Sakira

by Robert blanton

  “So, a three-hour dive,” Liz said. “Not such a bad way to earn two-point-six-billion dollars.”

  “We did most of the earning over the last month,” Kal said.

  “Okay everybody, go rest up,” Marc said. “I’ll have Fred wake us when we arrive at the site.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The next day was anticlimactic. They just followed the script. Catie filmed the effort since they couldn’t use the LX9 as a base with its external cameras. Marc had given Captain Nunes and Fred a wide, keep-out area so that the Chagas didn’t come up underneath one of the ships.

  Then they dove down. Handling the nitrogen canisters was difficult, and they were happy that they’d done so many practice dives with them. Once the lines were cut, the Chagas rose another ten meters before it reached equilibrium. Marc, Blake, and Kal removed the six corkscrew anchors, while Liz positioned the canisters next to each of the main lift bags.

  Two hours in, and it was time to start going up. They set a steady pace, stopping every fifty meters. Blake wanted to make sure that the foam had enough time to outgas and that the divers would be fully equalized before progressing upwards. Although they didn’t have to worry about nitrogen narcosis, they still had to avoid the bends. The compressed air in their bodies needed time to expand and release. Although the pace of their climb was supposed to take care of that, Blake was taking extra precautions. He wanted them to pause and stretch and move about to encourage their bodies to reach equilibrium with the reduced pressure.

  They paused again at fifty meters, giving Catie a chance to circle the entire ship with the camera. They switched over to nitrox while they waited. After their air had time to exchange fully, Catie went up to ten meters to film the last part of the climb. Aboard the Mea Huli, Fatima had a camera trained on the target point of emergence. Blake gave the signal that he was ready to start the final climb. Once he had a thumbs up from everyone, he released a lift bag to mark the likely point of emergence for Fatima and the Portuguese.

  They started the last part of the ascent; when the Chagas reached ten meters, they slowed the assent way down. They wanted the Chagas to emerge in dramatic fashion, slowly rising up from the sea. Blake had Marc and Liz on the bow increase their lifts so the Chagas would rise up, bow first, and then they took her up to two meters. They each shot the rest of their gas into the bag, detached their canisters, and pushed away from the Chagas to let her rise up the rest of the way on her own.

  Las Cinque Chagas emerged from the water, her bow leading the way. She gracefully continued up until her entire upper deck was clear. Slowly she continued to rise until the gundeck was also above water. The lift bags were just below the surface, giving the illusion that the Chagas was floating on her own. When she first broke the surface, the Portuguese Navy started a twenty-one-gun salute. The cannons continued to boom as the Chagas rose above the water, and it ended just after she settled with her decks entirely above the water.

  The crew swam over to the Mea Huli and pulled off their gear. They each took a quick shower and changed into their clothes, then they all got in the tender and went over to the Chagas. They climbed the rope ladder they had attached to the sides and waited.

  Captain Nunes and Commander Reza were being brought over on their launch. As Captain Nunes led the way up the ladder, Liz blew a whistle that piped him aboard.

  The captain was surprised and obviously pleased by the addition of the whistle. “Captain Nunes,” Marc said. “I formally hand command of Las Cinque Chagas over to you and the Portuguese Navy.”

  “I accept,” Captain Nunes said. He looked around the deck in awe. “Even with the fire damage, she is an impressive ship.”

  “I assume you will be towing her to Port Delgada?”

  “Yes, one of my patrol boats is making ready to extend a tow,” the captain said. “Will you come out to join us when we sail her into the harbor?”

  “We would be happy to. Just tell us where to take up station,” Marc said. “We’ll wait for you at Vila Franco Do Campo.”

  “Yes, we’ll have to sail at ten knots,” the captain said. “It will take us two days to get there. We don’t want to tow her at night.”

  “Then we’ll come out and meet you when you’re a few hours out,” Marc said.

  “Excellent. Until we meet again.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Things are going to be hectic for the next few days,” Marc said. He’d gathered the members of MacKenzie Discovery in the lower salon where they would have some privacy. “We should talk about future plans now.”

  “Sure,” Kal said. “I’m up for anything.”

  “We’re not going after the Spanish galleon?” Liz asked.

  “I think that would be risky,” Marc said. “With all this exposure, and as we’ve seen no lack of people willing to kill and bribe their way into wresting it from us, I think we should shelve that for a while, if not forever.”

  “You’re probably right,” Liz said. “We’re rich; we’re all alive; we should probably count our blessings.”

  “Right,” Marc said. “Now yours and Kal’s share of the Chagas is forty-eight million each. We don’t have the money yet, it’ll probably take a few weeks for the escrow to clear, but I can advance you each one million, so you have some flexibility.”

  “What are you going to give Fred and crew?” Catie asked.

  “I was thinking one million each would be fair,” Marc said.

  “Wow,” Blake exclaimed. “More than generous.”

  “Well, it was a bit more hazardous than we expected,” Marc said.

  “I agree,” Catie said.

  “Okay, so our plans are to sail the Mea Huli to Lisbon and put her in storage for a while. Then, after all the parties and ceremonies are over, we’re going to go looking for an island to buy.”

  “An island! Why in the world would you want to buy an island?” Liz asked.

  “We have some additional technology like the LX9 that we’re planning on commercializing. We want to do it from a base that we can control. Someplace remote enough that it will be difficult for various governments or corporations to interfere.”

  “You mean, steal your technology,” Liz said.

  “Steal, interfere, various things,” Marc said. “Anyway, we want to be as autonomous as we can be.”

  “Where is this island?” Kal asked.

  “We’re thinking one of the Cook Islands,” Marc said.

  “Geez, where are they?” Kal asked.

  “About three thousand miles due east of Australia,” replied Marc. “Actually, they are almost due south of Hawaii. Hawaii is twenty degrees north; the Cook Islands are about twenty-one degrees south.”

  “Sounds really nice,” Kal said. “It would be just like home.”

  “So, if we wanted to stay with you, what would our roles be?” Liz asked.

  “We’ll still need security, even more so now. We’d want you two to head up our security force; hire and train the right people to protect the technology and us. There will probably be other duties as we expand and learn what we need.”

  “What’s the pay?” Kal asked.

  “Not as generous as this was, but let’s say zero-point-five percent of profits on top of a base salary of three hundred thousand,” Marc said. “Profits will start out small, but should ramp up into the billions if we’re successful.”

  “I could go for that. Build a nice beach house, take some kick-ass vacations,” Liz said. “What do you think, Kal?”

  “Hey, I’m in. I’m not cut out to be a playboy.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  They reached the marina a little after 5:00 P.M. Marc took the team out to dinner and announced the bonus package for Fred, Fatima, and Walter. The three of them were ecstatic. Fred said he wanted to keep flying for Marc and company, especially when Marc said he would be extending the lease on the G650. Walter said he’d use his money to start a small charter company in his home state of Wyoming. Fatima was torn, but she said it was time f
or her to start a family. She and her husband had been waiting until they could afford for Fatima to quit work while the children were little. Both Fatima and Walter agreed to stay with them until Fred found replacements.

  After dinner, everyone retired to their hotel rooms. When they entered their suite, Marc looked at Catie. “Okay, spill it. What have you been bursting to talk about?”

  “You could tell?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ve been working with ADI, with all that time on the LX9 just sitting around.”

  “I’m glad you made use of the time. Did you get any schoolwork done?”

  “Yes, but that’s not what this is about.”

  “Okay, what is this about?”

  “I felt real bad for Kal. He worked hard, and his prosthetic legs didn’t really help that much. He had to work twice as hard as anyone else because he couldn’t get any power from his legs.”

  “Yes, I think we all admired him for his courage and refusal to let it hold him back.”

  “Me too. So, I asked ADI what kind of prosthetics Dr. Metra’s people had for people when they lost their legs. ADI said they didn’t use prosthetics. I was shocked. How could they be so cruel that they just let people go around with no legs,” Catie looked sheepish. “But then ADI said that they didn’t use prosthetics because they just made them new legs.”

  “Wow,” Marc said. “As in biological legs?”

  “Yeah, they print them up on a three-D printer using the patient’s own DNA to design them. Then they attach them to the patient, and after a couple of days, it’s just like they never lost their legs.”

  “So can ADI do this for us, or help us design the printers?”

  “She can help with the printers, but all of that information and the process is in their medical computer, and ADI doesn’t have access to it.”

  “That’s strange. ADI, why don’t you have access to the medical computer?” Marc asked.

  “Captain,” ADI answered, “it is for security reasons. The captain of the ship has control of me; if he had control of the medical computer as well, it would be impossible to control him if he were to become ill or insane. The medical officer is the only one who can access the medical computer.”

  “Okay, what happens if the medical officer is killed?”

  “There is a chain of command,” ADI replied. “However, our medical officer is not dead, she is in stasis.”

  “Can we just wake her up?”

  “No, the current medical situation on the ship has a very strict protocol that must be followed.”

  “Daddy wait, I’m not finished,” Catie said.

  “Okay, what else?”

  “Well, when I realized how advanced their medical science was, I asked ADI about other diseases. I asked about Alzheimer’s.”

  “I see,” Marc said.

  “ADI says that Dr. Metra was very interested in Alzheimer’s and dementia because her people suffered from the same type of diseases. She actually did some experiments and determined that a similar treatment to the one they use would work on humans.”

  “What kind of experiments?”

  “She gave the treatment to actual people,” Catie said. “I guess some alien abduction did go on in the seventies. Anyway, she treated them, then let them go. They never knew they were abducted. But they all got better.”

  “That is significant.”

  “Yes, we could help Grandpa Pa and Grandma Ma,” Catie pleaded. “But we have to hurry. They’re getting really bad.”

  “I know. Your mother told me the last time we talked,” Marc said.

  “Can you figure out how to get Metra out of stasis?”

  “I’ll work on it.”

  “Promise?”

  “I love your mom’s grandparents, too,” Marc said. “I’ll figure a way.”

  “Thanks, Daddy!”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Prime Minister Marsters will see you now,” the beautiful Polynesian secretary told Marc.

  Marc led the way into the office with Catie following. Marc thought that having Catie along had smoothed the negotiations with the Portuguese; it was difficult to play hardball with a twelve-year-old girl watching.

  “Thank you for seeing us,” Marc said. “My daughter, Catie.”

  “I am pleased to meet you, Dr. McCormack,” Minister Marsters said, “and your daughter as well. Please, how may I be of assistance?”

  “I run a new company, MacKenzie Discoveries,” Marc said.

  “I have heard of you. You were the ones that found the Las Cinque Chagas last month,” the minister said. “I’m sorry to tell you, but we don’t have any treasure ships around here.”

  Marc laughed, “We’re not looking for treasure ships now. That was a way to increase our startup capital. We’re looking to buy a location where we can headquarter our business.”

  “If you are not seeking treasure, what is your business?”

  “We have several advanced technologies we are looking to commercialize. We’re looking for a friendly place where we can develop and manufacture them.”

  “We are very ecologically conscious here,” the prime minister said.

  “As are we,” Marc replied. “We promise to develop and manufacture our products with a minimal impact on the environment. In fact, many of our technologies are intended to improve the environment.”

  “Please tell me more,” the prime minister said as he leaned forward in his chair.

  “We have developed a new battery technology, which has five times the power density of the lithium-ion battery. We’ve also developed fuel cell technology, which is extremely efficient. We believe between the two of them, they will revolutionize the trucking industry.”

  “Very interesting,” the prime minister said, “but we don’t have very many natural resources here. Why our islands?”

  “Our biggest concern is industrial espionage,” Marc said. “We want a remote and secure location where we can manufacture the key components. Then we can ship the parts to industrial countries where they will be integrated into final assemblies.”

  “Interesting, but again I ask, why our islands?”

  “You are remote, we like your weather, you’re independent of any large industrial power,” Marc said, “and we actually would like to buy an island.”

  “To buy one of our islands?”

  “Yes, Manuae, to be precise,” Marc said.

  “Manuae is a sensitive nature preserve,” the prime minister gasped.

  “I know,” Marc said. “We guarantee we will preserve that essence. We need a small, ground footprint, but we plan to build floating offshore structures to house much of our facilities.”

  “And how much would you have to invest?” the prime minister asked.

  “I’m sure you know that,” Marc smiled. “We have approximately two-billion dollars to invest.”

  “And what, besides your money, would my people get?”

  “Several things,” Marc said. “One, jobs; two, an advanced medical facility; three, educational opportunities.”

  “Jobs, I can understand; however, you should know that employing Polynesians does come with some unique issues.”

  “I am aware of that. One of our partners is Hawaiian. He assures me that he can develop a set of work rules that allow Polynesians to both enjoy the benefits of employment as well as the benefits of living in Polynesia,” Marc said. “He tells me that he won’t give up the opportunity to go fishing or sailing just for a job.”

  “Ah, I see he does understand. And?”

  “We will guarantee any Cook Islander free access to the advanced health care of our medical facility. We cannot afford to provide basic health care to everyone in the islands, but as we develop cures for diseases and advanced treatments, we will provide those to your people, even things such as prosthetics.”

  “And to gain all this, what do you want?”

  “As I said, we wish to have control of Manuae. We will pay you a negotiated sum for t
he rights to the island for fifty years. After that time, we will restore the island to its original condition. We also would like to negotiate a favorable tax rate for our company.”

  “Ah, you don’t want to pay taxes.”

  “We’re happy to pay taxes. We just want to simplify the process. We think that fifteen percent of gross sales should cover all our tax liability. Of course, we expect to pay social security and other employment taxes for our employees.”

  “You are willing to have your taxes based on gross sales?” the prime minister asked.

  “Yes,” Marc said. “It eliminates all the accounting dances that most corporations play. We want to invent, develop, and manufacture technology, not become accountants.”

  “I am greatly intrigued,” the prime minister said. “I will discuss this with my cabinet and the legislature. I believe we have room to negotiate.”

  “Thank you,” Marc said.

  “And may I ask how you fit into all this young lady?”

  “I’m one of his partners,” Catie said. “My mother is a doctor, and I’m interested in the medical facility.”

  “It’s due to Catie’s insistence that the medical facility is one of the first capital investments that we plan to make. We already have some promising treatments that we would like to make available to the world. Of course, for many of those treatments, the patient would need to come to the Cook Islands.”

  “Our hotels and tourism industries would be pleased to accommodate their families,” the prime minister said. “As I said, I will discuss your proposal and get back to you. Let us say two weeks.”

  “We look forward to continuing our negotiations,” Marc said.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The team settled into the Pacific Resort in Rarotonga. Marc wanted to be close to the government offices while they negotiated their deal, and it was one of the nicest places available.

  “You know, none of us has ever negotiated this kind of deal,” Blake said. “Aren’t you nervous?”

  “Sure, I’m nervous,” Marc replied. “That’s why I’m bringing Samantha Newman in.”

  “Samantha Newman?” Blake gave Marc a confused look.

  “She’s the one who handled the papers on the Mea Huli.”