Page 20 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Black Pinhole Nanofurnace

the sale or licensing of anything you produce for the next five years,
to the investors. If any of the terms herein are unacceptable, we are
open to negotiating them, within reason. Our telephone number is
on the title page. Please give this proposal careful consideration. I
believe you will find it quite equitable, given the risks for all parties.”
He took the document with trembling hands. “Two million,” he
muttered. “I could hire an assistant, maybe two. Move this operation
a few miles out of town. Get some custom testing equipment. Not a
corporate R-and-D budget, but I don’t need any padding. I can run
this on a shoestring.” He focused on my expectant, smiling face.
“This had better be for real, Mister. I don’t have time for false
hopes.”
Before I walked in the door he had time for nothing else, I
thought—but said, “Take a couple of days, Dr. Aitkens, and examine
our bona fides. You’ll find that Ishtar Investments is a stable, solvent
company. We will present you with a check for the advance when
you sign the contract. We’re as anxious as you are to solve the energy
crisis.”
I stood up to leave, but Lalo Aitkens was now a man repossessed.
Clutching his ticket to Valhalla, he became extremely animated. Years
of repressed monomania bubbled over.
“Yes, yes, I will begin immediately. All the plans are here, in my
notebooks and in my head: I can prepare the nanofurnace for a
tabletop performance in six months once I get a new laboratory.
Energy crisis? That is only one-third of my worries. I’ve got plans for
the other two—I’m sure you’ll want to fund them, too.”
I wanted to leave, fearing that the longer I stayed the more his
craziness would be encouraged. It would be disastrous were he to
insist on expanding the scope of my involvement. My writ was to
subsidize one blocked project, not every oddball scheme this guy had
ever hatched. But I couldn’t escape immediately.
“Listen, Mr. Sellers,” Aitkens emoted dramatically, verbally
buttonholing me. “What mankind has already taken out of the
ground and burned is a fact that cannot be undone without bold
action. The nanofurnace will halt further release of ignition emission,
but we can undertake two more large-scale operations to right our
global imbalance and preserve humanity. First, carbon sequestration:
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