“When,” he asked, “are we arriving at our destination?  The South China Sea was mentioned.”

“Allowing for positive and negative acceleration for my passengers, a tiny bit under two hours.”

“That’s something around fifteen thousand miles in two hours, Mister Rigó,” Gary observed with his traditional deadpan.  “That is remarkable.”

“The raw idea for reactionless thrusters was developed in America just before the Breakup, nearly fifteen years ago,” Rigó said, watching closely how the boy raised Tracy to a sitting position against the wall and systematically checking that she was well.  He was convinced that for less than a second her eyes tracked to him before returning to her blank stare.

“That research was picked up by both China and Japan, and, from what I learned in Vienna, very closely held!” He laughed a little.  “There is a new space race on, and we whites are kept out of it!”