Deception by Paul Rix

Author:Paul Rix [Rix, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mars Frontier, Paul Rix, deception
Publisher: P&J Books
Published: 2019-09-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Mission Day: 60

The private meeting held at ten a.m. in Benjamin Collins' suite in the Salt Lake Marriott City Center Hotel was not in anyone's diaries and no minutes were to be kept.

Sitting with the NASA administrator in the large but tired room were Dwight Rogers, the republican senator for Utah and Casper Johnson, the CEO of Jenson Propulsion Industries, both of whom had been anxious since they arrived.

"So, gentlemen," began Collins. "Do we have a problem or not?"

Casper Johnson was a heavy-set man in his late sixties. His expensive suit and shoes, manicured nails and deep tan were bold statements that he enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle that he was not prepared to give up. Normally a confident man, his fidgeting belied his nervousness at this morning’s meeting. "The data from Merlin does indicate that the flight computer and nav computer had conflicting readings. Many of the sensors governing fuel flow and temperature displacement failed which meant there was insufficient information being fed back to the flight computer. Somehow the conflict rectified itself just in time to avoid a disaster. But another ten seconds and we would have lost the ship."

"What about the other vessel?" asked the senator. At forty-five years old, he was five years younger than Benjamin Collins. With sharp blue eyes and a photogenic face he had a long political career ahead of him.

"Excalibur?" Johnson looked down at the page of handwritten notes in front of him. "The situation wasn't so bad. We were already aware from the orbital insertion that there was an issue with the main engines and applied a fix. The fuel flow sensors worked as designed but they are from a different manufacturer than those on Merlin and Falcon."

Benjamin Collins stood and started pacing up and down the room, holding his coffee cup. "That's simply not good enough, Casper. When you were awarded the contract to provide the engines you provided guarantees that they would get us to Mars and back. It doesn't sound as if you are quite so confident anymore."

Senator Rogers looked exasperated. "Excuse the pun, but if this blows up in our faces, we'll all be in the firing line. I had to fight hard in Washington to get you the contract, Casper. You promised to create two thousand new jobs, you were given subsidies and we took a chance with your untested design. And as a result the value of your company has more than trebled. All that could be lost because of some poor business decisions."

Johnson had been CEO for several high-tech companies and had grown a thick skin as a result. He wasn't ready to back down for anyone. "You can sit there and point fingers at me, but you are both very rich men as I promised you would be. And no one needs to know about your offshore accounts. You knew there were risks with going with JPI but that wasn't an issue four years ago when the money went into those accounts. Why

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