“So, we’re the apple of Hawking’s eye? So, what’s the report on your end? Are we ready to collect some tolls on the future highway beyond our reach on Thursday?”
“Nothing’s beyond our reach, Tom, surely you know that! Just checking in to let you know, we’re only a call away even if the meeting didn’t go well.”
“How’d you know?”
“I’m just making educated guesses about some dark matter.”
“See you tomorrow. Do we have a full house on Thursday?”
“Very likely, but really, working in a cave, Tom? Investors might be a little bit ambivalent.”
“Well calm their nerves. They shouldn’t be. It’s the best environment for everything we need to build and develop. I’ll send you the address later. Of course, it’ll be hard to miss.”
Chapter 7 – Postponed
Tom Burns, Rocky Mountains, CO
It was getting pretty cold in Colorado. The drive from the Rockies back to Aurora was gorgeous though. Still, it was a bit long for just a meeting with Bob. Determined to get the job done, Tom had been putting his team together faster than ever. Having secured a permanent location for them to work on their mission was a dream come true. He had located a vast and large cavern in the Rocky Mountains. His first recruit had been Bob Jackson, and despite the fact that Bob had requested that he meet with Tom about the investor meeting at the new permanent location two days before the meeting, Tom held the highest confidence in him. Having served in the army concurrently in the Middle East, Tom knew he could trust Bob with his life or if anything happened to him, Bob could be depended on to carry out and succeed with the mission.
Once he arrived at the new undisclosed location, he showed Bob around and they talked.
“Now look, I hate to break it to you, and I couldn’t do it over the phone. But we need to reschedule this meeting on Thursday and meet with the president again. I’m sorry, Tom, but some of the potential investors feel like they need you to try one more time.”
“I can’t believe this, Bob. It’ll be a waste of time!”
“That might be true, but it’ll be better to let this group of investors know you tried.”
“Fine. When?”
“It’s scheduled for Thursday. One of the investors arranged it, mentioning his name, and was able to get the meeting squeezed in due to a last minute cancellation. It’s unusual, I know. And again, I promise, it’ll be the last time we try. But it’ll appeal to this group of investors. They’re all fine for postponing the meeting a week.”
Washington, D.C.
Two days later, Tom and Bob were escorted to the Oval Office. It bothered Tom to have to meet with the president again. Despite Tom’s adverse reaction, he was back to hoping they would gain his support. He knew it wasn’t just about him and that there were a lot of people involved and potentially involved in the mission. Still, Tom and Bob really did not expect much from the meeting. They were doing it for the sake of the investors. Just in case.
Well, they were absolutely right.
A recent history and tradition of deals made in the now stifling Oval Office had been concerned with the well-being of every American. Somehow, they had all ended up in the library instead. Tom felt sick at the thought that the well-being of people was simply of historical value. He hid his panic as Bob took the lead to try to persuade the president of the benefits of their mission.
The president again made it clear to him and Bob that he would not support the project and that it was a total waste of money. Now, Bob, looking as void as a shot up burn barrel in an old farm equipment storage yard, sat across from Tom. Their last-ditch effort was a failure. His knuckles white, his chin low, Bob looked around the office as his look of despair grazed the room roughly, filling everything that Tom saw in following his gaze with the ghosts of the past. Tom knew neither he nor Bob had served in the Army for this to happen to fellow citizens desperately in need of reassurances. They needed to report back to the investors that someone in the Oval Office cared enough about climate-related endeavors such as theirs. Now it might cost them the investor who’d set up the emergency meeting and maybe others they were supposed to be meeting with today.
Bob looked at the white flag of the Army that waved so close to the president’s desk, then the red one of the Marines. Tom also peered at the battle flags. Campaign streamers vividly hung above both flags, flanking the portrait of Andrew Jackson where Eisenhower once displayed a beautiful scenic painting and LBJ had displayed a different portrait of Andrew Jackson. Except, LBJ didn’t buy into limiting civil rights in the tradition of the Jacksonian extension of voting rights to adult white males with land only. Under the president, Tom watched America become more obviously partisan, breeding an ambivalence and discontent among those who subscribed only to the larger-than-life disproportionality of the role of elites in democratic decisions. Ironically enough, Jacksonian democracy helped to inspire the Great Society, but it had also inspired this type of leadership.
Bob appeared agitated. Tom’s ability to stay committed in mind and heart was shaken when he saw this. He wasn’t one to feel uncertain about anything, and he looked over at his top engineer momentarily to steel himself. Tom saw Bob waver a bit—his smile masking every attempt at bolting out of the room and getting back to the scheduled meeting they had postponed. From the looks of it, the tapping of his foot spoke volumes.
Glad that he’d seen the small gesture, Tom felt more at ease and confirmed in his resolve again. He knew that Bob and the well-meaning investor they might lose had figured that buy-in would help them take the voyage with less on their minds. As he watched Bob’s hopes wither, he also saw the president enjoy watching them try again and fail. Tom vaguely remembered feeling the same way when he’d been to Eastern European cities, like in the oblast of Ternopol, attempting to get budget approval for much-needed funding to help disabled kids in impoverished areas receive proper medical care through government funding to match all the non-profit money raised. It felt isolating, deeply ensconced in a tradition of red tape that could fit very nicely over the mouths of every hopeful fundraiser. There was no attempt at a kind gesture of moral support. It felt like a vast emptiness larger than any galaxy. The hazard of a lost investment and feeling deflated, with no support and discrediting—it was the stuff of nightmares.
In fact, here in the Oval Office that he and Bob had served, his team was told that the government would do everything in its power to discredit the project. Again. Tom figured it had more to do with the fact that the president couldn’t use his presidential power to reenlist two former Army troops and subject them to whatever mission he had in mind for them in space as Commander in Chief. In Tom’s estimation, Trump was still more interested in building a wall around the borders of the country and now probably in space.
Because of Trump, Tom immediately decided he would have to continue his work in secret.
As they left the White House, and returned home, Tom was thankful that the foot tapping was all that the top engineer had to say about the ordeal. Tom decided they would let the investors know right away and explain that they would do everything necessary to make sure the investments in the project made the mission a success despite having tried to secure moral support. Tom also entrusted Bob with employing all the engineers and construction people needed to build the laboratories and spaceship in Colorado.