is recommended that you keep your seatbelt on." Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Angella Limeria walked into the seating area.

"Good morning, John."

"Good morning Angella," I said, happy to see my personal chef who also managed my San Diego home. She smiled brightly at her two most favorite customers.

"Would you like the orange juice here or in the dining room?"

"I'll come up, I want to see more of the plane and I haven't had breakfast."

"Chef Peter will have it ready in a few minutes. He's very excited. He's never had such a good kitchen on an aircraft before," she said, referring to the new chef hired just to handle food on the airplane.

"Did you tell him that you helped design it?" I asked her.

"That didn't seem to come up," she said grinning. Chef Peter fixed us breakfast and then I explored the plane, meeting the crew and security. In San Diego we picked up twenty-five executives and engineers from General Atomics. We didn't need to refuel, so we loaded them on, stowed their luggage and after a flight briefing, took off for Olympia, Washington. Chef Peter served lunch and I ate with a couple of the executives in the dining room who had worked on our ISPBR, the Intrinsically Safe Pebble-Bed Reactor.

After lunch, I showered and changed clothes as we prepared for landing. On arrival several sprinter vans were there to take the General Atomics staff, but I had a custom matte black graphene felt armored Humvee to take me, two security guards and Matt to the site. It was a new vehicle for security, something produced by AM General and newly acquired earlier this year. It was now a division of General Atomics. Other local security followed. It was an hour drive from McChord AFB, the closest the big plane could land.

We arrived, toured the facility, then went to the ceremonial startup for the cameras and news people. I gave a short speech, dutifully recorded by a local news team hired for the day.

"I'm very happy to be here today. After personally witnessing the fear and uncertainty of the people of Kiev who lived just sixty-five miles from the Chernobyl meltdown, I was determined that nuclear power had to be safer and cheaper.

"General Atomics has pioneered a new standard in reliable, safe, clean and best of all cheap power. It is state of the art, using high temperature gas instead of water, eliminating the potential for explosions. Its pebble-bed design is unique in its secure isolation of the nuclear materials and its use of cheap and abundant thorium reduces long term radioactive waste by more than 99%. It sets the standard as the most advanced and safest nuclear power plant in the world.

Will the engineers responsible please start us up!" The plant had been running for days, a carefully engineered addition to the local grid. The button simply lit up a board showing current production amounts and activated spinning lights when the giant start button was pressed down by a group of madly grinning engineers. Everyone applauded the event, then I did interviews and took questions from local reporters, where I just basically repeated myself all day to the same questions:"It's incredibly safe.

It uses a mix of fuels, mostly thorium, all sealed in secure containers made of diamond."

"Yes, it is manufactured diamond. We made it in the lab at General Atomics."

"This is an empty containment ball. As you can see, it is about the size of a tennis ball. There are two million of them in the reactor."

"Diamond is the hardest natural material known to man and an excellent conductor of heat. The heat generated by the nuclear reaction inside the diamond pebble is transferred to inert carbon dioxide. That heat then goes directly to the generator to produce more power at a greater efficiency than any previous reactor. A cooling loop then chills the gas and sends it back through. That loop boils water to drive a second generator where even more power is extracted."

When the day got late, the people who had traveled with me were shuttled to a local hotel, while I was driven back to the plane where Chef Peter had dinner waiting. Parked at the McChord Distinguished Visitor ramp and connected to power, the plane served as my mobile hotel room. My bedroom had a nice big bed all for myself. Matt had the other bedroom which had six bunk beds installed. He shared it with the security staff who were staying on the plane. The flight crew had their own bunks, but had opted for a hotel.

After seeing the security crew and the bunks I thought I probably should have opted for the hotel too for their sakes. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my first night on my new plane. The next day two GA executives came to meet me at the airplane. They were very upset.

"WPPSS has informed us that per our contract in purchasing the Satsop site we are required to sell our electricity to them but that the contract doesn't specify the amount. They've decided that since we paid so little for something they claim to have spent a billion dollars on, that it is only fair they pay us two cents a kilowatt hour!" I was informed by the outraged man.

"That's still a profit," I told him.

"They are reselling the power at nearly seven cents per kilowatt hour!" said the other in similar outrage.

"Listen, first of all thank you for your concern. Remember, our plant is a demonstration plant. When word gets around that we are selling electricity at two cents and making a profit this system will be popping up everywhere. That's free advertising.

"I need you to go make a fuss in the press, tell everyone who will listen. Every time you complain about how unfair it is, be sure to mention that we are profitable at two cents per kilowatt hour and that WPPSS really shouldn't be charging so much if they are only paying us two cents.

"There will be no legal action, understood? If we fight, we look greedy. WPPSS is nearly bankrupt as it is."

"We understand," they told me.

"Now, this is important. I'm not worried. There are things our demonstration plant can produce other than electricity. Under no circumstances are you to mention that. You are still bound by your non-disclosure agreements and the rule that top secret discussions only happen in the secure room in San Diego." I gave them my hardest stare.

"Do you understand? Complain and complain, but constantly mention the price we are producing at. Do not ever mention the other thing we are planning to make with the plant."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good, now go make some noise. I have to get back to Oklahoma City," I said, dismissing them. They smiled for the first time, shook my hand and apologized for interfering with breakfast. Matt looked at me smiling as they walked off.

"What are you planning?" he asked.

"You'll see," I told him, still smiling.