The Inner Ring (gxg)

Chapter 4

Pepper was intimidated by her company. Considering that most of the meals she had in the last two years had been alone and rushed, sitting in an opulent office with some of the richest people on the planet while sipping champagne and sharing steak and lobster was a drastic change! She was barely even able to keep up with the conversation as Vanessa and her father were talking a mile a minute, while Jason just smiled at them as if he were used to their banter, which he most likely was.

"All right, we had a roster of potential crewmates leftover from the Mars runs, we can contact them and see who might want to get invested in this," Anton waved his hand as if finding people to sign away ten years in space away was easy.

"Are you sure it is only ten years?" Vanessa challenged.

"It might be less. Our new thrusters for the Mars runs are the best we've ever built, and if we can mount more of them on a ship, we'll see if we can get the trip down to four years each way. If we add in a year on station collecting materials, then that would be nine years," Anton dismissed her concerns.

"Nine is still pretty high," Pepper interjected. "I mean, I'm in, don't get me wrong, but anyone with a family may want to say no before they even hear what is happening."

"She does have a point," Jason added.

"That is fine. We'll still have a decent pool. Single people who are fine with losing nine years for a whole lot of money," Anton grinned.

"Just remember father, this pool is the people who haven't qualified for any of the other missions. They are skilled, yes, but maybe not the best," Vanessa reminded him. "And tell them ten years as a time buffer."

"We have full psych profiles on all of them. We'll match the best crew together from a compatibility standpoint. We need to be able to get together for nine years after all," Anton seemed to think this was easy.

Pepper was reminded of her first college roommate. She was supposed to be a perfect match, according to the guidance folks, and they almost killed each other. She hoped the mission would have better results.

"When do we choose the crew then?" Vanessa asked.

"I'll start making some calls, we need to get them selected as soon as possible. I want our mission to leave in under ten days," Anton seemed sure that this was possible.

"That soon?" Jason seemed surprised by the rush.

"Yes, we have no choice. It might be sooner. I'm not worried about the different space agencies; they wouldn't do anything for at least a year. I'm worried about the other companies, our competitors, that could get something going within a month. I don't believe that any of them are as far along as we are to take advantage of this, but there could always be cooperation between the companies to try and overtake our lead in space," the older man explained. 30 years ago, companies like Space X and Virgin Galactic were making inroads into space exploration, but PASSpace had surpassed them in innovation and their ability to supply the Mars colony. Those other companies would love nothing more to gain a technological advantage and dominate the market.

The wreckage of these ships could provide just that. Or allow PASSpace to rule space travel for the foreseeable future. If possible, that could include going to other stars.

"So, we get a crew, we load everyone onto a ship you evidently have in space, with the new boosters, and we fly out to Uranus," Pepper clarified. "Then what?"

"What do you mean?" Anton asked with a furrowed brow.

"Well, those ships are huge," she gestured to the images on the monitor next to their table. "Even the small one is a lot bigger than even the supply ships going back and forth to Mars. So, what can we do with them?"