Chapter 142 Laser System

September 3, 2013

It was a pleasant day in Austin, as summer had passed, and the Fall University semester was in full swing.

Future Tech's various divisions were hard at work with a new round of projects, such as the Iron Man video game and F-35 Fighter Jet, while performing post-reviews for the recently completed initiatives like the Infinity Channel and Armor programs.

Vince and Hailee continued their daily Fury Gym and weekend Firearms training as the young CEO was allowed to partake in physical activities by Dr. Sera after confirming his condition wasn't critical.

Hailee's skills had improved significantly, considering she'd only begun training at the Fury Gym for almost a month. Nevertheless, Mr. Fury and the other black belts were impressed by her willingness to learn and absorb their daily teachings, so they opted to promote her to a blue belt in BJJ while awarding Vince with his fourth stripe.

Though a blue belt was the easiest to achieve of all the color tiers, receiving one within a month of training was uncommon. However, it became evident that the young actor took instructions ingeniously, maybe due to her experience being directed by the likes of the Coen Brothers with very high standards.

Hailee was over the moon by achieving something outside of the media entertainment industry but remained humble and calm while accepting the belt from Mr. Fury.

Naturally, Vince felt proud of his significant other, so he planned an impromptu celebration at the Dalton Manor later in the evening, including Tom, Kyle, Rick, and the rest of their friends.

The young couple shared their thanks to everyone present at the class before leaving on the Flyga and returning to the Future Tech Headquarters.

As usual, Vince worked in his penthouse office, mostly cooperating with Edward Snowden on the longest-standing NetServ initiative, Augmented Cyberspace.

Nethunters could utilize the ACS to visually monitor data traffic more effectively now that its reach was extended to accommodate North America but required more development time and resources for further expansion.

While Vince was vigorously typing on his keyboard, Hailee spent time at the Future Studios recording wing with Pharrell and the other producers to complete her first full-length studio album, which was halfway done.

She wanted to get it out of the way before filming for the Everlife Movie began and took more of her time from recording music.

The twins, Rick and Sarah, assisted Hailee with creating auxiliary content for her music, aside from keeping up with their duties as Junior Executives of Future Studios.

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Multiple CAVs of different designs arrived at the Dalton Manor one after the other, while the houseguests were welcomed by an FS detail assigned to securing the CEO's home.

Tom was a rising star in the UFC and earned a pretty good amount from endorsement deals, so he decided to purchase a CAV of his own after speaking with Fortis about it a few weeks back.

The two young and famous athletes shared a growing friendship after hanging out together in Austin, and it even showed on their social media accounts, with both fan bases interacting with one another over their bromance.

Tom's fellow UFC fighters welcomed the new pay-per-view deal with the Infinity Channel as their income would tremendously increase due to more potential viewers and higher advertising value.

Jessica and the rest of the gang congratulated Hailee when they arrived and were excited to eat Chef Tony's best dishes, as they always did whenever they hung out at the manor.

Tom brought along a familiar face, the blonde Zeta Tau Alpha sophomore, Sophie, as his plus one for the occasion. They got along well after filming the "Party Pop" music video and continued dating each other.

Hailee wasn't in college like many her age in Hollywood, so she curiously asked, "How was the start of the semester?"

Sophie amicably replied, "It's been going fine, but definitely not as fun compared to the first week when you did that huge concert. You guys throw the best after-parties!"

She was able to meet her idols like Ariana Grande and Kacey Musgraves after Tom invited her to the Digital Den, so it was natural to view regular school days as boring.

Kyle overheard their conversation and interjected, "Of course! The Digital Den is always open to your ZTA sisters."

Vince chuckled and said, "Yeah, right. What's next? Free hugs and kisses?"

Kyle nodded in agreement, then replied, "If it's their wish, why shouldn't I provide it?"

Rick and the others laughed at Kyle's unashamed response before dinner arrived on the exquisite dining table.

The group of friends discussed random things in life and appreciated the downtime away from work while eating the best food in town.

As an aerospace engineering undergrad, Sophie had always been interested in space travel and said, "I've seen the IC News coverage about the SpaceX Starship, but I'm still curious how far it can go compared to the Falcon Heavy."

Information regarding the SpaceX programs was sparse as intended. Still, Vince honestly replied, "Elon should be launching an unmanned spacecraft on the Starship in a few weeks over livestream, so you'll learn more about it then."

Hailee gave him a disappointing look and said, "Come on, Vince. Can't you share a bit more info with our lovely guest?"

Vince capitulated and replied, "Alright. It's not a complete secret, but the Starship is capable of reaching the Moon. We'll send a few astronauts there as soon as NASA clears the Starship for manned missions."

Sophie was surprised to hear about a Lunar mission, as the last one happened decades ago, during Apollo 17 in 1972.

A manned mission to the Moon was very expensive, even for Future Tech, costing approximately $100 billion, but Vince promised Elon his full support, so there was no backing out now.

He wasn't too worried about financing as the US government was willing to assist Future Tech in reducing costs by contracting the creation of a Lunar base for scientific research and as a refueling station for missions further into space.

Sophie appreciated the detailed answer and said, "Thanks for the heads up! I'll be sure to follow the news about the manned missions."

Vince accepted her gratitude and added, "Look up Future Tech-sponsored scholarships online. In addition, we offer University programs that can assist you in attaining an internship position at SpaceX or our other divisions. Good aerospace engineers are a hot commodity nowadays."

The group finished eating dinner half an hour later, then Hailee mentioned, "While we're all here, I'd like to invite you guys to join us in New York on Saturday for the Future Couture event if you're interested."

Jessica and the rest were mostly busy with new projects, but it was only for one day, so they decided to go and spend time at the Big Apple.

Tom and Sophie respectfully declined because his next fight was coming up in two weeks, while she had extracurricular activities on the weekend.

It was a Tuesday night, so the celebration party ended earlier than usual, then Vince's guests disembarked on their CAVs and returned home.

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On the other side of the globe, an African-American man in his mid-30s was occupied by a live test of Future Tech's guided laser system.

Diontray Ellison had kept up his duties as the FT Material Science subdivision Director and left his family for a month to live in Kandahar.

The Starship program was delayed because of developmental hiccups in producing a reliable defense system for the new satellites and the planned orbital space station.

Future Tech's stored its most important assets in low earth orbit, and Vince wanted to ensure its security before further investing in space travel.

There were already quite a few countries that could deploy anti-satellite weaponry, such as Russia and India, so the considerable gap in defense would have to be sorted out as soon as possible.

Producing high-energy laser systems required very expensive rare earth metals only found in some regions of the planet, such as Holmium, Ytterbium, and Indium.

Future Tech relied on the US government as an intermediary to purchase rare earth metals at a lower cost compared to the open market. Still, the corporation needed far more for testing and manufacturing purposes.

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Luckily, the prospecting program in Afghanistan showed significant progress in finding metal deposits, which should alleviate supply issues soon.

Dion and his team utilized synthetic materials in conjunction with the rare earth metals to produce a specialized alloy that could withstand the intense and continuous heat energy as the laser operated.

The power unit was designed by Tesla to absorb and store energy from the Sun while in orbit and reliably output 100 Petawatt pulses around five times before the carbon nanotube batteries are drained.

Large nations like Russia could realistically only fire a few dozen ASATs at a time, so a net of satellites equipped with a guided laser system should be enough to defend Future Tech's assets.

Dion felt a sigh of relief as the last laser pulse test succeeded, meaning he'd be able to return to his family sooner than expected.

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