Johan Birch

Star parties were always fun. Tara was but a supporting actress in the movie we had just watched, and she had the biggest and best place, that's why the main afterparty was there. When Petra and I were leaving, I caught a glimpse of Rowan in the shadows with someone who wasn't Larry. Petra yanked me to keep going so I wouldn't get caught gawking at them.

Two weeks later, Tara Knight showed up at my office at Jacer Semiconductor. Nora showed her in, as Tara had made an appointment. I showed her Hillary's etching tables for the generation two panels. The gen-two panels were actually based on the first panel I had gifted Hillary. Hillary was making a lot of panels, as she had a lot of demand. Tara and I walked all the way down the line to Warehouse Thirteen, and she hadn't even broken a sweat. "Warehouse Thirteen, seriously?" Tara asked.

"You know, that's the same thing Hillary mentioned when I asked to lease that warehouse from her," I nodded.

"Why paint it on the side like that? Are you trying to give homage to the TV show?" Tara asked.

"That was a TV show? Hmm." I was okay with the show, it looked like fun, but I couldn't spend nearly a hundred hours binge-watching the whole series. "Stand over there," I pointed to a faded circle in the pavement.

Tara looked where I pointed and then back at me. "There?"

"Just do it," I shook my head. After she moved to the spot, I turned toward the door. "Akira, I have a guest."

"Understood," Akira's voice came from a speaker mounted on the side of the building. "What's the magic word?"

"Akira, I'm going to let Tara here rummage around in your code unless you open the goddess-damned door."

"Very well." The doors slid open, augmented with a creaking noise that was obviously created by Akira for effect. Tara had been scanned and cataloged, and Akira knew she was an actress. I didn't pay much attention to scary movies, so I couldn't comment on the sound.

"You have an AI doing your scut work?" Tara asked as we walked inside.

"Akira is my digital guardian. I know that you appreciate the amount of work that goes into an AI."

"Well, I'm just a straight-up black-hat code hacker. Artificial Intelligences can only be battled by like, so I'm out of my league on those. What are we doing here?"

I waved one of the technicians over and she gave Tara the basics on how the generation three and four solar cells were formed by etching. It was interesting to watch her reaction when the technician showed her the battery pack fused to the bottom.

Tara gave the technician her complete attention throughout, and came back to me with a sigh. "I don't see anything different than with the gen-two panels with the exception of the battery packs. You are showing me everything?"

"Come on," I started walking to the final assembly where the manufactured panels were packed and sat ready for shipping. There was an inspector working on a just-finished panel, making sure it fit my specifications. I waved him away and beckoned Tara to come closer. "Do you see anything unusual?"

She peered at the panel for a moment. "Can I touch it?"

"Sure. There's not much that can hurt those panels now."

After a moment of poking and prodding at the surface, Tara went over to the work table and selected a hammer. She looked at me, and I nodded. This would have to be something that she felt and saw for herself. She swung the hammer at the panel, and nothing happened. "Oh my god."

"Goddess, Tara. God is a woman, everybody knows that."

"I see now, but why?" Tara took the hammer back to the work table, gingerly setting it back down in the original spot. "I can get sturdy, but invulnerable? Where would you put them, on mountaintops?"

"Think bigger, Tara."

"You're going to put them, what? On the moon?"

"Mars, actually," I nodded. "Hillary and I are trying to find a place between generations three and four to make satellite power feasible, so we can negotiate a contract for the ISS with the ESA."

"That's going to backfire one day, going around NASA's back," Tara wagged a finger at me.

"I'm not going to argue with you on that, I'll leave that for Petra and Erin."

"So the only difference between generations three and four is that nine nine nine stainless?"

Tara knows the terms.That's something to be concerned about.

"The generation four panels will last longer, for the obvious reasons. They put out the same amount of power, but the longevity is predetermined," I replied.

"All right," Tara nodded. "Is there any way that the production of generation three panels can be increased?"

"Demanding little thing, aren't you?" I asked. "Not on my end, anyway. There isn't going to be any scalability in the generation-three panel production for a while. The etching tables, as you can see, are quite precise in their making."

"So this is what you have on Hillary? You're choking her production?"

"Hillary is filling orders by the hundred-panel on the generation two construction. Don't worry about her abilities, they are actually better than before I arrived. This warehouse, this area, everything from warehouse thirteen and up, is on land leased from Jacer Semiconductor by Birch America. Please remember that I am only showing this to you as a courtesy, Miss Knight."

Tara was visibly taken aback by my rebuke. "Yes, of course."

"I don't have anything 'on' Hillary. This is what Birch America is producing." I wasn't going to tell her that Jacer Semiconductor was just a division of Birch America, not yet. "I have an appointment in Los Angeles, do you need a lift?"

"Sure, let me tell my security I'm flying back," Tara said. She made a call on her cell, having to repeat the orders twice, before she agreed to fly back with me.

Petra met us at the heliport. "All is good, no?"

"Yes. Are you coming along?"

"Our travel agent is helping me plan a trip to London. Dinner?"

I had to chuckle at the recurring inside joke. "Certainly."

"Laters, love."

Tara didn't know what to think of Nora climbing into the cabin with us. "I thought we would be alone on our flight back to Los Angeles."

"Nora's my personal assistant," I said. "Where she goes, I go." That made me feel all the better, having Nora as a human shield.

"Project seven-seven-seven is well underway," Nora handed me a dark green binder. This was the company color for updates, important ones. The minor updates were lime-green binders.

"Make sure the pilot is informed," I half-ordered. Nora would have already performed that task.

"Already done, sir."

"Gold Star," I chuckled.

"What's that?" Tara asked.

"We're going to be flying over the latest Birch America project," I answered. "Feel free to take a gander."

"I meant the 'Gold Star' thing," Tara clarified.

"That's an inside joke, Miss Knight," Nora replied for me.

When the helicopter flew over where the runway was being laid out, I couldn't help but be in awe. "What specifications, Nora?" I asked.

"Seven seven seven, of course," Nora snickered.

"We are building a runway down there from recycled asphalt and the corresponding base material," I told Tara as I pointed out the window.

"Really?" Tara was immediately at the window looking out. The land was being cut out, the trucks were delivering the base for the second stage. The third stage was the pre-refined asphalt and a huge machine was packing it into place.

"When one of our aircraft had to make an emergency landing on one of the roads a couple weeks back, the investigator that came from Nellis AFB hinted that we should have our own runway so we wouldn't have to pay a fine for destroying public roads," I explained.

"I didn't hear anything about that," Tara mused.

"One of our prototypes buzzing military airspace isn't something that makes the news, Miss Knight," Nora scoffed.

"Why do you do that?" Tara asked. "Butt in?"

"Because I don't like you, Miss Knight," Nora replied. "Plain and simple."

"Nora," I said with a grunt. "Claws." My little Kitten, so close to my heart that a thousand tonnes of gold wouldn't even make me think of parting with her.

"Fine," Nora huffed.

"At least you're honest," Tara said. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Birch America isn't sharing these technologies."

"We first have to make them work," I pointed out. "That's one of the reasons I bought out Boulder, Limited from Brookstone Pointe. Their semi-proven but as-of-yet unsaleable technologies from that company were dragging down Brookstone Pointe's net worth. I have the funding to bring those technologies into the light."

"So you were only thinking about Brookstone Pointe's net worth," Tara panned.

"Do you want the balance sheets?" Nora snapped. "Brookstone Pointe would be teetering into the abyss of bankruptcy or forced to go public if Birch America hadn't intervened. Would you rather your patents went to the highest bidder?"

Tara took two minutes of thought for that one. "No, I wouldn't. Thank you again, Johan, for keeping my patents private."

"You're welcome. Pilot, drop halfway and give me another pass," I ordered.

"Will do, sir," Gregory acknowledged.

"Gregory, you still doing okay after that little mishap?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you for asking," Gregory replied.

"Mishap?" Tara prodded.

"Gregory was piloting the aircraft that had to make that emergency landing," I replied. "He managed to get an aircraft with an eight-meter wheelbase on an eight-and-a-half meter wide road. I'm sure you will be happy with a twenty-meter wide runway, right, Gregory?"

A chuckle over the cabin speakers. "Certainly, sir. I hope to not again be in the position to have to make any emergency landings, sir."

"No promises, Gregory," I said. Gregory was my Test Pilot. He would voluntarily fly any aircraft my companies produced, just to say that he was there first, just like Chuck Yeager. Gregory had flown the first aircraft with a non-metallic fuselage beyond Mach's number, although nobody would know that for years.

"Twenty meters wide?" Tara asked.

"We have one hundred seventy-five thousand tonnes of material to use, Tara," I said. "You're smart, I'm sure you can do the calculations."

Tara looked at Nora. "Project seven-seven-seven?"

"More like project seven-four-seven, ma'am," Nora replied.

"That's amazing," Tara commented.

"It all depends on how many piles of asphalt shit there are close to our land, and the length of lease we were able to obtain," I clarified.

"Well, good for you," Tara nodded. "I mean that. There is too much of that crap just laying around in huge-ass piles, and if it can be recycled, good. There is one problem."

"My scientists are working on alternative fuels, Tara," I chuckled. "Better airfields in exchange for more jet-fuel burn isn't on my list. The turbines on this helicopter are actually powered by ethanol."

"Wow, and thank you for sharing that. It makes me feel better about flying to LA in a helicopter.."

Gregory gave us a third lap, then we made our way to Los Angeles. Tara was surprised that we landed at a designated ground heliport rather than a helipad on any one of Los Angeles' many skyscrapers. "Saving on the budget?" Tara queried.

"This particular model is in alpha-stage. Our latest mass production aerial vehicle is from the last gamma-stage specifications from the previous model. The weight is constantly being changed as the battery weight is refined," I explained. "I promised Hillary that I would designate a version as ready for mass-production so she could have her personal helicopter. She pointed out that I was taking too long to appoint a model fit for mass-production, so I caved."

"Battery?" Tara asked. "What? How?"

"Mister Birch has answered enough of your questions for one day, Miss Knight," Nora intervened. "Your car?"

Tara squinted at me before she went toward her waiting Suburban. After she was whisked away, I looked at Nora. "Really?"

"I'm jealous, Johan," Nora admitted. She only used my first name when we were alone. "Tara Knight believes you a fool seduced by a hot body and sweet voice."

"You should know better, Nora. Your body is so much hotter," I smiled.

"Thank you," Nora beamed. "You give me so many rewards, beyond the Gold Stars."

"Even so, you haven't agreed to be a wife," I prodded.

"Johan, I am happy where I am. Companion. A wife in spirit, not in name."

Somebody had been eavesdropping.Nora knew that she was a wife, even though The Laws of Man said that she could not be.

"Thank you, Nora."

"You are quite welcome, Johan."

***

I was in Charlotte, North Carolina when Aysun called to make an appearance with Doctor Erin Granger. I gave the okay, and they appeared in my office a moment later. "Did I miss an appointment, Erin?" I asked.

"Tara Knight just tried to poach me," Erin said. She plopped herself into a chair in front of my desk. All of my offices were designed the same, and she knew my protocol. "She said that I could do more for the planet than you were letting me do."

An alarm bell went off. "Did she do this over the phone or in person?" I asked.

"In person, duh. I don't trust anything I cannot see in person once you debuted your AI to me. What gives?"

"Tara seems to think that you can provide her with the secret behind the generation-four solar panels because they have the nine-nine-nine composition. I told her that I wasn't sharing that secret with her."

"Why not?" Erin asked.

"Because Tara was one of Miranda Olsen's original champions," I said. "She often wondered why Brookstone Pointe didn't share the nitrogenator secret with Miranda. Tara is a goose until I say otherwise."

"Johan, I am sorry for questioning your judgement," Erin nodded. "You haven't set any protocols regarding the 'new' four fifty-seven club. It was always assumed that they collapsed after Jaci Stone pulled the scientific and technology divisions into Boulder, Limited."

"You remember that I gave Tara Knight back her patents," I pointed out. "That was her hard work, she may be doing something with those."

"I know," Erin nodded. "The club was evidently rebuilt from the pieces that were left behind."

"We'll just have to see."

"Just to let you know, I'm not biting on her hook. There is no way that I am going to give up on the work we are doing," Erin clarified. "No way."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to fold forty hundred kilometers to tell me that, Erin," I said.

"Some may," Erin hedged. "Bite on her hook."

"Then they bite the hook and leave, Erin. Free will and at will, remember? I will ask that anyone leaving remembers their promise, that is all." The promise was to leave any work they had done since joining Boulder, Limited, behind. There would be some blurred lines, but I didn't care. "You know the only secret that can be weaponized, the rest can be shared in any case."

"Understood," Erin nodded. "I'd like to take your new jet back to Las Vegas, just to say that I did."

"It better come back," I wagged my finger at her. "No disassembling it on the tarmac."

Erin stood and gave me a mock salute. "Yes, sir."

"Get out of here," I waved her to the door with a chuckle.

***

My wagging finger could have been stowed in any case. My next destination was Washington, D.C, and I could get there by helicopter and car. I had to have a chat with a US Senator and two state Congresspersons about my runway. Evidently I had run afoul of some statute that my lawyers had yet to find.

Under the guise of National Security, my runway was being questioned because Johan Birch was a foreign national, albeit from a supposedly friendly country, building a runway a stone's-throw from two US air bases. I feigned ignorance when they mentioned the mysterious second air base that I was close to. In the end, they told me that my project would be allowed to continue.

I was slow to catch up on the references, but my lawyer told me straight-out that I would have to contribute to some party re-election funds. He also told me that he was sorry that he hadn't made that distinction in advance and without my pre-approval. Johan Birch wasn't familiar with politics, he just wanted to get things done.

***

Under my command, Birch America made great strides during the next two months. It bothered me that Samantha hadn't made an appearance since my hospital stay, and that came to a head when Calleigh whisked her into my office in Los Angeles. "Hey, Sam. Been hiding out again?"

"Johan." She was hesitant. I could only guess as to why.

"Samantha, I didn't expect to jump back into where we left off. I know that you are still hurting. I may not be a mind reader anymore, but I can still read body language. It comes with being an executive, not a psychic."

"I've decided to withdraw my agreement to Petra's offer to be a wife. I know that the soul is the same, but the body is new and maybe not able to handle the sexual energy."

There was some sense there. Petra sometimes would steer me away from certain women whenever we went into a division that employed mostly wicca. I could feel the powerful draw of some of them, and see the looks of disappointment in their eyes when Petra turned them away. "I understand, Sam," I nodded. "It also has been too long, especially for you."

"You have no idea," Samantha gave me a weak smile. "I'm sorry to do this to you, I know that Rowan made Jaci's life hell with all her wishy-washiness."

"Sam, we spent years together. You didn't wishy-washy me, we had great love and great sex, and wonderful children."

"Petra has hinted that the two of you have great sex as well," Samantha countered.

I flexed my muscles and made a grunting sound. "Me, Johan!"

She started giggling. "I saw you in the hospital, remember? Correy and Mathis used to despise their hariness until you showed up! When they told me how much life had changed for them, how your self-assuredness made them bolder, I was even more sure that I made the right decision."

"There are days that I miss Jaci Stone," I admitted. "She started changing the world, and I'm following that lead."

"Because you are the lead," Samantha said.

"You have something else to tell me, Sam. I can see it in your eyes."

"Johan, I think you are probably going to have some problems here pretty soon. Everything Birch."

"Why?"

"Natalie thinks that she has found Starshine." Samantha held up her hand. "I will not be a party to them doing whatever they might do. They still believe that Merlin's Polygon is real, despite your evidence to the contrary."

"Okay," I chuckled. "I did try to show Natalie once that the legend was fake, and she said that she couldn't see what I was talking about. Petra could read the book just fine, but Natalie couldn't. Maybe they couldn't see what they didn't want to understand."

"Perfectly logical," Samantha nodded. "I am not participating, and because of that they'll fail."

"Maybe," I chuckled. "Your sisters just may surprise you, Samantha."

"How's that?" Samantha asked.

"Well, they 'gave' the company to me. I'm sure there is a clause somewhere in that pile of papers to allow them 'take' it back."

"Goddess," Samanatha grumbled. "They'd try it, too. I know they will."

"Maybe I should get to work on getting them to sign the whole company over to me?" I asked with a smile.

Samantha wagged a finger at me. "Don't get greedy."

"Sam..."

"Johan?"

I let out a sniffle. "Do you want a divorce?"

"No. I would like another child or three."

But she didn't want sex with me.Samantha wanted an intermediary.

"Okay. I take it you have the healer picked out already? The healer to help you get pregnant?"

"You know my schemes so well," she shook her head. "Petra is waiting for your answer and we will proceed as soon as your word is given."