4 Chapter 4

Space?" Ashley asked. Well it's more like she blurted it out. She's been trained not to question me so I saw her jerking reaction when she realized what she did.

I only smiled at her and looked around the room.

The directors were all looking at me incredulously. I have half a mind to think they would actually prefer psychotic Homelander with no business answers instead of crazy space idea Homelander.

"Yes, space." I confirmed calmly.

"Vought has all the basic ingredients to turn humanity into a multi planetary species. It is the next step in the evolution of our society. We will be at the fore front for it." I continued while sitting back in my chair.

"Of course that will be the over-arching mission of the company. There are many steps in between." I leaned back in my chair getting more comfortable.

"First we will start with something small and reasonable such as telecom. We will launch satellites into space and provide internet and phone service at a reasonable price to millions of underserved rural Americans."

"But we don't have any aerospace experience or telecom, not on that scale at least." Bill Marsh said. "And launching things into orbit is expensive, very expensive." He said surely.

"You are right of course." I confirmed.

"We don't have that experience so we will either have to partner up with or acquire companies in the industry. However what we do have is an advantage that no other company has in the world." I pause and looked around the table to see if any of them will jump at an answer. They didn't.

"Me." I stated firmly.

The looked at me waiting to elaborate so I did.

"While our greatest minds will be working diligently on reusable rockets, cheaper fuel and better engines I can fly the satellites into orbit myself."

"I usually fly up there regularly to get some peace and quiet. You have no idea how noisy things get when you have super hearing."

I knew from his memories that Homelander did periodically fly into orbit to admire the earth. He liked how small it looked. It made him feel big like he could crush it if he wanted to.

"By my estimation I should be able to fly anywhere between 1 and 10 tons depending on sturdiness of the structure I'm flying. I'll leave that to the brainiacs to figure out."

"That should be between one third and half the cost of satellites."

That seemed to open their eyes and I swear I saw the gears turn in their brains.

"I'm not naïve.' I said. "I know advancing humanity's space foot print and making our species multiplanetary will take a ridiculous amount of money. And I am not against making profits if that's what you are worried. The profits will simply be re-invested into something greater. Think of the resources out there for the taking through asteroid or moon mining. Think of the new technologies the research will bring." I paused to let their imagination run.

"The telecom venture will be our proof of concept. I'm sure at least the US government will want to get in on the action." I said slyly. "They love putting things into space. Especially if they can block China by having an exclusive contract with us."

"From there will expand and expand and expand." I finished firmly.

I looked at them and I saw them smile. I knew I had them. An outrageous idea suddenly became possible. The sharks were smelling blood in the water and wanted their share.

The meeting lasted for another two hours as we discussed my half assed plan of bringing glory to human kind and how we would approach the announcement on the earnings calls.

As they were leaving I asked Ashley to stay.

"Yes, John?" she asked apprehensively. She wasn't sure if I was just putting up a show for the directors. She was testing the waters.

"Yes Ashley, I am serious about calling me John and I am serious about everything I have said today. You and me" I said getting close to her that she could feel my breath on her forehead.

Her heart was thumping loud and clear. She was scared but to her credit she only barely trembled.

"WE are going to lead Vought into a new and glorious era." I took a lock of her hair, felt it between my fingertips, I wasn't wearing the red gloves, I felt they were too bulky for normal use. I pushed the lock back behind her ear.

"And I am just as serious when I say that you need to take better care of yourself and your hair." I continued and stepped away from her. "You seem to be missing a bunch of clumps."

"Now, can you do me a favour and find the Deep and bring him here. He might have misinterpreted my words and so I feel like he's about to do something very stupid and I need the both of you here to clear it up."

"Ye..s, yes" her voice trembled and she rushed out the door.

The moment the door closed I could hear her breaths of relief.

I had to admit part of me was enjoying seeing her squirm beneath my gaze.