Sleep and the Soul by Greg Egan

Author:Greg Egan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2022-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

2062

“You want us to donate a year’s worth of our entire deep space launch capacity?” Ben Kershaw’s image glitched for a second, as if the connection was manifesting his private response to this impertinence.

Latifa said, “Ideally, yes – but even a quarter of that might be enough to persuade some of the other players to join in.”

Kershaw said, “We’re ten years behind schedule on the Mars habitats. If you want us to toss up a few cubesats for the kids in your village, that’s one thing, but we can’t just put everything aside for a huge, speculative project like this.”

Latifa had read the articles of the trust he administered, and she understood that he was legally obliged to adhere to the late beneficiary’s wishes. But she was sure there was room to read between the lines. “If there’s a methane burst in the next thirty years, do you really think a nascent Mars colony would survive the turmoil back home?”

“Only if it’s well enough established,” Kershaw replied. “Which is why we’re committed to avoiding more slippage.”

“What about avoiding the disruption itself?” she suggested.

“Can you really promise that your device would do that?”

“No,” Latifa conceded. “But all the climate models show it lowering the risk by at least a factor of four.”

“That’s assuming the real thing works the way you hope it will, based on a prototype one ten-thousandth the size.”

“Yes.”

“So once you allow for the possibility of screw-ups, the odds don’t look so great.”

“What if you gave us a tenth of the launches?” she suggested. “What’s a few weeks, in the scheme of things?”

“A few weeks, and you want us to foot the bill!” Kershaw reminded her sharply.

“Other companies have agreed to contribute,” she countered. “And not just the wire makers. Aerospace engineers, robotics manufacturers – many of them working with you on the Mars project. They must think this is worth doing, for some reason.”

That only seemed to irritate him further. “I’m speaking to you as a courtesy, out of respect for your work on superconductors, but do you seriously expect us to transport thousands of tonnes to L1 for you, purely as a public relations exercise?”

Latifa said, “Methane or no methane, millions of people won’t make it to the end of the century without some major intervention. I don’t know if things will get bad enough to interfere with your Earth-to-Mars supply chain, but ... isn’t the whole rationale for what you’re doing that we need to shift everyone to a more robust state?”

“Our operations have been carbon neutral for decades,” Kershaw replied. “If you want to guilt someone about the excess ppm, go after the old polluters.”

Latifa doubted that even a battalion of lawyers could prize another dollar out of those rotting carcasses. “It’s not about guilt. You have the power to do this. No one else does.”

Kershaw said, “The only power I have is to comply with the foundation’s charter. I have discretion for some charitable works along the way – but anything that actively delays

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