And Jane’s dead.
“You’ve been quite a busy fellow,” Humphries said, with obviously false joviality.
Instead of meeting in his personal office, he had invited Dan to a small windowless conference room. Not even holoviews on the walls, only a few paintings and photographs of Martin Humphries with celebrities of various stripes. Dan recognized the current President of the United States, a dour-faced elderly man in black clerical garb, and Vasily Malik of the GEC.
Leaning back relaxedly in the comfortable padded chair, Dan said, “I guess I have been on the go quite a bit since we last met.”
Sitting across the table from Dan, Humphries clasped his hands together atop its gleaming surface. “To tell you the truth, Dan, I get the feeling you’re trying to screw me out of this fusion operation.”
Laughing, Dan said, “I wouldn’t do that, Marty, even if I could.”
Humphries laughed back at him. It seemed more than a little forced to Dan.
“Tell me something,” Dan said. “You didn’t stumble across Duncan by accident, did you?”
Humphries smiled more genuinely. “Not entirely. When I started Humphries Space Systems I went out and backed more than a dozen small, long-shot research groups. I figured that one of them was bound to come through with something. You ought to see some of the kooks I had to deal with!”
“I can imagine,” Dan said, grinning. He’d had his share of earnest zanies trying to convince him of one wild scheme or another over the years.
“I got lucky with Duncan and this fusion rocket,” Humphries went on, looking pleased with himself.
“It was more than luck,” Dan said. “You were damned smart.”
“Maybe,” Humphries agreed. “It only takes one swing to hit a home run.”
“And it doesn’t cost much, either, at the laboratory stage.”
Nodding, Humphries said, “If more people backed basic research we’d get ahead a lot faster.”
“I should’ve done it myself,” Dan admitted.
“Yes, you should have.”
“My mistake.”
“Okay then, where do we stand?” Humphries asked.
“Well… you financed Duncan’s original work.”
“Including the flight tests that you saw,” Humphries pointed out.
Dan nodded. “I’ve been trying to put together the financing for building a full-scale spacecraft and sending a team out to the Belt.”
“I can finance that. I told you I’d put up the money.”
“Yep. But it’d cost me a good chunk of Astro Corporation, wouldn’t it?”
“We can negotiate a reasonable price. It won’t cost you a cent out of pocket.”
“But you’d wind up owning Astro,” Dan said flatly.
Something flashed in Humphries’s eyes for a moment. But he quickly put on a synthetic smile. “How could I take over Astro Manufacturing, Dan? I know you wouldn’t part with more than fifteen-twenty percent of your company.”
“More like five or ten percent,” Dan said.
“Even worse, for me. I’d be a minority stockholder. I wouldn’t even be able to put anybody on the board—except myself, I imagine.”
Dan said, “H’mm.”
Hunching closer, Humphries said, “I hear you’re going the nanotech route.”
“You hear right,” Dan replied. “Dr. Cardenas is returning to Selene to head up the job.”
“I hadn’t thought about using nanomachines. Makes sense.”
“Brings the cost down.”
“Makes my investment smaller,” Humphries said, straight-faced.
Tired of the fencing, Dan said, “Look, here’s the way I see this. We bring Selene in as a third partner. They provide the facilities and nanotech personnel.”
“I thought you were recruiting retirees,” Humphries said.
“Some,” Dan admitted, “but we’ll still need Selene’s active help.”
“So we’ve got a third partner,” Humphries said sullenly.
“I want to form a separate corporation, separate and apart from Astro. We’ll each be one-third owners: you, me, and Selene.”
Humphries sat up straighter. “What’s the matter, Dan, don’t you trust me?”
“Not as far as I can throw the Rock of Gibraltar.”
Another man might have laughed grudgingly. Humphries glared at Dan for a moment, his face reddening. But then he got himself under control and shrugged nonchalantly.
“You don’t want to let me have any Astro stock, do you?”
“Not if I can help it,” Dan said pleasantly.
“But then what are you bringing into this deal? I’ve got the money, Selene’s got the personnel and facilities. What do you offer?”