Read Online Kinsella (Kinsella Universe Book 1) by Gina Marie Wylie - Free Book Online Page B

a lot of the development costs.  The overall XA project budget has run to about ten billion over the years.”
    John Gilly saw the predatory gleam in Stephanie Kinsella’s eyes.
    “Tell me,” she asked the suit, “there are two ways to run a tour like this.  Start with something other than the best, saving the best for last, or starting with the best, and letting the gosh-wow types down gently after that.”
    “As per the request, we started with the best,” he told Stephanie.
    “Then let’s save everyone a lot of time,” Stephanie replied.  “I don’t suppose you have a dozen or two aerospace engineers that I could borrow for the rest of the day?”
    John Gilly guffawed; the corporate suit smiled politely.
    “We laid on something like that for this afternoon.  We have a conference room reserved for later.  I don’t think that we could justify that kind of interruption to work schedules just now for what you ask.”
    “Humor her,” Captain Gilly told him.  “Think about this: consider it gathering some goodwill with the President of the United States.  Because, barring a miracle, the government is going to cancel just about every project you currently have going on here, including the XA project.  Maybe a week, maybe two, is all you have left.”
    “And any time your people spend working on their current projects would have been better spent on something else,” Stephanie added.
    A half dozen satellites appeared, trailing a single man who headed towards them.  The man in front was wearing a tweed jacket, not a suit coat; he had no tie, and Stephanie was sure that it was a pipe she saw sticking out of his jacket pocket.
    “Professor Kinsella,” the newcomer said, extending his hand to Stephanie, “I’m Brian Taverner, the Engineering Department head.”
    “Stephanie Kinsella, sir,” she replied shaking his hand.
    “Just call me Brian.  Have my people been treating you right?”
    “Fine, sir.  I’d like to get together a meeting of some of your best engineers,” Stephanie told him, “but there is some concern about work schedules.”
    Brian Taverner turned to one of his minions.  “Go get Conference A set up.  Three dozen chairs.  Tell Sherrie to get some lunch in.  Chinese, some pizza, that kind of stuff.”  That man hurried off and Taverner turned to another.  “Tell Earl and Bernard I want to see them and the best half dozen idea guys they’ve got in A, right away.  Nothing’s more important.”
    “Yes, sir!” And he too was gone.
    “Sir,” the suit Stephanie and Captain Gilly had been with spoke up, “Captain Gilly was intimating that the government is going to cancel all our aerospace contracts.”
    “Yes.  Have one of your people get the dozen best and brightest from your shop, Steve.”
    “Is it true?” the suit pressed.
    “I had a call today from someone I know in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He asked me if I’d read any good patent applications lately.  I told him no, I have assistants who do that.  He told me to fire them and gave me a number.  I asked just what exactly what was he trying to say?  He said that the government had stopped playing around on the edges of space and was going into the wholesale side of the business.  If we didn’t move today, we’d be too late.
    “I looked at that patent application myself, and there were four names: Caltech, Stan Benko, Johnny Chang and Dr. Stephanie Kinsella.  That was, I thought, a little curious, because they usually list things like doctorates, and they list the names by patent ownership participation.
    “That patent application contained some very esoteric math, Steve.  Get your people to A, right now.”
    The suit, Steve, turned and said something and his minion dashed away.
    “I called our people in Washington,” Taverner went on, talking now to Stephanie and Captain Gilly.  “I wanted to know about our contracts.  I kind of slipped and had a half dozen senior management on the line when I