Page 16 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire
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Black Pinhole Nanofurnace

        out of it! Royalties: royalties, do you hear me? You’d better not be
        here to trick me, Mr. Sellers. I’m no fool.”
          “Certainly  not,  Dr.  Aitkens.”  I  had  determined  that  a  calm,
        buttoned-down  approach  was  best.  “My  principals  understand  the
        value of your work, and are prepared to offer you extremely generous
        terms.”
          “Really?”  He  stopped  abruptly.  “How  do  you  know  what  I’m
        doing?” He scrutinized the peeling ceiling. Perhaps spies had oozed
        through the drain and planted a miniature video camera in the water-
        stained panels. I suppose I simply could have handed him a bankroll
        and  run  out  the  door,  but  he  would  have  smelled  a  rat.  How  he
        would have distinguished it within the rich bouquet of organic decay
        and chemical residue bathing the interior of the structure I could not
        guess.
          “To be honest, sir, we do not know the exact developmental stage
        of your project. The last published report, from a scientific journal
        dating from your tenure at Delenda Dynamics, was rather theoretical.
        Given  your  security  precautions,  we  can  only  conjecture  at  your
        progress; by the same token, we hope to be the first to provide you
        with  adequate  seed  money.  The  information  we  have  assembled  is
        available to all: no doubt you have had other offers. But you will find
        ours to be the most advantageous to your goals.”
          Lalo  Aitkens  digested  this  plate  of  tripe  and  his  fabric  visibly
        softened.  There  was  hope  for  my  cause,  at  least  in  the  short  run.
        After I had carried out my commission all the starch could go back
        into him, and then some, for all I cared. No sane person would have
        given  this  character  carfare,  much  less  a  major  grant.  I  began  to
        doubt that Al Magnus was playing with a full deck.
          “Well, now, Mr.—” he looked at my card. “Mr. Sellers. Just what
        do you know about the black pinhole nanofurnace?”
          Time  to  look  informed,  I  told  myself.  Adopting  a  thoughtful
        expression, I recited a well-rehearsed speech.
          “I do not know enough to say that it will work; that is the affair of
        my  employers.  From  my  limited  perspective,  I  must  say  that  your
        invention clearly has the potential to pull the planet back from the
        brink of ecological disaster. Fossil fuels will be left in the ground only
        when a much cheaper, cleaner alternative is available. Nuclear fusion
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