Major Flaw

Inside NASA headquarters.

Standing in the satellite control room, Aiden slammed a stack of reports onto the table and sprayed spit in the face of a NASA expert as he raged, "Who the fuck told me the Electric Propulsion System couldn't lift a spacecraft off the ground? That it couldn't even lift an egg? Who? Huh? Now tell me what the fuck this is!"

The NASA expert who had insisted it was impossible looked thoroughly embarrassed. His eyes darted around as he said,

"We still can't determine what kind of propulsion they're using. Judging by the engine plume alone, they may have used a hydrogen-oxygen-methane mixture as propellant..."

"Bullshit!"

Watching Aiden lose his temper, NASA deputy administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, who stood nearby, cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.

"Mr. Aiden, gathering intelligence is the CIA's responsibility. We're obliged to cooperate with you, but that doesn't mean we should be held responsible for your mistakes."

"You think this was my mistake?" Aiden stared hard at Gerstenmaier. "Weren't you the ones who swore that if they could launch a spacecraft with electric propulsion, you'd eat the thing?"

"We still don't know what kind of propulsion they used, do we? Perhaps it isn't that bad..." Looking somewhat embarrassed, Deputy Administrator Gerstenmaier cleared his throat. "Besides, we weren't wrong. Conventional electric propulsion certainly can't lift an egg from the surface into space. Its greatest advantage is its specific impulse, hundreds of times higher than chemical propulsion, which can carry an egg from the Earth-Moon System to Mars faster and more safely... But perhaps Hua Nation found a more efficient way to accelerate the propellant? You'd have to ask them. Electric propulsion isn't a focus of our research..."

"Oh, really?" Aiden said coldly. "From what I understand, the funding you request from Congress for