Arthur Hailey - Wheels

"I think we should," Jake Earlham said. The PR-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 are! 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 nonpolluting 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 kookcome 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 facts, 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 head 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 Lear'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 disadvantages. 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 forgot sodium sulphur," Adam said. "That'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 eves to where the thighs and skirt joined.

She elaborated, "I mean an alibi for not having, a crash program to make a good, cheap engine - steam or 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."

"I remember," Elroy Braithwaite said. Unlike the other men, he did not remove his gaze from the junction of skirt and thighs, but held it there deliberately. There were several seconds of silence in which most women would have fidgeted or been intimidated. The brunette, self-assured, entirely in control, made clear that she was not. Still not looking up, the Silver Fox said slowly, "What was the question again, Monica?"

"I think you know." Only then did Braithwaite, outmaneuvered, lift his head.

He sighed. "Oh, yes - the moon. You know, there are days I wish we'd never got there. It's produced a new cliche. Nowadays, the moment there's any kind of engineering hangup, anywhere, you can count on somebody saying: We got to the moon, didn't we? Why can't we solve this?"

"If she hadn't asked," The Wall Street journal said, "I would. So why can't we?"

"I'll tell you," the vice-president snapped. "Quite apart from the space gang having unlimited public money - which we haven't - they had an objective: Get to the moon. You people are asking us, on the vague basis of things you've read or heard, to give development of a steam or electric engine for cars that kind of all-or-nothing, billions-in-the-kitty priority.

Well, it so happens that some of the best engineering brains in this business think it isn't a practical objective, or even a worthwhile one.

We have better ideas and other objectives."

Braithwaite passed a hand over his silver mane, then nodded to Adam. He gave the impression of having had enough.