Free The Ice Moon Explorer by Navin Weeraratne

be
making.”
    “Actually yes I can,” he jabbed his finger at
the floating design, “I’m specifically pushing the case that we
can’t make this investment. How much money is something like this
going to cost?”
    “Well, I’ve done some calcu – “
    “No, stop. This isn’t scholarships for
runaway, African, child soldiers. Even your entire personal fortune
couldn’t bankroll a project like this. You’re not putting together
modules Daryl, you’re developing technology. When has that ever
been cheap? You’ll have to go to the board. Where is the return on
investment? How can you make this something they would invest in?
Even if they said yes, we just don’t have the money. We’re one
company, Daryl. Something like this needs a group of nations.”
    Daryl smiled.
    “Oh come on!”
    “I’ve done some calculations. An
international program is indeed the only way this could be funded.
Nations have already come together for clean energy and eco-repair.
The UN High Commission for Refugees’ funding exceeds the GNP of
some nations. The world is pretty good at getting serious, Sam. I
think the Sun Star Foundation should get the world behind an
expedition to Alpha Centauri.”
    “Oh, the world is good at getting serious
alright. Let’s ask the Maldives, shall we? They world got pretty
serious once their UN delegation took up more dry land than their
country did.”
    “Come on, Sam. You know what I mean.”
    “Do you know what you mean? You want to work
with nations that only deliver when there’s a knife at their
throats? And the UNHCR orbitals are not paid for with the world’s
money. They’re paid for with the Big Four’s money. Sure, places
like Korea and Switzerland throw in a bit. But that’s only so that
they can look like they’re paying. Its protection money we pay to
the poorest countries, to evacuate their desperate to space.”
    “You mean less developed countries.”
    “No, I mean poorest. ‘Less developed’ implies
that they’re in the process of getting their acts together. Most of
these places were decolonized almost a century ago. Those still
blaming Europeans are no longer able or interested in making
meaningful change.”
    “Can we do this without sounding right
wing?”
    Sam’s eyes narrowed. “You have lobbyists in
Congress, both America’s and China’s. You’re the last person who
gets to pretend he’s not right wing. A spade is a spade, Daryl. If
we can’t agree on the facts then this conversation is
pointless.”
    “Can we move on?”
    “I’ll take that as agreement. The world comes
up with the money for the UN’s refugee orbitals, because it has to.
It’s political, not philanthropic. Africa and Asia are full of
uneducated, poor, and bitter people. Every penny spent resettling
them in space, is spent on defense. It’s Low Earth Orbit, or drone
strikes and Chinese peacekeepers. You can’t expect that level of
international spending and cooperation for a starship, Daryl. If
anything, they will see it as a competing interest. They will say
yes, take control, and delay it forever.”
    “I fully understand the politics of the
resettlement orbitals. You may recall they were our idea.”
    “Sun Star was strong-armed into giving up the
tech to build them. Pretending that it was our idea, was my
idea.”
    “And under you, the PR department has done
such a good job, even I can’t remember. But the Big Four understand
that no crisis, no matter how dire, should kill science spending.
They got where they are, because they’ve always invested in
research. Often, they’ve researched their way out of crisis.
Eco-repair and climate refugees will be no different.”
    “Again I ask you: how will sending a ship to
Alpha Centauri, help Bangladeshi boat people?”
    “I think I just answered that.”
    “No you didn’t. How will you make this real
for a climate refugee? How can you sell this to them?”
    “It will give them hope.”
    Sam laughed. “Hope? Who needs