Parker chewed his food quietly a minute, glanced at his martini, and frowned. There was nothing left of it but the rocks. He caught a waiter’s attention, motioned to his glass, and continued eating in silence until his refill arrived.
“The part about not leaving home might have to wait,” he muttered half under his breath, taking a deep sip of the cocktail and swallowing the words with it.
Gordian looked at him. “What was that you said?”
Parker flapped a hand in dismissal.
“Time for that later on,” he said quickly. “Right now, I’ll make you a proposition. After we’re done with business here in the capital, I’ll head back home to Saratoga, think about the word that keeps hiding from you,
“Congress.”
Parker shrugged.
“Public service,” he said. “I’m open to broad and innovative suggestions.”
Gordian paused again. Then he reached for his lemon water and held it out across the table.
“Okay, settled,” he said. “Can do.”
They clinked glasses, then sat a moment.
“We should get on to the capital business you mentioned,” Gordian said.
Parker nodded.
“In my opinion, your coming here to make a closing pitch without a whole army of experts was a stroke of inspiration,” he said. “It’s going to make all the difference in the world.”
Gordian smiled. “Dan, we’ve already toasted to our deal—”
“I’m serious,” Parker interrupted. “Sedco’s about oil. It’s no insult to my fellow board members to say that’s what interests them. What they know. They’ve read the UpLink prospectus, the analyses and recommendations prepared by our advisory panel. They don’t need technical lectures on the ins and outs of fiberoptic communications. They don’t even have to appreciate all their properties, advantages, and capabilities. It’s enough for them to understand offshore drilling operations are becoming more computerized practically every day, and that high data transmission from the rigs to our onshore facilities is a necessity. Wiring up our platforms to your African telecom ring isn’t just to our benefit, it’s inevitable.”
“You’re convinced a majority of the board sees it that way?” Gordian said.
“Totally,” Parker said. “The few fence straddlers or outright dissenters might need some help trusting the rest, and maybe themselves. That’s what
Gordian rubbed his chin. “What’s your slant on them? The possible opposing voters?”
“There aren’t many, for one thing. I’m betting Bill Fredericks will need the most persuasion. With him, resistance to progress is a sort of reflexive crusade. He was a Sedco executive when the fossil fuel we sell was still living plants and protozoa—”
“I think it’s made from plants and bacteria…”
“Protozoa, bacteria, flying aardvarks, what-the-hell-ever,” Parker said. “Point is, Bill seems to be the only member with a problem getting a basic grasp on lightwave systems… which is no shocker to me, having been to his home. Don’t even try bringing up video conferencing to him. His phones have hammer and bell ringers, and I swear to God I saw some with rotary dials. He refuses to use e-mail or even check out the Internet. Mention increased bandwidth, and he thinks it’s got something to do with his wife’s rings and bracelets. Doesn’t see anything wrong with sticking to the marine radio links we’ve been using for decades and probably wonders what the hell’s wrong with using Morse code to contact the mainland.”
Gordian laughed.
“I’ll try to be extra attentive while nursing him along,” he said, and finished his lunch. “Who else?”
“Paul Reidman. He’s savvy. Keen on the corporate security aspect, likes the idea that tapping a data stream carried as pulses of light is a damn hard task, going to be almost impossible when we get to practical photon encoding in the next few years.” Parker sipped his drink. “Reidman can be fiscally myopic, worries about short-term unit costs versus a reasonable investment in the future. But his stinginess cuts both ways. He’s seen the reports showing that postinstallation maintenance of undersea fiber systems is relatively cheap. Average is something like two, three major faults every quarter century, right?”
“Three, according to our preliminary risk assessment,” Gordian said. “We should have an update from Vince Scull soon… he flew out to Gabon separately from the rest of the advance team, but should have joined them by now. Also, we’re in the process of contracting a repair fleet for guaranteed rapid deployment.”
“Stress that to Paul. Remind him that Planetaire already had one of those statistical faults back in May, trimmed your odds some,” Parker said. He saw the wry amusement in Gordian’s face. “What’s to laugh at?”
Gordian shrugged a little.
“I was thinking you truly
Parker was unabashed. “I’m not trying to exploit anybody’s misfortune. Not gleefully anyway. But it’s the kind of market research that can sway Paul.”
Gordian shrugged again.
“I wasn’t being critical,” he said. “Just making an observation.”
“Good, you know how sensitive I am,” Parker said. He eyed the last morsel of his steak. “While we’re on guarantees, give me UpLink’s capacity timetable.”
“We can promise an initial secure multimedia transfer rate of between one and two terrabytes per second. Phone, video, Internet, or any combination thereof. After a year of upgrades we should be up to four terrabytes. By 2005, we can virtually assure you almost ten. Looking at the startup number, Megan Breen’s favorite example is that it’s equivalent to millions of simultaneous telephone calls, a ten-mile high stack of printed material, and twenty feature films.”
“Every second?”
“Right.”
Parker mouthed a silent
“Make sure to refresh Paul about that, too.” He lifted his fork, then noticed Gordian glancing across the table at his plate. “What is it?”
“If Ash were here, she’d tell you to leave the gristle,” he said.
That elicited a snort from Parker. “To which I’d respond that it’s lean gristle.”
Gordian smiled, watching him eat. “All right. I’ve checked off Fredericks and Reidman for extra hand-holding. Any others?”
“You persuade those guys, you’re in crack-dandy shape.”
“Good,” Gordian said. “Then I’ve only got two more things on my mind.”
“Shoot.”
“I’ve wondered about your being taken to the carpet for a perceived conflict of interest.”
“You mean my urging along the fiber installation?” Parker said, and pushed his cleaned-off plate to the side. “That’d be ridiculous. If anything this is a clear instance of
“I know. It’s why I said
“Don’t waste another minute thinking about it, Gord. Our friendship’s no secret. And I don’t believe anybody at Sedco would question my integrity.”
Gordian nodded. “All right, next,” he said, “I want you to explain your half intentional slip up. That comment about how my staying home will have to wait.”
Parker cleared his throat.
“I thought I said later on that one—”
“You did.” Gordian looked at him. “I’m saying give it to me now—”
“Gord—”
“Now, Dan. Your conscience is crying out to you, begging to be heard.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. You wouldn’t have made that blatant fumble unless you wanted me to ask about it.”
Parker sighed.
