“Damn,” grumbled Dan. “Double dammit to hell and back.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to play with Humphries whether you like it or not. In his court.”
Suppressing an urge to get up and pound on the walls, Dan heard himself say, “Maybe not.”
“No?”
“There’s one other possibility.”
“And what might that be?” Stavenger was smiling again, as if he knew precisely where Dan was heading.
“Selene.”
“Ahh,” said Stavenger, leaning back in his cushioned chair. “I thought so.”
“Selene has trained technical personnel and manufacturing facilities. I could bring my fusion people up here and we could build the prototype together.”
“Dan,” said Stavenger gently, “who would pay Selene’s technical personnel? Who would pay for using our facilities?”
“We could share the cost. I can divest a couple of Astro’s operations and raise some cash that way. Selene could donate —”
The expression on Stavenger’s face stopped him. It reminded Dan of the look that his geometry teacher would give him, back in high school, when he went off on the wrong tangent.
“You know something that I don’t,” Dan said.
Stavenger laughed gently. “Not really. You know it, too, but you’re not thinking of it. You’re overlooking the obvious.”
Dan blinked, puzzled.
“You are staring at the solution to your problem,” Stavenger prompted.
“I’m looking at you and you say that I’m—” The light finally dawned in Dan’s mind. “Oh for my sweet old Aunt Sadie! Nanomachines.”
Stavenger nodded. “Nanotechnology can build your fusion engine for you, and do it faster and cheaper than the orthodox way.”
“Nanotechnology,” Dan repeated.
“It would mean your spacecraft could never get any closer to Earth than low orbit.”
“So what?” Dan exclaimed. “The double-damned ship is for deepspace operations. It’ll never touch down on Earth or any other planetary surface.”
“Then you should have no problem,” said Stavenger.
“You mean Selene will back us?”
Very carefully, Stavenger replied, “I believe the governing council will allocate personnel and facilities to demonstrate that a prototype fusion engine can be built by using nanotechnology.”
Dan grinned widely. “Yep, and once the prototype proves out, Selene will have a major new product line to manufacture: fusion drives.”
“And access to the asteroids.”
“Damned right! And any comets that come waltzing by, too.”
“Selene and Astro Manufacturing will be partners,” Stavenger said.
“Partners!” Dan agreed, sticking out his hand. Stavenger gripped it firmly and they shook on the deal.