Leaving Earth Vol. 1 (Leaving Earth Omnibus)

by Kaal Alexander Rosser

  'You're sure it's the only way?'

  'For scalable output, yes.'

  'And you want to use up at least half the output of one of the UMBRA sites, which haven't even been built yet.'

  'Yes.'

  'And you intend to tell KG about this?'

  'Tomorrow, if you're up for it.'

  'Aw, hell. If only to see the looks on the other board members' faces. Yeah. I'm up for it. You're still crazy, though.'

  'We'll see.'

  Chapter 17

  THE first thing Grum saw in his inbox the next morning was a message from Steve Branch advising that the release of the new USSMC power cells for testing and product development was causing quite a stir. There was interest from everywhere wanting to know the technical production details. Some quite insistent.

  Grum simply sent a message back that the technology was trade secret and they could all stuff it. He was far more concerned about the presentation he was going to have to give to Kelvin that afternoon, assuming that Kelvin would see him that afternoon.

  He was not entirely sure whether he wanted either Hank or Stew along with him. Stew got the reasoning, but Hank carried more clout. There was always the outside chance, as well, that he might be better off presenting to Kelvin alone.

  Grum decided to sound Hank out, first, and see how he stood on the whole deal this morning before arranging the meeting.

  Hank, it turned out, had not changed his mind about supporting the plan, and had — if anything — become more sanguine about it over night. He now projected his usual calm assurance when he was speaking on the subject. That made Grum's mind up for him.

  With Hank's agreement, he sent a meeting request to Kelvin for just after lunch.

  As soon as Grum outlined the idea in the meeting, Kelvin — almost predictably — exploded with enthusiasm. 'That's amazing! The scope! The size! Of course the expense would be appropriately astronomical, but the moon base already is. We'll have to issue new shares to raise the capital for this, but the public mood is extremely high for the moon base. That's why it's the number one, company-wide priority!'

  'We don't yet have the exact plans, just the highlights…' Grum felt obligated to put in.

  'Doesn't matter, Grum,' said Kelvin. 'That's all we need to go to the board. How soon can you have a presentation?'

  'Within a week.' Grum hoped he was not lying.

  'And you're fully behind this, Hank?'

  'Yes, KG. It's the best move for the company.'

  'I agree! Exciting times! I'll get the meeting set up. Great work, guys. Proud of you!' Kelvin stood up and shook each of them by hand, then motioned to the door in dismissal.

  'Kelvin has already tried to raise capital from new shares once this year,' said Hank as they walked back from the CEO's office. 'It didn't go down well.'

  'Well. We did have all the shenanigans going on.'

  'True. But not everyone has fully come around from that. Do your best on the presentation. You know you have mine and KG's support when it comes to the vote.'

  'Thanks. I'll make it as convincing as I can.'

  'Good. This is my stop.' Hank paused by the entrance to his Division. 'Hit the production rates heavy, and mention Core Power heading for profitability. Getting power for ships and orbitals is almost as important to the board as the moon base, but nothing is going to sway them like making a profit can.'

  'Thanks, Hank. I'll get on it.'

  Chapter 18

  GRUM and Stew worked feverishly. The size was immense, it was quite ridiculous, in fact. The science and maths involved was so far beyond the bleeding-edge that hapless air molecules which strayed too near their screens screamed in agony, then gave up the ghost. There was no possible chance that it would ever be approved.

  The primary toroids would, to all intents and purposes, girdle the original UMB site. A series of further, ever decreasing toroids would act as staging areas and effectively decelerators until it was time to "flush" the system into the final helix, the end of which would have a containment chamber.

  But none of that was important. No amount of technical detail — good or bad — was going to influence the board of directors.

  So it was that they were setting out the proposal in the blandest language possible. Using figures where possible, rather than comparisons. Describing it as an adjunct, or offshoot, to the UMBRA project. A UMB-based mirror of the Nevada site — which was starting to have a positive cash-flow from the product lines which they were introducing. That was a situation which would only improve if the third collider could be brought online. And, yes, the increased production rates — as well as the sheer masses involved — from the UMB facility, would put more applications within USSMC's grasp in the market.

  At first the reaction to the presentation seemed to go well. A few questions during, but nothing which could not be answered fairly easily, and nothing damaging. A definite positive reaction to the idea of profitability, as Hank had said, and followed with the promise of increased production, the vibe was good. Easy peasy.

  It was only in the Q&A session that Grum realised he might have spiked his pitch.

  The HR director asked why, if the company would have increased production and profitability from getting Nevada up to strength, would they need to go to the expense of setting up a whole new facility on the moon? Would it not be more prudent to wait for the profits and technology to prove itself before committing to that level of extra investment? And where was the money for that to come from, in any case.

  Grum tried to explain that while the profits from Nevada would increase with what they were able to produce, it was not a truly scalable facility. Just adding more accelerators and colliders had a very finite and easily reached limit. To reach the production levels believed necessary to meet Space Division's needs and to access the niches available in the wider market, a scalable solution needed to be built, and this was it.

  Q: Would the market price not simply rise to its natural level if the scalability was not met?

  A: Yes. And that was part of the problem. The antimatter production was in competition with other power sources.

  Q: So, could the other departments within Core Power not rise to meet the challenge?

  A: The question does not arise as the majority of the competition in the energy market is external to USSMC. We will lose out entirely.

  Q: All that being true. My question remains of how we fund this enormous undertaking?

  That was when Kelvin stepped in to say that the could issue shares to cover the required capital, the market was well able to cope with the influx.

  The debate following that statement completely excluded Grum and was not a positive one. He could easily see who had been the opponents to the previous vote on share issuance. The same people in the same degree were opposed now.

  That, Grum decided, was the second spike. The HR director did not have to argue about whether Grum's proposal was good for the company or not. He could simply take a conservative position on a matter more firmly in his remit, to not issue more shares than necessary.

  In the end Grum walked away with the grudging approval to bring the third collider online at Nevada. The UMB plan was scuppered by the result of the vote to issue further shares. No more capital meant no expenditure on the ambitious plan.

  Kelvin spent a good deal of time, after the vote, roundly denouncing the board for its lack of vision, and declared himself to be severely unhappy with those who sat in opposition to the future expansion of the company he had founded.

  After the meeting was adjourned, Grum tried to put on his most positive attitude and went to tell Ben the good news about Nevada.

  Nothing had changed from the earlier plan for bringing "A" back online, and Ben assured Grum that he could incorporate the shake-down testing within the one month shutdown/switch-on cycle. The collider had been effectively moth-balled for months, but the whole testing suite had been completed before that, so there should be no problems in getting it bac
k up and running as part of the overall production suite.

  Grum tried to allow himself to be happy about that. It would mean that they could provide for the Space Division's projects in a timely fashion while also making enough units for Medical and the external market.

  It was only then that Grum remembered about the message from Steve Branch about the increasing interest from outside the company. Finding the source of those enquiries would be a good distraction from the frustration he was feeling.

  'They're coming from all over the shop,' said Stew when he and Steve had joined Grum. 'All sorts of industries, and all sorts of products.'

  'Anything seem particularly odd?' asked Grum.

  'Well, that is a bit odd to start with, in itself.' Steve pointed to the screen which currently showed a breakdown of enquiries by market sector. 'Almost perfect alignment between sector size and number of enquiries. Now, that could just be a case of simply everyone being nosey, but you might still expect certain industries to be heavier in their interest. Potential large-use customers and potential competitors, particularly.'

  'I guess. Is there any other point of commonality? If we assume the lack of universal interest, what else would cause this kind of distribution?' Grum was only half asking the question to the others in the room. He sat back, glaring at the screen as if demanding that it hand over secrets.

  Stew coughed. 'Er, well, I have an idea.'

  'You're not normally reticent, what's up?' Grum frowned slightly, shifting his gaze to the unusually sheepish Stew.

  'Well… Steve disagrees, but I think USSMC has sprung a leak. Possibly more than one.'

  Steve, on cue, shook his head emphatically. 'Nope. It doesn't explain the pattern.'

  'Hear me out, Grum, then Steve can rebut.' Grum nodded and Steve shrugged acquiescence. 'We know that the HR director is antagonistic. We know that he was — and probably still is — friends with both the old VP and Hank's previous Chief Engineer. All three have lost out to your rise through the company, and could easily — almost definitely in two cases — have axes to grind. All three would have contacts throughout the industry and beyond.'

  'OK, Stew. But in that case, why would they initiate interest?' Grum had learned to respect Stew's reasoning, so he followed for now. Steve was remaining impassive, clearly waiting his turn for rebuttal.

  'It's this: most of the interest is in the underlying technology, not the products themselves. Now, you might get some who are persistent about knowing that, but there would be a scale. Everyone is asking about whether these new products are linked to the Nevada antimatter plant.'

  'And not everyone should care, is that it?' asked Grum.

  'Pretty much. We should be seeing some enquiries just about the specs of the product: MTBF, price, longevity, etcetera. Instead every single enquiry has asked about the technology first and then, maybe, the specs after.'

  Grum mulled that over for a second, then turned to Steve. 'Seems reasonable. Your turn.'

  'From my perspective, the distribution is wrong for the source. I agree with the wrongness of the enquiries, but the source does not make sense. If the sources were as Stew suggests, the enquiries would be clustered around our usual suspects: competitors and customers. They might be more insistent than normal, and seem more knowledgeable than they should, but the clustering should still be in effect. What we see here is outside of that pattern. We have companies which I have never heard of who are asking awkward questions. Some of them only barely fit the criteria of a potential customer. I agree that there would appear to be a driving force behind the enquir-lanche, but I disagree on the leak hypothesis.'

  'It would seem that we have a conspiracy, gentlemen. A conspiracy which seems aimed at making everyone into nosey parkers about our antimatter technology.' Grum tried to lighten the mood as the tension between Stew and Steve was evident. 'I suggest that in order to resolve this conflict of hypotheses, we resort to the scientific method. The null hypothesis being that there is no outside pressure and this is simply the result of people being people. In order to test this hypothesis and the two alternates you present, we need to gather evidence. That means finding out from each enquiry why they are asking, what made them ask, and if there are any connections between them and anyone in USSMC. Oh, and just to be on the safe side, who their normal customers and suppliers are. That, I think should cover it. But if you think of anything else to record, or gather other evidence which may seem extraneous at the start, I would suggest you record it anyway, just in case.'

  'OK. We investigate,' said Stew.

  'We're scientists,' said Grum. 'It's what we do.'

  'I'm not.' Steve grinned at the pair of them in denial.

  'You are, today.'

  The next morning Grum got an email from Steve, cc'd to Stew: "FYI… This just came into my inbox. NMFBBQ, Grum". The clear indication from that was that he thought Grum had something to do with whatever had been forwarded. At least that was what he thought "not my first barbecue" had to mean.

  The original email read:

  "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

  It is with great regret that I announce the retirement of Gil Delgado from the Board of Directors for USSMC.

  Gil has for many years sought excellence within the Core Business Division, and has provided direction for USSMC's world-leading Human Resources department.

  While Gil's contributions will be now absent from the debates in the boardroom, it is not for us to stand in the way of his wanting to spend more time with his remaining health and his grandchildren.

  Gil will serve out a one month notice period in order to hand his duties over to a suitable replacement.

  Given Gil's long service, the Board of Directors unanimously agrees to extend a supplemental sum to augment his retirement such that he should never need to work again.

  Please join me in wishing Gil quiet contentment in his retirement,

  Kelvin Goldstein

  CEO & Chairman of the Board of Directors"

  Grum read the email twice. Immediate release meant that Steve would not be in trouble for showing Stew and Grum the email before general release, but Steve was definitely not happy about something in here.

  He parsed the email once again. This time looking for the real meaning behind the polite phrases. Standard opening: it's always with regret or sadness. Usually the rest it will tell you something of what kind and what for. Taken with the tone of the rest, it seemed to Grum like the regret might be that Gil was retiring and not dying. That would fit with the boardroom scenes which Grum had witnessed.

  The next interesting piece of phraseology was the unmodified word "sought". Implying, perhaps, that Gil never found what he sought? Possibly. Then, too, he provided direction for the world-leading department. Not provided world-leading direction, or anything similar to that. Taken literally, that could say that Gil's direction was incidental to the department being "world-leading".

  The next part was even harsher. The "contributions" will be "absent". Not missed. And not valuable contributions. If Grum were to be cynical, the last half of that sentence could be construed as a threat. We know where your grandkids are, style of thing.

  One month's notice was pretty quick in these circumstances, but not unheard of for retirees. Then, extra cash, never work again, and quiet contentment.

  In short: You are a pain in the arse. Go home. Here is some cash. Shut up and be happy with what you have got, or else.

  OK. Grum could see why Steve might be edgy about the underlying message, but seriously? Did he think Grum had anything to do with it? Clearly he did.

  Grum decided not to respond. Nothing he could say would be better than "oh, no I didn't", and that would not be useful. Let it rest.

  Chapter 19

  GRUM was not sure how he felt that Nevada announced it was running at full capacity on Gil Delgado's last day. It almost felt like he was rubbing Gil's nose it, even though he had not planned the two events. Ben had kept his promised timeline, and Gil's "retirement"
was entirely outside his control, no matter what Steve Branch thought.

  It would take another month for generators to start shipping to where they should be going, but things were moving, and that was important right now.

  What Grum still wanted to know was what had caused — and was still causing — the number and distribution of enquires about antimatter from outside USSMC.

  Despite Steve's indication of mistrust, he and Stew had been working diligently on getting to grips with the apparent conspiracy. Grum was not sure what to make of that.

  On the one hand, he had a rational distrust of any grand conspiracy, because they just did not work. It was entirely unreasonable to think that they did. Even a relatively minor conspiracy to conceal something from public scrutiny — like that the energy products USSMC were releasing were actually matter-antimatter generators — was doomed to failure. Anything larger would probably not even get off the ground, let alone last decades.

  On the other hand, the chance of getting the patterns of enquiries they had, was just as unlikely.

  Either way, Steve and Stew were on their way over with an update, so he had only to wait.

  'It's not what we thought,' said Stew when he and Steve had grabbed coffees for themselves.

  'Not a conspiracy?' If it turned out to be random chance, he was writing in to "The Odds Must Be Crazy".

  'No.'

  'Well, crazy chance, but better than…'

  'Not a conspiracy,' Steve amended, before Grum could finished his relieved expression.

  'You have to be kidding me.' Grum took a swig of his coffee while the pair opposite him, just grinned. 'You had better tell me. But I warn you, I have a team of trained sceptical counsellors on speed dial.'