Читать книгу LaCost - Patrick Rizio - Страница 15

Jason waved hello to the security guard at the front desk, as he hurried past on his way to Schimmel’s office. Again, he heard the theme from the Flintstones. Pulling his phone from his pocket he answered impatiently.

“Hello.”

“Hello darling. Stupid meeting at 1:00 P.M.”

He looked at his phone. It was exactly 12:30.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome lover.”

He doubled his pace. When Janet had phoned him, she was very clear about the importance of this pre-meeting meeting. She had also agreed to explain things to the boss and lobby, (as best as she could), on his behalf. He found the big man standing, not sitting, when he entered the twelve hundred square foot office. The mood was humorless to say the least. Jason figured the best approach would be straight ahead.

“Boss, I got here as fast as I could. I apologize for not leaving us the proper amount of time for this meeting. It simply…was unavoidable.”

Schimmel returned to the chair behind his desk and sat down. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. When he spoke, there was genuine concern in his voice.

“How is Sarah doing?”

In the two and a half years Jason had been at Universal, he had learned to respect Bob Schimmel for a variety of reasons. His opinion of the man just shot up several notches.

“She’s doing well. They’re going to keep her in the hospital overnight to run some tests, but she’s OK. Uh, Boss, Bob, thanks.”

Schimmel smiled for the first time that day.

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get down to business. We’re a little short on time here, so I’ll get right to basics. Tell me, what you think about this project of ours.”

“What I think about it?”

“Please.”

“What I think about it. Well, I…”

It wasn’t often that Jason drew a blank mentally. His motivation was, of course, the research itself. Similar to how a mathematician’s real joy is in finding the most elegant theory. The practical applications aren’t the concern. Jason rarely, if ever, looked past the lab.

Thinking it through, he concluded that discovering more efficient ways of growing food had to be a good thing. How could it not? Not to mention, the huge profits Universal would seem to be in line for with something like this. Seemed like a win-win. He continued.

“I guess I see a more efficient way to feed the human race. Considering more than a third of the people of this planet go to bed hungry, that’s a good thing. Also, this should be very profitable for us as well. Sounds like we have the keys to a winning situation all around.”

“Could be the keys to Pandora’s Box,” Schimmel said dryly.

“Huh?”

“How many species of plants are there on this planet?” Schimmel asked.

“The whole planet?”

“Yes, the whole planet.”

“Give or take a few, at last count, about four hundred thousand.”

“Four hundred...really?”

“Yes, really.”

“O.K. Let’s start with wheat. Do you have any idea how much wheat is exported from the United States every year, and to whom?”

“Would have to be millions of tons,” Jason responded. “I would assume some of it goes into humanitarian causes, but the bulk of it probably would go to whoever pays for it.”

“Well, it is a crop which is heavily subsidized, but for the purposes of this conversation that’s a pretty good start,” the big man explained. “When you add in all the other agricultural exports, we’re talking about huge sums of money, hundreds of billions of dollars. Now, forgetting for the moment what we ourselves import, why do you think these other countries pay the United States all this money for our crops?”

Jason saw where this was going.

“Because, they can’t produce these things on their own?”

Schimmel sat back in his chair, “And, just off the top of your head, why is that?”

“Could be any number of reasons,” Jason answered. “Crop failures, poor soil, harsh climates, uh underdeveloped technology, maybe something like limited access to proper fertilizers. Maybe even the reluctance to use crops that have been modified by gene splicing. These are all problems we’ve just solved. I see your point here boss. This could lead to quite a bit of economic reshuffling.”

At this Schimmel sat straight up in his chair.

“Economic reshuffling! My god son. That’s not even the tip of the iceberg! Think for a minute!”

Schimmel took a deep breath and lowered his voice to normal.

“Think what would happen to Brazil, or Columbia, or Costa Rica, if no one needed to import their coffee beans anymore. We’re not talking reshuffling here. We’re talking economic collapse. Taken to its logical conclusion, the entire civilized world could find the importing and exporting of agricultural products in disarray. Not to mention, the almost endless list of other things derived from plants. Clothing, medicines, building materials...”

“Wait a minute, building materials?”

“Wood doesn’t come from factories son.”

“Oh right, of course.”

“Factoring everything in, and I’m sure we haven’t touched on everything, this is so far reaching it’s incredible.”

“What you really mean to say is dangerous.”

The big man looked Jason right in the eyes.

“Wars have started over less.”

Jason really didn’t know what to say. He just sat there. Schimmel looked at his watch, got up from his desk, and poured them both a cup of coffee.

“Just cream, right?”

“Uh, yes. Thank you.”

Schimmel put a cup down in front of the company genius.

“Jason, like it or not, the world moves at a snail’s pace. Some feel this is a curse. I’ve learned to see it as a blessing. When we humans move too fast, we tend to trip and fall. We can’t help it, it’s just our nature. What you’ve accomplished here is extraordinary. It has the power to accelerate things exponentially. It must be handled very carefully. Bottle it up, and no one benefits. Turn it loose all at once, and you’re crushed from the acceleration. This is going to take an enormous amount of finesse.”

Jason’s head was spinning.

“Well, boss, where do we go from here?”

“In five minutes, we go into our meeting. So far, only the two of us know just how successful this is. I would just as soon keep it that way, for now.”

“Yes, of course.”

The big man continued.

“I plan to focus on the preliminary nature of the test results with the board, for now. That will buy some time for me to set some things in motion. The board will, of course, have to be informed, when it’s appropriate to do so.”

Jason was beginning to accept the gravity of all this. He had never seen the implications. They were unsettling as hell. He was learning that life lessons can be that way. He took comfort knowing that Schimmel would be handling things.

“We will, uh, then begin to exercise enormous amounts of finesse,” Jason said, forcing a smile.

“Yes, yes we will,” the big man replied, smiling back. He was pleased. He felt the meeting had gone well.