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  Vaz said, “Which one do you think I should work on first?”

  “Oh... Definitely the low-power fusion. Maybe I could work on designing the personal flyer?” she said wistfully, eyes still focused on that screen.

  Vaz hesitated. He looked uncomfortable, “Okay. Don’t forget that you promised to do the precipitations for the big saucer though.”

  Tiona laughed at his transparent worry, “Sure Dad. After our meeting you can tell me how you were planning to precipitate membranes in something that big, then I’ll start figuring out how to organize a team to do it?”

  “Meeting?”

  “Yes Dad, remember? We’re meeting with General Cooper, Dr. Eisner and Nolan at two.”

  Vaz got a mulish look on his face…

  ***

  As he walked up to the door of the Gettnors’ house, the house AI said, “Hello General Cooper. You may come in, Tiona is expecting you.”

  The door was unlocked, so he opened it and stepped in. Tiona came around the corner wearing snug jeans and a cute little tank top. Cooper tried to keep his eyes from widening. She looked a lot better than she had that morning. She grimaced, “Come on in, but I’m afraid we have a problem.”

  “Problem?”

  She grimaced, “My dad. He doesn’t want to meet. Says he’s okay with whatever I decide.”

  Cooper frowned, “I thought he agreed to meet?”

  Tiona quirked an embarrassed grin, “He pointed out that he didn’t object when I told him you wanted to come over. However, he didn’t actually agree to meet or talk either.”

  Frustrated, Cooper said, “It’s not so much that we need him to decide anything. What I’m hoping is that he can help us figure out how the thrusters might be used as weapons. Especially if he has any ideas how weaponization could be prevented.”

  The house AI announced, “Dr. Eisner and Mr. Marlowe have arrived.”

  “Let them in,” Tiona said absently to the AI as she got up and started moving toward the front door. Over her shoulder to Cooper she said, “Okay, I’ll try to talk to him about it again, but he really doesn’t want to.”

  A minute later, Tiona led Eisner and Marlowe into the room. Marlowe looked completely unsettled by Tiona’s appearance. Cooper thought that, so far, the young man hadn’t seen anything else in the house. He wondered if it were just admiration of her looks or could Marlowe be in love with the girl?

  Eisner, on the other hand, was looking around and Cooper could practically hear him thinking, “A multibillionaire lives here?!” Cooper himself had been struck by just how ordinary the Gettnors’ house seemed. Not at all what he’d expected for a multibillionaire.

  Tiona welcomed them all, offered refreshments which everyone declined, and then turned to Cooper once again, “I’ll go down and try to talk him into it. Wish me luck.”

  Cooper turned to the other two men and began outlining his concerns about the possibility of using thrusters to make kinetic energy weapons out of small asteroids.

  Tiona came back out of the basement wearing an expression of both irritation and amusement. “He says he’s not a weapons expert. I told him about your concerns General Cooper, about asteroid impacts, weapon delivery and weapon platforms. He says he doesn’t have any other ideas and that the best way to prevent asteroid impacts would be to use thrusters to push them aside. Same thing for weapons and weapon platforms.” She sighed, “He isn’t usually this bad, but he has a bunch of projects going on that he’s really interested in. So, not only would he have to talk to a bunch of strangers, but he’d have to leave his little projects.” She shrugged, “I’m really sorry you came all the way over here for nothing.”

  “Well,” Cooper said, “we can still have our little meeting. In fact, we’d just as well have it here so if we have a question we’d like to ask him, maybe you could go down and present it to him.” Cooper had a thought. He’d gotten the impression that people like Dr. Gettnor sometimes really liked telling people about the things that interested them. “Would he let us tour his lab?”

  Although he knew better, Bob Eisner descended the stairs into the Gettnors’ lab still expecting a dark basement with a crazed scientist in a dirty lab coat wearing strange headgear. Reality couldn’t have been any different. Brightly lit, the lab was compulsively organized and so clean he couldn’t help but think it was just a display rather than a working research facility. Other than a central working area, the lab was packed with enviably state of the art equipment.

  Incongruously, in the back corner hung a pair of light boxing gloves, a heavy bag and a speed bag. There was a small fridge, a microwave, and a hook with a couple sets of clothes on hangers. Overhead, he saw a pull-up bar with some handgrips for doing push-ups hung over it. It’s like the guy lives down here!

  Gettnor was just as odd as Eisner had thought back when he’d seen him at the thruster patent meeting with the lawyers. Gettnor took them around the lab enthusiastically describing the equipment, but without ever looking anyone in the eye.

  When he got to the other end of the lab, he paused for a moment as if uncertain, then opened a pair of doors into an extension of the laboratory that had to be twice as big as the section they’d been in! Eisner blinked as he looked around. He felt certain that the lab was bigger than the house it was under! It must extend out under the yard somehow.

  When it looked like Gettnor was about to describe the use of each machine in the lab extension, General Cooper gently interrupted him. “Thank you very much Dr. Gettnor. You don’t need to explain everything down here. We just wanted to get a general understanding and greatly appreciate your showing us around. We’re going to be upstairs trying to talk about how the thrusters might pose a danger. Before we go, can you make any comments on how they might be used as weapons?”

  Gettnor didn’t look at anyone, keeping his gaze focused on the floor. Enough time passed that Eisner didn’t think Gettnor was going to respond to the query, but then he said quietly, “Almost anything can be a weapon.”

  Cooper frowned, then said, “How do you mean?”

  “Wheat flour, suspended in air, is explosive. You could build a small bomb in the kitchen with a Mason jar, a bit of flour, a battery, and some wire. A hack of your car’s AI could send it crashing into someone’s house.” He paused for a moment, then shrugged, “A thruster with a powerful battery and an AI controller could fly silently and slowly into proximity of a target, then accelerate to kill someone by kinetic energy transfer.” He paused for a long time while everyone else looked at one another with raised eyebrows, then continued, “There are so many ways thrusters could be used as weapons that your question just doesn’t make sense.”

  Having said that, Gettnor turned, sat in the big chair in front of the wall covered with monitor screens and started talking quietly to his AI. Eisner started to step forward with a question, but Tiona waved to catch his attention, then shook her head. Without saying anything, Tiona ushered them all to the stairs and up out of the basement. “Sorry,” she said, “When he’s acting like that, there isn’t any point trying to talk to him.”

  Wow, Eisner thought, talk about your proverbial tortured genius…

  ***

  Kwon Hyuk Eun’s heart thumped in his chest. It felt like he’d been running, though he’d only been following his Bureau Chief through the halls at a walking pace. He had no idea why they’d been called before the supreme leader, but such calls were so dreaded that he’d had to urinate four times in the thirty minutes since they’d gotten the call.

  Ever since he’d been assigned to the palace, Kwon had been worried that he might somehow encounter the supreme leader. He’d felt fairly safe as a junior member of the News Bureau. After all, his only job was to find international stories on the net which might interest the supreme leader and bring them to his manager. Bureau Chief Park was the one who had to actually decide which stories would be placed in the précis delivered to the supreme leader.

  Limited to two pages, the précis had to contain e
verything the supreme leader might think was important and nothing that he would find uninteresting. Kwon thought that making decisions about what actually went in the précis was giving Bureau Chief Park an ulcer.

  For instance, two days ago Bureau Chief Park had vacillated for several hours about whether or not to put the story about the American rescue of their astronauts from an asteroid in the précis. The supreme leader did have an interest in space exploration, but did not like reading about American success. This space rescue apparently involved some kind of new technology. The supreme leader loved technology, often going to great lengths to obtain the latest high-tech devices for his personal use, even when it required circumventing his own laws regarding importation from proscribed nations. This new technology, however, appeared to be so new that no one really understood it, much less had it for sale. Eventually Bureau Chief Park had decided that the story shouldn’t go in the supreme leader’s précis.

  Kwon worried that their summons had something to do with the asteroid rescue story because he was the one who’d brought it to the bureau chief and he’d been called too. He and Bureau Chief Park had had little interaction in the past two weeks other than for their extensive discussion of this particular story. He couldn’t imagine why else he’d been summoned to see the supreme leader with Bureau Chief Park if it didn’t have something to do with the asteroid rescue story.

  When they arrived at the supreme leader’s office they were patted down as Kwon had been told was normal. Kwon’s stomach really began to churn however, when he realized that the people in the room were avoiding looking at him. It wasn’t the normal cultural tendency to avoid eye contact, instead it was as if everyone there were pretending he and Bureau Chief Park didn’t even exist.

  Then, with a hand motion, a secretary led them in to see the supreme leader. Kwon didn’t look at the supreme leader. In his society you didn’t look anyone in the eye who ranked even one iota above you. Certainly, no one looked the supreme leader in the eye. No one even wanted to glance close to the supreme leader’s eyes for fear he might think he was being challenged!

  Kwon and his bureau chief stood there silently for what seemed like several hours, but probably was only about ten minutes. Kwon urgently felt like he had to go to the bathroom again and worried that he would urinate in his pants—even though he rationally knew there couldn’t be more than a few drops in his bladder. Finally, he heard the supreme leader’s voice, “Park, why did I learn about the Americans’ new space technology from General Lee?”

  Though the supreme leader did not sound angry, Kwon knew this meant little. As Bureau Chief Park tried to explain, supreme leader Kim rose from his chair and walked around to their side of the table. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the bureau chief’s hand begin trembling. Park’s explanation became halting and his voice broke several times.

  There was a deafening bang and Bureau Chief Park fell to the floor, his limbs thrashing about and, from the smell, his bowels voiding. Kwon smelled gun smoke. A twitch of Kwon’s eyes showed him a bullet hole in the side of Park’s head.

  Kwon thought of Park’s wife and children. Then he thought of his own.

  The supreme leader said, “Kwon, I hear that you recommended the story of the asteroid rescue for my précis?”

  Agitatedly, Kwon nodded, “Yes Supreme Leader.”

  “Okay, you’re in charge of the précis from here on out.” He paused to nudge Park with a toe, then said. “I hope you do a better job than Park.”

  ***

  Dante’s AI said, “You have a call from Tiona.”

  “I’ll take it… Hey Tiona, my newsfeed says you’re an astronaut?!”

  “Yeah,” she almost sighed, “imagine that, your little sister’s an astronaut. Have you gotten the real story from anyone yet? It’s not as sweet as they’re making it out to be in the news.”

  “Yeah, I talked to Mom. She told me about your unauthorized flight, getting shot at by some general, and Mom and Dad having to go into hiding. You sure live an exciting life!”

  Tiona gave what sounded like a forced chuckle, “It’s like that Chinese curse about interesting times.”

  “So what’d you call for? Just to bring me up to date? Casual conversation?” He and his sister Tiona were good friends and got along well, but most of their communication occurred at family gatherings. They didn’t call one another very often.

  “Nope. I called you on business, you being a businessman and all. How are you liking your job? The VC field everything you hoped it would be?”

  “Okaay,” he said cautiously. “What kind of business?”

  “Well, you might have picked up from the news that our spacecraft is based on some new technology?”

  “You mean the flying saucer?”

  “Spacecraft, Dante, spacecraft. Just because it’s shaped like a saucer and flies doesn’t mean you want to apply such a plebeian appellation to it. Especially, if you’re the businessman representing it.”

  “Really?! I thought it belonged to the University?”

  “Well, it does. The University owns 56 percent of the patent and Dad has thirty.”

  “Who’s got the last 14%?”

  “Well, the University does, but they owe me 20 percent of their part or 14 percent of the total. I was happy enough with the University having that high a percentage and licensing it until the University’s Chancellor pissed me off. Now they’ve got a problem in the sense that Dad also has the right to build and sell thrusters if he wants, as long as he pays them their share of the royalties.”

  Dante slowly and a little suspiciously said, “That doesn’t sound like something Dad would like to do?”

  “You’re right, he doesn’t, but I thought you might like to. At the very least, he’s building a big spacecraft just ‘cause he wants to and, assuming it works, he’s hoping you’ll sell it to NASA for him.”

  “So… we’d be going into business in competition with whomever the university licenses it to?”

  Dante could almost hear Tiona’s grin through the connection, “Well, in theory, yes. The university’s problem is that they don’t really know how to make the thrusters that the spacecraft is based on. Now, they might figure it out, given time, but the actual parameters for making and powering them are pretty complex. I stumbled over them by accident, but it might take years for someone else to figure them out.”

  “Wait, doesn’t the guy who was in charge of your lab know how to make them? Dr. somebody? I heard you talk about him in your press conference.”

  “Dr. Eisner? Yeah, he’s not too happy with the University either. Well, actually the chancellor’s the irritating one, not the University itself. Anyway, Dr. Eisner doesn’t actually know the parameters. I was working with him on his superconduction project when the membranes I’d been making started acting weird—at least partly because of some mistakes in my set-up. Dad’s the one that recognized the weirdness was more important than what we were trying to do. While Dr. Eisner’s the one most likely to be able to figure out how to replicate the thrusters, I’ve asked him and he’s just as happy for us to sell them as the University.”

  “‘Us’ meaning you and me?”

  “‘Us’ meaning us Gettnors.”

  “So,” Dante said uncertainly, “Dad and the University share a patent on a technology that only you and Dad actually know how to build. Why not just license it to some big company?”

  “Hmmm, ‘cause I thought my big brother was ambitious. I thought he wanted to be a captain of industry and might jump at the chance to actually found a whole new industry. I thought he had big balls.” Her tone became forlorn, “But, I guess I’ll just have to start talking to some big companies and…”

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute! At least take me up for a ride in your flying saucer before you make me decide. Besides, what’s wrong with ovaries?”

  Tiona barked a laugh. “Nothin’ wrong with ovaries, as long as they’re big ovaries, just like those big balls I was talking about.
You wanna go up tonight? The spacecraft’s in the garage and I’d rather not take it out during the day. People would see it and know where it is.”

  “The garage!” Dante laughed, “The invention of the decade and you’re keeping it in a garage?”

  “Invention of the century big brother, invention of the century…”

  ***

  Jong Wan-Li pulled into the unassuming North Raleigh neighborhood, tired from the drive down from DC. At first he’d been angry when they’d pulled him off his previous assignment, though of course he would never have protested. When he’d learned that this new assignment was at the personal behest of the supreme leader, his bowels had initially turned to water. If he failed; he, his wife, and his child would all go to the labor camps, probably with his parents.

  Rather, at the very least they would be sent to the camps. They might also be killed in whatever brutal fashion the supreme leader favored at present.

  During the long drive, Jong had searched the net for information on these Gettnors. The father had apparently invented the new fusion power plants that were all the rage, so Jong had expected them to be living in one of the mansions that rich Americans favored. Now he wondered if he had the right address. The houses here were very ordinary.

  Adding to his suspicion, he didn’t see a crowd of reporters. He thought reporters usually camped out at the houses of the famous here in America. He didn’t know that the newspeople had been there. They’d given up in disgust after hours of watching the house, but not even being able to tell if anyone was at home. No one came or went. Nothing moved in the windows. No story, no reporters.

  Jong checked the time, his contact was late. He said, “AI, tell me again who it is that I’m supposed to meet and then connect me with them.”

  “Your contact is Stillman Davis. I’m working on a connection.”