“What do you mean?”
How to phrase this? he wondered. Carefully, Oxnard said, “Well... I made a slip of the tongue to a reporter from an electronics newspaper, about computerizing the system so you can animate still photos....”
“You mean that thing about getting rid of the actors?”
“Somehow B.F. heard about it while he was recuperating from his seizure,” Brenda took over, “and made Bill an offer to develop the system for Titanic.”
“So I’m going to work with him on it,” Oxnard concluded.
Gabriel’s face froze in a scowl. “Why? Why do anything for that lying bastard?”
Oxnard shot a glance at Brenda, then replied, “He was sick. Those New York bankers were pressuring him. So I agreed to work with him on it. It impressed the bankers, helped make them happier with a small return on ‘The Starcrossed.’” Call it a present to a prospective father-in-law, he added silently.
“You oughtta have your head examined,” Gabriel said. “He’ll just try to screw you again.”
“I suppose so,” Oxnard agreed cheerfully.
But Gabriel chuckled. “I think I’m going to drop a little hint about this to some of my acting friends. They’ve got a guild, too....”
Brenda said, “Do me a favor, Ron? Wait a month... until he’s strong enough to fight back.”
“Why should I?”
“For me,” she said.
He stared at her. “For you?”
“Please.”
He didn’t like it, that was clear. But he muttered, “Okay. One month. But no longer than that.”
Brenda gave him her best smile. “Thanks, Ron. I knew you were just a pussycat at heart.”
Gabriel shook his head. “It’s just not fair! Dammit, Finger goes around screwing everybody in sight and comes up smelling like orchids. Every goddamned time! He works you to death, Brenda, sticks you with all the shit jobs....”
“That’s true,” she admitted.
“Leaves me high and dry....”
“You got your award,” Oxnard said.
“Can’t eat awards. I need work! There’s nothing coming in except a few little royalties and residuals. And your mother-humping B.F. has spread the word all over town that I’m too cranky to work with.”
Oxnard broke in, “Come to work with me, Ron.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Sure,” Oxnard said. “Listen to me, both of you. Why should you have to put up with all this lunacy and nonsense? Ron, how long can you stand to be trampled by idiots like Earnest and that Canadian censor? Come to work with me! I need a good writer to direct our advertising and public relations staffs. You can be a consultant... work one day a week at the lab and spend the rest of the time free to write the books you’ve always wanted to write.”
Before Gabriel could answer, Oxnard turned to Brenda. “And you too. You’re a top-flight administrator, Brenda. Come to work with me. Why should you give yourself ulcers and high blood pressure over some dumb TV show? We can be a team, a real team—the three of us.”
She looked shocked.
Oxnard turned back to Gabriel. “I mean it, Ron. You’d enjoy the work, I know.” He looked back and forth, from Gabriel to Brenda and back again. “Well? How about it? Will you both come to work at Oxnard Labs?”
In unison they replied, “What? And quit show business?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Bova is the author of nearly 125 futuristic novels and nonfiction books about science and high technology.
In his various writings, Dr. Bova has predicted the Space Race of the 1960s, solar power satellites, the discovery of organic chemicals in interstellar space, virtual reality, human cloning, the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), the advent of international peacekeeping forces, the discovery of ice on the Moon, electronic book publishing and zero-gravity sex.
Dr. Bova received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, “for fueling mankind’s imagination regarding the wonders of outer space.” His 2006 novel TITAN received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year, and he received the 2008 Robert A. Heinlein Award “for his outstanding body of work in the field of literature.”
Dr. Bova has been involved in science and high technology since the very beginnings of the space age. President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc., Dr. Bova was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been a member of the Arizona Astronomy Board.
He is a columnist for the Naples Daily News and a widely-popular lecturer. Earlier in his career, he was an award-winning editor and an executive in the aerospace industry. He has worked with film makers and television producers such as Woody Allen, George Lucas, and Gene Roddenberry.
His “Grand Tour” novels, including his award-winning TITAN, show how the human race will expand through the solar system, opening a new era of wealth and opportunity – and conflict. His nonfiction books, such as IMMORTALITY and FAINT ECHOES, DISTANT STARS have been honored by organizations such as the American Librarians’ Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has won six Science Fiction Achievement Awards (Hugos) and many other awards for writing.
