InterstellarNet: Origins Read Free Page B

single-runway airport had wireless access. Or maybe he was happy because this tiny airport bar stocked ale from the local microbrewery. “Just catching up.”
    That was an easier answer than describing the intriguing new resource he had just run across: the Internetopedia. Maybe the web portal was the next big thing, and maybe it was only a marriage of desperation among dot-bomb media companies.
    “Tropical punch,” Bridget told the approaching waiter. The terminal had a roof but no walls. The afternoon sea breeze riffled her hair as she took the remaining chair. To Dean she said, “Quite an event.”
    He had run into her at banquets and between meetings, but always within a crowd. They hadn’t been alone together since that extraordinary, adrenaline-fueled night when they had learned about ET. He was no longer lobbying, but she could still make or break NetSat. He was a peon on the Lalande task force. She was among its leaders.
    How exactly was he supposed to relate to her?
    He had Googled all the ITU leadership before the WARC, not just Bridget. He knew she was an electrical engineer, with a Ph.D. from Oxford, and that she had gone straight from university to a British government research establishment. He knew that post had been her steppingstone to the ITU, which, after several promotions, she had come to lead.
    Knowing her resume didn’t help here. What else? Along the way she had acquired patience with committees and bureaucracy that Dean could not fathom.
    And, to be honest, he was attracted to her.
    Dean slid a bowl of mixed nuts her way. “It turned out okay. Maybe I’ll cancel the mob contract I took out on you.”
    “For accomplishing what you pleaded for?”
    “Requested in a dignified manner.” He gestured for another ale. “No, for plunking me among the social scientists and spin doctors.”
    And with a perpetually difficult ambassador. Why was Charise Ganes always so angry? Googling her had revealed that she was one of the youngest ambassadors ever accredited to the UN. Maybe that and ET were too much to handle.
    That seemed like too much candor.
    Dean continued, “I respect their sincerity and good intentions, but I’ve never met so many people who see the glass as half empty.”
    “Don’t blame me or the gold team. Yours was one of the few assignments Kim had made before Steering even met.” A boarding announcement from a staticky PA drowned out Bridget’s next words.
    “What?”
    “I asked, ‘How is it that things turned out okay?’ ”
    “Had it been up to me, I would’ve had a tough time deciding between Signals, Analysis, and Reply. It occurred to me that someone on the red team has to liaise with those other committees. A technically oriented point of contact made sense. So I’ve gotten myself access to all the information that Steering has, without, no offense, enduring all that bureaucratic ponderousness.”
    “No offense taken.” She laughed. “Well, maybe a little. In any case, I’m off to my gate. I’m glad it worked out for you.”
    He found the silver lining to her abrupt departure. It avoided the awkward question about who, since it wasn’t the Steering Committee, wanted him on the Media & Education team. It could not have been Kim’s idea: Kim could not possibly have ever heard about Dean.
    At least the Undersecretary-General was unlikely to have heard about Matthews absent input from the US ambassador.
From the Earth First chat room:
All_Politics_Is_Local: So what is with the Lalande task force and its closed-door “organizational” meeting?
Stop_World_Government: What’s the UN *always* up to? ET’s message is simply another excuse for worldwide government. Whatever the task force is for—I’m against it.
All_Politics_Is_Local: It’s welfare for rich-country scientists. Would a Bangladeshi textile worker think this is the best use for the money?
Radical_Dude : There is common cause among world-government resisters, ET skeptics, and Third World advocates.