"Verify!" David shouted.
"Verified, sir," Dolf replied. "Delta-Vee is within limits, and controllable with ion engines."
"Thank you," David replied. He flicked a switch to connect him with the frequency they had been using for more than two years. "Spaceship Eros has arrived in home orbit," he reported, then added, "Weatherly Station is now on location!"
For several minutes, cheers on both ends of the circuit prevented an answer.
Finally, though, Frank could be heard. "What the hell was that 'Weatherly Station' business?" he demanded.
David grinned. "Unanimous decision of the crew. Face it Frank, for the next few hundred years you're saddled with a space station named after you!"
Finally, after so many months, they were able to break Man's Hope permanently out of her ice prison. She would be returning to Earth, and Man's Dream carried a dome that would be sealed into place in her stead. By now, the living spaces had been expanded enough to house at least twenty workers of the "activation crew." Captain Jenson was bringing the first batch, but all three Burans would soon be shuttling back and forth.
The big Energia booster, its tank more than half-full of oxygen and hydrogen gas, would remain sealed to Weatherly Station, a piece of emergency equipment in case a Buran had to go on a rescue mission. One of the cargo canisters Jenson was bringing contained a compact plant for liquefying fuel gases. Frank felt that one of Weatherly Station's big attractions would be fuel refills. His people were working on a way to provide the purified kerosene many boosters required, but Frank had decided they would not deal with solid fuel boosters – they were too volatile and toxic.
One of his ideas was that while most of the boosters used today were "reusable," many still required serious refurbishing, especially after falling to Earth and being fished out of an ocean. Frank was planning a sort of "booster trade" program. Spacecraft using oxygen/hydrogen boosters would carry them to Weatherly Station instead of simply dropping them. There, they would trade the empty boosters for full ones, for a fee of course, and would be well equipped for interplanetary travel. Weatherly Station was too far out for his plan to be practical for low-earth satellite launches, but for interplanetary missions, well, as someone said, "Once you're out of Earth's gravity field, you're halfway to anywhere!" Frank felt that his plan would drastically cut the cost of interplanetary travel – at least until ion propulsion took over from rockets.
David was not enthused about being required to transport the two reporters and their pilot back to Earth, especially given the presence of Yoshi
"You don't have to make them guests," Frank told him. "In fact, I'd rather they didn't feel welcome. Keep them in the cargo bay, and lock the door. Tell the crew that no one talks to them, that even a couple of sentences can turn into a story; the kind of story we don't want!"
So, the reporters got to ride home in Man's Hope, though they didn't enjoy it much.
They found Frank waiting with half-a dozen Brazilian military and police officers, all anxious to talk to them about their adventure, and inquire about their lack of Brazilian visas. Frank provided interview rooms, well equipped with video equipment to record statements. Copies of all the videos, of course, would be sent to Frank's attorneys, for use in the lawsuits he had promised. Even when he had threatened it, Frank had known there would be no criminal actions. He most definitely did not want terrestrial justice systems to think they had jurisdiction in space. But he planned to pursue that network to bankruptcy.
The crew's welcome home was quite different. They were international heroes, and Frank had been most active in promoting that image. Before they fell into the social whirlpool, though, Frank had a private meeting with them.
Yoshi had been quietly removed from Man's Hope by a medical team – a Japanese team.
The welcome had already become hectic, but he had something to tell them that he could not while they were aboard Man's Hope. Frank called them to order.
"All right, gentlemen, we need to talk finances. You know the salaries in your contracts. None of you are married . . . " he glanced at Dolf, "Well, not currently," he smiled.
"That being the case, instead of paying your salaries into a savings account where it would draw minimal interest, I've been paying them into an escrow account for each of you, and I have been investing them. Your accounts are now worth more than twenty percent more than your salaries alone." There was a hubbub of "sounds good," and "how much are we worth." Frank waited it out.
"Let's just say you're all millionaires, now. But that's just a detail."
"A detail!" David shouted.
Frank smiled proudly. "Yes, and a small one. You've all been hearing about Space International. SpaceInt is a holding company. That means it just owns things; it doesn't provide goods or services. There are now over a dozen companies under the SpaceInt umbrella. If you'd like, I'll go over the details with you later.
"But what you need to know is that SpaceInt is a very closely-held private company. There are a total of fifteen shares of stock in the parent company, SpaceInt. I own nine of them. Each of you owns one."
"You mean we're Space International?" David asked incredulously.
Frank nodded. "Each of you owns one-fifteenth of the parent company."
"Even Yoshi?" That was Raoul.
Frank nodded again. "Yes, even Yoshi. After all, he did make the entire trip. You need to remember that SpaceInt is a parent company. SpaceInt owns a controlling interest in ten companies, and substantial interest in four others.
"In other words, those shares are worth a lot of money. One-fifteenth of the value of SpaceInt, to be exact."
"Frank," Yuri said hesitantly, "None of us are businessmen. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I know you're not," Frank replied, "and yes, I do want to do this. I've built in some protections for you. In order to receive your share, you will have to sign an agreement. That agreement provides that should you, or even your descendants, want to sell your shares, you must first offer them to the others at a set price. That price is one-fifteenth of the total value of SpaceInt as of the close of business on the day you offer to sell. As of today, the value is a little over one hundred and fifty million dollars. So, if you decided to sell today, your share would be worth ten million dollars.
Raoul had been drinking. He spewed coffee. "Ten million dollars?" he said incredulously. "U.S. dollars?"
Frank nodded, his smile broad. "Yes, and growing daily. I would not recommend you sell your share anytime soon."
David looked concerned. "Frank, that wasn't part of the deal. You don't need to do this."
Frank's broad smile faded. "Yes, I do. I've had dreams of space since I was a kid. But I'm just a money guy, a computer geek. Sure, I paid for the whole thing, but you, David, gave me back the dream, and the rest of you brought it to life.
"This has been the great adventure I've always dreamed of. It even brought me together with Susan. So yes, I need to do this."
"Oh," he continued. There's one other thing you need to know about. After your stunt threatening to send Eros into the Sun, charges were filed against you in the International Court of Justice."
Raoul frowned, and Yuri looked concerned. "They charged you with interfering with the operation of the United Nations. However," he continued, his smile resurfacing. "Since the resolution failed by a resounding margin, my International Law attorney says there's nothing to worry about. The charges will quietly go away."
"Now," he straightened, "Let's go meet your public. I hope you don't have any plans for the next month or so. You'll be touring the world."
The world tour was a great success. Everywhere they went; well-wishers mobbed the crew. Over fifty governments greeted them enthusiastically. Yemen was not among them.