by Bova, Ben
Grinning back at the governor, Dan replied, “They needed the cash. Budget deficits and all that. But it still wasn’t easy. I had to sweet-talk sixteen different staffs of bureaucrats to let me use the old Wynne ranch property.”
Scanwell shook his head. “I caught a lot of flak over that when I ran for reelection.”
“But Calhoun County voted for you very solidly,” Dan countered. “They appreciate the new jobs.”
“How many engineers do you have down there?”
“It’s not just the engineers. It’s the people who run the new ferry. And the motel. And the truck drivers and road crews and building trades people. They all vote, and they all like the paychecks they’re getting.”
“But how did you ever get it past my environmental protection people?”
Dan’s smile widened. “Governor, NASA’s big Kennedy Space Center sits right alongside the Cape Canaveral National Wildlife Reserve. Launching rockets doesn’t bother the pelicans.”
Scanwell cocked his head slightly to one side. “Well maybe so. Still, you must be a very convincing guy … .”
“Dan can be extremely convincing,” Jane said without a smile, “when he wants to be.”
“Jane’s been telling me about your project,” Scanwell said.
“I’ll be frank with you, Governor,” Dan said. “My company’s in deep financial trouble.”
Scanwell nodded sympathetically. “So I hear.”
“But if I can make it work,” Dan went on, “if I can start to deliver electrical power from the satellite, it will change the energy picture for America. For the whole world.”
“That’s a big if, though, isn’t it?”
“Not as far as the technology is concerned. We know how to make the satellite work. It’s the economics that’s a bitch.”
Scanwell laughed. “Isn’t it always?”
Jane said, “Energy independence could be a major part of Morgan’s campaign.”
Morgan, Dan thought. She calls him by his first name.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Scanwell said, his brows knitting. “Making energy independence a major campaign issue will mean the oil interests line up solidly against me. A lot of money there.”
“And power,” Dan agreed.
“You’ve fought against them before,” Jane pointed out. “And won.”
Scanwell grinned forlornly. “Yeah, I squeaked past ’em for governor. But Garrison and his people will work their butts off against me now.”
“Garrison?” Dan asked. Then he realized that of course Garrison of Tricontinental Oil would be against any candidate who threatened his power.
“It’ll be tough, but I’m willing to slug it out with them,” said the governor, “if I can show that we have a practical alternative to importing foreign oil.”
Kinsky offered, “Well, I think we can help you there. Solar power satellites could play a major role in making America independent of overseas oil.”
“That so?” Scanwell asked, looking squarely at Dan.
“Yes, it is, Governor. With power satellites and nuclear plants we—”
“People are scared of nuclear,” the governor objected.
Dan groused, “Yeah, they’d rather have blackouts.”
“Power satellites don’t present any environmental problems,” Kinsky said, trying to bring the conversation back on point. “It’s solar energy. Nobody’s scared of solar energy.”
“But you’re in trouble now,” Scanwell said to Dan.
“Deep trouble,” Dan admitted. “To be perfectly honest, I need all the help I can get, Governor.”
Before Scanwell could reply, Jane said, “The support of a major presidential candidate would help you to raise money, wouldn’t it?”
Dan nodded warily. “Sure, once your campaign gets underway. Problem is, I need help now.”
“And a promise of government funding after Morgan’s elected,” Jane added. “That would be even better in the long run, wouldn’t it?”
“Wellll,” Dan said, drawing out the word, “government funding could be a two-edged sword.”
Scanwell’s brows knit in puzzlement.
Kinsky jumped in, “What Dan means—”
“What I mean is that federal funding will bring all sorts of government oversight and red tape. NASA will want to run the show. Every congressional committee this side of the Moon will want to stick their fingers in.”
Jane looked nettled, but Scanwell broke into a big grin. “You’re completely right But what else could the government do to help you, once I’m elected?”
Hunching forward in his chair, Dan said, “Offer backing for loans. The same way the government did for Lockheed and Chrysler when they were in trouble.”
“That was a long time ago,” Jane said.
“Loan guarantees,” Scanwell mused, glancing at her.
“It won’t cost the taxpayers a cent,” Dan said. “The federal government just guarantees that any loans to Astro Corporation will be backed by the U.S. Treasury. Wall Street will do the rest.”
“Do you think you could raise the capital you need to finish the project?” Jane asked.
“From the private money markets, yes, sure. If the government guarantees the loans.”
“But what, if you fail?” Scanwell asked.
“That’s not the problem,” Dan countered. “The problem is that we need money now. With all due respect, Governor, I can’t wait until your campaign starts. Or until you’re in the White House. I have a payroll to meet and a powersat to put into operation. Right now.”
Scanwell stared into Dan’s eyes for a long silent moment, as if trying to see what was going on in his mind.
“You need funding to tide you over,” he murmured at last.
“’That’s the size of it,” said Dan.
Jane said, “It could bring national media attention to you, Morgan. A bold new idea. A new way to unleash the power of American industry in space. The road to energy independence. It could get you the kind of attention that you need.”
“The oil interests won’t like it,” Scanwell murmured.
“They’ll accept it if we play our cards right,” Jane said. “We can show that it’s the patriotic thing to do.”
The governor made a pained smile. “They’re not patriots, Jane. The oil industry isn’t American; it has no loyalty to any nation.”
“Oil money funds terrorism,” said Kinsky.
“That’s why we need power satellites,” Dan said. “To cut down their power over us.”
Scanwell nodded slowly, yet Dan could see the question that still lingered in his eyes: But what if you fail?
“We can do it,” Dan repeated. “If I can just get the money to move ahead before I have to shut down the whole operation.”
The governor got to his feet and stuck his hand out. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Dan. Let me see what my people can come up with. I’ll get back to you in a few days.”
Standing, Dan took his extended hand. “I appreciate anything you can do, Governor.”
Dan knew he was being dismissed. He glanced toward Jane but she refused to meet his eyes.
Scanwell looked almost embarrassed. Without releasing Dan’s hand, the governor said, “Uh, come on over here with me for a minute, will you, Dan?”
Dan allowed the governor to lead him into the suite’s spacious bedroom. The bed was neatly made; there was no sign of clothing or luggage in sight.
Nudging the door shut, Scanwell said, “Dan, Jane’s told me what you two meant to each other years ago.”
Surprised, Dan didn’t know what to reply.
“Do you still love her?”
Dan nodded dumbly, not trusting himself to say what he truly felt.
Scanwell’s craggy face edged into a rueful smile. “Well, I do, too, you know. She means the world to me.”
“More than the White House?” Dan blurted.
The smile faded. “I sure hope I never have to choose between them.�
�
Damn! thought Dan. Why’s he have to be so goddamned honest? This’d be a lot easier if he was a sonofabitch.
MATAGORDA ISLAND, TEXAS
It took an effort for Dan to keep his mind on business. Scanwell loves Jane, he kept thinking. And she’s right there, by his side almost every day, while I’m down here trying to sort out the wreckage.
“So was it sabotage or not?” Dan snapped.
Tenny, seated backward on a chair with his chin resting on his hairy forearms, hiked his dark brows at his boss’s impatience. “I’m damned sure it was. But I can’t prove a friggin’ thing.”
Dan got up from his desk chair and walked to the window. Down on the hangar floor a dozen men and women were still moving among the twisted bits of wreckage, more than half of them in blue work shirts with FAA or NTSB stenciled on their backs.
“They’re never going to leave, are they?” he muttered.
“Federal employees, boss,” said Tenny. “They can spend another year on this.”
“While we go broke.”
“That’s not their concern.”
Turning back to the engineer, Dan blurted, “Joe, what the hell do we do? Tell Passeau about it? Call the FBI? What?”
“Passeau’s coming around to the sabotage idea on his own. Give him another couple days.”
“And then what?”
“Then he’ll call the FBI, I guess.”
“And then what?”
Tenny shrugged. “They find the skunk in the woodworks.”
Heading back to his desk, Dan said, “Joe, I want a list from you of everybody on our payroll who might have done it. Everybody with the technical smarts to sabotage Hannah’s flight.”
“That’s not gonna do much good, boss. Anybody smart enough to knock off the spaceplane is smart enough not to let us see how smart he is.”
“I still want the list,” Dan said, knowing it was most likely nothing more than busywork.
With a stubborn shake of his head, Tenny replied, “You’re on the wrong track. It isn’t one of our tech people.”
“Says you.”
“Says logic,” Tenny snapped. “Remember logic? Thinking with your brain instead of your glands?”
Dan plopped down in his desk chair and waited for the engineer to continue.
“If it was a spurious command to the thruster that caused the crash, it had to come from a ground station or a plane in flight along the reentry ground track. That means outside people. People who are organized. People who have high-tech toys to work with.”
“Not one of our employees?”
“Our people were all here, Dan, on the job. Everybody in their places with bright shining faces.”
“So how’d the bastards get our command codes?”
Tenny grimaced. “Bribery. Blackmail. Threats. How the hell do I know.”
“You’re saying that somebody in the company sold the command codes to an outsider.”
“Or gave them. Maybe under duress.”
“Who in the Seven Cities of Cíbola could it be?”
“Anybody who had access to the codes. Not just techies, either. Secretaries. Cleaning crew. Anybody.”
Dan huffed out a breath. “That’s a big help.”
“That’s the facts, boss.”
“They’d have to know the ground track of the reentry path, too. And the timeline. They’d have to know where the plane was when it started its reentry maneuver.”
Tenny’s brows rose. “Right! Now you’re starting to think.” “So whoever sold us out had to be somebody with access to the command codes and access to the flight’s timeline and ground track.”
“That narrows it down,” Tenny said. He jumped up from the chair and headed for the door. “Okay. Now I’ve got a small-enough list to work with.”
“Keep me informed,” Dan called after him. Silently he added, And don’t tell anybody else about this. He thought Tenny already knew enough to keep quiet.
As soon as Tenny breezed out of the office April appeared at the door, looking cool and in charge of herself. Dan thought of the old aphorism, If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs—it shows you don’t understand the seriousness of the situation.
“You got two calls,” April said, “while you were in conference with Dr. Tenny.”
Dan tapped the keyboard on the credenza that extended from the left side of his desk. The computer screen showed a call from Wendell T. Garrison of Tricontinental Oil. And a call from Senator Jane Thornton in Washington, D.C. His breath caught in his throat.
Suddenly embarrassed, he waved April out of the office with a gruff, “Okay, thanks, kid,” and clicked his mouse on Jane Thornton’s name and number.
She wasn’t available, of course, but a serious-faced young aide told Dan that the senator would call him back. Telephone tag, Dan fumed as he clicked on Garrison’s name.
To Dan’s surprise, the old man himself appeared on the screen.
“Mr. Randolph,” Garrison said in his creaky, raspy voice, smiling genially. “Nice of you to return my call so quick.”
“It’s good of you to call,” Dan responded, wondering how much bullshit they would have to throw at one another before they got down to serious talk.
“My board of directors is interested in your powersat project,” Garrison said.
Surprised at the man’s directness and even more surprised at his interest, Dan said merely, “Really?”
“Yep. Think you can find the time to come up to Houston and talk to me about it?”
Dan thought, Another shark in the water. Better count your fingers when you shake hands with him. And your toes.
But he said, “I’d be happy to. I’ll tell my secretary to set it up with your people.”
“Good,” said Garrison. “Put your secretary on the line and I’ll do the same from this end.”
“Right.”
Before Dan could switch the call, Garrison added, “I assume you’ll want to set this meeting for sometime this week, right?”
“If that’s convenient for you,” Dan replied.
“I know you’re in a bind. No sense wasting time about this.”
Nodding, Dan said again, “Right.” Yep, he told himself as he blanked the screen, the old shark smells blood in the water and he’s moving in.
He went through the motions of doing a day’s work while his mind spun the possibilities and unknowns like a wild symphony that would never end. Who’s the spy in our midst? Why did they sabotage Hannah’s test flight? Can Joe find the bastard or will we have to bring the FBI into this? Yamagata’s offered financial help and now Garrison is nosing around. How the hell can I hold onto my own company when the big guys are moving in on me? What’s Scanwell going to decide to do?
Why doesn’t Jane call back? What’s she up to in all this? Does she want to help me, or Scanwell? Or both of us? Why hasn’t she called me back?
All day long he kept coming back to that question: Why hasn’t Jane called back?
It was nearly midnight when she did. Dan had spent a long evening going over his financial situation with his chief accountant, an exercise that always left him depressed. He trudged along the catwalk back to his apartment, trying to keep his eyes off the wreckage sitting silently in the shadows of the dimly lit hangar floor. Nobody else in the building, he realized, except the security guards making their rounds. Even Tenny’s office light was off.
Feeling tired and grimy, he went to the kitchenette without turning on any lights and opened the refrigerator. Pretty bare. Pulling open the freezer door he saw that Tomasina had stacked three frozen dinners in among the pizza slices, ice cream, and instant juice containers.
The phone buzzed. Dan slammed the fridge shut and peered through the shadows at the screen on his night table: the caller ID spelled out SENATOR THORNTON, WASHINGTON D.C.
“Phone answer,” he called as he hurried to the bed.
Jane’s face appeared. She seemed to be in her office; Dan saw some photo
graphs hanging on the paneled wall behind her. She was wearing a tailored blouse, but her auburn hair hung loosely to her shoulders. After hours, Dan guessed. Alone in the office after a long, busy day.
“Hello Jane,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I got your call,” she said. “I wanted to wait until everybody was out of the office before I called you back.”
“Yeah, I figured that’s what you’d do.” It was a lie, he knew, but now that he thought about it he realized he should have known it all along.
“Morgan was very impressed with you.”
“It was good to see you again,” he said.
“He wants to work your satellite program into his energy policy, Dan.”
“Haven’t seen you since the day after the bridges went down.”
“Dan, let’s stick to the business at hand.”
“You’re the business at hand, as far as I’m concerned.”
She tried to frown at him, but a tiny smile curved the corners of her mouth slightly. “Dan, that was a long time ago.”
“Six years, one month and …” it took him a moment to count it out in his head, “ … eleven days.”
She looked away for a moment, and when her eyes returned to him she had regained control of herself. Completely serious now, she said, “If you want Morgan’s support, Dan, you’ve got to promise that you’ll support his candidacy.”
“Sure, I know. One hand washes the other; that’s politics. But you’re the only one I’m interested in.”
“And not your power satellite?”
He took a breath. “You come first, Jane.”
“I didn’t in San Francisco.”
“You do now. I’ll drop this whole project. I’ll sell it off to Yamagata or Garrison or the local junkyard.”
This time she really smiled. But her eyes remained sad. “I know you think you would, Dan. But we both know it’s not true. You couldn’t give up your work, your life.”
“Try me.”
“And you mustn’t sell out your project to the Japanese or the oil interests.”
