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“Oh, I know!” she says, sounding excited. “Maybe your first job should be to try to reduce the competition.”
“Oooh! Good. This feels good. A plan is forming. How would I do that?”
“I have no idea,” she says.
“Butts.”
“But maybe it’ll become obvious once you’re there.”
“It better or we’re all screwed.”
"You can't think like that,” Allie says. “If you do, you’ll beat yourself before you even get there. Now I know there are a lot of things that are not within your control in this situation ... lots of competition, some of whom will be quite possibly much hotter and more willing to do stuff you clearly aren't, projects that he actually believes in, people who aren’t as likely to offend him, not to mention that some of those people are going to be a lot better at the outdoorsy stuff than you because that's really not your forte either."
"Are you going somewhere with this? Because so far, I do not feel better.”
"Yes, bear with me,” Allie says. "You know how, on The Bachelorette, the guy who wins isn't necessarily the hottest guy or the smartest guy or even the nicest guy?"
"Like Roberto in season six?"
"Yep. The winners are always the ones who don't think about the other bachelors. They play their own game. They draw on their own strengths. They have confidence that they can do it, and it's really that confidence that convinces the bachelorette to choose him. It's like it somehow rubs off on her like a Jedi mind trick."
"You want me to Jedi mind trick him?" I roll a pair of my grannies into a tight roll. "These aren't the projects you're looking for."
"Okay, make fun of me if you want, but I'm right about this. Confidence is key. If you go in there believing that you're going to get that money—better yet, that he wants you to convince him—you’re going to make him do it."
"Yeah, I think this is why you’re a radio astronomer, not a business mogul."
Allie lets out a little grunt. "You are the best person to be going on this trip. Out of the whole team you have what none of the rest of us do."
"Yeah, the necessary vaccinations."
"No, passion. No one believes in SETI as much as you."
"Sure, but I'm passionate about something that he thinks is a joke."
"No, Gwen, you're passionate about something he just doesn't understand yet. But you’re going to make him understand. You’ll use logic, reason, and every ounce of faith that you have to prove that what we’re doing is real and important. You’ll talk to him about the legacy that he could leave behind as the person who allowed one of the greatest advancements in human history to happen. And for the first time in his life, Ty Sterling is going to have to admit he was wrong about something. He's going to give us the money, and it's going to be because you convinced him to do it."
I allow a surge of hope to flow through me. “Do you really think it could be that simple?”
“It has to be. Because if it isn’t, we’re all screwed.”
5
Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown…
Ty
To-Do List:
- Emergency Board Meeting (Goal: Reassure board everything is fine/try not to offend anyone)
- Emergency Shareholders Zoom Call (Goal: Reassure shareholders everything is fine/try not to offend anyone)
- Pack for trip to Peru (Michael is doing this for me—thank God!)
- Call Muffy (see if a quick stop in Dallas is necessary)
“Muffy, I’m so glad I caught you,” I say as soon as she answers my call. I’m not lying—I am glad I caught her, but not for the reason she thinks. She thinks I enjoy spending time with her when really I just need to make sure she knows the deal is still on even though Richard is gone.
