The early morning sunshine in New York was bright and cheery, with the hustle and bustle on the roads below. The sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Stark Building. Shiller sipped his steaming hot coffee.
Across the lab table, Stark was organizing some documents. After a while, he pulled out a sheet from the pile, flicked it slightly, then said, "Well, I must admit, this friend of yours is pretty capable. Is he interested in working for the Stark Group? I can offer him a satisfying salary."
"That might be difficult. Besides, he's still in college."
"So what? Isn't Peter still in high school too? By the way, which college does he go to? Harvard? MIT? Please don't tell me it's Princeton."
"That's not important, what's important is, is this technology helpful to you?"
Stark picked up one of the blueprints and said, "The idea of liquid armor is indeed impressive, but it largely depends on material science. Our foundation materials are not yet up to this level. The gel you gave me is peculiar, it seems vaguely familiar..."
"You don't need to know the principles, just knowing that it's useful is enough."
"But what I want to study are the principles," Stark said. "You can't just give me a strange material out of nowhere and ask me to use it blindly."
"Well, that's a bit problematic. You know, we're not in this for charity, everyone has a family to feed..."
Stark raised his hands and said, "Ok, ok, I got it. Have him name his price. You don't have to beat around the bush with me, just name it."
Shiller put down his coffee, swiveled his chair around to face Stark, and said, "The problem is, he doesn't want money. He's very wealthy."
"So what does he want?"
"He needs a certain technology. Don't misunderstand. It's not your Mecha technology. He needs a kind of satellite navigation technology that can be popularized for civilian use, and more importantly, civilian communication equipment that can carry this technology."
Stark, leaning against the lab table with one hand on his hip, said with some confusion, "Civilian communication equipment? That's a bit strange. From what I see... ok, ok, like I said before, I will admit he is a genius. With his capabilities, he shouldn't have a problem making it usable for civilians. Is it that hard to create a portable GPS?"
"He's demanding more functionalities, including as intuitive a display system as possible, input and output systems, an interactive interface, communication functionalities, and some leisure and entertainment functionalities."
"So, a mobile phone?" Stark pulled out his own mobile, a button-type model, of course.
"Better than this. Utilize your creative genius, exhaust all your imagination, and envision the pinnacle of the capabilities a mobile device could achieve."
"What does he need this for? Isn't a regular mobile phone, which just receives calls, enough? You can add a navigation system if you want. Why not use a computer for games and entertainment?"
"Just answer if you can make it or not."
Stark was about to speak, but his words halted. He finally said, "Of course I can make it. There's nothing that can stump the genius Stark."
Then he snapped his fingers, saying, "Just map out a detailed product requirement for me. I'll work out a plan and then you hand over all the data about the liquid armor and the materials."
"Deal."
Twenty minutes later, Stark, who was watching Shiller still busy writing, started to get anxious, but he had to put up a confident front. He tried to peek at what Shiller was writing. A requirement for a mobile phone, what could he possibly write for so long?
After a while, he became a little impatient and tapped on the table, saying, "You're not trying to make me invent a spaceship, are you? What mobile phone feature could make you write for 20 minutes?"
"No, no, no, this is just a small part..." Shiller put his pen down, then handed several pages to Stark. After reading them, Stark said in confusion, "Flat mobile phone, full screen, octa-core processor, portable charging, open-source system, UI interactive interface..."
"Are you sure this is a mobile phone? Isn't this just a miniature computer?"
"Now is the time to test your genius, indeed, you have to compress almost all the capabilities of a computer into a palm-sized mobile phone. And not only do you need to ensure the perfect operation of the functionalities, you also need to make it smooth and aesthetically pleasing."
Stark held his forehead and said, "This is a rather high requirement. I feel the data you provided doesn't fully compensate me. Have him pull out something more impressive."
"Don't try to jack up the price. I know you're just missing an idea. With your technical skill, doing these things is not an issue."
"Can't you really just have him work for Stark Group? I'm even willing to share my lab with him. We could develop these things together..."
Stark paused, then said hesitatingly, "Well, I'll only say this to you, you must never tell anyone else. Your friend has the potential to work side by side with the great Stark."
"Of course, he's always going to be a notch below me, but only a notch! I think we could be good friends, especially in terms of research, we would have a lot to chat about. So, I really can't meet him?"
Shiller could hear Stark's eager tone and he understood him. If one was to look for a close friend for Stark, someone on the same level intelligence-wise, a formidable opponent. Who else could it be other than Batman?