Atlas Shrugged – Day 033 – pp. 324-333
As Dagny gets ready to leave, Ivy is babbling on about how she never concerned herself with the things in the lab. But she does remember the Chief of the lab’s name.
“William Hastings. That was his name — William Hastings. I remember. He went off to Brandon, Wyoming. He quit the day after we introduced the plan. He was the second man to quit us . . . No, No, I don’t remember who was the first. He wasn’t anybody importnat.”
The guy possibly overseeing the building of a revolutionary motor not sticking around for a socialist ass-whuppin’. Go figure. But he was not the first. Who was? Maybe the guy inventing the motor? No one important?
But it’s off to Wyoming.
Meet Mrs. William Hastings. Her husband has been dead five years now. But a few more questions wouldn’t hurt.
She didn’t know about his scientific work. Yes, he was employed at TCM for nearly 18 years. Why’d he leave?
“He would not work on such terms or for such people. But there was something else. I’ve always felt that something happened at TCM, which he would not tell me.”
When he left TCM they moved to WY and he took a job with Acme Motors for one year. Then retired completely.
“He loved his work; it was his whole life. Yet he looked calm, self-confident and happy, for the first time since we’d come here. He asked me not to question him about the reason of his decision.”
(Lot of that “don’t ask” going around.)
“There was nothing strange in his behavior or activity — except that at times, very rarely, he went out without telling me where he went or whom he saw. In the last two years of his life, he went away for one month, each sumer; he did not tell me where.”
Mystery continues.
“A motor? Yes. Yes, he spoke of it several times. He said it was an invention of incalculable importance. But it was not he who had designed it. It was the invention of a young asssistant of his.”
Dgany’s face lights up.
But Mrs H knows nothing about him except. . .
“He told me only that he had a young engineer who, one day , would up-turn the world. . . . he told me that the motor had been completed — how his voice sounded when he said, ‘And he’s only twenty-six!’ This was about a month before the death of Jed Starnes.”
Knows nothing else. But wait, there’s more! She can give Dagny a lead. She can tell her where to find a friend of her husbands.
Seems she was meeting him for dinner after a meeting and saw him at the train station with two colleagues. One was a young man — the young engineer we suppose — and the other an elderly distinguished gentleman. Nine years later she was visiting her brother in Cheyenne WY. They went out for a drive and stopped at a small diner far removed in the mountains. There she saw the older gentleman working behind the counter.
Is this where all the great men go? A diner in Wyoming?
Dagny’s off to the diner. Having a late dinner, a delicious –no the best burger she’s ever had. She sees the man behind the counter.
How’s biz?
Pretty bad. They’re closing the Foundry soon and he’ll have to move on.
She offers him a job in NY in a dining car on her railroad.
No thanks.
Why?
Personal matter.
Let’s cut to the chase
“Did you know, about ten years ago, a young engineer who worked for the TCM company?
“Yes I did.”
Found him! Dagny reveals she has found his invention — “an idea of the most tremendous consequences.”
She wants his name.
“May I ask what has aroused your interest in him?”
“His motor.”
“How did you happen to know about his motor?”
“I found a broken remnant of it in the ruins of the TCM factory.” . . .
“Give it up Miss Taggart. You won’t find him.”
“What is his name?”
“I can tell you nothing about him.”
“Is he still alive?”
“I can tell you nothing.”
“What is your name?”
“Hugh Akston.”
HUGH AKSTON! Fracisco’s brilliant professor! The guy who mentored Francisco, Ragnar and the nobody who never amounted to any . . . Wait a minute!!!
She mentions the story Dr Stadler told her about their rivalry over these three brilliant students.
“… who was the third?”
“His name would mean nothing to you. He is not famous.”
“Tell me, are you proud of the way these three have turned out?”
“More proud than I had ever hoped to be.”
OK, Akston is proud of the third man. Stadler assumes he’s a nobody. Clearly Akston knows something Stadler doesn’t (or at least isn’t giving up — I’d say doens’t know.)
So I guessing it’s safe to say the third man is the inventor of the motor. The math seems right — 26 a month before the death of Jed Starnes which was how many years? Six if we count from When William Hastings died. That’s got to put him around mid-30s now.
Akston pulls out a pack of cigarettes and offers Dagny one. (It is the 50s remember.)
“Thank you Dr. Akston. I will not molest you with tricks or pleas. I will not hire detectives. But I think I should tell you that I will not give up. I must find the inventor of that motor. I will find him.”
“Not until the day when he chooses to find you – as he will.”
Spooky.
As she’s driving back to the train, she notes
“she was enjoying the taste of the cigarette he had given her: it was different from anything she had ever smoked before. She held the small remnant to the light of the dashboard looking for the name of the brand. There was no name. Only a trademark. Stamped in gold on the thin, white paper there stood the sign of the dollar.”
She puts the butt in her purse, intent on asking the old gent at the cigar stand what brand it is. Hmmm.
But back at the station, bad news has hit the papers. . . (Don’t it always?)