The Gaia Project snippet 3

Sitrep:
Goodlifeguide,com said they'd try to get the manuscript back to me in a day or 2, we'll see.

I'm painting the dome, (or trying to) while working on a couple of other projects in the garage since the weather is beautiful right now.

In the meantime, I better get cracking on the snippets!

Chapter 3

 

Sol star system

 

Big Jim McGraw tucked his massive hands behind his back as he looked out the expansive window. He was doing it. No, they were he corrected himself.

He sightlessly watched the blinking lights of a ship or shuttle move across his field of view. After a few moments, it would be gone. He had other things on his mind.

Excitement boiled in his body. He always had a purpose, always a project. They all raised money, tons of money of course. But money was only a means to an end; he'd realized early on after his first million that it was just a tool—a tool to achieve other things. Sure, it was financial freedom, but it was double-sided too.

He had enough money to retire and live somewhere comfortably. But he had chosen a different path, all for the dream. All to push Terran kind into the singularity to see what happens.

Some people thought he was mad. He knew it; he just didn't care. He was an investor and money manager. They might whisper and question his sanity, but they also envied how he could make money hand over fist. The Midas touch they called it.

Without risk there can be no reward he thought. And this was the biggest risk yet.

Project Gaia was finally moving forward. The board had met after they had bought the rights to a small out-of-the-way planet far from explored space and any known species. It was still in Alpha sector, but remote, far from the hyper bridges.

And that was fine for him. Just perfect, though the threat of piracy was making a few on the board a bit leery about the risks involved.

Let them worry. He'd secured one of the most expensive items on his wish list; an ansible was on its way to the star system. That had cost him a lot in arm twisting and favors. It would be worth it though, if only to monitor the star system and eventually get the publicity he knew they'd want once they were on track.

What they were doing was considered ambitious on so many levels. He was a synergist, a concept man who thought big and found ways to make it work. He had modeled himself after Jack Lagroose, even visiting the man on Eden from time to time.

Eden he thought with a mental snort.

Jack might have named his planet Eden but he knew where the real Garden of Eden was going to be soon enough. And getting his family on board, along with making the final selection of their partner for the next phase, had pushed the project from a pipe dream into something closer to reality.

Well, closer in that it was still a series of concepts and ideas. Terry and the others were certain they could find ways around the big problems. And the big project should resolve them on its own.

They were about to push the boundaries of tech as well as what defined man and machine. They were about to see both evolve at a rapid pace. That was what he was expecting. After all, mankind's civilizations didn't just evolve incrementally; they leapt. Many things caused a leap, usually war, but sometimes other things like the creation of the internet. He wanted to see it, to be the guy who caused it, to be the guy at the start with the keys to the tech.

It was a gamble all right, in more ways than one. He had invested everything into the project. If it failed, all he would have was his yacht and whatever was in his wardrobe.

But that was fine; he'd started from less. But he was pretty sure this wasn't going to fail. Even if it didn't come out as he expected, there would still be plenty of advances to patent and exploit for decades to come.

He couldn't help but smile and rub his hands together. This was going to be cool.

“Happy new year, honey,” his wife said as she came in with a pair of half-filled champagne glasses.

He turned with a grunt and smiled as he took the glass. She wrapped one arm around his waist and rubbed the small of his back. “Come in for the view?” he could hear the party behind them through the open door. “Or the quiet?”

“Bit of both. Come to drag me back into the thick of the fray?” he teased as he kissed her forehead.

“In a bit,” she said as the group counted down. He turned at two to see the first of the fireworks popping off in the depths of space beyond the massive wall. They were small but still pretty. Better to see it with the naked eye than on the vid screens at the party.

“New year, new opportunities,” he murmured.

“Yup,” his wife said as she cuddled with him and watched the fireworks.

~<(O)>~