“It sounds just great,” Clifford said admiringly. “I think we’re going to enjoy being part of your team here.”
“I am sure that I am going to enjoy having you on the team,” Zimmermann replied. “You will also be pleased to learn that headquarters has now signed firm contracts, and the initial shipments of materials to begin construction should arrive within two months.”
Five minutes later, below ground level again, they settled themselves down around a table in the corner of the room that doubled as bar and informal social center for the base. It had a warm, friendly atmosphere enhanced by the background of piped music and the murmur of conversation from the dozen or so other persons already there. Zimmermann cast an eye around him as he sat down with a small tray of drinks and passed them around.
“I won’t bother you with any introductions for now,” he said. “There will be plenty of time for that later.” He sat back and raised his glass. “And now, my friends, to what shall we drink? A successful partnership, I suppose . . .”
They responded.
“One word of advice,” he said as they drank. “Take it easy with alcohol until you’ve had time to become acclimated. The gravity here can do strange things . . . I suppose it’s a case of being light-headed before you start . . . literally.”
Clifford started to laugh. “Hey—I nearly forgot—Al and Nancy asked me to give you their regards. Al says he’s sorry that they left things too late for them to make the same launch that we did, but they’re all set for next month’s.”
“Yes, I know about that,” Zimmermann nodded with a smile. “I understand that he found Nancy difficult to persuade.”
“Aw, she’ll be okay,” Aub tossed in. “Especially with Sarah around; they get along fine. She just likes living next to that lake too much. That’s all.”
“Al’s going off into the realms of science fiction,” Clifford said. Zimmermann raised his eyes toward the ceiling.
“Is he really . . . ? What is it this time?”
“He’s gotten all hooked up on the idea of beaming energy through hi-space. He figures that one day it’ll be the way that energy will be piped to wherever it’s needed, all over the Solar System . . . anywhere. He’s got this picture of some enormous distribution network being fed from great big artificial black holes millions of miles out in space.”
“Good lord . . .”
“He says it’ll be the only way to power spaceships one day, too,” Aub added. “Why should they bother carting their own energy around with them when they can have as much as they like beamed right at them wherever they want to go?”
“Well, I must say it will be entertaining to have Al with us,” Zimmermann grinned. “I only hope that he doesn’t start redesigning everything in sight the minute he arrives. What about you, Brad? What plans do you have until the new labs begin to take shape? It’s going to be some time, you know.”
“Oh, I’ll be busy enough all right. I’ve got a year’s lost time to make up, don’t forget . . . on account of . . .” his face twisted into a crooked smile, “a certain minor matter that needed attending to. The main thing I want to do is pick up where I left things with you and your astronomers here. They’re pretty keen to get to grips with that Wave Model that we started to talk about once. They’ve been carrying out a lot of observations over the last year, as you know, and one thing I have to do is get involved again and updated.” He stopped and thought for a second. “In fact, I’ve been thinking ever since you mentioned that third dome you’re planning . . . we’re gonna need to build a specialized long-range detector system for studying cosmological k-data—a k-telescope, if you like. If you’re not planning on using that dome for anything in particular for now, it sure would be a good place to consider putting it.”
Zimmermann scratched his nose and grinned mischievously.