3
First Launch
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
—Alan Kay, 1971
“Starships were meant to fly” were the first words Dash heard on crossing the threshold into Ben’s cozy pad on the Haven, the words of a song playing softly in the background.
Ping gave a sigh of satisfaction. “Nikki Minaj. An oldie but a goodie. Who’d have thought a creaky old geezer like Ben Wilson would have good taste in music?”
Jam swept the enormous room with her eyes. “Are all these people really billionaires? I never would have guessed there could be so many.” She pointed to the right, seemingly at the ornate ebony-wood bar where two older men sat on stools, discussing either the implications of the hyperinflationary phase of the birth of the universe or the best stocks in their portfolios. “I
