Chapter 30

“Mister Goldman? Senator Byington would like to speak to you if you have a moment.”

“Certainly, I’ve always got time for the Senator! Put him on.” Sol’s first thought was that this was another effort to get him to increase his donations, either to the senator’s campaign or to his party. He resolved to say no this time; after all, what had the senator done for him lately?

“Sol, how are you? I just wanted you to know I haven’t forgotten about that request we talked about. I wanted to let you know that I’ve finally gotten a response, actually three of them. The agencies are willing to help, but at the moment their hands are tied. Legally, there doesn’t seem to be anything they can do because that company you mentioned is now a holding company. They’re not selling anything, at least not yet; all they’re doing is spending money. It’s legal too, they’ve crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s. I know the company contacted DARPA, but the Defense Department people dug in their heels when Transportation and the FAA sent them a request for information.

“I reckon it might be time to rein them in, the Defense people I mean, because they’ve got so many fingers in so many pies that it might be difficult. A lot of companies, some in my state, are manufacturing everything from trucks to MRE’s, so I’ve got to be careful. Anyway, it looks like our best approach is to watch and jump in as soon as there’s an opening. I’ll know when they start selling whatever it is they’re making and I’ll be ready to call for hearings. The Marines want them to build assault craft, I’ve found out that much, and as soon as they sign the contract I’ll have a reason to subpoena the company officials. It’ll slow them down, maybe even stop them. Transportation is also looking into what they’re doing, so are the aviation people, and we’re bound to find something. If we can throw enough obstacles in their way, they might just give up and quit. Maybe sell off whatever they’ve been doing if it looks like they won’t be making any money. If that happens and you decide to invest, I might be interested too, so don’t forget to let me know before you finalize any deals.”

“Senator, you called me up to tell me that maybe sometime you could actually get results? But so far, you’ve accomplished nothing?”

“Well, it’s not like that, Sol,” the senator argued, “these things take time, and if we move too fast we’ll get nowhere. There’s an election next year you know, and if we call hearings about nothing that will hurt the party. I don’t have that much of a margin myself, not the way the polls are trending, so I have to be careful about how I do this. I just wanted you to know I haven’t forgotten about that talk we had.”

“I’d have been happier if you had actual results to report, Senator!”

“I expect to have that information in due time, Sol. Anyway, there was one more matter I wanted to mention...”

“Excuse me, senator; I’m at a board meeting, so I’ll have to get back to you later.” There was a click in the headset, then a dial tone.

Senator Byington looked at the handset in amazement. Sol Goldman had just hung up on a United States Senator!

“I think it’s worth developing the orbital refueling station,” Frenchy said. “The wind generator costs are coming in about as expected, but the PV system cost considerably less than what we budgeted. Anyway, I’ve been running cost estimates and I think we can handle it after the DARPA money is paid. The contract will be for the people mover and the freight hauler, ten units each to start, and the contract is fat. It’s not a done deal yet, not signed, but I’ve had a back-channel message from DARPA. They’re going to approve the proposal and we’ll be getting a considerable amount of up-front money from them.”

“What about the idea of vertical integration, keeping our device in-house?”

“I thought about that. I agree, it’s something we need to do, but right now we can’t afford it. We’re not selling them the devices, Chuck, we’ll operate and maintain them ourselves. That’s part of the contract, since we’re the only ones with trained people. There will be a contract manager, I was thinking you might want to handle that, and the rest of the employees will be classified as field engineers. Some of our factory employees have been complaining about the long hours, so I intend to offer them jobs on this contract if they’re interested in switching. The targeted services will provide support troops for the user test, people to fill sandbags and such, but we won’t be involved with that. Our only job is to provide machines and people to operate them and keep them maintained. Most of the testing will be done at White Sands, but the over-water tests might require us setting up a branch office in San Diego. When we’re ready, the Marines will furnish troops from Camp Pendleton and the Navy will provide a ship from Naval Base San Diego. The idea is that we load marines on board the transporter, launch from inside the navy ship, and convey them ashore to a location on Camp Pendleton. The reservation has a lot of beaches, I’m told. But that won’t start for about a year, not until the testing at White Sands is complete. The DARPA people tend to be thorough, and that takes time.”

“It really doesn’t matter, Frenchy. Government troops will provide security around the equipment, officers will be filing reports. The secret won’t be a secret long.”

“I decided it was worth taking the chance, Chuck. It’s the only way we can put those refueling stations in orbit, and without those the contract we’re negotiating with the Japanese won’t be doable. I think we have to try this.”

“You’re the majority stockholder, Frenchy. Considering that you also vote Will’s shares and some of the other shareholders’ holdings too, you’ve got roughly 60% of the stock.”

“I’ve got more than that, Chuck. I bought out some of the other investors. They got nervous at spending all that money with no return, so I got their shares at a discount. I now own 42.3% of the stock outright. You and Will own the next biggest chunks, our original group of engineers own the rest. Will’s given me his proxy, so yes, I do vote the majority of the shares. I hoped you’d support me in this.”

“I don’t think I’m willing to oppose you. Grandpa’s idea was to get the invention developed first, make money from it second so I can’t complain about providing lifters to DARPA. Still, I hope we’re not doing the wrong thing.”

“Dolph convinced me,” Frenchy said. “No one will really be able to compete with us in space, at least no one who doesn’t have the backing of a major national economy. China might be able to, Russia probably couldn’t. Both are huge, but at the same time their economies are fragile. Russia’s economy is based on selling commodities, not products, and they took a big hit when the price of oil tanked. Sorry about the pun, but you understand what I mean. As for China, they’ve got a huge economy but it’s weak. The interior is still poor and largely undeveloped, so their economy is really based on what happens in the coastal cities. They’ve also got a problem with housing, as well as a large financial bubble that could bust any time. They might want to move into space, but they won’t be getting there first. Meantime, they’ve got a very antsy bunch of neighbors to deal with, people who claim some of the same territory that China does. Militarily, I don’t see them trying to move in on us. If we build a dozen refueling stations, financed by contracts to move industrial waste off-planet, we’ll own the near-space infrastructure. There’s also this to consider; would South Korea or Japan prefer to do business with China or with us?”

“I hope you’re right,” said Chuck. “So the plan is to begin building adapted versions of the King for DARPA, one that’s hollow in the middle and one that looks like a capital H?”

“Right, we build the frames, buy the computer control units off the shelf—it’s the programming that’s important, not what platform it runs on—and then do final assembly either here at the plant or down south at White Sands. I don’t intend to install the impellers until everything is ready, including having our operation and maintenance team on hand ready to go. We need to hire more people, and I’ve already got ads running. This gives me enough lead time to check out applicants. The first group will be operators, not mechanics, and we’ll train them using the King. As soon as we get the initial payment for the DARPA contract, we start buying the materials for the refueling station. As for the DARPA contract, Joe tells me we’ve got enough aluminum on hand to build the first few frames. We used mostly titanium on the ship, so the scrap aluminum panels and frame members are in the shed, the one where the ranch hands stored hay for the dairy-cattle feeder operation.”

“I didn’t know that. I knew you were buying usable scrap, but as for storing it—”