Dreyer seemed amused. "Professor Alexander is the apostle of the True Faith. He wants the military out of space so he can build colonies and make them into heavenly paradises."

"And you want to build them and make profit out of them," Alexander shot back testily.

"Sure, why not?"

"Because space should be free for all humankind, that's why. Because we shouldn't bring our selfish, petty greeds out 231 into this beautiful new world."

"Right on," said Kinsman.

Alexander turned to him. "Nor should we be trying to build weapons and fortifications in space. This is a domain for peaceful existence, not for war."

"I couldn't agree more."

The professor blinked at him.

Kinsman said, "I think it would be wonderful if we could leave all the greed and anger and suspicion of our fellow men back on Earth and come out here fresh and clean and newborn."

"I got news for you, fellas," Dreyer said, with a rueful grin. "It ain't gonna happen that way."

"I'm afraid not," Kinsman agreed.

Alexander shook his head, as if dismissing such unpleas- ant thoughts from his mind. "It will happen that way if we make it happen that way."

"How'm I gonna do that?" Dreyer asked, suddenly very serious. "You think my board of directors will risk the company's capital on dreams? They want profits and they want 'em now."

"They'll get their profits, from the solar power satel- lites."

"Sure. Twenty years downstream. We could be in receiv- ership by then. We can't tie up billions of dollars for twenty years at a time. Nobody can. So where are you going to get the capital to build those big-assed colonies of yours? Plus the lunar mining facilities, the processing plants, the facto- ries ..."

"It would only take five or six billion."

"Per year!"

"Surely the major corporations could invest that much in their own future," Alexander said. "And in the future of the human race."

Dreyer shook his head. "Like I said, we're not in the investment business. We work for profits. This year. Nobody in his right mind is going to risk the kind of money your space colonies require."

Alexander countered, "Think of the profits you'll even- tually make from selling energy back to Earth once you've built a few solar power satellites." 232

"I know," Dreyer said, gesturing with a beer bottle in his hand. "But you don't need your supercolossal colonies to build solar power satellites. All you need is a tough crew of workmen on the Moon, where the raw materials are, and another crew in orbit, where the construction will take place."

"But there's more to it than just building the satellites," Alexander insisted. "The space colonies will also be involved in building more colonies, more self-sufficient islands in space."

"What for?" Kinsman asked.

"So that more people can leave the Earth and live in space!" Alexander's exasperated tone reminded Kinsman of a Sunday school teacher he and Neal had once suffered through.

But how do we know that God loves us?