Chapter 71 – Drone Patent
"Bi…"
Ron was stunned, once again reminded of just how spectacularly messy the American entertainment industry could be.
Since it was the weekend anyway, Ron spent an exhausting night with Megan in the hotel suite upstairs. By the time he finally woke up, she was already gone—off with the crew to continue filming Transformers 2.
It wasn't until he was fully awake that Ron remembered he'd brought those two scientist sidekicks along. When he tried calling Howard, no one picked up.
Ron clearly remembered seeing Howard and Rajesh disappear into the elevator with some actress he didn't recognize.
God knows what tactics they'd used. Don't tell me it was some special chemical concoction these scientists brewed up? The more Ron thought about it, the more plausible it sounded.
No way… no way, right?
Could it really be that on their very first day working for him, these two nerds had landed themselves in jail for drugging a starlet?
His head full of black lines, Ron quickly tried Rajesh's number instead. This time, someone finally answered.
"Ron?" Rajesh's voice sounded sleepy, like he'd just woken up.
"Rajesh—where the hell are you two?!" Ron's worry made his tone unexpectedly harsh.
Rajesh rubbed his bleary eyes and looked around. "We're still in the hotel. You won't believe it—last night was amazing. Howard and I were up all night. I'm dead tired…"
Hearing Rajesh's excited ramble, Ron felt some of his worry melt away. From the sound of it, it didn't seem like they'd forced anyone. That was a relief.
But a different question began gnawing at him: How the hell did they pull it off?
In this Hollywood vanity fair, every woman was a social climber with her nose in the air—nobody would look twice at a pair of nerdy nobodies.
Unless Rajesh had outed himself, of course. But as far as Ron knew, he had no intention of doing that. Even Howard, who was closest to Rajesh, still thought of him as just some scientist from the developing world.
"You guys finished up yet? Why didn't Howard answer earlier? Was he… still busy?"
"No, no, she already left. Howard was just on the phone with Leonard."
"…Fine. When he's done, can you both come up to my room? I'm in 5014."
"No problem—he's finished. We'll be there in a minute."
Ron looked down and realized he was still in his pajamas. Whatever—no point changing. He washed up quickly, and sure enough, they showed up right after.
As soon as he opened the door, the two of them practically tackled him in a hug.
"Ron, thank you so much! That was the best night of my entire life!" Howard babbled.
"Better than that girl from Omaha Penny introduced you to?" Ron asked dryly.
"Way better!" Howard nodded fervently. "There's no comparison—she's an actress, after all!"
Ron still didn't get what acting had to do with anything, but that wasn't the question he was dying to ask.
"Can you please tell me exactly how you managed to pull that off?"
He remembered the woman vaguely—some low-tier extra from the Transformers set. Even so, actresses here weren't exactly easy prey.
The two nerds glanced at each other, smug as cats. After a bit of false modesty, Howard finally cleared his throat.
"You know, I'm Jewish."
"…So?"
"So—I told her I was a producer at Warner Bros. Coincidentally, my uncle really does work for Warner—he's a lawyer."
Having a lawyer uncle was about as typical for a Jewish family as breathing.
"And then?"
"Then I told her I had a project in development. No cast yet, no script—but there's already an Indian investor very interested."
Ron turned and looked pointedly at Rajesh. "Let me guess—you were the Indian investor."
Rajesh nodded, beaming.
While Howard went to the bathroom, Ron lowered his voice. "You're not seriously planning to bankroll some random actress's movie, are you? I know you have the money."
Rajesh looked surprised for a moment. But thinking about Ron's background, he supposed it made sense. Little did he know, Ron hadn't investigated him at all—it was just his advantage as a time traveler with knowledge of the script.
Rajesh shook his head. He wasn't nearly that foolish.
Ron finally let out a sigh of relief. If Rajesh's wealth were ever exposed, God only knew how much trouble it could cause—and that trouble would inevitably drag Ron down with it.
Howard came back from the bathroom, looking energized.
"Ron, can you believe it?" he said, eyes bright. "Last night, right in the middle of… well, you know—I suddenly had a burst of inspiration. I finished designing that remote-controlled flying device you wanted. Take a look—see if there's anything you'd like to add."
He opened up his laptop and handed it over.
Seriously? Ron thought blankly. Doing that can trigger inspiration?
Why was it that after all the times he'd done it himself, the only thing he ever got better at was… doing it more?
He sighed. Maybe that was simply the difference between a scientist and an ordinary person.
He had to admit—despite only having a master's degree, Howard's technical skill was no joke. The blueprints were almost indistinguishable from the drones Ron had seen in the future. Even the operating specs were practically spot on. No wonder this was the same man who'd designed toilets for astronauts.
There was only one thing to ask:
"So… if you build just one of these, what would the cost be?"
"For materials alone—probably around six hundred dollars per unit. Of course, if you're planning to mass-produce them, I could design an assembly line setup to bring the cost down."
Howard said this casually, as though this new invention was nothing special. Even Ron couldn't help but remind him.
"Howard… have you considered the possibility that this thing might end up making a fortune someday?"
"Make money? How? I can't even think of any practical use for it."
Howard was purely a technical genius. He could solve any engineering problem, but when it came to real-world applications, he was clueless. He genuinely couldn't imagine how popular drones would one day become.
"Just in the military alone, I can think of dozens of uses—reconnaissance, precision strikes, search and rescue… and that's only scratching the surface. Never mind. The point is—register a patent for this. Trust me—someday, you're going to thank yourself for making that decision today."
"…All right," Howard said indifferently. "We'll do it your way."
"And don't forget my share," Ron added shamelessly. "This idea came from me in the first place."
Howard didn't argue.
"Oh—by the way," Ron continued, "what was Leonard calling about earlier?"
"He said he's giving a lecture at ten this morning, in the Rose Hall at the Marriott. Asked if we wanted to come. You probably got the text too."
Ron checked his phone—sure enough, there it was.
Rajesh glanced up. "Wait—aren't we already in the Marriott? Should we go?"
"Of course we should. Why wouldn't we?"
Ron's mouth curled into a faint smile as he thought of the inevitable farce between Leonard and Sheldon.
"A good friend's lecture… obviously we have to go show our support."