NationStates Jolt Archive

I remember a time
My frail, virgin mind
Watched the crimson sunrise
Imagined what it might find
Life was filled with wonder
I felt the warm wind blow
I must explore the boundaries
Transcend the depths of winter’s snow
Lyrics from 'A Change of Season pt. II: Innocence' by Dream Theater

Yuri Shirow stood, gazing out the large picture window of her penthouse. Craning her neck, she cast her eyes downwards, watching the ant-like people scurrying about almost three-quarters of a mile below. She smiled to herself, the weathiest Neko in the Hack. She assumed that wasn't saying much, there weren't too many here.

Yet.

She turned her back to the cityscape, padding across the living room to where her computer sat. She purred softly; she was either exceptionally smart, or fantastically lucky. At times it seemed to be a toss-up. She pulled up her portfolio. Keeping it set properly was a hellishly complicated balancing act...

Nekos had only recently been coming to the Hack in any great number, previously there had been none. Zero. Zip. Zilch. It was only when the Hack stopped pretending and officially became a GMC protectorate that the immigration had started. They were coming in droves, partially because they liked the thought of no income tax, partially because of their famous curiosity, and partially for no reason at all. A brand new race suddenly entering a country posed exceptional logistics concerns. Concerns few people ever thought about.

...but Yuri thought about them.

Nutritional concerns; grooming products; ergonomic clothing, chairs, cars, etc.; Neko-specific advertising, television programming, and many more. Neko's were an entirely different culture, they weren't just humans with pointy ears, those were called "Elves".

Yuri had quickly made a fortune because she had considered those logistic issues. She had managed to be ahead of the curve. She was one of the first Nekos to come to the Hack, and she immediately became a citizen. An act which was quickly followed by her transfering permanent residence to Chiba City. She had come with a plan, and that plan worked much better with no tax. Her official title was 'consultant', in actuality she was a powerbroker, pure and simple. She advised GMC companies on where to target their products and advertisments, and she advised Hack companies and what to bring in, playing both sides of the fence. She had racked up enough frequent flier miles to last two lifetimes already. She smiled smugly; she'd out capitalizted the hypercapitalists. It was a good feeling.

Her stock portfolio showed dozens of companies that she traded. She had to be very careful with this. It was a stock bubble and she knew it. Pretty soon the markets would be super-saturated with Neko specific businesses and products vying for market-share. Eventually it would implode, and take millions of people with it. The growth simply wasn't sustainable, and the market competition was too fierce. Cut-throat, literally. She had almost been caught in the cross fire once, and took to wearing body armor after that. Thankfully her penthouse in the Corporate Spire was very secure. It was worth the outrageous rent. And the view was breath-taking.

She tapped a few keys, moving more of her holdings into a series of shampoo and conditioner manufactorers. There were huge turf wars going on there, and only two or three would survive. In the short term, however, it was a tidy earner. Stocks were doubling weekly in that sector. Which, of course, ment it'd be time to pull out soon. That's where the balancing came in. In certain circles her name was well known. If she moved too quickly, or too obviously it could trigger Very Bad Things, from people losing faith in her all the way to an early triggering of the collapse. Both were catastrophies. Satisfied with her adjustments, she reworked all her stop losses. She was not going to go broke, dammit.

She sighed, leaning back on her couch, rubbing above her eyes. It was fantastically stressful at times. She pulled a cigarette case from one pocket and lit up, filling her lungs with the catnip smoke, exhaling a greenish cloud, her eyes half-closing. The relaxation was welcome; she had a flight back to GMC in a few hours, and it wouldn't do anyone any good for her to be stressed. It was getting harder and harder to keep up, however. As her fortunes soared, she kept thinking about that enevitable crash. She felt bad for all the people who would lose their life's savings, and she also grew more and more obsessed with making sure she didn't lose hers.

Well, she would help where she could. She had a short list of people that she was going to keep tabs on. She couldn't save everyone, of course, but she could insulate a select few. In fact, that was why she was going to GMC today. There was a small restaurant that she was quite fond of, and she intended to help out the owner. She tossed the cigarette into a glass ashtray, and went to the bedroom to get ready.

It was going to be a long week. They always were.

"Hrm... an interesting Nekoite-related market swing in the Hack.... Ebony, call my broker and see if he can't capitalize on this a little. For the greater good of our top secret ideological society, of course."

"Hai! Hail Ykintari-sama!"

"You can go now, Ebony."

"Oh, hai!"

James Raven flipped open the lid of his laptop. Seconds after pressing the power button the main menu screen came up. And he quickly went about looking up on his stocks.
They weren't doing all that well but he would make some money. If he sold now. But he waited a few minutes waiting to see what the markets would do. And soon the feeling came to him, James them positioned the pointer in the SELL icon on the screen and clicked twice. Sending his stocks out to the bidding floor. And were soon gobbled up by bigger and better players of the market.
Before shutting the laptop down he checked his profits. "Hmm several hundred grand gain, not bad if I say so myself." Tallking to himself had alwas been a bad habit. And since the incident he did it more offten than he should. But he didn't seem to mind that incident had given him a great gift, plus a nack for playing the stock market.
But he was only a small fish and as he passed one of the almost mile high skyscrapers he woundered how many of those big fish were looking down on him.

"They're building a new megalopolis, you know."

"Really?" Yuri seemed less surprized than Evam was hoping. She smiled at his dissappointment, "Evam, it only makes sense. Chiba's bursting at the seems. The Warrens are proof of that. This place was built for a couple hundred million, tops. Certainly not one point eight billion."

"Well... yeah. But you'd be surprized how many people aren't expecting this."

"Fair enough. So, do you have any useful information?"

"Plenty."

Yuri sighed, "How much?"

"You're too blunt, Yuri. Chits aren't want I'm after, I want a cut."

She grinned, "Now you're using your head."

Evam smirked, "Yeah, something like that. Give me a cut of your profits in Tindalos City and I'll tell you everything you could possibly want to know."

Yuri pondered this. Evam was shrewd enough, but he often had the inside track. Furthermore, he was damn effective at getting information that she couldn't. Kats were still a new thing in the Hack, and a lot of people in the 'Ol Boys Club' didn't take kindly to her species, let alone the fact that she was pulling in the proverbial fat stacks of cash. Of course, he occationally forgot details when it came to negotiating. "Sure, Evam. I'll give you a cut." She smiled inwardly, knowing it would be weeks before he realised that he never specified a percentage.

Evam smiled, "Good, good. Now, as you so eloquently said, Chiba City's 'bursting at the seams' with people. The deeper sections of the Warrens are a pit, and teaming with thugs and scum. Also, as I mentioned, the new city will be called Tindalos, don't ask about the name, word is that President Solis came up with it.

"Anyway, the plan is for Tindalos to hold a billion people. They're hoping to have it largely finished before allowing people to move in; it's a huge project. Expensive too. They expect most of the people in the suburbs to move there, as well as a few hundred million from Chiba to go there. Some will be all but forced to move as their companies go there. The hope is that Chiba will house one-and-a-half bil, which keeps us set for about another five-hundred million. Currently, there's no plan for a third megalopolis, so hopefull that'll hold us. Otherwise the government will be caught with its pants down.

"What this means for you is ground-floor access to infrastructure needs. You and I both know that we're gonna keep getting Nekos from GMC. The border's open, and the ideologies are dissimilar enough that there'll be plenty interested in moving. In other words, what you're doing here is gonna be needed there. Plenty of possibilities. The core industry, like your shampoo holdings, won't be affected, but stores, grocers, restaurants, and such are wide open.

"Also, stay out of the lower Warrens. I've heard some whispers, and it sounds like they'll be closed down. The more paranoid talkers are saying that they'll simply be sealed... without removing the people. Financial suicide, so don't bother."

Yuri nodded, taking all this information in. "Who's gonna build Tindalos? The Hack doesn't have the expertise for something like this."

"Who else? GMC." He reached into his suit-coat and pulled out a small memory chip. "Here's the real goods. These are all the companies slated to be involved. Local, of course, GMC doesn't exactly have a stock market. Also included is a list of contacts for you. They're interested in the eventual Neko market, and will act like your contacts here." He handed her the chip, "Keep this close. It's worth a fortune."

Yuri nodded, slipping it into her pocket, "Thanks, Evam. This'll be a huge help."

* James was about to stop lok at the skyscrapper and move on when his cellphone began to ring. It was on it's seconds ring when he answered.
"Yes this is James, yea...where? yea, yea. Ok but may I ask who are you..." but the person had already hung up. That person had given him directions to a large coperate head quarters withthe offer of a job opening if he got there before 5 PM.

"OK i need to get to Phillis Ave. in.." he looked at his watch " in 10 minutes! how can I get from her to there in..." James shoke his head he was already on Phillis Ave. And the Building he was to report to was the one he had been looking at.

But this was just a penthouse building why would anyone hre some one there. Well a job was a job and he walked into the main lobby and waited to see if he would get another call.

Heh, not much time so just a quick OOC clarification, as I don't have time to log in properly, let alone post.

Chiba City is the single greatest concentration of people in the Hack. It's got some 1.8 billion people in it. It's over crowded, to say the least. The Warrens are, essentially, underground housing projects. There's more to them than that, but you get the idea. They stretch down some 40-50 levels, however, once you go below about level 15 or 20, they're a gang controlled hellhole. But, it's cheap.

Most of the above-ground parts of the city are skyscrapers (kinda-sorta like the city in Blade Runner, but no flying cars). There are a few stand alone houses, 2-flats, 3-flats, and 4-flats, but those are hellishly expensive (you try and get a house in the middle of an overcrowded city...). The higher up you live, the more expensive, generally.

Elisa's penthouse is at the top of the Corporate Spire, the tallest building in the Hack, topping out at 3/4ths of a mile. No other building really gets above 1/2 a mile. Needless to say, Elisa's monthly rent is more than most people earn per year. The four penthouses atop the Spire are the most expensive in the city. The Spire also contains many governmental offices, below ground are most of the nation's major IT R&D labs. In other words, everyone in the country knows about that building.

From what I'm gathering on your post, it's most likely that Evam was the one to call. While he's got a nice office, it's not in the Spire. However, it could easily be just down the road.

Whew... and that's a brief explination...

The work for Tindalos was already being started. The government had made quite a bit of progress before even people like Evam found out about it. By the time word had reached the general population, the plans had been all but formalized.

The cost was astromonical, even with highly efficient labor from GMC. It was also highly ambitious. Chiba City had simply grown from it's humble roots. Instead of people leaving the city to surrounding suburbs, or other major cities, they stayed; demanding that the city grow for them. And it did grow. First laterally, then vertically. The Warrens were a sprawling mass, boring deeper and deeper into the ground as the population exploded. Simultaniously, the weathy, having no desire to live underground, built massive skyscrapers, reaching to the heavens, but never surpassing the Spire. Tindalos was even more ambitious. Rumours buzzed about a building to put the Corporate Spire to shame, to even outdo GMC's mighty Maiden's Tower. Few believed Evam when he said it, but he swore that there was to be a tower fully two miles tall; a testiment to the Federation's audacity.

Ground-breaking had already begun. Massive shipments of limestone were already being imported, as well as steel, glass, machinery and labor.

Tindalos would be rising soon.

There was money to be made.

'...It's just odd to see Faith turning out Mammoth chassis with no turrets,' the foreman finishes. The man walking with him nods.

'Obviously, but our freinds in The Hack need heavy construction equipment on the double, and there's not much heavier than the Mk7A3 chassis for clearing ground. Most of these are going to be bulldozers...' he runs a pencil across his clipboard and points to a pair in one corner, 'Those two streamrollers.' he grins, 'Along with that every other form of construction equipment you can imagine. It's quite a contract, even for Faith Park to deal with.'

The foreman nods. It must be quite a project indeed if the supervisor of the biggest tank factory in the world thought so. He knew across the Federation factories were being rapidly retooled to produce mixers, cranes, excavators and all the myriad other froms of machinery that would raise an entire city in The Hack.

Site of Tindalos City

'Ok...A little to the right...There, lower away!'

Leanne smiles as she watches the gigantic Air Destroyer lower a section of a tower crane to the ground, 'It's hardly a proper use for a warship, is it?'

The man next to her grins, 'She's not a warship yet, she hasn't been commissioned.'

Leanne nods, looking out over the little shanty town of portacabins that's already beginning to form near the site, huge pieces of machinery sitting under tarps being serviced or just not in use yet. She grins, Quite a project indeed...

James had never reicived that phone call, but he did miss a car crash that would have most likely killed him. But after that day he forgot about it.
A few days later he had taking some of his gain on the market and bought a smal construction company not know what was to come.
When he had bought the company it had been going down the hole and would have closes if he hadn't had bought. Now, after a major shift in prioities the company became stable. That was till the major construction began.
James knew he would be undercut my GMC prices, so he had to cut his as well. Not by much so that it would put him in the hole but enough that with all the Major construction going on his company got good work.
And Good wrk is what the got. They had already help set up three of those missive skyscappers. With his building crew growing by 250% in the prosses, being 650 as of last weeks count.
Several companies had tried to buy his out but James had stood firm by not selling and there by making a few enemies. But he had no need to hire protection as of yet. He was just a semi small time company trying to get by.

[OOC - Ah... sorry to again force a mild retcon, but there haven't been any buildings built, aside from the porta-johns mentioned in GMC's post. They're just starting the ground breaking, and the shipping of raw materials. GMC doesn't have every single contract, however, so investing on one of the subcontractors or the like is fine]

ooc: Ok my bad. I'll go back in edit.

Gulf and Bradley, on the other hand, is most certainly not a small company; neither are some of the other GMC contractors who read more like a who's who of Federal heavy industry; Hephaestus Incorporated, the Mandrake Consortium and the colossal construction company Deckard & Voss have all got all involved in some way, although most of the current GMC presence at the site is Federal Army combat engineers, keeping up with the work of making sure millions of tons of material is delivered in some kind of order.

It's easy enough to recognise the makeshift barracks of prefabricated dorms they stay in, if only because they're thrown up a fifty foot flagpole in the middle of it, which for reasons nobody can really recall is flying a hammer and sickle flag with '0MFG C0MM1EZ!' stencilled on one side and 'i WILL KETCH U!' on the other.

The rest of the area around the site is rapidly growing to accomodate the building efforts; warehouses are springing up alongside the big freight yard even before it's completely finished, most of them just roofs supported by a strut at each corner, although with hundreds of tons of explosives being shipped in for blasting work more reinforced ones are appearing too. And along with them, a small town is growing, with enterprising businesses springing up around it to sell it things.

Even the temporary city is quite a sight, with it's massive parking lots, container stacks, generators, gas tanks, vehicle sheds and workshops.

Leanne smiles, 'All this and we've only just broken ground...It'll be amazing to see it finished.'

Train yards, Hack Coast

The sight of the giant, sinister-looking black-and-red locomotives bearing the logo of Gulf & Bradley is hardly a new one now in the train yards by the docks; neither is the sight of them hauling trains stretching for miles behind them back and forth; low-loading carriages with vehicles, flatbeds with cable drums lashed to them, tanks with colourful warnings stencilled on them, shipping containers, pipe sections, crates under tarps, steel girders, floodlights, fully assembled sections of electricity relays, palettes full of cement powder, subway rails...And of course prefabricated dorm-houses, clean water and food.

But also other duties, since this isn't the only construction project GMC was taking part in in The Hack.

By the docks

'Look, I'm sorry sir, but you must understand I need a military officer to sign that section, it doesn't matter how high in a civil company you are.' John sighs, Always the damn same, they just expect us to hand a half-dozen fixed battlefield radars and two trackbases for an Eye of God gun over to anyone who can sign his name right. 'It says that on the shipping manifest, if you look.'

[Random note: Gulf & Bradley actually makes turbines; from jet engines up to power station-sized steam turbines. The locomotives / haulage is just a branch; fusion powered trains are cool.]

Eric muttered softly as the glorified delivery-boy bitched him out about needing an officer's signature. There were dozens of crates coming in every blasted day, what crawled up this guy's ass and died?

"I'm the freaking harbormaster! Not everybody in this country's in the army, you know. I can't just pull and officer out of my ass to sign your bloody form!" He turned to stomp off, paused, "Don't move." He turned and left, swearing in that colorful manner that can only be performed by old sailors. Pissed-off old sailors.

Almost at the other end of the dock, he finally found one of the old Naval PT Boats, one that hadn't been decommisioned when the Hack completely overhauled its military. "Hey," he hollered onto the ship. A sailor looked up, rather surprized, blinking in surprize to see the burly harbormaster. "Where's the Petty Officer?"

"Ah..." the sailor points to an officer who looks equally surprized, "There."

Eric scowled at him, "Get yer ass over here, I need your signature."

"Ah, okay..." The officer wasn't sure what the Hell was going on, but really didn't feel like messing with Eric.

A few minutes later Eric shoves the Petty Officer in front of John, "Will he do?"

ooc: TMGH a petty officer is enlisted. not an officer. Well let me rephrase. they are noncommisioned officers.

Secure Research Lab A-43-17B-85, Corporate Spire, Chiba City, The Most Glorious Hack

While the Hack generally used large open workspaces for their labs, so that technitions could easilly assist fellow workers, it did have its share of secure labs.

The secure labs were a completely different manner than the almost collectivist manner of the standard labs. Lab A-43-17B-85 was the most secure in the building. It was the very lowest sub-basement of the Spire, only one elevator provided access. The elevator had a dedicated armed guard, required an identification card, as well as biometric authentification (retinal and fingerprint). Once in the elevator, a special keycard was needed to make it run. After reaching the entrance to the lab, there was another pair of armed guards, more biometrics, and then decontamination; the lab was also a clean room. Clearly, this lab was not a stop on the hourly tours; most people didn't even know it existed.

This lab was for highly sensitive projects, also ones that required a heavily controlled environment. Its current project was the fabrication of an avatar for Elijah, the sentient mind behind the Caloris Basin colony. Normally, such a thing didn't require such security. When Lazarus's body was created, for example, all it required was a simple clean room. However, Elijah's avatar required the creation of new materials, new ways of running circuitry, essentially, the creation of a whole new line of technology. That, and the insane budget it had received ment that the government was clearly very serious about this being done. And being done quickly.

Most of the scientists involved in the fabrication were pretty sure that others had created such things. Perhaps even closely paralleling their own goals, however, the government didn't want someone's second-hand tech. Also, there were some specifics that were classified, and, well, the Hack tended to pride itself in being able to research and create damn near anything it needed. After all, they had the know-how, the determination, and the money.

The basic plan was to have his avatar operate on a liquid metal basis. The seemed about the only way that it would be able to handle the extreme temperatures (both positive and negative) on the surface of Mercury. While the default was intended to be humanoid, the maleable nature of the avatar would allow him to assume a more efficient form, should it be required.

Progress had been painfully slow, however. The temperature range they were working with was ridiculous. Most of their prototypes failed at one extreme or the other: either becoming totally solid to the cold extreme, or breaking down utterly at the hot extreme. And this was just the metal itself. They still had to add the circuitry and the computer stuff. That was going to be the real head-ache.

oh move along, nothing to see here. just another tag.

Gear Works Inc, was moving well standing up against larger businesses that either tried to push them out of the way or ty to but up. But it was James quck thinking and stubern headedness plus the fact that he was a fiendly boos thay let the crewmen do what they did and paid a fair wag. See his take of what the company made was not much mor than what he paid his workers. This also allowedhim to set aside money and a the days then weeks passed his crew finally grew to just over 150.
In this 150 were construction workers welders carpenters, and even two demo experts who helped blow away the larger boulders. Jams had even purchased several peicesof heavy machinery that were important in fixing the bulldozer parts. Een other companies were coming to him instead of orderng replacment part or going to the much more expensive grease monkeys. It was soon after that started Jmes began to think about the long tem goals of his Company. H knew after the Maot Cnstruction was done contracts would be hardeer and harder to get and most of the smaller compaies wold fall to ruin. And that was something he didn't want. What he needed was and hook to hold up the company and help support it. Maybe repair shops? ...No that would be enought.
His thoughts were soon interupted by one of the heavy machinery starting up and began making a replacment part for a dozer. That's it! he thought vehicle consruction and parts constuction, that paired with repair shops would be a superb addition to the Company.. but how to set set it up was the problem.

James awoke slowly but was still in a slight haze. His head was pounding like a drumm and he could feel th dried blood on his head. He didn't try to gt up so instead he moved each digit and limb. All his fingers an toes were there and he seems to not have any broken bones or elbows. So what had happend to him? Last thing he remembers was talking to that equpment salesman trying to work out a deall.. the state of which essaped him at the momen as did much of everyhting else.

He now took a look at his surrondings and he slowly rose to is feet. He was i a back ally between some pretty tall bluildings in what seeme to be a rather shady part of town. As he stood the pa in his head faded away till it was nothing.

"Ok I need to get back to the company..." he didn't know why or how but he just knew he had o get there. So he treaked out into the sidewalk to get his barings before heading out.

Come to find out he wasn't all that far from the construction site and it took him alny 5 minutes oor so before be came limping in. Limping bcause it did deem his leg was cut on the hip. But all the time he was gaining more of his memory back.

He saw were his tent was and limped over setting down nto the big comffly chair. Taking a bottle of scotch out of the desk and having a stiff drink, before setting it back. "God I nedded that." Bt he said nothing else as he soon fell asleep.

"Mr. Raven" some shook him "Mr raven are you awake? Where have you been you've been missing for three days! And what on earth happened to you" the voice sounded familiar

"Miss Wells? God I don't remember...

The Second Biggest Hole You've Ever Seen, Tindalos City Site, The Hack

Erica stretched languidly, in the fashion that only a cat, or a kat, could. She absentmindedly pulled a cigarette from her pocket, lighting up, and exhaling the greenish smoke. The pick-up line of having helped to design the new tower was only half-true. She'd actually been involved in the creation of a good portion of the city, including the new Warrens. Construction hadn't started on that yet, but it was going to be an even bigger headache than this tower.

She smiled softly, remembering Leanne talking about how her engineers wanted to simply use an H-Bomb to do most of the heavy work for the tower. She couldn't exactly blame them, after all. Gibson Tower was going to be two miles high. The underground foundation for such a colossus was huge indeed. "Just wait until you start on the Warrens..." she said softly, laughing lightly.

Looking over the blueprints she carried with her, she beamed with pride. She had been the principle architect for this project ment that her name would be immortalized in the Hack. Chances are she'd never have to worry about finding work again. Being able to pull off such an audacious project spoke to her skills and abilities. It was going to be glorious once it was complete. Now, however, it was just a big hole in the ground.

She flipped the papers around, and looked at the general city layout. Smaller construction firms were already working on the lesser buildings and high rises. Things were coming together nicely, and the project was actually on budget, and on schedual. God only knew how long that would last, but at least things were running smoothly for now. It was a difficult project, for sure. Nobody built a city from the ground up like this. Or, the underground up, as the case may be. Arcologies, sure, but not living cities like this. She flicked her cigarette onto a pile of fill, and rolled up her blueprints, stuffing them into the ubiquitous tube that people in her profession always seemed to carry. She grinned, looking at the fill. Even that was worth money to the right people. The Senate had, aparently, green-lighted the creation of a vacation island off the southern tip of Mhu Thulan.

"Waste not, want not, I guess."

"Ok back it up... nice and slowly now." James watched the digging from his office window. He ad gotten a contract for a large dig . Not the moster hole they needed dug is was imposibble to did a hole like that using dozers. Thats why he agreed with the rumurs that said someone was thinking about using a nuke. But that didn't concern him at he moment. Cause this dig was large enough. True his company was working with several others on the site. But the area was big enough, and so was his company, that no one bugged them. Over the weeks afer his attack he had regained his memory toti's full extent. Come to find out it was just some punks causing trouble.

He walked away from the window and looked over the papers that layed about his desk. Most were jus the standard paperwork hehad to send to his several investors. One was a rouster sheet with every workers name and job on it, along with the number of current works in his company. Which was 489 as of yesterday. And with that many workers he could operate at 3, 8 hour shifts and so he could keep work up 24 hours a day six days a week, on sunday he gave his crews a day off to spend with their family. But even withthat he was able to keep up and in most cases pass the work of other companies.

But there was a third kind of paper on his desk and it seemed alot like the duty rouster. But these people weren't hired...yet. He had made several deals with some of the larger banks and got several loans as to hire more men and get equiptment. But with nothign to do with construction. No, with that money he had gotten ahold of a old werehouse onl several miles from the main construction areas. He had brought it up to code put in his equpment he bought, along wth a small fleet of large flat bed and towing trucks. With all this he was realy to start the second part of his plan. The vehicle and part repair and consruction division.

He picked up the peace of paper in one had and the phone withte other "Miss Wells please send in.." He looked at the paper" A Mr. Noran...."

~bump~

En Route to Marshall City, GMC Airspace

Yuri looked over the papers in front of her, wondering when the last time she'd gotten a real night's sleep. Between the meetings, showing Megumi around Chiba City, dealing with clients, and staying up late doing research, she was being run ragged. And now here she was, flying in to Hammer Bay to meet with Megumi's boss, for a spot of business, only to catch the red-eye back to Chiba. She glanced at the laptop sitting in the seat nest to her, quickly checking the progress on Tindalos. It seemed to be coming along nicely, which actually made her smile. The sooner Tindalos was open for business, the sooner she could actually take a much needed vacation. Preferably someplace without an internet connection. Well, maybe not quite that backwater, but close. She woke up when the flight attendant lightly touched her arm, "We've landed, Miss Shirow." Yuri thanked her, and was quietly relieved that she was spared the inevitable 'cat nap' crack.

The Cat's Eye Restaurant was on the edge of Marshall City, the Old Town district to be more specific. Yuri was running late, it had already closed for the night, but it seemed that Kaede, the owner, was still there. Yuri breathed a sigh of relief as she parked her rental car and wandered over to the door, knocking softly. Kaede smiled and let her in, "Hiya, can I get you a drink?"

Yuri smiled, sitting down at a table, setting her briefcase on it, "Sure, that would be wonderful."

Kaede nodded, getting Yuri a glass of wine along with one for herself, "So, you had a proposition for me?"

"Yes, and one I think you'll like." She pulled out a several papers from her briefcase, "I've got a spot all lined up in the new city for you to open a second branch, and the location is just perfect, prime real estate, basement price."

Kaede blinked, "But...You do know I have a little girl back home, I can't be jetting back and forth all the time...How would I manage it?"

"One step ahead of you, Kaede. I know that you have a certain trusted waitress who has something of a knack for running things smoothly, and might have a bit of a reason to spend a lot of her time in the Hack..."

"A certain waitress who you happen to be very fond of...Has Megu agreed to any of this?"

"I ran it by her and she seemed interested. It's a nice chance for improvement, and I think she'd be really good at it."

"She seems good enough when I leave her in charge when I'm off sick," Kaede nodded, smiling, "Sure, I'd be up for that if she was."

"Wonderful!" Yuri slides a few sheets of paper across the table to Kaede, "These are the contracts for the space, the license, that sort of thing. Look them over, and I'll talk to Megu to make sure she's really up for it. Then it's just a matter of signing, and setting up shop. You'll be up and running in no time flat."

"Thanks, I'll give them a lookthough tonight."

Yuri smiled happily, looking rather less predatory than she often did, sipping the wine, "I'm sure you'll find everything acceptable. Pleasure doing business with you."

"Thank you."

"When you get a chance, I can take you, Ruri, and Hikari over to the Hack and show you the new place. I think you'll like it."

"Sounds like fun."

Yuri grinned despite herself, "Can't wait to tell Megu the good news."

"I bet she'll be happy...Guess all I have to look forward to is a bigger house..."

Yuri smirks, thinking for a moment, "Well... I could probably work things around so that the new resturant deals with the Hack's tax rate..."

"Ooo, riches."

"Thought you'd like that," Yuri said, laughing.

"I do..."

"I'll get on that tomorrow morning, and see what I can come up with," she said, making a quick note on her papers.

"Give me a call if there's any problem with Megu taking the job, 'k?"

Standing to leave, Yuri nodded, polishing off the last of her wine, "You got it." She shook Kaede's hand, pondered a moment, and gave her a hug, "I'll be in touch!" Wandering back into the night, she tossed her stuff into the car, and headed back to the airport, cigarette dangling from her mouth. She checked her watch and sighed. "Miles to go before I sleep..."

At the moment things were looking good for Gear working Inc. One of the smaller companies the had been working on their current job, had droped out and the contractor had offered them a bonus if they would pick up the slack. James had jumped at the chance. But even that job was comming close to completetion and thats why he was in the white collar part of town. He was he to see about a contract, he had heard from an source that there was a prime contract that was up in the air but few people knew about it. It was also supposed to be a high class job.

"God do i hate these suits." James ran a finger around the collar of his shirt before entering a familiar looking office building and walking up to the clerk. "Hello A Mr. James Lee to see miss Shirow."

Secure Research Lab A-43-17B-85 Antechamber, Corporate Spire, Chiba City, The Hack

"About damn time," Josef frowned at Bargeld.

"Sorry, Doctor, but it's hardly an easy request."

"Nothing ever is. What's our timetable now?"

"Well, we've finally made an alloy that can handle the temperature specs you've given us. We think we've got circuitry that can withstand being inside the frame. After impregnation, it's just a matter of testing, programming, and then shipping it to the Basin so Elijah can download himself."

"Good. Keep me posted, and keep working, I don't want Tindalos to be finished before we are." He turns and walks out the antechamber, heading for his office to check on other problems.

18W Crawford St. Tower, Chiba City, The Hack

The receptionist was a young man with jet black hair was wearing a metallic headband with a small piece of... plastic? over his right eye. He had a black glove on his right hand with circuitry on the back. He glances at James, his entire demeanor radiating professionalism. "Mr. Lee? One moment, please." He taps the air in front of him with the glove, aparently calling up information on the eyepiece. "Ah, yes, Ms. Shirow is waiting for you. Her office is on the 92nd floor. You can take that elevator," He points to an elevator not far away, again with the strange gloved hand; its door opens. "Her personal secretary will let you in."

After a shockingly brief and smooth elevator ride, the doors open on what is indeed the 92nd floor. The secretary smiles as he steps out of the elevator, and indicates a nice oak door, "Step right in, Mr. Lee."

Yuri's office is spartan, but nicely decorated. There's a few nice art pieces on the wall, remenescent of Van Gogh. Her desk is a decidedly modern glass and steel affair, with monitors and such built into it, allowing it to have almost no clutter at all. There are several pictures on the desk of a young Neko woman smiling happily.

Yuri is seated behind the desk. She's tall for a Neko, which still makes her pretty short by human standards. Like all Neko's from GMC, she's completely furred, in a tortoise-shell pattern. She's wearing an obviously expensive business suit. She smiles lightly as James walks in, standing and moving around the desk, offering her hand, "I've been told by a trusted friend that you're the man to talk to about a certain logistics contract..." Her voice was smooth and measured, highly confident, and she seemed to be the type of person that people trusted instantly.

His eyes scanned the room and he gave a slight nod a approvle . He then shook the offered hand. And like every time he shook a non human hand the pedent upon his chest tingled. Not so much as to cause his to take much notice, for it happened alot since he had arrived in this city. " Well Ms. Shirow who ever that frind was, they were correct in telling you so." His voice sounded almost he oppiste to hers. His was gruff and soulding cold as steel. The type of foice that had seen rough times maybe service in some military group but it it wasn't n the slightest way unkind. "Well Then Ms. Shirow shall we get on with business?"

18W Crawford St. Tower, 92nd Floor, Chiba City, The Hack

Yuri blinks ever so slightly at James' aparent disdain for small talk. Perhaps even for social nicities. No matter she assumed. Best to get business out of the way. Casually tapping a key on her keyboard, she skimmed his dossier, paying particular attention to Evam's notes. "Fair enough, here's the nuts and bolts." Despite tossing most societal graces to the side, her voice maintained its smooth flow. She tapped a key on her desk, and a small projector lowered from the ceiling on the east end of her office. The device hummed softly to life, projecting a photorealistic hologram of Tindalos.

"As you're no doubt aware, GMC's providing most of the heavy lifting for this project; doing most of the building. Currently, we're pushing hard to keep on schedule. This has had some... interesting side effects. Shipments are still on pace for receiving the raw materials for concrete, steel, glass, etc. However, the Hack is having difficulty keeping up with supply demands for the raw materials that we need. Insulation, copper wire, fiber optics, that sort of thing. I've reviewed the dossier on Gear Works, and I'm pleased with the progress you've made there, especially in non-construction fields. What I want... need, is someone who can deliver, on time, vast quantities of cable, wiring, etc." She clicks another button and the proposed power grid appears over the image. "As you can see, vast quantities are needed. If you can supply this, and keep that supply constant, and of peerless quality, you'll find yourself a very rich man."

She paused, letting it sink in. "Make no mistake, however. Should you accept this contract, and not follow through, you'll be done in this country. Succeed, and you'll have contracts for life." She gently drops a slim file in James' lap. The papers inside showing quantities needed, and a rather large figure as its value. "As I'm not taking bids on this, that price is non-negotiable."

Secure Research Lab A-43-17B-85 Antechamber, Corporate Spire, Chiba City, The Hack

The humanoid figured moved with stilted motion. The techs were beside themselves, trilled that the fool thing was actually working. It was pretty primative, sure, but that was because it wasn't being controlled by Elijah's mind, so there was no feel for the motion. Just commands entered into a keyboard.

Still... it worked!

The silvery avatar looked almost exactly like liquid mercury, however, instead of being dull, it reflected light with minimal waste, but was also able to switch, becoming a deep, deep black, absorbing with identical efficiency, and hit nearly every shade inbetween. It would take Elijah a bit of time to find the optimal shade for any given situation, but he should be able to code a brief program to automate the whole process.

Just a few more tests, and it would ready to launch. And they were even under budget.

With a word he opened the file on his lap, looking at the first page, then the second. Whistleing he closed the file. That was alot of materials and alot of tonnage to. But the main reson for the whistle was the figure for payment, which in his oppinion was more than fiar. "Well Ms. Shirow this is a large job to take on. but I think... strike that, I know gearworks can get everything on time and in the right amounts.

He looked back at the folder thinking back to when he had come into her office, he had been nervus and had been rude without knowing it. "As to the price. If I was a modest man I would try to talk it down. With everythig added in you would only have to pay half the price you are paying me. And I would still be making more maney than I could do with. " It was true there just seemed to be way to many zeros in that number.

"Anyway Ms. Shirow I speak for every one are Gearwork Inc when I sya thank you and that we accet the deal." he extended his hands as he rose, not meaning to but looking into her eyes. It wasn't that he had found he looks unpleassing but rather the oppisite. but he had forgotten to put in his contact lenes and so his reptil eyes could be seen if one looked close enough.

Yuri, being decidedly non-human herself, isn't horribly concerned with any... irregularities... with James' eyes. She accepts his hand, shaking it lightly, smiling almost ferally, although this is probably an artifact of her slightly feral nature. "A pleasure doing business with you, and I'm sure it will be more than profitable for both of us."

James notices that she desn't react to his eyes. maybe nekos arn't as bad as humans... He shook her hand for a moment longer before releasing it. They sure are softer, much softer. "I'm sure it will Ms. Shirow. And I hope to see you again sometime soon. As it was also a pleasure in meeting you " The then gave her a nod/bow, also giving her one of his rare smiles, it surprises even when whne he would thought about it later. But for now after his farwell, he made his way to the door, taking a quick look back. before stepping out into the reception area.

Yuri smiles as James leaves, lighting up a cigarette once the door closes. Odd man...

She reviewed her files, finally feeling good about this project. The tech materials front was set, the builders and designers had finally stopped bitching at each other (rumor was the head forewoman and the head architect were in love) so things were actually getting done. With any luck she'd be able to actually take a break soon. She looked at the picture on her desk and shrugged. What the Hell. I'm taking the rest of the day off.

He grined to himels as he walked out of the building, heading right back to the Gearworks Inc. headquarters building. It would be a long walk but he needed to think over what had to be done. "We're going to need a couple more buildings, make that alot more. At the tonnage she wanted... man. Well he would also need mybe 30 to 450 more workers more,equipment, trunks plus varios other things... "nd all that requirs money Well good thing I got a jump on that,so we could get the ball rolling ASAP. " He was speaking to himslef but he got out his cellphone anyway and dialed up his ecritary, askign her to get the paperwork he had signed before he left,on it's way. He closed his cellphone, and placed it back in his pocket. With lucj they could in business withing two weeks three tops.

As the weeks turned into months, and the spires of Tindalos reached for the heavens, Yuri found herself more and more relaxed. People were finally begining to move in; businesses opened up shop. Of course, there was already the rumblings of a need for another megalopolis, as the Hack's population continued to explode. The current plan was to create an island to to the south of Mhu Thulan, and build a huge Warrens-style city called R'lyeh. The concept of herding the largely poor, largely criminal element was hotly contested, but little would be decided until President Solis made his wishes known. Yuri smirked at that thought. Like most citizens, she had no illusions of any real freedom of choice in what the government did. It was Solis' baby now, and that didn't really bother her. The time spent at polls voting could be better spent persuing much more profitable activities, anyway.

And, besides, the idea had merit. The Hack had built a few islands now, but never one for themselves. And, besides, they had all that fill from the building of Tindalos. She just hoped that they could get this nonsense over with, so they could stop building for a minute. At this rate, someone was going to decide that it'd be easier to "have some pipes break" in the Warrens and solve the population problem that way.