Core Beliefs - Chapter 29 - Wheels Keep Turning

Core Beliefs – Chapter 29 - Wheels keep turning.

Charley, Chris, and Doug completed the steel building the first week of August.

With the harvest done, Eldridge had time to help, and he and Elvin made a tremendous difference in getting things finished. The roof was on, everything was watertight, and they cleared the scrub from inside the building.

The plan was to level the ground inside and pour a concrete floor level with the silo entrance.

Doug, Charley, and Chris had never performed this much manual labor. They found it exhausting and, at the same time, exhilarating.

They had been using a 30 kW gas-driven generator to supply power to the silo and had installed a 1,000-gallon above-ground fuel tank. Still, it was clear that with a chiller on the way and new power requirements, the existing unit couldn’t handle the new load. Chris searched online and found an equipment auction where he spotted a used, low-hour, 90-kilowatt unit and purchased it. It arrived on August 7th, and they placed it on a newly poured concrete pad.

Doug and Charley pulled upgraded power cables to the silo and terminated them in new switchgear.

The original design of the complex included conduits for electrical and communications wiring, much of which ran through the facility’s concrete walls. A lot of the early wiring done by Chris and Doug simply strung the wires along the floor or used plastic ties to secure them to walls or ceilings. Doug and Charley focused on getting the new wire properly into the conduit, and if the wires wouldn’t fit into the old conduit, they started piping new conduit, anchoring it to the walls and ceiling. Charley had the knowledge to guide the work, and thankfully, Eldridge, Elvin, and Ellie did as much as they could.

The specialty materials ordered for Suchet began showing up. The acrylic sphere, the superconductor magnets, and boxes of specialty sensors that Chris frantically worked to fabricate into arrays, including a very sensitive particle detector. It was a madhouse as everyone rushed to finish everything.

***

Matt had conversed with Ruben Coruthers, the IT guru for Inter-Mol. He had taken specs and recommendations from Rubin and ordered high-speed blade servers and high-definition monitors. Ruben said it would run about eight times faster than the PC setup they had before and store a ton more data.

Suchet’s schedule called for him to fly in on the 15th, and everyone pushed to finish before his arrival.

One other thing happened in August. The 18th was the start of the fall term at Wichita State University. Both Ellie and Doug had enrolled. Ellie said that if they enrolled there, they could still help with the work. Doug was all for it.

Ling had arranged for both of them to take an aptitude test in July. To no one’s surprise, Doug’s strength lay in math. The more interesting result was Ellie scoring off the charts in natural sciences. She also pegged at the top of the math curve. Ling showed Matt the scores but made him promise to keep them a secret.

Doug and Ellie knew the first two years of college would be core courses. Both opted to test out of several classes, and they were very pleased that each cleared three of the basic requirements. They managed similar schedules and shared classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Their last classes finished at 1:00 in the afternoon, giving them time to get to the silo by 2:00 to help Chris.

Charley had one more semester to graduate from KU, but he only had classes on Mondays and Thursdays. He moved his stuff into the Elsberry house and drove whenever he could.

Matt had a lot of windshield time between Wichita, Kansas City, and St. Louis. He and Joe got together regularly, and Matt finally met Queeny, Charlotte’s friend who was keeping the books.

Queeny told him the farm had secured approximately $375,000.00 profit from the harvest. Matt quickly calculated that the free-and-clear number would be around $185,000 once they covered next season’s expenses. He knew Eldridge would be pleased. Queeny also advised that the year-to-date expenses for M&E Enterprises totaled $5,648,893.00, and the income was zero.

Matt smiled. “It’s actually less than I expected.”

The profits of the five companies continued to increase, and the efforts to coordinate among the companies yielded excellent results. Matt realized that Marcus had done a magnificent job and knew he would reward the man.

***

On August 26th, Matt and Marcus flew to Houston. Ling had set up a meeting with both the neurology staff at Wheatley and the Department of Neurology medical staff at Baylor Medical Center.

Ling had briefed her colleagues on her experience with the Imager and wanted them to understand the project’s scope and provide their input.

When they saw the preliminary prototype in action, the group shared their elation and excitement. When they saw the proposed design, one of the Baylor staff asked, “Are you sure that you guys aren’t aliens? This really does look like it came right off Star Trek.”

With pride, Matt singled out the incorporation of fiber optics. “The idea for this came from an eighteen-year-old high school student, and I might add she has contributed significantly to several very high-tech projects.”

Ling eyed Matt and mouthed, “Ellie?”

Matt smiled and whispered, “Yes.”

One of the Wheatley representatives later asked, “If she is in high school, is there any chance we could get her to apply here for college?”

“She has at this time chosen another school so she can remain close to home, but I would not rule out the possibility in the future.”

Matt and Ling talked later about Ellie’s test scores and her astounding IQ.

Ling was sorry that Ellie wasn’t at Wheatley, but most of all, she was very happy for the young lady.

“Matt,” Ling said, “please call if I can help her in any way, okay?”

Matt stayed over one additional glorious night with Ling and flew back to St. Louis on the 28th.