The table trembles, heralding the rocket's launch. All eyes turn toward it--a single stage satellite deployment vehicle. Roiling smoke billows out, inundating the surrounding structures, blinding Riemann and the Sanctans to all but the rocket's smoldering engines.

"Say Marcus--you don't mind if I call you Marcus, right? How much you think launchin' one of these things costs me? This one's 'bout a hundred tons, twelve ton payload."

The response is nearly instant, but not from Edison, not Telarius. "Twenty-three million, seven-hundred eighty-four thousand--"

"Cut that crap out" Riemann interrupts with a chuckle "'Course [i]you[/i] know the figure, but you're robbin' me of my ability to make seemingly pointless rhetorical questions." Turning back to Telarius, he continues "Point is, out a that twenty-four million it costs me to launch this here rocket, twenty million goes into the launch stage. Payload's cheap as hell--just a bunch of comm satellites. Fuel costs are well under half a million. Now, ten years ago a pricetag a twenty-four million would have had fellers like myself drooling--I've got our ridiculously overblown military-industrial complex to thank for that. But then, say I could recover this here rocket, instead of lettin' it burn it on reentry or smash into the ocean." He points up--through the smoke the engine flame is still visible, far above them now. "That sort of re-usability would make me a mighty rich man. Or I could just launch ten times as many rockets."

"This one's got a vacuum-tube digital/analog processor that weighs two and a half tons--Von Neumann made it for me. Now quit your laughin'--you know the man's a genius. But the damn thing can scarcely vector thrust well enough for the gravity turn, much less a powered landing. But that microchip of yours could let me recover damn near everything. I could even start launchin' some multi-core rockets. Maybe even some fully autonomous spaceships later." He returns to his briefcase and begins to open it. "Now I figure you're wonderin' why I'm tellin' you about all this; truth is I feel I should be upfront about what you Sanctan fellas are gonna run into if you give me that chip. Well, that and I got me a captive audience." Unbuckling the briefcase, he turns it around to face Telarius. Within is a single cylinder, dull grey, sporting half a dozen unconnected nozzles and pipes. 
"Now, this little baby's a three-point-five megawatt fission reactor. Sans steam turbine and uranium, of course. You can get yourself inta all sorts a trouble with a thing like this."