“I think it’s a tremendous idea if we can swing it. If I can get it past the Prime Minister.”
“Will Rob go along, though, MinChao?”
“He might. He’s very concerned, they are brushing his concerns aside, and he will be more than a little angry when the effort fails. One way for him to fix the problem is to sell the whole thing off. He can lay off those involved by terminating the program. If he tries to restart the same project, everyone currently working on it now will be in place to mess it up again.”
“That’s infuriating.”
“Yes, Jessica. But it also represents an opportunity. If we buy the project essentially as scrap, and we make it work, we own hyperspace travel.”
“Do you think we will be the only planet with hyperspace travel, MinChao?”
“Yes, actually, I do.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because we haven’t seen anyone else yet, Jessica. No one has shown up here to say Hello. And the other reason is even stronger.”
“What’s that?”
“We have JieMin. His talents are surely an anomaly.”
The Prime Minister And The Bureaucrat
The prime minister of Arcadia, Robert Milbank, received a meeting request from Chen MinChao that afternoon. The request noted that Jessica Chen-Jasic would also attend.
It must be something big for both members of the power couple that headed up the wealthiest and most politically connected family on the planet to attend.
Most government leaders would probably consider whether or not to grant such a request, and, if granted, the meeting would be at the government’s facilities, with various sycophants in attendance.
But Milbank had done business with the Chen family before he had entered government. He had been friends with Chen MinChao and his wife back in those simpler times. And he had met with them several times since both he and they had risen to their current positions.
Best to have the meeting at their facility, Milbank thought. Of course, it would be recorded. But, at least in their case, he knew the recording would be kept private.
He could guarantee no such thing in a government facility.
Milbank arrived at the Chen apartment building that served as the family’s headquarters the next afternoon at three. He and his aide were driven there in an armored limousine with driver and bodyguard, with a follow-up security car.
What nonsense. Who would try to kill him? Who even knew he would be here, to set up such an attempt in advance?
The security people piled out of the follow-up car.
“Remain here.”
“But, sir,...”
“If anyone kills a guest of Chen Zufu on Chen family property, they will be hunted down like animals. They are prepared to be much more ruthless than you can be. So stay here. You don’t want to be in their way.”
“Yes, sir.”
For that matter, Milbank figured he was in more danger from elements within his own government than anyone else. The bureaucracy resented political leaders for having opinions about how the government should be run, and he’d probably pissed off more of them than most prime ministers.
“The Prime Minister, Chen Zufu, Chen Zumu.”
“Send him in, JuMing,” MinChao said.
Milbank entered MinChao’s tea room. He had been here several times before. The beautiful day streamed light in from the garden through the large teak-beamed doorway. Seated on the other side of a low table were Chen MinChao and Jessica Chen-Jasic both. MinChao wore a lavalava, while Jessica wore a silk robe decorated with silk dragons.
“Hello, Rob,” MinChao said. “Please have a seat.”
Milbank sat on the pillow facing them across the low table.
“MinChao. Jessica. It’s good to see you both again.”
“Thank you for coming, Rob,” Jessica said. “We expected to go to see you at your offices.”
An attractive young woman came in, wearing only a lavalava, and poured tea, for Milbank first, then Jessica, then MinChao. She stood and withdrew. Aware of the protocol, Milbank sipped his tea first.
“You gave me an excuse to fly the coop this afternoon, Jessica. It is much homier here. Safer, too, I suspect, for having a confidential conversation. You didn’t say what you wanted to discuss, but I have some guesses.”
“We are concerned about the direction of the hyperspace probe project,” MinChao said.
“I guessed right,” Milbank said. “Although when you talk about the direction of the project, you could be speaking about the path the project is taking or the management directing it.”
“In this case, both meanings are probably appropriate,” MinChao said. “We believe the project will likely fail, because of the path chosen by those managing the project.”
Milbank nodded.
“I have picked up some rumblings about a controversy in the project,” he said. “Something about whether the field generator can be turned off in hyperspace or not. Is that it?”
“Yes, that’s it,” MinChao said. “Professor Chen JieMin believes that hyperspace will vaporize the probe if the field generator is turned off, while Dr. Huenemann has ignored his advice and plans to turn the field generator off between transitioning into and out of hyperspace.”
“Dr. Huenemann’s position, as I understand it,” Milbank said, “is that Professor Chen is a mathematician, and his insight in the matter is not relevant, while the power consumption of the field generator is considerable. He worries about burning out the unit before it can transition back.”
“Rob,” Jessica said, “you should know that Professor Chen’s mathematics is just a method for describing the things he sees in his mind. Considering him a mathematician only, without insight into the physical world, is a judgment error. Secondly, he is the one who first saw hyperspace in his mind and formalized the mathematics from that insight. Finally, I would think that, for a first probe, keeping the field generator operating for one second before transitioning back would be the safe play if there were any doubt.”
Milbank sighed.
“I understand,
