Power Base: Book 2 of the Leaving Earth series

by Kaal Alexander Rosser

  He had been reviewing the situation and the information they had for most of the day. To Grum's mind the time had come to expand the audience slightly beyond just himself and Stew. Vann knew some of it, of course, but he was certain that she had not mentioned anything to Hank. If Amy knew, she was safely ensconced in writing up her doctoral thesis, so there was no danger there. The next step had to be telling Hank, but Grum was nervous about it. Hank was an unknown with this kind of secret information and Grum had nothing to go by on how well Hank would keep quiet.

  Or did he?

  Hank had been very sparing with information about his old Chief Engineer, and he had managed the design review of all those projects with a minimum of fuss, considering the scale of the task.

  Perhaps Grum was being too cautious. In any case, he would need Hank's backing to get this idea passed at the board level, and it would be a bad idea to spring it on him at the same time as everyone else. The same held true for the CEO, Kelvin. But he wanted to tell Kelvin about this when he was in a position to consolidate the information needed to go in front of the board, not before.

  Decided on the course of action, Grum sent a message to Hank and cc'd both Vann and Stew, asking for a meeting to discuss a sensitive idea.

  Stew rang through inside of thirty seconds. 'Are you nuts?'

  'We have to tell him, Stew…'

  'Oh, I know that. That's not it. Steve Branch is still working there… Oh, I've come round to your way of thinking on him. He's a sound bloke, but still…'

  'No, you're right. I'll make sure the meeting is away from Space Division rooms. Oh, and speaking of Hank… He's calling. Gotta go.' Grum hung up on Stew and answered Hank. 'Hi, Hank.'

  'Hey, Grum. OK. What is it? Is there some new bad news? I remember the last time you and Vann had a meeting with me, and this time you're bringing your right-hand man along, too! Could make a guy nervous.'

  Grum laughed. 'Nah, Hank. This, if anything, I hope will be good news. How're you fixed for time?'

  'For you, I can make time. But there isn't much left of the day. I guess we could wrap up here and let the meeting run as long as it needs…'

  'I've got a better idea, Hank. Do you play pool?'

  'Famed for it, son! Don't get much chance to get a cue out round here, though.'

  'Stew knows a place. Shall we take an early one? A drink at the bar, then pool and snacks?'

  'Grand plan. I'll let my partner know I'll be a bit late and smelling of beer.'

  'We could open it up…'

  'Naw. He'd be bored by the business talk. Besides, he's not all that great shakes at pool.'

  'Fair enough, then. Downstairs in twenty?'

  'As you say. I'll just bring Vann straight along with me.'

  'Perfect. See you there.'

  Grum called Stew back.

  'Yeah-lo,' said Stew. 'What's the verdict?'

  'Down to the bar. Drinks in twenty, on me, then pool, beer and snacks.'

  'Vann coming?'

  'Yep. I'll have to call the baby-sitter to get an extra couple of hours, but yeah.'

  'That'll be a first.' Stew hung up and Grum realised that it was true. Aside from when they were first dating — when a casual, after-work drink was the thing — Vann had not been part of the drinks-time that he and Stew did to wind down every so often. Since Ju had come along, and then with the separate moves to New York, there had not really been much of a chance for going out. Even today, it would not have been possible if he and Vann had not decided that for both of them to be effective in their roles, they would need extended child care into the early evening.

  It would probably be a good idea to organise a couple more extended evenings for just the two of them to go out and do something.

  This time it was Vann who newly experienced the VP tab and conversation centred around that until they had finished their drinks.

  'It's only a couple of blocks away, shall we just walk it?' asked Stew.

  'Stew, it's absolutely tipping it down out there, let's get a taxi and a quick one, here,' said Grum bringing out his phone for the taxi app.

  Before Grum could give his key to Stew, Hank had walked behind the ramp and started pouring the same drinks as the last round, waving Grum's objections aside.

  They made small talk while they drank until the taxi arrived.

  The journey was a pre-set in Grum's app, these days, so the taxi just went straight to the place.

  'I've been here!' said Hank, running into the bar from the downpour. 'I didn't know they had pool.'

  'It's round back,' said Grum. 'Stew found it a while ago.'

  'So this is where you hide out to get away from me,' Vann said, archly.

  Grum did not dignify that with a response, but headed to the bar, beckoning them to follow. 'I don't know what you will want here.'

  'I'll have what Stew's having,' said Vann. She usually did. It had been one of the things they had found out early in their dating. Vann liked the same kind of dark and slightly sweeter ales that Stew preferred.

  'I'll have my usual, Grum.' Hank had been consistent in his whiskey and soda.

  Stew just pointed to the bottle of porter.

  'OK. Go get set up, I'll bring the drinks over.'

  The group were discussing the minutiae of the rules when he arrived with the drinks.

  '…And no double on the eight ball. None of us need that, I think.'

  'Sounds like you've got it sorted,' said Grum, settling the drinks on a nearby table. 'Doubles, is it? Space versus Core Power, or what?'

  'Nope. VPs versus the people who actually do the work,' said Vann.

  Grum shared a long-suffering look with Hank. 'Ever the way of it. No loyalty.'

  'Tell me about it,' said Hank, picking a cue from the rack.

  Stew got his trust coin from his pocket, looked meaningfully at Hank, and flipped it.

  'Tails!' called Hank, as Stew slapped the coin onto the back of his other hand. 'You guys toss an actual coin?' Hank murmured out of the side of his mouth to Grum.

  Grum shrugged. 'It's a tradition, or an old charter, or something.'

  'Tails it is,' said Stew, showing the coin. 'Your choice.'

  Hank elected to break, and showed that his talk about having played had not been idle chatter. Although Grum wanted to get to the meat of the meeting, he decided to let everyone settle into the game first and get the next drink in before starting to talk about the plan. Everyone would need to be relaxed for that.

  Stew was clearly tense, missing shots he would usually have potted with ease. Normally, that would have handed the game to Grum, but he was not up to scratch himself.

  Hank and Grum won the game on the eight, and Vann went to get the next round in while Grum racked up. He took the opportunity of the pause to start the conversation with Hank.

  'Things are getting better all round.'

  'Absolutely. I wouldn't put it past the next board meeting to approve Nevada coming up to full strength. And with our programmes getting back up to full speed — as well as the Mars shuttle progressing — I can tell you that we'll need all the generators you can produce.'

  'We'll have to give some time to other Divisions, Hank. Medical, for example.'

  'Oh, sure.' Hank paused to look between Grum and Stew, who was standing ready to break. 'Is that what you wanted to tell me? That you all would have to give some Nevada love to other Divisions? Well, I knew that, but I thought you said this would count as good news.'

  'Well, yes…' Grum was interrupted by Vann returning with the tray of drinks. 'Thanks, love.'

  'You're welcome,' she said, and nodded at Stew to break.

  'OK,' said Grum, regathering his thoughts. 'It's like this. You know how we've been working since the start to increase antimatter yield, or combine yields?'

  'I thought that was impossible,' said Hank, and took a sip of his drink, narrowing his eyes.

  Grum approached the table to take his shot, and Stew picked up the tale, talking over Grum's head. 'I
t is, with the original facility. Completely impossible.'

  'With the original facility.' Hank emphasised the salient word immediately.

  No slouch, him, thought Grum and winced as he narrowly missed the pot. He stood away from the table and turned back to face Hank, to make way for Vann to take her shot. 'That's right. We think we have worked out a way to do increase the yields to make larger generators. But we need to build an entirely new plant to do it.'

  He heard Vann swear under her breath as she, too, missed potting. No-one is potting anything. We're all way too tense.

  'But where?' Hank asked, reasonably as he approached the table for his shot. 'The site in Nevada took a lot of selecting and negotiating with the military and state government. You've already got the best place.' Hank finished his sentence as he bent down to line up his shot.

  'We were thinking…' Grum paused, watching Hank draw back to shoot, '…the moon.' I'm a bastard. What am I?

  On reflection, it was a good thing that Hank had been aiming to put some top on the cueball, otherwise there would probably have been a rip in the baize. As it was, the worst that happened was that the tip struck the cueball higher up — and more forcefully — than intended. It ricocheted off an object ball on the cushion, and launched straight at Stew's groin. Fortunately, Stew turned enough that the ball hit his hip rather than anything more painful.

  'Are you crazy?' Hank staggered slightly away from the table and sought for a seat. 'You're serious, aren't you?'

  'Very.' Grum realised that Vann was staring at him, mouth agape. Ah, he thought, I hadn't told her the bit about the moon. 'You see, the size and design of the facility needed to do this… Well. The magnitude of gravity becomes a factor.'

  'Why not Mars while you're at it? We'll have the shuttle going there in a few years.' Hank was regaining his composure, if not his sense of credulity.

  'I figured that the moon was a better first step. The Mars ones can't be as big.' Now Stew was staring at him, as well. Oh, yeah. Forgot to tell Stew about the Mars idea. Whoops.

  'Absolutely certifiable!'

  'It's the only way, Hank. You in?'

  'Grum, you just knocked my socks off! Your wife and right-hand man are both standing there like they don't know what's going on, and you! You're standing there like you're the only sane man in the room! What the hell am I supposed to make of that?'

  'How about we make an opportunity?'

  'What exactly is it you want to do?' asked Hank after a long swig of his drink.

  Grum motioned to Stew, indicating refills, and Stew hastily complied. The pool game was forgotten, and Grum sat on the chair opposite Hank, outlining the plan he and Stew had devised.

  Hank calmed down as he listened, though at several points he shook his head in disbelief.

  'Do you have any idea what this will cost. What a facility like that will cost to build on the moon?' asked Hank when Grum had finished.

  'I know the costs of Nevada very well, and I know the UMB and UMBRA costs, so I do know the scale of the figures were talking about. If you're asking me for a complete costing, then no.'

  '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 damag
ing. 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.