Chapter 154: Chapter 153: Conference

There are only a few things of any real interest that happen for the next few months, so I’m mostly going to give you the highlights.

School starts back on the 7th and Hiroaki Abe is back in class. Funny thing though, his ‘friends’ want nothing to do with him and neither does anyone else. Believe me, after all he has done, I will not be reaching out to the asshole. He can rot in isolation for all I care. Two days later, he was transferred out to class 2-D as well. Honestly, how he even managed to get into 2-A in the first place, I have no clue. Some of you might not know this, but class assignment is not random in Japanese schools. The class you are assigned to depends on how well you did on the placement exam or based on your previous years results.

Shin, and his friends’, trial lasts until the 10th when the defense rests. It doesn’t take long for the judges to find them guilty on all counts and sentenced to prison until they are at least 21 along with mandatory counseling. Even then, they have to be cleared by the psychiatrist before they can be released. So, effectively, it could be a life sentence for them.

I met up with Mayumi at TGR on the 11th so she can take my nanites and I give her the usual warnings about her being sore for a few days. It'll be interesting to see the changes they make to her.

Katsuo calls me to request a meeting and I agree to come see him on January 25th. It isn’t much, basically an update report and tour of the new facility that we rented. Now, normally, I’d have had him buy the land and building, but with everything eventually going to be moved to Yakushima, there is little point in doing that.

I should mention we also got him a level 2 AI named Athena to help run DTI. She was also given a copy of the lie detection code and that made staffing much easier for them. So much easier that all he will have to do is expand the staff as needed from this point on and yes, he will be doing it. I’ve taken a long look at a lot of the projects they are working on and admittedly, I’m quite pleased, although I did quash one. Research into antimatter based energy production. If we found a way to make it or to collect enough antimatter for it, the information could be easily abused, as in adapted for weapons. There's no way I'm going to allow that if I can help it.

Six teams submitted ideas for using dark energy for energy production and a couple of them said that it could be used to power space vehicle drives once they figured out the basics of it. That immediately got Katsuo’s go ahead, although he combined their efforts into one team. I’m hoping for good news. I should mention there was research into dark energy as a power source back in the 2020’s and while they did make some progress in that direction, they found they didn’t have the technology to make it workable since the power levels that they could safely use were quite low. Today’s technology is lightyears beyond what they had available, so we shall see how it works out.

There are lots of other ideas as well, but unfortunately, most of them in propulsion are only workable with a relatively powerful energy source, so of course, they are on hold for the moment.

Another that got Katsuo’s immediate approval was the development of a space elevator system. When he told me, I had to question him on it since the best land sites for something like that are foriegn countries and you can’t always count on them being friendly or even remaining stable. He laughed for a moment and then told me the researchers had already thought of an answer. Building it on the ocean with a multi-national force to keep it safe. Made sense to me, if we can get other nations to agree to it, so I gave him my blessing.

It should be obvious that I’m literally hemorrhaging money right now. It hasn’t even been a month yet and this has cost me over 32 billion yen and it’s only going to get worse if I can’t put together a coalition to help offset the costs.

With that being said, I’ve arranged for a conference with the leaders of many nations' space programs to discuss them joining in and that will take a lot of pressure off of me and my poor bank account. Oh, I know 32 billion isn’t all that much considering my overall worth, but a billion here and a billion there quickly starts adding up.

We’ve already received notice from quite a few nations that they will be attending. I don’t know if that means my reputation has preceded me or that they agree with my plans and don’t want to try to shoulder the financial burdens alone either. The conference is scheduled for the weekend of February 8th. I believe the logistics are going to be a nightmare for the whole thing, but thankfully, we have Hestia and Athena who are setting up the scheduling and billion other little details to try to make this a success. If it were legal for me to have one, I’d have a level 1 AI to help coordinate all of my businesses.

The evening of the 8th is nothing more than a meet and greet party. Having sat down and held a long talk with Dad, it’ll be another event where it will be just Dad, Mama, Ryu because he’s my fiancé and my escort for the evening, and me. Security is going to be extremely heavy the entire weekend. The morning of the 9th will be the start of talking about where we are, what plans are in place, etc… and hopefully, getting everyone to sign onboard. After much deliberation, with little to no input from me, Dad chose the Tokyo Conference Center in Shinagawa ward.

With the whirlwind of activity going on around me, Mama made the decision to go buy my dress for the party. She decided to go simple, yet elegant. Meaning that I’ll be wearing a 1950’s style off the shoulder little black dress in satin, nude Venitian lace pattern stockings, and some burgundy, ankle strap open-toe sandals. As said, simple, yet eye catching and elegant. Of course, me being the youngest person there is going to be eye catching enough.

I also have a hair, nail and makeup appointment for that day. Believe it or not, I was able to talk Mama into allowing me to get my hair cut. I know, it’s shocking, right? It’s still going to be long since the shortest she would agree to was the bottom of my butt. In a way, I think I’ll miss my hair being so long, but for convenience's sake I’ll happily deal with it. Losing almost 60 centimeters of hair is going to be an adjustment, but it’s also going to make my daily routine somewhat shorter and definitely easier. I'm not sure what Chinatsu and Ryu are going to think.

Which finally brings us to the 8th.

We put off bathing until after breakfast, then shower and take a long, hot, very relaxing bath. Afterward, we laze around our floor watching TV until lunch and then I head out for my appointment with Mama and Honoka.

While they do my makeup, the nail techs clean up and shape my nails, and paint them a deep burgundy. After they cut my hair, it’s all pulled over to my left side and done in a fishtail braided side tail, which is finished off with a large burgundy bow to keep everything in place. Equal parts cute and elegant, even if I do say so myself.

Back at home, Chinatsu helps me dress and then I put on my lipstick and gloss to finish things up, and then make my way downstairs to meet up with everyone. It takes us just over an hour to arrive at the venue. Part of that was passing through two layers of security for the event.

This was set up as a more westernized event. Meaning that we’ll be near the last to arrive instead of arriving first and greeting the guests as they arrive. Feels odd to me to do things this way, but when you're looking for partners in a rather large project, you accommodate whatever makes them feel more comfortable.

Akari intercepts us almost immediately upon entering the doorway and Ryu and I are led to a small entrance to the stage. Peeking out through the curtains from the wings of the stage, I see the meeting room is completely packed. I know almost everyone by sight since I was given a portfolio with basic information on all the attendees. There is one rather notable and extremely surprising exception to that, the President of the United States, Jennifer Wilson. I was expecting to see Vice-president Kevin Anders.

I nearly jump out of my skin when Ryu slips his arms around my waist and whispers in my ear, “Nervous?”

I pat my chest and take a deep breath to calm down before replying, “Of course. I hate giving speeches.”

He pulls me against him and holds me tightly. A few moments later, he murmurs, “Don't worry, you’ll do great.”

Turning around, I wrap my arms around his waist as I hug him for a moment before muttering, “Thanks, I needed a hug.”

Letting him go, I check myself over and then ask, “How do I look?”

He gives me that ever so sexy lopsided grin of his and tells me, “Absolutely gorgeous, Sweetheart.”

“Thank you.” Turning to Akari, I gesture to the stage and say, “I suppose I'm ready when you are.”

She nods then heads out to the podium. She lightly taps on the microphone and says, “Good evening everyone. It’s my distinct pleasure to introduce your hostess, Sora Kobayashi.”

Walking out onto the stage with a smile, I tell her, “Thank you Akari.” Turning to look out at the audience, I continue, “Good Evening.”

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“As you heard, I’m your hostess, Sora Kobayashi.

“Thank you to each and every one of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to join us here.

“Today marks the first of what I hope to be many such meetings. Truthfully, it warms my heart to see so many distinguished people join us here in our venture to expand our horizons and safeguard humanity. Without you, and your nations’ support, this isn’t going to be possible. I simply can’t see any one nation being able to shoulder this burden alone since there's far too much that has to be done.

“In today’s gathering, I would like for those of us who don’t know one another to introduce ourselves and take the time to get to know our counterparts a little better.

“You are a select group with a very special view of this little world of ours. Our mutual passion for space and what it can mean for our beaten and battered Earth as well as its people is immeasurable. That passion is what we need. It’s what I’m counting on to help us all to unite. To give us the drive and energy we’ll need to achieve the goals we’ll be setting.

“We need each other. Back in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was being written, Benjamin Franklin reportedly said, ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.’ That statement is just as true for us today as it was for them then.

“We must work together to safeguard humanity's place in the universe, or we can bury our heads in the sand and hope that our fate isn’t decided for us. I, for one, am not willing to do that and I’m more than a little optimistic that you feel exactly the same way.

“Well, I don’t want to take too much of our time giving speeches, I need to leave some time for us to get to know one another.

“Once again, a very warm welcome to each and every one of you, I do hope you will seek me out and have at least a short conversation with me this evening. Thank you.”

Walking off the stage as they politely clap, Akari meets me in the wings and leads us to the main hall entrance.

Once we enter, I’m met by minister Koya Mita of JAXA, who says, “That was a nice little speech.”

We have a short conversation until I excuse myself to get something to drink. On my way over to the bar, I’m intercepted by the US President, who haltingly says in Japanese, “Hello Sora. I’m…”

Speaking in English, I say, “Jennifer Wison, President of the United States. Pleased to meet you, even if I’m surprised to see you here. I was informed that Vice-president Anders would be attending.”

She smiles. “Well, listen to you. I have to say your English is excellent. Much better than my Japanese. How about we simply say that Mr. Anders doesn’t share the same vision as you and I, so I‘m here in his place.”

“That’s… unfortunate. Even more so considering that he is in charge of NASA.”

She chuckles and pats my shoulder. “Only on paper, my dear, only on paper. I wouldn’t allow that man to be in charge of tearing his way out of a wet paper bag.”

“If that’s the case, why did you nominate him when you took over after President Polaski died? I’d never appoint someone to a position like that if I didn’t trust them to be able to do the job.”

“Politics, pure and simple politics. The person I would have chosen would never have been confirmed, so I chose the lesser of the evils I had available to me. Mr. Anders was chosen for the simple fact he has a lot of clout, but little in the way of aspirations at this point in his career. He knows for a fact that being vice-president is as far as he will ever reach. That makes him easy to control.”

“I don’t claim to know much about American politics, but isn’t this going to all fall apart if you aren’t reelected or when your two terms are fulfilled?”

“No, my dear. That is why I will be helping you build a coalition of private technology and space companies in the US to continue the work we begin here. This is far too important to leave to the vagaries of politics.”

Something tells me that she isn’t saying something rather important. “Madam President, why do I get the feeling that you are leaving something extremely important out?”

She laughs. “Call me Jenny, please, and it’s because you’re a very smart young lady.” She bends down, looks me in the eye, and quietly continues, “Asteroid (19274) 2057 EG7. NASA found it in 2057. AI modeling shows it’s likely to intercept Earth in 27 years.”

My blood runs cold as I ask, “How likely?”

“97.9928% currently. That number has been climbing the further the track is refined. The scientists are calling this a planet destroyer. It’s 48 miles in diameter, so if we can’t find a way to stop it and it does hit, it's the end of all life on Earth, although they say some viruses or bacteria might survive.”

“How has this not been in the news? Oh… you have a level 1 AI scrubbing everything, right?” She nods. “Okay, I can see that. News like this would simply cause a panic. So, what now?”

“We follow through with your plans. We build the coalition, do the research and hope that we find a way to at least shift it off track. Then, we drag humanity into space, kicking and screaming if necessary.”

I feel like I want to cry, but laugh instead. “No pressure, right?”

She laughs. “Right.”

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