Free Misspent Youth by Peter F. Hamilton

unrivaled knowledge and expertise in solid state physics. The research effort to produce a room-temperature superconductor will be pan-European, much the same as rejuvenation.”
    “That’s right,” Jeff said. “It won’t be one person that brings about a commercial superconductor; this is about mounting a team effort. I’m not even the team leader. I’ll be one of a thousand people contributing.”
    “A contribution we shall all value, Dr. Baker,” the president interjected. “A room-temperature superconductor will be of enormous advantage to every European, indeed everyone on this planet. And its effects will be felt immediately. Ecologically and economically each one of us will benefit. Less power will be lost through transmission cables; it will be possible to build more efficient generators and motors.”
    “The world needs new energy and new ways of handling that most precious resource,” Jeff said. “And this is the most promising method of all.”
    “High-temperature superconductors have been a goal of the physics community for over fifty years, Dr. Baker,” the New European Scientist reporter said. “Don’t you think that if it was possible, we’d have it by now?”
    “Practical rejuvenation has been a goal ever since we discovered the DNA molecule. It took us this long to get it right. And there’s a lot of time, effort, and money being channeled into the problem right across the world, not just in Europe. America was doing some superb work on nanonics before I went into treatment. I’m very keen to see where that’s leading, and how much is applicable to our own effort.”
    “I don’t know about anyone else,” Rob Lacey said cheerfully. “But I’m confident that having Jeff here on our team will give us in Europe a hell of an advantage. And as prime minister I’m proud that it is one of our citizens, a man whose fame is based on his notorious generosity, who will be providing our premier technological project the impetus it needs for success. We are at the core of Europe, and I hope we can now become its powerhouse.” He looked round contentedly at the reporters, searching out their approval, while somehow managing to avoid the eye of the president, whose tight smile was frozen on his face.

T HE AVTXT WAS CLEVER , with green devil icons performing a mildly obscene cheerleader act, spelling out the words to the invitation. Annabelle had laughed when she received it, sending back a swarm of saucy angels to chant an RSVP. It wasn’t quite what she would have chosen to go to, a cocktail party to welcome Jeff Baker home. But Tim had been sure to invite several of their friends, so she wouldn’t feel left out. As usual, she thought. Tim was always very careful in his approach, always making sure that everything they went to was a just-good-friends outing. So careful, in fact, she wouldn’t even say they qualified as a couple yet. A small part of her was quite irked by that. How obvious did she have to be?
    She had to admit, though, the party wasn’t as awful as she had expected. It was ninety percent adults, and most of them over fifty. But the manor’s large reception rooms were wonderfully elegant, and Sue Baker had hired a very upmarket catering team for the event. Waiters and waitresses circled with glasses of champagne on silver trays, and mounds of delectable canapés. The men were mostly in suits, while the women wore expensive dresses. Shame so many of them lacked any sort of elementary fashion sense, Annabelle thought.
    She’d given a lot of consideration to what she ought to be wearing herself. In an ideal world she’d be wearing something from Stephanie Romane’s designer line, but she didn’t have that kind of money. Instead she’d spent an age trawling through sites that offered reproductions of varying quality, finally settling for a simple orange summer dress with quite a short skirt that was indistinguishable from the real thing. It earned her a lot of looks from the