The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

After seeing off Chief Griffin, who looked obviously unhappy, Lord and Pearson returned to the conference room to discuss some key points in the subsequent live broadcast.

However, as the commander of the Air Force Space Command, the former is even more busy at this critical juncture.

After all, media broadcasting is only a tiny part of the entire interception plan, and it is impossible for him to decide everything personally.

So Pearson only stayed for about half an hour longer before being taken to the visitor parking lot away from the outer wall of the base by a commuter vehicle within Peterson Air Force Base.

In fact, before the 911/ incident, as a retired major general with close ties to the Air Force, he only needed to obtain approval from the base commander or a higher level to drive directly in.

But later, considering the risk of terrorist attacks, not only outsiders, but even the private cars driven by base staff had to stay in the outer area.

Pearson recalled where he parked his car and was about to take a step when he saw a black Escalade just driving out of the parking lot and then slowly stopping beside him.

The next second, the car door opened.

A thin middle-aged man with a dignified look on his face walked down from the back seat.

It turned out to be Michael Griffin who had left earlier.

"Mr. Director?"

NASA is not a violent agency, so Pearson is not worried about a carload of bread men rushing out to put a hood on him and kidnap him.

"General Pearson, what a coincidence, we meet again."

Griffin's attitude was surprisingly good.

"anything?"

Pearson didn't believe it was a coincidence.

The other party came out half an hour earlier, but only left the parking lot now. I could tell with my toes that he was waiting for me.

Griffin did not try to hide his intentions. He took two steps forward and lowered his voice.

"There is no one else around, and I don't have any recording equipment on me... I hope you can tell me in a private capacity how much risk this interception test poses?"

"This is important to me and to the whole of America."

Pearson thought to himself, you think I'm stupid, but I'm not a young guy who just entered the workplace. I won't get excited when I hear a slogan or two imitating movie lines and dare to say anything.

We just met for the first time less than an hour ago. At most, we are familiar with each other. We have no common interests and no basis of trust. How could I leak secrets so easily?

So I gave almost the same answer as I had just given in the conference room:

"I can only say that based on the experience of the last anti-satellite test, the kinetic impact did not produce space debris that would endanger the operation of the spacecraft..."

He said "no" instead of "won't".

Even if the other party was recording, they wouldn't be able to gain any advantage from this sentence.

However, Griffin showed a satisfied smile instead.

Of course I am not satisfied with this answer.

As the head of NASA, he certainly knew that the guarantees made at this time could not be reliable at all.

But he was satisfied with the attitude shown by Pearson——

This person has a very tight lipped attitude and knows how to protect himself.

Even if you risk your life, you will leave yourself a way out.

In this case, things will be much easier afterwards.

"General, I will not authorize the use of any NASA-related materials in this media broadcast, including but not limited to symbols, pictures, voice and video materials... I hope you can also pay attention to this during the program production process."

As he spoke, Griffin opened the car door again:

“Perhaps in the future, NASA will also need your professional image…”

After he finished speaking, he got into the car and left without waiting for Pearson to answer.

He believed that the other party would understand his hint.

The latter watched the Escalade speed away and loosened the tie around his neck:

"Damn old fox..."

Although he said so, in fact, even if Griffin had not done this, he had never intended to tie himself to Lord's chariot.

Pearson knew very well that the Air Force Space Command currently had only one fundamental need, which was to respond with powerful means to the new ballistic missile that China tested last month and to ensure the United States' deterrence capability at the strategic level.

But as an old man who has retired long ago, he still needs to consider some more realistic issues.

After all, times have changed.

After gathering his thoughts, Pearson walked toward his GMC Yukon in the corner of the parking lot.

Sitting on the passenger seat was a fashionable woman wearing a bright red windbreaker, who looked slightly younger than him.

"how is the situation?"

The woman asked, closing the book open on her lap.

"NASA Administrator Griffin also came to Lord today and confirmed with him the potential risks of this interception."

Pearson replied as he started the engine.

“NASA still needs to ask the Air Force about risks?”

The woman's slender eyebrows raised slightly.

"They are all pretending to be ignorant even though they know the truth... they are just acting for each other."

The car turned out of the parking lot and drove towards the nearest highway entrance:

"For Lord, the most important thing is to intercept successfully. Anyway, the space launch mission has nothing to do with him. As long as he doesn't knock down the International Space Station, creating some space debris doesn't matter at all... In fact, you may not know that some spacecraft that have reached the end of their life will disintegrate on their own. Although the amount of space debris produced is small, the actual threat is even greater..."

"As for Griffin, although NASA has a superior position in the industry, it still has to deal with the outside world frequently. The threat of space junk has been very popular in recent years. Whether the interception is successful or not is not important to him, but if it causes too much noise in public opinion, he will be very passive, so he needs to remove himself from it as much as possible..."

“So the Air Force won in the end?”

The other party was clearly more interested in the results.

"The missile defense system is a project jointly promoted by almost all the military giants you can name, including Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics... and so on. Now even the fleet is ready, and there is absolutely no possibility of changing the plan midway, so you don't have to worry at all. Our investment will 100% make a lot of money. It's just a matter of whether the profit is 100% or 200%..."

Pearson shrugged, as if he had expected this.

But then the conversation changed:

"But if I have to talk about the result... I prefer a win-win situation."

"Win-win?"

The woman seemed very surprised:

"You mean, NASA has already guessed it..."

This time, Pearson did not answer directly:

"There have always been rumors that Griffin was appointed as the director by the White House and is responsible for promoting the commercialization of space..."

"We can even think of seizing this opportunity. NASA is not stupid. How could they really be led by the nose by the Air Force?"

……

the other side.

After leaving Peterson Air Force Base, Griffin immediately rushed to Denver Airport and returned to Washington on a special plane before getting off work that afternoon.

Assistant Director Ray Ann Meyer had been waiting at the office door for a long time, holding a black folder in her hand.

"Mr. Director, I have collected all the information you asked me to collect this morning."

Griffin subconsciously stopped when he heard this:

"So fast?"

He even took the folder from the assistant without even taking off his coat.

"Their actions are not specially kept secret, so it is not difficult to investigate."

Meyer showed an expression of admiration and a little flattery:

"I must say that your guess is absolutely correct, Director. Wilbert Pearson Jr. and the two companies under his wife's name have purchased a total of more than 2.5 million US dollars in stocks in the past three days. A large part of it is even mortgage loans with high interest rates. It is obvious that they are very confident in the short-term return rate of these investments."

"Heh... sure enough."

Griffin sat back in his chair, flipped open the document in his hand, and quickly scanned the contents:

"Raytheon, Amazon, Stellar, Clean Space..."

"You have a good vision. There are defense contractors directly related to this interception test, as well as startups focusing on space junk cleaning and recycling, and large companies investing in commercial aerospace. These are all sure-fire deals."

After saying this, he showed a slightly sarcastic smile:

"It seems... our Major General has already anticipated the possible consequences of this satellite interception plan?"

Meyer nodded, then took two steps forward, came to the director's desk, and added in a low voice:

"Not only that, I also mobilized some...personal connections and found out that the couple invested another 1.5 million in a private equity fund, which holds a small portion of Space Exploration's shares and is likely preparing to increase its investment further. However, Space Exploration is not listed, so this news lacks conclusive evidence and I did not write it in the written report."

Griffin's smile gradually faded, and then turned into a playful one:

"So... to some extent, he is on the same side as us?"

"I tend to think he just wanted the money."

Meyer responded cautiously:

"According to our technical department's assessment, this interception process may generate 2000-2500 additional space debris, of which about 200-300 will remain in orbit for a relatively long time. Although the possibility of them actually causing damage to spacecraft is very small, if combined with some public opinion, it is enough to make the above stocks make a lot of money."

But Griffin waved his hand:

"It does not matter."

"Common interests naturally lead to a common camp. His attempt to make money from this is actually a good thing for us."

Before the assistant beside him could react, he immediately changed his tone to a serious one:

"Lei, tell the news department to prepare. Use the next few days to highlight the threats that obsolete spacecraft and space debris may pose..."

"On the surface, it is to create legitimacy for the interception test. In reality, when the interception is completed, we can say that there was a problem in the execution process. However, the original intention of cleaning up space debris is good, and then the focus will be directed to the reuse of spacecraft to pave the way for commercial orbital transportation services."

Meyer's originally confused look quickly became clear:

"I'll do it right away, sir."