Daria 5

by Martin E. Silenus

  I am up to my knees in maintenance on Mongo and have parts and tools everywhere, plus I am dirty and have hydraulic fluid on my coveralls, but what the hell.

  “Sure, put it through.”

  Therese in all her lovely glory appears in front of me, wrinkles her nose at my clothing and appearance. “Ew, nice outfit! Matt I have a couple of employees of Lynas Corp who you met that are pretty desperate to talk to you; I think it’s pretty important you talk to them.”

  “Hey buddy, someone has to do the dirty work. Put them through, and thanks.”

  Harold the uncomfortable AVP and Bob the no nonsense Geologist appear before me. Harold is even more uncomfortable than the first time I saw him; he looks like he could throw up any second. And Bob looks very angry and pissed off.

  “Hello Harold, Bob, what can I do for you today?” I ask.

  “Mr. Southam, we apologize for the interruption but circumstances dictate that we make this call as we need your assistance.” says Harold.

  “I’m not much of a talent for corporate affairs Harold, nor am I in any way skilled in geology. But go ahead you have my attention.”

  “To be brutally brief Lynas Corp has broken the agreement on 55 Cancri e and is basically strip mining to grab as much REE as possible before Volar reacts. We have protested internally as these actions are inappropriate and we have been coerced and threatened to shut up and cover up or be terminated.” says Harold.

  “We have done everything possible internally to stop this disaster and we have been brushed aside like flies! We are hoping you can assist us.” adds Bob.

  “Don’t tell me, its Hennessey isn’t it, who is acting with him? I ask.

  “The Chief Executive Officer and Hennessey’s executive assistant.” replies Harold.

  “Does the Board of Directors know about the situation on 55 Cancri e?” I ask.

  “No they don’t and any attempt to contact them will be the end of us.” replies Harold.

  “And what would you have me do?” I ask.

  “We know you engineered the original agreement and we also know about the Pirates and how you handled that problem. We are hoping you could intervene to roust out the corrupt senior management and to save Lynas Corp from eminent collapse should this mess ever get leaked to the media.” replies Bob.

  “I have no love for Hennessy as he has screwed me around already and I know he is a snake, but this is the first I have heard of the breach of agreement with Volar. How about you sit tight for a bit while I investigate and I’ll get back to you.” I offer.

  “That would be excellent Mr. Southam, thank you, and once again we apologize for the interruption. But we felt you needed to know about this.” says Harold, and he breaks the connection.

  Gotcha Hennessey you fucking piece of corporate shit, I knew there was a stink of a criminal around you, and the ass licking, leg humping assistant of yours.

  I’m still pondering this development when Beast xmits me.

  “Boss, we have a problem.”

  “Hennessey?”

  “How in the hell did you know that Boss?”

  “I just had a panic call from a couple of Lynas Corp employees who told me Hennessey has breached the agreement with Volar and is strip mining to grab all the REE he can in as short a time as possible.”

  “Yup, you got it in one. I just had a call from Volar and he is upset and disappointed about the mine site mess and that a couple of his creatures were slaughtered as entertainment by three of the miners”

  “Shit, I don’t blame him at all. Tell him we are investigating and will get back to him directly with a game plane.”

  “Got it boss.”

  “Muther, can you do a very thorough investigation of Lynas Corp, Theodore Hennessey III, the Chief Executive Officer, and Hennessey’s corporate assistant. Call us when you have the data as we need to meet quickly and develop a plan.” I ask.

  I’m startled how quickly Muther gets back to me and the thoroughness of the report. Goodness knows I shouldn’t be surprised but even I am startled by the speed and granularity of the data content that Muther and her sisters have generated. What takes massive corporate computers and data bases weeks to amass Muther has assembled in minutes.

  We gather in the ship for an emergency meeting. Muther details all the sordid things they have found on the corrupt senior management, the fraud, theft, threats and coercion of the three top executives. In addition the Board of Directors has been kept in the dark and doesn’t have a clue what’s really happening to the Lynas Corp they are supposedly directing. Frosty listens closely and suggests we contact the Directors in person and explain to them in graphic painful detail just how much of a world of shit they are really in. Then provide them with an engineered plan to salvage the corporation. Or we turn the whole sordid mess over to the authorities and let the chips fall where they may.

  My point of contention is I want to have my satisfaction with the corrupt management pricks, and control of the miners on planet to repair the damage yet again and then get them the hell out of there. The work will likely be very messy, but I am pissed off my blood is up and I am fucking done with pieces of shit like Theodore Hennessey III.

  Beast chats with Volar, tells him we have a plan afoot and we will see him soon.

  I contact Harold and Bob and let them know we are addressing the situation and in due course they will be contacted and updated. I suggest they just sit tight, don’t rock the boat, or stir up shit, just go quiet and make it easy on themselves as there will be a huge shit storm coming on the horizon that only they are aware of. They seem very relieved and now I can see why.

  There are lots of things that annoy me in this world but one that flips my “mad switch” quicker than anything is corrupt senior executives of corporations who feel, elite, entitled, above the law. They have everything they could want on a plate and all they do is get greedier and make life miserable for the actual working staff! Those that don’t get the large salary, the huge bonus, the generous expense account. And have to work like dogs and extra hours sometimes “for the good of the company” and no additional money. I’m not a unionist, but I won’t tolerate elitist senior management. What happened to the moral goodness and regard for working folks?

  Chapter 20: The Plan

  We talked the plan through, checking for logic errors, soft spots, what ifs and so on. It seemed reasonable as it did not have to be particularly complicated. The Board of Directors and the new senior management of Lynas Cop would do all the heavy lifting.

  This time there would be no splitting of the team into two components. We were staying together as a single unit in this endeavor. D put her best replacement trainee in charge of the Community Center and Frosty and Muther were fine to take their hands off the Trade Station HVAC and stabilization controls as the project was all but complete.

  We had some criminal collecting to do, I wanted Addington, Hennessey, and the corporate poof in my custody prior to making the jump back to 55 Cancri e.

  Muther and the sisters got to work and located the three corrupt executives. Addington not surprisingly was the most difficult to find as he did not want to be found. Turns out he was doing sweet nothing with some lady friends on a large opulent Yacht off the coast of Monaco.

  Hennessey and the corporate assistant were at Lynas Corp head office in Kuantan, Malaysia. Both of them would be easy enough to reach, all of them would be child’s play for us to abduct in the dead of the night.

  We secured the ship and contents and undocked and set a course for Monaco. On route we made sure the “retention suites” were equipped as necessary for the “comfort of our guests”.

  Monaco is such a beautiful sight, the blue of the ocean, the white classic Greek architecture pressed up the side of the mountains, a soft sea breeze, lovely warm temps, wow, I can sure see why folks really enjoy relaxing in this location. We were hanging cloaked some couple of hundred meters above the sea watching Addington’s Yacht, the Yvonne, as it gently rocked at
anchor. Yvonne, a Navetta 30 from the builder Ferretti Yachts Custom Line, is thirty meters long, three levels with a flying deck above the top deck, sporting a crew of five and accommodations for twelve and rents for a paltry eighty grand per week. Addington and his retinue had been here going on a month. Just taking the sun and sea air, playing with the young ladies and the sea toys that come with the yacht. All costs absorbed by the Lynas Corp tab of course. Having a jolly bit of a time without a care in the world they were, until we arrived.

  We pondered a bit on how we would take him. There were many options but by far the easiest was to take him while he was swimming. Addington enjoyed doing his laps to stay fit so it would be pretty easy for us to be underwater when he swam by, pull him under and then cloaked lift him up to our ship, easy peasy as they say.

  Our biggest danger is traffic in this area so we have Poe and Muther monitoring vessels, aircraft, and even large fish in the area to ensure we are not involved in any incidents.

  Next morning bright and early we are waiting for Addington as he enters the sea for his morning swim. A crew member stays on the deck to ensure his valuable client doesn’t get into trouble while he swims. Muther acquires the crew member’s cell phone number and gives him a call just after Addington starts his swim. The gist of the call is that the crewman’s X wife is demanding more money from him. Of course the crewmember is outraged as he feels he pays far more than he should already, etc, etc. It all works excellent to distract the crewmember from watching Addington. I am under the hull of the yacht as Addington swims by and I just reach out and grab his leg and yank him under. He doesn’t make a sound, I slip the respirator on him and jab him in the neck with anesthetic and Addington is relaxed and mine all mine. I tow him away some couple of hundred meters away from the yacht and D lowers the winch which I attach to my combat suit and to the rescue harness I slip onto Addington, and D winches us up completely cloaked into our ship. We are a couple of hundred miles away on our journey to Malaysia by the time I get him comfortably restrained in his guest quarters. It will be an hour or so before he comes around and starts making a racket so I think I’ll have breakfast.

  You could see the entitlement and arrogance of the sob just the way he moved and his mannerism. Old English Aristocracy I am told. Gawky, boney, awkward prick is what I see with an evil villainous disposition. Hawk nose, greying hair, tanned, in shape but wasn’t much to begin with. No athletic abilities to speak of. Just very sure he is the center of the universe and all must dance to his tune. He’s going to have such a rude awakening as to what he really is.

  Chapter 21: The Resort Retreat

  About one hundred and twenty kilometers up the East Coast of Malaysia, North from Singapore there are a series of Palau Island Resort retreats that are really spectacular to run away to and hide for rest and recreation. You go out in a high speed motor launch and everything on the island is taken care of for you, it’s a dream location with every amenity, weather to die for and gourmet dining at every meal. We take a close look as we slide silently and invisibly up the coast.

  The Lynas Advanced Material Plant is a bit further up the coat out of Kuantan, sprawled out over a sizeable amount of land hacked out and reclaimed from the jungle. The finish processing of the rare earth elements that are mined at Weld Australia and initially processed are shipped to Malaysia and this plant for final processing. We loitered over the premises and tracked Hennessey and the assistant, but for the most part of the day they were in meetings and with a crowd of executives and difficult to isolate and abduct. D and Muther were tracking Hennessey and assistant calls and from the conversations deduced that the two of them were going to the Palau Besar Islands Resort at the Aseania Beach Resort for a few days of rest. Interestingly it was apparently just the two of them, well how cozy for them and how extremely handy for us. It will be child’s play to slip into the separate residential villas and abduct these two executive privileged crooks.

  Rather than hang around over the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant that marks the landscape like a festering wound, we loaf back down the coast just enjoying the scenery. Beast is excited, he wants off the ship so he can go jungle hunting. I can understand his urge although the jungle is not one of my favorite places as I don’t do well around vigorous ravenous insects and ridiculously large reptiles. But when we get to Palau Besar and find a remote spot to land there is no stopping Beast. He is out of the ship and off to set a security parameter and check out his section of the jungle. I know I shouldn’t but I admonish him like a teenager going off on his own to explore, be careful, be aware of the time and where you are and don’t be late getting back here!

  “Oh jeez, yes father,” xmits Beast and bounds of the loading ramp.

  Even though I find the jungle a pretty creepy place there is no debating its brilliant profusion of life. The air smells so good and is so oxygen rich it near makes you drunk, brilliant green with birds that look like they were dipped in bright enamel paints. It’s just an amazing sight and D and Frosty come out onto the loading ramp to observe the beauty.

  “I could live here,” notes D. “It’s just gorgeous!”

  “It’s really quite amazing actually,” says Frosty “but I think I prefer our mountain retreat, it’s just more me and my temperature range.”

  “It’s definitely muggy, course it rains multiple times per day so no wonder.” muses D.

  “If you live here you are supposed to live naked, clothing is not an asset here it is a detriment.” I observe.

  We stretch out in our deck chairs, have a pint of beer and just contemplate the jungle. Maybe drift off in a mild light nap.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” says Poe. “But Beast is calling for a quad copter to rescue him. It seems he got himself cornered on a small knoll in a lagoon and now finds himself surrounded by several vigorous Saltwater Crocodiles!”

  “Oh for shit sake, I told that damned animal to be careful. Poe, prep two copters and I’ll ride one with the pulse rifle just in case.” I curse and head off to grab my gear.

  Saltwater Crocodiles are large and notoriously ill tempered. They are the worst of the species and grow ridiculous large in this rich feeding area. A lot of local peasants lose their lives every year to Saltwater Crocs, and the buggers are just dandy with chasing a kid up onto the sand beach to grab him and drag him back into the rivers.

  I clip in and lift off and away we go to Beasts location parameters, it’s not far and yup he has himself backed into a corner that was not going to go well even for Beast. The little knoll he is stranded on had a couple of Palm trees and little else. Beast is up a distance in the Palm tree while several enormous Crocs bellow, hiss, snap at one another and waddle their way around the trees or swim lazy circles around the knoll. He is buggered all right no way off the knoll but to fight the crocs and that is a fool’s errand.

  “What did I say to you when you left, what did I say, do you remember?” I chide.

  “Ah, this is awkward.” xmits Beast.

  Muther positions the copter and begins letting down the lift cable to Beast’s position.

  “Well tell me your story, or I’ll make one up about how you got treed by some Saltwater Crocodiles.”

  “Ah, well I was chasing a small species of deer through the jungle at very high speed and we burst out into the lagoon and before I could catch the deer or stop we were in the water and halfway to the knoll, that’s when the Crocs surfaced and ate the deer and started focusing on me. So I kept going as it was far faster than turning around. So here I am, and there are the Crocs.”

  The magnetic latch clunks onto Beast’s harness and Muther begins taking up the slack to lift him out of the tree. I stay sharp and focus with Pulse rifle ready, if the copter falters at this critical juncture I am going to be very busy killing Crocodiles and making fine luggage.

  The copter is solid and reels Beast up and we head back the short hop to the ship.

  “Now understand Beast, any time you think it hugely funny and entertainin
g to tease me about snakes please remember, I will reciprocate with you in a tree and the Crocodile cheering section at your feet.”

  “Yes Boss, I see your point very clearly.” xmits Beast. “And thanks!”

  All of which served to emphasize a point to me; I made a mental note to take up with Frosty. Somewhere in the algorithmic maze our AI’s were occasionally weak in perceiving and evaluating the risk reward equation. If I do this then these are the possible results of my actions, of those possible results these represent a risk of low, medium, high, don’t do that, and these results over here have a low, medium, high reward associated with them, and those actions over there and results are basically “a push” in that there is no discernable change to the balance of wave front possibilities. Perhaps it is an associated weighting problem, but it needs addressing.

  Chapter 22: Abduction

  At 2:00am in the morning, in bright moonlight, in what must be as close to paradise as one could get we bring the ship to a hover, cloaked fifty meters above the villa occupied by Hennessey and the Corp assistant. I’m tempted to refer to him/her/it as the Corp Ass as it looks very much to me as that is “its” function in life. Your role for the Corporation, if you chose to accept it, is to take it up the ass! How nice apparently he/she/it accepted.

  Muther advises us that while the Villa doesn’t have any security systems at all, Hennessey and the Corp Ass have brought their own parameter sensing security system with them. Not particularly effective unless blundering Crocodiles break into the Villa and only then does it bleat repetitively in an annoying and utterly useless fashion. Notwithstanding Muther neutralizes the sensors so we can walk right past them.

  “This should keep the lovers quiet while we load them up,” says D as she hands me a pressurized injection gun. “Try and press against the skin of the neck as the anesthetic works faster there.”