Free The Ice Moon Explorer by Navin Weeraratne Page A

hope?”
    “Without hope, there is no reason not to turn
to extremism. A Centauri mission will create hope, for all peoples,
around the world.”
    “Orbitals create hope. Your number comes up,
and you’re out of the slums. Off to somewhere with more space and
food. There are no minorities to fight with. There’s just one
language, one religion, one caste.”
    Daryl threw up his hands, “Christ, what makes
you call that hope?”
    “Have you met these people, Daryl? Your
typical climate refugee is not big on middle class values. People
learn to spell or to hate. They only rarely do both. If you try to
force your values on them, they push back violently.”
    “Well I can’t accept that.”
    “Well you have to. This ship is a dream of a
better era. People will support this Daryl, lots of people. But you
can’t expect the whole world to get behind it. Only the rich, or
those lucky enough to be born in a prosperous nation, will support
this. People like us.”
    “Us? You support this?”
    “No, of course not. I think it’s a bad idea
that literally won’t fly. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think
it’s a nice idea. I think it’s beautiful. It’s what our
grandparents promised us, and our parents squandered. This wouldn’t
be creating a new hope. It’s renewing one that was lost. It doesn’t
get better than that.”
    “I really have no idea where you stand on
this.”
    “You’re my boss. Where do you want me to
stand on this? I do my best to talk you out of ideas that I don’t
agree with. But if I can’t manage that, then I have to ask myself
if I still want your money. Now while I’ve asked you questions,
I’ve asked this one of myself. I know the answer. So now, I have
one last question for you.”
    “Well get on with it.”
    “You yourself understand this will likely
cost more than any single company or nation can afford. And, I have
pointed out that the program would only appeal to a minority. This
is however an influential minority, dominating the world’s
resources. If it went forward, this program would divert those
resources from the people who most need it. Are you alright with
this?”
    “Yes, yes I am.”
    “Take your time with that answer, Daryl.
You’re selling your soul here. And a lot of other people’s as
well.”
    “No, this is how I want to buy my soul, back.
The world’s most desperate need hope. However, they are not the
only people in the world. We need to invest in our future, but we
must also be true to ourselves.”
    “Are you sure you’re not really saying that
you resent those people? The world’s most desperate? The ones who
take resources away from how you’d like to see them used?”
    “No, I don’t resent them. But without
something to hope in, I think I would start to. I think my attitude
speaks for many.”
    “Tomorrow, I’ll call you up and see if you
still feel this way. If you do, I’ll start drawing up some focus
groups.”
    “Focus groups?”
    “Just in the US. We’ll do every state. If the
data for the US is promising, then we can test in the rest of the
Big Four.”
    “Thank you Sam. Isn’t it a bit early to be
doing focus groups though?”
    “I don’t think so. The sooner we find out if
people would support this or not, the better. It’ll determine the
potential budget. Your engineers will want to some idea what that
is.”
    Spektorov sat back and sighed. “I’m glad
you’re onboard with this.”
    “We’ll see what you say tomorrow. I want you
to have a good think. Would you do that for me?”
    “I will.”
    “That’s all I can ask.”
    “Do you want to meet the team?”
    “The designers of this – what’s it
called?”
    “We’ve been calling it the Pathfinder.”
    “Yes, let’s go meet them. Maybe at least I
can talk them out of that stupid name.”