Part 28 (1/2)

”Really.”

”And worse,” Lev said. ”There were several Yamagata Corporation people there, too.”

Joanna leaned her head back against the limousine's plush upholstery. ”I've got got to get the board of directors to support Moonbase. If they back me, we can start to put pressure on the White House.” to get the board of directors to support Moonbase. If they back me, we can start to put pressure on the White House.”

”And if they don't?” Lev asked.

”They will,” Joanna said firmly. ”They've got to.”

Ibrahim al-Ras.h.i.+d steepled his fingers as he gazed at Tamara Bonai's image on the wall screen of his office. She is certainly beautiful, he thought. If only I could convince her to see things my way.

”Then you will attend the emergency board meeting in person?” he asked.

”Yes,” Bonai said. ”I want to be there.”

She was apparently in her office, too, although it was difficult to tell, with all the rattan and bamboo decor and the wide windows looking out onto a delicious tropical beach.

”Perhaps you could come a day or so early,” Ras.h.i.+d suggested. ”I would be pleased to take you to New York City or wherever else you would like to visit.”

Bonai seemed to think the matter over for a few heartbeats. ”I've never been to Was.h.i.+ngton. I understand it's quite lovely in the spring.”

”Was.h.i.+ngton,” Ras.h.i.+d said, thinking quickly. ”The national capital. I know a very comfortable hotel just a short walk from the White House. Perhaps I could arrange a visit with the President.”

She smiled delightfully. ”I'm afraid that would have to be arranged by my own foreign secretary. I am a chief of state, remember, and there is protocol involved.”

Ras.h.i.+d smiled back at her. ”Of course. But perhaps I could be of some help. I know the President personally, and a little friendly persuasion always makes the wheels turn more smoothly.”

”That would be very kind of you.”

”Nothing at all,” he said. ”I'd be happy to do it.”

Bonai's face grew more serious. ”You understand that I am fully in support of Moonbase's independence, don't you?”

”Of course. But you won't mind if I try to convince you otherwise?”

”You can try.”

”You see, I have believed for many years that the true future of Masterson Corporation lies in the development of fusion power.”

”As Yamagata is doing in j.a.pan?”

”Yes, exactly. If we can work together with Yamagata we can open up the market for fusion power plants in North America. The market is worth trillions of dollars!”

”As long as you can import helium-three from the Moon.”

Ras.h.i.+d kept the disappointment from showing on his face. She knows the whole story; there's no way to fool her about this.

”Yes,” he admitted. ”Fusion power makes economic sense only if we can use helium-three as a fuel.”

”Which is why Yamagata wants Moonbase.”

”Yamagata is producing helium-three at its own base in Copernicus.”

”But without nanomachines to do the work, their costs are prohibitively high.”

”I wouldn't say prohibitively,” Ras.h.i.+d argued.

Bonai smiled brightly. ”Then why do they want Moonbase, if not for our nanotechnology?”

”With nanomachines extracting helium-three from the Moon's soil,” Ras.h.i.+d said, warming to his subject,'the costs of fusion power go down dramatically. We could offer the world the ultimate energy system, the energy source the stars themselves use! It would be cheap, efficient, and clean: no radioactive wastes!”

”No radioactive waste?” Bonai probed.

Ras.h.i.+d waved a hand in the air. ”Well, some, of course. But very little, and totally manageable. Not like the old-style fission reactors, with their uranium and plutonium.”

”I see.”

”We could be the primary producer of fusion power systems for North and South America,” he said, regaining his enthusiasm. ”The market will be trillions of dollars every year! Think of the profits!”

”And who would make these profits? Masterson Corporation or Yamagata?”

”Both,” Ras.h.i.+d answered.

She said nothing for several moments. Then, rather thoughtfully, Bonai offered, ”We must talk about this in more detail.”

”Yes. When you visit Was.h.i.+ngton. Before the board meeting.”

She nodded. ”Yes. Before the board meeting, certainly.”

Ras.h.i.+d felt delighted. I'm winning her over! he told himself.

DAY TWENTY-FIVE.

”He makes a certain amount of sense, Doug,” Bonai was saying. ”Fusion power could be an enormous market.”

Tamara and Doug were strolling along the beach, side by side, even though separated physically by nearly four hundred thousand kilometers.

Doug had gone to Moonbase's virtual reality studio and donned a full-body sensor suit. Instead of the c.u.mbersome helmets that VR systems had once required, he wore contact lenses over his eyes. Produced by nanomachines, the contacts served as miniaturized television screens that fed visual input to his retinas from a microcamera mounted just above his eyes on a headband. Equally tiny microphones were plugged into his ears.

As far as Doug could see, hear or touch, he was slos.h.i.+ng through the gentle surf on Bonai's private islet, on the far side of the Tarawa lagoon, away from Bonriki and Betio, where the airport and hotels were.

It was beautiful, Doug had to admit. Gorgeous, with the sun dipping down toward the ocean horizon and the trade wind bending the palm trees. The surf broke out on the coral reef with booming roars; here in the lagoon it lapped softly at their feet as they walked along the golden beach.

Tamara was beautiful, too, in a wraparound flowered pareo pareo of blue and gold, her bronzed shoulders bare, her l.u.s.trous black hair cascading down her back. She stumbled slightly on the wet sand and Doug reached out a hand to steady her. Even with the three-second lag between Earth and Moon, her hand was still there for him to grasp. He felt her hand clutch his, and she smiled up at him as they continued down the beach, hand in hand. of blue and gold, her bronzed shoulders bare, her l.u.s.trous black hair cascading down her back. She stumbled slightly on the wet sand and Doug reached out a hand to steady her. Even with the three-second lag between Earth and Moon, her hand was still there for him to grasp. He felt her hand clutch his, and she smiled up at him as they continued down the beach, hand in hand.

She could have stayed in her office and simply programmed the VR equipment to show us this beach scene, Doug knew. But Tamara actually was strolling on one of the small islets up at the far end of the lagoon, wearing a full-body sensor suit and a set of microminiaturized cameras that ringed her head like a diadem to provide a complete picture of the island environment for the virtual reality link.

Sweeping his gaze from her lovely face to the curving length of the beach, the graceful palms, the brilliant white clouds parading across the bright blue sky, Doug realized why he had been so reluctant to meet with Tamara in virtual reality. This was the world that was denied him. This was the world that humans were meant to live on, not the harsh lifeless Moon, but this tropical island where you could stand naked in the warm breeze and breathe free.