24

General Emeka Wigwe, now in his late nineties, has held over a dozen positions in the Group of 81 bureaucracy since it was founded. He now heads up Space Affairs. He meets you in an emptied-out canteen on one of the upper floors of the embassy. He stands up straight and shakes your hand when you approach. During a lunch of atama soup, he doesn't speak of business, only commenting mildly on his journey to the Moon and asking you about what it was like to be an arcologist. After the plates have been cleared away and you are alone again, he gets to the point of the meeting.

"Let me congratulate you, President, on getting the job. I would have had it myself if I were fifty years younger," General Wigwe says without a smile, his measured voice never changing tone. "You are a very lucky man and the greater part of humanity looks on you now to be our beacon in the great beyond. We need you, Enol, to think of us when you are out there. The Group has great plans for Europa. It will be a launching pad for us to take the outer system, far from the greedy hands of the U.E. Do you understand?"