Caleb's Sons' Adventures

Notes of explanation:

Hue - pronounced WAY
Hui - pronounced Hughy
Hua - pronounced Huwa
Dati - IndoDutch term for Papa
Baki - IndoDutch term for Brother
Onkla - IndoDutch term for Uncle

Everyone deplaned in Hilo, those going on to California were spending the night in local hotels before proceeding. As they came down the Arrivals Ramp, two boys went streaking past the security officers and latched onto Concho and Thomas, screaming their joy at having their Datis back home. Joss and Akan were a little older than the two and they held onto Bic's and Phillip's hand fearfully. After Joey and Lobie had satisfied themselves that their Datis were truly home, they spotted the two new boys. They shyly went over to Joss and Akan and pretty soon, all four boys were happily chattering among themselves while they waited for their luggage. Dakar Mock stood there taking it all in, he had never been part of a loving family and had never missed it until now. He must have looked a bit lost because Hue went up the young man and hugged him, saying, "Welcome to your new home, Dakar, you are part of us now."

The Hilo Office was busy working on a proposal for the El Majestico Mining Company's reopened silver mine in the Jalisco State of Mexico. A new ore body had been discovered on the property. The old mine had been in continuous operation since the late 1500s and the original ore body was nearly played out.

The telephone rang and Son answered it. He called to Hue, "Mr. Hue, Mr. Daniel is on the line for you."

Hue took the call, and Danny said, "Bati, I have some bad news from my doctor, we need to have a meeting of everyone."

Hue clutched, "WHAT KIND OF NEWS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" he screeched.

Danny replied, "Now, Bati, calm down. Remember, I am 67 years old and need to slow down a bit, you youngsters forget that."

Hue sat on his chair with a look of horror on his face; Ian gently took the phone from his partner and asked Danny what was going on.

Danny explained, "I just had my annual physical and Dr. Loclin wants me to slow down a bit, I think we need to have a meeting of all of us and do some planning."

Ian asked, "When would you want to do this?"

Danny replied, "Let's do it next week."

They finished their conversation and Ian turned to Hue, who was shaking and white-faced in worry. His screech had brought everyone in the office at a dead run and they were all crowded in Hue's conference room. Ian told the group what was going on and he turned to Hue and said, "You are not exactly a spring chicken yourself anymore, at nearly 50, you are not the teenager you used to be."

Ian told Son to get plane tickets for all the offices and engineers for the following Monday morning.

He then took Hue out for an early lunch to let him recover.

Later that afternoon, they finished the proposal for El Majestico Mining Company and sent it off by express courier. It looked like a good proposal, it would modernize their mill and the new mine pit would be "state of the art".

That evening, Sammy was all excited; he had signed a contract with Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu to hold an art exhibition of his drawings. He had three weeks to get his drawings together and decide which ones he would put on exhibit.

Sammy was an acclaimed artist and had sold a number of drawings over the years. He preferred to do them in colored pencil and charcoal, the definition between the two made for some startling combinations.

His drawing of the Nevada Desert was on display at the Reno Campus of the University of Nevada and appeared regularly in artistic reviews. He had created a catalog on his computer of all his work and was arranging the pages in the sequence he wanted to display the drawings.

Cormin was looking over his shoulder and when Sammy came to the drawing he had done of the Andean Mountains in Chile and the mist swirling around the peaks, he told Sammy to stop. THAT drawing should be his featured work at the show.

Concho told Sammy that his Art Show was very important, but he told both men that they WERE going to Fairfield with all the Family, he stated, "NOTHING was more important than our Family, end of discussion!" Corbin told him that where Sammy went, he was also.

Joey and Lobie looked up to Sammy as an older brother and, while they were still a bit bewildered by it all, so also were Joss and Akan. All four of the boys crowded around Concho for support as they demanded to go to Fairfield, also.

Concho held up his hands in surrender and chuckled at the boys' "solidarity", "Yes, you all are coming with us, so you had better get your suitcases packed.

After Concho left the room, both Joss and Akan turned to Sammy and asked, "What is a Fairfield and how do we get there?"

Sammy explained to them that Fairfield was a city in California and it was where the company first started and that they would have to take an airplane to get there. Neither Joss nor Akan really liked the airplane ride from Indonesia, but if Dati Bic and Dati Phillip were going there, they were going also!

The night before the flight, the little boys put their suitcases out in the front hall, where their Datis waited until they were asleep, and then they repacked them for more clothes and fewer toys.

Monday morning, Son and Li herded everyone to the Hilo Airport, Li was going with them, but Son was staying behind to "man the fort".

Hue was a bit calmer at least outwardly, but Ian could feel his tension.

The airport security officers were used to the Best Clan taking up the whole Business Class section of airplanes, Joss and Akan were a little shy, but they laughed a bit when the man suggested to Hue that maybe Best and Sons should buy their own airplane!

They did, in fact, take all the seats in Business Class, several other passengers grumbled a bit about children taking all the upgrade seats, but they were ignored. It was a short flight to San Francisco, only 4 hours, so all they got were some "munchies" that they gave to the boys.

The plane was a few minutes early getting into San Francisco, Del McGovern, Danny's new Office Manager, was there waiting for them. He had never met Hue or any of the Hilo crowd, but he figured that such a large group had to be them.

He walked up to them and asked, "Mr. Best, Mr. Hue Best?" Hue smiled and replied, "That's us, good to meet you at last, Del."

Del had a 20-passenger bus waiting for them, it was going to be a tight fit, but they could all travel together.

Hue was still wound up like an 8-day clock, both Ian and Li recognized all the signs. They each took one side of Hue and led him to the bus. Li took Del aside and told him that Mr. Hue was having emotional problems.

Del replied, "That's alright, so is everyone else back in Fairfield. We will just take it step by step."

Del took them for lunch at Fishermen's Wharf, the boys were fascinated by all the sea lions and the four of them managed to put away a major portion of the daily catch.

The traffic was light for a Monday and they made good time getting to Fairfield, arriving just after 5 PM. Hue jumped from the bus and rushed into the house, looking for Danny.

When he found him, the floodgates opened, Ian had to take Hue to a bedroom and make him lie down for a while.

Del had arranged for the House of Prime Rib to cater their supper that night.

The little boys, of course, were hungry as ravaging beasts, the rest of them just picked at their supper.

Danny said that they would have a meeting in the morning when everyone was fresh and clear-headed.

He turned to the four young boys and said, "You boys are included, after all, you are Best Boys also."

The travel and the emotional strain had everyone tired, so between Danny's house and 'Tal and Jason's, they got everyone bedded down for the night. Ian kept Hue in an embrace all night long, every time Hue wanted to get up and roam, Ian brought him back and made him lie down.

Li and Del were lifesavers as far as Ian was concerned, between the two of them, they orchestrated everything without controversy, leaving him to manage Hue's fears, while Phillip kept Bic from overloading and Jason worked full time keeping 'Tal on an even keel. Darren was keeping both Hua and Hui from freaking out.

After breakfast, Del opened up the conference room and everyone filed in.

Danny said, "Hey guys, this is not a funeral, all I have to do is slow down a bit." He continued, "Doctor Loclin wants me to take six months off and rest, then I can come back to work at a reduced schedule. In keeping with that, I propose we reorganize the company as follows; Huey Best, President; Concho Best, Vice President - Pacific Basin; Singh 'Tal Best, Vice President - Continental United States. I will leave it to you VP's to make changes to your own staff."

Hue immediately asked, "What about you, Bati?" Danny smiled, "Chairman of the Board of Directors."

Hue asked, "Do I need to move to Fairfield?"

Danny replied, "Not if you don't want to, you can run the company from Hilo or maybe Honolulu, your choice."

Hue decided he would open an office in Honolulu and move the corporation there.

Jason was appointed Corporate Comptroller and the accounting functions would continue in Fairfield.

Hue brought up the need for a corporate aircraft and they thought that it would unnecessarily complicate things, so that project was tabled for now. Concho reported on the El Majestico project in Mexico. He said that it would be a $725 million project and that he expected their profit to be at least 23%. He continued, "We are bidding on another power station in Malaysia and we have a study request from the Government of The Philippines for a tropical timber operation on Mindanao. At first pass, that looks to be a $560 million project if we get the contract. 'Tal reported on the New Orleans Drainage System contract, it looked like they were going to come in under budget on that $450 million project and they had submitted a bid for a new copper mine in Montana, Great Shield Copper had made an ore body discovery of 8% copper and was eager to start digging.

Just as they were starting to conclude the meeting, the telephone rang, it was Son and he asked for Mr. Hue.

Hue put the call on speakerphone and Son said, "Sir, I have the documents returned from El Majestico, the project has been approved.

Concho just said one word, "Paul." Paul was sitting next to the wall and he grinned, "Si, Senor!"

The next day, all the Hilo folks except Hue and Ian, packed up their belongings and made preparations to return to Hilo. Paul was going to be in charge of the mine project in Jalisco and he wanted Phillip and Bic on the job, also. Concho assigned Dakar to do the Civil Engineering for the mine project.

He and Gordon Tellis would do the workup for the bid on the Power Station in Malaysia and their new man, Norm Gunderson, was a Forester and he would deal with the Philippine Government for the Forestry project with Thomas.

It was going to take a little time before they got all the wheels clicking with each other.

Paul flew out the next day to Puerto Vallarta taking Dakar with him, they had to go through Los Angeles as there was no direct flight from Hawaii. It was going to be a trial by fire for Dakar and Paul planned on guiding the young engineer every step of the way.

When they got back to Hilo, Son had a stack of telephone messages that took Concho all afternoon to work his way through. He could see that he was going to need more help so he called Professor Linder at the University in Honolulu and asked him if he had any candidates available who would like the chance to work as Engineer Trainees.

Professor Linder asked, "Mechanical, Electrical or Civil Engineering?"

Concho replied, "Yes!" He went on to explain that he was the new Vice President of Best Sons Engineering for the Pacific Basin and that he had three "hot" projects right now and there were more waiting "in the wings".

Concho added, "If you know of any draftsmen, send me their names also."

Professor Linder congratulated Concho and said he would get him some names before the end of the day.

Concho thought to himself, "Dati, get well quick, I am not ready for all this!" It was probably well that Concho was so busy that he did not have time to dwell and worry about his Dati's heart.

Concho was on the telephone with Mr. Ting Lee of the Malaysia Power Authority, promising that they would have a proposal to him within 30 days for a Hot Gas Electric Power Station. Mr. Ting Lee asked that they propose a 300-megawatt unit to be placed in the volcanic mountains just outside Pulau Pinang. He wanted the proposal to include the roads to the site, all the site preparation, substation, breakers, disconnects and power lines to tie into the national power net.

Concho replied, "Suppose I and some engineers on my staff come to Kuala Lumpur personally and we discuss the project, perhaps we can even take a look at the proposed site?"

Mr. Lee said, "That would be fine, just let me know when you are coming and will arrange visas for all of you."

He had hardly gotten off the telephone when Son told him that Mr. Paul was on the line for him. He lifted the receiver and started talking with Paul, "Whatcha got, Paul?"

Paul replied, "Cho, I'm gonna need more help here!"

Concho laughed, "You got First Time In Charge Jitters already?

Paul replied, "Heck no, Cho, This is not a rebuild, it's gonna be a whole new facility, they are faxing you CHANGE ORDERS ALREADY! I am guessing it will add another $250 million to the job!"

Concho sat at his desk, his head in his hands, "Why me, God, why me?"

He called Professor Linder back, "Professor, forget about sending me some names, send me the Trainees in person, we are swamped here. Just tell Son James, our Office Manager, their names and he will have plane tickets waiting for them at the airport."

He then told Son about the trainees and to make sure they had reservations at the hotel so they could spend the night in Hilo.

The next morning, Son told Concho that there were four trainees and a draftsman coming that afternoon, John Bruegman, Kelvin Daniels, Pho Ban and Carl Driggers, and a Draftsman, Pau Gorhli.

Concho replied, "Son, you go pick them up and take them to the hotel, I will see them first thing tomorrow morning."

The change orders had come in, and after Concho had perused them, he took them to their draftsman, Rolly Mann and asked him to lay out the sketches Paul had included. He then called home and asked Sammy to come down and give them a hand with the sketches.

Sammy had his Art Show put together, so he agreed to come down to the office right away. When Sammy saw the madhouse his Dati was juggling, he set to work with Rolly and they got the concept sketches done that afternoon.

Concho set Bic and Phillip to costing out the changes so they could fax them back to El Majestico. He also told them to stand by for a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur, probably the next week.

Son left to pick up the trainees that Professor Linder was sending and he got them settled in the hotel, telling them he would pick them up at 7:00 am and take them to breakfast before heading to the office. When Son got back to the office, he told Concho, "The Draftsman, Pau Gorhli, is a young woman."

Concho replied, "Son, right now, if she were a menehuni*, and she could draft, I would hire her!" (*a mythological race supposed to have predated the Polynesians in Hawaii)

By working late, Sammy and Rolly got the concept sketches completed and Bic had the costs compiled, so Concho had Son fax them back to Paul in the hotel in Puerto Vallarta and they all left the office before the telephone could ring again.

The next morning, Son brought four very nervous university seniors and a young woman into the office, Concho met with them in the conference room and then told the men to wander around the office while he interviewed Pau Gorhli. He was very impressed by the young woman, who had a portfolio of samples of her work to show him. He asked her if she would feel uncomfortable working as the only woman in the office, and she replied, "Mr. Best, I would work anywhere, my husband was killed in Iraq and I have a baby to care for."

Concho was concerned, "Where is your baby right now?"

She replied, "My mother lives with me and is handicapped, but she is well able to watch the baby."

Concho thought for a few moments and then said, "Mrs. Gorhli, if you think you can do the job, I will hire you right now, starting at $35,000 a year."

The young woman looked at Concho as if he had just sprouted horns, "uuhh uhh $35,000 a year?"

Concho replied, "Yes, and we will assist you in finding a place to live for you, your mother and your baby."

The woman broke down in tears, "Mr. Best, you won't regret this, I will be the best draftsperson in Hawaii. Thank you and may God Bless you, sir."

Concho called Son and told him to take Pau over to Hilo Realty so they could find her a rental and that Best Sons Engineering would stand surety for the rent.

He then interviewed Carl Driggers, whom he found to be a pleasant young man who was eager to get some practical experience. He was a little older than the rest, he had served a hitch in the Navy before entering the University. He was majoring in Electrical Engineering and was not married, he had a GPA of 3.98.

He had Phillip speak with the young man while he interviewed the next candidate, Pho Ban. Pho was a nervous young man, very intense and "jumpy" As they spoke, he learned that Pho was a Mechanical Engineering Student and was out on his own. His father had disowned him when he told his parents he wanted to go to school in America and that he was struggling to make tuition payments. He showed Concho some samples of his school projects, including one that involved a hot gas system.

Concho called Bic in and introduced them, telling Bic to show the young man around the office.

He next interviewed John Bruegman, John was a native of Kauai, his father had been the Factory Manager of a sugar plantation there and had decided to stay on Kauai after the mills all closed. He was well versed in factory engineering as he had apprenticed there while the mill was still in operation. He, also, had samples of his projects and showed Concho his latest grade report, his GPA was an even 4.0!

Concho asked, "If we hire you, are you able to travel, like to Mexico or Malaysia?

John replied, "Sure, I took Spanish in high school and still speak it pretty good."

Concho was very impressed with this young man, he had the poise and manners to deal with government officials of other countries and his work samples were very impressive.

Concho asked, "Could you take a year off from the University and then go back and finish your degree?"

John replied, "Yes sir, I will have to do that anyway, I need to make another year's tuition before I can continue."

Concho made an instant decision, "Would $45,000 a year to start as a trainee satisfy your needs?"

John Bruegman looked as if he had just been pole-axed, he stammered, "YYess sir, when do I start?"

Concho grinned and replied, "Today!" He then called Son and told him he had another customer for Hilo Realty.

The last candidate was Kelvin Daniels, a Civil Engineering student, also in his senior year. When the young man walked into Concho's office, Concho had a case of déjà vu, he said, "I know you, you were a young student when we were building the Hilo Power Plant."

Kelvin replied, "Yes sir, I had to drop out of school between my freshman year and junior year to make money to pay my tuition. I had to work several years before I had enough to continue. Now, I am low on funds again, but I WILL finish my degree!"

Concho said, "Let me have my partner, Thomas Two Trees speak with you.

Kelvin replied, "Ahh, partner, as in together?" Concho got a worried look on his face and asked, "Yes, we are together, is that a problem for you?"

Kelvin said, "Oh, no sir, I was concerned that you would not understand that I am in a committed relationship with another man, I could not leave Bobby in order to take a job."

Concho relaxed, "And what does Bobby do for a living?"

Kelvin replied, "He is a Mechanical Draftsman."

Concho thought, "Oh, my lucky stars!" He asked, "Does Bobby need a job, also?"

Kelvin replied, "YES SIR, he is working as a laborer right now because nobody wants to hire a gay man."

Concho said, "If he is as impressive as you, I will hire him. Now, for you, I can offer you $45,000 to start, are you interested?"

Kelvin looked as if he were going to cry, "Mr. Best, thank you. Yes, I will work for you and I will tell Bobby to get himself over here to talk with you first thing in the morning. Should I go speak with Mr. Two Trees?"

Concho replied, "No, you are already on the payroll."

When Kelvin had left, Concho called Bic and asked him about Pho. Bic said, "Hire this guy, he has exactly what we need, get him here tomorrow, if you can."

Then Concho walked down to Phillip's office and asked him about Carl Driggers.

Phillips said, "He is a little light on theory, but he has loads of practical knowledge and wants to be part of our team so bad, it hurts!"

Concho ended up offering employment to both Pho and Carl, much to their delight.

He then called Professor Linder, "Professor, am I robbing you of all your star students?"

Professor Linder replied, "Well, kinda, but these guys are really good and I have heard that Mrs. Gorhli is a top-notch draftsperson, despite her young age. Did you hire her, also?"

Concho said, "Yes sir, we did, we hired them all, starting today."

The next day was a madhouse, not only were they integrating five new employees into the system, they were trying to fulfill their customers' needs. Concho called Kelvin into his office and asked him if he had any problems going with him to Kuala Lumpur the next week.

He said, "We are bidding on a hot gas power system in the backcountry and I need someone who knows what they are to accompany me."

Kelvin agreed that he could go and that he already had a passport.

Concho then asked about Bobby and Kelvin replied, "He should be here any minute, he had a ticket on the 9:30 flight from Honolulu."

Concho replied, "He should have called us so we could have a ticket for him at the desk, we will reimburse him for his flight. By the way, what is his full name?"

Kelvin replied, "Robert John O'Mara."

Concho buzzed Son and told him to pick up Robert O'Mara at the airport that he would be in on the 9:30 flight from Honolulu. All the other new hires were busy working with their team leaders, except for Pau, he walked into the drafting room and found her working already with Rolly Mann and Sammy was there penciling out sketches for them to turn into drawings.

Concho asked Sammy, "Are you ready for your show?"

Sammy replied, "Sure am, Dati, it begins tomorrow." After Sammy had left, Pau asked, "Sammy called you Dati, but he does not look Indonesian?"

Concho laughed, "And neither do I. Sammy is part Australian Aborigine and I am an Andean Indian! It all goes back to the original Mr. Caleb Best when he rescued our President, Hue Best from slavers outside of Jakarta. We all have been rescued and have rescued those you see around you from more terrible places than I want to think about."

Robert O'Mara arrived with Son just before 11 am and Son ushered him into Concho. The young man showed Concho his portfolio of drawings, including one that caught Concho's eye immediately. It was a drawing of a hot gas power system.

Robert grinned, "I did that one last night after talking with Kel."

Concho replied, "Yes, Kelvin was here when we were building the very first system."

Concho was impressed with the man and the quality of his drafting was top-grade. He asked him, "How soon can you come to work for us here in Hilo, Robert?"

Robert replied, "Please call me Bobby. I can come anytime. I am working by the day digging ditches. I am with Kel, you know."

Concho offered the young man a starting wage of $35,000 and Bobby had to sit down.

He said, "Sir, I am making $3.75 an hour running an Irish Ditch Digger. Heck yeah, I will come to work for you and get to live with my Kel to boot!"

Concho replied to the excited young man, "Ok, you start tomorrow morning, do you need to go back to Honolulu to collect any of your things?"

Bobby replied, "No sir, everything I own is in that trunk," He pointed to a large steamer trunk sitting out in the foyer. He continued, "I know I took a chance, but Kel was so excited to be working here, if you had not hired me, I could have dug ditches in Hilo as well as Honolulu."

Just then, Concho's phone rang, it was Son telling him that Kelvin was sitting in the conference room "as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." Concho smiled as he hung up the phone and he pointed to the Conference Room door and told Bobby that there was someone he needed to see in there. A few minutes later they both emerged from the Conference Room with big smiles on their faces.

Concho told them to take the rest of the day off to get settled in their new apartment and he would see them the next morning.

After a few days, the madhouse became a bit more organized and Concho had Son get tickets for himself, Bic and Kelvin to go to Kuala Lumpur. He added, "As soon as you have the flights, call Mr. Ting Lee at the Malaysian Power Authority to provide the visa numbers."

He had hardly hung up the phone when it was ringing again, it was Son, "Mr. Paul is on the line for you, sir." Concho had not been able to stop Son from calling him sir, so he just accepted it.

As soon as Concho picked up, Paul was talking, "Cho, they accepted the changes, but we are splitting the project into two separate parts, the new Smelter and the new Mine Pit. I did some quick math, the mine pit comes out at $512 million and the Smelter is $680 million. They are anxious to start ASAP!"

Concho asked, "Is Dakar able to manage the mine pit?"

Paul replied, "Yeah, I believe so and I will be here to help him over any rough spots."

Concho thought and then replied, "OK, leave him there to hold their hands while you come back and get crews together. I will call 'Tal and ask him for some men to help work the mine pit, we don't have enough manpower here to do both and still work our other contracts."

Concho immediately dialed 'Tal in Fairfield, "'Tal, I need HELP! Can you spare me some men to help open a new mine pit in Mexico? We are going to hire locally, but I need some crew leaders, especially those who speak some Spanish."

Singh 'Tal replied, "Yes, we are just closing out the work in New Orleans, supposing I send you Manuel Torres, Carlos Espinosa and Pedro Valdez. They all speak Spanish and need the work."

Concho replied, "Great, hold them there until we have flight arrangements. I will have Son contact you in a day or so. Thanks, Bati, you saved my irons!"

Concho gave the information to Son, telling him to include the three Crew Chiefs in the airline manifest and contact Dakar with the information as Paul was on his way back to Hilo.

Son laughed, "Here is more Merry-Go-Round, you, Thomas, Kelvin and Phillip leave the day after tomorrow for Kuala Lumpur. Your return flight is left open. You are flying Malay Airlines, flight 2643 from Honolulu. It departs at 3 pm, so you can fly over that morning."

Concho ran his fingers through his hair; wondering how much longer there was going to be any. Concho had a sudden thought, he walked down to the Drafting Room to speak with Bobby O'Mara, "Bobby, can you do freehand sketching?"

Bobby replied, "Sure and I also have a portable drafting kit that I can use for 8 by 11's."

Concho said, "Ok, next question, have you a passport and can you go to Malaysia with us?

Bobby looked at Kelvin and then said, "Yes Sir, I can do that."

Concho laughed, "Oh, and Kelvin, you are going with us!"

He then had Son add Robert O'Mara to the manifest and get a visa number for him.

Paul arrived in the office the next morning, somewhat bleary-eyed, he had flown straight through from Puerto Vallarta, stopping only in Los Angeles long enough to change planes. He had a briefcase full of change orders and payment vouchers to cover all that had been agreed to.

Concho told him to go ahead and start lining up the crews and the toolboxes for shipment. He had three Crew Chiefs for him "sitting on ice" in Fairfield. Worse, he was "In Charge" until they got back from Kuala Lumpur!

Paul replied, "You Sneaky Andean Snake!" Concho and his companions departed Hilo in time to catch the Malay Air flight from Honolulu the next day. It was a long flight, with a quick stop in Sydney. Kelvin had never done much flying and he was as nervous as that famous street lady in church. Bobby spent much of his time holding Kel's hand in an attempt to keep him calm. When they finally reached Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Lee was there to guide them through Customs and Immigration before whisking them off to the Grand Malay Hotel.

The next morning, he met them for breakfast and took them to the Interior Ministry, where they met with the officials of the Malay Power Authority. Bobby took it upon himself to take notes and made rapid sketches of what the officials were talking about. They all spoke very good, if accented, English and it took only a few questions to clear up any misinformation.

The Minister looked over Bobby's shoulder as he was sketching out a hot gas well, boiler and turbine generator.

The man grew excited, "Yes, Yes. THAT is exactly what we have in mind!

Concho noted to the Minister that they had built several of these systems and that the Engineer in Charge had built one in New Zealand and was also part of the team that built the prototype in Hawaii.

The Minister asked, "Can you give me an estimate of what this will cost?"

Concho replied, "Let us take a look at the construction site and then I will give you a ballpark estimate."

The minister agreed to that and they made plans to visit Pulau Pinang the next day.

The next morning saw them at the Military Airport, boarding a large helicopter for the flight to Pulau Pinang. They took off and the noise precluded any conversation, they flew over steep mountains and dense jungle as they followed the coastline north. They saw an occasional small town and a swath cut into the vegetation where high-voltage electric lines had been constructed. It was a 4-hour flight to Pulau Pinang and they were all heartily glad when the 'copter landed and the beating props stopped assaulting their ears.

There were several heavy-duty 4-wheel drive vehicles waiting to take them into the nearby mountains, where they proposed to place the new system. They stopped in a small village for lunch, Concho had eaten many strange things in his lifetime, but he was unable to identify anything that had been put on his plate. He ate it, however, and found it to be very tasty and not overly spiced as he had expected it to be. Kelvin was hesitant to eat, but he nibbled on things he thought he recognized, Phillip and Bobby had no qualms about eating, they were both hungry and cleaned their plates.
 
As they were walking back to the vehicles, Kelvin asked, "What was that stuff?"

Bobby grinned, "You probably don't want to know, Kel!"

They finally reached the proposed site and Bobby set to work sketching the lay of the land as an overlay to the sketch he had made the previous day. There were several hot springs nearby, indicating that there was a hot zone beneath their feet.

Concho asked Mr. Lee, "What is the elevation here?" He was told that it was approximately 500 meters.

Bobby produced several overlay sketches that could be used like flip drawings and Mr. Lee was very impressed with these Americans.

When they returned to Kuala Lumpur, the Minister again asked for an estimate. Concho was uneasy giving an estimate without sitting down with all his staff and discussing it, but he told the Minister that with everything their proposal request had included, it would be in the neighborhood of $650 million and that he could refine that more closely after he had spoken with their suppliers.

The Minister was pleased with that and said, "That is well within our budget for this project."

After spending 5 days in Malaysia, they headed back home to the madhouse they had escaped from in Hilo.

When they had returned from Malaysia, Hua, Hui and Derren had returned from their short visit back to Tonga after graduation and were ready for work. The three mechanical engineers would go a long way toward helping Concho fill in jobs with manpower.

Concho was beginning to think he saw a ray of light at the end of his tunnel of madhouse. Just maybe he could pull this off!

TBC

This ends the first part of our tale, it will be continued in Part 2. The Best Boys will work their Engineering Magical Balancing Act to complete these projects, ON TIME and IN BUDGET!