Fifty Degrees Below - Kim Stanley Robinson [10]
• water cycle interventions
• clean renewable energy (biomass, solar, wave, tide, wind)
• political action
• a new paradigm (permaculture)
Diane read the list. Her expression of subtle amusement became a full smile, perfectly scrutable.
“You think big.”
“Well, it’s a big situation. I mean even the Gulf Stream stall is only a proximate cause. The ultimate causes have to do with the whole situation. Carbon, consumption, population, technology, all that. We’ll have to try to take all that on if we’re going to actually do something.”
“There are other agencies working on these things. In fact, lots of this isn’t really our purview.”
“Yes, well, but—we are the National Science Foundation,” emphasizing the words. “It isn’t really clear yet just how big a purview such an organization should have. Given the importance of science in this world, you could argue that it should be pretty much everything. But for sure it should be the place to coordinate the scientific effort. Beyond that, who knows? It’s a new situation.”
“True,” she said, still smiling at him in her amused way. “Well, okay! Let’s go get some lunch and talk about it.”
Frank tried to conceal his surprise. “Sure.”
The hotel above the Ballston Metro offered a buffet lunch that was so fancy that it redefined the concept. The restaurant was cool and quiet, decorated in the finest American Hotel Anonymous. Diane appeared to know it well, and to have a hidden corner table reserved. She filled a big plate with salad and some strips of seared flank steak, and took no bread. Iced tea without sugar. She was dressed in a businesslike skirt and heavy silk blouse, and Frank saw as he followed her that it was all perfectly tailored and fitted, and looked expensive. She moved gracefully, looked strong. Usually Frank’s eye was not attracted to short women, but when it happened it was a matter of proportion, a kind of regal bearing. She wore flat shoes, and did not seem attentive to herself. Probably, judging by her food, thought of herself as overweight. But she looked good.
The irrepressible sociobiologist that was always theorizing inside Frank wondered if he was experiencing some bias here, given that she was a powerful alpha female, and his boss. Perhaps all alpha females were somehow physically impressive, and this part of their alpha-ness; it was generally true of males.
They sat, ate, spoke of other things. Frank asked about her kids.
“Grown up and moved out. It’s easier now.” She spoke offhandedly, as if talking about a matter that did not really concern her. “How could it not be.”
“For a while it must have been busy.”
“Oh yes.”
“Where were you before NSF?”
“University of Washington. Biophysics. Then I got into administration there, then at triple A S, then NIH. Now here.” She shrugged, as if to admit that she might have gone down a wrong path somewhere. “What about you? What brought you to NSF?”
Well, I gambled with equity that wasn’t entirely mine, lost it, went through a break-up, needed to get away. . . .
It wasn’t a story he wanted to tell. Maybe no one’s story could really be told. She had not mentioned her late husband, for instance. She would understand if he only spoke of his scientific reasons for coming to NSF: new work in bioalgorithms, needed a wider perspective to see what was out there, a year visiting NSF good for that—and so on.
She nodded, watching him with that amused expression, as if to say, I know this is only part of the story but it’s still interesting. He liked that. No wonder she had risen so high. Alpha females pursued different strategies than alpha males to achieve their goals; their alpha-ness derived from different social qualities.
“What about your living situation?” she asked. “Were you able to stay in the place you had?”
Startled, Frank said, “No. I was renting from a State Department guy who came back.”
“So you managed to find another place?”
“Yes. . . . For the moment I’m in a temporary place, and I’ve got some leads for a permanent one.”
“That’s good. It must be tough right now, with the flood.”
“That’s