"Edward M. Lerner - Moonstruck" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaubla...r%20-%20Moonstruck%20(Baen)%20(v5)/0743498852___4.htm (1 of 8)28-12-2006 10:35:04
 - Chapter 4




CHAPTER 4


Economic Impact of Galactic Technology Uncertain
—The Wall Street Journal
Thousands Pray for Deliverance from Space Devils
—yesterday's most popular dialogue on the
Modern Revelations News Group, AmericaNet
Gustafson Commission Opens Hearings Today
—New York Times




Aides scurried around the enormous conference table, double-checking the placement of name tags,
distributing glasses and pitchers of ice water, straightening network taps and power cords for laptop PCs,
and setting out pencils and pads of paper. The secretaries were silent; the considerable noise within the
room all came from the milling crowd on the opposite side of the closed double doors. From, that was,
the press and the commission members . . .
The chairman of the Presidential Commission on Galactic Studies scowled at the totally anachronistic
pads of paper, and at the inclusion of so many committee members apt to use them. He'd turned out to
have less authority than expected—far less, for example, than the President's chief of staff. Kyle could
name as many staffers as he wished; the commissioners were to be chosen more for their political
correctness ("A diversity of viewpoints," Britt had gently rephrased Kyle's complaint) than for any
insight they were likely to have.
The list of private-sector members on which he and Britt had finally converged was simultaneously top-
heavy with CEOs from New New Economy companies and light on technologists: more campaign
contributors than researchers. Kyle could at least hope that these executives would tap their
organizations' expertise, and he'd had some success in holding out for execs whose firms did relevant
R&D. As to the Wall Street and Hollywood types, he could only hope that the deliberations would put
them to sleep. Would it be unseemly to ask his token clergyperson to pray for that?
The next largest group of members was drawn from midtier executives of key federal agencies and
departments: EPA, Energy, NASA, Homeland Security, DoD, Commerce—and State. He smiled,
recalling a rare victory: Darlene Lyons was one of "his" diplomats.
The smallest set of slots was for practicing scientists and engineers. With only ten member spots to work
with, he'd scoured academia and the federal labs for twenty-first-century Renaissance people. Damn! He
needed biologists, physicists, and engineers of every type; astronomers; psychologists and sociologists;
organic and inorganic chemists; economists . . . the list seemed endless, and ten seats didn't begin to
cover it. After considerable anguish, he'd filled the few experts' positions. Time would tell what