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Mr. Lee looks at us with asad smile. He turns to his desk and picks the finished scroll. Froma silk-clad box he pulls a huge inkan[2]. After rubbing thesurface over porcelain ink pad, he exhales and presses the stamp inthe lower right corner of the scroll. The print is dark-red andsharp, like dried blood droplets.
“Done,” He says, “Do you want me totranslate?”
“Yes?”
“As any Chinese saying,this can have multiple English translations. I like this:‘Apparent is not alwaysreal.’”
“Which means?”
“Which means there is no secret. Rossi'smachine – it's nothing more than a clever investment scheme.”
“A what?” In my mind, my hugedouble-bed Wi
“An investment scheme. Martin Fleischma
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“Absolutely. I know this first-hand from myfriend, Chen Te-Sheng. He told me so, and I remember itword-to-word: ‘Just once, I've betrayed science for money, and I'vepaid with my life, many times over’.”
“Betrayed science?”
“Yes. Who could blame him? It was 2008, inthe midst of the Global Financial Crisis. Chen was a recentimmigrant, with his Ph.D. in high-energy physics, his wife out ofwork, and his three-years-old son. Because of the crisis, all theresearch grants had been discontinued. The Universities had nointerest for yet another Taiwanese physicist. Vincenzo Rossi cameat the right time! All Chen had to do was to carry the power outputmeasurements and turn a blind eye on some, let's call them –scientific shortcuts! Chen decided to do some work for Rossi, justto make some easy money and get the family through the GFC. Heunderstood the risks, of course: the scientist's reputation is sucha fragile thing. But he decided to take his chances.”
“And what happened next?” Kate asks.
“Chen wanted to work forjust one year, but ended up with seven full years. His salary wastoo good to be true. As an Assistant Professor in any Uni, he couldnot make a quarter of this amount. Then, towards the end of 2015,Rossi had disappeared with all the investors' funds. A very smartmove: he did it just before the Meltdown, and his trail went coldrather quickly. The former Chief Scientist ended up in plain view,and the hunt for Chen had begun.”
“Who was hunting? Intelligence agencies?Spooks?”
“Some intelligenceagencies participated too. But how to say it… indirectly. You see,after the Meltdown, a lot of former spies went freelancing for the privatecompanies. There were many takers: Israelis, Italians, the MainlandChinese, Russians, British. Even our dear CIA participated, but noton behalf of the American Government, they already worked for someMiddle-East money bags. Chen's laboratory technician was kidnappedin 2017. No doubt the boy was tortured, but could not tell anythinguseful. The technician was a diligent idiot with no IQ to speak of.Chen and Rossi hired such on purpose, so the boy knew nothing aboutphysics or chemistry. The following year, Chen's wife died in a carcrash. A very strange death, as you may imagine! In 2018, thehighways were mostly empty, only the rich had money forgasoline.”
“Chen could just come clear and telleveryone the machine had never worked.” Kate says.
“As if he did not try!” Lee sigh, “Nobodybelieved him! Well, that's not true: he managed to convince theIsraelis and the Russians. But the rest just assumed that Chen washiding the real discovery – to cash it up at some later date.”
“But why?”
“Remember what I toldyou? D-CAT is nota 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 allover Texas. People build slums at the well pads. They collect theremaining gas and use it for cooking and such.”
“Do you know, that back in 2010 the shalegas and shale oil were called the best investment opportunity ofthe XXI Century?”
“I've heard something likethis. But it's garbage. Why would I pay my money to live in agas-slum? They have rotten water and die of cancer or kidneyfailure. Frankly, our Slum is way better. As the matter of fact,even the Landfill obamavillesare way better.”
“Huh! You are the newgeneration. The through-Meltdown! You are smart. Butback in 2010 the USA was not as logical. An oil company would tellpeople: give us one thousand dollars, and we will give you somepaper in exchange. Five years later, you can sell this paper fortwo thousand dollars. No interest, no dividends, nothing. Just purevalue appreciation. To make the entire enterprise ru
“It's like a water-lifting wheel! You step,and step, and step, but stay in one place.”
“Exactly! And as the waterwheel is for lifting water, the shale oil scheme is for liftingmoney. Out of the investor's pocket into the oil companyexecutive'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 oilis still around.”
“So, for the Rossi withhis D-CAT,” Katesays, “Mister Chen was such a cool-looking PhD?”
“Absolutely. MartinFleischma
“What's wrong with the solar panels? I knowthey work!”
“They do. You spendup-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 littlephotovoltaic system: one solar panel, one deep-cycle battery, an LEDbulb or two, and the wires. This system will last you for about twenty years. Ifyour place is as su
“So I use one kilowatt-hour up-front, and the system gives meback 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 solarsystemis a pretty good deal! But not good enough!Spending one kilowatt-hour of oil and gas for two kilowatt-hours ofelectricity only makes sense if you have a lot of oil and gas inthe ground. Do you know America hardly makes the civilian-use solarpanels anymore? Whatever is presently installed will die in aboutten years – and there will be no replacement. The solar power willbe only in the Army.”
“Listening to you, in ten or twenty years wewill have nothing but cow dung,” I fill upset that my camper tripto California has ended so quickly.
“You can burn wood andstraw. Thecoal will be with us too,at least for somewhile. But, in short, yes.”
“When you say it, it looks so simple!” Katesays, “How come nobody understands it?”