A Place in Time – Chapter 2
written by mcj _
Extract from "The Silent Conversation" written in 2013
November 2028
Three years since his quiet exit from the United States Air Force, Scott Tracy is gearing up to take over the reins of the richest privately-owned Corporation in the world...
Time Magazine – December 2028
"The Plane Maker"
A sleek black aircraft is a fitting background for Scott Tracy, who is standing arms folded and calculating, in the centre of the remote Nevada runway.
"You like her, Mr. Tracy?" asks one of the assembled, eager for the verdict.
"It's a fine piece of engineering," Tracy responds politely, "But I won't be committing us to any kind of mass production until I get the chance to fly her for myself."
Under an overcast sky and thousands of miles from his Pacific Island home, thirty-three year old Tracy makes it clear that industry interest in NASA's radical aircraft design "the Kruger" is no reason for any hasty decision-making. The new Chairman of Tracy Aviation remains reserved as he responds to the inevitable questions.
"How will I know when it's the right time to commit us?" He reflects before providing a definitive answer. "That's simple…the moment I'm convinced she has what it takes when she's representing us in the air."
It's no co-incidence that Tracy has selected Nevada for the preliminary trial of the first aircraft manufactured without his calculating father at the helm. The skies are wide open and he knows them well. Later, he will move into pilot mode and launch the Kruger into those skies and push its capabilities to the limit. Later still, as befits the world that Tracy inhabits, a world where continued technological advancement is vital to the success of this multi-million dollar industry, he will green light the project and set the key deliverables.
But for now, Tracy is happy. He shakes hands, thanks everyone for their time and says he'll be back to gauge what she's really like with a test flight "once he makes a couple of urgent phone calls."
Scott Tracy admits himself that he never planned to become the driving force behind the Tracy Corporation's giant Aviation division.
"If my life had followed its original script of a life-long career in the Air Force, I might have made Major by now. But then again…" He laughs, exhibiting a warm sense of Kansas humour. "I've always been ambitious. Let's say I'd be a Colonel by now. For me, that's a pretty nice thought."
Overlooking Manhattan's infamous Columbus Circle and seated behind a desk he confirms he frequents "as little as possible"; Tracy appears intrigued when he hears that my sources tell me Scott Tracy could still be anything he wanted to be.
Born in Houston, Texas, a graduate of Yale and Oxford Universities and with a short but distinguished Air Force career already under his belt, anything really does seem possible. The eldest of five sons, born to Jeff and Lucille Tracy in 1996, he describes himself as the victim of a happy but different childhood, after the death of his mother forced his father's resignation from a key position in the World Space Agency a month before Tracy was nine.
"My grandmother teamed up with my father to make sure we all led a normal life, "Tracy explains. "Dad made sure we had stability before he entered the Aviation business and he always supported anything we wanted to do, no matter whatever or wherever we wanted to do it. "
Tracy says, however, that sometimes his father struggled with the reasoning behind several of his initial key choices.
"When I was in Junior High School, I told Dad I wanted to learn how to fly. I also informed him that he wasn't going to be the one to teach me. Dad sat me down and said he didn't understand my logic and then asked me if I was prepared to tell him exactly why. My answer was honest. I said, 'I'm sorry Dad, but we both know you just don't have the time.' He was away so often and I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to achieve my goal before I decided to commit myself to it. But then he said, 'All right, I don't mind who teaches you, just as long they're professional and you promise me that you'll never take the controls of any aircraft until you're sure you know exactly what you're doing."
Tracy smiles at what appears to be one of his more personal memories.
"I hated disappointing him but I look back on it now as me achieving some kind of milestone. It was my first independent decision and Dad sounded like he respected it. He took me along to the local aviation school as often as he could and just as he had requested, my instruction was professional and I didn't fly my first solo aircraft until I was seventeen when I knew exactly what I was doing."
So how did it happen then, the progressive corporatisation of Scott Tracy? Surprisingly, Tracy's interest in the Aviation business wasn't ignited when his father's self-made millions thrust him into the spotlight at the age of twenty-one.
"Everyone expected I'd go down this certain path when I was of age. Dad had found his niche and his increasing wealth was pretty big news in the business circles. It was around the same time I was leaving the US to complete my studies at Oxford. There was this air of expectation that when I returned to Kansas I was going to be shadowing Dad so he could start grooming me to take over part of the business. A career in aerospace was the last thing I wanted. Luckily, Dad knew it and gave me the freedom to choose my own path. He still says it was one of the happiest days of his life when I told him I'd enlisted in the United States Air force. Despite what people said, that decision was also an independent one. And I never regretted it. Achieving in the Air force became my sole focus. "
Tracy spent his basic training at Lackland Air force Base and was then posted to Nevada, where he quickly made a name for himself flying jets and masterminding aerial combat strategy. Several tours of duty overseas in various war zones saw him decorated for bravery and three days after attaining the rank of Captain, he spear-headed what is still described by the Air Force as "one of the most successful war-time air strikes attempted in recent history."
Tracy was twenty-nine at the time.
"War is a difficult challenge for humanity," he contemplates. "You have to believe in the cause and you have to commit to the outcome. In the beginning I found the concept hard to grasp. My experiences in the Air Force taught me that it isn't just about a love of flight. You have to make split second decisions knowing you are going to have to live with them for the rest of your life. That's not always easy when the only choices you have are the life or death of other human beings.
He is silent for a few minutes, clearly moved by those experiences.
"The Air Force taught me a lot," he resumes, "and I think most of it was about myself."
Tracy says his decision to quit the Air force not long after his thirtieth birthday was a deeply personal one and one he declines to comment on when asked to pin-point what made him decide to veer back to the left.
"Let's just say my father made me an offer too good to refuse," is his careful answer. "And for my part, his timing was exactly right. I knew I had the experience to handle what he was asking me to do and I'm happy to say I haven't looked back ever since. "
Three years on and the new driving force behind Tracy Aviation, Scott Tracy says he still has no regrets. In fact, he contends he couldn't be happier.
"My life is extremely satisfying and with this one ..." He indicates the framed blue-print of the Kruger on the wall to his right "… I'm confident we can cement ourselves as the primary contender for supremacy in the Aviation world. Only time will tell if my predictions are right so for now, I'm staying cautiously optimistic. For me, it will all come down to how she handles what I've got in store for her when I return to Nevada again for the final trial."
Then he smiles.
"I've been told by own brothers that I can be a pretty hard task-master."
Fin.