Tech7 has a weakness for vehicles to the same degree Tech2 has a weakness for planes. She frequents our development center and construction facility and she gets VIP treatment when she visits due to her presence and natural charms. Often they let her take test drives and let her give a “woman’s perspective” to any given vehicle.

She sits in the Marauder waiting for me. Today I get to tag along.

I hop in and twist the key. The throaty growl of the massaged V8 is duplicated in my heart as I glance over at Tech7, who has gotten a new hairstyle - an eighties coif with the hair up and slicked back, drawing attention to her classic features. She has on a white blouse and sea blue and white, pin-striped pedal pushers. They offset her thin, tan ankles exquisitely.

Oh yeah, she’s wearing her black belt instead of using it. The outfit’s guaranteed to earn a couple test drive at the development center.

The temperatures have dropped from the August high of 119 degrees and today it is only 70 outside.

Positively chilly.

The monsoon season is over. The humidity is dropping and the thunderstorms will abate till next year. For Arizona the next two months are almost like spring and perfect for a bit of road testing.

The Development Center lies very near Luke Air Force base, where it appears to be just another large warehouse and hangar and attracts no attention at all, and where regulations allow greater noise and zoning activities. Some new toys for the nation’s top government agencies and even a few personal vehicles are given birth here.

The nation’s automotive vehicle armoring companies like Hess & Eisenhardt , IAC, Becker and Scaletta Maloney all are more or less purveyors of advanced armoring technologies and are not developers. The cutting edge stuff - the new ideas are being developed here.

I enter the gate key pass code and insert my SDAI identification badge which is scanned. The rolling gate opens and only all the small panning cameras on each parking lot lamp post would indicate, to the eagle-eyed, the intense security of the facility. No guards are visible at all.

“I sent an e-mail yesterday, letting the DC know we’d stop by for a visit soon.” Tech7 volunteers as we drive over to the main hangar, “They said it was a good time to come over today before several completed vehicles ship out next week.”

Two men clad in light blue coveralls roll open the hangar doors right as we pull up. The hangar stores much of the larger vehicles, ATVs and the like. The Development Chief, DC1, approaches with a grin and opens up the door for Tech7.

“You’re looking lovely today.” he says and offers his hand to Tech7 for support as she exit’s the vehicle. The guy’s a well known shark and one of the primary reasons I came along was to keep Tech7 from being his next meal. How much of her smile and charm are genuine or for show is hard to discern. I am more than ever glad I came along.

“Tell me Tech7 do you like Rolls Royce motorcars?”

Well, I’m more partial to Mercedes and BMW’s but…” - the DC cuts her off.

“Ah that is perfect. Rolls Royce is now a product of BMW and the vehicle is the result of four years effort to produce the latest Rolls.”

We follow him along a row of tarp covered cars to one vehicle he grandiosely pulls off the cover and says, “Allow me to introduce the SDAI Black Phantom.

I recognize the car as the model of car Ben Affleck and J. Lo have been tooling around in. I walk around the gleaming black lacquered vehicle and my trained eye tries to spot the telltale modifications before the DC gives the technical rundown. It’s extremely hard to spot the armoring as the Phantoms window panes are tinted sufficiently and surrounded by chrome moldings which are concealing the thicker glass panes.

I can’t help but think of an 1980’s bustle-back Cadillac Seville which imitated a Rolls - a car more visually distinctive than beautiful. I find it quite ironic that this car with its rectangular headlamps and similar profile is imitating a Seville, which was imitating a Rolls. Only BMW could see Rolls Royce through the eyes of Cadillac.

The black paint is glorious though - and it appears as if all the car’s surfaces were smoked glass mirrors.

“Those tires are enormous!” exclaims Tech7.

“31 inch Michelin PAX tires - with run flat capabilities.”

The DC presses a button on a small remote control key chain and the left facing doors unlock and open up 12” from the sides, assisted by quietly humming motors and servos. With another click the hood raises up to its full height being pushed by another servo motor.

I glance over at Tech7 and the gleam in her eye and know she is wondering what marvels lay inside and underneath the hood. She reminds me of a child in a candy shop with a few dollars to burn.

“BMW did a fair job with the power plant. It’s a 6.75 liter V12 which in it’s stock version puts out 450 horsepower and 530 foot pounds of torque. However fair was not good enough for an eight thousand pound vehicle. This monster has two CAB, Computer Adjusted Boost, turbos on it. The turbos are the most durable ever designed and have titanium impellers in lieu of ceramic ones. The patented SDAI vortex design and matching titanium vortex intake and exhaust manifolds create the perfect unrestricted flow of hypervelocity fuel and air. The end result creating a dynamometer reading of 1373 horsepower…at the rear wheels. All the aluminum components were recast in titanium - a goddamn costly process but worth its expense in added years of trouble-free service under duress.”

“So what does she do?” I ask.

“The standard Phantom can hit a governed 130. We took off the governor and the stock Phantom did about 145 before it topped out. The SDAI Black Phantom can do almost 180 mph and would go a lot faster if the vehicle were a few thousand pounds less. But the best part is…that 180 is the smoothest 180 in the whole world outside of an aircraft. Weight and wheelbase are everything.

“Impressive.... most impressive.”

Tech7 slips behind the huge tri-spoke black steering wheel. I enter on the passenger side. The dash is clearly modified and one of the proprietary SDAI data-links is embedded into the center of the dash surrounded by a fine wood I can’t properly identify. It looks like it was designed to be there. Even the knobs have been replaced with wood inlaid bezels and matching brushed aluminum to match the speedometer and gauge panel housing.

The car is clearly a masterpiece of engineering. All the gauges have been replaced by electro-luminescent gauges - electro-luminescent lighting, which was patented in 1951 by Sylvania, charges special phosphors embedded in plastic for the coolest lighting display imaginable. I think G.E. bought the patent out and suppressed the superior, non-heat generating technology so that we‘d still be using filament lighting half a century later, but I would have to research it further to be certain. I start to wonder who this car was made for. It’s no expenses spared manufacturing means it is going to end up in somebody’s garage that Uncle Sam really likes a LOT. I rule out the President, because the President rarely drives and this vehicle isn’t his style and is a driver’s car. The data-link indicates it is going to someone who really uses special bands for communication, but I can’t imagine such money spent for an intelligence agency beater.

“So to whom is this car being delivered?” I ask pointedly.

“Mums the word - but I hear this vehicle is going to serve her Majesty’s Government.”

If that’s true, that would be a rare exception to the standard practice of using English craftsmen and companies. Perhaps now that BMW holds the Rolls Royce purse they feel more comfortable giving such work to more qualified firms in the USA. The right hand drive is a giveaway it’s intended for royals use outside the UK.

The DC hands Tech7 the keys and she starts up the vehicle. The sound of the engine is like most twin turbocharged engines - a bit noisy on the whiny side of the sound equation. However I know it would be even noisier if all the extra insulation, Kevlar and polycarbonate molds were not in place.

“Take it for a spin. Just don’t crash it!”

We start out with a J-turn, one of the hardest maneuvers for a heavily armored vehicle of considerable avoirdupois. Tech7 stomps it in reverse and we are suddenly doing 60 and she slams the break and jerks the wheel a full 90 degrees to the right and is shifting into drive as soon as the car is facing 160 degrees from its original direction. Another stomp and we start through the parking lot like a thunder bolt. 60-80-100 in no time at all. The modified axles with slotted Brembo aftermarket discs and the sticky tires stop the car in an admirable distance for the vehicle’s weight.

I play with the data link and scan the frequencies used by our special forces in Iraq. A power antenna with a an unfolding adjustable satellite dish at the end locks onto the satellite signals. Sadly, another assassination attempt occurred on some pro-US Iraqis and a SOPS team is being organized and deployed to hunt down the Baathist assassin squad. Their desperation is tangible and I am reminded how evil never goes down quietly or peacefully. I’ll probably hear more when I return but I see Tech7 is heading out onto the Arizona endless highway.

Tech7 looks at me and smiles. You ready for some fun? Her grin is infectious and is the cue for me to fasten my seatbelt.

“Are you trying to take me for a ride?” I reply - unable to hold back my own excitement at seeing her so thrilled.

She just gives me a look. The look some men wait all their life to get.

The look is the best gift I’ve received in a long time. Suddenly everything is a blur…everything except her.

The next thing I know we are stopped on a lonely highway. The smell of rain and moisture is in the air. The sky is magnificent. Purple clouds with orange linings line the sky. Yet, for all its majesty, it pales beside Tech7 who can pull at my heart with a glance, warm my soul with her smile, melt my composure with her touch… and drive a Black Phantom faster than anyone ever will - and drive it well.

;-)

SDAI-Tech1