Behind him, taking up most
of the wall, was a map of a large portion of Mars. "As I was saying
when we met in the hangar assembly room yesterday, it is simply a
matter of choosing an appropriate target to convince them we have the
capability. What should our target be? Well here, gentlemen, are the
five major atmospheric generation plants on Mars." He turned to the map
and pointed out five places-two in the northern hemisphere, two near
the equator, and one in the southern hemisphere. "Each is valued at two
billion solars and would take several years to replace. The damage
won't bankrupt the government, but the expense is far from negligible!
Even more importantly, when they are destroyed, Starlight Enterprise's
terraformation project will suffer a severe setback-possibly as much as
three to four years. Now, data gathered from analysis has shown that
these plants can be removed very easily by the proposal we have
suggested. Mr. Crass, do you have anything to add?"
"No, Mr. Zimbardo. I've checked the specs on the asteroids you've
selected and I've checked progress with what Stubb is doing. If he has
the propulsion units ready in ten days, we can deliver our first
package to Mars in precisely two weeks."
A muscular man in short sleeves spoke up. Since no one else wore short
sleeves, everyone suspected that he wore his sleeves short to show off
his biceps.
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