"This is the address the rental agent gave me," Stephen said as he parked the car. He got out, along with Jessi and Kyle. They stood looking at the unit in the office/light industrial complex. Like all the other units in the complex it was two stories high, cement construction with the front made up of large glass windows. The rental agent was waiting for them with Tom Foss standing to the side, looking menacing as usual.

The agent approached them and focused on Stephen. "Are you Stephen Trager?" When Stephen nodded he reached out his hand, "Dave Hamm."

Stephen indicated Kyle and Jessi, "This is Kyle and Jessi and that's our friend, Tom Foss." He pointed at Foss.

"Mr. Foss was here when I arrived," Dave said. "I've given him a tour while we waited for you. Let's go in and take a look." As he went through the door he began, "This is a two thousand square foot unit, with about a thousand feet of office space split into an upstairs and a downstairs. In the back the warehouse section contains the second thousand square feet and has a two story high ceiling."

Jessi interrupted, "What is the electrical service?"

Dave was slightly taken back at the source of the question, but answered, "The unit has a thousand amp service."

Stephen looked at Jessi and she nodded, "That should be sufficient."

Dave continued, "The whole unit has HVAC cooling and heating, office and warehouse. There is a small break room with a sink downstairs, upstairs is office space. Back here is the warehouse." He led them into a large open space. The cement walls and floor were covered with a coat of paint which made the room look and feel cleaner. There were skylights in the ceiling and a steel roll up door in the back.

After they had looked around, Jessi said, "Can we see the upstairs?"

Dave, still obviously puzzled that Jessi was taking the lead on questions, gestured toward the stairway, "Sure, follow me." They went up the stairs. The upper area was a carpeted open area with a washroom to one side. The windows gave an open view of the street. He said, "You could partition this but the open layout puts the windows to best use."

They looked around and then Stephen quietly asked Jessi, "What do you think?"

She nodded, "I think it would work for what we need, I want to talk to Kyle and Tom and see what they think."

Stephen tilted his head toward the stairs, "Do you want me to take the agent downstairs?"

Jessi smiled, "Yes, Thank you."

Stephen turned to Dave and said in a louder voice, "Dave, why don't we go downstairs and go over the financial stuff." Dave assented and they went down the stairs.

Foss looked at them, puzzled, "You want all this for a computer?"

Jessi explained, "It will be a large computer system. We need more electrical power than we have access to at the Trager House. Plus the warehouse would be good for a workshop. Since Kyle and I took all the spare rooms in the Trager house, it's too crowded to build anything. If the computer modeling works we'll want to construct a prototype."

Kyle said, "What do you think of it from a security point of view?"

"Well, it wouldn't be Madacorp or Zzyzx, of course," Foss shrugged. "I could reinforce the front door, add serious locks, and replace the back door, but there isn't anything I could do to stop a determined intruder. There are glass windows, after all. It's an end unit so that side can be watched. Your other neighbor is a furniture refinisher who's been there for five years. I don't see any risks there."

Jessi offered, "If you wanted to move your base from the warehouse you're in now, you could have the top area, it would give you a good view. You could set up your gym in the back."

Foss smiled at her, "Are you trying to look out for me?" He looked around, "This would work. It is getting colder. It might be nice to have a better heater. And, I could keep an eye on your computer."

"Then I think I'll rent it," Jessi said, "if you like it, Kyle."

"This is all going to be very expensive," Kyle said doubtfully. "Are you sure you want to spend that much money?"

"It's our project," Jessi assured him. "We're working on it together, I want it to succeed." She paused a moment and continued, "If it works I think we will have plenty of money."

"That's probably true," Kyle agreed.

Foss suggested, "If you are going to be buying things and renting facilities, you should probably form a corporation to provide legal structure. Suppliers are more comfortable dealing with a company than individuals. Brian Taylor used to do that type of thing for Adam, but I don't think that you want to bring him into this."

Kyle said, "We're being friendly with Brian, but we don't really trust him."

Foss nodded, then looked at Jessi and hesitantly said, "Jessi, I heard about the problem you had with the quarterback."

Jessi looked embarrassed, "I got angry and almost hurt him seriously. I didn't mean to."

"I know," Foss said. "I was thinking of giving you some martial arts training."

Kyle frowned, "Jessi is already very capable in a fight, why would she need training?"

"Since she's untrained, she doesn't have many techniques to work with. If she had more, she would be less likely to hurt someone by accident," Foss said.

Jessi looked hopeful, "If I had lessons, I wouldn't hurt anyone?"

"You'd be less likely to hurt someone accidentally," Foss assured her. "You will be more capable of hurting them if you wanted to, and only as much as you intended."

Jessi smiled, "That sounds like a good idea. Would you teach me?"

"All right," Foss said. "We can schedule some sessions. It wouldn't hurt for you to have some martial arts training too, Kyle."

"If Jessi is going to, then I want to," Kyle said.

Jessi got a competitive gleam in her eye. She said, "That would be fun. We could see who really was strongest and fastest."

"We will be working on control," Foss cautioned.

Jessi smiled, "Let's go tell Stephen that we want it."

They went downstairs and started the process of leasing the unit.