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   James Part X. Distant Horizons

   James 72

   Despite her waking me up, delightfully, early Wednesday morning, Nicole
and I did not get to leave for the Lake until late afternoon.  She was most
insistent I get started on the distant-learning courses - like tout suite.
We had decided on HPEJ - an Honors Program in Engineering & Journalism and
she already had a collection of recordings of the first semester lectures.

   She saw no reason why I should waste my time just watching TV, so I
found myself sawing and grunting at the rowing machine while being educated
with a 'Brief History Of Pre-Shakespearean English Literature'.  At least I
managed to stay awake.

   "Listen," I said, as I drove with one hand and toyed with the hem of
Nicole's skirt with the other - her so-called 'back country' outfit - short
denim skirt, silk blouse and Dinty Hikers in brushed white calf leather.

   "Mmmm," she answered dreamily, edging closer so my hand slipped into the
warm space between her thighs.

   "Remember you were telling me about the FDA limiting the use of the
SurgInt equipment to 12 hours a day?"

   "Mmmm," she responded, urging my hand further up her flesh.

   "Well, what about non-human patients?  I stopped off at the Vet's office
by the Clinic yesterday and Dr Harmon was very interested.  We could... 
Shit!  Where're your panties woman?"

   "Mmm, dunno..." She squirmed against me, "Got myself a boss, so don'
need to think any more..." She shivered, "Can you go faster?" Suddenly she
dug her nail in my arm, "Not the car, dummy!  Do ME faster!"

   She sighed and resumed shaking as I figured out the right combination
and, thanks to a few well-placed potholes on the gravel road past the dam,
Nicole managed a wheezing, bicep-gouging climax just as we pulled into the
Marina.

   While Nicole shook and shivered against my arm, I was marveling at the
changes at the Marina.  Celeste and her army of baby bears had been very
busy with yet another Wheel.  This one, about 40 feet across, was supported
by a 10 feet tall steel pyramid in the middle of the parking lot.

   "What are we doing with that?" I asked as a grinning Celeste finished
dismissing her crew and sauntered over.

   "What are we doing with HER?!" She countered, pointing at the very
dreamy looking Nicole draped against me.

   "I'm besotted with my boss..." Nicole sighed and kissed my ear.

   "She's besotted with *A* boss - at least the idea of having one." I
corrected, smiling, "So the top management has decided to take a short
break and let Nikki the Hillbilly out for a bit."

   "We'll have to work on our do-si-do, sweetheart..." Celeste purred as
she planted a kiss and helped Nicole out of the car, "But we need Nicole
back - everyone's waiting to talk with her!"

   Nicole gave me a sultry look from under her lashes, "Perhaps we can
finish the Nikki-training a bit later...?"

   "Oh definitely!  Something straightforward you can apply yourself to!"

   "That's not too hard to swallow, I hope...?"

   "It may be hard, but I'm sure you'll find it quite fulfilling!"

   She smiled brightly, "I'll be a good little worker - I'll show you I can
lick any problem!"

   "I wish you'd lick MY problem, right now..." Celeste sighed, then shook
herself, "But business first!"

   "Yeah." I agreed, pointing to the half-finished structure.  "So what is
THAT business?"

   "That's going to be our new Wheel over at the Eyrie!"

   "Then why is it here?"

   "Because, my inquiring darlings, we'll be putting the finishing touches
on her for a day or two before we air-lift it to its intended site."

   I nodded, "So you know that the floors are kinda...  droopy?" Most of
the pieces seemed in place, but the sides and base appeared loose and
flimsy.

   "Hmmm," She looked carefully at my groin and whispered to Nicole, "No
wonder I keep thinking of your boss every time!" She turned to me, "Another
brilliant innovation by yours truly!" She patted herself on her shoulder,
"The jack-plates holding the roof beams and floor joints are pivoted.  When
the center-post is lifted, the support wires pull the roof and floor up -
sorta like an upside-down umbrella.  But when we drop the shaft back in its
slot, the sides fall back into place; we lock down the plates and cables
and, voila!, instant Wheel!" She grinned and preened for us, "Looks good on
paper, but we'll see tomorrow when we move the crane in to test it and
we'll see whether I know what I'm talking about!"

   "Of course you do, honey!  There's never any doubt in anybody's mind!"
Marjorie said as she greeted us with hugs, with a beaming Max trailing her.

   Celeste placed an arm across Marjorie's shoulders, "This lady has done
it all!  She's arranged for the army to help us - including the use of a
helicopter to help us 'plant' the Wheel!"

   "It was nothing!" Marjorie shrugged, "I just sent the US Marines down
the coast a video of our latest 'Permanent Accommodations,
Rapid-Deployment' System and of course they have to find out just how
easily one of their MH-652 Sea Stallion helicopters can install one in
less-than-ideal terrains." She stopped and turned to Nicole, "But Nicole,
honey, now that you're all here, Max and I have an announcement to make..."

   "Wait," Nicole said, "why don't we go and do this with everybody
present?"

   "Yeah, they're all inside - Mandy and Bren came back this morning."
Celeste confirmed, "And these arrived on Monday." She pointed to the 5
Regan boats already set up in the showroom.

   The big staff room upstairs was full of noise - people talking and
working all at once.  Even Patrick was there, muttering to himself and
looking studiously at a large tin can.  His sister Jessie was having a
discussion with Sherri and Brenda which involved a lot of hand-planes
zooming through the air.

   Sara and Amanda were cooking at the range, multi-tasking between the
food and taking turns talking to Patrick and the girls.  Jules sat next to
them, staring at her laptop while she whipped eggs for the omelets.

   Our arrival caused even more pandemonium as we were hugged, kissed and
fondled.  Finally Nicole got them to settle down and gestured for M&M.

   "Er, em..." Max sputtered to a halt.

   "What Max was saying," Marjorie took over, "was that we've decided to
get married."

   "Alright!" "Way to go, guys!" "Congratulations!" "Max, you lucky dog!"

   "Marjorie, does that mean you're pregnant?" Amanda grinned.

   "Are you sure Max is the father?" Sherri snickered.

   Max glared and pointed at her, then started laughing with Marjorie. 
Celeste hugged them, "I know you two will be very happy - and have a great
big bouncing baby for us to play with!"

   Marjorie punched her and laughed, "It won't be a baby then!  It'll be a
miracle!" She looked at all of us, "I...  WE already have the best family
anyone would ask for.  On behalf of Max and myself, thank you all for
making our lives full and meaningful again." She dabbed at her eyes, "The
mayor has agreed to marry us, but we were thinking of getting married here,
it's symbolic - the Wheel and the Marina...  with your permission of
course!"

   "Of course you have our permission - and our blessing." Nicole smiled
and extended her hands to them, "When were you thinking of having the big
day?"

   "We thought Friday - since we wanted all of you here..."

   "FRIDAY?  That soon?" Jules cried, "We have to give the blushing bride a
shower!"

   Sara handed me her apron and the spatula as the girls went off to plan
for Marjorie's shower party.  Max shrugged and we shared grimaces.  I waved
Patrick over and we opened beers for a toast.

   "Congratulations, Max.  Where are you going for your honeymoon?"

   "We're thinking San Francisco - I've never been to the west before and
Marjorie wanted to visit Bert's old school at Berkeley.  She's been
speaking with some of the faculty staff and they're quite excited by what
we've done here with the Wheel.  We'll not head out until next week - we
know you and Nicole will need to go back to town, and Brenda's got Regan's
to run." He turned to Patrick, "And I want you to look after things, and
not give Sara any trouble!"

   "I'll be on my best behavior!" He grinned and held up three fingers,
"Scouts' honor!  Not that I'll have any time to GET into trouble!" He
turned to me, "I'll have the showroom to set up, a half dozen engines to
rebuild.  And then there are JulieAnn's projects!"

   "Is that one of them?" I pointed at the metal can he was holding.

   "Partially.  These are directional repeaters for the Wireless Networks.
Sara's got one running outside: quite amazing; with one at either end, they
have the range to get to the Eyrie.  But I need to configure one as an
access point with a wide service angle for the houses in the village -
otherwise we'll have to run cables and it'll mean much higher startup
costs." He spread his hands, "I've only managed to sign up 120 subscribers
who need the Internet.  We'll never be able to recover the costs if we
can't go wireless."

   "Why don't you rig up a few more antennas in a fan to give the coverage
you need?"

   "There are only 3 channels that can be used for bi-directional
communications.  Besides the one used for the Eyrie we'll probably need at
least five more for the subscribers.  The other problem is that we need
direct access with Wireless cards, instead of dedicated pairs for each
point."

   The bridal meeting was being adjourned noisily and Patrick handed me the
antenna, which was about the size of a stove-pipe, 18" long and sealed at
both ends.  "Sara can explain better - she knows more about it."

   "It's a 1/4-wavelength emitter with a passive Yagi re-director.  That's
what the literature calls it." Sara informed me as she returned to help me
serve the food.  "We've decided to hold the joyous occasion tomorrow
night..." She said to Max.

   "Subject to us finding enough male strippers in town!" Amanda amended
helpfully, as we seated ourselves at the table.

   Marjorie covered her ears, laughing, "Please, spare me the sordid
details!" She waved goodbye and herded Max, Patrick and his sister out,
"I've already got lunch ready downstairs and we need to talk about OUR
plans."

   "And WHAT, my sweetie, are you going to do with the stripper IF you
manage to find one?" Sherri asked Amanda, seated across her.

   "To find out what we've been missing, of course!  It's all fine and
dandy that HE-" she gave me a side-long glance "-assures us that we're
getting a masterful performance.  But do we REALLY know?  Life's too short
to settle for mediocrity!"

   "Mediocrity this!" I dragged her on my lap.  She squirmed her arms
around my neck and sighed.

   "Ah...  ah James, you're not playing fair!" She murmured against my neck
and gasped when I slipped my hand over her little shorts.

   "Miss me?" I fed her little bites of my meal.

   "No," She squeezed my thigh between her legs, "not particularly-" She
kissed my neck, "-now!  But Bren and I really have things to do in town..."

   "You know, if you go into town dressed like this, you'll have guys
fighting to strip for you!" I caressed the parts which seemed particularly
intriguing.

   "You think?" She murmured, "but I better change - don't want to scare
Brenda." And in a stage-whisper, "She's not had much experience with men!"

   "Unlike some whose morals are always in question," Brenda gave us a
grin, "I'm quite happy with the man I found!"

   "Where exactly are you two off to?"

   "Remember Jackie?" Amanda smiled, "Well, Chuck has decided that *I* get
to keep her!  So Celeste is going to build her a little house in the back,
and we're going to get some spare parts for her!"

   "Why would Chuck give up his pride and joy for you?"

   "Your girlfriend was totally shameless," Brenda amplified, "Throwing
herself at him every chance..." She tossed her curls, "I'm SO jealous!"

   "Don't worry love," Amanda ran her hand under my shirt, "As persuasive
and charming as Chuck is - I'll try to be faithful to you..."

   "Meaning you'll invite me to your wedding?" I asked.

   "Of course, I'm not ENTIRELY heartless, you know!" She blinked her eyes
at me, "Maybe I'll let you go out with my Granddaughter!" She burst out
laughing, adding, "m-my daughter's probably too old for you!" She wheezed
in merriment, gurgling and hiccupping on me.  I held her and fed us.

   "Oh no!" Jules cried, "We have to plan ANOTHER shower!"

   "And *I* want to go look for the stripper next time!" Sherri offered,
starting to undo buttons on her shirt.

   "Here, let me help." Celeste tied the tails of Sherri's shirt and
fluffed the rest up into a gaping display of breasts and nipples.  "And
don't forget to keep doing this!" She licked her finger and rubbed Sherri's
nipples to a glow.

   "Oh god!" Sherri moaned, "Y-you'll have to come along and remind me... I
get so forgetful sometimes."

   "In which case we'll go straight to the source and do this..." Celeste
leaned over and popped one in her mouth.  Sherri thrashed and moaned and
collapsed in Nicole's arms.  Celeste smiled tenderly and carefully massaged
her way down Sherri's body.

   "Honey, sweetheart," Sherri purred at Nicole, "Is there anything you
wish to add to my education?"

   Nicole kissed her and smiled, "If this is the epic we've heard so much
about - I'm sure we will love it!" She stroked the smooth skin stretched
out in front of her, "Took thirteen years to write, but what a
masterpiece!"

   "Hmm, yes..." Jules added her own light caresses, "Maybe I'll read it
after you..."

   "No need to fight, you can all read it at the same time," Sherri
murmured lazily, "but it's more like a bedtime story, really..."

   "Hmmm, we can take turns flipping the pages..."

   "That's an idea..." Nicole laughed, "if our eyes get tired, we can go
with Braille too."

   "Hmmm...  I admire the well rounded vocabulary!"

   "And the interesting plot twists!"

   "I like reading between the lines best!"

   "Ohh, ahh!" Sherri sighed, "And I'm wide open to your input!  Oh! 
Ohhhh! And you're getting close to the finish!"

   Celeste slipped her hand inside Sherri's pants, "From the way the prose
flows, I can tell there's going to be a dramatic climax!"

   "Oooh!  Oooh!" Sherri jerked her legs and shook, her face buried in
Nicole's lap.  "Remind me to give all of you a personally autographed
copy!" She sighed.

   "Thanks honey," Celeste smiled and held up a glistening finger, "but
I've already got MY autograph!"

   "Next time, you can get it straight from the source!" Sherri whispered
and kissed her.

   "Hmm, I can certainly recommend the book," Nicole observed, "In OR out
of bed!"

   "If you want," Amanda said in my ear, "I can reserve a copy for you!"

   "Make sure it's not stained or dog-eared."

   Amanda waved Sherri over and made room for her on my other leg, "I will
personally check to make sure every page is immaculate!"

   "'Almost virgin' is all I can offer." Sherri laughed, "But lovingly
perused..." She turned to Amanda, "And I don't believe you've read it in
quite a while!"

   "No," she sighed, "it's high time I had the pleasure again..."

   Sherri laughed, "I think I can guarantee that!" She leaned her head in
close, "They all tell me I'm an easy read!"

   "Why don't you come along with us?" Amanda suggested, "We should be able
to scare up a dozen strippers in no time!"

   "I seem to recall that a certain party here did a pretty creditable job
as one..." Nicole grinned and blew me a kiss.

   "I was under duress at the time..." I explained.

   "Yeah, likely story!" Jules scoffed, then she turned to Amanda and
Brenda, "Why don't you guys do what you have to do, while I audition the
candidate here?"

   "Yeah, OK!  But we want a detailed report!" Amanda warned as they fixed
their attire and left, taking with them Celeste, whose workers had returned
for the afternoon shift.

   "Trust us!" Jules grinned, "We'll do our usual painstaking job!" She
winked at me, "Not a stone will be left unturned!"

   "Are you really going to do a strip?" Sara, who'd been busy clearing the
table, asked, her eyes glowing.

   "Heck no!" Jules, laughed, "You KNOW he can't dance!"

   "He dances OK..." Sara said defensively.

   "Only the slow ones...  with you!" Grinned Jules.

   "As strippers go, he wasn't bad..." Nicole ruminated.

   "And we can see that you're the expert on strippers!"

   "Well, he was quite effective that time..." Nicole smiled softly with
the recollection, "He was able to follow the beat...  lots of youthful
exuberance...  a bit on the stiff side...  Actually, a LOT on the stiff
side..." She sighed, eyes far away, "So I ended up on my knees paying him
tribute.  Well, actually it was in the car so I was perched most
uncomfortably over the console..."

   "Stoppit woman!  Get your mind off sex!  We have business to attend to!"
Jules pinched her.

   "Oooh!" Nicole blinked and smiled at me, "So much depravity to catch up
on..."

   "What business are you up to now?" I asked Jules.

   "Well, for one, at their board meeting, Nicole pitched the idea of CE
buying into InterCoastal, since they'll want a say in IC's usage of
PhaseMetal."

   "I have to say this for CE, they don't waste time with sub-committees
and lengthy reports.  They just approved an investment of 8.5% of IC
shares," Nicole added, "enough to seat a qualified person on the IC board;
who, by general acclaim," she grinned, "will be me!"

   Jules nodded, "This gives us incredible leverage, with two voices on the
board, plus our own holdings of 7% to decide any swing votes.  And, with
Nicole voting CE and our stock, we have even more shares than Chuck!  A
real-snazzy piece of finagling if I say so myself!" She looked around
smugly, "Then we can concentrate on the OTHER business Miss Sara, the
make-out artist is supposed to be working on."

   "She's just consoling me after an incredibly cruel and insensitive
comment about my dancing." I gave Sara's blushing, smiling face another
kiss.

   "It's not cruel if it's a fact!" Jules laughed.

   "There she goes again!" I muffled my sobs in Sara's magnificent breasts.
She stroked my hair and made soothing noises.  "Thank you, my beautiful
Sara, only you understand my suffering!" I looked at JulieAnn, "You should
learn compassion from Sara, such a warm and open heart!"

   "You should know - your hand's on it!" Jules scoffed.

   "And it's not just her heart she's opened!" Nicole commented.

   "Honey," Sara breathed against my lips, "I...  I can't wait any more!"
She added a lick, "I want you to do the Yagi with me now!"

   "Oh, god," I moaned, "Yessss, I-I'd like that..." I looked at the table,
"is the table big enough, you think?"

   "It'll have to do..." Sara groped about our bodies, "Oooh!  It's SO
big!" She buried her face in my neck, body shaking.

   "Gently..." I breathed, "don't squeeze it too hard!"

   With a wide grin and a flourish we produced the stove-pipe antenna and
slid it on the table.  "Ta-da!  Eat your hearts out, girls!"

   Jules was nestled in Nicole's arms, their faces red with excitement. 
She stared at us and the object on the table.

   Sara pointed at the tube, "And it's only a q-quarter wavelength too!"
She gasped out in laughter.

   "Hmmmph!" Jules snorted imperiously, "'bout time you two jokers got to
work!" She smoothed Nicole's rumpled clothing - from the inside, and kissed
her half-closed eyes, "C'mon love, let's leave these clowns to their silly
games and get something useful done!" She led the way to the nearest couch
and gently laid Nicole and herself on it.

   "Let's give them a little time to get 'comfortable,'" Sara said, taking
my hand.  "Let me show you what I've done so far." She led me outside to
the deck.  "I bought 4 of these things from Bell/Lucent - they were
designed to hop Wi-fi signals building to building; the first 2 came
together real well." She showed me the one unit mounted on a small pole
attached to the side of the building.  "The height allowed us to clear the
trees and get a clean line of sight to the Eyrie.  We've added an
amplifier-base with a 10db gain, then the antennas have an inherent noise
reduction of 8db.  Couple that to the bi-directional gain of 22db, we have
an effective multiplier of 40db.  So with one at each end, we can
communicate at 10Mbps with a signal strength of about minus-75dbm, pretty
much the limit of the useful range at that speed."

   "You did well!  I'm really impressed!" I said as we went out of the heat
back into the staff room.  Nicole looked up, waved and return to her
lip-to-lip conversation with Jules.

   "Yeah, like I said this part came together well.  I had planned to do
the same thing for the subscription links, but the estimated cost for
cabling is prohibitive with just a hundred or so homes.  So--" She poked
the antenna on the table, "--we have to kludge this to give us a 70-75
degree spread with a 12db gain."

   "Have you taken a look inside?"

   "No way!" She looked at me, "It voids the Warranty if I open it!  We'll
never be able to return it!"

   "So...?"

   "So..." Sara sighed, "I forgot, men don't care about instructions, or
warranties!"

   "Nope - that's how we get things done!"

   "Go ahead," she offered, "Be my guest - void the warranty.  I'll just
watch."

   I fetched the toolbox and started worrying the screws holding the end
cap in place.

   "You know," I peered one-eyed at her, "I think I voided YOUR warranty
too!"

   "Most undeniably," she blushed sweetly, "and you certainly never read
any of the instructions either!" She blinked and caressed my hair,
"Although there never was any money-back offer."

   "No - nor would I ever consider returning the merchandise." I sealed the
promise with a kiss.

   "That's good to know," She said softly and hugged my side.

   "But I can't say the same for this overgrown tin can!" I snarled as the
last of the lock-head screws resisted my efforts.  "Honey, get the can
opener!"

   "Really?" She asked.

   "Ah, got it!" I looked at her, "Sometimes a little subtle threat works
wonders with reticent virgins!" I pried the end metal cap off, "You think
it'll start moaning if I stick my hand inside?"

   "I don't know..." Sara murmured into my ear, "You have to promise to be
gentle.  Oooh!" She shuddered as I ran my finger around the rim.  "You
don't have to be SO gentle!" She laughed, "it's not THAT fragile, you
know!"

   Inside the 3" opening we could see an array of wires across the width of
the can, held together by foam anchors along the sides.  "That's the Yagi
dipole array, they taper from 1.3 wavelength to .8 towards the far end."
Sara explained, "I started reading up on it and picked up the ARRL
handbook." She brought over a 2"-thick manual and flipped it to the
chapter. She started reading, then looked around inside the antenna, "but
there's no apparent connection to the signal source!"

   The signal cable, as far as we can see, stopped about an inch or so
inside the can, with nothing connecting it to any of the horizontal wires.

   "Did we open up the only defective one, you think?"

   "One way to find out!"

   We went back outside and, after noting the signal strength on the
existing setup, we held the opened sample along-side the original's
mounting and cross connected the cable.  A quick check confirmed that it
was working fine, in fact it showed a slight improvement on the old unit.
We quickly reconnected everything and went back inside.

   "So that's what a passive Yagi re-director looks like!  Hmmm, the
calculations here are for actively connected setups..." We checked though
entries for "Active Emitter", then "Emitter".  Aside from references to
transistors and electron tubes, whatever those are, we were coming up
empty.

   "Looks like a lot of reading tonight," Sara sighed, "All 1387 pages!"

   "Look at this - this little piece of wire sticking out: it's about
2-1/2" long, and--" I flicked pages on the ARRL handbook, "--that
corresponds to 1/4 wavelength for 2.4GHz, or close enough." I sat back and
thought about it.  "Listen, I think what I can do is make a can like
this..." I looked at Sara, "If the Yagi arrangement is to concentrate the
signal, we'll put one together without it, then we should get less signal
and less directional - or more coverage, right?"

   "Yes!" Sara said excitedly, "that alone may be enough for our needs!"

   "Do we have any cables and connectors?"

   "Yeah, we picked up 10 installation kits - we can scrounge the parts
from there." She paused, "What about the can?  Where are you going to find
a long metal tube like this?"

   "It's funny, I keep thinking of this as a stove pipe and I know Max
stocks chimney-sleeves for ship-board stoves.  I'm sure it's about this
size...  no more than a half inch off, but close enough for our tests."

   I started jotting down the measurements and Sara pulled out a large box
from which she was selecting equipment.  She handed me some cable
connectors I could use.  "I think we should set up outside in the parking
lot and then we can use the laptop with the wireless card to measure the
signal.  I'll meet you downstairs after I get this set up."

   I was right, Max did have brass tubes of 3" diameter, just .3 of an inch
smaller than the commercial device.  It only came in 12" lengths, but if
needed I could extend it by brazing a cut piece on to make it the full 20".

   By the time Sara joined me in the machine shop with an amplifier
attached to a large spool of wire, I was just closing up the metal cap on
our rough version of the antenna.

   As she set her system up, I made basic calibration readings on the
laptop with the basic router.  Then, much to Celeste and her workers'
amusement, I was sent prancing to and fro with the laptop while Sara took
her reading.

   With the setting on low power, the antenna already showed marked
improvements: compared to the basic readings, the noise level was halved
and the signal jumped 16db, or almost 50 times the signal over an area of
almost 90-degrees.
We brought the gear back upstairs.  Nicole and Jules were still in
position on the couch, but they were now looking at the laptop on the
floor, entwined on each other.  "It's working out well." Sara declared,
"The next phase is the on site testing!" Jules freed a hand to wave an

acknowledgement.

   While Sara ran more simulations on the computer I went outside to
band-bracket our gleaming creation to the roof-tower and rough-sighted it
towards the town.

   "Great signal!  72 db down and virtually unmeasurable noise level!" Sara
said as she monitored the signal on the laptop as we drove off in Nicole's
convertible, "I'm running the amp at 250mW, which is about double the
normal power - that should give us enough extra punch to get through fog
and rain."

   About a half mile down, she cried, "Stop the car!  The data's slowing!"
She fiddled with some keys, "No, the signal's good, but the laptop's
transmission is too weak to stay at 10Mbps - it's gone down to 2..." She
waved me on, "I bet it'll fade completely before we get to the first
house!"

   True to her word, just under the 1 mile mark, we could no longer reach
the Marina.  Although we were receiving fine, the little transmitter in the
laptop was simply not pushing enough signal out.  I turned us around, "I
think we'll have to extend the tube for more pickup," I said, "We only need
70-degrees coverage, so we have some room there." Sara nodded, deep in
thought.  "Just wait, I'll not be long." I jumped out and ran inside.

   A bare 5 minutes later I was back in the driver's seat, "Rather than
cutting and joining another piece, I snugged a 6" mating piece on.  Looks
really good." I drove off a bit and pointed back to antenna at the Marina.
With the flared 4 inch opening, it looked like a death-ray device from the
sci-fi movies.

   "And the reading's about 40% over the previous time too!" Sara said, "I
did some tweaking as well.  The card was set in the 'local' mode and I
managed to bypass the limiter to let it run at its full 135mW rating.  And
this may work out in less pirating."

   The signal was strong all the way to the center of town, and we managed
a few more sales with hands-on demonstrations to some of the local
residents.  Then we visited the houses on the fringe of the service area.
Although the reception continued to be picture perfect, the transmission
had dropped to just adequate for maximum speed.

   "We'll nudge the antenna over this way a bit," said Sara on our way
back, "but we're already 10 to 15 times faster than cable modem so the
lower fall-back speeds should be acceptable." She was bouncing in the car
in excitement, "We're gonna do it!  Once we set up with the DNS and DHCP
service, we can go live!" She ran in the Marina as soon as I stopped the
car, "I'll get Patrick started on it!"

   I waited until she came back out, "Let's go work on the Orinoco cards!
Once we adjust them for higher output, we're in business!" She tugged at my
hand.

   "No sweetheart," I held her sweaty body against mine, "it can wait until
we give each other a shower...!"

   "But..."

   "Are you going to do what I say or shall I get the can-opener?"

   (To be continued)

   = = = = =

   To my readers,

   Thank you for staying around as I struggle through months of a hectic
and unexpected workload.  It is very nice to get the many letters of
encouragement you have sent.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

   I will try to be more regular in getting the chapters out, but I also
will not compromise their quality in following a schedule.  One thing I can
do is to organize a mailing list and, through that, send you the latest
chapter - from the 'James' series, and from NightHawk's highly popular
'Kelly' series.

   If you are interested, write me at MikeC@NSpace.net and let me know the
email address you wish to receive it, and hey, include a comment or two
about the stories too!  We'll see how this works out - I may add the
mailserver daemon later to automate things.

   Thanks, and Keep Reading! Mike

   = = = = =

   (C) Copyright 2003.  M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee
or profit forbidden.

   Copies of my stories can be downloaded from:
</files/Authors/MikeC/>
<ftp://ftp.asstr.org/pub/Authors/MikeC/JAMES>

   What do you think of the story? Send comments and suggestions to
MikeC@NSpace.net