Forbidden the Stars Read Online Free PDF

issue as well, though I had bought it more for the cover story about the Orcus mission to Pluto.”
    Ian Pocatello was an unknown quantity to Michael, and that night’s focus. Younger than both Stall and Michael by at least twenty years, Ian had won a seat in the House of Ministers in the last round of proxy elections with a resounding majority decision; it had been his first time campaigning, which served to show he was a dangerous political opponent.
    Researching Ian’s background, Michael learned the man had spent the early part of his life as a successful financial advisor. Upon his election to the legislature, Ian had been appointed to the cabinet as “Minister of Finance” by Canada Corp.’s long-time CEO, Pierre Dolbeau.
    The first two budgets under Pocatello’s administration had brought sweeping cuts to every department of the corporate government of Canada. Warning of a trend of global economical collapse—China, Ltd., Australia Company, India Limited, and Spain Corporation being the first countries to declare bankruptcy and be taken over by neighboring economic powers—Ian had forewarned of a day when Canada Corp. would be the victim of a hostile takeover from the much more fiscally powerful USA, Inc.
    Three years into his Five-Year Plan, he turned around Canada Corp.’s financial outlook, and although the budget was still constricting, Canada Corp.’s debt had dropped by eighty percent, and forecasts indicated a possibility of a surplus within the next six quarters.
    Ian Pocatello’s straight-faced, quiet approach to functions was daunting, however, and it took all Michael had in him to keep the conversation going, trying to find a soft spot in the Minister’s defenses.
    “I didn’t know you were a space buff.”
    Ian shook his head. “I’m not. Progress in space industry bears watching, though. If it’s profitable, I’m interested.”
    Around the three men, dignitaries and functionaries in all levels of government—national, provincial, and municipal—as well as lobbyists from differing private corporations and minority groups, swirled in a cacophonic dance of political maneuvers. Behind those smiles and polite nods were feral plans and ambitious agendas.
    Ostensibly, they were all there at the dinner to help fund-raise for Child-Find Canada, and it was more than a success at ten-thousand dollars a plate and a full house, but that was an excuse for the participants to lobby other politicians for support in whatever individual goals they had come to the Hall to achieve.
    Michael’s agenda was straightforward, but he had to play his hand close to the vest, or others would dismiss his motives as a smoke screen for some private objective. If he did not portray himself as a political barracuda, he would lose standing and reputation. The mining effort would suffer, and, ultimately, he believed, the rest of the sub-corporation.
    The SMD needed funds to bolster their research efforts. At present, they had thirteen class 2 nickel mines to show for the $140 billion the Corp. and private stakeholders had invested in the Space Mining Division. Forty-two of their projected asteroidal mines had showed, after additional surveys, to have impure lodes of ore and minerals; in a cost versus product schematic, they were not worth the trouble at present.
    Michael Sanderson believed in the SMD, as the best hope for Canada Corp.’s financial supremacy in the global economy, and as the best hope for the world. Scientists had estimated that the asteroid belt itself held hundreds of undiscovered new elements, with attributes that could improve the quality of life for everyone on Earth.
    Already, USA, Inc. and The British Conglomerates of the Commonwealth had aggressive and profitable space mining programs up and running, although most other country corporations were so far as unsuccessful as Canada Corp. A major lode had not yet been discovered on any of the Space Mining Division asteroids, and the race to the