Chapter 23: If I Can’t Do It, No One On Earth Can
Guessing that America needs a moon landing isn’t difficult; various media discussions about aerospace will more or less mention what America needs to do in the future to catch up to the Soviet Union.
Among them, moon landing is a popular option.
From academia to the aerospace industry, numerous expert professors propose that we should go straight for it and choose moon landing.
Including from Washington, some aerospace-related officials have expressed views from a personal perspective, believing that the White House should launch a moon landing program.
Anyone with a discerning eye can easily conclude that moon landing is the White House’s only option.
But being able to connect all these dots, from his identity to his purpose, and state it so definitively, as if able to see through his thoughts, that difficulty is too great.
John Morgan was already trying his best to control his expression, attempting to make himself look less flustered; his mind kept repeating a viewpoint from the Jewish Talmud: “Those skilled at controlling emotions will be invincible; only by controlling oneself can one control others.”
As nobility among the American nobility, John Morgan received traditional Western elite education from childhood and deeply understood the importance of keeping negotiation initiative in his own hands; that was exactly what he was doing in this dialogue.
From the beginning, he collected basic information on Lin Ran as much as possible, all for the sake of seizing the initiative.
Only upon meeting did he realize the other party was as deep as the sea, and the information he knew wasn’t even scratching the surface. “Are all math people this terrifying? Able to speculate so precisely?”
He didn’t deny it: “Exactly, that is my purpose.
Professor, I can provide you an environment that satisfies your personal interests and hobbies, letting you fully utilize your talent.”
Lin Ran asked: “Reward? You haven’t mentioned the reward yet.”
Seeing no opposition from the other party, John Morgan calmed down inwardly; willingness to talk is a good thing, as both sides originally needed to build a cooperative relationship:
“An initial reward of one hundred thousand US dollars; if our proposal ultimately gains NASA’s approval, then this reward will increase to two hundred thousand US dollars.
Subsequent rewards to be discussed separately.”
This reward was already sky-high at the time, because Lin Ran was just a consultant; even a special consultant getting two hundred thousand US dollars.
But Lin Ran was clearly not satisfied: “Not enough.
I can guarantee that General will definitely get this project; I don’t lack money—money is just a number to me.
What I need is initiative on the project; I need to be the head of this project, with everyone listening to me.
Secondly, I want shares.”
Lin Ran still didn’t give the other party a chance to interrupt him:
“I know General Electric’s shares are impossible; what I want is General Aerospace.
There should still be time before the project starts; what you need to do is spin off General Electric’s aerospace sector, and we use this newly established aerospace company to bid.
From feasibility proposal to final moon landing, we set tiered goals; ultimately I want 30% of the entire General Aerospace shares.
Feasibility proposal approved, I get 10%; after spacecraft moon landing success, I get another 10%; finally after manned moon landing success, I get the last 10%.
You can think it over carefully, whether this cooperation method is feasible.
If yes, contact me anytime, but you need to move fast; once the feasibility proposal passes, if you don’t spin off the aerospace sector, this business may not end up with you.
Once you’ve decided, call me anytime.”
Lin Ran drained the coffee on the table and turned to leave; John Morgan sat in his seat with a fluctuating expression, and he asked: “Professor, are you really that confident?”
Lin Ran said without looking back: “If I can’t do it, then no one on Earth can!”
“Here, the badge back to you.”
Returning to 2020, Lin Ran felt extremely wondrous.
In 1960, he was a famous Chinese descent mathematics professor, the Light of the Chinese who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem; walking on Columbia University Campus, everyone would greet him, casually toying with top second-generation Americans like John Morgan in the palm of his hand.
In 2020, however, he was just a little nobody holed up on the third floor of a Chinese descent family villa; aside from posturing on the Chinese Internet, he had no special qualities, and the major he studied was a notorious pit in computer science, but now the situation was different.
Li Xiaoman took the badge from Lin Ran’s hand, sniffed it, and from the smell she could tell she hadn’t been wrong—it was her family’s heirloom badge. “All settled?”
Lin Ran shook his head: “The entire plan has only completed the first step; I just verified my conjecture, and the rest is waiting to turn the conjecture into reality.
Come on, help me move these things back to my room; what needs to be done in the remaining time is to slowly piece the puzzle together completely.”
Li Xiaoman followed Lin Ran downstairs and glanced at the Corolla’s trunk, finding it full of books and bound printed materials.
She roughly flipped through:
“Heaven on Earth: A Political History of the Space Age,” “The Militarization of Space: America’s Policy (1945-1984),” “Missiles and the Space Race,” “Challenging Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race (1945-1947),” “The Soviet Union’s ‘Sputnik-1’ Satellite and the Space Challenge,” “The Soviet Union Space Race and the Apollo Moon Landing Program,” “In the Shadow of the Soviet Satellite: America and the President’s Science Advisor Committee During the Cold War,” “The Soviet Satellite Crisis and Early American Aerospace Policy,” “The Soviet Satellite: Shock of the Century,” “The Challenge of the Soviet Satellite,” “The Space Race: From the Soviet Satellite to the Apollo Program and More.”
From the title pages, these could be seen as library books borrowed from Columbia University.
She flipped through the printed materials and found they were all specific technical data; besides common rocket design and lunar module design, even the circuitry diagrams used for spacecraft docking at the time were printed out.
The entire trunk was stuffed full.
This time Li Xiaoman truly believed that Lin Ran was going to replicate the Apollo Moon Landing at this current point in time.
Otherwise, why go to such lengths?
These materials filled Lin Ran’s room to the brim, with no room to even stand.
“Randolph, regarding what you mentioned to me before, I’ve thought of some ways to mitigate the risk.” Li Xiaoman hadn’t been completely idle during this time.
Lin Ran gestured for her to continue.
“The first is visa restrictions; F-1 visa can’t work, but that’s actually easy to handle.
After I establish the company, have my company cooperate with Blue Origin; Blue Origin’s reward, I can then invest to you via an established angel investment institution.
That’s easy; on the surface, no one can see any association between you and this project.
Even between me and you, there’s no contract.
As for what you’re worried about, me absconding with the funds and reneging, that’s impossible, because once a project like this is exposed, everyone involved will be finished.
Within the Federation’s ITAR list, rocket propulsion is an absolute forbidden zone.
