Wheels (9 page)

On his way upstairs, Adam reminded himself that he must telephone his wife
sometime today. He knew that Erica had been unhappy lately, at moments
more difficult to live with than during the first year or two of their
marriage which
5 began so promisingly. Adam sensed that part of the trouble was his own
tiredness at the end of each day, which took its toll physically of them
both. But he wished Erica would get out more and learn to be enterprising
on her own. He had tried to encourage her in that, just as he had made
sure she had all the money she needed. Fortunately there were no money
problems for either of them, thanks to his own steady series of
promotions, and there was a good chance of even bigger things to come,
which any wife ought to be pleased about.
Adam was aware that Erica still resented the amount of time and energy
which his job demanded, but she had been an automotive wife for five
years now, and ought to have come to terms with that, just as other
wives learned to.
Occasionally, he wondered if it had been a mistake to marry someone so
much younger than himself, though intellectually they had never had the
slightest problem. Erica had brains and intelligence far beyond her
years, and-as Adam had seen-was seldom en rapport with younger men.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized they would have to
find some resolution to their problems soon.
But at the fifteenth floor, as he entered high command territory, Adam
thrust personal thoughts away.

In the office suite of the Product Development vice-president, Jake
Earlham, Vice-President Public Relations, was performing introductions.
Earlham, bald and stubby, had been a newspaperman many years ago and now
looked like a donnish Mr. Pickwick. He was always either smoking a pipe
or gesturing with it. He waved the pipe now to acknowledge Adam
Trenton's entry.
"I believe you know Monica from Newsweek
.”

'We've met
.”

Adam acknowledged
a petite brunette, already seated on a sofa. With shapely ankles crossed,
smoke rising lazily from a cigarette, she smiled back coolly, making it
plain that a representative of New York would not be taken in by Detroit
charm, no matter how artfully applied.
Beside Newsweek, on the sofa, was The Wall Street Journal, a florid,
middle-aged reporter named Harris. Adam shook his band, then that of AP,
a taut young man with a sheaf of copy paper, who acknowledged Adam
curtly, plainly wanting the session to get on. Bob Irvin, bald and
easygoing, of the Detroit News, was last.
"Hi, Bob," Adam said. Irvin, whom Adam knew best, wrote a daily column
about automotive affairs. He was well-informed and respected in the
industry, though no sycophant, being quick to jab a needle when he felt
occasion warranted. In the past, Irvin had given a good deal of sympathetic coverage to both Ralph Nader and Emerson Vale.
Elroy Braithwaite, the Product Development vice-president, dropped into
a vacant armchair in the comfortable lounge area where they had
assembled. He asked amiably, "Who'll begin
.”

Braithwaite, known among intimates as "The Silver Fox" because of his
mane of meticulously groomed gray hair, wore a tightly cut Edwardian
mode suit and sported another personal trademark-enormous cuff links.
He exuded a style matching his surroundings. Like all offices for
vice-presidents and above, this one had been exclusively designed and
furnished; it had African avodire wood paneling, brocaded drapes, and
deep broadloom underfoot. Any man who attained this eminence in an auto
company worked long and fiercely to get here. But once arrived, the
working
conditions held pleasant perquisites including an office like this, with
adjoining dressing room and sleepin
g
q
uarters, plus-on the floor above-a
personal dining room, as well as a steam bath and masseur, available at
any time.
"Perhaps the lady should lead off
.”

It was Jake Earlham, perched on a
window seat behind them.
"All right," the Newsweek brunette said. "What's the latest weak alibi
for not launching a meaningful program to develop a non
-
pollutant steam
engine for cars
.”

"We'r
e fresh out of alibis," the Silver Fox said. Braithwaite's
expression had not changed; only his voice was a shade sharper.
"Besides, the job's already been done-by a guy named George
Stephenson-and we don't think there's been a lot of significant progress
since
.”

The AP man had put on thin-rimmed glasses; he looked through them
impatiently. "Okay, so we've got the comedy over. Can we have some some
straight questions and answers now
.”

"I think we should," Jake Earlham said. The p.r. head added
apologetically, "I should have remembered. The wire services have an
early deadline for the East Coast afternoon papers
.”

"Thank you," AP said. He addressed Elroy Braithwaite. "Mr. Vale made a
statement last night that the auto companies are guilty of conspiracy
and some other things because they haven't made serious efforts to
develop an alternative to the internal combustion engine. He also says
that steam and electric engines are available now. Would you care to
comment on that
.”

The Silver Fox nodded. "What Mr. Vale said about the engines being
available now is true. There art! various kinds; most of them work, and
we have several ourselves in our test center. What
Vale didn't say-either because it would spoil his argument or he doesn't
know-is that there still isn't a hope in hell of making a steam or
electric engine for cars, at low cost, low weight, and good convenience,
in the foreseeable future
.”

"How long’
s that
.”

"Through the 1970s. By the 1980s there'll be other new developments,
though the internal combustion engine-an almost totally non
-
polluting
one-still may dominate
.”

The Wall Street Journal interjected, "But there've been a lot of news
stories about all kinds of engines here and now . .
.”

"You're damn right," Elroy Braithwaite said, .and most of 'em. should
be in the comics section. If you'll excuse my saying so, newspaper
writers are about the most gullible people afloat. Maybe they want to
be; I guess, that way, the stories they write are more interesting. But
let some inventor-never mind if he's a genius or a kook
come up with a
one-only job, and turn the press loose on him. What happens? Next day
all the news stories say this 'may' be the big breakthrough, this 'may'
be the way the future's going. Repeat that a few times so the public
reads it often, and everybody thinks it must be true, just the way
newspaper people, I suppose, believe their own copy if they write enough
of it. It's that kind of hoopla that's made a good many in this country
convinced they
’
ll have a steam or electric car, or maybe a hybrid, soon
in their own garages
.”

The Silver Fox smiled at his public relations colleague, who had shifted uneasily and was fidgeting with his pipe. "Relax, Jake. I'm not
taking off at the press. Just trying to fix a perspective
.”

Jake Earlharn said dryly, "I'm glad you told me. For a minute I was
wondering
.”

"Aren't you losing sight of some f acts, Mr. Braithwaite
.”

AP persisted.
"There are reputable
people who still believe in steam power. Some big outfits other than auto
companies are working on it. The California government is putting money
on the line to get a fleet of steam cars on the road. And there are
legislative proposals out there to ban internal combustion engines five
years from now
.”

The Product Development vice-president shook his
h
ead decisively, his
silver mane bobbing. "In my book, the only reputable guy who believed
in a steam
car was Bill Lear. Then he gave up publicly, calling the
idea 'utterly ridiculous
.”

'
"But lie's since changed his mind," AP said.
"Sure, sure. And carries around a hatbox, saying his new steam engine
is inside. Well, we know what's inside; it's the engine's innermost
core, which is like taking a spark plug and saying 'there's an engine
from our present cars.' What's seldom mentioned, by Mr. Lear and others,
is that to be added are combusters, boiler, condenser, recuperation fans . . . a long list of heavy, expensive, bulky hardware, with dubious
efficiency
.”

Jake Earlharn prompted, "The California government's steam cars . .
.”

The Silver Fox nodded. "Okay, California. Sure the state's spending lots
of money; what government doesn't? If you and half a million others were
willing to pay a thousand dollars more for your cars, maybe-just
maybe-we could build a steam engine, with all its problems and dis
advantages. But most of our customers-and our competitors' customers,
which we have to think about too--don't have that kind of moss to sling
around
.”

"You're still ducking electric cars," The Wall Street Journal pointed
out.
Braithwaite nodded to Adam. "You take that one
.”

"There are electric cars right now," Adam
told the reporters. "You've seen golf carts, and it's conceivable that a
two-passenger vehicle can be developed soon for shopping or similar use
within a small local area. At the moment, though, it would be expensive
and not much more than a curiosity. We've also built, ourselves,
experimental trucks and cars which are electric powered. The trouble is,
as soon as we give them any useful range we have to fill most of the
inside space with heavy batteries, which doesn't make a lot of sense
.”

"The small, lightweight battery-zinc-air or fuel cells," AP questioned.
"When is it coming
.”

"You forg
ot sodium sulphur," Adam said. th
at's another that's been
talked up. Unfortunately, there's little more than talk so far
.”

Elroy Braithwaite put in, "Eventually we believe there will be a
breakthrough in batteries, with a lot of energy stored in small
packages. What's more, there's a big potential use for electric vehicles
in downtown traffic. But based on everything we know, we can't see it
happening until the 1980s
.”

"And if you're thinking about air pollution in conjunction with electric
cars," Adam added, "there's one factor which a lot of people overlook.
Whatever kind of batteries you had, they'd need recharging. So with
hundreds of thousands of cars plugged into power sources, there'd be a
requirement for many more generating stations, each spewing out its own
air pollution. Since electric power plants are usually built in the
suburbs, what could happen is that you'd end up taking the smog from the
cities and transferring it out there
.”

"Isn't all that still a pretty weak alibi
.”

The cool Newsweek brunette
uncrossed her legs, then twitched her skirt downward, to no effect, as
she undoubtedly knew; it continued to ride high on
shapely thighs. One by one, the men dropped their e
y
es to where the thi
g
hs
and skirt joined.
She elaborated, "I mean an alibi for not having, a crash program to make
a g
ood, cheap engine -steam o
r
electric, or both. That's how we got to the
moon, isn't it
.”

She added pertly, "If you'll remember, that was my first
question
.”