Hemingway’s Cut
The Deal is Made
The men in suits sat at the long table, eyes cold and calculating. The numbers were on the pages before them, but the decision was already made. The country was bleeding money. The cuts had come hard. Departments shrank. Programs disappeared. But still, the man with the sharp blue eyes and the sharp mind had found a way.
Elon Musk had a contract. Four hundred million dollars. The government would have its armored Teslas. The roads would see them soon—silent, swift, and shielded.
The critics barked. They always did. Why this deal? Why now? Why when the coffers were running dry? But the deal was done. The critics were not in the room.
The Machines and the Critics
The machines would come, rolling out of Fremont or Austin, sleek and heavy with armor, ready to take gunfire or bombs. The government men would ride them. They would not question their safety, only their cost.
The newspapers wrote their stories. The budget cuts were deep. Schools needed money. Roads cracked and crumbled. And yet, here was a man who could still claim a fortune from the hands of Washington.
Musk did not answer them. He rarely did. He had rockets to build and cars to make. The world moved forward, and he moved with it.
The Future Rolls Forward
The armored Teslas would come, and the world would change again. The old machines, clunky and loud, would be replaced. The critics would keep shouting. The government men would keep riding.
