"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

тАЬI just told you. Hire him full-time, and get him to sign the usual contract concerning intellectual property
rights and all. Really secure those.тАЭ

тАЬI get that, but тАШinterestingтАЩ how?тАЭ

Frank sighed. тАЬIn the sense that it might be the way to solve your targeted delivery problem. If his
methods work and you get a patent, then the potential for licensing income might be really considerable.
Really.тАЭ

Derek was silent. He knew that Frank knew the company was nearly on life support. That being the
case, Frank would not bother him with trifles, or even with big deals that needed capital and time to get
going. He had to be offering a fix of some kind.

тАЬWhy did he send this grant proposal to NSF?тАЭ

тАЬBeats me. Maybe he was turned down by one of your guys when he was here. Maybe his advisor at
Caltech told him to do it. It doesnтАЩt matter. But have your people working on the delivery problem take a
look at it. After you get this guy hired.тАЭ

тАЬWhy donтАЩt you talk to them? Go talk to Leo Mulhouse about this.тАЭ

тАЬWellтАжтАЭ Frank thought it over. тАЬOkay. IтАЩll go talk to them and see how things are going. You get this
Pierzinski back on board. Call him today. WeтАЩll see what happens from there.тАЭ

Derek nodded, still not happy. тАЬYou know, Frank, what we really need here is you. Like I said before.
Things havenтАЩt been the same in the labs since you left. Maybe when you get back here we could rehire
you at whatever level UCSD will allow.тАЭ

тАЬI thought you just said you didnтАЩt have any money for hires.тАЭ

тАЬWell thatтАЩs true, but for you we could try to work something out, right?тАЭ

тАЬMaybe. But letтАЩs not talk about that now. I need to get out of NSF first, and see what the blind trust
has done with my stock. I used to have some options here.тАЭ

тАЬYou sure did. Hell, we could bury you in those, Frank, IтАЩd love to do that.тАЭ

Giving people options to buy stock cost a company nothing. They were feel-good gestures, unless
everything went right with the company and the market; and with NASDAQ having been in the tank for
so long, they were not often seen as real compensation anymore. More a kind of speculation. And in fact
Frank expressing interest in them had cheered Derek up, as it was a sign of confidence in the future of
Torrey Pines Generique. Also a sign of FrankтАЩs interest in taking part in it, on his return.

тАЬDo what you can to get some funding to tide you over a bit longer,тАЭ Frank suggested as he got up to
leave.

тАЬOh I will. I always am.тАЭ

Outside, Frank sighed. Torrey Pines was looking like a thin reed. But it was his reed, and anything might
happen. Derek was good at keeping things afloat. But Sam Houston was a loss. Derek needed Frank