Rocket! An Ell Donsaii story #4) (25 page)

Even Dennison, who’d known that D5R had
some
kind of technology that he wanted for his company, couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

After a minute of vehement protest by individuals who just couldn’t believe such things were possible, President Teller banged a small gavel at his place. Once the room had fallen silent he said, “You may shout your disbelief as long as you wish after this meeting is completed. I’m here to tell you that what Ms. Donsaii has just told you is indeed verifiable fact. I’m also here to determine whether we can negotiate a settlement that might allow your companies to survive and thrive, rather than wither and die in the face of such a competitive edge.”

Teller turned back to Ell, “ILX tells me that you have not been receptive to offers from them, yet you implied when you and I spoke that you would be willing to consider licensing your technology. Can you explain?”

“Yes sir. The following is an audio recording of my first contact with ILX.

Phelps - “Hello, I’m Manfred Phelps and I represent ILX.”

Donsaii - “Yes?”

Phelps - “I’ve been authorized to offer your investors 10 million dollars for the exclusive rights to this new rocket technology D5R has been using.”
Everyone in the room could hear Phelps’ implicit assumption that Ell should be stunned by the amount he’d offered.

Donsaii - “Oh! I’m sorry Mr. Phelps, that tech isn’t for sale at present. At some point in the future we do expect to license it, but that won’t be for a while yet.”

Phelps -
Unperturbed,
“Alternatively we’re prepared to offer 25 million dollars to purchase D5R outright.”

Donsaii - “Uh, the company isn’t for sale either Mr. Phelps.”

Phelps - “Ms. Donsaii,”
Phelps patiently lecturing now,
“please let me talk to whoever’s actually in charge there.”

Donsaii -
Quietly,
“I am D5R’s CEO, Mr. Phelps.”

Phelps - “Ms. Donsaii
,” with the air of someone whose patience was wearing thin,
“I haven’t been able to find your articles of incorporation on the web as yet, but surely even
you
realize that once we do, we can simply make this offer to your Board and that they’ll override you?”

Donsaii - “Oh, I don’t think that’ll happen, Mr. Phelps.”

Phelps - “Ms. Donsaii, I assure you that investors are surprisingly fickle when they see a chance to obtain a very large return on their investment. Especially,” he said ominously, “when they learn that the alternative would be for their little company to compete against a corporation like ILX with billions of dollars in resources.”

Donsaii -
(Crowd noise in background)
“Back to what you were saying, I’m confident that our investors won’t be fickle. Also, since the technology D5R is using is based on completely new theoretical physics, the patents should stand up well to any assaults by well heeled lawyers.”

Phelps - “Mizz Donsaii! A patent search doesn’t even turn up any new rocketry patents!”

Donsaii - “Well that would be true. You can rest assured; however, that patent protection has been applied for. It’s just so recent that the application has not been made public as yet.”

Phelps - “You don’t even have a patent?! It is entirely possible that a patent might not even be granted! All the more reason your investors may jump ship! I would strongly urge you reconsider before ILX reduces the offer.”

Donsaii - “Sorry Mr. Phelps, but we really don’t have anything to worry about, either regarding the uniqueness of the intellectual property nor the confidence of our investors.”

Phelps -“Ms. Donsaii you are going to regret this decision!” Phelps said ominously, then broke the connection.

Ell’s eyes swept the room. “I would not characterize that conversation as a ‘negotiation.’  I would characterize it as more in the nature of a ‘browbeating.’ There was no question posed regarding what we might be
willing
to license for, or
when
we would be ready to license. There was simply an extremely undervalued offer which was rejected with no further offers forthcoming.”

“Undervalued!” Dennison exclaimed. “Twenty five million dollars!”

“Yes undervalued, Mr. Dennison. That offer to purchase D5R amounted to less than 10% of what ILX charges for a single orbital flight.”

Dennison took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Ell held up a hand, looked to Teller and said, “I believe I have the floor?”

The President nodded.

Ell resumed, “The next contact we had from ILX came in through the back wall of our building.” Video popped up on screens all around the room showing someone lifting a tarp off to reveal a hole cut in the back of a building.

A spike of fear shot through Dennison. He hadn’t heard from Sonny since he deposited the hundred twenty five thousand in an account for him. But Sonny wasn’t very communicative under any circumstances. Dennison had only been worrying because he hadn’t heard anything about the expected “setback,” nor received his information about D5R’s tech yet.

The camera, obviously on someone’s AI headband, ducked down to enter the building, then rose up in what appeared to be a machine shop. The lighting was odd, though some recognized it as typical for what is seen through self lighted infrared night vision goggles. A man wearing gloves and a stocking mask turned the corner into the machine shop and appeared startled to find someone there. He paused a moment, then reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of duct tape. He stepped toward the camera reaching out, obviously intent on restraining the person with the camera. A “pop” sound could be heard and the man’s muscles spasmed. He fell to the floor. Before his muscles began to respond again his hands had been professionally pulled back and plastic ties used to restrain them behind him. Then his ankles. Then the lights were turned on.

Dennison shouted, “What does a break in at your facility have to do with ILX?!”

Ell paused the video, raised a finger and waggled it back and forth, then the video resumed.

The man’s stocking mask was pulled off and then his AI headband.

Dennison’s stomach clenched. It
was
Sonny!

Sonny was grabbed by the armpits and lifted into a sitting position, his back to one of the big machines. “So, Sonny Alston, who sent you?” It was a girl’s voice. Donsaii’s!

She said musingly, “I see you’ve been in the ‘joint’ a couple of times. Breaking and entering seems to be a specialty of yours. But you went ‘up the river’ for beating up some guys in a bar.” There was a pause “Not a very nice person are you? You went up another time for using a weapon in a robbery? Hmmm.” She turned to pick up his back pack, then turned back toward him momentarily before she unzipped the front flap, “Hope you didn’t bring a weapon on this little jaunt cause my AI tells me you go up the river again if you are found carrying a weapon… Aw, Sonny, look at this.” She pulled open the flap to show him the gun within. “It’s starting to look pretty bad for you. Breaking and entering, theft of that rocket you’ve got outside, carrying a weapon as a felon.” She shook her head back and forth. “And this hose makes it like you were planning to commit arson. You sure you don’t want to tell me who sent you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you the police? You haven’t read me my rights.”

“Nope.” She said cheerfully. “So I’m not bound by all those rules that restrain them.”

“You can’t make me a deal then either.”

“Sure I can…” she paused. “I…” she paused again, “can just let you go without pressing charges.”

“Why would I trust you?”

“Well, you’d just have to look into my honest eyes and see if you could. Course, the alternative is to go up the river for sure, isn’t it?”

The man glared at her for a minute. “General Electric.”

“What’s GE got to do with this?”

“They hired me.”

“Now, now, now, GE didn’t hire you, some
body
hired you. Maybe they work at GE, maybe they work somewhere else? Who is that somebody?”

She leaned near to him to pat at a lump in his pocket. The man lunged up to head butt her. To everyone’s astonishment she easily dodged him.

She leaned back, “Sonny, Sonny, Sonny. That wasn’t nice. I have to tell you, the encryption on your AI wasn’t very good. My AI has extracted its memory, including the secret recording you made of your conversation with Mr. Dennison from ILX. I guess I’ll just go ahead and call the police.” She stood up and stepped away, just as a couple of beefy security types trotted in the door, out of breath. “Hey guys,” she said to them, “please keep an eye on Mr. Alston here for me, would you?” She left as the security guys narrowed their eyes at him and then one of them squatted down to check his restraints…

Dennison lunged to his feet, so angry he was shaking, “I can’t believe you are trying to imply…”

Ell simply waggled her finger again and tapped her ear. She said, “Mr. Dennison used an odd accent in his surreptitiously recorded meeting with Mr. Alston, but even without an AI’s confirmation, I believe that you will all recognize his voice.”

Dennison - “We’ve got a problem suited to your unique skills.”

A pause where nothing is said.

Dennison - “There’s a facility called D5R in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina that supposedly is launching rockets to orbit with some new kind of technology.”

Another pause where nothing is said.

Dennison - “They need to have a ‘setback.’ We need samples of the tech.’”

Another pause where nothing is said.

Dennison - “How much?”

Alston - “Ten grand just to look it over and price it.”

Ell said, “So, Mr. Dennison claims to have attempted to negotiate a deal. But, actually, through Manfred Phelps, made a single, ridiculously lowball, offer. Then he arranged for a common criminal to attempt to steal our technology and provide us a ‘setback.’ The police tell me that the night that Mr. Alston broke into our facility, Mr. Dennison transferred $125,000 to an offshore account that was closed an hour later. Mr. Alston had already dragged a fuel hose into the building from the tank farm out back when he was apprehended. He has admitted to the police that the ‘set back’
he
had planned involved running kerosene into the building through the hose and starting a fire. At the end of the kerosene hose stood a device that was set to generate sparks after a delay of one hour.”

She took a deep breath. “Mr. President, D5R
is
willing to license this technology to other companies, nonexclusively, at rates that will allow those companies to do what they’ve already been doing but at tremendously reduced cost. Even ILX may obtain a license, but only if Mr. Dennison, Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Phelps are relieved of their positions.”

Ell looked at the people from the ILX board. “The police are almost ready to file their charges against Mr. Dennison anyway. I doubt you want to have a felon leading your company.” The board looked grim.

The room was dead silent. People in the room looked at Dennison as you might regard something particularly disgusting you had found on your shoe. His face was completely ashen. He licked his lips and said, “That video has been
doctored
. I
never
said that to anyone…”

President Teller looked as if he had a very sour taste in his mouth…

***

In his ear, Phil’s AI said, “You have just received instructions to leave this class, get your travel kit with clothing etc, for one week and report to the main entrance.”

“Leave class?!”

“Yes, the orders come from the Director’s office.”

Phil shook his head, he did not want to fall behind on his training. On the other hand, you didn’t get assigned missions by pissing off the director. He put up his hand and when the instructor recognized him said, “Sir, I have just received orders from the Director’s office to report to the main entrance.”

The instructor rolled his eyes and said, “Well, you’d better go then hadn’t you.”

Phil wasn’t sure whether the eye roll was because he’d asked permission or because the Director’s office had seen fit to remove him from the instructor’s class.

When he got down to the main entrance he found two of the more senior astronauts waiting there too. He recognized Chuck Lane who was an Air Force Academy grad about fifteen years his senior. He’d been a fighter pilot before opting for astronaut training. Phil introduced himself and they shook hands. They’d all apparently received similar instructions. Lane introduced Phil to Zeke Potter, who also turned out to be an academy grad with flying experience. None of them knew where they were going or what for but they all had their travel kit with them. Phil said, “Hope it’s something good!”