And because I was bored, another peace of the story... this one is happening on Earth. *G*
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The atmosphere in the anteroom of the ESA General director Allan Bossert was tense. A french looking man in a suit was sitting in a comfy armchair, angrily looking at his clock from time to time. The phone rang and a secretary talked with someone for a few moments, then stood up and walked over to the waiting man.
“The ESA General director has now time for you” he said and the man stood up and followed him to the door.
In his office, the General Director of ESA stood up and approached his visitor to shake his hand.
“Mr. Duree, welcome to ESA... what can I do for you?”
“Spare me your amenities Mr. Bossert, I am not used to wait... and I am sure you already know why I am here!” Mr. Duree said, visibly angry. “You LIED to me when you told me that this Fen will have no part in constructing the Pan station!”
“Mr. Duree, I assume you have watched this video of the Fen reporter. I can assure you that no Fen will join the work on the space station on Pan. Not only that, but the station will be completely Handwavium free, without any products created outside Europe and Japan.”
Duree looked directly into the eyes of the leader of ESA.
“And what is about this damned floating space thing full of this... this... this things? Were they just Hollywood like computer generated images?”
“No, of course not,” Mr. Bossert explained calmly, “as you already know we have hired a group of Fen to provide housing, food and emergency support for the construction side. Otherwise the mission to Pan would have got much more expensive because we would have to bring temporary housing for our Astronauts there. Or keep our ISVs on Pan for half a year!”
“But why did you choose a station full of this freaks? Why not just hire some normal humans?”
‘Sometimes our neighbors across the English Channel are a just difficult’ the ESA General Director thought and sighed.
“Mr. Duree, we selected this group of Fen because of multiple reasons. At first they have a mobile space station that large enough to easily house our team of forty astronauts. They are also not affiliated with one of the planetary factions of Fenspace, which means they do not care that much if they are at Mars, the Moon or Saturn. Third, they consider themselves a research and prototyping facility, which means we do not even interrupt their normal projects.”
Mr. Bossert smiled. “Which means that they were cheaper than all the alternatives. And you maybe can remember the clause in the Aurora mission statement to minimize the amount of money we pay the Fen for anything? How was it spelled, ‘prevent the unnecessary draining of European resources to off-Earth persons and organization’?”
Duree gnashed his teeth because he had suggested that clause to the French EU Commissioner himself.
“I do not care for a few thousand Euros, I expect you to get rid of these freaks as soon as possible” Duree shouted angrily.
“No.” Bossert replied flatly.
Duree blinked a few times, unable to accept this direct denial of his will.
“Did you forgot who I am?” Duree lowered his voice. “Do you know how many people in European governments and the Commission consider me a personal friend? One word of me and you will be without a job within days!”
Allan Bossert considered just laughing about this threat for a moment but decided otherwise.
“Mr. Duree, maybe you should reconsider such an action. The ESA is working on the most complicated and most expensive space project ever done in its history, and we are doing well. We have good news reports, both here in Europe and among the Fen. The technology we promised the EU Commission works flawless and we are ahead of the timetable. I am sure you already know that half of the governments consider their re-election a safe thing if Aurora is a success.”
Duree looked angrily at Bossert but stayed silent.
“Because of this I am sure that my job is safe for the moment.” Bossert continued, “And maybe you should think more about the economic advantages this project has been to your enterprise than to throw everything away because you do not like the Hotel of our astronauts!”
“This is not the last time we spoke about this” Duree said, “I promise you will hear from me again!”
“Of course Mr. Duree, you know my office is always open for you.”
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The atmosphere in the anteroom of the ESA General director Allan Bossert was tense. A french looking man in a suit was sitting in a comfy armchair, angrily looking at his clock from time to time. The phone rang and a secretary talked with someone for a few moments, then stood up and walked over to the waiting man.
“The ESA General director has now time for you” he said and the man stood up and followed him to the door.
In his office, the General Director of ESA stood up and approached his visitor to shake his hand.
“Mr. Duree, welcome to ESA... what can I do for you?”
“Spare me your amenities Mr. Bossert, I am not used to wait... and I am sure you already know why I am here!” Mr. Duree said, visibly angry. “You LIED to me when you told me that this Fen will have no part in constructing the Pan station!”
“Mr. Duree, I assume you have watched this video of the Fen reporter. I can assure you that no Fen will join the work on the space station on Pan. Not only that, but the station will be completely Handwavium free, without any products created outside Europe and Japan.”
Duree looked directly into the eyes of the leader of ESA.
“And what is about this damned floating space thing full of this... this... this things? Were they just Hollywood like computer generated images?”
“No, of course not,” Mr. Bossert explained calmly, “as you already know we have hired a group of Fen to provide housing, food and emergency support for the construction side. Otherwise the mission to Pan would have got much more expensive because we would have to bring temporary housing for our Astronauts there. Or keep our ISVs on Pan for half a year!”
“But why did you choose a station full of this freaks? Why not just hire some normal humans?”
‘Sometimes our neighbors across the English Channel are a just difficult’ the ESA General Director thought and sighed.
“Mr. Duree, we selected this group of Fen because of multiple reasons. At first they have a mobile space station that large enough to easily house our team of forty astronauts. They are also not affiliated with one of the planetary factions of Fenspace, which means they do not care that much if they are at Mars, the Moon or Saturn. Third, they consider themselves a research and prototyping facility, which means we do not even interrupt their normal projects.”
Mr. Bossert smiled. “Which means that they were cheaper than all the alternatives. And you maybe can remember the clause in the Aurora mission statement to minimize the amount of money we pay the Fen for anything? How was it spelled, ‘prevent the unnecessary draining of European resources to off-Earth persons and organization’?”
Duree gnashed his teeth because he had suggested that clause to the French EU Commissioner himself.
“I do not care for a few thousand Euros, I expect you to get rid of these freaks as soon as possible” Duree shouted angrily.
“No.” Bossert replied flatly.
Duree blinked a few times, unable to accept this direct denial of his will.
“Did you forgot who I am?” Duree lowered his voice. “Do you know how many people in European governments and the Commission consider me a personal friend? One word of me and you will be without a job within days!”
Allan Bossert considered just laughing about this threat for a moment but decided otherwise.
“Mr. Duree, maybe you should reconsider such an action. The ESA is working on the most complicated and most expensive space project ever done in its history, and we are doing well. We have good news reports, both here in Europe and among the Fen. The technology we promised the EU Commission works flawless and we are ahead of the timetable. I am sure you already know that half of the governments consider their re-election a safe thing if Aurora is a success.”
Duree looked angrily at Bossert but stayed silent.
“Because of this I am sure that my job is safe for the moment.” Bossert continued, “And maybe you should think more about the economic advantages this project has been to your enterprise than to throw everything away because you do not like the Hotel of our astronauts!”
“This is not the last time we spoke about this” Duree said, “I promise you will hear from me again!”
“Of course Mr. Duree, you know my office is always open for you.”