Unfiled
Far East
In Japan I spent time inspecting the equipment and setting up a plan for testing the new process. Commerce issued me a license for this work even though it was technology derived in the U.K. and Russia and the purchase order was on a Scottish firm. They did not want to admit that this technology did not require a license.
From Japan I flew to Taiwan to look over the progress of the installation and discuss a program for testing the furnace with full computer controls. This contract required that Consarc teach them the melting process and guarantee the quality of the superalloy. Commerce had me issued a proper license. My knowledge on this subject was common sense and everything I knew had been published many times, and therefore could be transferred under general license. One gains a reputation as an expert by selling himself. The Pentagon would consider my knowledge as high tech. After two days I returned to Tokyo.
During the next two weeks I completed the test program for gas blowing in a vacuum. The results were not as good as I had hoped and dreamed, but they were useful. At one point we had too much carbon in the melt so they allowed me to do an unheard of thing: we used oxygen to burn the carbon. The nitrogen level in the melt reduced during the process. A NEW IDEA WAS BORN. I HAD BEEN FIGHTING THE WRONG ENEMY FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS. IMM gave me a reward and fifty thousand yen that I spent on expenses. Cooke never have would approved my expenses for that night on the town.
I returned from Tokyo through Moscow. My only purpose was to join up with Vera to start and extended trip to Taiwan. We packed baggage and bought round the world first class tickets on Singapore Airlines in May 1987. This is cheaper than a business class return ticket to Taiwan. We were the only passengers in the first class section and the service was excellent. The flight made a stop in Zurich and some Arabian city on its way to Male. To my surprise, I bought Borkum Riff pipe tobacco cheaper than prices in North Carolina. In Sweden, where this tobacco is processed, it sells duty-free at three times USA prices.
Male is a Moslem country with strict controls on any type of strong drink. Immigrations had no problem when they allowed Vera to enter as the first Russian to visit their country as a tourist. Customs was strict on their search for booze. Our baggage was not loaded in Amsterdam, so that was not a problem. We took a small motor boat to a small island that was the tourist hotel. The Maldives is a group of low, small volcanic islands, southeast of India. The temperature is between 85 and 92 degrees F day and night the year round. The water is clean and clear. It is also calm because the large area just below the water line breaks the waves. It is a very good place for diving because some of the small islands are like mountaintops, so there is deep, clear water. Fish were not afraid of us as we swam in the clear warm waters. The country bends their rules and serves beer and cocktails on the island. We walked around the whole island in fifteen minutes. Females are not allowed to work on the island, and the boys are only allowed to stay for three months. Before and during the war the British had had an air base on a southern island which is now a clothing factory, one of the few industries on the islands.
The stop in Singapore was not a planned stop, but we had to find our baggage that was sent from Amsterdam. Immigrations crossed out Vera's citizenship and wrote in American on her permit documents, because they could not permit a Russian without a visa. Vera liked the city very much, and the prices were cheap by world standards. The people of Singapore were a strange mixture and the government was socialistic.
When we arrived in Taiwan Vera was able to obtain a visa at the border as my dependent based upon a letter of invitation from the customer. Again, she may have been the first Russian on this island since it became the Republic of China.
We settled into a two-room suite in a town south of Taipei for the duration of the project. Tom Stamps and his wife, Mary, were already on the job. Vera met Mary in Korea and would be satisfied to be with her during the long hours I would be on the job. Vera found a doctor who practiced natural herbal medicine for her headaches. Some minor items were not complete, which gave me time to visit Japan to bring the IMM job to a close. I told Stamps I was planning to leave the company, to his surprise.
Vera stayed in the center of Taipei during my trip to Japan. She became very good friends with the wife of our Taiwan agent. She practiced her art of reading cards for the future, and became famous during her stay alone. My duties in Japan included the final melt of the program and a review of the data, which I did not keep. After a stop over in Kobe, I returned to Taiwan. I did not check into the hotel but spent the night with Vera. The next morning, I paid the whole bill. Vera's reputation was smeared because no one realized that I was her husband.
Vera had completed her shopping and established herself as a master reader of the future. The test program was stalled because the computer was out of service, so we departed for the States and Scotland.