Chapter 3

“Brigadier Eppley, how may we help you?” Adele asked after I served drinks and snacks.

“I wanted to pass on some information. The Swiss Air Force also serves as the intelligence branch of the Swiss government,” he said, which got my immediate attention.

“It has been decided that we will not be prosecuting the antivirus thieves in court, diplomatic arrangements are being made for their release.”

“Why is that?” Adele asked.

“Certain threats and promises have been made by members of NATO and the Russians regarding the quiet sweeping under the rug of the attempted thefts.”

“How do you intend to purchase our cooperation in this regard?” Adele asked brilliantly.

“Mr Barkley will be receiving his Swiss citizenship in the next two weeks, the Tschingelspitz solar project will be approved, and every military facility in Switzerland will be ordering rooftop solar, and when available, a two week power backup and storage system using supercapacitors.”

“That’s very nice, but I can tell you want more from us.” Adele continued.

“You are correct Frau Hess, we would like you to purchase Piaggio Aerospace.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“A bankrupt airplane company in Italy that’s wholly owned by the Emirates,” Adele explained, to the Brigadier’s surprise.

“Saudis?” I asked.

“It’s owned by the Abu Dhabi State via one of their investment firms. They’ve been trying to sell it for two years. The company has orders, but no one is willing to loan them money to complete them because they just can’t seem to pay their old debts. No one is eager to buy because most of the current orders are from the Italian government, orders made to make the company look better on paper,” Adele explained.

“Won’t that interfere with any deal we made with Pilatus? We can’t offer exclusivity if we are also using our tech in a wholly owned competitor,” I asked.

“Exclusivity was never really on the table Adam, it was only in opening negotiation. What is Switzerland getting out of this deal?” she said, as she turned to the Brigadier.

“The Italian government is interested in having some of your factories located in their country. In return for Switzerland encouraging your expansion in their direction, there are certain transport and tunnel funding agreements the Italian government is in turn willing to participate in cooperation with Switzerland.”

“What kind of deal will they approve?” Adele asked.

“They are interested in you trying to bring Piaggio back to profitability, but if that doesn’t happen you are welcome to the land and facilities for producing things your company does find profitable. They’re sure any loss of jobs will be replaced by the jobs created by other products your company produces,” he explained.

I pulled up the company on my tablet, they primarily made one plane with a couple variations, and a UAV, an interesting but odd looking thing. I could see that it would be a relatively easy conversion to electric propulsion for both aircraft. I didn’t comment, we weren’t making a decision today. He handed a piece of paper to Adele that made her eyebrows raise.

“This is the offer we have to beat, or the price we are being offered?” she asked.

“Italy also wants to express it’s thanks for the antivirus, and will assure the acquisition at that price. The Emirates will clear the outstanding debts, and all they ask for in return is a quiet donation of antivirus for their top officials.”

She showed me the page which listed every asset being offered, in addition to buildings and equipment, an airport was included as were some properties outside Italy. The price was 350 million euros. The number didn’t mean anything to me, but Adele was experiencing psychological reactions that were unmistakable to my power. She was very interested. Salivatingly interested.

Instead I addressed something else, “Any medication shipped to the Emirates would have to be at the highest levels of discretion and deniability.”

“Of course. A private meeting with an attache to the Ambassador at a time and place of your choosing. They are only requesting a kilo of antivirus powder in payment.”

“We will take that into consideration, of course. There is an additional subject I’d like to discuss. With Switzerland at the center of the graphene technology boom, I’d like to discuss national security.”

His back straightened “Is there a threat?” he asked.

“Not that we are aware of, but there is a newly developed technology. As discussed previously we use a combination of laser and other techniques to bond layers of graphene in a very precise manner. While I have been purchasing industrial lasers for the BSB, that’s my Big Structure Building, where I created the PC-24 airframe, I’ve also been working on a very obscure theory from a now deceased Russian mathematician on chemically powered solid state lasers.”

His eyebrows twisted as he tried to conceptualize a chemically powered solid state laser. An oxymoron if there ever was one.

“What application do you see for these lasers?”

“Everything from anti-tank to anti-aircraft.”

“What power output have you achieved?”

“Gigawatt to terawatt range output for durations of over a second.”

He laughed. I was worried for a moment, until he finally calmed down. “Her Barkley that is the funniest thing I’ve heard all year.”

I pulled a weapon from a holster, and set it on the table. Adele was startled by its sudden presence. I had whispered to her that I intended to talk to the Brigadier about laser weaponry but she hadn’t known I was wearing a working model.

The pistol shaped device was made of gleaming chromed steel, and a bit of black rubber for the grip. It looked impossibly small and deadly. He leaned over to look, but didn’t reach for it.

“This is a three shot pistol. Each shot produces a not quite 25 gigawatt pulse of coherent light, for 1 thousandth of a second.

“Whatever you do, don’t test it indoors,” I told him, sliding it towards him.

He sat back, trying to get as far away from it as he could. “Herr Barkley, I believe you might be serious, but there is no way that a chemical reaction is going to make that kind of power, from something that small. This is a nuclear weapon level of energy release.”

I smiled, and shrugged, “I would expect most military men to get excited at a laser pistol. You are correct, the description is entirely inadequate.”

“Based on its size, I’d have to guess antimatter.”

“You are very well educated, Brigadier. It is a mass to energy conversion, 1 gram bullets to be exact, nearly 100% efficiency.”

“Something like this could get you thrown into a deep dark hole where you could never expect to escape, if not outright killed. The shift in the balance of power this would cause! Is it technically difficult to produce?”

“Harder than sustained fusion power,” I assured him.

“I don’t believe you wish to start an arms race, or trigger a preemptive strike against us for possessing this technology.”

“No, most definitely not. But I also see a country surrounded by a United Europe. I applaud Swiss neutrality, but if the country is secure then I can feel comfortable developing vehicles using a mass to energy reaction to propel themselves into space.