all of it, he’s not going to feel like it. You reach a point where you’ve got too big a claim on society’s resources and they devalue the money or cut you off, because you’re bidding against it for labor and goods it has to have.”
“How can they cut you off? It’s legal money, isn’t it?”
“Grow up.”
“Fuck you, too. What if we’ve got some other kind of hold?”
“Listen, Polaski, if you’re talking about selling those plans, you’re not going to get anywhere near that kind of money. It doesn’t work that way.”
He looked disgusted. “No one’s getting those plans, Torres.
We
build the power cells, and
those
we sell.”
“Forget it. And don’t even mention patent rights. They’ll duplicate it overnight, and by next morning every company and government on the planet will have a nice tidy little reason why we need to be deported and our facilities nationalized.”
Polaski reached for the canteen.
“Fuck ’em,” he said.
T
he overcast had lowered even more an hour later.
“So listen, Torres. You made copies yet?”
“Before we moved out yesterday. There was just the document in the blocks, so I copied it off and wiped them. He was done with the modeling.”
“So how long to build a power cell and find out if it works?”
“That’s not the way it’s done, Polaski. You tell an MI to build a virtualcopy and simulate it. That’s what the old man was using the big blocks for, and his MI said it works. Assuming all the materials exist.”
“Yeah, okay. So what do you need to prove it can actually be built?”
“Faster systems, like Canberra. Or China Lake’s better, if California let the U.S. keep it open.”
“They did.” Elliot was sitting up on the bed. “U.S. got to keep it under the treaty. What the hell are you up to?” He was looking at me.
Footsteps came from the porch and Bolton stepped in, still in his dress whites.
“Whatever you’re up to, lads, you can forget it.” He threw a yellow flimsy onto the table. “They’re breaking us up, with unaccustomed dispatch. Possibility of courts-martial relating to the aircraft, with additional rather cryptic questions regarding our search for a missing researcher—about whom we know nothing, hm? The Army are not amused, gentlemen.”
I looked away.
“When?” said Polaski.
What the hell did it matter?
“Fifteen-hundred hours. We have six hours, lads, to come to terms with the wretched little scraps of our lives they will leave us.”
For a minute no one spoke, then Elliot left abruptly. When he came back it was with Chan, who stopped and leaned in the doorway. She looked tired.
“Listen, Chan,” said Elliot. “Bolton says they’re busting us up at fifteen-hundred. How come you can’t break into someone’s communications and put out a message that we’ve been picked up or we’re dead or something?”
She sighed. “One,” she said, “that’s not the way you work a bureaucracy. What you do is create a classified unit somewhere with no known access code, then transfer us to that unit. Then you reassign that unit to this island. In the military mind, we no longer exist.
“Two. I can’t get that deep into their systems. I can file personnel status changes, but I can’t move units around or requisition equipment or classify information. They change those passwords every ten days, and without a much bigger front-side store it would take me months to crack one. They know that.
“Three. What do you think I’ve been trying to do all night?” She didn’t look at me. “Most of the night.”
“All
right!
” Polaski’s fist slammed into the table. Chan frowned, in no mood for dealing with him, but I was reaching into my pockets at the same time. I set the silver blocks on the table.
Chan gave me a puzzled look, then snatched up the blocks without another word and pushed her way back out the door.
* * *
I
t was sometime after three when a CH-77’s lethargic thumping
“How can they cut you off? It’s legal money, isn’t it?”
“Grow up.”
“Fuck you, too. What if we’ve got some other kind of hold?”
“Listen, Polaski, if you’re talking about selling those plans, you’re not going to get anywhere near that kind of money. It doesn’t work that way.”
He looked disgusted. “No one’s getting those plans, Torres.
We
build the power cells, and
those
we sell.”
“Forget it. And don’t even mention patent rights. They’ll duplicate it overnight, and by next morning every company and government on the planet will have a nice tidy little reason why we need to be deported and our facilities nationalized.”
Polaski reached for the canteen.
“Fuck ’em,” he said.
T
he overcast had lowered even more an hour later.
“So listen, Torres. You made copies yet?”
“Before we moved out yesterday. There was just the document in the blocks, so I copied it off and wiped them. He was done with the modeling.”
“So how long to build a power cell and find out if it works?”
“That’s not the way it’s done, Polaski. You tell an MI to build a virtualcopy and simulate it. That’s what the old man was using the big blocks for, and his MI said it works. Assuming all the materials exist.”
“Yeah, okay. So what do you need to prove it can actually be built?”
“Faster systems, like Canberra. Or China Lake’s better, if California let the U.S. keep it open.”
“They did.” Elliot was sitting up on the bed. “U.S. got to keep it under the treaty. What the hell are you up to?” He was looking at me.
Footsteps came from the porch and Bolton stepped in, still in his dress whites.
“Whatever you’re up to, lads, you can forget it.” He threw a yellow flimsy onto the table. “They’re breaking us up, with unaccustomed dispatch. Possibility of courts-martial relating to the aircraft, with additional rather cryptic questions regarding our search for a missing researcher—about whom we know nothing, hm? The Army are not amused, gentlemen.”
I looked away.
“When?” said Polaski.
What the hell did it matter?
“Fifteen-hundred hours. We have six hours, lads, to come to terms with the wretched little scraps of our lives they will leave us.”
For a minute no one spoke, then Elliot left abruptly. When he came back it was with Chan, who stopped and leaned in the doorway. She looked tired.
“Listen, Chan,” said Elliot. “Bolton says they’re busting us up at fifteen-hundred. How come you can’t break into someone’s communications and put out a message that we’ve been picked up or we’re dead or something?”
She sighed. “One,” she said, “that’s not the way you work a bureaucracy. What you do is create a classified unit somewhere with no known access code, then transfer us to that unit. Then you reassign that unit to this island. In the military mind, we no longer exist.
“Two. I can’t get that deep into their systems. I can file personnel status changes, but I can’t move units around or requisition equipment or classify information. They change those passwords every ten days, and without a much bigger front-side store it would take me months to crack one. They know that.
“Three. What do you think I’ve been trying to do all night?” She didn’t look at me. “Most of the night.”
“All
right!
” Polaski’s fist slammed into the table. Chan frowned, in no mood for dealing with him, but I was reaching into my pockets at the same time. I set the silver blocks on the table.
Chan gave me a puzzled look, then snatched up the blocks without another word and pushed her way back out the door.
* * *
I
t was sometime after three when a CH-77’s lethargic thumping
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