nothing compared to the PR.”
“Oh?” Reitner looked slightly interested.
“Just imagine,” the CTO continued. “All the farmers and laborers and impoverished villagers in China and India and Africa—”
I rolled my eyes. Africa is not a country, people.
“—all using Susquehanna holo-tools to run their farms and maintain their homes. No more high license fees or feedstock bills, just buy the gloves and you’re set for life. We’d be pulling millions out of poverty in the first five years.” The CTO was looking pretty excited about this idea, and frankly, just listening to it, so was I. I was just looking for a little money and security, but she was talking about saving the world. I liked that.
If Dr. Reitner was getting excited about it, he was doing an excellent job of keeping his excitement to himself. After another long, quiet moment of him looking sternly at me and at the CTO, he said, “All right, I think it’s worth pursuing.”
I nearly shouted for joy, and it was all I could do to just stand still and try to look professional.
“But there are questions, there are a lot of issues still.” He wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at his suits. “I want Jane to start researching the legal grounds for acquiring products and licenses under these conditions, I want detailed viability studies and projections for the overseas sales, and Karen, you’ll need to assess the prototype.”
Apparently, the CTO’s name was Karen, and it took me a moment to remember that the prototype in question was on my hands. I cleared my throat. “Assess?”
Reitner nodded. “I need a full rundown on the product for design considerations, patenting, liability insurance, and so on. Independent review board, and all that. You can leave the prototype with Ms. Lincoln, and we’ll keep you apprised of our progress.”
Leave the prototype?
Instant sinking feeling in my gut. I mean, it wasn’t all alarms and panics like at Cygnus, on the contrary, I was still feeling really good about this. Reitner seemed serious. The whole deal seemed like it had a good shot at happening. But I only had the one pair of gloves, and the idea of giving them up to anyone left me cold.
“Uhm, do you think you could make some arrangements for me in the mean time?” I asked.
“Such as?”
I shrugged. It was awkward to ask for anything, especially with twenty strangers standing right there, watching me. “Well, maybe a hotel nearby. Some sort of per diem for food. And maybe, I don’t know, some personal security?”
“Unfortunately, Miss Zhao, until we’ve made a firm decision about whether to invest our resources in this new product market, we cannot have any formal relationship with you, which would include extending financial gifts or considerations to you. You understand.”
I did, and I didn’t. Everyone was covering their ass, just like me.
“Okay. Well, I need to keep these with me, so then I’ll just need to use one of your printers to make you another pair of gloves,” I offered.
Reitner shook his head a bit more firmly. “No, we can’t have that in our logs, it might look suspicious to our auditors. Go home, make the extra gloves, and bring them back tomorrow, and we can get started.”
“Okay.” I smiled. It was the strongest fake smile I’ve ever used. “I’ll do that and see you tomorrow. Thank you so much for this opportunity…”
There were a few more minutes of pleasantries, and then I was back outside, alone with my gloves, wondering why nothing was ever simple.
Of course I couldn’t go home. Frost would have it bugged, he might even have somebody hanging around, just waiting for me to be stupid enough to go back. But I couldn’t use just any old printer. I needed one loaded with rubidium feedstock.
Stupid rubidium.
“Lux, scooter.”
I started riding slowly back across the city in the general direction of my apartment. I tried to think of some other way to get the rubidium, but there just
“Oh?” Reitner looked slightly interested.
“Just imagine,” the CTO continued. “All the farmers and laborers and impoverished villagers in China and India and Africa—”
I rolled my eyes. Africa is not a country, people.
“—all using Susquehanna holo-tools to run their farms and maintain their homes. No more high license fees or feedstock bills, just buy the gloves and you’re set for life. We’d be pulling millions out of poverty in the first five years.” The CTO was looking pretty excited about this idea, and frankly, just listening to it, so was I. I was just looking for a little money and security, but she was talking about saving the world. I liked that.
If Dr. Reitner was getting excited about it, he was doing an excellent job of keeping his excitement to himself. After another long, quiet moment of him looking sternly at me and at the CTO, he said, “All right, I think it’s worth pursuing.”
I nearly shouted for joy, and it was all I could do to just stand still and try to look professional.
“But there are questions, there are a lot of issues still.” He wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at his suits. “I want Jane to start researching the legal grounds for acquiring products and licenses under these conditions, I want detailed viability studies and projections for the overseas sales, and Karen, you’ll need to assess the prototype.”
Apparently, the CTO’s name was Karen, and it took me a moment to remember that the prototype in question was on my hands. I cleared my throat. “Assess?”
Reitner nodded. “I need a full rundown on the product for design considerations, patenting, liability insurance, and so on. Independent review board, and all that. You can leave the prototype with Ms. Lincoln, and we’ll keep you apprised of our progress.”
Leave the prototype?
Instant sinking feeling in my gut. I mean, it wasn’t all alarms and panics like at Cygnus, on the contrary, I was still feeling really good about this. Reitner seemed serious. The whole deal seemed like it had a good shot at happening. But I only had the one pair of gloves, and the idea of giving them up to anyone left me cold.
“Uhm, do you think you could make some arrangements for me in the mean time?” I asked.
“Such as?”
I shrugged. It was awkward to ask for anything, especially with twenty strangers standing right there, watching me. “Well, maybe a hotel nearby. Some sort of per diem for food. And maybe, I don’t know, some personal security?”
“Unfortunately, Miss Zhao, until we’ve made a firm decision about whether to invest our resources in this new product market, we cannot have any formal relationship with you, which would include extending financial gifts or considerations to you. You understand.”
I did, and I didn’t. Everyone was covering their ass, just like me.
“Okay. Well, I need to keep these with me, so then I’ll just need to use one of your printers to make you another pair of gloves,” I offered.
Reitner shook his head a bit more firmly. “No, we can’t have that in our logs, it might look suspicious to our auditors. Go home, make the extra gloves, and bring them back tomorrow, and we can get started.”
“Okay.” I smiled. It was the strongest fake smile I’ve ever used. “I’ll do that and see you tomorrow. Thank you so much for this opportunity…”
There were a few more minutes of pleasantries, and then I was back outside, alone with my gloves, wondering why nothing was ever simple.
Of course I couldn’t go home. Frost would have it bugged, he might even have somebody hanging around, just waiting for me to be stupid enough to go back. But I couldn’t use just any old printer. I needed one loaded with rubidium feedstock.
Stupid rubidium.
“Lux, scooter.”
I started riding slowly back across the city in the general direction of my apartment. I tried to think of some other way to get the rubidium, but there just
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