Chapter 3
Looking out the small porthole on the sub-orbital passenger shuttle, Garret could make out the edge of the Lars Estates in the middle of the rolling hills of the Destart Plains. The Estates sat on nearly two hundred and forty acres. The land held orchards of fruit trees, acres and acres of farm land, all laced with irrigation canals from the great aqueduct that brought water down from the distant mountains. In the center of the acreage sat a large, sprawling four-story manor house. The large freight shuttle on the landing pad would be no barrier to the passenger shuttle.
The pad could easily hold three of the larger freighters at once.
There were smaller homes dotting the acreage, and near the north end was a medium-sized city of nearly three hundred thousand. He could have taken a regular passenger shuttle to the town, and an air hopper to the Estates, but he was a Lars, and the added cost of the re-routed passenger shuttle was no big deal. It had been a long week, and an even longer time since he’d last seen this house, and he felt a fluttering of excitement in his chest.
One week ago he had woken up at precisely 0800 hours, not surprised to find Gary in his bed again. The younger clone had still been asleep when he’d finished showering, and dressing in a pair of denim jeans and a levvin dress shirt before collecting his few personal possessions and heading downstairs. His meeting with Damion had been short and sweet. Fifteen minutes after walking into the Pleasure House Director’s office, he had walked away as a ‘Valued’ clone, in full control of his destiny.
An hour later, he was checked into a luxurious hotel room of the Lawlor Grande Resort in downtown New Prejat. Garret had sat listening to the recordings left for him by Davlan Tremere, the owner of the pleasure house he’d been sold to a year and a half ago, and the recording from his friend Deci. After spending all day in the room listening to them, he had put them aside, and began to listen to the recordings from his former friends at the Academy.
Those were actually a series of recordings, updated every two or three months. The first of them expressed outrage at his removal from the Academy and various levels of promises to help him some day. The later recordings were updates on what they were doing, where they were assigned, and that they still missed him and had not forgotten him. When the hotel’s bellboy came with dinner, he barely noticed the 01 series clone that served his dinner. The brown-haired, non-descript clone left without bothering him in any way, besides setting the dinner on the room’s dining table.
It was old habit of feeding the body no matter what that allowed him to eat that night. The fancy meal still tasted like ash in his mouth, but he ate, and put the first of the learning strips into the small connector behind his ear. His military-model Oberman implant accepted it and began to record the data directly to his brain.
This technology, and the technology of designing clones, was what had really set the Elacrar Republic so far apart from both the Federation and the Sol Empire. When the Federation had joined in Alliance against the Sol Empire, technology had flowed between the two space nations. The Elacrar Republic got better computers, better engines, and better weapons for their fleets, and the Federation had gotten technology to improve the quality of the clones they produced, and technology to allow the direct transfer of electronically stored information to bio-chemical storage.
In Sol and the Federation, children had gone to school to learn mathematics, reading, writing, art, and so forth. After schooling from age five all the way through eighteen, they were sent to colleges for four years, or more depending on their skills. With the technology represented by the Oberman implants, that time needed for education was drastically reduced.
By the time a child of the Elacrar Republic reached fourteen, they would receive an education nearly equivalent to that of a college degree. There were certain things that could not be taught by the interface. Information that could be stored, mathematical formulas, grammatical rules, and the collected works of Shakespeare could be downloaded overnight. It still took a human instructor to help them absorb the information and learn how to utilize it well. Also, a seven-year-old child might have the full content of the Joys of Sex in his head, but when he could not understand the sexual drive given by pubescent hormones, there was rarely a full understanding of the content.
Still, the ability to have a population totally capable of performing advanced mathematics by the age of twelve gave the Elacrar Republic a decided advantage. Add in the ability to mass-produce clones at a rate unheard of by the other stellar nations, and to train them for combat by the time they were fourteen and their bodies were developed enough to handle the rigors of combat, and the Elacrar Republic represented a military land force capable of taking or holding almost any territory.
The smaller Federation gained a lot by the technology transfer of the Alliance thirty years ago. What they didn’t gain was the ability to produce large clone armies. With a much smaller population, their society would have collapsed if they tried to produce as many clones as the Elacrar Republic did each year.
“Sir, we have arrived.” The flight attendant’s voice drew Garret back to the present, and he nodded at her politely. Since becoming ‘Valued’ he had not worn the purple contacts that made his eyes look like every other clone produced by the Republic. With his natural green eyes showing, he knew that while people might think he looked a lot like a 10 series clone, they would never suspect he was anything but a True Born (although as a kid he’d been teased by other children who did not know he really was a clone).
“Thank you, Valera.” He said with a nod, remembering to read her nametag. This passenger service wasn’t big enough to afford clones, and so used True Born flight attendants, although he’d noticed the pilots boarding the shuttle before it took off were both 08 Series clones of middle age. The 08 series had been designed with quicker reflexes and better eyesight, and at five foot three inches were the shortest of all the clones. That combination made them natural fighter pilots.
Garret slipped down the ramp with his carry-bag upon his shoulder and squinted until his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. The rare Free Days had made him unaccustomed to the brightness of the outdoors. Peladon’s red-yellow sun hung just past the mid-day arc of its passage from east-south to north-west. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he sped up his pace around the freighter and entered the passenger tube that connected the landing pad to the house’s reception center. Ship crews would rest there while waiting for the ships to be loaded, and the occasional guest would be greeted there.
Or a returning family member.
“You’re home at last.” Marja Lars said with a beatific smile on her face as Garret came through the entry of the reception center. Timat Lars stood beside her with his red-grey hair cut short. That was a change, Garret noticed as he greeted the two of them with short, but intense hugs. They had no problem showing affection, but were never excessive in their displays.
“Welcome home, son.” Timat said with a nod of his head. “You look none the worse for wear.”
“You’ve cut your hair short.” Garret said and Timat smiled.
“Last year we had horrible wind storms and the longer hair just kept getting in the way.” Timat said with a shrug.
“Mother, you are as beautiful as ever.” Garret said and she blushed.
“Come, we’ve prepared some snacks.” Marja said, leading him into the house proper.
The central manor of the Lars Estates was a small village in and of itself. The first floor was used for formal and business functions. The second floor held residential wings for the employees and their families who lived here (as did several out-buildings that included shops, entertainment centers and individual homes for the more senior employees). The third floor held workshops, offices, and more residential rooms, as well as several well-appointed guest rooms for visitors. The fourth floor held the administrative offices of the most senior employees, the family, and of course the actual residence for the family.
In total, nearly four thousand people worked at the Estate, and most of them worked in the main building itself. Of those, nearly two thousand either lived in the manor itself or in the surrounding ‘outbuildings’ that were often referred to as “Lars Village”. Timat Lars was the titular ‘Mayor’ of the village, and a council ‘advised’ him, elected every six years by those who lived on the Estates. The remaining workers lived in the nearby city, Stockland, and traveled by air foil shuttles that made the round-trip journey four times a day.
Of all the employees, only forty-six were clones, and all but six were already Valued.
“We’ve missed you.” Marja said as they entered the private sitting room in the residential wing of the fourth floor. A skylight lit the room with sunlight, and there were several comfortable leather armchairs as well as two couches and three small tables. A fireplace in the far wall would warm the room during winter, and the large bay windows provided a good view of the north acreage.
“I’ve missed you too.” Garret admitted as he sat down in one of the chairs. Their family custom had been that they’d sit, Marja would serve the tea and scones, and then they’d talk. Within moments, he had a scone and a cup of tea, with cream and sweetener added just the way he liked it.
“You Valued yourself a week ago?” Timat asked gently after they all had received their tea and scones. The older man sat in a chair opposite Garret, with Marja between them and to the side.
“Yes.” Garret admitted before taking a sip of tea. They sipped as well, waiting for him to expand. “I… I needed to think, and absorb everything. I needed to prepare to come back here.”
“We’re so sorry, son.” Marja said with a tear forming in her eye. “I can’t believe it took so long to find you!”
“I need to apologize as well.” Garret said, hanging his head and no longer able to meet their gazes.
“For what?” Timat said gruffly. He was barely over six feet, and had the lean body of an academic, but his voice was gruff when he was upset as if he was twice his size. “You’re the one who has been wronged here, who was whisked away with no respect for your feelings or thoughts, not given a chance to use your family’s resources to Value yourself, and who had to wait over a year for us to find you!”
“I’ve had free-days.” Garret’s voice was nearly a whisper, and cracked. He still couldn’t meet their gazes. They had never given up on him. “When they first picked me up, I thought it was a mistake, or that I was being brought here. When they put me in that… pleasure house… I gave up. I thought I was abandoned, that I was nothing but another clone to you, and that I had to accept my fate. All that time, I could have tried to contact you, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?” Marja’s voice was soft and he almost looked up at her.
“I was afraid.” He admitted in a voice that shook.
“Afraid of what?” Timat asked.
“I was afraid you’d reject me, tell me I was no son of yours.” Garret admitted with a sob as tears fell again down his face. So much for his resolution not to cry.
“Oh my poor son.” Marja said as she got up and went to hug him. His tea cup and saucer of scone were taken and put on a table as Timat joined his wife in hugging Garret. “It’s okay, it’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Garret protested amidst crying and being hugged by them.
“Why not, son?” Timat said softly. “It’s over, and I… I guess I can understand why you felt that way. I mean, we did fail you. . Both of us were distracted with other isssues when they passed the legislation to sell off certain models of military clones. We didn’t know you were gone until Billy contacted us and we were already too late. Tremere had your contract and wouldn’t sell you. We set up the search right away, and we set up your inheritance. Thankfully there’s no law preventing us from doing that, and we’d established the trust before you went to the Academy.”
“A clone cannot establish a financial account, or have one established by another party, without permission of the contract owner.” Garret quoted a section of the law. It was that section that prevented him from doing what he wanted to do so bad, and why he didn’t really want to be here.
“Exactly, but an already established account can be increased in size under very specific circumstances.” Marja said with a comforting tone. “Nor can an a contract owner attach an existing account or do anything with it without a court order, so Tremere couldn’t touch any of those funds. For your account though, we couldn’t just put money in there, and it wasn’t big enough to Value your contract, so we had to use one of those ‘specific circumstances’. You were put into our will when you were ten years old, son. That let us legally provide you your full inheritance early, but we had to give the full thing to you. Unfortunately that means if anything happens to us, that portion of your inheritance has already been given. You’ll still get the shares of the businesses on our passing, but no more direct cash.”
“Can I… can I give it back to you?” Garret asked in a stumbling breath. “I mean… it’s too much for me. I don’t need it all and I know you can’t just convert nearly five hundred million to cash without giving something up.”
“No son, that’s all yours now.” Timat said with a smile. “You cannot return it or Tremere will be able to file a fraud claim. When we transferred the money to you, it was permanent. Any way you try to return it to us will open up a legal claim of fraud in your contract valuation, and Tremere can use that to get his hooks back into you.”
“He already has gotten his hooks back into me.” Garret said miserably but didn’t give his parents time to react. They really were his parents; they really did love him, and obviously forgave him for giving up on them. “He really hates us, you know, the entire Lars family.”
“We know.” Marja said with a frown. “You probably don’t know why, though.”
“No.” Garret admitted.
“Back when the Deliberatorium first debated the use of clones in the Republic, the Lars family opposed allowing private corporations or individuals to gestate clones.” Marja explained, and Garret sat there, soaking it all in. He’d been alone for the past week, and he was being reminded now how much he’d gotten use to the constant physical contact in the pleasure house. It was more comforting than he cared to admit. “Lorna Lars eventually convinced enough other Speakers to pass a requirement that while private companies or individuals could design, train, and own contracts, clones would only be produced by government-run facilities.”
“I never knew that.” Garret admitted. The history books told that the Clone Production Act had been passed, and who had voted for or against, but these kinds of details were always left out.
“Most people don’t.” Marja said softly. “Tremere’s House wanted to produce clones, and with their manufactories, they were ideally suited. They lost a lot of money and prestige, especially since the next generation of the Lars family took up Clone genetic design and got the designing contract for every G&E facility on this planet and three others. We’ve held those contracts ever since.”
“Although we employ a few thousand clones in the entire Republic.” Timat pointed out gently. “Most of those are in the gestation facilities. We have the contract for early education up to age 10, and then Gene Corps takes over for the government.”
“Oh, so that’s why he hates us.” Garret said softly.
“Not completely.” Marja admitted.
“There’s more?” Garret asked with a raised eyebrow. The embrace was looser now, and they each sat on an arm of his chair, but they were still touching his arms gently.
“Much more.” Marja said gently. “My grandfather proposed the CRA as Speaker for House Lars, my mother made some more adjustments to it before she died in that shuttle crash just before you came to live with us. He’s personally upset with me as well. Old Davlan has been head of his house for thirty-five years now. He’s had three generations of Lars oppose him successfully. You’re the latest symbol of that.”
“Me?” Garret’s voice did break on that, he was so surprised.
“I designed the MX series, Garret.” Timat said gently. Garret almost shook his head, but held it still. “You’re actually the second generation of the 10-11MX, but the changes I made with you after observing the other models, well I never made them completely public. I made you more independent, more capable of grasping esoteric concepts. More human.”
“Why?” Garret asked softly.
“House Tremere makes its wealth from the backs of clones.” Marja said with a hint of steel in her voice. “From the beginning, it has been our House’s position that clones are living, intelligent beings and should be treated just like we treat humans. Most of the universe doesn’t see it that way, but we have worked to spread that perception bit-by-bit, decade by decade. If that goal is ever realized, then Tremere’s House will have to either change how they operate or go bankrupt.”
“What do I have to do with any of this?” Garret asked, but he knew the answer already and didn’t wait for any response. “The MX series… to make us capable of working as officers, we had to be more independent, closer to humans. I bet you proposed the program with us living in the Houses.”
“Yes, we did.” Marja said with a proud smile on her face. Garret looked over at Timat, his ‘father’ in almost as much a sense of the word as he was Billy’s father.
“You made me even more human than the other MX models and had me raised here so you could see how well those changes worked.” Garret said firmly.
“Yes.” Timat said with a proud smile.
“You’ve wrought too well, father.” Garret said darkly, surprising them both. They shared a worried look at each other before he spoke some more. “I’ve…I’ve lived my life feeling human but knowing I’m a clone. I’ve dreamed of being human, but always known I wasn’t quite the same as Billy. When… when I was taken from the Academy, my nightmares came true and I was just another clone. The only thing is… the more I got to know other clones, the more I liked them. In some ways, I feel more at home with them than I do with you.”
“That’s easy to understand…” Timat started to say, but an upraised hand from Garret stopped him.
“I made a few friends, three really, and one of them is my best friend, amongst the clones of that pleasure house.” Garret said softly. “You know, Tremere knew the Brigadier was working for you when he visited me. While I was at the bank learning you hadn’t abandoned me, Tremere visited the pleasure house and took my best friend, Deci. He’s made Deci a part of his household, a non-revenue position. Deci won’t get Valued until he’s in his fifties under the law. He’s refused one hundred million credits to sell Deci. I offered him that much.”
“That was a mistake son.” Marja said in a soft voice. “Now Davlan knows just how valuable this Deci boy is to you.”
“He’s promised not to harm Deci as long as I spy on you, tell him everything you do, all your plans I can discover.” Garret admitted softly, not meeting their gazes anymore. His heart was tearing apart. “He expects you to keep me close after this, to give me a position in one of the companies here, work from here, so he can keep tabs on everything through me. Once a month I’m to return to New Prejat, ostensibly to visit my friends there, and pass on everything.”
“That bastitch!” Timat muttered as Marja frowned at him.
“You know, if he knows you aren’t doing what he wants, he will harm your friend.” Marja stated softly. “Do you care so little for the clone?”
“I… care for him almost as much as I care for you and Billy.” Garret said to the both of them, reaching out and touching them gently. They took his hands in theirs and smiled at him.
“Then why?” Timat asked and he let out a sigh.
“That’s what has taken me so long to come here. I wanted to know what I was doing before I came here, wanted to know what was right for me. As much as I care about Deci as my friend, as much as I want him alive and well, and with me, I cannot betray my family. Even when I had given up, you never gave up. I’ll never give up on you again.”
“My poor son.” Marja said, a repeat of herself from earlier. “I’m so proud of you!”
“I am as well.” Timat said and they both looked at each other for a moment before smiling and nodding. When they looked back at him, Garret realized their smiles were dangerous, very dangerous.
“Let’s see what we can do to safeguard your friend, and our family as well.” Marja offered with a smile, and Garret truly relaxed this time. It was all going to be okay.
They talked for an hour after that, before they both returned to their busy work schedules. Garret returned to the room he’d shared with Billy as they grew up. The two of them could have had separate rooms, but from the moment they first met, Billy had insisted on Garret sleeping with him.
It was only after they’d slept in the same bed for years and they’d hit puberty that it had been anything more than just two boys sharing a bed out of comfort and love. The aspect of the love between them had changed after that, but it was still for comfort and love that they shared a bed until they left for the Academy. As he slept that night, Garret realized just how lonely he was without someone to share his bed.
The next morning there was a deep-space message from Billy, who was back on patrol near the Federation border. The Federation depended on privateers a lot during the war, and now those privateers were turning to piracy against Elacrar shipping. Billy’s ship was one of the vessels assigned to put an end to that piracy.
It was that morning, after breakfast and his viewing Billy’s message that he was to learn the idea his parents had hatched between them. It was a good one, consistent with the traditions of the House, and even fit with the dreams he’d once shared with Billy. In the days and weeks that followed, all the groundwork was laid for the idea to be executed, and when it came time for his monthly ‘trip’ to New Prejat and the Tremere pleasure house there, everything was ready.
Garret said his farewells to his mother and father in the residence wing before making his way to the landing pad. The month he had spent with them had been one of the best months of his life. For the next few years, he would see little of them except in messages, but that was something he felt he could deal with. Before he’d been snatched from the Academy, he had not really understood their affection for him was genuine.
Now he did.
The sub-orbital hopper that picked him up was a private family craft, and he was the only passenger. It made the trip far faster than the shuttle he’d used to return home, and Garret barely had time to go over his day’s appointments and plans on the portable computer before the craft was landing at the private terminal in New Prejat.
New Prejat was one of the few cities that didn’t have an office of the various House Lars companies. At least it didn’t have one before today. It had been just a few hours after sunset when he left, but it was now early morning when he landed, and Garret had a long day ahead of him. Adjusting to time zone differences could always be difficult, but he’d be spending more time here from now on than back home.
A rented limo took him from the port to downtown, depositing him at the air garage entrance before departing. This was one of the taller skyscrapers in New Prejat, and his new office was waiting for him inside. The lift inside the entrance took him up two more flights, just four floors below the top of the building, and he walked down the hallway, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
He was wearing fine, expensive denim jeans, a denim jean jacket, and a red shirt made of real silk, imported from the Federation. The outfit would have bought a man two weeks exclusive time with him at the pleasure house, something he’d never really thought about growing up. Until he’d entered the Academy with Billy, he’d worn expensive clothes like this without a thought for them.
BGL Shipping and Transport
The sign, black lettering on a gold plate was on the door he stopped in front of before taking a deep breath. It was the name Billy and he had imagined having, for the shipping business they would start up together once Garret had achieved his twenty years of service. Military clones served for twenty years before being automatically ‘Valued’. Less than half ever reached that point, and of those who did, most chose to remain in the service for the rest of their lives.
“Good morning, Gospedene Lars.” The pretty female receptionist said as soon as he was in the doorway. He’d never seen her before, but it made sense that she would know him by sight. She was in her mid-twenties, and had been working in the field for eight years already, according to her file. She had skin the color of caramel, dark curly hair, and midnight eyes that seemed to take everything in about him without any effort.
“Good morning, Gospedena Farrooz.” He replied with a smile and a nod. There would be two employees here in this office, taking care of his paperwork and other necessary matters. Imelda Farrooz would be handling receptionist duties as well as scheduling and accounting. She sat in a reception area behind a medium-sized counter. There were a few chairs and he could see several offices along a broad hallway and a door at the end of the hall.
“Welcome back, sir.” The other woman who would be working for him here said as she poked her head out of an office in the middle of the hallway.
“Marjaan Laskol, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Garret said as he moved to shake her hand first, and then Imelda’s. “When we do not have any visitors, I would prefer we use casual names.”
“No objections from either of us, Garret.” Marjaan said with a smile. Like Imelda, she was of Arabic descent, but slightly taller and with a much sharper nose.
“I have your revised schedule here, Garret.” Imelda said with a smile as she handed over a sheet of paper. Custom held that a boss could offer to use casual names, but would not do so until his employees had used his casual name first. He knew it was tradition from the days when employers might be capricious in their offer, and it reminded the employer that while it was he who provided the money to pay the bills, it was the employees who made it possible to have the money for those bills to be paid.
“Thank you, Imelda.” Garret said as he scanned the paper. Only two changes, and both of them relatively minor. Lunch first with the attorney, and the signing of the papers instead of signing and then eating lunch. Another change was with the ship dealer’s, and that change actually cut out an hour of dead time and gave him more time there before he needed to head to the pleasure house.
“I see we meet first off, Marjaan.” Garret said with a nod towards the woman who would be ‘managing’ the ground side of the operations. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, let me get a few files and I will meet you in your office?” She asked and he nodded. His office was at the end of the hallway, and as richly appointed as he expected. Wood paneled walls gave the room a dark, homey feeling, as did the real oak furniture, polished to a high shine. It was lit indirectly, with track lights shining on the walls only. Two large windows gave a beautiful view of the North-west, and would offer spectacular sunset views, something he favored. His apartment was on the same corner of the building, only four floors up. Marjaan entering his office distracted him from the view and he nodded towards one of the guest chairs. The couch would be too informal for their first meeting.
“It really is a pleasure to meet you.” Garret began with a small smile for Marjaan. She was in her mid-thirties, and well-experienced at running this type of business for over a decade. “Are you sure you are ready to begin working again?”
“I am ready.” She said with a nod of her head and little else. For a moment he worried he had offended her with the reference to her recently deceased husband, but she was not frowning. “Garret, I appreciate you showing concern, but the past is the past, and I prefer to focus on the future. Selling my husband’s shipping firm after he died gave me all the money I might ever need, but I quickly found myself bored. I wish to work, and I wish to make this business of yours successful. Let us focus on that, not the past that cannot be changed.”
“As you wish.” Garret said with a bow of his head. She was a strong-willed woman, most likely why Marja had picked her for this. “I own this company, but I know it will be you who really runs it from day to day. You have full authority on every matter, except selling ships or the company itself.”
“Those were my terms.” She said with a nod. “Do not be ashamed, but you are not well-experienced. Without me, you will have a difficult time gaining customers, even with your family’s connections. The Lars have money, yes, but no experience in getting goods from point A to point B. For that, you will need three good captains and me. You, of course, will command the flagship, once you have purchased it, and you will enjoy your time in space while I worry about making the business run. When I am ready to retire again, you will have a good reputation and be able to have Imelda take my place.”
“You have it all figured out.” Garret said with a smile.
“Most, but not all.” She said. “Now, this morning we have meetings for you to attend with three manufacturer consortia. They will be the core of our business. From them we will earn money to pay for this grand office, for your grander apartment upstairs, for my salary, for Imelda’s salary, for the salary of all your captains and their crews, for the ships, for the dock space in our permanent garage here, for the docking fees wherever you and the others go, and for all those little expenses that come with a business. It will be your ship, and your cargo runs that will make this company profit, at least at first. Eventually, as we buy more ships and get a bigger reputation, the other ships we hire will make more profit as well. Do not forget, your money, your inheritance is surety for all the money the banks will loan us. If you lose money, you lose your inheritance and we lose our jobs.”
“Why not just buy things like the ship right out?” I asked her with a frown. She smiled.
“That is why you fly the ship and I run the business.” She drawled out with a chuckle and a gracious smile. “You forget we pay taxes on all money that comes in to us. If you buy things right out, you do not pay interest on loans. Interest on loans are tax deductible for most things, our lease here, your apartment, the ships, the dock space, the garage, the tools for the ship, all are paid with loans and the loans require interest. We pay taxes when money comes in, and then at end of year we get tax rebate for interest paid on loans. Loans cut taxes by half, and we get big check at start of each year, for bonuses and new equipment. Money paid on loan interest earns itself back at end of year by the tax rebate. Plus, by being good creditors, we increase our rating with banks and other creditors, so if we hit a rough time, they will work with us without touching your surety money.”
“That makes sense.” Garret said with a smile. She knew he already knew all that, but it was expected he would question her, and this had allowed her to show her knowledge and expertise without pandering to him. “What do you want me to do for this meeting with the consortia?”
“Look pretty and assure them you know space.” She said with a wide smile and a feral gleam in her dark eyes. “Discuss how you will be able to cut travel time by skimming some nebula or slingshooting through a gravity well or some such. Make it sound good. These men do not know space, they will be impressed as long as you know how long they expect it to take to get from one point to another, and if you know how to defend your ship. Mention you went to the Academy, and they will be more impressed. You may even mention BGL has been added to the military’s Sensitive Cargo Authorized Hauler list.”
“How did you manage that?” Garret asked, extremely impressed. She was silent for a moment while she smiled some more and he thought back.
“Admiral Lumbardon.” Garret answered his own question after a moment of thought and she nodded with a pleased expression.
“He says he is returning a favor you did him on the bridge of a ship, in the middle of battle, while you were an Academy student.” She stated and Garret nodded.
“When you pick your ship, make sure it is fast, heavily armed, and can escape or fight almost any situation.” She advised him. “It should have good passenger space as well as no less than one thousand-five hundred metric tons of cargo room.”
“I will.” He told her. Garret already had a model in mind, and had wondered how he could get it past the military requirements, but now he knew it would not be a problem.
“After the consortia, we have a meeting with Port Authorities by video-link.” She continued reading from his schedule. “You will only need to inform them you authorize me to act in your interest. They have the paperwork, but they are touchy and prefer to see you state your intentions.”
“That is fine.” He said and she continued running through what was needed for the meetings with the dock owner they would be leasing from, and then the head mechanics she had picked out. After that was the meeting with the attorneys and his signing the final forms establishing her authority and the final banking funds that would authorize him to purchase whatever ships he wanted.
“Before you go to the ship dealer, you will meet your captains.” She told him with a firm glance and not a hint of a smile. “All three worked for my husband and continued there after I sold the business. They are taking a pay cut of twenty-percent for the first two years to come work for you. All of them do this out of loyalty to my husband. You will buy them the ships they want, even if it takes you over budget. It will be worth it in the long run, and the bank will not deny you. They have authorized a credit line for you that exceeds your surety by fifteen percent. Do not worry, by the end of today we will have enough contracts to pay all loan payments even if you max out your credit limit.”
“If you are certain.” Garret said nervously, and he was. She wasn’t though and just gave him a curt nod.
“They are good captains and will earn you a lot of money.” She assured him. “As you know, the captain picks his own crew but as owner, you have the right to set ground rules. How do you feel about clone contracts?”
“I…” Garret faltered, never having considered this. She knew he was a Valued clone, but also that he was accepted as part of the Lars family. It was illegal for a clone, even a Valued clone to directly own the contract of another clone, but it was not illegal for a company owned by a Valued clone to own clone contracts, even though as owner of the company he would have control of the clone contracts. “Why?”
“Because clone contracts are cheap on the market.” She said with a shrug. “New clones designed for shipboard or military use, the 07, 08, and 09 models are all available and useful for our purposes. We can pay them a good stipend, equal to crew shares. They are cheaper because we cannot by law pay them cargo bonuses.”
“We can apply half-bonuses to their Value, though.” Garret thought allowed and she nodded, barely hiding a slight frown. Clones were not the equal of True Borns, and while he was their boss, she still had the attitude of a True Born to clone labor. “If you have no objection?”
“No.” She said flatly, their first disagreement. “Even with that we will still save good money, and the clones will be valued much faster. As they leave, they will be replaced by new clones who will learn how fast they Value with us, and they will work all the harder.”
“So what else?” He asked.
“After the ship dealer’s, you have your trip to that… pleasure house.” She said with a frown. “Why do you go to such a place?”
“Because I do.” He answered her with a shrug, ignoring her distaste for such a place. She let out a sigh. “The other Captains, they visit such places from time to time. Take them, it will give all of you a time to bond together. You men are that way, I have learned.”
“If you think it is wise.” He said and she nodded.
“Good, then I will leave you until our first visitors arrive.” She said, getting up from her chair and leaving quickly. Garret turned to the computer inlaid into a portion of his desk and called up some information. The idea of purchasing clones through his corporation was not one that had occurred to him before, and a slow smile lit his face as he got the answers he had hoped he’d find.
While he waited for his first meeting as CEO of BGL Shipping and Transport, he placed his first order through the civic network with a genuine smile on his face.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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