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Earth’s crown jewels. The UNBio preserves.
    She skimmed through the folders full of dense documents that Tengri had just made available, running filters and automated summarizers, using the fully stretched size of her scroll to try to organize it into a coherent picture. Damn, this is a mess. As far as she could tell, there hadn’t been independent UNBio audits in years.
    Not surprising, given the stories of corruption.
    A reminder flitted across the display: climate summit starts in 15 minutes. She rolled up the scroll, tucking it into her chest quiver. Men and women strode by, the men’s gray suits a uniform that varied only in the cut and the pattern of the red tie, the women in occasional splashes of color. As she got up, a young man she didn’t recognize spotted her and hurried against the crowd.
    “Doctor Tania Black? I’m glad I found you. The Secretary General wants to meet with you.”
    And now I find out what’s really going on. She followed the man into the hallway, up a flight of stairs. Another hallway.
    “In here.” Two burly men stepped away from a wooden doorway.
    Tania entered an opulent room, paneled wooden walls, original paintings, like a private study in a historic mansion. Khan Tengri was chatting with Tetabo Molari at the head of the heavy wood conference table. Circling the table, a dozen people sat in leather chairs. They all turned to look at Tania as she took the remaining seat.
    “You must be Doctor Black, the new UNBio Director.” A short Latino woman with her hair in a French twist extended her hand across the table. “I’m Valerie Juarez.”
    Tania gasped.
    Opposite Tania, to either side of US President Valarie Juarez, sat Maxine van Buren, the blonde-haired President of the European Union, and Rusov Malikov, the Russian Federation President. On Tania’s left sat Lui Xing Tao, the Chinese President, and to her right Lucas Olivera, the Brazilian President. Tania wasn’t as sure about the others, but it wasn’t hard to guess.
    The UN Climate Council. A group of eleven nations and regional alliances that had been created a decade ago, just before the sulfuring started.
    “Madam President?” stammered Tania. “I thought you’d all be in the General Assembly Hall for the summit.”
    “Nothing useful is decided in a meeting that large,” laughed the President, her brown eyes gleaming. “That’s why the Climate Council was created in the first place. History is made in back rooms.”

Chapter 3
     
    TANIA WASN’T SURE where to look. So much power in such a small room; if she made eye contact it felt as if she were staring. I am staring. Her heart lurched as if it were malfunctioning.
    “I’m delighted that Mr. Tengri found a replacement for James Wong so quickly,” said Maxine van Buren. “Mr. Wong’s contributions to the disk array funding were invaluable. I’m sure you are eager to pick up where he left off, so we can move forward with our plans.” The other leaders nodded, but Tania caught tension in the sideways glances.
    “Thank you,” said Tania.
    Khan Tengri draped his suit jacket over the chair behind him. “In light of the full agenda, Doctor Black will have to catch up as we go. Mr. Molari, what are your latest estimates?”
    Molari pursed his lips. “The full system will require 3000 disks, each launched on an independent heavy-lift rocket. Assuming we create the new space facilities we discussed, it’ll take five years to stabilize the climate. And 8 years to get the full system operational. Estimated costs are in the documents I provided you.”
    “A nice-sized infrastructure project, as promised,” said Olivera. The Brazilian President’s voice was squeaky and didn’t match his husky appearance.
    The Chinese President snorted. “I have worked with engineers. Double the timeframe and triple the budget.”
    “I was trained in Beijing,” said Molari.
    Lui narrowed his eyes. “Five years still sounds optimistic,” he said. “But it’s within the