69 - Reneging on the Charter

“Excuse me, Tech,” the Station interrupted his research download stream diffidently. “Did you wish to meet Prime in person? His shuttle is about to land.”

Terry froze in his chair. What? Prime? Oh Page and Paper. Prime is landing? I thought... We thought...  He shook himself out of his amazement, rose from the control chair trying to make it look like he wasn’t rushing.  “I’ll just step down to the garage, then, Station, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Tech.”

Station hadn’t yet seen either Mom or Agador and they had expanded on that blank space.  Damn. Damn the ink, he thought. Prime’s coming up here himself? To meet this CEO personally?  Why not take him on down to the planet? Why up here? He doesn’t want any galactic truly seeing what’s going on down on the planet?

The CEO was due any time now and had sent an unmanned drone though the transfer point to update the planetary data, pre-empting the regular courier.  “Alissa!  Finish up and get into Mom! Prime’s coming up here personally!” He broke into a panicky sweat as he stepped into the garage and broke into a run the instant he was out from under Station surveillance. “Stinking ink!”  They’d been forced to wait for the courier... Siva would be coming through right behind this CEO’s spine.  The shipments from Xanadu would continue though no one on the planet could actually see the interstellar spines.  They loaded a full AU out.

Terence had found the financial records and had just sat, stunned at the sheer amount of currency -- in Corporate dollars -- that poured into Prime’s coffers just from the Pharma Corps.  Very little of that went into actual planetary maintenance and upgrades.  The terraforming software and hardware had been bought by the original three owners and though they worked, some of the programs were the cheapest company lines.  It worked well enough that Prime obviously didn’t feel the need to buy anything new or upgrade anything. Even though he was illegally reneging on the original Charter, the contract that everyone had read and signed before agreeing to come to Chishiki.

You inkless fukkin’ bastard.  You own the planet, as far as you know. You own the people. You are Lord of all you survey... and you can’t be bothered to fix some of the ancient, kludged together systems that you installed when you and our ancestors arrived.

“Alissa!”

“I’m coming.  You interrupted my building.” She pouted.  “I want to go to a galactic university.  I want to learn how to build planet-sized things, with all those metal bones!”

“Yes, Alissa.  I think that’s an excellent idea.  Steinpeltz has an excellent engineering design school.” And galactic know-how in therapy. That, he didn’t say out loud. “Prime is coming up here himself.”

Mom closed up.  “The Shuttle is communicating with the Station,” Agador said.  “I don’t think Prime’s machines are very happy, they seem very sad and rude.”

“Most systems have no etiquette programs, or capacity for emotional connection with humans,” Mom said.  “I find it a shame that the designers didn’t include that in every system.  Many systems I have exchanged data with, in this design situation, consider themselves deficient.”  Neither Terry or Alissa had anything to say to that and were silent as Mom brought up a hologram showing Prime’s shuttle landing just outside the garage. They could feel the tremble though their bodies though they couldn’t hear any noise other than the gentle sigh of Mom’s fans.

The new rows of ice dragons opened their wings to let the shuttle taxi gently inside.

“Perrin Thurmontaler, Prime Owner.” Terry said under his breath. “The first time he’s been off his planet in nearly eight hundred years.”

_________________

My apologies for missing yesterday.  I've not been feeling well.