In order to reach Sandy, Amy had contacted a mutual friend who still owed her a favor. To be on the safe side, Amy made no mention of any details. She hoped Sandy would not be too surprised to hear from her, and would also be willing and able to do a bit of research for her.
“I have a question concerning someone in the Russian space program,” Amy began. “I don’t know why, and it doesn’t matter anyhow, but I have the feeling you could help me with an answer.”
“Then let me hear about it,” Sandy said.
“Well,” Amy said, taking a deep breath, “it is about someone called Yuri Dushek. Should I spell the name?”
“No, that’s okay, the name sounds familiar. So he can’t be totally unimportant. Just give me a moment.”
Amy heard typing on a keyboard.
“I have a large file about this Dushek. Interesting guy. What specifically do you want to know?”
“How does he earn his money?”
“Why? Do you want to marry him? It looks like everything is completely legitimate. He seems to be very good at commercializing the findings of AI research. Then he sells this everywhere—even to countries we are not allowed to export to. In that respect, he has a kind of monopoly there, except for two Chinese guys, who certainly are nothing but front men for state companies.”
“What about in the aerospace industries?”
“Well, he uses his profits to finance part of the Russian space budget, but he does not participate. It looks more like an expensive hobby, or maybe he is very patriotic.”
“Let’s assume he offered to fly me to the moon. Could he do it with his own hardware?”
“No, he would have to buy space in the capsule of an Energia T rocket.”
“I understand. That is odd. Then maybe he overplayed his hand.”
“Wait a moment… there are connections to the RB Group.”
“RB Group?”
“It was formerly a major oil company. Now it is successful in asteroid mining—very successful, even. This allowed Dushek to finance his own company.”
“So is he a straw man for the RB Group?”
“No, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. Dushek is much too active to be a mere straw man.”
“And who is behind RB?”
“A man who is even richer than Dushek. His name is Nikolai Shostakovich.”
“Shostakovich? You mean like the composer?”
“Yes. It’s a common last name in Russia.”
“What do you know about him?”
“Very little, I have to admit. This is surprising—we don’t even have a photo of him. He must have lived in Akademgorodok for a while, the research town near Novosibirsk. There he used borrowed money to start an IT company. It is unclear how he made it to the top of RB.”
“But this Shostakovich has a spaceship?”
“Just one, you say? The RB Group owns the largest private space fleet in the world. It is larger than SpaceX. It controls the complete value chain, which is its great advantage. It does not just launch rockets, but also constructs their payloads and determines their usage. Everything is focused on asteroid mining. This is the future, Amy. SpaceX went the wrong way with its Martian ventures. They wasted a lot of money there, while Shostakovich is making money hand over fist.”
“Sounds very clever.”
“Yes, he is. And from what we know, he doesn’t even spend his money on fast yachts and beautiful women, as expected of someone in his position, he invests it in research.”
“That’s commendable. He seems to be some kind of saint.”
“Not completely, Amy. None of his research institutes have ever published anything in any of the well-known journals. They are strictly working behind closed doors.”
“That helps. Thanks, Sandy, thanks a lot. Now I think I am able to better judge the offer we received.”
Brandon Q. Morris
www.hard-sf.com
[email protected]
Translator: Frank Dietz, Ph.D. Editor: Pamela Bruce, B.S.
Final editing: Marcia Kwiecinski, A.A.S., and Stephen Kwiecinski, B.S.
Technical Advisors: Michael Paluszek (President, Princeton Satellite Systems), Dr. Ludwig Hellmann
Cover Design: BJ Coverbookdesigns.com
The Io Encounter: Hard Science Fiction (Ice Moon Book 3) Page 30