Chương 129: Book 4 - Chapter 13 A

Tuesday I was back at my office at GA. I was working on upgrading the network security and adding encrypted email. I was still waiting for the publication of my article in the Journal of Mathematics, but I could use the software I wrote while training for the Olympics now. The keys on the black, first generation NeXT Computer keyboard were a blur of staccato clicks. It was nice to write code again, especially on a big 17 inch display, even if I had to hide the ECC module behind standard encryption.

Objective-C used many of the tricks and methods I had integrated into Object Pascal, but it was much more forgiving in how you typed the code. I looked up as there was a knock at the door.

"Come in, Tim," I said raising my voice.

"Sir, I brought the monthly report." I sighed. I needed confident, helpful Tim. Not shy, nervous Tim.

"Tim, come in and have a seat," I told him. He obeyed immediately.

"Tim, before Friday I was the richest guy on the planet. After Friday I still am. Little has changed, except how you view me."

"Yes, sir," he said stiffly.

"What is it going to take? A day of surfing? A Star Wars marathon? You are a trusted friend and now one of a couple dozen people on the planet who know the big secret." He sat up a little straighter, and gave me a half smile.

"I would like to go diving again," he said.

"Good," I told him with a smile.

"With me here in San Diego, or would you like a trip somewhere exotic? You've been working hard and the next few months will be exhausting. Taking a break now is good planning."

"I don't know. I've never been, except that one time you took me."

"I'll have Matt and Jack whip something up that you'll enjoy. Go get sunburned and ogle pretty ladies in bikinis, but come back prepared to work hard. I'll be traveling a lot between now and the New Year, so I'll need to rely on you here to keep your keen eye on things."

"Yes, Boss," he said with his usual smile back in place.

"Excellent. Now what's in this month's report?" I asked.

"I had the new car delivered to Dr Albright on the day his article got published. He was surprised, but thankful. He sent a thank you card."

"Good. He deserves it. How is the work there going?"

"They've built several more bio-reactors. Most of the time it just grows more bone marrow. They have had one more that has also grown cells that lost their antigen response. They also had a bio-reactor that turned on itself."

"It generated an autoimmune response in the bio-reactor?" I asked him.

"It did. The sample grew then killed itself."

"Fascinating," I said.

"I'll bet they are learning a lot about immune response and tissue rejection. This hasn't been something that has been testable in a laboratory."

"They have. They are all quite excited. The new universal donor bio-reactor works with a different group of donors needing matches. The papers talk about something called Haplotypes."

"Right. It is a long journey. If it wasn't for the universal donor bio-reactors, they would all be making essentially single use transplants. The body's lock and key mechanism puts a password on the outside of every single cell. Only when people have passwords that almost match can they even get a transplant. That he's growing marrow with a password that large groups of people can accept, is huge. Hopefully he'll be able to build a library of marrows that can be immediately available when needed."

"Well, they haven't asked for more funding. They've managed to remain profitable while the research continues. All the hospitals in Oklahoma are only taking tiny donations, and sending them to OKBio to grow the marrow for transplant."

"That's great. The minimal donation means more people will donate. If they do need extra funding, run it by me. I'm sure I'll say yes, but I want to know why first."

"Understood, Boss," he said making a note for his files.

"What's next?" I asked.

"Ocean Bacon," he said.

"I think you mean bacon weed," I told him.

"No, marketing renamed it. Ocean Bacon is the new product. It hit store shelves last month."

"That's great news. How's it doing?" I asked.

"It sells out immediately. Hae-cho is working on expanding production. It only grows in tropical equatorial waters, like those found around Ocean Island. When they brought it back to South Korea to try to grow it there, it couldn't handle the cold water and tasted awful."

"Hae-cho is the name of the South Korean seaweed company I bought?" I asked him.

"Yes. They've converted an old ship into a processing plant. It is being grown and dried all over Kiribati now, then shipped to Tarawa where they process it. From there it gets shipped to the US where it is packaged and sold as Ocean Bacon."

"Have you tried it?" I asked him.

"No, is it good?" he asked.

"It's amazing," I confirmed.

"Not only is it a dark red, but when dried it has the crunch and flavor of real bacon. It's cholesterol free, full of B vitamins and other essential nutrients. You should try to find some and bring it in. I'd enjoy eating more of it."

"I'll do that. It is likely to be a very profitable income stream, especially now when you need every penny," he said.

"Not for this," I said shaking my head.

"This is the product that saves the Kiribati economy. Something exclusive they can grow and export. We keep those accounts and companies separate. Use the income to buy low cost white goods. Washing machines, toasters, radios, and cellphones then ship them back to sell at cost.

"Everybody bringing in bacon weed is going to have money. Also make sure that we are paying more than anyone else can afford to pay for the raw material. This product doesn't need to make a profit, just break even. We eliminate the competitors by being the company that pays the most for the raw product." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Okay," he said making a note.

"I actually have a lot on Kiribati this month."

"Good. You saw my drawing of Ocean City. Kiribati will be important to me for decades. What else is going on there that you need to discuss?"

"TSKL, Telecom Services Kiribati Limited." he said.

"Or just Telecom Kiribati. I think of them as TK. Reach out and touch someone with, TK." He snorted in amusement.

"Telecom Kiribati has put up ten balloons. But they've paused deployment."

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"The existing balloons are getting upgraded with something called a hob?"

"HAWB," I told him, spelling it out.

"That is the High Altitude Windmill Balloon. We developed it for the military, but if they are using them, that is great. Bringing power to the islands to run a balloon was always going to be a logistical bottleneck, transporting fuel and maintaining generators. Running that power line up the coast from the TK switching office was a pain. No matter how good Corning's new power lines are, we can't stretch those across the pacific."

"Right," he agreed.

"The balloon team there is pulling the communication balloons down and adding a HAWB on top, and putting them back up. They are also installing power plugs on the exterior of the concrete block buildings that hold the ground based equipment. It has been great for phone charging. In some cases it is the first time a smaller island has had dependable electricity."

"If they want to get into the electricity business then have them form a new company. TK can sell them mooring rights, and the new company can install and maintain the windmill generators and the associated electrical infrastructure. Free use of the excess power at the block house is fine, they just need to be sure that locals aren't running hundreds of feet of extension cables to their huts." He smiled at the description and made a note.

"Any ideas on the power company name?" he asked. I gave him a big grin.

"Heavy Wind Power. Wind power: strong because you can't break the wind," I said, suggesting the name and the company slogan. He groaned and made a note.

"Alright, no name provided," he said.

"It should be something with a good acronym. I'll ask Janice in accounting, she's pretty good at naming things."

"So what else is going on out there?" I asked.

"TK made its first profit," he said.

"From phone cards selling minutes?" I asked.

"Definitely not," he said.

"You are still in the red there, handing out cellphones to every family when a new tower goes up. Kiribati TV has expanded its offerings, and is generating income from commercials. They only do one every half hour, so not a huge amount of business, but it is making a profit."

"Good. I'm interested in all aspects of the Kiribati economy. Anything I do that harms it, I want to know immediately. Anything I can do to help, let me know during the monthly update."

"There was one thing," he said, flipping through his briefing notes.

"Here it is. There has been a request that yarn be imported."

"Yarn? What are they doing, knitting sweaters?" I joked.

"Very close, actually," he said.

"A cottage industry has sprung up. Mostly the older ladies. They are making hip bags to carry the MicroTAC phones in. They've become very popular item, practically a fashion statement on the islands."

"Sure, include that with the white goods. I'd like to eliminate empty ships heading in for the bacon weed pickup. Just make sure they aren't bringing in things that the people don't need, like sweaters."

"I also have a note here about the MicroTAC phones. They have been making educational videos on how to use them, charge them and operate them. Some of these people have no concept of what a phone is when we hand them out."

"But they have a TV?" I asked.

"No they don't. Now that the power balloons are going up, they are adding a TV to each block house as well, tuned to the government information channel."

"That is excellent. Send a note to Heartland about making more educational videos. I'd be happy to donate an hour or two each week to translate them into Gilbertese. The phones all have a number engraved on them when handed out, so people know what their new number is," I told him.

"You speak Gilbertese?" he asked.

"I am fluent in over six million forms of communication," I joked. He smiled, getting the joke easily.

"So what kind of videos should they produce for the Kiribati market?"

"It should all be considered charity work. But basic education, reading, writing, numbers and math. They will probably need to send people out to record the ones on local conditions. How to install a graphene felt water filter, build a composting toilet and how to build and manage a bacon weed farm. Those are the most critical things. There should also be a suggestion box. Put it next to the TV so people can suggest things they want to learn about." He made careful notes, bobbing his head in agreement as he wrote.

"The final thing for Kiribati is a request to install two TV's at each block house."

"I'm listening," I said.

"Why can't they change the channel?"

"It is to prevent fights. The government channel was locked down when it triggered fights over what they were going to watch." I sighed and rubbed my face in exasperation.

"Big fights?" I asked.

"It doesn't say, but the second most popular channel carried most of the advertising that is paying for the system."

"Oh, what channel is that?"

"The weather channel. It is just static displays of current temperature and conditions and short term forecasts. The current conditions use data gathered from each balloon, but it plays nice music, which is very popular. Particularly among the island women who enjoy dancing to it." I couldn't help laughing.

"You're telling me I need to pay for more TV's because the Kiribati are fighting over the remote?" He nodded seriously.

"Sure, why not," I decided.

"Make sure they are protected from the elements, but mount one on each side of the block house. Education and Government TV on one side. Ladies dance party on the other."

"Got it," he said, then paused and looked at me.

"This Kiribati network is much more sophisticated than American Wireless, isn't it?"

"It is. Another couple balloon towers and the whole country will be connected in a way it never has before. Kiribati is my test bed of communication technologies. Handing out phones has brought cellphone usage there to levels only seen in the big cities, places like New York, London and Tokyo.

"Once Kiribati is covered, TK will move out across the Pacific. I'm charging a penny a minute for calls, but they are all local. TK cellphones don't connect to overseas. Only Ocean Island has that capability for now. There are only five islands with existing telephone service, that needed to be connected. Everywhere else is getting it for the first time. That communication between far flung family members is going to stitch the country tighter than it ever has been before."

"It is not just phones is it? You're building a new version of the twentieth century."

"Twenty-first century, if I get it right. It'll give me a head start everywhere else to have the freedom to test technologies there first. It is not just first to market anymore. Not for real profits. For real profits, it is best to market."

"That brings me to Honeywell," Tim said.

"Their Marine and Defense division," I said and he nodded.

"They renamed it, what, ATK? Tell me how integration is going? It's getting split up among everybody?"

"ATK is getting divided up. Vought is taking the munition guys, they are happy to have smart weapons that make bigger bangs. They've been working on towable stuff for AM General's Humvees."

"That I know all about," I told him.

"Towable vertical launch racks were my idea."

"LTV Aerospace is pivoting by absorbing the Marine Systems, their plane doesn't have much life in it, and the same aerodynamic principles apply to high speed torpedoes.

"GA Defense is taking all of the sensor and storage tech to integrate it into the newest Predator drone," Tim said.

"Perfect," I said.

"It keeps me from having to close LTV Aerospace when the last Corsair rolls off the line, and makes the inflatable Predator better. Have they spun Predator off as a separate company yet?"

"They did. Your balloon company is now called SkyPillar, and the Predator and ATK signals and electronic warfare analysis is called Oculus Airborne."

"Good names," I complimented.

"I'll tell Janice and Jennifer that you approved the renaming of the divisions," he said.

"What about the UWA," I suggested.

"You want to buy Mexican wrestling?" Tim asked with a confused look on his face.

"No," I said with a snort of laughter.

"The new name for the merged LTV Aerospace and Defense and Marine Systems from Honeywell, Under Water Aircraft Company."