Smarter (an Ell Donsaii story #2) (22 page)

Exeter opened the auction by telling the group about the minimum 10% royalty and that they would be bidding on the annual minimum with the first annual payment due within a week of the end of bidding. An older gentleman interrupted, “See here, I can see that you folks don’t have much experience with these types of technology commercializations. Ten percent is
much
higher than usual. In addition, it will be extremely costly to bring this to market, so our company bears huge risks. It has never agreed to terms like the ones you are proposing.

Exeter grinned. “Mr. Alexander, your company has never had an
opportunity
like this before and almost certainly never will again. You may not meet our minimum terms, and I suppose it is possible that none of your competitors here in the room will either. If so we will pursue other investors. We are confident that there
are
companies forward thinking enough to make this commitment.”

He looked around the room and smiled, “Now does anyone wish to start the bidding?”

All six groups had a hand up. The bidding was frenzied initially but then slowed as the representatives in the room reached ceiling limits they had been set and began having to call their companies or major investors for authorization to bid even higher. Eventually companies began asking for more time to bring in funding partners.

The bidding took almost all day but by the end of the bidding they had all agreed to the 10% minimum and eventually Liqx and Hyperion, one of the other venture capital groups pooled their resources for a winning bid of 12% with an annual minimum of 2.1 billion dollars! Rather than the requested full annual payment within a week, they negotiated to transfer 210 million that afternoon with the remainder to be transferred within a month. Certain guarantees had been made on the part of PGR Tech, including anonymous access to the inventor as well as the opportunity to consult with “Terry” as an expert in the technology. Finally, there would be a 10% decrease in the amounts owed if the transmission did not turn out to be instantaneous upon testing with their own clocks.

The company reps left and the crackling tension gradually dissipated from the room. Ell, astonished at the outcome, tried to thank Smythe, Miller and Exeter. Smythe turned to her and said, “You
do
realize that you’re now paying me 21 million dollars a year? I’m forwarding one million of that to each of these guys,” he said, indicating Miller and Exeter, “as long as they accomplish certain goals, so each of us has our own distinct joy in your success!”

Chapter Twelve

Thursday morning, Ell caught a flight back to Raleigh, head swimming when she considered the state of her poor little bank account which had so long been on the edge of poverty but now had a balance of nearly 208 million dollars. Part way through the flight she thought to herself,
I could have flown first class!
She’d always wondered what life was like, up there in the front cabin.

She spent the flight wondering what to do next. She needed to tell NCSU and the Air Force about the device and its patent and the income from it. Her Ellen Symonds identity would be blown when she told NCSU about it and their share of the income so she should think about establishing another valid identity if the Marshall’s office would help her do it. She needed to tell her mother and grandmother the good news. Which came first?
How
would she tell some of them?

She contacted Gloria at the Marshall’s office who told her to come on in. She said they routinely reestablished new identities for witnesses who had had their secret identity compromised so she’d be happy to help.

Ell told Allan to contact the Chancellor’s office at NCSU.

“Chancellor’s Office, Mindy speaking, how may I help you Ms. Donsaii?”

“I’m hoping to make an appointment today or tomorrow to talk to the Chancellor about making a donation to NCSU?”

“Well, as you can imagine, she’s very busy. What organization are you representing?”

“Not an organization, just myself.”

“Oh, well, I can arrange to accept a donation for the University. In fact we can simply arrange an electronic transfer. No need to come in, or meet with the Chancellor.”

“Ah, well, that’d be a problem. I would want to speak with the Chancellor in person before transferring any funds.”

“How much of a donation would you be talking about?”

“Mmm,” Ell decided to start with 5% of the 210 million that had already been delivered, “ten and a half million right now. Perhaps more, later.”

“Oh my goodness, Ms. Donsaii! The television stories last year didn’t mention that you were wealthy! Let me see here… the Chancellor has an opening tomorrow at three-thirty, would that be satisfactory?”

Ell didn’t elaborate on the source of the money. “That will be fine; I’ll come to the Chancellor’s office. I’m hoping that you can arrange for Dr. Albert Johnson and Mr. Wayne Stillman to attend as well? They also work at the University.”

“I’m fairly sure I can.” She said brightly.

Thursday afternoon, Roger’s AI said, “Call from Ellen Symonds.”

“Put her on! Ellen! I thought you’d disappeared! Where are you?”

Ell’s heart leapt at the excitement in his voice. “I’m in Raleigh tonight. Can I buy you dinner?”

“No! You’re broke with no visible means of support. I’m buying! How about if I take you to Mitch’s Tavern?”

Ell grinned at the thought of someone living on a grad student’s salary buying dinner for someone who had 208 million dollars in her bank account, but she said, “Sure, seven?”

Ell put on her “Ellen” persona and arrived at Mitch’s a few minutes early, wondering if Roger would have invited some of the other physics grads, or was it just going to be the two of them?

“Ellen!” she heard Roger’s voice calling from the back and saw him waving. Ell was pleased to see that he was alone in the booth. He leapt up to give her a hug, “How are things?” He waited for her to sit and then slid in beside her, rather than across. That gave her a warm feeling too.

“I’m doing pretty well. How’s writing up your research going?”

Roger launched into an excited description of his results, finishing with, “Johnson’s being a real prick about it though. He absolutely refuses to believe that my results fit Donsaii’s equations. He spends all his effort trying to fit them to classical theory and making me redo my setup and rerun the tests to see if we can get a different result.”

“Really?” Ell furrowed her brow, “Johnson can be hard to get along with? Are you sure?” Ell grinned at him. The waitress arrived then, Roger ordered the gumbo and “Ellen” the Reuben.

Roger asked, “What are you doing now? Have you gotten into grad school somewhere else?”

“No,” she scrunched her face, “I’ve been trying to see if I can find someone to help me develop my device.”

“Oh! That must be rough. Are you trying to make applications while you’re doing that?”

Ell felt a mixture of relief and disappointment that he hadn’t asked whether she’d had any success with selling her device. Well she hadn’t wanted to tell him about her success yet anyway. “Well, not yet anyway.”

Roger looked down at the table. He quietly said, “I’m hoping that you’ll apply at UNC so you’ll be close enough that we can still hang out together sometimes.”

Somehow, this simple statement really touched Ell, she started to reply but had a frog in her throat. She put a hand on his arm and, when he looked at her managed to hoarsely choke out, “That’s a great idea.”

Roger found that the simple touch of her hand on his arm had raised goose bumps. For a moment he wondered dazedly at the realization of just how much this girl meant to him. He desperately pondered what to say next, but was saved by the arrival of their food. He watched in his usual state of disbelief at the way she inhaled her sandwich.

They spoke of inconsequential matters for the remainder of their meal. Then Ell tried to pay for their meal, but found that Roger had already put it on his credit.
Oh well, it will probably be the last time, anyway,
she thought to herself. She turned and punched him lightly on the arm, “Hey,
I
wanted to buy you dinner! You went and paid already!”

Roger grinned at her. “Just tryin’ to take care of my ‘broke ass’ friend.”

On the walk to Ell’s apartment Roger’s hand found hers again and the walk in the brisk evening air passed mostly in companionable silence. He delivered her to her door again but this time she unlocked the door and stepped inside. Roger stood uncertainly on the threshold.  She turned, “Hey, aren’t you going to come in? You’re letting all my warm air out!” Ell grinned at him.

Roger stepped in, looking around. Furnished in “student poor” everything in the room clashed with something else. Yet, overall it looked kind of homey. It was a tiny one room apartment with the bed in one corner and a kitchenette in the other. Ell stood in front of the open frig. “I bought a six-pack of that awful dark beer you like, want one?”

Roger grinned at her, “You trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me?”

She tilted her head a moment, then said, “Yeah, I just can’t do without those kisses you’ve been giving me.” She shrugged, “And, I know I’ve got to get a beer in you to loosen your inhibitions.”

Soon, he found himself drinking a beer on one side of her little table, while she drank a coke on the other side. After they’d talked a little more, he looked around the room again. “Wondering how I’m going to make my move when there isn’t a couch to sit on?” Ell asked.

Roger had actually been wondering how he was going to make his move, but with relief he said, “Uh, yeah. Since you don’t have a couch, I’m feeling pretty safe.”

Ell raised an eyebrow, then said, “Well then, back to business, I want to show you an idea I had about your research, come look at this.” She walked over to her little desk, pulled out the chair and indicated he should sit in front of her screen which she’d opened. She sat next to him on the corner of her bed and leaned on his chair as she pulled up diagram after diagram of his research.

To his astonishment, she seemed to already fully understand what Donsaii had told him and she began amplifying on it with elegant little observations as he became more and more excited. “Holy crap, Ellen! This is amazing!” he turned toward her and found her face right next to his. She leaned forward a bit. Her lips met his with an electric sensation. Her hand ascended to the back of his neck and a gentle caress made the hair on the side of his head prickle. She started pulling without breaking the kiss and he found himself slipping off his chair and onto the bed with her, all while locked in the kiss she’d started minutes ago.

Finally she let go and took a deep breath, “Hah! I’ll bet you didn’t see that coming did you!” She grinned crookedly up at him.

“No… but it was wonderful.”

“Which? The idea about your research, or the kiss?”

“Uhhh, both!”

“That’s the right answer.” Ell pulled him down for another kiss.

Roger put his hand on her delightfully firm waist and then slid it slowly down onto her surprisingly soft hip.

Ell stiffened as his hand slid off of her and onto the silicone padding of her “fat pants” where she couldn’t feel it anymore.
Crap
, she thought to herself,
gotta stop this before he realizes I’m made of rubber!
“Uh, Roger?”

Roger had felt her stiffen and realized immediately he’d gone somewhere she didn’t want him to go.
Damn it!
He thought to himself, lifting his hand off of her.
I’m rushing it!
I thought it was what she wanted, but I should have let her keep leading. I can’t blow this now!
“Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t sure what you were ready for.”

“Well, some ways I’m really ready. Other ways, not so much!” She grinned up at him. “Will you be patient with me?”

“Absolutely. Just as patient as you want.”

She leaned up to kiss him again. After a bit he found himself again in her doorway, zipping up his coat, then starting the walk home again, half ecstatic at the time they’d spent and half heartbroken to be leaving.

Ell spent Friday morning with Gloria Sanchez at the Marshall’s office, working on several disguises and establishing another verifiable identity. She found herself thinking about wanting to resume grad school. When Gloria was done with her, Ell found herself with hours on her hands before the meeting with the Chancellor, so with her disguise still on she dropped by the testing center and took the Graduate Record Exam in her new identity as Raquel Blandon. She was getting pretty hungry so she rushed through the test to be sure she’d have time to grab a bite to eat before her meeting. When she finished the proctor’s head snapped up. He stared at her, then back at his screen. “Excuse me Ms. Blandon, I need to re-identify you.”

“Sure, why?” Ell said, anxiously hoping that her new identity hadn’t already been compromised.

“Uh, you just achieved a perfect score in math while spending less time on that section than
anyone
who’s ever taken it at this center. Don’t know about other places. But whenever we get really high scores we have to recheck identity to be sure shills aren’t taking the test for other people. If you’ll just run your finger over the print scanner we’ll send it to the national database?”

Ell sighed in relief. Allan should have already notified the national database of her location and that she was using the “Blandon” identity. Sure enough, it reported back that she was indeed “Raquel Blandon.”

Ell grabbed a burger at Five Guys on the way home, then showered and changed back into “Ell Donsaii.”
Thank goodness it’s cold;
she thought as she put her big black coat back on and pulled the hood up over her hair before she went out the door.

Johnson and Stillman sat uncomfortably in the Chancellor’s small conference room. “Do you know what this is about?” Johnson asked.

Stillman just shook his head. “Mindy said we were meeting with Ell Donsaii, that gymnast that won all the gold medals and escaped from the terrorists. It has to do with a gift to the University but I have no idea why you and I would be invited?”