Distraction - Bruce Sterling [47]
“We’re protecting and securing the planet’s natural heritage,” Greta said. “We’re conservationists.”
“Come on. You’re genetic engineers, you have nothing to do with ‘nature.’ ”
“Senator Dougal never seemed to mind a steady flow of federal funds into Texas. We always have state support from the Texas delegation.”
“Dougal is history,” Oscar said. “You know how many cyclotrons the U.S. used to have?”
“ ‘Cyclotrons’?” Greta said.
“Particle accelerator, a kind of primitive, giant klystron,” Oscar said. “They were huge, expensive, prestigious federal laboratories, and they’re all long gone. I’d like to fight for this place, but we need compelling reasons. We need sound bites that the layman can understand.”
“What can I tell you? We’re not PR experts. We’re only mere, lowly scientists.”
“You’ve got to give me something, Greta. You can’t expect to survive on sheer bureaucratic inertia. You have to make a public case.”
She thought about it seriously. “Knowledge is inherently precious even if you can’t sell it,” Greta said. “Even if you can’t use it. Knowledge is an absolute good. The search for truth is vital. It’s central to civilization. You need knowledge even when your economy and government are absolutely shot to hell.”
Oscar thought it over. “ ‘Knowledge will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no knowledge.’ You know, there might be something to that. I like the sound of it. That’s very contemporary rhetoric.”
“The feds have to support us, because if they don’t, Huey will! Green Huey understands this place, he knows what we do here. Huey will get us by default.”
“I appreciate that point too,” Oscar said.
“At least we earn a living out of this mess,” Greta said. “You can always call it a job-creation effort. Maybe you could declare us all insane and say that labwork is our group therapy. Maybe you could declare the place a national park!”
“Now you’re really brainstorming,” Oscar said, pleased. “That’s very good.”
“What’s in this for you?” Greta said suddenly.
“That’s a fair question.” Oscar smiled winningly. “Let’s just say that since meeting you I’ve been won over.”
Greta stared. “Surely you don’t expect us to believe that you plan to save our bacon, just because you’re flirting with me. Not that I mind all the flirting. But if I’m supposed to vamp my way into saving a multimillion-dollar federal facility, the country’s in worse shape than I thought.”
Oscar smiled. “I can flirt and work at the same time. I’m learning a lot by this discussion, it’s very useful. For instance, the way you stroked your hair behind your left ear when you said, ‘Maybe you could declare us all insane and say that labwork is our group therapy.’ That was a very beautiful moment—a little spark of personal fire in the middle of a very dry policy discussion. That would have looked lovely on-camera.”
She stared at him. “Is that what you think about me? Is that how you look at me? It is, isn’t it? You’re actually being sincere.”
“Of course I am. I need to know you better. I want to understand you. I’m learning a lot. You see, I’m from your government, and I’m here to help you.”
“Well, I want to know you better. So you’re not leaving this lab before I get some blood samples. And I’d like to do some PET-scans and reaction tests.”
“See, we do have real commonalities.”
“Except I still don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“I can tell you right now where my loyalties lie,” Oscar said. “I’m a patriot.”
She looked at him nonplussed.
“I wasn’t born in America. In point of fact, I wasn’t even born. But I work for our government because I believe in America. I happen to believe that this is a unique society. We have a unique role in the world.”
Oscar whacked the lab table with an open hand. “We invented the future! We built it! And if they could design or market it a little better than we could, then we just invented something else more amazing yet. If it took imagination, we always had that. If it took enterprise, we