Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 10:29:05 EST
From: Jetjt@aol.com
Subject: Empire, Chapter 43

The following story is gay fiction. If the subject matter is offensive to
you or you are too young, please exit now. This story is the property of
the author and may not be reproduced without permission.  JETjt@aol.com


				  EMPIRE

			    Chapter Forty-three

Tuesday morning after Thanksgiving, Ron and Matt's "Rattsnest"

The weekend had come off as planned. The effect of the trip was all that
Ron and Matt had hoped. The new scenery and varied activities kept the
boys' mind off of their now deceased brother. The families' visit with
Ron's college friend was an added bonus that they had not counted on. When
they returned, they found that Parker had cleaned out Douglas' closets and
had removed many of his personal items so that the room took on an
`unoccupied' look. He had not given away Douglas' personal items except for
clothing, but rather had stored them away in case Eddie wanted them or
there was something dear to Ron and Matt.

Ron and Matt sat in the breakfast room sipping coffee as Carl came tearing
by grabbing a quick snack and the `brown bag' (actually a cooler) that Mary
had filled for his luncheon. He gave the surprised older guys a quick kiss
on the cheek before hurrying off to his job at Turner Construction.

"He's quite a different boy than we first met," Matt observed.

"Yes, he's learned a lot about survival outside of the closed community
where he was raised," agreed Ron.

"Do you think that he and David are getting close?" Matt asked his partner.

"That's a hard read. I'd say no if you're speaking of romance. I think that
Carl is devoted to Nathan that way, but not to David. I think they're just
the best of friends."

"I'm surprised that Nathan isn't jealous," Matt pondered. "He seems to take
it all in stride."

"My suspicion is that Nathan and Carl's relationship is the most casual of
all the `boyfriends' in the house. I have no doubt that they're having sex
together, but of course that doesn't mean much by itself. I could be wrong,
but of all the couples, I'd give them the least chance of being together
five years from now."

"You're probably right," agreed Matt. "I have the feeling that they really
like and care about each other but that their commitment to each other is
not as strong as the other boys."

"Did you notice how well Eddie and Zack got along this weekend?" Ron asked.

"Yes. They really seemed to enjoy each other's company. It's way too early
for anything to develop between them, but in a few months it could come to
pass."

"I'm really proud of how Eddie handled Douglas' passing," Ron said,
changing the subject.

"With his natural brother's suicide, he's had some deep experience with
that kind of grief," Matt countered. "I just hope that he doesn't equate
their deaths as being caused in any way by him.

"I hadn't thought of that," Ron admitted. "The two people he loved most in
the world both died. I could see how in a twisted way he could see it that
way. He might even shun close contact with another boy again if that's his
perspective."

"We'll have to keep an eye on him for awhile. He seems so level-headed, but
it never hurts to be watchful."

"Well Babe," Ron said as he got up from the chair. "I think I'll go back to
our room and finish getting ready for work. The other boys should be
streaming through here soon, Ronnie headed for school, Eddie to his school
near the Thornton Center and Nathan to work with you."

"I'm sure that Parker has all that handled, so I'll come with you,
Ron. It's going to be a busy day at work after being gone for a week."

"Yes, I want to begin getting the paperwork wound up for Eddie to
officially move in here with us. When he does, I'd like him to change
schools," Ron said as they walked to the elevator.

"Don't you think we should wait until the end of the school term?" Matt
questioned.

"Perhaps you're right," Ron debated. "I think we should ask him what he
wants to do and go with it."

"Good plan, lover," Matt complimented his partner.

			* * *

Wildman Casino job

David watched the Honda containing Carl drive through the construction
fence and turn into the workers' parking lot. David had arrived at the job
twenty minutes earlier and had waited for his friend and work-partner. The
time had been spent sitting on a stack of lumber and thinking about his
life past and present, how the people and events had changed him.

When he'd agreed to come to Las Vegas to participate in the Al Quaida
cell's attack he'd never considered what would happen to him. His life
didn't matter then; only the revenge and hatred in his heart for Americans
propelled him. His existence at that time knew nothing but sorrow and
pain. He did know what he'd been taught to believe though. His people were
in the struggle with the Zionists, and their most important allies were the
people of the United States so they must be punished. On arrival in this
country, living with his uncle, he saw nothing that would alter his
view. The fact that there was no love in his life was a small matter. He
had hate. He did know however, that in order to be effective he had to mix
in, to be indistinguishable from others. In coming to Las Vegas, he was not
only escaping his cruel uncle, but also making the ultimate sacrifice for
his cause.

That had all changed once he began working. He had met a young man his age
who was unlike anyone he'd ever known.  He was assigned to work with this
attractive youth, and rather than bring unwanted attention to himself,
began to casually communicate, then socialize with this strange anomaly. It
was not long before he found himself truly liking and admiring a human
being for the first time. His friend's attitude about his life and future
sucked in the unwary David like a magnet. He found that his only truly
happy moments were in Carl's presence. Surprised that Carl accepted him
without reservations or questions, he found that Carl trusted him too, a
fact that spread the first seed of regret about his mission.  In his entire
life, he'd never had a friend like Carl. Even more amazing was not only
Carl's acceptance of him, but his acceptance into the Turner household. It
was something he'd never felt before, not even with his natural family in
Lebanon. To top it all off they, like him, were all gay! They were `all
men' too. Even though he knew that many gays wore their sexuality on their
sleeves, dressing and acting the part, in the Turner household it was often
difficult to tell that any of the occupants preferred men over
women. Everything was so natural and normal. There was little talk of their
sexuality but there was an unspoken knowledge of it, which on the surface
seemed immaterial to their daily lives.

Carl had never met a family like the Turner clan. There were really two
households, one headed by Ron Turner and Matt Davidson, partners for life,
and the other by Tyler Turner, Ron's brother and his mate, Dan Barnes. When
he first was invited to spend time at the large estate of Ron and Matt, he
met Carl's own handsome partner Nathan, as well as his more than attractive
brothers, Ronnie and Douglas. In the guesthouse at that time lived Tyler
and Dan with their son Jerry. Their other son Zack lived in one of the
guestrooms of Ron and Matt's home until Tyler's house nearby was
completed. At the time of the move, Zack would move in to the new house as
a brother to Jerry.

David quickly saw where Carl got his great attitude. It emanated from all
the members of the Turner household and hung in the air ready to envelop
all who were in their presence. David had found himself smiling, then
laughing, infected with the camaraderie that the family displayed toward
each other and, to his amazement, to him. At last he began to feel like he
belonged somewhere.

David had been shaken to his boots by the appearance of Achmed at his
apartment. He was suddenly jolted into the reality of his commitment to the
Islamic movement, and only quick thinking removed the seed of doubt about
him in Achmed's mind. He had told his cell leader that he was only
fostering familiarity with Carl in order to get an inside tour of the
Stratosphere Tower, revealing its weakness for their planned attack at New
Year's.

Then tragedy struck the Turner clan. Douglas, one of Carl's brothers, was
found to have cancer. In spite of the best medical treatment available, he
had died in Texas. The entire family had gone on that trip. David had not
been invited. Nevertheless when he learned of Douglas' death on their
return, David was likewise hit with an unexpected wave of grief. After he
had first met the family, he came to admire Carl's brother and had
developed a friendship with him. One evening when Carl was elsewhere with
Nathan, David had found himself alone with Douglas and they began to tell
each other of their backgrounds. Douglas had told him of his abandonment by
his parents and of his crippled and deformed body. He spoke of his struggle
to survive in his early life in the orphanage, and of his operations to
make him able to walk. He spoke kindly of the old doctor who had given him
not only his healing skills, but a will to live. Finally he had related the
doctor's death and his own escape to Las Vegas where he'd searched and
found not only Ron Turner, but a family in which he was nurtured and
loved. David had found real admiration for the youth's courage and
determination. He had participated, as a family member, in Douglas' hurried
adoption and the celebration afterward. Though he had not joined in the
trip to Houston, he couldn't help feeling that he had lost a brother
himself with his young friend's passing.

During the days of the funeral, David was swept into the family's
activities, and had been invited to sit with the family at the funeral and
later to go on their yacht over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was there that
he saw a family recovering from their grief with courage and support for
each other. He had known that the family, like most in the United States,
were Christian, but was pleased with the sensitivity that each member,
particularly Ron, displayed toward his own beliefs in their celebration.

In requesting that Carl's father Ron secure a tour of the Stratosphere
Tower for him, he was somewhat surprised by Ron's commitment and enthusiasm
to fulfill his desire. Carl had asked to go along too, and his dad had
suggested that perhaps any of the family that was interested could go. The
favor, which at this time was to fulfill his promise to Achmed, had become
a family outing. When Ron invited David to their New Year's celebration
party in the top of the tower, David was devastated. It was one thing to be
a party in killing faceless Americans but another to be an instrument of
death to a family that David had come to love above any other he'd ever
known. It was this quandary that tore at David's heart as he saw his friend
park and exit from the Honda, giving a wave to David in greeting before
they started the day's work.

		* * *

Ron's office, 11:00 AM

Ron sat at his desk busily going over the previous week's business report
when Margaret announced the arrival of Tyler and Wes Harper, the head of
Aztec-Turner Securities' Las Vegas office. Ron looked over at the door to
Margaret's office, watching it open and the two men enter.

"Wes, it's good to see you," Ron said with a warm smile and an offered
hand.

"Good to see you too," he replied, returning the smile and taking Ron's
hand. "I want you to know how saddened we all are with your loss of
Douglas. You all have our most sincere condolences."

"Thank you, Wes. He meant a lot to all of us. What brings you guys here
this morning?" Ron asked, indicating with a gesture that they should be
seated across from him at his desk.

"We looked into the Tom Stanley matter Friday and over the weekend. I
thought you'd like a report."

"Yes", Ron said gratefully. "I want Matt to be part of this discussion
since he's the one who was attacked trying to save the boy from being
molested."

"I asked Margaret to call him when we arrived," Tyler said. "He should be
here shortly."

Tyler had just finished speaking when the door opened and Matt
appeared. After the customary greetings, Matt took a chair beside Ron's two
visitors.

"Wes is here to tell us what they found out about the Tom Stanley thing,"
Ron began. "Personally, I'm having doubts regarding the rumor that he's
`reformed'. Under normal circumstances, I'd believe that pedophilia is
similar to being gay. By that I mean that it's something that you can't
think or reason your way out of. I'm not even convinced that psychoanalysis
can help, or that `being saved' religiously can remove the deep
psychological `need' to molest children."

"I can understand your logic," Wes replied. "It seems that one of the best
defenses for heinous crimes is `insanity', then miraculously the criminal
is `cured' and asks to be freed. I'm sure it happens for real sometimes,
but one can't help but think that it's more of a legal maneuver than
reality."

"My thoughts exactly," Ron agreed.

"I hope you don't mind," Tyler interjected, "but I gave Wes some leads as
to how to proceed with the investigation. It involved not only your
attorney, Terry Cannon, but your doctor and connections you have through
the University Medical Center."

"You do what you have to do," Ron said stoically.

"Yes, we concentrated on the `medical' cure rather than the religious one,
or even the legal aspects," Wes stated. "Anyone who's intelligent can fake
`being saved' or even insanity. It's much harder to fake a medical
condition, than it is a psychological one."

"I asked Wes to contact your attorney Terry, in order for our `medical
experts' to interview not only Tom Stanley but his doctors too," Tyler
revealed. "Dr. Hazeltoff and Doctor Clark, the Chief of Staff at UMC were
most helpful in putting our team together."

"I'm rather astounded that you were able to accomplish so much so soon,"
Matt said in amazement.

"We worked all day Friday as well as the weekend," Wes reported. "We just
had our summary meeting last night."

"We appreciate your efforts," responded Ron with sincerity. "What are the
conclusions?"

"I wish that I could report with absolute assurance," Wes began, "but I
don't think that's possible. I will say that the doctors agreed that his
medical problem was real. They also agreed that his medical condition most
likely had deep psychological effects, and that the most obvious symptoms
disappeared with medication. He appears to have a good legal defense of his
irrationality and at least appears to be sincere with his regrets."

"I'm not sure that's good enough," Ron responded. "I'm more than angry
about his attacking Matt, but Matt was an adult. Molesting a defenseless
child however is unforgivable."

"You're assuming that he was rational at the time," Matt interrupted. "If
you'd have seen his eyes, you'd realize that he was like a crazed wild
animal."

"You think he deserves to be forgiven?" Ron asked in surprise.

"No, not entirely," Matt replied. "By that I mean that he shouldn't be let
free, just in case he either is faking his recovery, or he fails to take
his medication and strikes again."

"That makes sense," agreed Ron. "What's done is done and we have to live
with it. I don't believe in revenge, but I don't believe in putting others
at risk either. How do you protect others without locking him up?"

"It's possible," Wes interjected. "Part of the report that's being typed up
for you now details what Tom Stanley has indicated he wants."

"I'm not really interested in what he wants," Ron said with more than a bit
of anger showing in his voice.

"Hear me out," Wes requested. "He's Roman Catholic. He's requested that he
spend his life cloistered in a monastery. He wants to become a monk."

"They would take him?" Matt asked in surprise.

"The Public Defender's office who is representing him assures us they
will."

"What does the DA's office think?" Ron asked.

"They're negotiating a Plea Bargain," Wes reported. "Of course what they
come up with doesn't have any effect on your civil case. He's to be tried
first on the criminal charge."

"I've never heard of anyone being sentenced to a Monastery," Ron said. "How
do we know he'll stay there?" Ron asked.

"It's possible that the Judge could offer alternate sentencing." Tyler
responded.  "In other words, let's say he got sentenced to 20 years with no
parole. He could serve his sentence in an acceptable Monastery or, if he
leaves, he goes to jail to serve his sentence there."

"That could work," Matt agreed. "We could also pursue the civil case and
reach an out-of-court settlement. For instance, if he and his attorney
would agree to a half-million dollar settlement, we could agree that it
would not be due and payable until or unless he left the Monastery. If he
leaves, he owes the youth he attacked the money and we'd help the boy
collect. We don't need anything for ourselves."

"If that works for you Babe," Ron said, "I'd be for it.  Wes and Tyler,
please notify our legal people and the DA's office with the
suggestions. Let us know what their reactions are. If it's not going to
work, I guess we'll all be in court."

"We'll take care of it," Tyler promised. "If we need any further help from
you we'll get back to you."

"Thanks Bro," Ron said smiling. "I'll be glad to have this thing behind
us."

"I will too," Matt said.

"We're having our Monday staff meeting here in a half hour," Ron
stated. "You're both welcome to stay," he said to Matt and Tyler.

"Thanks Ron, but I think I'll get started on this Tom Stanley thing right
away," Tyler answered.

"I have a couple of things to do before the staff meeting too," Matt said
begging off.  "I should be here on time though."

"Okay, I'll see you both then," Ron said as his visitors rose to
leave. "Thanks Wes," he added. "Good work."

"You're welcome Ron. I'll tell the boys that worked on this."

"Take `em to lunch on me," Ron suggested. "Then if you can spare them, give
them the rest of the day off. That includes you."

"Hey!" Tyler broke in feigning anger. "You stole my line!"

"Great minds think alike," Ron philosophized with a wink. "Bye."

The trio disappeared through the doorway as Ron returned to the work on his
desk. He'd only gotten started when the phone rang. When he picked up the
line Margaret announced that the call was from Tony Tegano in Houston. He
told her he'd take the call, then punched the blinking button on his
telephone.

"Hi Tony," he said cheerfully. "How are things this week in Houston?"

"They're great," Tony responded. "We're sorry we weren't able to get away
for Douglas' funeral. We did however make a contribution to the cancer fund
you have set up for M.D. Anderson. We hope it will help."

"It is appreciated by us and them too, I'm sure. Is there something I can
help you with today?" inquired Ron.

"Not really," I'd just like to say that your people are here working like
crazy on both Camp projects. We really appreciate the attention they are
giving the jobs, particularly under the circumstances."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Ron related. "I think we're making progress
with the problems you had with Tegano Constructors too. I'll keep you
informed, but it may be that a few people go to jail for fraud or
embezzlement. Please don't let that out howeverf, as our audit and
investigations are not complete."

"We had a sneaking hunch that something like that was going on," Tony
related. "I hope you aren't sorry you bought the company."

"No we're not, and I'm sure that won't happen," Ron assured his
friend. "You have many talented people there, but I'm also sure there will
be a major reshuffle as we whip the operation into shape. It could take up
to a year to complete the entire process because you had several projects
that were losers or had serious construction problems. We'll have to take
our licking on those most likely, as it's almost impossible to turn around
a project once it's gone bad."

"We were afraid of that," Tony said. "It could have consumed all our time
for months and months if we'd kept the company, assuming that we could have
discovered the problems."

"It's not your worry any more," assured Ron. "When our assessment is done,
we'll move quickly. If we prosecute any of the employees, we'll let you
know ahead of time. It's a courtesy we'll extend only because you may know
some of them personally, and we'd like your input before we strike."

"Thanks, we're grateful you're willing to do that. I hope it doesn't
involve a couple of long-time employees we feel attached to. Nevertheless,
if it does, it does. We don't have much sympathy for employees, even those
we consider friends, who steal from their employers. That's not the entire
reason I called, however," Tony revealed.

"It's your nickel," Ron chuckled. "What else is on your mind?"

"Since you left we've made daily visits to the hospital to see Tommy, the
young guy you introduced us to. I wanted to report that the bone marrow
from Matt seems to be doing its job. The doctors are very hopeful."

"That's wonderful!" Ron said beaming with pleasure. "I'll be sure and tell
Matt. I know that he'll be pleased. Give Tommy our warmest regards."

"You can be sure of that," promised Tony. "I wanted to tell you first that
Jake and I are falling in love with the boy. We're looking into adopting
him."

"That's terrific news," Ron said excitedly.

"We haven't formally asked him yet, but we've become so close in such a
short time that we're sure he'll agree to it."

"You don't know how happy I am to hear it," Ron said. "That's really good
news."

"There's a bit more than that," Tony said with a snicker. "We took Douglas'
friend Dez under our wing and he's been visiting Tommy with us. I think we
have a budding romance on our hands!"

Ron laughed.

"I really wish them luck," he said with a grin. "It's hard to keep those
young hormones under control though. At least Tommy will have sympathetic
parents."

"He will have that," Tony assured his friend. "Well, that's about all the
news from here. I'll let you get back to work."

"Thanks so much for calling," Ron said. "It's made my morning, for sure. We
hope you'll come and visit us. We're having a big New Year's celebration
atop the Stratosphere Tower here on New Year's Eve. You should be getting
an invitation soon. We hope you can attend."

"I'll check our schedule, but if it's at all possible we'll be there."

"Have a great week, Tony. Give our love to Jake and Tommy."

"You can count on it," Jake replied. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye friend," Ron concluded, then hearing the connection broken, hung
up the phone.

			* * *

Ron's office, 3 PM

The staff meeting at lunch had gone well, and Ron, after talking to Sam
Bloomfield, the General Manager of the Stratosphere, had made a note to
call Carl when the youth got off work to let him know that the "tower tour"
was scheduled the following Monday afternoon, the slowest day of the week
in the casino business. Ron again attacked the work on his desk and after
45 minutes of intense concentration, had reduced the pile of papers on his
desk to half its previous size. Picking up the next document to review, Ron
was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone on his desk.

"Yes?" Ron said to Margaret.

"Sorry to bother you Ron, but your appointment scheduled for 4 o'clock is
here early. Would you like for them to wait?"

Ron placed the paper he was about to review back in the stack, glanced at
his calendar and then replied. "No, show them in."

A moment later the door to the office opened and a man Ron's age entered
followed by three others that appeared somewhat younger.

"Chet!" Ron said with enthusiasm as he approached the group with a big
smile on his face, "I haven't seen you since college! How have you been?"

"I've been great Ron, thank you," he said accepting Ron's handshake. "Ron
I'd like to introduce you to my companions. This is Luke Sanders, Damon
Peabody and Bill Rogers, otherwise known as "Buck," he said with a kidding
grin. "Guys, this is my old friend and college roommate, Ron Turner."

Handshakes and congenial greetings were exchanged before Ron ushered the
group to the comfortable chairs in the `conversation' area.

"Tell me what you've been doing," Ron asked his friend as they were
seated. "Except for Christmas cards we haven't really been in touch since
our college days."

"I've done several things," Chet answered. "I worked for a stock broker for
awhile after getting my MBA from Harvard and made a few bucks, but
afterward I became an independent consultant for companies trying to get on
the exchange or private corporations going public with an IPO. I've done
well, but still a drop in the bucket compared to you."

"Hey, I had a head-start," Ron said downplaying the compliment. "I'm glad
you've done well. I'm just sorry we haven't seen more of you. You won't
believe who we saw last weekend!  Eddie Carmack."

"Wow!  How's he doing?"

"Great," Ron replied. "When we get time I'll tell you all about it. How did
you find me?"

"I've tried to keep an ear to the ground to see how you were doing,"
confessed Chet. "It's a daunting task however since your company is not
public and seeks little notoriety. I've been able to track you best by your
charitable work. You've become quite a philanthropist."

"It's all my partner Matt's fault," Ron said with a wink. "He handles our
charity giving."

"Partner? Like in business partner?" Chet asked.

"Yes and no," Ron said. He's my business partner as well as my life
partner. With my brother and his partner, Turner Enterprises is now a
family business.

"Your brother?" Chet questioned as he shook his head. "Were you hiding
something from me in college?  I thought you were an `only child'."

"So did I," Ron laughed. "Tyler and I found each other after our parents
died. We have the same father but different mothers."

"You are full of surprises today!"

"We need to take some time to visit," Ron acknowledged. "I can see we've
got a lot of catching up to do, however I'm sure your friends don't need to
hear it all. I guess the $64 question is: what can I do for you? I'm sure
you didn't bring these gentlemen to hear about our sordid pasts," he asked
with a smile.

"What I'm about to tell you is absolutely confidential," Chet began, "so
much so, in fact, that I'll need you to sign a confidentiality agreement."

"A confidentiality agreement?" Ron asked in surprise. "After what I know
about you from college and have kept my mouth shut? Remember Charlie
Zoomw..."

"Stop!  I remember," Chet said blushing. "I'm sorry Ron. If it was just me,
I'd tell you in a second. I do have a fiduciary responsibility to these
guys though."

"Well, I'm glad to see you've grown up," Ron laughed. "Of course I'll sign
it."

The three young men looked at each other with questions in their eyes. Ron
noticed.

"Guys," he explained. "Chet and I go back a long ways. We were roommates
and best friends in college. We can't help but kid each other. I hope you
can understand. Now where's that agreement?"

"I've got it right here," Chet said laying the paper on the table.

Ron read it, then signed it quickly and afterward called Margaret on a
cordless phone nearby. "I'll have it notarized and back here in a moment,"
Ron explained while she was answering.

After explaining his needs she came into the office and left with the
document, returning a minute later while Ron served beverages to his
guests.

"Now where were we?" Ron asked as the door closed behind Margaret's return
to her office.

"I guess I should tell you a bit about these guys," Chet began. "You are
looking at probably the three smartest scientists in this country. Luke
here is a theoretical physicist and has a PhD from MIT, Damon and Buck are
chemists, both are highly educated and specializing in research, both
theoretical and applied. They became friends in college and all worked near
each other after leaving. Besides being friends they are also
colleagues. They got interested in a subject outside of their jobs, and
collaborated in an amazing discovery. Through a mutual friend that I did
some work for, they found me and have asked me to help them get started and
funded."

"I may be able to save you some time," Ron interrupted. "I don't think my
family is interested in a venture capital investment where the company is
going public, even if we could make another fortune."

"I'm glad to hear that," Chet said with the guys nodding in
pleasure. "These guys don't want that either, even if it makes them richer
than they might otherwise become. It causes me a dilemma however. That's
the kind of thing I do. When they told me what they wanted, I wracked my
brain to think of someone who could fund something this big, yet keep the
organization private. You see, they like what they do. They want to do
research, but they want someone else to take care of the business problems
and give them freedom to do what they want. They want to have private lives
out of the spotlight, but never want to have to worry about money."

"That's certainly possible," Ron agreed. "I feel the same way, except my
business is business. Being private keeps a lot of snoopers away but there
is no guarantee. I guess the question is: what do they have?"

Chet looked at the three men who had accompanied him and they nodded their
approval.

"They've discovered a way to produce hydrogen cheaply," revealed Chet.

Ron paused, thinking before continuing.

"How cheaply?" Ron asked.

"Right now the best that most researchers have been able to do is $5 a
gallon, and that's with some reasonable production rate. These guys
presently can produce it at about $2 a gallon and that's without mass
production facilities. They think that the costs could be cut in half with
state off the art facilities, maybe more."

"Is the process conducive to high volume production?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Buck answered. "We have some designs for a production facility that
could produce a million gallons a day, but that's just a starter
facility. That basic design could easily be expanded to 10 times that
amount in one facility."

"That's very impressive," Ron said, whistling.

"Hydrogen is the fuel of the future," Chet reminded Ron. "The only thing
that's stopping it now is its cost to produce. It's a clean burning fuel
giving off only water as a waste product."

"What kind of natural resources do you need to produce it?" Ron asked.

"Water, electricity and a few cheap and abundant, natural chemicals," Damon
replied. "If the plant is located where there is an abundance of water and
it's free, we could produce hydrogen cheap enough to use as fuel to satisfy
our own plant's electrical needs. In our cost projections however, we've
calculated using commercial power."

"It keeps getting better and better," Ron said with a smile. "What are your
estimated costs to build, say a million gallon a day plant?"

"About $60 million for the plant itself." Damon answered. "On top of that
would be land, financing, infrastructure, etc. The final costs would be
somewhere between 70 and 80 million dollars. We figure that if you could
sell the fuel for $2 a gallon we could produce it at $1.00 a gallon and
deliver it anywhere, including taxes and distribution costs for about
$1.50. That would give us a profit before company taxes of 50 cents a
gallon or $500,000 a day in that size of plant. Of course once the land and
production facility were paid for, the production costs would go down to
about 55 cents a gallon, producing a profit of 95 cents a gallon or
$950,000 a day."

"That's very impressive," Ron admitted with interest. "The big problem
would be to develop the market. I'm thinking of automobiles as being the
biggest market, but that might take some time to develop until cars could
be either converted or manufactured to use hydrogen."

"We've thought of that too," Bill Peabody joined in. "You're in the
construction business, right?"

"Yes," Ron replied.

"Have you ever thought of building electricity generating plants?" Bill
said smiling.

"Hmmmm," Ron replied with a grin. "I get your point."

"I trust all of these discoveries and processes are patented," Ron queried.

"Yes of course," Buck replied. "We have patents and have others
pending. We've covered the bases pretty well with that."

"How can I help you with all of this" Ron asked, "And what do you want out
of it?"

"We want 10% of the profits each, but a minimum income of $100, 000 a month
for each of us until the profits exceed that amount.  Chet gets 2% with
$10,000 a month minimum. Also we want $1 million each for the patents and
Chet gets $100,000. Finally, we want a research facility of about 200,000
square feet, fully funded to work in at a location of our choice. We also
want $5 million a year in operating capital for the facility. We can work
out the details if you're interested. By the way, the costs for the first
plant will absorb the cost of the research facility."

"We're interested," Ron said quickly. "I presume that the future patents go
along with the deal?"

"Yes," Buck replied, "including the ones for making drinking quality
water."

"Drinking water?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Yes," Buck said, "We found that our process works best using fresh water,
principally because of the corrosive effects of sea water on metal. However
we discovered that using our process, we can remove salt from sea water now
for about 6 cents a gallon and take impurities out of treated sewage
effluent for less than a penny a gallon. The resulting water is pure and of
drinking quality."

"I'll be damned," Ron said with a huge smile. "I trust you guys are staying
for dinner?"

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