Charlie Forêt

What if a physicist went back to high school?

Read a sample and find out!

School bored me enough that I considered skipping a few years, but instead focused on the other aspects of my life: friends, football, farming, and fast cars. Okay, farming was becoming less and less of a focus, but I still felt obligated to give Uncle Ben more of a hand now that Ryan and John were away at school. Interestingly enough, farming gave me more specific ideas on how to apply drive by wire to large machinery. That, in turn, led me to Caterpillar, in a very roundabout way.

Since Jim would have a conflict of interest talking directly to Caterpillar, I asked him to approach John Deere first. They were a powerhouse of farm equipment, and Uncle Ben’s preferred brand, so I was very familiar with their equipment. Rather than funding a full conversion of one of their machines to demonstrate for them, I wanted to partner with them on the development. Most of the limits on how long a farmer could safely use a big machine were due to physical fatigue. I thought some of my ideas could help reduce the effort and fatigue level, and thus make the machinery safer.

The engineers we met showed real interest in my approach, but immediately expressed concern over the durability of the electronic components in the harsher industrial and farm environment. Mechanical linkages were proven to be able to stand up to the rigorous conditions of the field. I knew that electronics could be ruggedized, and shock mounted, I had just never done it myself from a design perspective. For the car, I had made things sturdy, but no one was going to drive through a rough plowed field in it either.

After some wrangling by Jim, we entered into an agreement to jointly develop a series of prototypes for field-testing. Deere had a joint project with Caterpillar for power trains, which got them into the mix. At that point, Jim decided he needed to find outside counsel to keep things ethical.

I was surprised one evening when Jim showed up at the farm with an attractive middle-aged (to my eyes) woman and introduced her as Candace Brennan. Jim then bowed out and went to chat with my mother as I led Candace into my office.

She had straight blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a nicely tailored suit with a skirt and heels that showed her curves and legs nicely. Of course, it was not really suited to a farm or shop environment.

“Jim has briefed me on your portfolio and the current deals in the auto industry and current discussions with Deere and Caterpillar. It seems like you are doing some exciting things for someone so young.”

Her tone made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Age has little to do with it. Most people have ideas, but not the will to see them through to the full logical conclusion the idea leads them to. I think the ideas are the easy part.”  I motioned her to the couch as I dropped into the leather chair in my office. “Jim has found you and briefed you. I assume you are at least on retainer.”  I tried to make my tone as cold but professional as possible.

She lowered herself onto the edge of the couch but sat as erectly as if she were in a courtroom. “Yes, privilege applies to our discussion as well as the information Jim has already provided.”

“Good. Why did Jim pick you?”

That blunt question got a reaction. “I’ve worked with and against Jim in several cases over the past seven years since passing the bar and focusing on patent law. I believe he chose me because I’m good at what I do.”

“Wouldn’t a contract specialist be better than another patent attorney?  I mean, we are trying to do a deal, not re-file or defend my portfolio.”

“You don’t have the patents yet. You’ve only applied. That means we need to protect the company from the consequences of the applications being turned down, as well as contractual issues. We also need to make certain that you are included in any derivative patents that might be filed as a result of these joint efforts. In short, you’ll be better served by a patent attorney that understands contracts than by a contract attorney who knows a little about patents.”

Her tone had shifted from judgmental to defensive and was slipping into lecture mode. The disconnect between my teenage appearance and my actual experience created a jarring tension. I suddenly felt my seven decades of life in my bones.

“Who else have you worked with?”

Rather than answer, she pulled out a sheet of paper from her portfolio and handed it to me. It was on a legal firm’s letter head. I did not see her name on the paper.

“So, your firm has worked with these companies. Have you been involved with each of them?”

“Of course. Each of these were firms I worked closely with. The contact names are the inside counsel I worked for.”

It was an impressive list. Lockheed in particular caught my eye. “What area were you working on for Lockheed?”

“I can’t provide details, but it had some similarities to what you have done for cars.”

“So, fly-by-wire systems?”

“I can’t say. It involved classified projects they were working on for the government.”

I suspected it related to stealth. I recalled that they had pushed computer-controlled flight software to help minimize aspect ratios on flight planning and make sure the stealth bombers always flew the correct profiles. Instead of probing further, I shifted to another company.

“And what about Corning?”

“That was straight industrial patent filing work. They had some new processes and materials they were protecting.”

“What was unique about them?  Weight, density, thermal properties?”

“Durability and process for fabrication. They came up with a new way of making the material that made it significantly stronger as well.”

I jumped to another company, and then another. After fifteen minutes, I had the pattern down and knew why Jim had picked Candace. She had contacts in the areas I wanted to set up research projects. This Caterpillar contract was an extended job interview.

That made my questions shift.

“So, can you work for a snot-nosed teenager who thinks his ideas can change the world?”

It was a loaded question.

“From what Jim’s told me, you are hardly a snot-nosed teenager.”

“But you want to treat me like one. Why’s that?”  I softened my tone and relaxed my face and body as I asked the question. It forced her to look at me.

A hint of a smile cross her face as she licked her lips before answering. “Let’s just say that I worked hard to get where I am. When I heard what you’ve done, it sounds like things were handed to you without any real work on your part. You had some ideas and sold them.”  She shrugged her shoulders.

It was an answer, but was it the truth?

“So, the fact that I have put in six eighteen-hour days every week for the past year isn’t real work?”

“I’ve worked fifty- and sixty-hour weeks for years, and I don’t have what you have.”

“And I just said I worked 108-hour weeks for the past year. Every week. I’ll have caught up to your professional work effort before I graduate from college, and that makes me the spoiled person in the room?  I told you that ideas are easy. The will to follow them through is what matters. I have that will. It doesn’t make me spoiled; it means I’m focused. Are you focused enough to work for me, is the question.”

“What do you mean?”

“You still haven’t answered my last question. Can you work for me?  This contract should be simple. But the next three after that won’t be. And any one of them could revolutionize whole industries. I’m not content to sit still and let others set the direction we are heading. I intend to make a difference. And I know I’ll step on some feelings and egos making that difference. The question you need to answer is whether your ego and feelings will keep you from working with me. Will they?”

She looked at me for thirty seconds, weighing and judging. Finally, “This isn’t just about the Caterpillar contract, is it?”

I smiled but said nothing.

She continued to look at me. “How do you want to change the world?”

“Finally, the right question. Currently, we are on a trajectory to consume all the available energy producing resources on our planet in the middle of the next century. Our power consumption globally doubles every seven years. We must change either our consumption patterns, or our generation capabilities. I’m looking to do both. That is what my company is all about for the long term.”

“So, your current patents are on the consumption side?”

“Mostly, but I also needed to raise capital. Alternative energy is going to take some big dollars to pursue. It’s also going to draw the ire of some very vested interests, like the oil companies and the OPEC nations. Protecting the people working on these problems will become more important in the future.”

“And if you are successful, there will be a fortune to be made.”

I nodded.

For the first time since entering my office, I saw Candace take a deep breath and actually relax. “I can work for that sort of cause and the person who wants to achieve it. Yes, I can work for you.”

“Good. We may not always get along, Candace, but we don’t have to. I want people around me that can tell me I’m full of shit or why an idea is bad. What I aim to achieve is too important to waste time on bad ideas.”

She actually smiled. “So, when did you and Jim plan out this grilling interview?”

I laughed. “We didn’t. Jim told me you were just outside counsel for this contract. I took a look at your references and realized you had the contacts in almost every area I want to start researching. I think Jim was just trying to be tricky to see how we worked together.”

“Well, maybe we should just let his plan play out for the short term. I like some people at my firm, but know that I’ll never make partner as a woman focused on patent work. Let’s get this contract with Caterpillar out of the way, and then we can talk about the next steps.”

“Agreed.”  I stood up and shook her hand. It seemed like we had a new lawyer on our side. I couldn’t decide if that was ominous or a good thing.

This is a single scene from chapter ten. Read a sample on Amazon to start from the beginning.