Project Wim

By John Rojewski

We live in a universe full of matter. We live on a planet and in a civilization that is continually hungry for energy. It seems that we cannot get enough. Electrical power is essential in this present Digital Age, and it is not cheap. But what if it was?

What if energy was as plentiful and as cheap as sand? Would that make a difference? Would it matter?

See the world through the eyes of an inventor that has the vision and the knowledge to create a reality where matter and energy are directly interchangeable.

How is it done? Who else knows about the process? And what are they doing to take that power as their very own?

Project WIM has the thrills of invention, secrets, armed conflict, and disasters, all enshrouded in the magic and mystery of quantum physics and human nature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984568182

John Rojewski

John Rojewski was born in Nebraska and moved to Arizona after his graduation from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Following his occupational training, he pursued a career in Information Technology. Beyond his career aspirations, John has associations/certifications and experience as a private pilot, scuba diver, USA Swimming official, information security professional, an Eagle Scout, and is now a published author. John is married, with a daughter and grandchildren and enjoys science fiction, singing, playing bass guitar, and traveling regionally and abroad.

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Copyright © 2018 by John Rojewski.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER:     2018913924

                 ISBN:     HARDCOVER          978-1-9845-6820-5

                                 SOFTCOVER           978-1-9845-6819-9

                                EBOOK                     978-1-9845-6818-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date:    03/28/2020

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

OVERVIEW

HOW IT STARTED

WHY IT CONTINUED

THE VISION

THE SPARK!

Concept and Design

Safety Concerns

NEW TECHNOLOGY

FEARS OF EITHER SUCCESS OR FAILURE

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

BREAKTHROUGH!

Ideas on Portability

MOVING ON

NEW BUSINESS

GARBAGE COLLECTION

NEXT BUSINESS

ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION

THE ROLL-OUT

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

SHUTDOWN?

REPERCUSSIONS

SELLING PROGRESS

THE FISHBOWL

THE TOUR

THE REAL WORLD, AGAIN

HIDING THE ELEPHANT

HYDROELECTRIC, SOLAR, OR WIND

WASTE NOT!

PHILOSOPHY 101

MORE OPPORTUNITIES

ECO-MECO

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SCRUBBER

THE PERFECT TEST

LUNCH WITH THE GUYS

THE GRAND DISPLAY

ATTACK!

A PERFECT EVENING

MASSIVE DAMAGE, NO OUTAGE

MILITARY MADNESS

CONFRONTATION

LIGHT FROM BELOW

MORNING BREAKS!

INTERLUDE

DOUBLING DOWN

MEC RAMP UP

CONGRESSIONAL CONFRONTATION

INQUIRY GOES TO THE BIG HOUSE

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

THE BEAR TRAP

INQUIRY ON STAGE

GOVERNMENTAL TAKE-OVER

BIG BROTHER ISN’T JUST WATCHING

INVASION IN DAYLIGHT

BIG MISTAKES HAPPEN (BOOM!)

GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

PRIVATE BUSINESS DELIVERS

FORENSICS OF DESTRUCTION

MEMORIAL SERVICE

RETURN TO WASHINGTON

REBUILDING LOST CAPACITY

LEGAL ISSUES

NERC and FERC

RISKS EXPOSED

DOCUMENTATION MATTERS

PAWN TAKES KING

RE-TURNING TO TRASH

GARBAGE IN…

ECONOMICS 102 – USES EXPANDED

EPILOGUE

LEARNING BUT NOT UNDERSTANDING

THE NEXT PHASE

APPENDIX

A. Documentation List for Congressional Inquiry – July 12

B. Power Conversion Calculations

C. Matter-Energy Converters

D. Character Review

E. Fundamental Principles

F. Spherical Effect

G. Scenes and Locations

H. Glossary

ENDNOTES

PROLOGUE

I am a man with a secret. Not uncommon you might say. Keeping secrets from Mom and Dad, or from your teacher at school, or perhaps the Police or the IRS, or even from your spouse. Not unusual you might say.

But my secret is different, I think. My secret is something that can fundamentally change the way we as humans look at and live within our world!

Oh sure, you say. And how does your secret affect me? I’m not so fragile and dependent as you might think! I am open-minded and adaptable.

While I really appreciate knowing that you are adaptable, I guess I am more concerned about those who believe as you do but are much less adaptable than they believe. It is for their benefit that I keep my secret.

But if you agree to keep this between us, I guess I can trust you ...

OVERVIEW

HOW IT STARTED

Where to Start?

As a young boy I was always fascinated with the future, and things that were different than what I could see in my physical world. Rocket ships, aliens, lasers and phasers and all the stuff that makes science fiction interesting and intriguing. I would read books and watch movies and TV shows that showed a variety of devices and technologies completely different than what I could see in my bedroom, or at school or anywhere inside or outside the house.

Technology and the future were always things that attracted my attention and kept me enchanted with anticipation. What would be next? What could possibly be better, newer, or more enabling?

I decided that I wanted to be a scientist, and to discover new elements, travel to the stars, and walk on other planets. With some amount of amusement, I now look back at those otherwise happy child-like memories and wonder why I was never able to achieve some of the most basic feats.

If flying was simply to counteract gravity, I should be able to do that. If traveling to the stars meant traveling very fast, I should be able to build an engine to move something very fast, even faster than the speed of light. If walking on other planets required me to bring along air and water and food to eat, I should be able to pack those things with me where ever I traveled.

I simply loved the idea of adventure and being able to ignore any complications like gravity being the very strong and attractive force in nature. Despite knowing that gravity and attraction of mass to mass was the reason for orbits of the planets around the sun, and the millions of other suns around the hub of the Milky Way galaxy, I was still limited to the simplistic level of understanding about an apple that supposedly dropped on Sir Isaac Newton’s head.

If gravity was so powerful, and gravity being merely the attraction of mass for other mass, then mass itself had to be incredibly significant. From that perspective, gravity was merely a symptom or effect of mass! Without mass, no gravity. Without gravity there would be no orbital mechanics, no black holes, no need for spaceships speeding from world to world and galaxy to galaxy. There would be no galaxies, because there would be no stars to shine light upon planets that would never form.

Because mass was a key component in the universe, I determined that understanding mass was key to understanding the universe. At least so I believed until I considered the stars again. Those incredible gravitational forces pulling and compressing matter into smaller and smaller space, until, in my youthful mind the trigger was simply … rebellion!

Genesis states, Let there be light! It was the instant of creation of the universe of matter, but the light was not matter. The light was a signal of the creation of energy from matter. As I later learned of the technique known as hydrogen fusion, where hydrogen atoms are compressed into helium, and huge amounts of energy are released in the form of light and other electromagnetic energy, I became enthralled with physics and celestial mechanics.

Certainly, I had a primitive understanding at that time, and perhaps my years of study and searching for knowledge has not taken me as far as I could go in realizing this fundamental relationship. But from the time I realized that there was a connection between energy and matter and that the conversion was bi-directional, I knew that my life would be amazingly fascinating.

I studied the sciences in grade school, and then in high school. Once I was able to get into college I continued in Physics, Chemistry, and Information Technology, hoping to get the answers to the questions that had confused and confounded me all my life.

There were so many things in this world that were fascinating and so many more that were distracting. Distracting in the sense that I could spend time analyzing them and find that once I had the answer, the question had changed, or even that the method for determining the answer had changed. While I liked the challenges, I found that I would prefer to get deeper into the understanding of the nature of the universe rather than broader into the understanding of people and their interactions. I determined I would never understand the nature of human beings until I understood the basics of nature.

In college I was fascinated by the theoretical physics course I took. Sub-nuclear materials and fundamental particles and ‘strange’ matter, all of which was highly obscured and observable only in very special, high-energy situations and for infinitesimal and nearly immeasurable time frames. And the title ‘theoretical’ meant that there were potentially even more things to discover.

Classifications of matter, like Leptons, Hadrons, Fermions and the sub-particles like Quarks were like a new set of building blocks being exposed. Like getting the news that Lego® was releasing the details of the building blocks they used to create Legos so that everyone could make them. Of course, by the time I was in college Legos were no longer part of my daily routine!

However, like the concept of Legos in taking the smallest blocks to create major constructions, the knowledge of the properties of those fundamental particles led me to speculate how I could construct and reorganize or rearrange things to make new and unusual substances.

I am certain I was not the first to conceive of many of the whimsical things I considered in late-night sessions with a physics book and a computer, gathering the various parts and combinations of matter that would be needed to construct a suit of armor with no metal, or to carry an elephant on my back without feeling the crushing load of gravity.

I audaciously planned to call the elephant carrier the ‘Pack-a-Derm’ transportation unit, but then considered that even if I could construct such a device, the usages would be limited. How many elephants were there, and how many people ever had the opportunity or need to carry an elephant? And the same for a dozen other animals: Emus, Water Buffalo, Lions, Tigers, and Bears ¹ (Oh my!), they were all unlikely to be transported in that manner.

And before you ask too many questions, no, I did not participate in using any mind-altering substances. Apparently, my mind was already so flexible as to render the need for such substances as completely and totally irrelevant and unnecessary.

What finally did capture my attention as I approached my senior year and then considered graduate school was the need for power. Not the power that my colleagues in Political Science were studying across campus, but the power that was needed for even the most basic activities of life in the 20th and 21st centuries.

As it happened, we had a power failure in the local area that took several hours to resolve. Although my computer had its battery backup that allowed me to save all my research and the current paper I was working on, I was no longer able to do any additional research for the duration of the outage because my internet router and probably the network portals were not available. I decided I could skip the work until the power was restored.

The campus was somewhat dark, and as I wandered around I saw a lot of other students just standing around in the middle of the evening. No loud music coming from windows, although some enterprising fraternity had brought several cars to the parking lot and managed to sync the CD players to play some songs in unison between the multiple vehicles. That was interesting, and I spent some time there before I fell back into an Introspective Zone or IZ as I called it.

The IZ was a time when I just tuned out the real world and went into the realm where my imagination was supreme. I guess the best part of IZ time was that I didn’t need any drugs or alcohol to get there or to get back, and there was no hangover. Unlike my buddies and the local babes, I could enter and exit the IZ with minimal effort.

Listening to the conversations through the filter of the IZ, I envisioned a time when we would not need power companies to supply electrical power. We, the world, would move beyond wires and cables for power just as we had moved beyond them for communication. Wi-Fi was easy, ubiquitous, and relatively inexpensive, considering the amount of information that was available simply for the asking.

But the broadcasting approach for power was not new. Nikolai Tesla had the idea and had taken it to the peak of perfection. Unfortunately, he was too far ahead, and was unable to demonstrate the case for his brilliant creations. I had studied Tesla and was perplexed at his successes and his failures. Perhaps I would be as fortunate to be so brilliant, and fortunate to be able to live in a world as unlimited in opportunity as this one appeared to be.

So, if not power plants generating power from fire and steam, or wind, or nuclear fission, or even the simplicity of falling water, how might I generate power for my computer and the local communications network?

I didn’t want a fire in my pocket. Although the internal combustion engine was the harnessing of a series of small fires, each controlled in a specific sequence, the weight of a car or truck engine was more than a man could carry, and a single cylinder engine would be much lighter. But the noise, and the heat, and the risk of dropping the engine while it was running were major impediments. And of course, the flammability of the gasoline was its own issue. All those things would make internal combustion less than desirable for the portable power source. Now that solution for camping and temporary power was completely different, and it made sense for a non-portable while in operation mode.

Lightweight, non-toxic, non-flammable, non-explosive. All of these sounded like the next power solution which was batteries!

Batteries were self-contained, generally safe, and caused no damage, temporary or permanent, to the user. The idea of chemicals combining to generate an electrical current was very old, and with some newer technology the renewable and rechargeable batteries were getting better and better. With a longer lifespan and faster recharging cycle-time most people would say that we had achieved the ‘best ever’.

And they were correct, but then they were not in the IZ and did not want to see that the ‘best ever’ was nowhere near the ultimate achievable, at least at this point in time.

I saw the next level, where batteries were not temporary, but were the source. These batteries did not rely on chemical interactions to produce power, and they did not need to be thrown away after long-time usage because there was no material that became inert after usage. In fact, the material was consumed as a part of the process.

My IZ session continued for some time before some of the sisters from Kappa Delta walked by and distracted me.

Hi Marc, Beth Ann purred as she saw me. You know I got an A on that physics exam on Monday after you helped me. I need to find a way to let you know how much I appreciated your help. Oh, Cindy and Tracy, this is Marc and he is really nice. Maybe you can help me thank him.

I left the IZ in an instant and didn’t consider my previous suppositions until some days later. Beth Ann was very effective at making anything and everything other than her seem insignificant!

The idea of a battery that consumed material and converted it directly to energy was similar to the fire that consumed wood or coal, or alcohol, or gasoline. That process required an additional set of inputs; namely oxygen and a catalyst temperature known as the flash point or combustion point. When achieving that temperature, the burning process was self-sustaining, and would continue until any one of the three components were removed.

Again, all basic knowledge, but perhaps so basic that none had considered starting from that point to establish other combinations of materials and conditions or states where a similar matter conversion process would begin and then be maintained.

Or perhaps there had been other inquisitive individuals that were fascinated with the world of the invisible and had made some of their discoveries visible in the world of humans through research and publication. I started surfing the net, and from time to time, even went to the university library, looking for the breadcrumbs of power from additional sources.

By the time I graduated I had learned much about the ways of the world from the perspective of formal education. I believed that I understood what I wanted to do with my energy and my life but recognized that achieving that goal would require some significant effort in this real world to turn that dream into reality.

WHY IT CONTINUED

Despite having a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Applied Sciences and several hours of advanced study beyond that were potentially applicable to a post-graduate degree, I was becoming less of a ‘follow the rules’ person and was becoming more reclusive and less responsive to the schedules of others. This meant that increasingly there were situations where I was not as dependable or as reliable as I was expected to be.

I don’t attempt to defend this behavior or to denigrate the individuals who pointed this growing tendency to me, but I was almost completely unaware of the extent that it had affected my life until I looked at what I had been doing during that time.

I would stay up late at night, generally until the early morning hours of 3 or 4AM, involved in attempting to understand some of the principles that were somehow escaping me. I would read and seek to make a connection between what I read with what I could envision. And sometimes (all right, most times) I found no resolution that appeared to match up my visions with the experience of reason and research.

The combination of my father and my college counselor brought me back into the realm of the here and now. They assured me that the realm of dreams and imagination were important, but not as important as food to eat and a place to sleep. And my father assured me that he was not my backup plan!

You know that your mother and I love you, and we want the best for you, he asserted, and supporting you when you are unwilling to support yourself is not even an option. You need to take command of your life and be responsible for adhering to the expectations of the world.

My counselor was even more succinct in his comments.

You can be brilliant and stupid at the same time, Marc, he declared with a smile on his face. You need to hold on to the brilliant and pump up the stupid to just plain devoted and dependable. Let me know if you need any more advice.

I heard more than just the words. I heard the confirmation that I was the one to establish my own destiny, and that I had been ‘sleeping’ instead of ‘being’. I know those were not the words they used, but the meaning was very clear.

I applied for several jobs that provided at least two things:

• a wage that provided more than I needed

• a life balance that allowed me to develop

The second point provided me with IZ time that was generally uninterrupted with concerns and consequences that resulted from a lack of the first point. I knew I needed to support not only my immediate needs, but the needs for what and who I wanted to become.

As I worked and studied and contemplated who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life, I discovered many of the fundamental principles that have been known for generations but that I had somehow overlooked or even ignored.

First principle: Knowledge is power. Everything that I spend time to read, study, review, or create is potentially valuable as a future resource. But spending time on some things produces no long-term benefit. Use your time wisely. It is limited and finite.

Second principle: Don’t pay for things you don’t need. As you invest your time in exchange for money, don’t spend your life to get things that are not increasing your ability to achieve your goals and become the person you want to be. Stuff is stuff, and stuff is not what makes life worth living.

Third principle: Create a plan and identify progress. The age-old saying is, You cannot hit a target you cannot see. Additionally, If you fail to plan; you are planning to fail. Create a plan, invest your time and energy into making that plan real and a guiding light for your actions and activities.

Fourth principle: Evaluate your plan and improve on it. Once the plan is made, you need to own it and make it work for you, rather than you working for it. You own the plan; the plan does not own you. If the plan needs to change due to circumstances that you cannot control, then you need to change it.

I believe I could have gone further, but four principles seemed sufficient at that time in my life, and my plan became the arrow that shot me into the real world with a parallel world existing beside it. The real world was where I was, and the parallel world was where I would be leading everyone else, if they would follow.

I was thankful for the principles that came from the advice of my mentors. It made many decisions easier, like taking the summers off, or working year around. And taking those night-time virtual education courses instead of spending that time at the local bar meeting other people with nothing more important to do.

Of course, the reverse was also true. I didn’t attend the social events that would help me acquire the skills to attract and retain a mate, or I was either attending events with a first-date, or more often was attending alone. That became harder to deal with after a while.

My parents, and particularly my mother would ask, Are you seeing anyone? or Don’t be afraid to invite one of your friends to come along with you when you visit us.

On one occasion I did invite a collegiate friend to visit my parents with me. She was not really interested in socializing either and was so relieved when I agreed to her ‘exchange’ idea.

I will visit your parents with you if you reciprocate and visit mine with me, Tamika suggested.

What can you tell me about your parents that makes this such a great deal for you? I asked, wondering what I might be getting myself into.

Oh, they are fine, she laughed. Very honorable and they truly want the best for me. But Mother wants grandchildren. She thinks that I need to get married soon and has convinced Father to join the effort.

And what are your expectations before, during, and after the visit? I continued, interested in the idea but a bit uncertain.

Tamika laughed. I have a sister that used this plan and Father was a bit upset. But she explained that she was looking and when she was ready, she would let him know.

So, your father knows what to look for? I asked.

He is very smart, Marc, she responded, and he will know long before Mother even has a clue. But be assured that he will treat you well and there will be no ‘drama’ that you will need to worry about."

It sounds like fun, I replied, returning her smile.

We went to see my parents first, and Tamika declared later, It was a wonderful honor to meet your parents and feel so welcomed by them. I know that much of the kindness in you comes from the love you have received from your family.

When it came time to visit Tamika’s parents, things were a bit different. The first difference was when Tamika asked if I had a passport.

No, I had said, I’ve never needed one.

And then I realized the reason for her question. Your parents don’t live in the US?

She looked at me with a smirk of a smile and announced Marc, with a surname of Hoshibata, where do you think my parents might live?

Ummm, I started, maybe in Japan?

BINGO! she laughed, highlighting the fact that her literary and cultural education vastly exceeded mine.

OK, I replied, I guess I should be able to get that done.

About six weeks later I had a US Passport and she brought me to the next threshold.

I have reservations for June 20th to go visit my parents, so let me know if that works.

What she failed to tell me is that the trip was a full 10 days! I had originally expected just a weekend or perhaps just an evening out at a restaurant, but this was much more. I think Tamika sensed my concern and did an amazing job at setting me at ease.

This is going to be a great time for me to show off my new boyfriend and Mother and Father will be thrilled, she said. Even now I want to thank you for being such a good friend that you are willing to put so much of yourself into making this happen.

I smiled, recognizing that I had committed myself and I needed to follow through on my commitment.

So please let me know when I get my first lesson on Japanese family structure and relationships.

Oooo! she chirped, You are a sharp one, Marc. I just know you and Father will get along great!

The preparation was good, and I spent time in the evenings reading about Japan and Tokyo and found out that Tamika’s Father was the equivalent of a CEO of a major manufacturing company in Japan, and that knowledge helped me to consider investing even more into that research for the trip to meet Tamika’s parents.

It was when I started trying to build a vocabulary in Japanese that Tamika surprised me with a rather amazing complement.

You know, Marc, she said slowly, When we made this agreement I believed you would be a man that would be able to convince Mother and Father that you were honestly interested in my happiness, and I would be able to convince them that I was finding some good men at this school. Right now, I am completely confident that Mother and Father will believe whatever I tell them about our relationship, and that regardless of our future life paths, you will be the new standard for me to compare any future partner.

It took a moment to translate that declaration of respect and admiration, but then I considered that we might be able to provide a bit more authenticity for her parents.

Thank you, Tamika, I smiled, preparing my next plan. I know that this is a great collaboration between two very talented people, and I just want you to know that your example will be one that I will remember all my life.

And then I moved forward and kissed her. She was surprised, but not resistant.

Just so you know, I said softly, we are still friends and we are practicing being boyfriend and girlfriend.

She laughed as the pressure was released. Oh, I see, we need to act like we are more than friends to convince Mother and Father. I had considered this, of course, but didn’t what to scare you away!

What! I responded in mock Shakespearean indignance. A strong and noble man such as I, frightened of a fair maiden and the opportunity of a kiss? I am your Galahad, your Lancelot, and you, my sweet Guinevere!

She laughed even louder, and it was clear that we did share something very special together. Our direction was confirmed that evening. Mr. and Mrs. Hoshibata would believe there was a link between Tamika and this young man because they would be able to see and feel it.

Tamika wanted to ‘practice’ a few more times to be certain that her reactions would be authentic and when the 20th came, we boarded the plane with confidence. As we settled in for the long flight Tamika had one more bit of news that she believed would be important.

I didn’t tell you this before, she explained, but my parents will also expect for there to be some disagreement between us. They may not believe that we are being authentic if we always agree and are always happy. I need for you to be upset with me, and it needs to be authentic, so I deliberately withheld some information from you expressly for this purpose.

OK, I replied, I want to authentically be upset with you because you have, ummm, hurt my feelings by not confiding with me on important information, Got It!

And I don’t think you should blame me, she continued, raising her voice to the dismay of some of the passengers around us trying to settle in for a long night. After all, this was all your idea!

My idea! I exclaimed, trying to keep a straight face as we practiced our mutual outrage with each other. You know that we had an agreement that we would not discuss this issue anymore!

She was silent, appearing to be brooding about my last statement. I waited and finally asked, So how long to wait before we kiss and makeup?

At least … 30 seconds, she stated, and definitely no longer than a minute.

OK, I responded, but we may need to explain what we are arguing about.

Tamika smiled. Probably not. Neither of my parents speak English.

That statement led me back into the IZ, where I first considered my situation and what I was likely to encounter. If I looked at this as a challenge, I could see that my study was worthwhile, allowing me to know more about Japanese culture and I would therefore be better at relating to Tamika’s parents. If I looked at this openly it was a vacation, and was really a free vacation, because all I paid for was the Passport. The air flight, accommodations, food, entertainment, all of it was a gift from Tamika’s Father and Mother. A ten-day vacation to Tokyo was not an insignificant gift! If I considered this as an exercise in building a relationship with a member of the opposite-sex, then I believed that I had learned much more with Tamika’s help than I ever would have learned by my own experimentation. By the time we closed our eyes and allowed the bumping of occasional air turbulence to reassure us of the eventual landing in Tokyo I was relaxed and encouraged that no matter the outcome with her parents, Tamika and I would remain friends for a long time.

I awoke to the voice of the flight attendant from the speakers overhead indicating a landing, both in English and Japanese, although much of the later did not translate into words that I understood.

As we descended to the runway, Tamika pressed her hand on top of mine and smiled, This is going to be fun Marc. Thanks for being my friend and my boyfriend.

I could go on about all the excitement, and the things we did with and without her family. Tamika took me to places that were special to her, introducing me to her other friends, and providing me opportunities for time with her Father.

Mr. Hoshibata’s English was only slightly better than my Japanese, so we spent time doing things rather than discussing topics that required significant intellectual prowess. I could tell that he was always engaged and would use Japanese and his hands to provide direction and some level of intimacy.

At several opportunities, he would explain things to Tamika for translation to me and after I would respond in English, she would translate back into Japanese for him to consider. All things said, both her Mother and Father were very considerate and very caring.

During one evening discussion, Tamika’s mother, Ichiko, suggested that Tamika explain her name to me.

Mother has asked me if I have ever told you what my name, Tamika, means in Japanese. I told her I have not. Would you like to know?

Of course, Tamika, I replied. What does your name mean?

In the language of my people, the name Tamiko means ‘child of the people’ and Tamika means ‘People’. It is a name given to a baby girl to demonstrate the deep love that her parents have for her. My mother always smiles when she calls to me, as I am her baby girl.

Hoshibata San did request that Tamika and I join him at his office, to share the work he and his company performed, and for the products and services they supplied. As he brought in several high-level administrative and executive associates, he excused himself for activities and we were taken on a tour of one of the major manufacturing facilities in Tokyo. Generally, the administrative contacts did have an English background, and explained the full extent of the company, which I am choosing to keep nameless for reasons that will become obvious. They also had significant manufacturing facilities in Kitakyushu, one of the major industrial locations in the country. Since the trip was around 2 hours by air from the Haneda Airport, or nearly 5 hours by the high-speed train, we decided that the Tokyo facility tour was adequate.

During this visit, I was reminded that merely knowing how something worked was good but being able to build some device that incorporated that knowledge in an easily usable package was something to be appreciated.

I took that concept away with me, knowing that I would very probably need the services of a manufacturing facility to assist me in developing and implementing my ultimate plans. By the end of that trip, I knew that the arrangement had served both Tamika and me very well.

On that final day, Hoshibata San did share via a translation from Tamika that I would again be welcome in both his house and in his company. I was honored and indicated to him that his invitation was very generous, and I looked forward to seeing him and his wife again. The moment started some discussion between Tamika and Hoshibata San that I did not follow, but the conversation ended with both parties smiling.

After leaving Japan and returning home, I did continue to see Tamika and she was always very happy to see me. I later found that she was engaged to be married and her fiancé had heard of me as well.

When Kyle learned that Father had offered you a job he was surprised, and a bit concerned, she laughed.

Why would he be concerned? I asked, You told him that I was only a friend, right?

Oh, of course, Marc, she laughed and then was quiet. I don’t believe you realized that if I had declared that you were the one and only for me, then Father would not only have offered you a job opportunity but would have probably started to groom you to take over his position in the company when he retired.

I was surprised, but assured Tamika that I was very happy that she had found the real Mr. Right.

Just be aware that if you are ever in the position that you would like to work for or to do business with Father, he is very willing to do that. He believes that you are a worthy friend and is willing to be a worthy business partner with you, she concluded.

As a result of this relationship, my inventor side now had a powerful industrial developer connection which, as it happened, was a tremendous advantage that I had never previously considered I would need. And I helped a friend at the same time!

THE VISION

As you may well imagine, I didn’t just snap my fingers and create the magic out of thin air. I must admit that even with all the study and preparation I had completed, the result was not guaranteed.

Just like the inventors of things like light bulbs and internal combustion engines, nothing is so simple when it is attempted for the first time. Although Thomas Edison is credited with the incandescent bulb, he was certainly not the first. Alessandro Volta demonstrated his ‘glowing wire’ in 1800, and nearly 80 years later Edison created the ‘carbon filament’ lamp in October of 1879, making the official public announcement on December 31st of 1879.

As long as I am mentioning Edison, there is an interesting statement he made relating to the formation and promise of the Edison Electric Light Company. The quote: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles ²."

I realized that if I were successful, truly successful in my endeavors, only the rich would bother to connect to an electrical power grid!

That thought alone would have been enough to keep someone continuing to research and experiment for months if not years. And I did. Being able to envision results in advance of the extensive effort was a huge boost in my personal resolve to accomplish what to date, had not been accomplished.

Unlike Edison, I didn’t have 80 years of previous documented experience and experiments to use as training material. But I did have the advantage of having some amazing researchers and theoreticians to learn from: Einstein, Planck and Feynman among others. I suppose if you consider that I based my research on those who based their research on their predecessors, then my documented experience might go back to Newton, Huygens, and Kepler.

The concept of matter and energy being linked together is as old as the discovery of fire. And while a seven or eight-year-old can explain why a fire starts, continues, and is ultimately extinguished, it takes another level of development to understand that the fire is an ongoing process and not the result.

The process involves matter and a catalyst – heat. That catalyst starts a process that combines oxygen with carbon-based materials, and leaves a carbon residue, known as ashes, once the process completes.

There have been many improvements in the sophistication and efficiency of this process, known simply as burning, or in more technical terms as combustion. This process of carbon and oxygen interaction continues to be the most prolific source of consumable energy available in today’s world. If an individual lacking familiarly with our history were to see this apparently unidirectional march toward oxygen as the primary element necessary for energy production, they might consider us to be less intelligent that we currently believe ourselves to be.

That thought led me down a path that took me to an ultimate end game for humanity. Oxygen is essential to life, and oxygen supplies within our atmosphere are adequate for generations to come.

But ‘what if’ questions are bound to bring a certain amount of discomfort when they are asked and fail to find a reasonable answer.

• What if the oxygen levels dropped suddenly?

• What if oxygen-based interactions were no longer feasible or possibly no longer economically viable?

While it is true that other processes to generate and/or release energy exist and are used, they could be considered as secondary or even tertiary methods. Hydrogen fusion is possible but is unlikely to be a primary source of power here on Earth for many years. After all, it does work for the stars! Thus far the only use for hydrogen fusion on our planet appears to be reserved for destruction, as in the Hydrogen Bomb imagined by Edward Teller in 1951 as the next step in nuclear warfare. Again, even the simplest and most natural conversions can become tainted with suspicion. Since many man-made efforts to release power have been connected to uncontrolled and destructive results, there is some significant justification to this perception.

For these reasons, the desire to find some safe method to generate power without the traditional caveman approach of fire was intriguing to me.

Was there a way to release the inner ‘hooks’ of nuclear physics in a controlled manner? Perhaps, but the solution was not clear, nor was there an approach that was guaranteed. I could not easily engage others in my ‘delusional’ fantasy because they would think me either insane or an idiot or, at a minimum, a comic or lunatic.

There were some individuals ready to postulate an approach from a theoretical viewpoint, and some were very enlightening. But once they hit the point of moving from theoretical to physical, everyone just smiled and passed it off as a technical fantasy.

Inevitably, I continued to study and research for a variety of ideas to lead me to a destination that I could see but could not seem to touch. I did all this while continuing to provide a good return to my employer that was pleased with my contributions in the IT (Information Technology) area.

It’s so good having a Tech resource like you that can explain the concepts and results to be expected without all that jargon and detail, declared Anna, my manager. And I can see that you are not limiting yourself to just computers.

No, I replied, but IT is important and is a skill that is in high demand. I’m really trying to build a knowledge of several engineering disciplines that will be marketable and useful.

My ‘marketable’ usage must have concerned her, because she responded with what sounded like a concerned supplier speaking to a major consumer.

"What is it that Hamilton Technologies