But taking it beyond the research stage that Pang had described would require lots of electrical power. Hence, the Tesla Center was the obvious place to continue the work. That was why the project had relocated here and why Pang had brought Keene’s group into it. He had needed power engineers, and nuclear-proficient ones at that—the watts to induce normal bodyweights on spacecraft flight decks or increase Titan’s effective mass thirtyfold weren’t going to come from any other source. The source would need to be efficient and compact, suitable for being built onto space vehicles. Keene’s spaceborne MHD concept had fitted the need perfectly.
“So how far are you now toward a more advanced stage than that prototype?” Wernstecki asked finally. Pang let Keene answer.
“We have a one hundredfold scaled-up engineering proving model almost built here,” Keene said. “Down in one of the heavy equipment bays.” He looked inquiringly at Pang. “I assume we’ll be taking Jan to see it?”
“Naturally, naturally.” Pang kept his gaze directed at Wernstecki. “This will open up a totally new realm of physics. New industries will follow one day, revolutionizing engineering, leading to full colonization of the Solar System.” In Kronian terms, he was saying that the payoff for being part of such an undertaking, if it succeeded, would be fabulous.
Watching Wernstecki’s face, Keene had the feeling it would be only a matter of time before the project acquired a new talent. Wernstecki himself addressed the issue directly, avoiding any pretenses. “When would you want some kind of decision?” he asked Pang-Yarbat.
Pang waved a hand carelessly. “Take your time. I know that the work you’re doing at present is important too. Be sure in your own mind what you want.” He paused for a moment, tried but was unable to resist it, and grinned an insincere apology at Keene and Shayle. “It’s a weighty matter, after all.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Keene had arranged to meet Grasse in the bar attached to an eating place called the Rhinehaus, located in Essen’s subsurface central area not far from the Tesla Center. A ramp down from one of the pedestrian ways brought him to an open lobby in front of the dining area. The bar seating was off to one side, down a few more stairs. . . .
He remembered an evening when he’d met Cavan in a hotel restaurant in Washington. One wall had been of windows looking out over lawns sloping down to a water’s edge shaded by trees. He had nursed a drink and watched ducks swimming close by the shore as he waited for Cavan to arrive. . . .
“Can I help you, sir?”
Keene returned abruptly to the present of false-window walls with fake scenery, to find a girl in a pastel blue work-coat looking at him. He realized that he had come to a halt and was standing, lost in his revery.
“Oh . . . It’s all right. I’m meeting someone there.” He indicated with a nod.
“Would you like to take a menu through with you?”
“Maybe later. Thanks.”
The bar decor was more subdued, with dark carpeting and upholstery and lots of imitation wood—an attempt at injecting a Terran touch. The walls carried framed prints of ships and harbor scenes along with plastic replicas of portholes, ships’ bells and lights, rope fittings, and other items of maritime equipage. Grasse was sitting in an alcove booth in a far corner, partly screened by a pillar and plant trellis. He hadn’t said anything about bringing company, but there was another man with him whom Keene would have known instinctively to be Terran also, even if the face had not been familiar. Keene carried on over and joined them. The bartender glided across as Keene sat down.
Grasse was a small man with a snub nose, prominent ears, and features that seemed somehow compacted into pink folds and horizontal lines that put Keene in mind of an overripe fruit slightly squashed. The other was long of build and face, with droopy, spaniel-like eyes, and sallow skin stretched into hollows between bony cheeks and a protruding, blue-shadowed chin. Grasse waited while Keene ordered a Celtic Dark—one of the Rhinehaus’s preferred beers, brewed in the agroplex on Mimas. The bartender departed. Keene looked across the booth expectantly.