By the end of the whole program, Europa would have a forty-kilometer deep water ocean over its all surface. And then the real fun would begin. Some contractor would begin the installation of the fusion plants, and the seeding of the sea-farms with the first prokaryotic bacterial forms.
The stakes were high; and to keep everybody on their toes, PNU did the right thing. They kept throwing in these little zingers, to mimic the thousand and one things that would go wrong in the final project phases.
While I was sitting and fidgeting, my team had gradually come to life. Fermi was pacing up and down the room--always a good sign; and Wolfgang Pauli was jabbing impatiently at the keys of a computer console. John von Neumann hadn't moved, but since he did everything in his head anyway that didn't mean much.
I looked again at my watch. I had to go. "Ideas?" I said again.
Von Neumann made a swift chopping gesture of his hand. "We have to make a choice, Al. It can be done in four or five ways."
The others were nodding. "The problem is only one of efficiency and speed," added Fermi. "I can give you an order of magnitude estimate of the effects on the overall program within half an hour."
"Within fifteen minutes." Pauli raised the bidding.
"No need to compete this one." They were going to settle down to a real four-way fight on methods, they always did, but I didn't have the time to sit here and referee. The important point was that they said it could be done. "You don't have to rush it. Whatever you decide, it will have to wait until I get back." I stood up. "Tom?"
Edison shrugged. "How long will you be gone, Al?"
"Two days, maximum. I'll head back right after the draft picks." (That wasn't quite true; when the draft picks were over I had some other business to attend to that did not include the trouble-shooters here; but two days should cover everything.)
"Have fun." Edison waved his hand casually. "By the time you get back, I'll have the engineering drawings for you."
One thing about working with a team like mine--they may not always be right, but they sure are always cocky.
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