TKG08 WE WILL BUILD Rel 01 (23 page)

“Oh no!” Marcus said, “Only about half of the countries are part.
 
It isn’t like too many are worried, because the other countries don’t have the resources…”

Bobcat smiled, “Until us.”

William smirked, “Team BMW is about to open a company in a foreign country, aren’t we?”

Jeffrey smiled, “Guys, I need to engage a space law expert and -- do we need to start planning to move our operations out of here?”

“Pshaw!”
 
Bobcat waved a hand, “By the time they figure out all of the legal stuff, we will already be up there, and not much of what we need will still be down here.”

“Oops.”
 
William smiled.
 
“I guess it was our bad we failed to launch that stuff from the right country.”

“We are still,” Cheryl Lynn interrupted, “going to need to have a decent front operation in some foreign country, so that the U.S. can’t use it to spin the P.R.”

Jeffrey turned to Cheryl Lynn, “Did you have a major in Journalism?”

“Journalism?
 
Why would I need that?
 
I have two pre-teens.
 
They know how to try and spin everything to their advantage.
 
I’m just extrapolating their logic to international intrigue.”

“Oh, yeah - that would work.”
 
Jeffrey, a fellow parent, admitted and raised his drink to her.

She raised hers back and then said, “So, let’s figure out how we can set up a legal entity that isn’t a party to the treaties, and provides the U.S. plausible deniability.
 
By the time everyone gets done with the finger pointing, we should have world support, if everything goes right.”

“And if it doesn’t?”
 
Marcus asked.

“Well, I’m hoping that Tina, Todd and I will already be up there with you.” She replied.

Bobcat smiled, “Are you asking for an apartment?
 
Because we haven’t designed any specifically for a small family.
 
Want in on that?”

“Hell yeah!” She grinned, “I’ll be the first space designer who has actually done work for moon apartments.”

“Well, actually the second.”
 
William quipped, “We had to ask Ecaterina some questions and got her input.”
 
He shrugged, “Sorry.”

Cheryl Lynn’s shoulders slumped just a bit.
 
“That’s ok.” She admitted, “Better to be number two.
 
Number one always has the jealous bitches trying to take them down.”

“Fat chance on the jealous bitches ‘taking down’ Ecaterina.”
 
Jeffrey mused.

“Word.”
 
Bobcat nodded his agreement.

QBS Polarus - Mediterranean

“So, Dan, what’s your concern?” Bethany Anne asked as she entered Dan’s office on the Polarus.
 
It wasn’t a large room, but it fit his personality well.

“Nukes
,
” Dan said succinctly.

“Come again?”
 
Bethany Anne responded, “Are you talking nuclear weapons?”

“Yes,” He responded.
 
“I’m considering what could happen if someone really, really, really doesn’t want us on the moon.”

Bethany Anne sat on the chair in front of his desk.
 
She wasn’t sure what kind of occupant this office had previously, but it was probably some type of officer as he had a lot of furniture in it.
 
“You don’t start out with tiny concerns, do you?”

Dan smiled, “I’m already dealing with the tiny concerns.
 
I’m only bringing this one up to make sure that we have thought of potential retaliation concerns.
 
I believe that the United States has had asteroid busting nukes for many decades, so it isn’t too hard to imagine they have something that could be thrown at us pretty easily if they are pissed off enough.”

She exhaled loudly, “Well, that would put a damper on our relationship with the U.S., I’d imagine.”

Dan grimaced, “Quite.”

“Ok, I know you wouldn’t give me this problem without some solution.” She said, “What do you have?”

“We are going to need anti-missile batteries on the side of the moon facing earth. We will need to have enough of them that, depending on the trajectory of the incoming missiles, our counter-measures miss the earth.”

“This is higher than my pay-grade, so I’ll ask our resident Rocket Scientist…”
 
Bethany Anne began.

>>Or, you could ask me.<<

Bethany Anne put up a finger, then pointed to her head.
 
Dan nodded in understanding.

Or, I could just ask you.
 
What’s the determination?

>>While the rail-gun rods will need to escape the Moon’s gravity at 2.3 kilometers per second, or 5,300 miles per hour
,
and we have that ability, we won’t have to do that.
 
We can place payloads with a gravitic engine, and then use the small satellites to confirm potential missile location.
 
Since our missile defenses will not be complicated, being essentially a metal block, they can accelerate without regard to any other constraints.
 
No major country admits to having missiles with nuclear payloads that can reach the moon, at this time.
 
However, as Dan mentioned, there is documentation which suggests the U.S. has had asteroid destruction capabilities for five decades.
 
Presently, most news accounts refute that conclusion. Due to the significant amount of lead-time, we do not need to do much more to handle attacks in which destruction of the launch vehicle is approved.<<

Dan noticed Bethany Anne’s eyes focusing back on him, “What did he say?”

“This time, it was ADAM, not TOM.” She stated. “Effectively, he suggested that we use the gravitic drives Team BMW has for powering the pods and have some available on the moon to reach the missile and slam into it.
 
There would be such a huge amount of time for acquisition, tracking and destruction that it is a non-issue.”

Dan said, “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

She scrunched up her face, “Not so much a ‘but’ as ‘what if’.
 
As in, what if we have incoming, but we don’t want to destroy them?”

“Like what, an uninvited shuttle?”
 
She nodded. “Well,” he continued, “if killing them isn’t an option, or we don’t think it would be wise, we need to consider both PR and military responses.”

“Has Cheryl Lynn gotten to you, too?”
 
Bethany Anne cut in.

“No, why do you ask?”

“Because she’s been talking about the need for us to be prepared for press releases, and the ability to handle spin against us
,
once what we are doing comes out.”

“That’s a wise woman, then.
 
But my experience battling Forsaken is why I’m suggesting PR.
 
Our plans are to be on the other side of the moon.
 
I don’t think we want a large number of others ‘spying’ on us, but they sure as hell are
going to want to do that.
 
Hell, I would if I were them.”
 
He mused
,
then continued, “So, we can either go full black-out and not let anything out
or we can let them see what we want them to see and no more
.
Last choice is we give them full access.”

“Like the whole embedded reporters ‘thing’ with the U.S.?”
 
Bethany Anne asked.

“Yes, like the invasion of Iraq in ‘03,” he said.

“No, I’m not ready for that.”
 
She responded. “I don’t want to give up anonymity this soon
,
if possible.”

Dan shrugged again, “Well, we need to be ready.
 
When even a small amount of truth gets out, the rumors are going to be flying.”
 
He shrugged, “It’s going to be hard to argue with someone who is already up there, but we need to make sure we have the wherewithal to back up our ‘No’ to their demands.”

“Understood.”
 
She sighed, “I don’t like it, but I do understand.
 
It’s going to be like letting the babies have a lick of the sugar lollipop
,
but telling them they can’t have it.”

“Pretty much,” Dan quipped, “And the biggest babies are going to be the U.S., Russia and China.”

“Those are some big babies,” she
agreed.
 
“We good?”
 

“Yes, so long as I’m not worrying about nuclear attacks, I’ll talk to the teams about digging in on the moon, in case we have to deal with letting someone land.
 
Although, frankly, we don’t have to open a door for them.”
 
He thought for a second, “You know, I think I’ll see about a good space suit.
 
With the pods, we have superiority over most anything, but if we need to go outside of the Pod
,
it will be a problem.”

Bethany Anne stood up.
“Consider what you could do with enough of those containers.
 
Hell, have a few of them sitting around, and you have a moveable fence.”
 
She added thoughtfully.

He nodded.
 
She waved her goodbye and stepped out of his office.

TQB Base, Colorado - USA

“I need an engineer.”
 
Where the first words Jeffrey heard as he walked into the central area.
 
He saw Bobcat and William chatting in the middle area and noticed Marcus over getting coffee in the break area.

“Look William,” Bobcat said, as he lifted his sleeve so William could see a little way up his arm, “Does it look like I have an engineer hidden here?”

“Guys,” Jeffrey said, interrupting them before they could get off track.
 
Both men turned to him, “I told you we would need more people. This isn’t a surprise or anything.”
 
Jeffrey turned to William, “What help do you need?”

“Well,” He admitted, “I’m not sure how to help finish pulling all of these things together and locking them during assembly.
 
I can do it, but I’m not going to be the one on the moon when it gets put together.”

“Ok, I’ve been getting a shit-ton of resumes submitted.”
 
Jeffrey started.

“How in the hell do you get resumes for a super-secret outer-space initiative?”
 
Bobcat asked.
 
Then he watched as Jeffrey simply raised one eyebrow and waited him out, “Ok, boss.”
 
Bobcat waved, “You have your ways … I get it.”

“It’s not that secret, Bobcat.”
 
Jeffrey answered, “You get with Frank and then with Frank and ADAM to start pulling possibilities
,
so I can grab them now.”
 

Bobcat smiled, “You mean ‘poach’ them.”

“You say tomato
-
I say tomatoe.”
 
Jeffrey smiled.

This time, it was Marcus that interrupted them as he made his way from the coffee area to his office.
 
He yelled over, “Did you get my woman?
 
Or rather, did you get the hydroponics expert?”
 
He smiled as he disappeared into his office.

“Now, why the hell is he so hell bent on this one lady?” Bobcat asked.

“Because they worked together fifteen years ago.”
 
Jeffrey answered.
 
Bobcat raised his eyebrow and Jeffrey continued. “I think Marcus would like one person on the team that knew him back when so they could geek out together.”

“What?” William asked Jeffrey incredulously, “We don’t geek out with him enough?”
 
William looked over to Bobcat who shrugged in response.

“Yeah,” Bobcat agreed, “I don’t get it either.”
 
The two men looked back to Jeffrey.

“Either way,” Jeffrey continued, “I’m going to reach out to an engineer by the name of Michael Pendergrass.
 
He’s qualified in engineering, high-performance vehicles, aerospace and mechanical repair.”

“Really?”
 
William asked, “What’s his down side?

“Maybe that he likes Dr. Pepper?”
 
Jeffrey replied, smiling.