Bucksworth was relieved at the new direction the conversation was headed. He originally planned to offer the joint labs further on in the partnership, but felt pressure to move forward quickly. But most important of all, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to do so much bureaucratic work to kickstart this strategically beneficial partnership.
"A single ambassador makes things so much easier on all terms. It surely makes more sense than deploying general-purpose labs out of the blue. I would suggest that we deploy proprietary communication relays on each station to ensure our communications are secure. You know, just in case we make a discovery that could pose danger to the general public."
"Absolutely. Would be much less of a toll on our workforce. The communication relays would also be a great idea so that we can avoid potential competitors, although we're already pretty much a mon-"
Bucksworth cut through Felcher's sentence abruptly. He had to stop him before saying something he shouldn't, as he very often tends to.
"Persi, we talked about this! Don't use the 'M' word in Liberty! You can't know who's listening and it might end up devaluing our stocks!"
"Sorry boss, I'll keep it to myself."
"Alrighty, I think we can close the deal then!"
He leaned towards Dr. Holliday with excitement, stretching out his hand for a proper handshake to close this exhaustively-discussed collaboration agreement. "Phewh!" He thought, "what a relief! We're finally about to be done here."
