“But why?”
“Remember what I told you? D-CAT is not a scientific discovery. It's not a scientific phenomenon at all. It's an investment opportunity. A money-making scheme.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know what the shale oil is?”
“Of course,” I nod, “These wells are all over Texas. People build slums at the well pads. They collect the remaining gas and use it for cooking and such.”
“Do you know, that back in 2010 the shale gas and shale oil were called the best investment opportunity of the XXI Century?”
“I've heard something like this. But it's garbage. Why would I pay my money to live in a gas-slum? They have rotten water and die of cancer or kidney failure. Frankly, our Slum is way better. As the matter of fact, even the Landfill obamavilles are way better.”
“Huh! You are the new generation. The through-Meltdown! You are smart. But back in 2010 the USA was not as logical. An oil company would tell people: give us one thousand dollars, and we will give you some paper in exchange. Five years later, you can sell this paper for two thousand dollars. No interest, no dividends, nothing. Just pure value appreciation. To make the entire enterprise running, the oil company would get twenty barrels of diesel fuel and a drilling rig, go out and drill a well. Then they would take another eighty barrels of diesel, and many tones of water and sand – and frac the well. And the well would produce. From each well you would recover, on average, one hundred and fifty barrels of gas condensate, which you could convert back to one hundred barrels of diesel fuel. And you could start the process all over again. The natural gas comes as a by-product and is sold for the marginal profit.”
“It's like a water-lifting wheel! You step, and step, and step, but stay in one place.”
“Exactly! And as the water wheel is for lifting water, the shale oil scheme is for lifting money. Out of the investor's pocket into the oil company executive's pocket. Well, the executive spreads some of his income, to, let say, his Chief Geologist. A guy with а PhD, who looks very cool, nods, and tells the public how much shale oil is still around.”
“So, for the Rossi with his D-CAT,” Kate says, “Mister Chen was such a cool-looking PhD?”
“Absolutely. Martin Fleischmann was a cool-looking Ph.D. too. But as Fleischmann was getting older, Rossi wanted a replacement. By the way, Rossi is not alone. There were literally thousands of these investment schemes. Vacuum energy. Biodiesel. Ethanol. Wind turbines.” he points to the dim LED bulb at his desk, “This one is the perfect example. The photovoltaic bubble.”
“What's wrong with the solar panels? I know they work!”
“They do. You spend up-front, let say, one kilowatt-hour of energy, in form of coal, oil and gas, to dig the copper ore, make the silicon and so on. Finally, all this energy is spent, and you get yourself a little photovoltaic system: one solar panel, one deep-cycle battery, an LED bulb or two, and the wires. This system will last you for about twenty years. If your place is as sunny as Houston, this system will produce two kilowatt-hours of energy though its life-span.”
“So I use one kilowatt-hour up-front, and the system gives me back two kilowatt-hours, but slowly?”
“Bravo, Missis Bowen! Being compared to the D-CAT, which does not work at all, or the shale oil, which works only marginally, the solar system is a pretty good deal! But not good enough! Spending one kilowatt-hour of oil and gas for two kilowatt-hours of electricity only makes sense if you have a lot of oil and gas in the ground. Do you know America hardly makes the civilian-use solar panels anymore? Whatever is presently installed will die in about ten years – and there will be no replacement. The solar power will be only in the Army.”
“Listening to you, in ten or twenty years we will have nothing but cow dung,” I fill upset that my camper trip to California has ended so quickly.
“You can burn wood and straw. The coal will be with us too, at least for some while. But, in short, yes.”
“When you say it, it looks so simple!” Kate says, “How come nobody understands it?”
“For most people it's so much easier to live a dream. You two, for example. Two tough through-Meltdown kids! You have seen horrors I personally prefer not even think of,” with his fingers he taps the tatami in front of Kate indicating her missing legs. “Fifteen minutes ago, you learned about this wonderful energy-from-nothing D-CAT thingy, and you started making plans for the shiny future. In less than thirty seconds, you had our dirty slums converted into civilized suburbs, fixed the plumbing to fill your hot bath, and even built yourself an electric Winnebago.”
Kate runs her fingers on the tatami mat as if touching her missing leg. Lee shakes his head, “Did I trigger the pain? Sorry. I did not mean…”
“No, no. I am a tough girl. You can't trigger my pain, even if you whack me with a softball bat. But the Winnebago was such a nice dream.”
“So you must understand. Imagine somebody who is not as tough and smart, who has lived in the civilized world for forty goddamn years and have dreamed of abundant energy for the last fourteen? How do you convince him that the energy does not come out of nothing?”
“So you believe somebody is still hunting for this non-existent Rossi's secret?”
“Chen thought this time it was the Mainland Chinese. But could be the ex-CIA too. Since the 2018, he and Victor were moving every year or even more often. Chen is not his original surname, by the way. He has changed it several times.”
“Chen has lived in the GRS for almost two years.”
“Yes. He had hopes that all the chasers finally gave up. But still, he had no illusions and carried his gut-driver with him at all time. It just turned out that he must run again…”
Kate nods. “I think you are a tough through-Meltdown too, Mister Lee. You were willing to give your life to save Victor.”
Lee smiles and bows, “Thanks. I am not a hero, not as much as you think. But the Meltdown taught me two main rules. The first is…”
“The First Rule? Like, the Slum Rules? Everybody must give once a day?”
“You can put it that way too. The proper first Meltdown rule translation is like this: if the strong care only for themselves, nobody will survive. In wider sense, we are to protect our neighbors. At all cost.”
“Don't you find it's a bit excessive? Going to gallows to protect your neighbor?”
“Not to the gallows. Only to your Station slammer – for few days. Here comes the second Meltdown rule: always have a Plan-B! Chen Te-Sheng and I, we decided our Plan-B, no problems.”
Kate shows her thumbs-up. “Can I guess?”
“Sure.”
“In case the Police discover the body, you are ready give a written statement that you have killed your neighbor, Chen Te-Sheng. After Victor is released, you will stall the Police long enough, so Victor can pack up and leave. Meanwhile, Chen Te-Sheng would visit a Police Department in some other city and identify himself.”
“Absolutely right. We agreed that in four days time he will report his wallet stolen, and show his driver license, which, by pure chance, has not been in his wallet, that's all. The incident will be recorded. Later in the court, I would just withdraw my statement. My neighbor killed a stranger. He threatened me, so I hid both the murderer and the body in my shack till the midnight. The body in the ditch is positively not Chen Te-Sheng, so my written statement is garbage anyhow. That is because I am still afraid that the villain Chen Te-Sheng may return.”
“All they can pin on you is the obstruction of justice, and hardly even that. Undeniably, you have assisted the murderer, but you have not been a part in the premeditated murder. Or even an accessory to murder – nobody can prove the prior knowledge. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”